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No One Is Pissing Off Local Wrestling Crowds Like The "Progressive Liberal"<em></em>

To some degree, the politics of The “Progressive Liberal” Dan Richards align with those of the real Dan Richards. Given that this is pro wrestling, a big red sign displaying Is this a work? is always flashing, but Richards claims he leans hard left. “It’s not much of a stretch,” he says on the phone...

10 Years After The Chris Benoit Killings, Pro Wrestling Still Can't Fix Itself

When I take my mind back 10 years to the days and weeks right before and right after Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son, one thing in particular always jumps to the forefront of my thoughts....

The "Progressive Liberal" Is Maybe The Perfect Wrestling Heel 

Kentucky-based Appalachian Mountain Wrestling has graced the world with the presence of “Progressive Liberal” Dan Richards. He definitely isn’t a face....

Rating Pro Wrestling's New "Best Match Ever" Is Way More Contentious Than It Needs To Be<em></em><em></em>

This week, much has been made of the main event of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual Dominion event, which took place on Sunday. IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada and challenger Kenny Omega went to a 60-minute time-limit draw, the hallmark of classic title matches for decades. It came five mo...

Japan’s Most Ridiculous Wrestling Promotion Hits Somewhere Near The Big Time

Last week, Dramatic Dream Team, the largest independent pro wrestling promotion in Japan, pulled off one of its most ambitious events ever. Sanshiro Takagi, DDT’s promoter and one of its top stars, headlined the Tokyo Dome against New Japan Pro Wrestling star Minoru Suzuki. However, there were two k...

Study: The Median Age Of TV Wrestling Viewers Has Nearly Doubled Since 2000

Pro wrestling isn’t kids’ stuff. In fact, it’s viewed on television by an audience that’s much older than you might think....

Brock Lesnar Finally Has A Challenger

Part-timers have held a WWE championship a few times in recent years, and they necessarily haven’t defended their belts very much. The Rock ended CM Punk’s 434-day reign in January 2013, beat Punk in a rematch the next month, then lost it to John Cena at WrestleMania. That was a barnstorming tour co...

How Frank Deford Helped Pro Wrestling Journalism Become Very Real

To understand what Frank Deford, who died at 78 this past week, did for professional wrestling, you need to go back to one of his most famous articles, one which profiled what was, at the time, the other most popular entertainment sport in America. “The Roller Derby,” which was published in the Marc...

Randy Orton RKOs Child

What is a long weekend for if not to utilize the pool and RKO your stepson in the lovely weather?...

Pro wrestler Sean Waltman, better known as X-Pac, has had his case dropped, according to TMZ. Waltman was arrested at LAX in April and suspected of possessing meth, but the L.A. County District Attorney tested the capsules and found that they were not a controlled substance, and the weed he had did ...

WWE Wants to Replace John Cena With Japan's Shinsuke Nakamura, And It Might Actually Work<em></em><em></em>

This Sunday night’s Backlash show marks the beginning of a new era in WWE, one that would have been shocking even two years ago. For the first time in its history, the world’s largest professional wrestling promotion is attempting to turn a Japanese wrestler into one of its top stars—the top star, i...

Randy Orton Gleefully Shits On Indie Wrestlers

WWE champion Randy Orton is normally not much of an interesting follow on Twitter. Sometimes he’ll express a thought of his own, but for insight into his personality, you’re not usually getting it there. That changed over the weekend....

The Rock Is Totally Going To Run For President Against John Cena In 2024

This excerpt in Caity Weaver’s GQ profile of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson makes me believe that within a few years, he’ll at least run for office, if not president:...

Billy Corgan Is Buying Pro Wrestling's Oldest And Deadest Brand To Use As He Pleases

Depending on the specific argument you’re making, you might say that the National Wrestling Alliance, pro wrestling’s oldest governing body, ceased being relevant as much as 35 years ago. So it was definitely surprising last week when Billy Corgan (yes, that one) bought its remnants from Bruce Tharp...

Cops: X-Pac Was Trafficking Meth Out Of LAX [Update]

Pro wrestler Sean Waltman was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend. Per a police report, the grappler best known as X-Pac was caught with 38 capsules containing amphetamine or methamphetamine, three chocolate weed bars, a few liquid weed cigarettes and $736.10 in cash....

The House From WWE’s House Of Horrors Match Is For Sale For Just $36,000

Last night, the WWE held its first ever “House of Horrors match.” It did not go over well....

Keith Lee, Wrestling's Out Of Nowhere Star, Wants You To Bask In His Glory

There are a few different ways to experience WrestleMania these days. The most basic distinction to make is between is watching at home versus taking a trip to the host city. From there, there are further distinctions. Some fans only check out the WWE offerings, and some take in the numerous indepen...

WWE’s Newest PPV Is Called “Great Balls Of Fire”

WWE today announced the name of its other July pay-per-view....

Katsuyori Shibata Is Just The Latest Japanese Wrestling Star To Suffer A Serious Head Injury<em></em>

Throughout its entire existence, the pseudo-sport of pro wrestling’s presence as a subgenre in Japan has been consistently defined by how much harder-hitting it is there than it is elsewhere in the world. Hard hitting can take a lot of forms. It can mean hard shots in safe places; it can mean laying...

Braun Strowman And Big Show Breaking The Ring Was Predictable And Incredibly Satisfying

For one night, Braun Strowman was the best wrestler in the world. A tremendously entertaining episode of WWE Raw culminated in a spot where he broke the ring with a superplex of the Big Show, sending referee John Cone flying. It was a spot everyone saw coming and made no sense—why didn’t the Andre t...