#wrestling narratives

[joncronshawauthor]

Exploring Magic and Myth in the World of Professional Wrestling

In the high-octane, body-slamming world of professional wrestling, where reality and fantasy grapple on the mat, there exists a surprising yet undeniable synergy with the realms of magic and the supernatural. This isn’t just about athletes in spandex throwing each other around; it’s a stage where elements of fantasy often tag-team with physical prowess. Let’s dive into the ring (mind the ropes)…

[clambuoyance]

[DC] doodled these two a lot this week

[animatedjen]

Hi! So I am relatively new to the Jedi games but became so quickly and deeply obsessed, and seeing another user send you a headcanon has inspired me to share one too, because I have no one I can talk about this stuff with IRL, haha. I guess a warning that it's kinda nsfw (like, VERY mildly), so it's TOTALLY okay if you don't want to post this.

Ever since finishing the game I've been thinking so much about Merrin and Cal and how their relationship will change now that they've admitted and embraced the fact that they have feelings for each other. Part of me for a while was thinking maybe Cal had his "first time" with someone he met through the Rebellion in the five-ish years between Fallen Order and Survivor, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it would be more in character for him to uphold the part of the Jedi code that forbids romantic attachments. Like, he was just so focused on fighting the Empire that even when a slight interest in a person did arise within him, he convinced himself that it was not only against the code, but a distraction from the fight. So, he pushed all those feelings away.

This leads me to my headcanon that Cal's first time is with Merrin after the events of Survivor. While I don't have lots of specifics in mind as to when or how it comes about, I imagine that when it does happen, it is the softest, slowest, sweetest first time in the history of first times. I like the idea of Cal, this person who dives headfirst into everything and (as Cameron once said himself) "kind of likes to fight," just being incredibly thoughtful and deliberate and maybe even nervous about allowing himself to be that vulnerable with another person. Like, all these powerful emotions and powerful physical feelings would be overcoming him, and the sheer magnitude of it all would cause him to slow down and ask Merrin to lead the way, and he'll follow, so that he knows he's not hurting her or taking things too fast.

And Merrin, who is always ribbing him and teasing him and having silly banter about who's stronger, who's faster, etc., abandons all of that during their first time and is just purely kind, patient, attentive, and present with him, taking pleasure in taking the lead and cherishing the trust that he's put in her. And when it's over, I like to think they just lay together talking quietly for who knows how long, with Cal holding Merrin tight against him and Merrin tracing her fingers along his skin, maybe along his tattoo or his scars, while they tell each other stories and pretend like they'll never have to get up and leave this wondrous place <3

My offline Star Wars community is pretty small, so it's nice to have people on here to share ideas with :) So glad you enjoy the Jedi games!!

There's a lot of narrative weight to Cal and Merrin: the Nightsister massacre being led by a lightsaber (Grievous), the manipulation from Malicos, the Jedi views of attachment and dark magick. They're both survivors of a war that destroyed their families, and they take turns helping each other heal and grow.

Almost every main character in FO/Survivor is a foil to Cal in some way - but unlike all these fallen Jedi, Merrin looks to the future and finds new purpose while still honoring her past. I think that's something Cal really admires in her.

I love the trust and steadiness that they have together regardless of romantic attraction. Admittedly I haven't read Battle Scars and didn't go into Survivor wanting a relationship for Cal, so I may not be the best person to share intimacy headcanons with?? But I'm supportive of the story Respawn wants to tell, and recognize the weight/importance of their connection when it comes to Jedi 3. These tags on my recent post are kind of where I'm at:

Also Star Wars is very much lacking in the "healthy relationship that LASTS and no one DIES" department so if these two can break the trend, that'd be great 🙌

[eldesperadont]

of the 2015 gaijin Young Lions

Jay was the first to hold the IWGP US championship, Juice the one to finally dethrone him, and Finlay, after chasing it so long but never actually winning it, its destroyer.

David’s been haunted by that belt ever since Jay betrayed him after their match for it. He had to watch Juice, his tag partner and best friend succeed where he failed at, then not even get close to the singles title picture for years (sidelined with injury or only booked for tag matches), and then get betrayed by his partner who straight up steals the title. He’d defeat Juice and keep the title safe till he defeated its champ in a non title match, finally getting his chance and!… fail again. Yeah i’d feel like wanting to destroy the damn thing too.

So thats why i very much enjoy David now being the inaugural champ for its replacement :) kinda tragic that turning evil and getting rid of it was what it took for him to finally get a win over the US title, isnt it :)c

I also like that Finlay got the pin on Ospreay where he couldnt before – as he first broke into the singles division, with defeating Jay in the 2021 NJ Cup (single elimination tournament), he fell short to Will in the semi-final. In 2022s G1 tournament (round-robin situation) he got a win over Will, but in the resulting US title match fell short again. In the quarter finals for the following year’s G1 he’d again be eliminated by Ospreay. That dude’s been a thorn in his side.

oh and I also like that it gives Debbie pathetic heel points cause he had to become his worst self to finally get that win and the title whos predecessor is connected to both his former best friends :3 i hope he sits somewhere and is pissed about Jay and Juice having been right on turning evil

[nevervalentines]

and the sage always smells so pretty [read on ao3 here]

Some days, in Switzerland, Ava and Beatrice take a walk.

**

The trail curves, narrows, forcing Ava to take a side step closer to Beatrice. Between them, their knuckles brush, and Beatrice doesn’t pull away like she used to.

She’s wearing one of her too-large sweaters, the kind Ava steals back at the apartment, rolling up the sleeves around her wrists, smelling like Beatrice’s cheap corner store shampoo and the detergent the two of them share.

