Playard Wrestling Post

  Being a fan of pro wrestling (or any other medium of entertainment) does have its pros and cons when engaging with the industry as a whole.  On one hand, you've witnessed an Eddie Kingston promo that'll make you tear up more than the opening scene of Up.  On the other hand, going to the wrestling subreddit will definitely have you questioning humanity as a whole and the fact that living in an area where a wrestling presence pretty much doesn't exist like a Vince Russo-written storyline that is, you know, GOOD!?  Luckily, the latter retracted my con as a fan because I'm talking about Wrestlefest DXB and their latest joint, "971 Fahrenheit".  Martin Bushby of now Post Wrestling Alumni brought the event to my attention because like a wrestler on an episode of RAW I get distracted all the time.  So, I decided to take a short journey to a taxi then a bus then a train then a 30-minute walk to the show itself and I know I'm going to sound biased as f**k but I l...

Here's the thing. My 2 viewers will know that I've been a wrestling fan for 15 plus years but what they do not know is that I've been a Somali (aka a Black Muslim person) my entire life so talking about this documentary is going to be a little more personal, to say the least.  And look, I know this is the part where I insert my usual wit and fart jokes but you're not gonna see less of that because this is a serious topic (and you know it's serious when I mentioned my ethnicity) about representation and the shared struggle across every single black performer featured in this documentary.  From the press release, Wrestling With Whiteness "focuses on sharing the stories of Black folx and their experience in the wrestling community. Using a combination of interviews with Black wrestlers and Black content creators, Wrestling With Whiteness uncovers the unique experiences of Black people in the industry and the rise of representation for performers and fans around th...

If you haven't been watching WWE for 10+ years, well first off, why are you here and secondly, can I be like you because I'm jealous?  Let me recap who Naomi is. She is a wrestler, actor, dancer, singer and a former women's champion who's been with WWE for 10 years.  In other words, Naomi is a future EGOT winner and you cannot tell me otherwise.  Thanks to her persona that resonated with the audience whether as a heel or a babyface, she has built up a following that is "ride or die" for the former funkadactyl aka stans which I am a part of.  Why? Because if there's one thing I have in common with Stan Twitter is that we love to call white people "ageing at the speed of crack".  She may be throwing glow sticks like an early 2010s Ellie Goulding music video, but she's a capable talent that can hang with the best of the best.  But, you read the title. This ain't about a career retrospect about Naomi (although I don't mind doing so), but ...

The internet is home to over 50 billion websites and within the pro wrestling niche, there are 60+ established sites that fans click into on a daily basis for news, editorials, reviews, interviews and other exclusive content.  Those websites have four key critical tasks. One, the content obviously. Two, the design and functionality of said sites. Three, just copy what Dave Meltzer said. And four, just make sh*t up.  Creating a site is a different beast. Some use Blogger like this site while others use square-space, Wix, or even code a site from the ground up.  The problem with developing a web page from scratch is that it's time-consuming and you have to learn some mark-up languages like HTML and CSS.  It's essentially a great skill that isn't worth it if you want a site in minutes. Now, the main question is, why am I writing this article in the first place?  When you learn a skill, you tend to have a different view on a product that is connected with the skill ...

  When was the last time you've heard a wrestling fan say, "wrestling is too unrealistic" or "wrestling is beyond believable"? If the answer is no, I wanna live in whatever dystopia you reside in because I envy your ignorance.  All wittiness aside, it is pretty common to hear pundits and fans say that the medium of their entertainment (pro wrestling, in this case) is too darn unrealistic.  Now, why is that? That depends on when professional wrestling or the specific style of pro wrestling came into their lives.  Some might have grown up in the "realistic sport" presentation that territories like the WWWF presented back in the 60s/70s. Others might have been brought up in the late 90s Attitude era Jerry springer/Vince Russo esque offering (uh, The Undertaker and Kane literally existed by then).  It's a weird discussion to have since I and the 3 people that read this, can put out the gazillion things in wrestling that are deemed "unrealistic...

We've all heard of the saying of "music brings joy in us". While it is a cheese pizza saying, the statement is 100% true especially in my case. One of my earliest childhood memories involved my parents playing 90s RnB and Hip Hop music on the car radio. After my wrestling fandom kicked in, I furthered my taste in music by listening to rock/heavy metal as well as some electronic dance music or EDM. Needless to say, I love music and professional wrestling has been incorporating music into their characters and shows for what feels like an eternity.  Now, music wasn't part of the pro wrestling mystic until the 1950s hit where Mildred Burke utilized music in her entrance. The same practice was also executed in the same decade by Gorgeous Geroge.  The 1970s was a period of time where a few pro wrestlers gave their shot as a musician.  "Classy" Freddie Blassie released an album in 1977 called "Blassie, King Of Men". The album utilized his promo mic skills...

