#wrestling primer

[blacktofade]

hi hello! i’m trying to get into wrestling, thanks in part to your excellent fics, & im not sure where to start—do you have any advice? should i just watch the next match & catch context where i can?? i’ve seen the hookhausen primer, but beyond that i don’t know much of the Lore…what do you think?

Thank you again for your patience while I was out of town and couldn't answer this! I'm now ready to settle down and show my whole ass and admit I don't really have any good advice, but what I'm about to talk about will be specific to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which is trying (and succeeding imo) to be WWE's younger, more hip sibling.

I'm gonna stick this under a cut because this is a stupidly long reply to your question. And I'm also gonna refer to a generic "you" as I'm hoping this will help other people who are thinking about hopping onboard.

The first trick to enjoying wrestling is by following your pussy (or pussy equivalent). The second trick to enjoying wrestling is finding one or two people to scream at. I don't speak for everyone (obviously), but I've randomly messaged so many people in fandom and they've all been happy to yell about our favorite clowns at the circus.

(For anyone reading this, my messages are always open, or you can find me on discord @ blacktofade#2949. Just know that I have every notification turned off and I will see things when I see things lmfao)

For me, getting into wrestling (again, specifically AEW) went: reading fic on AO3 -> watching some content of one specific wrestler on YouTube -> watching what I could of the AEW weekly schedule -> finding more wrestlers I liked and reading more fic on AO3 -> rinse and repeat.

There's too much lore (and often content) to feasibly digest it all as a new fan, so don't sweat it. Just have fun watching what you have time for and figure out who you enjoy most. Just remember that you're allowed to like anyone for whatever reason. We're all just here for a good time.

Also, most of the lore is hand-wavy at best. Most match promos are basically one person going "you did my man dirty by looking to the east on a wednesday at 5pm, therefore I have no choice but to fight you" and the other person says "yeah okay let's settle this in Ohio in a week like adults". Just go with it. Sometimes even with context, shit just doesn't make sense. Your job is to sit there going "yeah! kick their ass!" and to love every camp minute of it.

The great thing is that a lot of matches are on YouTube. Just search "[wrestler name] match" and you'll most likely find 10 years of content waiting for you. Pick at random. Don't try to go chronologically, or you'll drive yourself insane. See a thumbnail that interests you? Click it.

If you're lucky, you'll pick a wrestler who vlogs a lot (looking at you, Mr. Danhausen) and you'll be introduced to other wrestlers by association.

My favorite thing is watching two people wrestle on one of the AEW shows, and then looking them up later and finding out they had a major feud between 2010 and 2014 on three different continents and I'm very late to the party. This is part of the fun. Their history plays as big (or as little) a role as you want it to. You make the rules for your wrestling adventure. Anyone who says differently is a huge fucking nerd and you can tell them I'll meet them in the parking lot after school.

Now, for actual helpful info on how to literally watch wrestling:

When/Where to Watch?

Wrestling nights are every night Mon, Tues, Wed, and Fri with the following schedule:

Mon – Dark Elevation on YouTube @ 7pm EST (midnight UTC) Tues – Elevation on YouTube @ 7pm EST (midnight UTC) Wed – Dynamite on TBS @ 8pm EST (1am UTC) Fri – Rampage on TNT @ 10pm EST (3am UTC)

The Mon and Tues shows are the easiest to watch since they're on YouTube and you can watch them whenever you want after they air. They usually save the meatier matches for Wed and Fri and there are plenty of ways to watch those while sailing the seven seas 🏴‍☠ and I definitely won't share info about these if you message me...

It took me the longest time to figure this out, but they film the YouTube matches on the same days as Dynamite/Rampage (which are live shows). For example, an episode of Dark might be filmed on Friday, but won't air until the following Tues. Which is why you might see the same outfits or people in the crowds, and also why you might see spoilers on socials from people who were there in-person for Dynamite/Rampage.

Live shows have a post show for people there in-person, too. It's typically along the lines of "let's bring out this wrestler and you can clap and they will tell you they love you". Sometimes, it's a lil extra kayfabe beef between wrestlers. And sometimes, very kind people record these and put them online for us to gobble down. Would definitely recommend searching YouTube or Twitter on weekends after shows.

Throughout the year, they also have Pay Per View (PPV) events, which are additional-cost shows typically on weekends and they're like 5 hour of pure nonstop wrestling for $50. They're a blast. Highly recommend if the brainrot is eating you alive.

Independent Wrestling?

I have dabbled only slightly outside of AEW, but for $10/month, you can get a subscription to IWTV (Independent Wrestling TV, not to be confused with Anne Rice's masterpiece lmfao), which has an insane amount of matches, an excellent search engine, and a video player that isn't pure trash.

This is a particularly fun investment once you've started to get to know the general AEW roster, because familiar faces pop up EVERYWHERE.

Finding Matches?

One of the hardest things is trying to figure out where to begin with finding matches for a specific wrestler or team.

CAGEMATCH is the single most important wrestling resource on the internet. Hands down.

You can search for any wrestler and it will compile a neat little list of every single match they've ever participated in. It will also tell you who won, how long the match was, where/when the match took place, and usually where you can (pay) to watch it. This can be extremely helpful for 1) writing fic and 2) finding lore between wrestling characters.

WTF is Kayfabe?

This also took me way too long to figure out, but kayfabe is the act of pretending what happens in the ring is real (real fights, real beef, real characters, etc). They're not doing fancy stunt work, they're actually kicking the shit out of each other. Most interviews are kayfabe compliant as they sit there and go "yes, on wednesday I will be murdering my enemy live on stage". It's very fun.

The "not kayfabe compliant" tag on AO3 is typically used when the fic uses shoot names (aka real names). For example, Donovan vs. Danhausen, Jim vs. Orange Cassidy, etc.

Fandom Etiquette?

Wrestlers are often easy to interact with, whether it's here, or Twitter, or Twitch. Don't. Don't even look in their direction if you're posting about ship-related content. Don't send them links. Don't @ them. If you want to keep your space safe, block them and stop them from seeing your content.

On AO3 you can lock your fic to give an extra layer of protection (and sometimes some cunt will send an ask to a wrestler here on tumblr telling them specifically how to get around it lmfao). Do what makes you feel comfy. I leave mine open because if anyone finds it, that's between them and god. I also haven't felt shame since the 90s.

ANYWAY. TL;DR: there are many ways to get into wrestling, but I hope you have fun on your wrestling adventure because that's the important thing.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

PS: For anyone who wants the Hookhausen Primer, you can find it HERE.

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

We Are and the evolution of Thai BL tropes

The QL discord started a rewatch of My Engineer a few weeks ago, and damn, has it been an interesting experience. At the time I originally watched My Engineer, there was little that stuck out to me, because so much of what happened felt so incredibly common in a lot of the (admittedly rather limited) number of BLs being produced. It felt like pretty standard fare.

But going back and watching it in juxtaposition with We Are airing has been so fascinating. This genre has been evolving, y'all.

As much as we all joke about always getting more university BLs, there is something to be said for a format that can be used as something of a metric for the genre. And though there's only four years between My Engineer and We Are, seeing them both at once gives me such an incredible appreciation for the direction the genre is going in, the impact of having more queer voices involved in the creation of QLs, and how there's a lot of good we can find in seemingly simple spaces.

Obligatory disclaimer: This is just my perspective and subjective interpretation of what I have seen as a BL viewer of some time; also I don't have time to go in and do a university deep dive, so this isn't a real analysis, but more of a brief writeup of observations.

Trends are not black and white, of course, there is a spectrum. I'm sure we'll suffer through more Dinosaur Loves. At the same time, having such predominant production companies as GMMTV putting effort into hiring queer creatives and subverting old cliche tropes is an encouraging thing. (Especially as they were the creators of the original university trendsetting BL with Sotus).

Note: For newer QL viewers, I highly recommend @absolutebl for brushing up on trope history. For university BLs in particular, this post and this post are great starting primers.

Let's talk tropes!

Ok, one more note - some tropes are being what I would consider subverted, some more adapted to a newer framework, and some just played with - I'm going to talk about how they appear to me, but I'm not going to be super pedantic over it, because this is just for fun.

Trope: Bullying/hazing behavior

This did not age well in My Engineer, and I would guess hasn't aged well in a number of BLs (and other media, because the whole "he's mean to you because he likes you" bullshit has been around forever). Not just because the behavior was shitty, but because it was played off in the script as cute, and implied that it was completely justified for the seme to do whatever he wanted in his pursuit of his uke.

(There was also quite a strong tone of internalized homophobia, with the lead feeling more comfortable in expressing his interest through harassment than honest emotion, but the show never actually engaged with that in any meaningful way.)

We Are sets up a very traditional enemies to lovers/bullying start to the story, with Phum taking advantage of Peem's economic situation to make him his "slave".

And yet... there's some important elements here that make this more than the standard use of the trope.

Phum keeps it pretty light in his bullying behavior, and clearly is using it more to keep Peem around as company, versus the kind of bullying in My Engineer, where Duen is literally hit by a car, and yet still expected to keep jumping to Bohn's whims.

As soon as Phum realizes he really upset Peem by leaving him waiting at the mall, he genuinely feels awful about it. It's clear that his intent is not to cause harm, and that he has a conscience. He wrestles with his feelings on it quite a bit, and it ends up being the thing that gets Phum to finally express an honest emotion with Peem.

And most importantly, the script does not let him off the hook. His behavior is bad, and is identified as such by the writing. Peem pushes back and is shown to be right to do so, Beer openly says he disapproves.

So instead of a cliche story beat that's used just to start the action, or a seme who's allowed to do whatever he wants because "passion" (blech), we're seeing it used for characterization, giving us important beats about who both Phum and Peem are in how they engage with each other through the use of the trope.

Trope: Obsessive/jealous behavior

Oh, this one was painful in My Engineer. Duen couldn't even talk to another human being without Bohn getting jealous and angry and dragging him away.

Phum gets jealous, particularly around Kluen, but what makes it feel so subversive here are two key things.

Phum's jealousy has a purpose here, it's not just for drama's sake. It's not the cliche seme doing whatever he wants and being treated as justified. It's deliberately being used to explore his insecurities, and give him a challenge to overcome. Phum doesn't stomp over and drag Peem away, he retreats, he hides. When his jealousy causes him to lash out at Peem, he is immediately aware he fucked up.

And again, the script is making it clear that this behavior is not ok. Peem chides Phum when he acts unkind to Kluen, and Beer makes it clear that the solution is not petty behavior, but actually figuring out a way to communicate his feelings with Peem before he misses his chance. This is portrayed as a barrier for Phum to overcome in order to be with Peem, not an expected part of a romantic relationship.

Trope: Friendship group

There are not enough words to express how much I love the friendship group in We Are. To be fair, this is one of the better historical tropes. We've gotten a lot of amazing friend groups, even in mediocre BLs.

But it's still different in We Are, for one simple reason. In most university BLs, the friend group is a supporting structure. But here?

The story lines may be about the romance, but the point of We Are is the friendship.

I will die on this hill, y'all.

I don't have enough time to go into it fully here, but this show is a love letter to friends. It's a tribute to finding the people who see the real you and have your back unconditionally. Who cheer your successes and commiserate over your defeats, who pick you up when the world knocks you down, who call you out when you make mistakes, and push you to be better.

And romance is lovely, but all of these budding relationships are about being friends first, and then lovers, because that friendship is just as important as everything else, if not more.

Trope: Pink milk

Lol, ok, kinda kidding, kinda not. I know we all got mad over the drink wastage, but also check out these visuals - it's about diversity baby!!

TanFang speed round

My two little trope-busting bebes. These two are already so beautifully non-traditional in their composition, but I love how frequently they are used to make fun of and play with tropes just on their own.

