Sunday, September 30, 2012

Sacred Ground Chapter III

This is not a play by play analysis of every match. Every other blog or wrestling website will provide that.

Three hundred people in Porterdale, GA on a Saturday night to watch wrestling. It was loud, and you could feel the excitement in the air. While we were lined up outside waiting to get in, I peeked in the windows and watched the wrestlers standing around talking, running the ropes, and practicing spots. I could see the tension and excitement in all their faces. It was evident to both talent and fans that this was the biggest moment in PCW history.

The greatest "twist" of the night came when Johnny Danger came out to his "Heatseeker" theme, Hunk of Burning Love. He'd been playing a heel in Porterdale as part of the Priority Males stable for so long, that I figured now that the Avondale shows were ending he'd simply remain a bad guy. After getting to know him better, I think his personality is more suited to playing a face, and it makes me very happy that he's chosen this path since he's my son's favorite wrestler in the company. I worry that the face turn was too subtle for a lot of Porterdale fans to pick up on because they are so used to seeing him play the bad guy. The reason I say this is because I had to explain it to one of the kids in our group who booed him as he came out.

Rick Michaels and Simon Sermon put on a great show. Simon Sermon, as always, looks flashy and fabulous in his glitter lipgloss and hot pink attire. The crowd really got behind Simon this time, and I wonder if more effort was made to establish that he was supposed to be the good guy in this match. After all, who really wants to cheer for "duct tape man"? The people of Porterdale really do not like "duct tape man". Michaels act like he wants to accept Simon's friendship at the end, however, he cements his role as antagonist by attacking Simon instead. Good stuff.

My personal favorite match was the 3 way match between Jay Fury, Casey Kincaid, and Fred Yehi. I don't understand why more people don't rally behind Yehi. The man is pure wrestling talent. He is so fun to watch. I hope one of the major companies realizes what talent he has and snatches him up. I'm not certain that the entire crowd was behind this match. It went on for a while because of its unique stipulation, you had to pin one of your opponents, however they could rejoin the match if you weren't able to pin the other in two minutes time. One group of people started chanting "This is awesome." Another group of people in response chanted, "This is Boring!" My response to "This is Boring!" was "No, it's not!"

I'll talk about De La Vega and Najasism next. De La Vega is a happy fun loving face. I like his attitude. I really loved the fact that his family showed up to support him in their purple and gold attire. He's a great showman. Najasism is so charasmatic that it bugs me not be able to cheer for him. I love his face paint, I love his wrestling. I hate his current character because I'm supposed to. He turned on his best friend, and for that he is the worst kind of villainy and scum. But I miss Najasism as a good guy because he really is that cool. I was sad to see De La Vega lose his hair because it was his trademark. I think he is capable of rocking a bald head for a while though.

Something tells me this only part one of this review as it seems to be running pretty long. I will post the rest tomorrow. See you all later peeps.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Open letter to Avondale PCW fans and talent

To PCW/Empire Avondale

I am very sorry your show is ending, and I understand the sadness you feel because you've poured so much love, time, and energy into it for the past three years. I really wish I'd found out about PCW/Empire sooner, so I could have witnessed more of the magic that you all have talked about so much in the last few weeks. I know I would lament if our shows in Porterdale were ending, even though they've only been going on a short time.

El Phantasmas, Jonathan Williams, Team All You Can Eat, and anyone else that is in the core group of PCW Avondale fans and supporters, without your unwavering devotion to the company, our shows in Porterdale may not exist at all.

PCW/Empire Porterdale does have a great group of devoted fans that make the show a priority. We are still in the process of becoming a community, but with time I think we can be a close knit "family" of fans who all gather in support of  a good time and good wrestling. I feel there is a place for all of the hardcore Avondale fans in this community, and I hope in time you can come to see Porterdale as your home for wrestling.

I realize that our crowd is very different from yours. I realize we are largely made up of families with children. I realize that our crowd is probably more comfortable with traditional wrestling and that your show is more experimental. Both types of fans are necessary to make the organization better, and we have a lot to learn from each other. 

I trust that our shows will continue to be good because I do not believe that anyone with Stephen Platinum's talent and ability would leave his company in the hands of someone who didn't understand his vision. Our shows draw a reasonable size crowd and can continue to grow, but we really need the support of Platinum's hardcore fans right now.

Allie and fans from PCW/Empire Porterdale

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sacred Ground Chapter 3 is coming up next Saturday, and one match on the card has me thinking. That is the bout between Rick Michaels and Simon Sermon.

 Rick Michaels is not popular in Porterdale. The audience boos him every chance they get, and they make fun of his ring attire calling him "duct tape pants".