[4.1k words of gratuitous wildflower content, light straddling and mud wrestling the way god intended: nun on nun]

[wnightingales]

“Jon Moxley you must have lost your mind.”

“You are the only person I have been thinking about since you left me in a pool of blood and took my International Championship.”

godddddddd orangemox need to kiss already

[cherrymoonvol6]

.

[honestlyvan]

While I don't think it's actually worth sacrificing Saga's ability to deny the power the story has over her, I do kind of think that a twist where Casey was never a real person and Saga was just a superfan of the books all along could have been interesting.

Mostly because she could then inherit fictional!Casey's distaste for Alan, and when people ask about it she tells them Alan "killed her best friend" before refusing to elaborate.

[bongosinferno]

Might only be on episode 3 of True Detective s2, but it's framed like a TTRPG campaign which keeps insisting on individual scenes between PC and dm.

[rustchild]

can you elaborate on the idea that “the only way to win wrestling is to stop wrestling“?

Loooove your analysis <3

Thank you!!

This is going to be a very long ramble while i try to get my ideas together, bear with me.

So, when I say that the only way to win wrestling is to stop wrestling, what i mean is like... fundamentally, in my opinion, wrestling is a tragedy. as a whole, the basic narrative plot of professional wrestling is extremely simple: a lot of people all want the same thing, and only one person(/team) can have it. So one of the rules of the fictional space, in kayfabe, is that the wrestlers will work their assess off trying to get something that most of them will probably never get (a prominent title reign), losing friendships and experiencing horrifying agony in the process.

Then, if you get it, it's inevitable that you'll lose it again. Part of why wrestling is a tragedy is that once a champion gets a belt, the tension underlying their story immediately switches to 'when are they going to lose the belt?' and that builds up until the point when they, yeah, lose the belt and have to start all over again. It's sisyphean. there's no win state where you get what you want and get to keep it.

And then.... career babyfaces who never turn heel are rare. So the chances that you'll make it through that process, over and over again, without losing your integrity and selling part of yourself to the devil are pretty slim! chances are a wrestler will face multiple betrayals, and commit a betrayal or two themself, so you're also going to lose relationships. the narrative demands it. if your medium is fake violence, every story is going to be steered into the ring--which means that every relationship has a nascent potential match inside it. some of my favorite matches have been between people who on some level really don't want to hurt each other, but who have no choice, because the choices they've made and the narrative rules of the space demand it.

Also, in order to keep the tension high, heels have to win. a lot. So a hero, in wrestling, is fighting a losing battle because they have to be in order for the fictional space to stay the self-perpetuating laundry cycle of drama that it is.

And then what? You fight until your body gives out and you get worse and worse until you're forced to give up. You are chewed up over and over again by a story that demands pain in order to continue. The mode of your universe is violence, so the only way to find peace is to leave that universe.

Wrestling is a competition you never actually win, because winning would end the story, and the story is bigger than you and scarier than you and it is being created, constantly, all over the world, by the collective will of thousands of people who may at any point become your enemy. if the thing that the narrative demands you want is nigh untouchable and will be taken from you, the only way to win is to want something else.

There's an old adage about how wrestlers should retire "on their backs," giving the win to new talent and passing some of their collected audience goodwill over to a rising star. Which is really cool from an industry perspective! but also it hammers in that the inevitable end state of a wrestler's career is loss.

Obviously there are exceptions to this. AEW's mentor system is actually a really interesting and innovative way to gentle the end of a wrestling career and allow for interaction with the fictional space without the narrative pressure. Of course, because the story must go on, we're probably going to see a lot more betrayals of and by mentors in the coming years. it's what the story demands.

[tomwambsgans]

can't wait for the inevitable third scene to bookend the parallels of [tom shoving greg to the ground for talking about shiv's affair] and "come on, wrestle me to the ground" where greg snaps and actually does wrestle tom to the ground until they're tangled in each other side by side at the bottom of a hill princess bride-style all covered in grass and leaves and then they ki

[unintentionaloracle]

Lord I hate that I'm all worked up about this stupid thing. And like what if Seth ain't freaking cleared by Mania?

Also DOES THIS MEAN BAYLEY'S NOT GETTING HER MAIN EVENT!?

[sisterdivinium]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/F, Gen Relationship: Jillian Salvius/Mother Superion Characters: Mother Superion (Warrior Nun), Jillian Salvius Additional Tags: Vincent and Duretti are mentioned in an unflattering light

"Her hand had trembled, holding tight at the base of the blade hiding in her cane — not out of hesitation, but of anger. However she struck the bastard down, it would still be too swift, too clean, too quick for the Judas." Even the right choices can cast odious shadows on conscience, Mother Superion finds, her blood not yet ceased to boil with a vengeance denied...

[christiancagesupporter]

all my favourite wrestling ships right now have such a tragic middle section where at one point they were “meant to do this forever” like Steenerico or Kyle and Adam . They even got signed to the wwe at the same time just one of them were told no and the other one became a star. They followed the same career trajectory and then one of them took a nose dive while the other reached the moon.

[stonecoldsilly]

dimension 20 but this time it’s oops all brain slugs - the unstoppable rise of the house of frangus, the new empire of the mentaphagian dynasty conquering nations and planets and civilisations to save their species and outrun their very own biology, a GOT/Dune style epic spacenoir political drama with ramifications that could shatter the known borders of the colonised galaxy and alter the very fabric of spacetime itself…

but it’s all teeny tiny slugs yelling at each other and piloting their meatsuit mechas into worse and worse trouble both internally and externally every episode ahhhh

[supakixbabe]

Hi, I’m Laura and I overanalyze pro wrestling to fit my kinda gayish narrative or to fit some narrative that I believe is 100% true (in kayfabe).