Introduced as pining crush/friend's older brother pair, but actually secret enemies to lovers.

Grumpy/sunshine pairing, where the sunshine used to be a fighter, and grumpy smiles when he thinks no one is watching.

Wound-tending where they keep poking each other instead of acting soft.

Openly mocking the jealous boyfriend trope.

Setting up the possessive trope when Tan doesn't pick up Fang's calls, only to immediately have Fang question if he's being unreasonable.

Setting up their own cute eating scene for kicks.

"First time" sex scene making it clear this is anything but their first time.

Tan holding Fang down in the cliche possessive pose, only for Fang to take the agency of kissing Tan. (And overall saying eff off at the cliche top/bottom roles old BLs were such a fan of).

In Summary

I'm sure there are more tropes that will come to me, and we do still have 5 episodes left of We Are, so there are some potential trope uses that I am keeping an eye on. This is by no means an all-inclusive list.

But I wanted to write this, because I was genuinely shocked to realize how different my My Engineer watching experience was this time compared to my first time. How over the last few years I'd come to expect more thoughtfulness in my QL media, even in the ones that seem shallow on the surface.

Considering how fast and furious the QLs are coming these days, it's easy to forget how recent it was that we were much more starved of content. And I think sometimes we forget to take in the big picture, of how far we've come in just a few years.

Critique is always going to be important, of course, it's part of what helps us make progress. At the same time, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to look around and see some good in where we are.

@sailorbryant thanks for the push to get this written! Feel free to add thoughts!

[necromox]

Wrestling as an allegory for queer desire, as told through Richard Siken quotes

A Primer for the Weird Soft Loves//Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out//The Dislocated Room//The Torn-Up Road (x2)//Wishbone

[oh-sewing-circle]

“The Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Ladies They Talk About (1933) seemed, on the surface, to be in the vein of tough Warner exposés and crime dramas, with Stanwyck as a bank robber doing time at the women’s wing of San Quentin. However, after an opening sequence so realistically recreating a robbery that censors feared it could be a how-to-primer, the movie lapsed into Midnight Romance fantasy. Instead of grim prison conditions, Stanwyck’s jail time resembled a stay at a health spa, with glamorous inmates, beauty treatments on demand, and a laid-back air. The only grittier touches (besides Stanwyck’s ingrained Brooklyn moxie) were incidental, such as the inmates yelling ‘New fish!’ when Stanwyck first arrives, and a black inmate talking back ferociously to an imperious white prisoner. Another jailbird in this glossy clink is a muscular woman with close-cropped hair and a cigar clamped in her mouth. ’She likes to wrestle!’ Like the other inmates, this one is spared the dreariness of prison grooming, being permitted instead to wear the standard Hollywood Dyke getup of a tailored outfit and little bowtie. ‘Mmmmm . . . . hmmmm!’ air. Later, less expectedly, we see this butch prisoner’s femme other half. The camera pans across the cells to take in after-hours vignettes that never occurred in any real-life jail, including a slumber party in lingerie, an inmate cuddling a Pekingese, and the butch woman doing an exhibition round of calisthenics. Wearing a pair of man’s pajamas and with the cigar still in her mouth, she goes through her paces to the delight of a frilly girlfriend sitting in the bed next to her. ‘You’re just always exercising!’ the femme marvels. Ladies They Talk About received numerous complaints through the Studio Relations Committee about the robbery scene, about the violence and discussion of prostitution. Only in strict Ohio, however, did the lesbianism cause any problem; Roth’s ‘wrestle’ line was cut. So it remained over the succeeding decades, when women’s prison movies were one of the few places onscreen where lesbians were allowed to exist openly. This one is one of the first."

-From Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall by Richard Barrios

[aerodaltonimperial]

the junglecorpse story primer

so i've been pretty obsessively cataloguing everything between them in my last year or so of being in AEW fandom, and since they are my Hyperfixation™️, i thought i would put together a little primer for the people who may not have been spending every waking thought thinking about the chemistry these two end up having with each other and how their story has played out. there's some videos in here that are fun watches and hopefully this adds a little bit to the knowledge bank!! (i love wrestling so much lol)

2019//

as far as we can tell, their first time ever wrestling was in 2019, which is what we like to call "the lost 2019 bar match," on february 24, 2019, at the high hat in los angeles. when we say lost, we literally mean lost. i would cut off my left arm to get a video of this damn match-up. the only video we have is a short bit from when they were hitting each other with empty water bottles, shown here. (tumblr won't let me embed these links without crashing.)

there's also one photograph of this match, posted on instagram, by a wrestling photographer:

according to cagematch, darby won this match. given how many people in that crowd have phones out, i cannot BELIEVE that we haven't been able to hunt down the rest of the videos, but here we are, crying into the abyss that we can't find this. someone has it. name your price lol. i'm very open to negotiation.

2020 //

the only thing that 2020 had in it was another "lost match," this time from the jericho cruise, so we hate jericho even more for refusing to video the matches there so we can see them when we do not have $5k to go on this trip. but this one is just a 3 v 3 match, where private party and darby beat jurassic express (jack, lucha, and marko). probably not life-changing, but i still want to see it, as a completionist.

2021 //

by 2021, they had both been in aew for several years and were settling in. darby had the TNT belt, and jack was working up through both the singles division on his own, and the tag division with luchasaurus. surprisingly, they never matched up on their own! but in april of 2021, aew asked twitter to pick darby's next opponent for the TNT, and twitter chose jack. this is where things get interesting.

darby makes a promo talking to jack about the match that gets posted on darby's twitter here and reposted to aew's twitter here. (the link doesn't work to the video anymore, but don't worry, i backed it up on my yt account because i knew twitter would implode eventually.)

this is the first time, that we can find, that anyone has gone after the "if you stop being such a goodie two-shoes, you could be great" angle with jack. this promo actually pre-dates christian cage even joining AEW (he would join in the next month or two)! but this thread remains pulled alongside jack's next several years of kayfabe stories, so it's worth pointing out that darby may have been the first person to use it.

video link to youtube

jack makes a follow-up video for this and it gets posted on aew's twitter, and as luck would have it, that tweet no longer exists. i'm not sure where it went, to be honest. it wasn't much except "i've proven myself" and "my record is great now." it's worth noting that neither of them tag the other in their promos, which makes me laugh. darby calls jack "jungle jack," which also makes me laugh.

they have their 2021 match, which is amazing, and don't worry, i also have that video link, so if you'd like to watch it, the full thing lives here. after this, darby loses the TNT belt to miro, and jack wins the battle royale after throwing christian cage out of the ring. important story beats for both of them.

2022 //

in 2022, they end up on the same side of a 6 v 6 match that i'm assuming was kind of just random match-ups, on june 1st at the kia forum. we've watched it, because of course we have, but it wasn't anything particularly interesting haha. however, in january of 2022, jurassic express wins the tag belts. they hold them until that summer, when they lose them, and christian turns on jack. lucha then also turns on jack. jack's heel turn gets majorly delayed due to christian's injury that takes him out through the whole end of the year. at the end of 2022, junglehook starts up after hook comes out to save jack from getting the shit beat out of him (this is the start of his heel turn).

2023 //

and then we get to 2023, the year that i was watching and promptly lost my mind, because we got the pillars storyline! right before this, jack beats christian in the coffin match, which finishes that particular aspect, but it butts right up to the pillars stuff. i've waxed poetic for like 4k about how jack was supposed to be a heel in the pillars story, but everything got delayed due to christian's injury, and they had to run him as a face for this because too many people were involved, and that's not really the point here, but it sure makes a lot of the decisions made in the pillars story fucking unhinged as shit lol.

i've made a video for the junglecorpse moments in the pillars storyline that is here if you have 23 minutes to experience the absurdity of what they chose to do here.

but abridged version is that jack and darby have to team up for the pillars tag match, and don't seem to get along well. they run a full thing where mjf asks jack to betray darby (so they lose) and jack gets up in his face, and then darby walks in to see it. after this, darby comes out for jack (and sammy comes out after) to save him from LFI killing him after jack beats rush.

prior to their tag match, they run this promo with the two of them, where darby references the lost 2019 bar match (DOES HE ALSO SIT AND THINK ABOUT IT FOR HOURS??? LIKE I DO???) and also mentions that they would probably be friends if they weren't wrestlers, which is worth holding onto lmao.

in the actual pillars PPV 4-way at double or nothing, they run a large segment of jack having the belt and a clear shot to take darby out with it (and win) and he doesn't end up doing it. they make a big thing out of it. this is insane given that a month later, jack turns on hook at forbidden door 2023 and eventually takes the FTW off him. i wish to speak to whoever thought this was normal. he couldn't cheat to beat darby, who he supposedly doesn't even like, for the world championship, but can betray his best friend for an unsanctioned belt a month later??????? this makes me insane. don't touch me chompie.

also worth mentioning is jack tweeting this during the storyline, with nothing else attached to it. merry early christmas to me. (jack tends to post a single photo for important story beats, with no text on it. he's done this for quite a number of things within the last few years. weird that he did that here, when they had one tag match together.)

2024 //

and that bring us to this year! jack is back in AEW after his unjust and sad-making time out. anarchy in the arena happens at double or nothing 2024, and jack and darby spend 75% of the match beating each other up alone backstage. jack hits darby with the bus, darby sets jack on fire. it's lovely.

if you haven't seen the video that leaked of jack preparing for the fire spot in the early part of 2024 with a stunt team, it's worth watching. (no sound)

darby is out again to recover since i don't know how he managed to get clear for AITA in the first place, and then he comes back with an obsessive single-mindedness to call out jack perry by beating up brandon cutler. jack then also beats up brandon cutler in the strangest mating rituals i've ever fucking seen lmao. INTRICATE RITUALS!!

that's all i've got right now, but hopefully this ends up being a decent overview of all the stuff i tend to reference in my fics. 💚💚💚 sorry tumblr won't let me embed these videos in here, but it kept crashing the draft, so i had to revert them all just to links. homophobia.

[absurdthirst]

Kinktober 2023: October 25th

Day 25: Leather/Rubber/Latex, Daddy/Mommy Dom, Guns/Knives

Mando x F!Reader

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 840

Warnings: Restraints, unbalanced power dynamic, predator/prey, gun fucking, mentions of anal

|| KInktober List || MasterList ||

Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says 'creator chooses not to use warnings'. You also agree that you're the right age to be consuming anything here.

“Hold still.” The down pitched, gravelly voice coming through the vocoder, making your entire body tighten with need. Pulling against the binders that keep your hands above your head, locked to the metal skin of the skip while Mando does what he wants with you. 

“No.” Your breathless whine makes him chuckle, the slow slide of his leather gloves over your skin has shivers running down your spin in anticipation. “Are you going to throw me in carbonite?”

“I should.” He says it so easily but then you know he never would. He wouldn’t dare. “Keep you from running.” 

“You like it when I run.” You challenge him, smirking slightly and trying to hide the way your thighs are trying to press together, but there is a metal clad knee between them. Keeping them pushed apart. 

“I do?” He tilts that visor up, away from where he was focused on your breast and waits. He’s so fucking good at waiting. “So you can catch me again.” You whimper when his hand pulls away, barely grazing your cunt before torturing you by leaving you before you could really feel anything. 

“The chase.” He grunts, the barely exhaled words doing more to you than poetic prose by some who had pursued you. This man barely speaks, sometimes doesn’t move, but he had a hold on you. “The quarry.” 

You whimper, sagging slightly and letting the binders hold up your weight for a moment. Weak kneed at the way he says that. How it burns into your core and makes you throb. His gloves whisper over something, not you, and you hear the slide of metal on leather. A sound you have heard every time he catches you. His blaster.

