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Here’s A 54-Year-Old Sandman Clearing The Ring With A Singapore Cane
The crowd heard “Enter Sandman” and immediately knew what was coming. It didn’t matter that it was 2017 instead of 1997. The Sandman was going to enter the ECW Arena and save the day....

An Arm Wrestling Champion Shares His Secrets Then Humiliates Us Anyway
“At a low level, if a weaker guy is beaten by a stronger person, they’ll think they can never win. But at a high level, if a stronger guy beats you, you know you can get him at a different time,” competitive arm wrestler Patrick Baffa told me before he came office to teach me and some Deadspin staff...

Japanese Wrestling's Bomb-Loving Cult Hero Is Coming To New Jersey<em></em>
When you hear the phrase “indie wrestling,” what exactly does it make you think of? You may be picturing a show in a high school gym, rec center, Knights of Columbus Hall, or something like that. Some promotions might be lucky enough to make a deal with the local minor-league baseball park and pack ...

John Cena Gets Dropped On Head, Tells Shinsuke Nakamura “Don’t Be Sorry”
The first reaction a lot of people had to the news that Shinsuke Nakamura would face John Cena in a number one contenders match on WWE SmackDown was anger. “Why are they fighting on free TV?” people asked....

How WWE Botched The Cruiserweight Division They Don't Need, Again<em></em>
When you’re around pro wrestling fandom for a long time, you become familiar with various talking points that have, over the years, become groupthink. One, specifically, has bordered on self-parody at times: “Push the cruiserweights.”...

No One Could See WWE’s Main Event Last Night
Last night, WWE champion Jinder Mahal faced Randy Orton in the third-ever Punjabi Prison match. It did not go over well with the crowd in South Philadelphia. Fans chanted for CM Punk. Fans chanted “delete” for Matt Hardy. Fans chanted “Trust the Process.”...

Ronda Rousey Appears To Be Ready To Fuck People Up In WWE
Last week, WWE recorded the opening rounds of their inaugural Mae Young Classic—an all-women’s tournament that will air on WWE Network next month—in Winter Park, Fla. The shows, which featured a mix of talent from the WWE developmental system and the independent and international scenes, were well-r...

Wrestler Alberto Del Rio Part Of Police Investigation Into Possible Domestic Violence
Professional wrestler Jose Alberto Rodriguez, better known as current Global Force Wrestling Champion Alberto El Patron and formerly Alberto Del Rio in WWE, is being investigated for possible domestic violence Sunday at the Orlando International Airport. Citing witnesses who said they saw an argumen...

The "Progressive Liberal" Won But Still Ended Up In A Diaper
CAMPTON, Ky.—America’s biggest wrestling event took place in a high school gym. It was the main event, a “crybaby match” between Kyle Maggard and the “Progressive Liberal” Dan Richards, who has hit upon the perfect heel gimmick for this time and this country, and especially this county....

When You Finally Get Around To Checking Out How Your Verizon Shares Are Performing
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Samoa Joe Can't Be Stopped
Eight years ago and counting, Samoa Joe was done—or at least it seemed that way....

DeAngelo Williams Was Pretty Great In His First Pro Wrestling Match
NFL running back DeAngelo Williams made his pro wrestling debut over the weekend at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary XV, one of the main PPV events from the promotion formerly known as TNA....

Women In Wrestling Have Taken A Hard Road To Get To Where They Are Now
Recently, Netflix released the first season of GLOW, a dramedy based on the production of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the comedic late ’80s women’s wrestling promotion that was, ever so briefly, a smash hit in syndication. Many reviews have focused on how a gifted, majority-female cast and creativ...

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....

Man Grabs Briefcase In First-Ever Women’s Money In The Bank Match
The Money in the Bank ladder match was, both in storyline and in real life, created by Chris Jericho. It’s a simple take on the ladder match. But instead of a championship dangling from the rafters, wrestlers instead fight to grab a contract in a Halliburton-style briefcase. That briefcase can then ...

10 Years Ago, WWE Killed Vince McMahon In Its Most Ridiculous Storyline Ever
When you watch WWE programming for a long time, certain patterns emerge, ranging from production quirks to how matches are laid out to certain tropes that consistently recur in the storytelling. One of these is the way WWE lets show its utter contempt for its audience. Hell, it showed up recently wh...

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...