He has a long standing feud with the openly gay and openly flashy Simon Sermon. Simon Sermon is known to wear a pink velvet cloak to the ring, and he also wears glittery lipgloss. I found out from talking to various people that he normally wrestles as a bad guy, but in our show he is supposed to be a good guy. In Avondale, women love him and he kisses men on the cheek as he enters. The audience can't get enough of his antics.

A few weeks ago in Porterdale,the audience refused to get behind him. They instead chose to cheer Michaels who previously they couldn't stand. I'm sitting in the audience. I'm trying to drum up support for him. My husband, my son and I are the lone voices in the crowd cheering for Simon Sermon. Why did the crowd all of a sudden get behind Rick Michaels? My opinion is that they didn't want to cheer for the "gay" guy.

I've only seen Sermon wrestle in Porterdale three times. I enjoy watching him. I find his ring attire and mannerisms to be a mockery of the over the top stereotypes attributed to homosexual men. I think he's embraced these in order to prove the point that he doesn't care if he's loved or hated, he's simply going to be who he is. I love him for this.

I know not everyone is narrow minded when it comes to issues of equality of race, gender, and sexual orientation. But it made me sad to live in a community where even though he wrestled that way, a gay man could not be seen as a hero.

I don't know if they will change the roles in the match at Sacred Ground Chapter 3 to have Sermon as a bad guy and Michaels as a good guy based on the perception of the crowd during their last match in Porterdale, but it is a shame if they have to.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Why I love Independent Wrestling


Sept 19 2012

 

Why I love independent wrestling.

 

                On May 19, 2012 I attended my very first independent wrestling show in Porterdale, GA. My mother knew that my husband, son and I were all huge WWE fans, and she thought this was something we’d enjoy. That night I fell in love with the Atlanta based promotion Platinum Championship Wrestling. I decided that I would stop spending the $50 monthly fee for WWE PPV’s and instead spend it on tickets to PCW shows on the first and third Saturday of every month.

                A friend of mine recently said that he’d prefer to watch WWE on television for free than spend $10 in order to attempt to get into something he wasn’t certain he’d like.  I love WWE and TNA. I still watch them weekly. I occasionally scream at my tv. Ian, Justin, and I have definite favorites in both. I don’t know that if I attended a WWE or TNA live show that I’d feel like I was part of their community. I’m certain I would enjoy myself, but it wouldn’t be the same. I’d be in a cheap balcony seat watching the action on a screen with no hope of meeting my favorite superstars.

I like going to PCW shows because I like being right there in the mix, in the action. I like it when the heels come up and say stuff right in your face. I like the high fiving faces and the photo sessions, autographing, and semi-organized merch booths they try and put together. It makes me feel like I'm really part of it rather than just being a passive observer. If it weren’t important for wrestling fans to feel involved in the action, then WWE wouldn’t be pushing their social media so heavily, and they wouldn’t be calling fans the “WWE universe”.

I like knowing who will be first in line as we line up outside our “arena”. I use “arena” loosely as the Porterdale performance space was once a restaurant that now has a small area for a ring and wooden benches lining the walls. I like listening to the middle school kids right in front of us prepare their best smack talk for the heels. My four year old son and the other kids stage pretend matches as they wait for the doors to open. It is getting to a point where the crowd mostly knows each other and everyone engages in conversation outside about who their favorites are and what they expect from tonight’s card.

I’ve attended every Porterdale show since May 19th including the giant July 4th spectacular. I’ve only attended 2 of PCW’s shows in Avondale Estates, and though those are ending soon, I feel the same sense of community there as I do in Porterdale.

Probably every independent wrestling show in the country has the same sense of community among its regular patrons. I attended a show by Anarchy Wrestling  in Cornelia GA in July, and the crowd felt much the same as Porterdale. Whole families came out for an evening’s worth of entertainment, and as I listened to a grandmother talk about her favorite wrestlers to her grandkids in the parking lot. Their studio appears to be an old church building which they call “the church of Southern Wrestling.”  

Old Time Wrestling Federation did a show in August at Cowboys in Rutledge. The show took place on the patio of the restaurant/nightclub. The wrestling itself was not as good as PCW or Anarchy, however, I enjoyed the crowd. I sat next to two middle school aged girls and their brother who’d never  attended a live wrestling show.  It was fun watching them get into it and try and smack talk at the heels. I am not great at smack talk, but I enjoyed getting into the spirit of it as a good “smark” would. One young fan was celebrating his 11th birthday, and they gave him a steel chair they’d used in a match with all of their signatures on it.

I’m not certain that my experiences are true of all independent wrestling fans or if there is a sense of community at all events held by all promotions. If wrestling fans want to be part of something, they should go check out a local independent show. It truly is the best entertainment value I’ve encountered.