“You need to stop running from me.” He lectures, but all you can think of is how loud the primer is on his blaster. How it is fine tuned for his grip. Perfectly weighted in his hand and balanced for him. You had held it one, when you had wrestled it away from him and was alarmed at how it felt in your hand. He held it like it was an extension of his body. 

“No, you would miss it.” You huff, nipple tingling in the cold of the cargo bay. Perking when he shuffles closer. “Miss me.” 

“Who said I would miss you?” He murmurs, making your eyes widen at the firm press of icy cold steel between your thighs. The barrel of his blaster, that’s what is touching you. 

Your moan is halfway caught in your throat, a strangled sound that you try to cut off before he hears it. Not wanting to give away how much you like it, but he knows, he always knows. 

“That’s it.” He hums, seemingly amused behind that impassive helmet as he slides the cold metal through your folds. “I know you like this.” 

“F-fuck I do.” you nearly hiss the words, unable to stop the roll of your hips and he chuckles. 

“Seems like you do.” He counters. “Cunt is begging for it.” 

Panting, you shake your head, as if you could deny the way you react to it, but it’s no use. He won’t believe you. You wouldn’t even believe you, the way your hips are chasing the back and forth movement of the barrel, needing it pressed into you more. 

“M-Mando.” 

“That’s it, cyar’ika.” He coos, although the tone is mocking. As if he is making fun of you for liking the feeling of a gun against your clit. “You know that I could kill you. That this blaster is loaded.” 

Biting your lip, your eyes roll back, shuddering and heaving as he steadily pushes and pulls the weapon against your now soaked sex. 

“Cum on my blaster, soak it with your juices.” Mando orders, making you whine and push up against the dangerous end of the weapon even harder. Riding it, and it catches on your entrance, making his hand tilt as the barrel slides inside you. 

You cry out when it pushes deep, unyielding inside you and pushing against your womb. 

“Cum like this.” He grunts, starting to pump the blaster in and out of your cunt with slick, sucking sounds as you grip it with your walls. “Cum like this and we’ll see how quickly you cum on my vibro-blade. 

You wail, the sound echoing around the small ship. The Razor Crest is hurtling through the galaxy, no one close enough to hear you fall apart. Cumming for him so the mandalorian would exchange his blaster for his knife and fuck you with it. Knowing that after he had made you cum like that, you would finally take his cock until you are screaming his name. 

Then you’ll escape again. Leading Mando on a merry chase until the next time he captures you. Maybe he’ll fuck your ass with the grip of his blaster. You moan as he works you through your orgasm. You’ll let him capture you again. It’s only a matter of time with Mandalorians after all. 

[imsorryithurts]

Whumperless Whump Day 1

@whumperless-whump-event

Hello, friends! This is my first entry for the Whumperless Whump Event. I don't have much experience with formatting text on tumblr, so I hope it'll be legible. I am also not an experienced writer, I just wrote down what comes to my mind! If anything is too out of place feel free to tell me (nicely!).

This is set up in my "generic space adventure" setting, if you want a primer on the characters, you can read it here: [link]

Thanks to Seth for setting this up, and without further ado, here's my story.

-x-

Emergency First Aid:

Self-done stitches / Alcohol as sanitizer / “It's just a scratch, I've had worse.

Content warnings: Falling from heights, bruises, lacerations, and stitches.

-x-

“I’m fine, I promise.” Matt took a deep breath, doing his best to keep his voice steady. “It's just a scratch. I’ve been worse.”

It wasn't exactly a lie. He was fine. He has had worse.

He had to admit, though, calling it a scratch was quite the understatement.

“I swear to fucking god, Matt,” Rex’s voice rang distantly through the comm. “If we get there and your leg is missing, I'm ripping out the other one myself!”

“We’ve got your coordinates already,” Roye’s voice came through the speaker much clearer, without much background noise. Matt had to laugh at the possibility that Rex wrestled the comm out of Roye's hand just to threaten him. “We're trying to figure out how to get to you, just don't move, right?”

Matt could tell by his tone that he was serious. Roye was using his “captain voice”. He would be here in seconds, if he could.

“Matt, do you hear me?”

“Yeah,” he picked up his comm with his uninjured arm. “Yeah, I hear you.” He hoped to god this sluggishness wasn't from blood loss.

“Call back if anything happens. We're coming.” There was the noise of a finished call.

Matt sighed and slumped back against the sandy rock formation he was sitting against. The same kind of rock that crumbled under his feet at the mount above, sending him rolling god knows how many meters away. He only didn't curse it because it was providing some much needed support at the moment, and he didn't want to risk losing it because he offended it.

He gathered up some motivation to take stock of his situation again. He took his cracked mask off. The team always made fun of him for wearing the O2 mask even in breathable planets, but it very likely saved him from a broken nose and a couple of mouthfuls of dirt. He set it aside along with his comm, breathing in the fresh, even if slightly too humid air.

He was sore all over, but that's to be expected. His left knee hurt particularly badly, along with his foot that was caught in a root on the way down. Nothing was at a weird angle and he could move his toes inside his boot, so probably nothing was broken. He couldn't tell what was going on with the foot, it hurt way too much to bend his knee in order to remove the boot, and even if he could reach it, the swelling had already settled in, making it hard to remove it on his own. So he settled for leaving the leg outstretched for now, to be given attention once he was back in the ship.

The “scratch”, on the other hand, needed attention now immediately.

Somewhere along the way his right forearm had snagged on something, that something ripping a gash almost from his wrist to his elbow. He had spent the last couple of minutes pushing against it with his jacket to stop the bleeding while trying to relate his situation to the rest of the team. Now that nobody was listening, he allowed himself to groan loudly as he peeled the fabric away from the wound.

Like he said, he’s had worse. Still, it was not pretty. He was lucky enough that the edges weren't too ragged, but it was still long and deep. It had stopped pouring out blood and now it oozed lazily, red filling the entirety of it like a lake.

Matt pressed his jacket against it again, pushing against the sides, trying to mop up some of the blood.

Not pretty might not be a good enough description. Squeezing some of the blood out of it exposed the angry edges around a pit of bright red muscle, lumps of nauseatingly yellow fat tissue clumped around it. 

He poured half of the water from his canteen over it. Blood loss or infection was going to kill him before dehydration anyways. He fished the first aid kit from his backpack, working as fast as he could, if he hesitated, the pain would take over his brain and he’d be scared to do anything so as to not aggravate it.

He held his breath and poured as much antiseptic as he could over his arm. Even if he had been trying to be quiet, he wouldn't have been able to hold back the scream he let out as the liquid touched his exposed flesh, white hot searing pain burning all the way to his bones.

He sat back with his arm outstretched to wait the worst of the pain away and catch his breath. Once he could take a full steady breath in, he retrieved the little suture kit.

It was a good thing he was the one to take that fall. Matt wasn't sure any of his colleagues would manage to properly clean and stitch a wound. Even with guidance over the comm, some of them could have the dexterity to do the stitches, but not the ability to keep calm until more help arrived.

It wasn't until Matt had the needle, thread and hemostat ready he realized that, actually, he had no idea how he would do this either.

His dominant hand was useless to work on this two handed job. He could probably use it to hold something, but there was no way to use it on its own arm.

He better not have a fucking concussion on top of all this.

He steadied his arm between his knees, trying to squeeze it in a way to push the edges of the wound as close together as possible. He was determined to make it up as he went along.

He couldn't get the hemostat to work on his left hand, so he threw it aside and held the needle with his fingers.

He expected the sting of the needle to feel like nothing compared to the agony of the gash, but it aggravated it in a way he had to consider just leaving it alone and take his chances against dying right there. He shakily pushed the needle through the other side of flesh after a couple of deep breaths.

He stared at the thread crossing his open skin. The obvious part was over, now he had to focus to remember all the steps. It was like doing his first stitches on a sponge all that time ago.

Right. Cross the thread. This was the twisty part, right? He missed having the hemostat.

Come on, learning to do something one handed was good, rewiring the brain, keeping it in shape.

He made two loops, moving the thread with his thumb and index, holding it with his pinkie. He pushed the needle through the loops, pulling it with his teeth and holding the loose side of thread, the edges of skin meeting where the stitch tractioned it. Matt let himself whimper at the feeling, both the surface of the skin and muscles protesting at the movement.

He repeated the loops to the other side, cursing when they slipped away from his fingers, but completing the knots of the stitch. 

He snipped the ends of thread, completing the suture. He sighed in relief and admired his work. But then he had to laugh. 

That was one stitch down. There remained… What, about 20?

His comm beeped to life beside him. Isabella's voice came from it. “Hey, Matt, how are you holding up?”

“Fine.” He sighed, forcing his voice not to shake. “My foot is still messed up, so I’m-I’m just sitting here.”

“We're going to leave you bored for a while. We found a path around the bushes, should take a little less than two hours to reach you,” She said, apologetic, but hopeful. “Roye says he’d keep you company if we weren't worried about about battery.”

“Ha, thanks.” He swallowed the lump in his throat, looking at how much he still had to suture, the wound slowly seeping blood into his pants. “I’ll just enjoy a nap, maybe.”

“Sleep well, Matt. We’ll wake you when we get there,” she signed off sweetly.

Matt laid back against the rock, looking at his injured arm. He sighed and forced himself upright. He wiped the blood around it as best as he could. The gash wasn't going to close itself.

He struggled with the next two stitches, but then he blanked out, and when he realized, half of it was already closed up.

It was not a good sign, but he was relieved it was almost done before he noticed.

His hands shook as he completed the next ones, and the needle slipped out of his fingers more than once, but he got there.

He pierced the skin one last time, looped the thread twice, pulled the needle through. Looped twice to the other side, pulled it through. Helping with his teeth. His vision was blurry and his mouth tasted like copper. But he did it.

He snipped the last of the thread, finally. 

He slumped back against the rock, realizing he had been holding his breath. He had to pour some more antiseptic over it, but he couldn't get his non injured arm to move. Needed to drink some water, maybe, but his limbs fell heavily at his sides.

Well, fuck. At least people were already coming. 

His vision started to grey out, and he allowed the fog to take over.

-

He woke up being half carried already.

“I FUCKING TOLD YOU HE WAS HIDING SOMETHING,” Rex shouted beside him. “WHAT DID I FUCKING SAY, I’LL RIP YOUR OTHER ARM APART, YOU IDIOT!”

Matt chuckled. He would have thought the same if the roles were reversed.

He felt his consciousness drifting again. He took advantage of the light hearted moment and the safety of the arms heaving him up, and let it go. He was fine now.

[blizzardsuplex]

Roderick Strong Primer Part I: The Portion About Personal Connection

Part I (you are here) | Part II | Part III | Part IV

[So...I've been jokingly kicking around the idea of doing a series of meta posts on Roderick Strong for a while now. As usual with me, however, one late night conversation with @scissormedaddyass later it no longer stayed a joke.

This will be split into four parts: this one, where I talk about some of my personal experiences concerning his work (and PWG, because I can never get away from that promotion when talking about my faves ever); the second, which will dive into what I know of his history; the third, which will talk about his character arc - yes, even he has one - and finally a match guide, because by God he wrestles real good.

I'm not saying this'll be the most in-depth dive into his character and career in the world (for one I'm gonna miss a lot of early ROH and most NXT things), but until someone else makes one my little offering will have to do. If even just one person comes out of reading this understanding a little better the brainrot I occasionally have for him, then I think I did okay. Content itself under the cut!]

As I am sure absolutely no one who has talked to me about professional wrestling for longer than ten minutes knows, the promotion that made the greatest impact on me in my teen years was 2014 to 2016 Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). Beginning with night one of the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles that took place on August 29, 2014, I saw most of the shows they put out for a decent stretch, getting off the train after All Star Weekend 12's second night on March 5, 2016. It was there I saw the full potential of my first favorite wrestler, Chuck Taylor; there where I was first exposed to both talented up and comers like Speedball Mike Bailey and veterans like Chris Hero; there where I first saw the work of my favorite wrestler ever, Zack Sabre Jr.