 There was a giant discourse online regarding the now-former writer for Monday Night Raw (Kenice Mobley) and how she revealed in the Asian Not Asian podcast interview that she wasn't required to have any grasps on the WWE product (even though I didn't use any transcript here, c heck out Andrew Thompson of Post Wrestling's transcript on it because he deserves every single shout out he gets).   The discussion online resulted in people giving very insightful comments like, "WWE is going in the wrong direction" or "this is why WWE sucks" (I'm pretty sure that isn't the case but go ahead, Gus). Dave Meltzer of igivewrestlingsitescontent.com noted in the Observer that the writer, Kenice Mobley, was "under the gun for speaking publicly on subjects that WWE doesn’t want stuff talked about."   To be fair, Sean Ross Sapp of igotmoremoneythanyourmom.com did state on Twitter , "I'm told fan reaction to Kenice Mobley's podcast appeara...

Guilty pleasures. We all have em. Consuming your favourite guilty pleasure content is so God damn satisfying.  And pro wrestling is of course, no different.  The upcoming matches that I talk about are matches that are not in the 5 stars conversations but rather are so bad that it's good.  (by the way, the list is in no particular order).  Let's have some fun, shall we?  Images via wwe.com #4. The Shield In Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and Kurt Angle vs Kane, Braun Strowman, The Miz And His MizTourage. WWE TLC 2017.  Y'all remember this gem? If not, all I can say is that it was an overbooked MESS like most main event matches in the Attitude Era and I ABSOLUTELY love every single second of it.  Braun Strowman being thrown into the garbage truck is a visual metaphor of how they've booked the guy years after this match took place.  This is a PERFECT match for Kurt Angle to be in and that's mainly because it hides his eventual dwindling in-ring style ...

(Just a bit of a heads-up, this article contains a lot of the word "ratings").  Rating. Rating. Rating. It is a word that you see or hear many times throughout your wrestling fandom but why is that?  Well, it's interesting to see how your weekly consumption does by the numbers every week.  However, that conversation can turn the other way.  The toxic, " logic-filled" , gatekeeping way that is (you see why I muted the word "rating" on Twitter?).  Fans have been talking about TV ratings for years but that discussion has skyrocketed once AEW Dynamite and NXT airs on the same night every week ya know because wrestling fans am I right?  Before I answer the question of whether the obsession with TV ratings is warranted or not, I'll first have to briefly describe the Nielsen rating (which is an American TV rating system. No sh*t, Omar).  A Summary Of The History Of The Nielsen Ratings.  The Nielsen rating system was introduced...

Last spring, I wrote an article about how to critique pro wrestling better aka "a guide on how to improve wrestling criticism" . I got some positive takes on it but the question is, why did I produce the second edition?  Well, you have to thank the awful videos and articles that I, unfortunately, consumed but at least, I wrote down some notes that contained the number of bad critiques that I was passionately blasted down on.  Like I mentioned in last year's piece, I am just an average fan that doesn't claim to be an expert in any form of criticism because YouTube will definitely give you the "I'm right, you're wrong" type of content.  This is just a learning process for not only the viewers reading this but myself as we all are trying to get better.  Without further explanation, let's guide you  to a better critique in wrestling (at least I hope so) numbra dos.  #1. Focusing Too Much On Logic (and no, I'm not talking abou...

Now, before you all verbally eat me alive like a hippopotamus (yes hippos eat humans, look that up), understand that I’m just an average dude writing about pro wrestling and doesn’t claim to be an expert in anything and that includes professional wrestling (except cooking. I’m damn good at cooking).  However, what I’ve been discovering as a pro wrestling blogger for over a year is that there are some wrestling criticism out there that just make me wanna scratch my head to the point where my hands turn into an electric shaver if that makes sense. For instance, “Why is Ricochet’s trunks red instead of white?” or “Why’s Andrade wearing his Luchador mask for his entrance every week?”  In other words, they’re nitpicking and trust me I do that ALL THE TIME in my wrestling reviews. There’s nothing wrong with nitpicking certain things but the difference is that I acknowledge that I’m nitpicking and those guys clearly don’t.  There are fans out there on the interweb that b...