Out Of The Mouth Of Dave (SP)
Squared Circle Edition
Welcome to this special issue of Out Of The Mouth Of Dave! If you read Issue Zero you know I threatened to talk about professional wrestling sometimes. Well, I’m a man of my word! This is, Out Of The Mouth of Dave: Squared Circle Edition! Let’s get to it, brother!
I chose now to write about pro wrestling because this past week has been a big one for the industry. From the passing of two of the top names in the business (Windham Rotunda and Terry Funk), to the soaring success of All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) massive event held at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of a record crowd of 81,035. It’s been a week of heavy lows and exhilarating highs for wrestling fans.
I’m not as avid a viewer of pro wrestling as I was 25 years ago, but I’ve never completely lost interest. It’s a fascinating show with outrageous story lines, over the top action and athleticism, and colorful, larger than life characters. There is nothing quite like it.
I’ve heard it described as a “soap opera for men”. Perhaps to an extent, but there are a lot of female fans, and female performers in wrestling are more prominent than ever. A far better description comes from the late, great Windham Rotunda AKA Bray Wyatt :
"Wrestling is not a love story, it's a Fairy Tale for masochists. A comedy for people who criticize punchlines. A fantasy most can't understand, a spectacle no one can deny. Lines are blurred. Heroes are villains. Budgets are cut. Business is business. But it can also be a land where Dead men walk. Where Honor makes you Elite. Where Demons run for office. And Rock bottom is a reason to rejoice. WOOOOO! It's an escape. A reason to point the blame at anyone but yourself for 2-3 hours. An excuse to be a kid again, and nothing matters except the moment we are in. Wrestling is not a love story, it's much more. It's hope. And in a world surrounded in hate, greed and violence, a world where closure may never come. We all know a place that has hot and cold hope on tap. For better or for worse."
——Bray Wyatt (Windham6) on Twitter (X) August 7, 2022
I’m not sure I can put it any better than that, except to add that for me the violence has never been the big draw to pro wrestling. I’ve always seen it as sort of a live action comic book, with larger than life heroes and villains performing their athletic dramas live in your living room each week. That’s the other thing about pro wrestling, there is no off season. Wrestling promotions big and small produce events and television programming every single week. Many air multiple shows per week. The level of creativity, production, writing, choreography, stamina, and athleticism it takes to create and put on these shows week after week is incredible. That goes for the on-air talent as well as those working behind the scenes.
The atmosphere at a pro wresting show is part sporting event, part rock concert, part theater, part soap opera. At it’s core it is an athletic morality play. Good guys (faces) versus bad guys (heels) performing battles on the stage that is the wrestling ring. I think on some level pro wrestling is the closest thing we have to vaudeville, at least on a mainstream, pop culture level.
Former WWE Superstar and Hall of Famer Bret Hart once described choreographing a wrestling match as “making 20-30 minute movies”. That’s a good description. A good pro wrestling match is like a mini movie. You have a beginning, middle, and climactic finish, with plenty of high spots and low spots along the way.
Professional wrestling has been a staple of mainstream pop culture since at least the early 1980’s. Many wrestlers are just as well known as movie stars, sports figures, musicians, or cartoon characters. Several have become all of those things either during or after their careers in wrestling. Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, Macho Man Randy Savage, Chris Jericho, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Andre the Giant, just to name a few. Those names are just as recognizable as Mickey Mouse, Super Mario, Michael Jordan, Shaq, or Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the last 5 years especially, I’ve been intrigued once again. The birth of All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) was hugely instrumental to my renewed interest. A brand new, major promotion to compete with the WWE for the first time in over a decade. The people behind it are fans of wrestling or wrestlers themselves, rather than network TV execs or corporate suits. When they announced their vision for AEW, at nearly every step they seemed to be doing it right. They got it. They brought a new type of product which is an alternative to the WWE, and a revitalizing energy to the business as a whole. Nothing against WWE, it’s great! I like their product as well. To me they are like the Nintendo or Disney of the pro wrestling world. They do what they do very well, at a high level with production values few can rival. They’ve been family friendly, edgy and everything in between. The constant is that they can do all of those things very well. They are a juggernaut in the business and a household name. When they surprise you they really surprise you. When they get it right, few do it better. But competition is good and raises the bar for everyone.
The other thing that renewed my interest was Billy Corgan (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) purchasing and resurrecting the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA is the oldest continuously running wrestling promotion in the world, dating back to 1948. If you watched wrestling in the 80’s, you probably remember seeing NWA TV shows on the TBS cable network. It’s where guys like Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Lugar, and Dusty Rhodes performed, before World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was born in 1988. But the NWA continued to operate as an independent governing body. A very rich, interesting history for sure. When Billy Corgan purchased the NWA in 2017, he took up that mantle and honored the history. His NWA continues to further that legacy and has brought the NWA brand back to prominence.