In other words, for nearly two years it was my favorite promotion; as people well know, though, even as late as the mid-2010s it was not very easy to watch, and living half a world away with no credit card to pay for exorbitant shipping meant that to keep up to date I had to get extra creative. Knowing that I definitely wasn't going to be able to attend a live event, I followed what was happening as closely to real time as I could though social media posts, forum threads, and the occasional YouTube clips or official preview. As soon as news of the DVD releases dropped on the company's Twitter, I would Google search through pages of trash results for a couple of minutes every day until I found someone who'd uploaded the actual full event in glorious 240p and immediately watch it—more often than not, I knew, it would make my day.

I'm not saying PWG was perfect (God no). In fact, back then I don't know if, had I been more active in wrestling discussion circles, there would have been a safe space for someone like me. Still, spending all that time and effort to keep up and watch it was a really important time for me as a fan. It opened my eyes to how fun and creative pro wrestling could be, especially with the freedom independent status provided; sure, oftentimes it would be dizzying or even dangerous to give that kind of power to the wrestlers, and they lacked the multiple levels of safety and security that proper contracts provided, but there was just so much sheer entertainment I got from spots and shenanigans that would have never be cleared or work with the constraints of sponsors, copyright, or other corporate concerns. Making to suck your opponent's dick in the middle of the ring? An invisible remote that magically makes everyone, including the chanting fans, act in slow-mo? "The legendary asshole of Jushin Thunder Liger"? All hilarious, all fondly remembered. There's a reason that for years my top wrestling dream was to attend a show in Reseda—a dream that'll never be realized, but the Globe Theatre is a beautiful venue that seems to actually have working AC, so that's nice!

But, as mentioned: after Zack won the PWG title, a result I spoiled for myself via Reddit thread with much screaming, I stopped watching. It wasn't that I was any less interested in it—I was very much excited about the prospect of my boy on top, actually! It was simply that, between the sites I used all getting nuked and not knowing how to torrent, I just couldn't find it anymore. So I fell out of watching PWG, then the American and British indies, then NXT and what little main brand WWE I still watched, and finally I didn't watch much wrestling at all for two years, from 2016 to 2018. I only came back, actually, when I found out where my old fave Zack ended up: this large promotion called New Japan…

But that's a ZSJ story, and (as is hopefully clear from the title of this post) this series isn't about him. Instead, let's set the scene:

On July 29, 2016, two events and about four months after the last PWG I'd been able to watch, Roderick Strong had his last indie date before going to WWE. Having watched it back, the entire sendoff is pretty elaborate: after champion Zack fends off his latest challenger, Kyle O'Reilly, in a grueling 20+ minute match, Roddy comes down to the ring and demands his rematch. What follows is a less than six minutes breakneck fuckfest with several run-ins and foreign object usage; but, of course, Roderick loses. Afterwards, inviting his friends then that night's locker room down to the ring, he makes his speech about how in 2014 (which was, of course, the year I started watching) he'd made a commitment to reinvent himself as a wrestler—a move that ended up contributing to him being signed to NXT after a 15+ year career. He's thankful for everything PWG had given him, though (especially his then-fiance, now-wife Marina Shafir); as he says to cap things off, he loves the crowd, doesn't hate them!

Honestly, I wish I watched just two more events than I actually did back then, because it might have made my path to becoming a fan of Roderick Strong way more flattering to me. Instead, I have to admit: after Zack tapped him out for the belt and Roddy slunk off to the back, and for a long time during and after my two year break…I forgot about him.

It's a bit of an awful thing to say and is, on top of that, admittedly hyperbole; I never dumped anything of him in my brain down the memory hole. What I mean is that he never really came to mind unless I thought about it really hard. Even during my lull period, when people asked me about pro wrestling I could talk about my favorite people and my favorite moments and my favorite matches, and Roderick was never really there in anything more than a passing mention. In my defense, at first it was because I was even more of a massive hipster back then than I am now, and since I knew he was in NXT I assumed that when (not if; those were more innocent days) he'd go up to the main roster and get lots of fans he wouldn't need me vocally being one of them. Sure, he was probably going to be misused and I wasn't really going to watch to find out because this was 2016 WWE, but he'd at least get that money and that fame on Raw or Smackdown. Why wouldn't he? He was fucking Roderick Strong, a fantastic wrestler and someone I didn't realize for years people thought was bland as hell. Surely he'd make it. Surely.

But slowly and steadily he began to fade from my thoughts, until it came to the point that even after I started watching prowres again from 2018 and into the pandemic I didn't talk about him at all—even when I began looking back nostalgically on my time watching PWG.

Then, completely by chance, the week I decided to get back into All Elite Wrestling—I watched for a while in 2019, but lapsed during the pandemic era; it was hard enough to watch one major wrestling company with no crowds, much less two—was the week Roddy Strong debuted there. Buoyed by other people's excitement and name recognition, I felt generically happy watching the clips. "Oh, yeah," I said to myself. "Roderick Strong. What's he been doing for the past few years?" 

(Yes, I completely missed his Undisputed Era period, and was shocked at the belated news that he and everyone else in that faction never officially made it to the main roster. Yes, this also means I mostly know what happened thanks to Drea fighting the good fight with all her Era boys fics. No, I don't think I'm gonna watch his NXT run any time soon, LOL.)

After therefore deciding not to really dive into his recent past, I decided to, for the umpteenth time, think about when I first became familiar with him in that era of PWG…and something funny came about. If you're familiar with the trope called "Once More With Clarity", then that's what honest to God happened: eyes wide and memories superimposed above a shot of the aforementioned eyes at around 50% opacity, I realized that so many of my favorite moments and matches had him there the entire time. Person ZSJ won the belt from? Roddy. One of ZSJ's best matches until that point? When Roddy beat him the first time Zack challenged for the title. Speedball's real coming out party with the Reseda faithful? Them answering Roddy's open challenge at Mystery Vortex. That (in)famous, ridiculously overbooked, ridiculously memorable Guerrilla Warfare match at All Star Weekend 11? The heel aggressors was Mt. Rushmore 2.0, Roddy's faction with the Young Bucks and Adam Cole. Even outside of PWG, I ended up finding out he was involved in several other promotions I followed; I saw him several times in EVOLVE for instance, and what little Ring of Honor I watched Mr. ROH himself was, of course, there as well.

I'm probably forgetting something, but here's what I'm trying to get at: the more I combed through my good memories of pro wrestling the more I realized Roddy'd not only always been there, but that he was a key player in them, not just in matches but in the angles as a whole—and, yes, even promos, his forever dump stat. At the time it was all going on, I just…never really noticed him. And that's the story of much of his career, isn't it (at least in kayfabe)? Always considered an excellent hand, but even when he held the big belt he never seemed or felt like the most important person there.

"Okay," I then said to myself those months ago. "So he's a great wrestler. He's in all these great things I like, wrestling-wise. But who is he, really? Is there enough for me or anyone else to chew on from a character perspective?"

The fact I'm dedicating a four part series to this man, along with all the GIFsets and fanfic I've made, might spoil my answer to that. But for now, brave reader who's actually read all of this (or clever reader who's skipped to the end), stay a little in suspense for a bit if you’d like while I write part two. :')

[colossal-niamh]

@reneethejackdaw

Alright I promised it so here’s my top 20 matches

Now a quick heads up, this isn’t just going to be a retread of my 5-star list. That’s more of a list of what I think is the best matches in the world, while this is more matches that I in particular like and/or hold sentiment for me. Though there will inevitably be overlap

Honorable mentions:

Hangman Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson 12/15- This match is basically number 21. this is the best AEW world title match and I love it sooo much but it just barely gets eeked out by the other 20

Asuka vs Ember Moon Takeover Brooklyn 3- one of the best NXT women’s matches and just barely didn’t make the cut. If they were to do this with modern Athena this would soar in my personal rankings Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong 11/4- an excellent finale to Aja's long title chase and her crowning as the new top boss of AJW

Kaientai DX vs Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Masato Yakushiji, Super Delfin, and Tiger Mask 4- great and extremely fun multiman tag and a perfect primer for Michinoku Pro's style

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton 6/24- One of Randy's best matches and probably the best PG era no DQ match. THE LIST: 20. Bryan Danielson vs Kenny Omega, 4/12/09- a cartoonish and lighthearted match before each man went on to dominate the world. This is probably the most farcical match on this list but for good reason. it's an excellent display of both men's comedy chops, crowd work and eventually a sprint of both men's in ring capabilities. I delightful foot note

19. Cody vs Dustin Rhodes, 5/25/19- The Match that made me go "oh yeah, AEW's gonna work." Bar none Dustin's best match as he and his brother honor their late father's legacy by drenching themselves in blood. I know Dustin getting busted open was an accident but it added so much to the sprit of the match.

18. WALTER vs Ilja Dragunov, 8/22/21- This is the best NXT match of all time. A passionate and brutal rematch of their 2020 encounter. Dragunov shows he truly does have that dog in him as with a chest made of hamburger meat and a gash on his forehead, physically clobbers WALTER into submission

17. Steve Corino vs Yoshihiro Tajiri, 5/14- This is probably my most self indulgent pick on this list as I feel a lot of people could be turned off by Corino's racist pre match promo. I justify my liking of this match by going "DID YOU SEE HOW HARD TAJIRI KICKED THAT RACIST FUCK'S HEAD?!" Tajiri gives Corino one of the most satisfying beat downs I've ever seen and it rocks so hard.

16. Tsuruta Gun vs SGA 4/20- best 6-man tag in wrestling history, every participant plays their part perfectly. Tsuruta Gun's monumental hater energy is prevalent in all 3 members, Jumbo's ongoing grouchy ace energy, Taue fighting to prove he belongs with the vets, and Fuchi's the evil old man viciously harassing his younger opponents. Meanwhile Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi are in a constant state of white hot babyface sprit that does not let up the entire match.

15. Rey Misterio vs Eddie Guerrero 10/27- The perfect encapsulation of WCW's cruiserweight division. Eddie clawing and slamming Rey with the viciousness only a rudo like himself can show off. Meanwhile Rey shows of just why he's one of the best underdog babyfaces as he uses everything in his book to counteract Eddie's harsh offence. Special shoutout to Rey's The Sprit gear here as it works with the theming of the PPV and as a visual metaphor for a Luchador's mask being a part of themselves.

14. E&C vs The Hardy Boys vs The Dudley Boys 4/1- WWE's best stipulation match with 3 of their best tag teams ever. TLC 2 is the wrestling equivalent to watching the police car pile up from the end of Blues Brothers. An insane series of mesmerizing car crashes in rapid precession.

13. Akira Taue vs Toshiaki Kawada 4/1- These 2 start their own independent blood feud while inside the bigger blood feud that is Tsuruta Gun vs Super Generation Army. Taue and Kawada go at each other like 2 beta fish in the same tank, fast and violently. Taue in particular does the rare but awesome All Japan blade job. a dark horse in the 4 Pillars cannon

12. Eddie Kingston vs Jun Akiyama 11/19- The proper match itself is a good time and one of Eddie's sleeper hits, but the post match is special to me. Eddie showing respect to one of his all time heroes and that hero showing an equal amount of respect back is the only time a wrestling match made me cry. The exact moment I realized who my favorite wrestler is, hail to the Mad King.

11. KENTA vs Ricky Marvin 10/15- This match is one of the best sprints I've ever seen. The moment Marvin launches himself at KENTA begins 2 minuets of the 2 men throwing the sickest strikes and nastiest bombs I've ever seen. Gets everyone I've shown it to jumping out of their seats

10. CM Punk vs John Cena 7/17- Punk snatches victory from the jaw of a corporation. Punk truly attains his 2nd City Saint nickname and the title of generational talent. Cena's no slouch here either as he does his patented one night stoic heel routine like it's 2006 all over again.

9. Jon Moxley vs Wheeler YUTA 4/6- This is my most biased pick as I was there live in the arena for this, but also it's the best match I've ever seen live, so it evens out. This is the match that convinced me Yuta is a guy to look out for. Jon Moxley initiates Wheeler Yuta into the BCC through blood and carnage. I was physically leaping out of my seat as Yoots bit and clawed his way to meet Mox on his level. While he failed to beat Mox, Wheeler's sheer tenacity proved he deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best wrestlers in the world.

8. Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki 7/18- I lovingly described this match to a friend as "if 2 fridges worked out and hated your chest." Kobashi vs Sasaki is one of the most Dudes Rock matches ever in a medium designed for shit that makes you go Dudes Rock. watch that chop off in the middle of this match and not get hype I dare you.

7. Daniel Bryan vs John Cena 8/18- This is John Cena's best match in his best genre, all timer wrestler sets their legend in stone by surpassing Big Match John. Bryan that this point was, you know, an exceptional technician with a storied career outside of The Fed. But this particular bout cemented him as a star so bright Even the WWE couldn't look the other way as oceans of people rallied behind that little harry hippie.

6. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 6/3- This match is mythical. A short hand for greatest of all time for those in the know. In the early years of their decade spanning war, Toshiaki Kawada throws everything in his arsenal at Misawa. In the face of this offence, the Ace manages to have an all timer comeback. I first watched this while on a plane ride and by the time the match was over I didn't ever realize the plane had landed, I was so enthralled I lost track of time.

5. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 6/6- Buuuut this is my favorite match between the 2. Years later into the feud, Misawa and Kawada have fought so many time and have elevated into a barrage of heavy bombs, stiff strikes and tight grapples. Kawada is an absolute freak at this point, desperate for his first win and eating everything the Ace has in store. Despite all his efforts, the heartbreak sets in as Misawa once again vanquishes Dangerous K. The ending is the same as always but hits hard, Kawada was so close, but victory slips away yet again.

4. The Briscoes vs FTR 12/10- I find it fitting the late great Jay Briscoe's last great match, the last Great Briscoes match, sits atop the heap as the best tag team match. Blood and metal fly. Jay's bleed, Mark's bleeding, Dax and Cash are bleeding. hell even the ref gets in on the blood. A grand farewell to the best team, dead or alive.

3. Terry Funk vs Atsushi Onita, 5/5- This match is a beautiful as it is violent and boy, is it violent. Onita and Funk slug each other as their bodies are pelted with explosions as the hit real barbwire. The battle makes these great transitions as it goes from all out hatred to desperation as the clock winds down, then finally one of the grandest acts of kindness I've ever seen in a match. Onita, realizing Funk will get caught in the explosion, show his foe some humanity and shields his near lifeless body from the final bomb. The best ending to any match I've ever seen

2. Shinobu Kandori vs Akira Hokuto, 4/2- This. Is. War. Hokuto and Kandori go at each other from minute one with unparalleled animosity. They're snappy, they're agile, they are vicious. Kandori's murderous submission holds, Hokuto's brilliant dives and bombs, THAT TOMBSTONE ON THE TABLE. Undoubtedly the greatest women's match ever, no chance of it being topped.

Kenta Kobashi vs Samoa Joe 10/1- The perfect dream match. 2 of the best to ever do it, at the hottest time for the promotion, at the zenith of both men's careers. Kobashi is fresh off his legendary reign of fire with the GHC heavyweight title. Joe's in that mythical period of his career where he's the best wrestler who ever lived. It is 2 unparalleled greats colliding likes stars, and the explosion is spectacular

[bfpnola]

Caste isn’t limited to our particular South Asian homeland, it migrates, too. Caste is embodied by all of us diasporic South Asians, regardless of ethnic, national, linguistic, religious, sexual, or political affiliation. Thus it is all of our responsibility to interrogate our privilege. For far too long we have watched caste re-emerge and settle in our new geographies. We have shied away from discussing caste in diaspora. And most importantly, we have let this silence allow South Asian diasporic movements to erase caste from their intersectional analysis. But this ends now.

For radical South Asians, this is the moment to include caste into your intersectional analysis. This is the time to begin the long, complicated conversation of  taking caste into account. This is not a conversation that happens at the end of a meeting. This is not where having a Dalit friend gives you a free pass not to recognize your own caste privilege. And if this article makes you feel like this is not meant for you because you are not a Brahmin, then this article is especially for you. For caste has internal, interpersonal and institutional effects. And every caste is implicated in maintaining its hegemony. Yes, every caste. It is only when we actively challenge caste together that we have a chance to end it in our lifetime. But for this to happen, we need to name, see, and reckon it for what it is first.

It is only when we actively challenge caste together that we have a chance to end it in our lifetime.

Most importantly, it does not end just by simply reading this article — you have to commit to wrestle with these ideas and then put what you read into practice.

Dalits, Bahujans, and Adivasis have so far been the only ones to raise the issue of caste. Just because we bear the brunt of the violence of this system it does not mean it is only our problem. Caste is, in fact, a structural problem. Therefore, it needs structural solutions that are grounded in collective and inclusive actions to dismantle it. It is time that those who are Savarna, or Upper-caste, begin to learn to name and own their privilege and take on the burden of educating and dismantling caste in your own families and social networks. For the hardest work is to confront those that are closest and most intimate to you in your personal and professional lives. In fact, this is where really allyship begins. This is the point when complicated conversations begin. It starts when you become the uncomfortable voice laying bare the privilege to the social locations from where caste trickles down from: your friends, family, and professional colleagues. It begins when you break the silence of your own privilege.

—

🚨 want more materials like these? this resource was shared through BFP’s discord server! everyday, dozens of links and files are requested and offered by youth around the world! and every sunday, these youth get together for virtual teach-ins. if you’re interested in learning more, join us! link in our bio! 🚨

[oplishin]

hey, I’m really enjoying your charlotte flair/becky lynch fics! I don’t know a lot about them though and I haven’t seen any primers or descriptions of their whole deal or things like that that I’ve seen for other feuds/pairings. I’m not asking you to make one, that would be a huge amount of work, but I’m curious about your favorite charlynch moments!

hi anon! :D lucky for you i love rambling.

charlynch guide

kind of a timeline w/ a lot of rambling discussion of moments i like. i'm sure i left out a bunch of things because this is a NINE YEAR long feud + some more nxt stuff on top of that. if anyone has corrections/ further input please say so.

NXT (2013-2015)

this era is COMPLICATED: the 4HW's alliances changed constantly, and i don't have a great handle on it. there a couple of moments i think are relevant for both of them, though.

charlotte debuted as a perky pink volleyball player, which is farrr from what The Queen gimmick is today. (fun fact, she debuted in a match against Bayley!) there are 2 bits that i feel like crystallized her character. 1) being the first person to turn on bayley 2) beating natalya in a harts v flairs match to crown the first NXT women's champion. that's about when she started using a remix of thus spake zarathustra, ric flair's theme. these moments are important to Me because they show that charlotte's a cutthroat nepo baby, but she's also a very emotional/sensitive person. she cries and thanks nattie after the match, and it's very sweet.

her most important feud from NXT is against Sasha. it continued onto the main roster. these two specifically were presented as the very top of the division, only matched by each other. charlotte's nepo baby status is very relevant to all of this.

becky debuted w/ the irish jig gimmick, which SHE does not want to remember, so we'll move past it! she kind of floundered until she stumbled into a steampunk rocker gimmick. an important match is one she had against sasha even though she panicked about screwing something up, the audience got majorly behind her. she's just always had this natural connection to the audience that's hard to define and analyze. babyface magic idk

Main Roster Call Up (2015)

Sasha, Becky, and Charlotte got called up in mid 2015 (bayley got left behind in NXT because otherwise, the women's division there would just not exist). Becky and Charlotte aligned with Paige to form the creatively named team PCB. I honestly don't find most PCB stuff very interesting. The moment where they debut is great. Paige gets really, uncomfortably mean before she eventually turns on charlotte and becky. it's a moment i think probably shouldn't have happened but i'm happy to include in my charlynch canon lol. i've fudged the timeline on this a bit, don't mind me

actually, there are a million cute charlynch backstage promos from 2015 (this is a bad example). becky is bright-eyed and punny, and charlotte begrudgingly loves it. the fact that they were real life best friends seeps through all of it. their best friendship is also so, so real. they rode together everywhere, shared hotel rooms, took a million cute selfies that are all over the internet. there's a very cute wwe ride with me episode with them.

Post Paige (2015)

charlotte gets the diva's championship and soundly defeats paige in their feud. as always happens in wrestling, her ego starts getting the best of her. the charlynch backstage promos get uncomfortable. ric flair starts showing up everywhere, and he drives a wedge between the two of them. like he would in real life a few years later! i hate ric flair. eventually, becky wins a match against charlotte, and instead of supporting her friend, she turns on becky. theyyyy. honestly did not have much a feud after this. they had a smackdown match + a royal rumble one and That's It

becky and sasha had a number one contenders match, which charlotte interrupted so she could have a facedown with Just Sasha. there are photos of becky crying next to the ring because honestly, such a dick move from the writers.

she eventually got written into the WM 32 match, and it became a triple threat.

for some reason, charlotte won that triple threat! and that's when the charlotte-hatred from the fandom really starts. the perception from the audience is that she gets stuff just because she's ric flair's daughter. i... agree, like she's a 14 time women's world champion and no one's even CLOSE to that record for a reason. however, i will go to the grave saying that charlotte is a very good wrestler.

in becky's book, she describes a moment where she and charlotte promised to never let the business get in the way of their real friendship which 🥹 i'm going to fumking cry. they did NOT succeed lmfao

Post WM 32 (2016-2018)

they both go off to do their own thing, mainly. charlotte feuds with sasha, becky becomes the inaugural smackdown champion and gets given a garbage reign. becky is consistently shunted off to the side by the writers, and the audience picks up on it. she becomes a fan favorite underdog, while the criticism against charlotte grows. especially when she's the person who ends asuka's undefeated streak at wm 34

Their proper feud!!!!! (2018)

at some point, they become friends again. i don't think it's. really explained lmao. becky has a match at summerslam against carmella for the world title. to becky's chagrin, charlotte enters that match, and she wins it. after the match, becky turns heel on her, only, she doesn't really because the POP she gets???? insane. generational moment from a generational babyface.

the writers cannot get the audience to boo her despite their best efforts, so they're forced to write them both as tweeners. they build off of the real life frustration with charlotte's neverending push. Becky tells Charlotte she's gotten everything handed to her, etc etc. they have some really good matches together, my favorite of which is the last woman standing match at Evolution 2018. their promos in this time period are all FIRE, and you should check them out. becky is an incredible mic worker.

The Man

in the build to survivor series, nia jax famously shoot-punches becky in the face and breaks her nose. Becky gets covered in her own blood and just fuckin grins into the audience, and that's a crystallizing moment for her. the audience loves her, and she's an awesome fuckin badass. the man is a much more serious character than her previous character, and i will always mourn her puns. The Man forever changed Becky's career and made her the most successful/famous female wrestler Ever.

A big part of the Man's character was being deeply snarky on twitter. this unfortunately included a lot of body-shaming Charlotte in now-deleted tweets. both of these women have very fraught relationships with their bodies. of course, wrestling's primarily male audience ate that shit up, as they always do. their friendship fell apart in real life, and becky cites that as one of Many reasons. real life rebecca quinn is a complicated person, and she's very candid about that in her memoir.