AEW has only been in existence since January 2019. In that time they’ve attracted numerous top talents, legends, introduced countless new talents, launched three successful cable TV shows, and several pay-per-view events. AEW is the first major competition for the WWE since WCW in the mid-90’s. The promotion has gained a dedicated following and invigorated the business.
This past Sunday AEW set another milestone. The event at London’s Wembley Stadium broke the paid attendance record for a professional wrestling event with 81,035 in attendance. From all accounts the show lived up to the hype.
One of my favorite moments came when Chris Jericho and his band ‘Fozzy’ performed their song ‘Judas’ live. A great song which I think is the band’s best to date. The song has served as Jericho’s entrance music for a while now, and has become a fan favorite. As you’ll see and hear in the video, the 81,035 fans in attendance were all singing along. The sing-along has become a staple in AEW when Chris Jericho comes down the aisle. Getting to perform the song live in Wembley Stadium had to be an incredible experience for the band.
(For those who might not be aware, Chris Jericho has a second career as front man for rock band Fozzy. He started the band in 1999, just as Since then they’ve continued to gain fans both inside and outside the wrestling world, and elevated themselves to a legitimately good rock/metal band. Which should come as no surprise if you’ve heard Jericho talk music on his ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast. He has a great mind for music and is well-studied in the history of several genres, especially rock and metal.)
I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Jericho since the mid-90’s, both as a wrestler, rock singer, and podcast host. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, wrestling, comedy, and the broader entertainment world. It’s a fascinating listen whether or not you care about pro wrestling. He’s done numerous episodes featuring interviews with legendary artists in Christian rock and metal. It is an interesting subgenre I’ve been fascinated by since my teens. Jericho himself identifies as a Christian and grew up listening to a lot of Christian rock, and is well versed in the nuances. He was even a special emcee at a Christian metal festival last fall in Ohio, interviewing and later introducing the band ‘Barren Cross’.
I’ve heard him talk about how when he was teenager growing up in Canada, watching pro wrestling and listening to all of the popular bands at the time, he knew that he wanted to do both. He wanted to be a professional wrestler and a rock star. He did both and a whole lot more.
I have a lot of respect for that and can identify with it deeply. If you had asked 16 year old me what I wanted to do in life, it would undoubtedly have been some combination of music and professional wrestling.
The passing of two legendary talents in the same week is a tough pill to swallow. Terry Funk was 79. Windham Rotunda was 36. Both men made their own huge impacts on the world of professional wrestling.
Windham Rotunda (stage name Bray Wyatt) made a name for himself at a time when I wasn’t following pro wrestling a lot. I mainly knew of him from wrestling video games and a few TV clips here and there. I had seen some of his more recent work with the WWE, and found him to be a super interesting character. Both in the ring and out he displayed a level of creativity that always kept fans guessing. Combine that with an exceptional understanding of and respect for the business, and you have a legendary talent who will be sorely missed.
I have many memories of watching Terry Funk in action. He was already over 50 when he came onto my radar. Fifty is not that old, but it’s getting up there when you’re talking about something as physically demanding as pro wrestling. I remember seeing Terry Funk, at age 53, do a reverse somersault off the top rope to the outside of the ring onto his opponent. This was around 1998 if I recall. Funk’s career in pro wrestling began in 1965. Think about that for a second! He performed all over the world, becoming a legend in Japan, the USA, and everywhere else he went. The guy gave one hundred percent every time out.
His final match was in September of 2017 at 73 years of age! A few other interesting tidbits I learned about Terry Funk while doing my research:
He played a bouncer in the 1989 film Road House with Patrick Swayze.
He was good friends with Sylvester Stallone, and choreographed the street fight between Rocky and Tommy Gunn at the end of Rocky V. He also had a role in Stallone’s 1979 film Paradise Alley, and served as a stunt coordinator.
He married his wife, Vicky Ann on August 14, 1965, and they were together until her passing on March 29, 2019.
In Closing
Thank you for reading the special edition of the OOTMOD! I appreciate your support and interest. I’ll be back soon with the regularly scheduled edition, issue number 3. Have a great week and watch out for steel folding chairs and distracted referees.
Terry Funk Image Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Terry_Funk_September_2013_%28cropped%29.jpg/653px-Terry_Funk_September_2013_%28cropped%29.jpg?20210810000148
Bray Wyatt Image Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Bray_Wyatt_2017.jpg/658px-Bray_Wyatt_2017.jpg?20230823213630