Oh god, the build to Wrestlemania 35

the writers originally wanted to build to charlotte v ronda at wrestlemania, but becky's momentum was sooo undeniable at this point. a lot of convoluted bullshit happened. it started as becky v ronda, then she started feuding with the authority, then she randomly became friends with charlotte again (a story decision neither of them liked), then she got kayfabe injured, then charlotte replaced her in the match, then she ??? idk fanagled her way back into the match. it's a triple threat now. no one is happy that charlotte is here. if i've fudged the timeline here it doesn't matter because honestly the WRITERS did too

for some reason wm 35 is 7 hours long, but at the end becky wins in the motherfucking main event of wrestlemania. fuck yeah. ronda did botch the ending, but what can you do.

2019-2021

they feud a little bit because becky pinned ronda to get charlotte's title, then they move on from that. Becky's run continues until she gets pregnant in june 2020 and vacates the raw title. charlotte does a lot of very cool NXT matches. Becky returns and takes the title of Bianca in about 7 seconds flat, which no one (including becky) is happy about lol!! she comes back as a heel, now with the gimmick "big time becks." big time becks is my absolute favorite character from her. it's during this time that you can really tell she and seth have the same stylist. at some point, ric flair tries to sue becky. it's complicated and stupid.

there's a deeply bad and uncomfortable storyline from 2021, where ric starts flirting with lacey evans. charlotte has an uncomfortably real argument with him backstage, and it's honestly. God, even though the storyline is Conceptually Rotten and they should not have done it, it's an interesting kayfabe way for charlotte to reckon with Ric flair's real life crimes. Charlotte's acting in that segment is Way Too Good. i have a lot of feelings about her relationship with ric, but. whatever!!!

oh, there's also this cute moment from 2020. they're cute.

we're back (oh god, we are NOT back)

in november 2021, both of them hold a world title, but for the opposite brand. therefore, WWE has them do a dumb, convoluted title switch. during this, charlotte drops her title on the ground in an unscripted moment. it's deeply awkward, and both becky and sonya (the gm organizing this moment) become visibly frustrated with her. like, the implication is that she wanted becky to get on the ground and pick it up in a humiliating moment. they had a backstage altercation, and now they real life hate each other. charlynch is fucking DEAD

wwe did a very good video package about this. it includes my favorite ever becky promo, where she tells charlotte she's going to beat the living piss out of her. i can't find the actual promo because youtube search is useless, but! yeah.

but at least this results in my favorite match they've ever had!!! survivor series 2021 is a deeply emotional match. after winning, becky gives this really sad backstage interview, where she cries and talks about their friendship falling apart. it's a promo that makes ME cry tbh.

2021-2023

nothing charlynch related really happens lmfao. they do not fuck with each other anymore. at least, nothing happens in kayfabe. becky turns face again, returning to The Man character. (her feud with bianca is so fucking good!!!!) Charlotte also ends up as a face by the end of 2023, which is where things happen again.

Survivor Series 2023

charlotte asks becky to join her team for survivor series. they do the can I trust you rigamarole, and i'm so invested in it. they have a moment where they pinky promise, like they did way back in those old PCB 2015 promos. charlotte's bright-eyed delight at being forgiven vs becky's sober mistrust. god.

and they win at survivor series, and they hug, and it's sooo fucking awesome seeing this 9 Real year old friendship rekindle through forgiveness and communication. i'm emotional about it.

at the post SS media scrum, they talk about their relationship, and describe it as "we're dating again" because they hate me specifically. they're so fucking cute i cannot handle them

wow, what happens next???

charlotte explodes her knee and gets put on the shelf for 9 months, and she's still out now. :(. she actually has the exact injury seth got in 2015 lol. also, becky is currently out on hiatus, so who knows when they'll interact next. at least we ended on a good note

[romiswired]

Kenny Omega: Angel de Vidrio

Recuerdo la primera vez que me corte con un pedazo de vidrio.

Era de un plato que se me habia caido e intentaba recogerlo como habia visto a mi madre hacerlo hace meses. Para esa epoca tenia 6 años, y ya sentia la necesidad de hacer cosas por mi misma incluso cuando me decian que no porque me iba a lastimar. No fue un corte profundo, ni tuve que ir al hospital por algo como eso, pero la marca de ese corte estuvo ahi por semanas, incluso meses. Desde ese momento aprendi a hacer caso a lo que me digan, y por razones de la vida, hasta el dia de hoy tengo cuidado con los pedazos de vidrio que me encuentro. Es ironico que el vidrio este asociado a la fragilidad, porque aun siendolo es capaz de lastimarte mas o peor que otra cosa. La peculiaridad del vidrio es que una vez que se cae, los pedazos se esparcen por todos lados, y algunos se quedan como remanentes hasta que no los sacas bien. Mi madre me habia enseñado a no andar con los pies descalzos despues de que ella recoja vidrio roto, porque sabia que esos remanentes, aun siendo quasi-invisibles, podian lastimarme.

Con 18 años llegue a comprender que los vinculos sociales son como vidrio, porque son fragiles, y propensos a romperse si no tenemos cuidado. Esas relaciones rotas traen consecuencias a nuestras vidas, y aun estando fuera de estas, son capaces de seguir lastimandonos. Considero que para el topico del dia de hoy es adecuado hacer esta analogia, y habiendo dedicado 2 años de mi vida a analizar y a escribir acerca de la carrera de este sujeto, es el mejor enfoque que le puedo dar a la historia de siempre.

"I'm a victim of being the best in the world."

Kenny Omega es un luchador incomprendido por su propia fanaticada.

Me di cuenta de esto el año pasado, cuando el mismo Omega decidio bajar los decibeles en su estilo por cuestiones de salud, y los fanaticos acerrimos de el saltaban en Twitter a decir que estaba acabado. Fue una realizacion bastante dura, pero acorde a la comunidad de lucha libre y al trato inhumano que le dan a los luchadores. Cuando digo que Omega es un luchador incomprendido no me refiero a que es un genio de la materia y no lo sabemos, si no a que las mayores virtudes de Kenny son las que menos se señalan. La mentira mas grande que se ha contado en la lucha libre es que Omega no sabe contar historias, y hasta sus mismos fanaticos han caido en esa curva, guiados por una vision partidaria de lo que para ellos es “lucha libre pura”. Kenny es uno de los mejores storytellers en el negocio, y es uno de los pocos a los que realmente le importa que sus historias sigan una linea. Porque todo lo que le pasa a Kenny en su carrera es una consecuencia de algo que ya paso anteriormente.

Es dificil contar historias en la lucha libre donde todo este conectado, porque el medio mismo no se permite explorar algo asi debido a la inmediatez a la cual estamos acostumbrados a consumir. El tiempo en television de las empresas mas grandes no es suficiente para que exista una correlacion real entre todo lo que pasa en pantalla, y pocos luchadores pueden decir que el ritmo de la industria se mueve con el ruido de su propio tambor. Omega es uno de esos luchadores, pero por razones que nunca voy a entender, poca gente le reconoce la influencia que ha tenido en la industria y el hecho de que el es principal responsable de todo lo que estamos viendo junto a otros precursores en la materia, porque su carrera ha influenciado a otras tanto fuera como dentro del kayfabe, y le ha dado una continuidad a estas.

Es imposible analizar carreras como la de Hangman Page sin la influencia de Omega. Es imposible entender que es lo que motivo a Will Ospreay en New Japan Pro Wrestling sin la influencia de Omega. Es imposible entender lo que paso en la lucha libre durante estos ultimos 10 años sin la influencia de Omega. Y por supuesto, es imposible analizar la profundidad de la historia de The Elite sin la influencia de Omega. Porque el primer luchador que dijo que queria cambiar el mundo fue Kenny en 2008, y de ahi en mas esa mision fue lo que motivo a “The Best Bout Machine” a conseguir todo lo que podia haber imaginado. Omega camino una industria entera, pero lo hizo sobre los pedazos de vidrio que el mismo dejo, porque como dije, su historia es algo lineal que continua hasta el dia de hoy y se refleja en las consecuencias de sus acciones como luchador.

Si te pregunto desde cuando es que los Young Bucks sienten rencor por Omega, tu respuesta podria ser Full Gear 2023, donde el mismo Kenny eligio a Chris Jericho por encima de sus mejores amigos y hasta logro ganarles. Semanas despues de esa derrota, los Young Bucks salieron como heels y comenzaron un personaje de EVPs arrogantes, obsesionados con el poder.

Pero si te digo que este rencor existe desde antes, me crees?

Porque en si, las primeras riñas de los Bucks con Omega sucedieron por 2018, cuando en un reclamo honesto y justificado, Matt Jackson se preguntaba porque Kenny habia elegido a Kota Ibushi por encima de sus mejores amigos, sabiendo que Ibushi estuvo desaparecido por años. La peculiaridad fue que en esa rivalidad, y a diferencia de un planteo mas acorde a lo que era la lucha libre, no hubo traicion de por medio para señalar esa ruptura en la relacion de The Elite. Lo que hubo, fue una lesion de parte de Matt que no se cansaron de utilizar para reflejar lo que, justamente, habia sido una apuñalada en la espalda de parte de Omega.

Las disidencias entre los Young Bucks y Kenny no son algo nuevo, si no parte recurrente de su historia juntos, que incluso ha tomado una nueva forma en su estadia en All Elite Wrestling. Revolution 2020 podria ser ese momento clave, porque el planteo de esa lucha era que la arrogancia de Matt y Nick era tanta arrancando AEW, que ellos se ponian a si mismos como los luchadores que iban a cargar con los Campeonatos en Pareja. Y al ver que no lo habian logrado y que un equipo improvisado como lo era el de Hangman Page y Omega se habia coronado, se sentian obligados a actuar. El resultado es una de las mejores luchas en la historia de la compañia, que tambien juega mucho con estas disidencias que estoy nombrando. Los Bucks y Omega se conocen tanto que saben como lastimar al otro, y por supuesto, esta lucha es dolorosa porque el rencor de los tres se rebalsa en momentos como Omega atacando la espalda de Matt, o los Bucks haciendo el Golden Trigger.

Recuerdo en 2017 cuando le preguntaron a Matt si iban a ir a WWE, y le respondio algo que se quedo en mi cabeza hasta el dia de hoy:

“Wherever Kenny goes, we go.”

Tal lealtad y hermandad era algo que no se podia romper, y me parece algo increible que la lucha libre nos permita vivir en un mundo de fantasia donde ese vinculo esta roto y vemos las consecuencias reales de que lo este. Porque a ver, la lucha libre tiene el pecado de que las traiciones entre supuestos amigos la mayoria del tiempo no pegan tanto como deberian. Una storyline que comprende el impacto que tiene una traicion en la vida de una persona es aquella de Best Friends en AEW, porque no ves a gente como Rocky Romero o Chuck Taylor eligiendo lados, si no queriendo que todos se reconcilien porque son amigos.

Las historias de The Elite pegan tanto porque se plantean como vinculos reales, que no solamente se pueden arreglar o romper como si nada. Son historias con remanentes esparcidos por todos lados que aun si pensamos que no van a pinchar a sus protagonistas, lo van a hacer, y los van a lastimar como nunca. Porque lo que ha seguido desde 2018 para aca es una historia de un vinculo que se junta pedazo por pedazo y se vuelve a desparramar por el suelo. Los remanentes de las acciones de Omega han lastimado a todos los que lo han rodeado, y le han dejado marcas en su cuerpo que ahora lamenta.

El año pasado dije que el Omega actual era en parte mi favorito a nivel personaje, porque es honesto, porque quiere hacer todo para poder juntar esos pedazos de una vez y sentirse bien consigo mismo. No se si era una opinion impopular, pero habiendo analizado la carrera de Omega, era la unica que podia tener con un tipo que habia dado su vida por esto. La caracteristica mas importante de Omega es que el exito lo carcome, porque cuando encuentra el oro artificial de un campeonato comete errores que lo persiguen. Rompe vinculos, y deja restos esparcidos en el aire que respirara en los proximos años. Cuando esos restos vuelven a el y le suman mas marcas a su cuerpo lastimado, es cuando quiere arreglar todo.

El es un angel de una sola ala, pero esa ala esta hecha de vidrio porque es fragil, y porque corta a cualquier persona que se acerque. Es un ala rota, que simboliza la inseguridad de Kenny en un mundo que lo quiere ver siendo el mejor luchador del mundo por encima de su salud. Puede sonar exagerado, pero para entender esta ultima parte, tenemos que volver al genesis.

"Maybe I should be mad too because the reason why I’m in this state right now is because of you."

La historia de los Golden Lovers es la historia mas larga que ha contado Kenny en su carrera, y la responsable de que la industria este experimentando este cambio que estamos viendo. No se comprende un paradigma como este sin tener en cuenta el impacto que tuvieron Omega e Ibushi en la industria como un equipo que se dispuso a desafiar las concepciones de lo que tenia que ser un tag team para abrazar un approach mas profundo y sentimental.

Creo que para cualquier fanatico de la lucha libre es esencial al menos saber que fue lo que sucedio en 2008 con estos dos, y a que punto llegan las ramificaciones de lo que hicieron. A cuanta gente han afectado, directa o indirectamente. Aun asi, no hay persona a la cual le haya afectado esta historia como el mismo Kenny, porque es con esta historia que podemos comprender quien es realmente en el multiverso de la lucha libre. Como se ve a si mismo.

Los Golden Lovers estaban separados por una linea invisible: Esa linea dictaba que Ibushi era la estrella, mientras que Kenny era el que lo acompañaba. Esa linea no era evidente al comienzo, pero la habilidad natural de Kota era suficiente para opacar el esfuerzo de Omega por resaltar en una industria que te comia vivo. Paso el tiempo e Ibushi fue dejando a Kenny en vista de un futuro mas prospero como una estrella nacional en Japon.

Dicho futuro no tenia a Omega en el, entonces, motivado por el rencor y el odio hacia si mismo por no poder destacar por si solo, y hacia Ibushi por abandonarlo sin decirle, se fue yendo lentamente hacia el lado oscuro. Mucha gente apunta a que The Cleaner comenzo en 2014, pero la realidad en esta historia es que el mismo The Cleaner fue una mascara de bravado que usaba Omega para esconder el hecho de que habia sido lastimado, y que se habia cortado de manera tan profunda que esa marca no iba a durar ni dias, ni meses.

Iba a durar para siempre.

“That happy Kenny, he didn’t win that much. People loved him, but he always lost.”

Si no lo hiciste, te recomiendo de todo corazon ver el combate entre Kenny Omega y Kota Ibushi en DDT Peter Pan 2012. Lo considero la obra maestra de Omega y la mejor lucha que tuvo en su carrera porque supo condensar todos estos sentimientos encontrados en Kenny hacia este punto en la historia. Es la version mas honesta de Omega junto con aquella que fue a luchar contra Okada en Dominion 2018, porque puedes ver el odio que rebalsaba de el en frente de alguien que le hizo mas daño del que podia imaginar. Lo que sucedio en esa lucha fue un pantallazo de lo que estaba por llegar. El genesis de The Cleaner, y lo que rompio ese ala en miles de pedazos que todavia intenta juntar.

Podria estar aqui dias reflexionando acerca de esta historia, pero lo que tenes que saber es que la reunion de los Golden Lovers no fue inmediata, si no sufrida. Omega sufria en soledad porque nadie lo entendia, y aun si lo acompañaban, no sabian exactamente que pasaba por su cabeza. La negacion, el miedo a ser amado de nuevo, la idea de que no se merecia lo que iba a recibir. Todo eso construyo a The Cleaner, y posteriormente al lider del Bullet Club que todos adoran y ansian que vuelva. Fue un vinculo que se rompio en miles de pedazos y se tenia que cuidar como oro. Es el unico de todos los vinculos que ha tenido Omega que se ha reconstruido con el paso del tiempo, y no se ha vuelto a desparramar.

Es el unico vinculo que Kenny realmente ha cuidado, y por eso mismo es que se encuentra en la situacion en la que esta. Todos los demas vinculos que pudo tener se han roto por su culpa, y lo que tiene que enfrentar son las consecuencias de todo lo que hizo durante su carrera. Porque el vidrio refleja, y todos los oponentes de Kenny han sido un espejo de sus mas grandes inseguridades. Sin ir mas lejos, la historia de Hangman y Omega es un calco de la historia de los Golden Lovers desde otra perspectiva mas superficial. La unica persona que no ha reflejado las inseguridades de Kenny es Ibushi, porque es el igual a Omega.

Si no me creen, preguntenle a Don Callis.

Y como dije arriba, los Bucks y Kenny se conocen tanto que saben donde golpear para que duela. Que los Bucks hayan tomado la frase “Change the World” sabiendo de donde viene es una declaracion de guerra. No se que pasara con este feudo, pero lo que tienen que saber despues de todo esto es que The Elite cuenta historias, y son mucho mas profundas de lo que imaginan. Espero que este sea otro ejemplo de esto que estoy exponiendo.

La conclusion que puedo dar es la misma a la que he llegado desde hace 2 años, pero con un cambio en el medio que me emociona: Omega no es The Best Bout Machine, ni The Cleaner, si no un amante dorado que ha repetido los errores de su pasado como consecuencia de un corazon roto. No es el mejor luchador del mundo, si no una persona que tiene que ser el mejor luchador del mundo para ignorar sus fallas y los fantasmas del pasado que lo persiguen. Es un luchador cuya inseguridad es tan grande, que se encuentra atrapado en un mismo ciclo.

Y por cada año que pasa, este lucha mas para salir.

El tiempo pasa, las agujas del reloj se siguen moviendo, pero por primera vez en la historia, Omega quiere juntar esos remanentes de vidrio que quedaron en el piso por el cual camino durante decadas, y por primera vez no quiere volver a cortar a alguien, si no terminar este ciclo de una buena vez.

Kenny Omega ya no se quiere cortar con vidrio real.

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 27 - The Shadow in the Night

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Trolloc icon) In which Chekov's puppets go off.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand is talking to Loial, as they head back to the city gate, about how the Ogier had been winning the dice game, and then Dena came and won all his winnings back from him. You don't suppose she cheated?(1)

One of the Trolloc puppets makes its way toward them. Rand is caught up in his thoughts, he shouldn't have expected Thom to drop everything to go with him, he has to take the Horn and go, Fain will get here sooner than later. Loial is just saying he doesn't think that's a puppet, and Rand's instincts get the better of him, he's in a sword position before he can think. The men carrying the "puppet" poles drop them, and the Trolloc staggers back from Rand’s attack with a bubbling snarl. The men turn and run.

They have to get back to the inn, Hurin's alone, and-- Rand's cut off as another Trolloc lifts him up by the neck. Loial can't wrestle the thing off him, and Rand can't stab it without hitting Loial. He reaches for the Power, but finds nothing. Finally, Loial wrenches the thing off Rand and throws it into a wall, killing it instantly. He shudders as he says he's never killed anything before. Rand says he'd have killed it if Loial hadn't. Loial understands, but he doesn't have to like it. He points to another Trolloc masquerading as a puppet in the street.

Rand realizes that Fain knows he's here, and is trying to draw him out. They try to escape down roads and alleys but end up near the edge of a wide field. Trollocs won't hold back if they notice them out there. Fortunately, Selene appears at just this moment.

Rand stared: Selene stepped around the corner they had just rounded, her white dress bright in the dimness. “How did you get here? What are you doing here? You have to leave immediately. Run! There are Trollocs after us.” “So I saw.” Her voice was dry, yet cool and composed. “I came to find you, and I find you allowing Trollocs to herd you like sheep. Can the man who possesses the Horn of Valere let himself be treated so?” “I don’t have it with me,” he snapped, “and I don’t know how it could help if I did. The dead heroes are not supposed to come back to save me from Trollocs.(2) Selene, you have to get away. Now!” He peered around the corner.

Rand wraps her in his cloak, since her white dress stands out in the moonlight, and says they're going to have to sneak into a building in the field, the Illuminators' chapter house. The Trollocs are definitely following them, but Loial uses his night vision and leads Rand and Selene up to the outer wall of the building. Selene points to a door that neither of the men noticed a moment before, and they enter, despite Loial's protests that Illuminators kill intruders to keep their secrets.

They overhead two Illuminators, Tammus and Aludra, confirming that a display is ready to go.(3) They move on to another area, and Rand gestures to his companions. He wants to get as far from the unbarred door as possible.

At one point, Loial brushes against a rack containing ten sticks, smoldering gently. One of the sticks touches one of the fuses of a firework nearby, which bursts into flame and races toward a tube. Rand whispershouts to get behind the wall. The firework goes off, and as they hear feet approach, Selene says, unworried, that sometimes if you're quiet and still enough, no-one will see you at all.(4) Aludra and Tammuz investigate, Aludra blaming Tammuz for leaving the sticks to fall over, and they both leave again, Aludra trying to figure out how to smooth this over with Galldrian. Rand whispers that they've surely used up all their luck for the night.

“Rand?” Loial was peering around the end of the wall away from the lighted building. “I think we need some more luck, Rand.” Rand shifted to look over the Ogier’s shoulder. Beyond open space, in the alleyway that led to the barless door, three Trollocs were peering cautiously out of the shadows toward the lighted windows. One woman was standing at a window; she did not seem to see the Trollocs. “So,” Selene said quietly. “It becomes a trap. These people may kill you if they take you. The Trollocs surely will. But perhaps you can slay the Trollocs too quickly for them to make any outcry. Perhaps you can stop the people from killing you to preserve their little secrets. You may not want greatness, but it will take a great man to do these things.” “You don’t have to sound happy about it,” Rand said.

Selene says that his greatness will make her happy, but perhaps she should leave him to find his own way. If he won't take greatness, maybe he deserves to die. Rand ignores her and tells Loial to take Selene and go to an alley nearby and look for a door out of here. He'll handle the Trollocs. He accidentally sets off more fireworks instead,(5) and runs toward the alley. Loial stands alone next to the door he found, Selene having slipped out of his hands to go back inside.

Rand is clearly torn, but Loial says they can't help her by getting caught themselves, and he tried to stop her. They leave, and go back to the Dragonwall inn, where Cuale has another parchment for him, this one sealed with Selene's mark.

In his room, Hurin asks if everything was alright with the gleeman, which Rand has all but forgotten about by now. He opens the parchment.

When I think I know what you are going to do, you do something else. You are a dangerous man. Perhaps it will not be long before we are together again. Think of the Horn. Think of the glory. And think of me, for you are always mine.

Once again, no signature. Rand asks if all women are crazy,(6) and wishes Ingtar would get here.

=====

(1) What do you think? (2) Rand, I hate to break it to you, but given that you have to fight the Last Battle, against the forces of Actual Evil, that's almost exactly what the Horn is for. (3) So we've firmly established illuminators/fireworks artists in the world now which is super fun and really is one of the highlighting characteristics making this not a European medieval period analog world. (Yes, this is something that sticks in my craw hard about the series.) At least in Europe, fireworks feel firmly in a renaissance sort of period, and the technology and culture level here is certainly getting there. So exciting, seeing a world change in real time. (4) It's pretty clear that Lanfear channeled something like the weave we saw Moiraine and Siuan use earlier to protect against being overheard, possibly with a dollop of light-refraction to avoid being seen, too. That's why she's so calm. (5) Accidentally, or did she provide a distraction? (6) No, just your past-reincarnation's ex-girlfriend.

[are-we-really-doing-this]

How did you get into wrestling :0 I want to get into it but I find it a bit intimidating tbh

It’s been a passing fascination of mine for YEARS, but I finally bit the bullet and checked out an free AEW promotional tie-in match (it was advertised to me on my Roku of all fucking things) and it was immediately intriguing to me. Bryan Danielson’s face really grabbed hold of my weird-looking-guy-liking soul. He’s my first love in wrestling, really. In all honesty, my (then) newfound love of nu metal bled into liking wrestling because the two things are practically intertwined. They both have similar fanbases and vibes and such. After that I started watching the weekly AEW shows and quickly made Jon Moxley and CM Punk my first favs. My very first PPV was All Out 2022 (a quick Google search will tell you why this is sad and hilarious). My distaste for WWE was well established at this point but I started watching some of the older stuff just for the vibes. The promotions I watch (at any size from any year on any medium) as of now are AEW, ROH, WWE, ECW, and NWA (Wildside and Anarchy), although I’d very much like to expand my horizons. *whispers* TNA/iMPACT!, GCW

As for starting out, I’ve tried to walk people through it before and I’m severely incoherent so I’ll point you in the direction of this fucking FANTASTIC guide to watching wrestling as a new fan. I hope you are able to get over the figuring-shit-out hump and find something that you enjoy and ALWAYS feel free to yell at me about it in my asks, dms, @s, tags, reblogs, replies, whatever tf.

Oh, and Happy Wrestling, anon!

[kopw]

ospreay vs omega at wrestle kingdom 17 / richard siken, a primer for the small weird loves

[aerodaltonimperial]

the hookhausen story primer

Hey wrestling, I heard you like primers...

Are you a fan of delicious flavor, slow burn, and enemies to lovers, but you are overwhelmed by a list of links and kind of just want things explained to you in one spot so you can understand a story?? I gotchu, boo, let's talk about Hookhausen, since the fandom be WAKING UP AGAIN as we approach the eve of potential new content. I've put links to videos and such in here if you would like them but you don't have to click on them if you don't want and you will still get the whole story. Please consider this your one-stop shop! It's such a fun story and I hope more people can find it as compelling and wonderful as we do!! Additionally, for anyone new to wrestling, I've included explanations for lingo and such, so it is easier to read. (This is also for my mutuals who keep seeing me post shit and are like ‘please what is this why are these people half-naked and why are you so feral please explain this’ OKAY I AM TRYING.)

To start with, let’s meet our cast of characters! First, we have Danhausen.

Danhausen is originally an indie wrestler who went through a few gimmicks before settling on the one he’s got now, which is a slightly goofy, awkward demon who may or may not be from another world and curses people when they do something he doesn’t like and/or to win matches. He likes money. He doesn’t like people swearing. Sometimes he goes evil and pours teeth in people’s mouths. He may or may not also be one of the most powerful wrestlers on AEW’s roster in terms of cult following, merchandise sales, and using his social media almost entirely in kayfabe (in-character). This is important; a lot of his character development happens on SM.

Next, we have Hook.

Hook is a legacy, nepotism baby whose father, Taz, is a famous wrestler from the 90s/00s. Taz remains on AEW’s roster as a commentator who also, for awhile, had his own stable (team) called Team Taz. Hook started helping out with Team Taz during the pandemic, and after becoming sort of a staple behind the scenes, debuted in late 2021 on his own. He is a murder kitten who usually refuses to talk, be nice, or generally just do what people want him to. He can normally be found eating chips, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and sulking. His signature move is his father’s old submission technique that he’s renamed Redrum. Currently, Hook has never lost a match. He is very, very, very pretty. It probably should be illegal.

You might think all of this Hookhausen stuff starts when the story begins in AEW canon (split between their shows: Dynamite and Rampage), but actually, it starts well before this point. I KNOW, it’s insanity. So in late 2021, Hook debuts in AEW after hanging around for a year or so with his dad. This is a big deal for him! And at the same time, Danhausen was benched with a massively broken leg from a match in October. Danhausen tweets several times about how cool Hook is. It’s enough to be noticeable, mostly because at this point, Danhausen is not signed with AEW. He continues to do this through January. In fact, he doesn’t officially appear in AEW until January 26, 2022, when he shows up on the show and they announce his signing on social media. The very next day, Danhausen uploads a photo of him and Hook together to his Instagram, captioned, “Send Hookhausen.”

But nothing much happens with this strange hint until February 24, when Danhausen finds Hook backstage and gives him chips, filming it for his vloghausen. But things go sour, for some reason, when, on March 25, 2022, Danhausen attempts to curse Hook on Rampage. Hook had just thrown a dude through the certificate of accomplishment that his former mentor, QT Marshall, attempted to give him. Nobody likes QT, so we don’t really care. However, Danhausen cared for some reason, and came out to curse Hook. It failed! Hook walked away without anything happening, and Danhausen expressed dismay and alarm that it hadn’t worked. Danhausen then began tweeting about how Hook had become “too powerful.”

Danhausen spends a few weeks trying to curse Hook on television. He tries during an interview, after popping out of a trash can, and then, after a tense altercation between Hook and another wrestler, Tony Nese (with Mark Sterling, his lawyer), in a gym. His last attempt is during one of Hook’s actual matches, when Danhausen emerges ringside and tries one last time to curse Hook. Naturally, it continues to fail. During this match, Tony Nese and Mark Sterling are also ringside, taking notes and talking together about Hook. Danhausen is so frustrated by his lack of success that he goes into the ring after Hook wins and challenges him directly. If Hook won’t be cursed, well then dagnabbit, he will fight Danhausen.

Hook sort of ignores this, because he’s Hook, and he doesn’t really care. This means Danhausen has to resort to the most EXTREME of measures: taking a bag of Hook’s potato chips and DESTROYING THEM ALL BACKSTAGE. Finally, a reaction! Hook slams Danhausen into the wall and says, “You wanted my attention? You got it now.” The feud officially begins.

Danhausen calls Hook out the next week to settle things. It’s not an official match, but it’s definitely going to be a fight when Hook comes out with his hands taped and his murder face on. The two are about to get into things when Mark Sterling comes out and asks the crowd if they really want to see the two of them fight. Of course, the crowd says yes. Danhausen and Hook are beloved crowd favorites. But then, Tony Nese attacks them both, because he’s angry that Hook keeps getting so much attention just for being a legacy brat. Hook drives them both off with some well-timed suplexes, and the crowd picks up the chant of “Hookhausen.” Danhausen decides this incident has united them, and offers his hand for a handshake. Hook just grabs him, yells in his face, and stalks out of the ring.

But after that, Tony Nese challenges Danhausen to a match, which is weird anyway, since Hook was the one who beat him when he launched his little ambush on them. Hook has another match, and at the end, Danhausen comes out to ask him to “be in Danhausen’s corner” during the match with Tony Nese. This match takes place on Hook’s birthday, May 4. Hook is still not budging an inch on this partnership thing, and shoves Danhausen after Danhausen touches him. But then Danhausen pulls out a little bag of potato chips with a bow on top and drops it into the ring before slinking out, leaving Hook to stare down at the birthday present. His face goes through some actual emotions. The crowd goes wild when he reaches down to pick up the bag…and then boos after he drops it again. Hook leaves it in the ring, offering nothing.

Danhausen’s match with Tony Nese happens on May 11, 2022. It’s his AEW debut! He loses in a shocking 32-seconds after Tony smacks him with his knee and knocks him loopy. Afterwards, Nese remains in the ring to celebrate and Mark Sterling taunts the crowd about how great Nese is. Nese attacks Danhausen again, after the bell has rung. He’s actually about to do it a third time when Hook’s music starts. He comes out with murder face on, gets in the ring, and drives Nese and Sterling back up to the tunnels. Danhausen, after struggling to his feet, offers his hand again. This time, Hook shakes it. Partnership time!

After this handshake happens, Hookhausen has a bit on the after-show (which is only for people watching in the audience). Hook comes out to fight CM Punk, who ends up skipping out of the ring and starting back up the ramp to avoid him. Danhausen emerges and drives Punk back into the ring, where he gets down on his knees to plead with Hook not to murder him. Hook shakes his hand…and then chokes him out. Danhausen is happy. Hookhausen leaves Punk in the ring and exit together. (After-shows aren’t “canon,” but it’s sure as hell fun to watch.)

Hookhausen challenges Nese and Sterling to a tag match, which gets scheduled as the buy-in for AEW’s big PPV show in Las Vegas. They even get a training montage video leading up to the show, and a ride with RJ City on “The Road to Double or Nothing.” The tag match sees them victorious, after Danhausen gets a little thrown around and Hook suplexes them into oblivion. Hook tags Danhausen back in for the pin, because love is real. Then they hold their hands up as winners. This is important, because Hook never lets the ref hold his hand up after matches, and it’s the first time anyone ever has.

Afterwards, Hookhausen give an interview where Danhausen says they will eat chips to celebrate after taking their winnings, and Hook looks at Danhausen like he hung the moon, offering one of his only canon smiles.

They also buy “PT Cruisers” for an interview spot and drive them around the parking lot. They appear to be the best of friends now! Doing silly shit together! But then…

Hook gets challenged in June. He’s offering another not-interview when Danhausen shows up and talks about how they will “eviscerate” enemies together. Hook puts his hand out on Danhausen’s chest and says, “I got this,” and walks off. This, unfortunately, is the last official canon on-screen appearance they will have together in 2022. It’s very strange. And quite heart-breaking. AEW continues to milk the Hookhausen train, though, by throwing a graphic of them together in a canoe on the “Quake in the Lake” promotional poster. The graphic designer had a great day with that one.

After they separate, Danhausen challenges Hook's fellow Team Taz member Ricky Starks for the FTW Champion Belt he holds. He loses, but right after he does, Ricky opens up a general challenge for anyone who wants it. Hook comes out, much to Ricky’s chagrin, and wins. He's the current FTW Belt holder now. (The belt, originally, was introduced by his dad Taz!) Following this, Team Taz officially disbands, which means he also doesn't have a stable. During all of this, Danhausen has been orbiting around a stable called the Best Friends. He's never officially become one of them, but he goes out with them during matches and is an assumed staple with them.

In the fall, Danhausen begins a series of in-canon and social media work in which he gets hit multiple times in the head; eventually, this triggers a different version of himself that fandom refers to usually as "Evilhausen." Evilhausen comes out in November during a 5-man tag match with the Best Friends and Rocky Romero versus the Factory.

We then never see Evilhausen again, but the strange tweets and lyric drops continue on social media. This likely will still be important. Danhausen does a ton of character work on social media. It is also worth noting that in late October, Danhausen abruptly stops talking about Hook and Hookhausen altogether, everywhere. There are months of silence.

In December, Hook begins a somewhat confusing partnership with another wrestler called "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry. The entire storyline they have closely parallels a lot of the original Hookhausen story, complete with a handshake. During this, Danhausen begins mentioning Hook and Hookhausen again in various non-canon sources. The tag team, coined as JungleHook, culminates supposedly in a "one night only" match against a stable known as the Firm. JungleHook wins. However, the Firm is still targeting Jungle Boy for some reason. They challenge Jungle Boy to a one-on-one after the tag match.

A few hours before the match, Danhausen finally tweets about the entire situation…like a jealous ex.

And during the match, Hook comes out when Jungle Boy is nearly done for, surprising the Firm enough that Jungle Boy is able to win. They are then challenged to another tag match, which they accept. Danhausen begins posting angry break up songs on social media.

And that's where we are at present!! For a full video masterlist, including all the fun bits that they’ve done in Danhausen’s vlogs, please see the video primer! We would love to have new people equally pumped about seeing their FAR TOO SHORT STORY finally continue, because they sure as hell ain’t done with each other. (We have a 9 page document to prove it.)