Saturday, April 9, 2011

nouveau content

Lately, I've been teaching wrestling to my Expository Writing class, which creates an interesting challenge as the biggest hurdle is getting over the real/fake dichotomy. Fortunately, I think that so far, it's going well. I'm not making fans out of my students, but at least they are taking the concept of wrestling as a bizarre narrative/embodied performance seriously.

I bought Wrestlemania last weekend, and there were two highlights that I'd like to discuss. First, HHH/Taker was a killer match, super brutal, and the ending made me think that the Undertaker was on his way to a hospital. They are doing a great job making it seem like the streak is in jeopardy, and my heart was racing throughout the match.

Secondly, the video package for Miz was easily the best video package I've seen. To the tune of "Do You Hate Me Now," the Miz rewrote WWE history, putting himself into key historical moments of the WWE. Also, the footage of the fans hating the Miz and not taking him seriously right before the chorus of the Nas track was an emotional high point. The production values of the WWE rival that of any media company.

I'm most excited right now about the debut of Sin Cara, whose entrance on Raw was full of excitement with the highest crossbody in the industry. I hope that his first fued is intense and memorable, and I'm especially curious about how he's going to talk. There's been a dearth of managers in the WWE in the modern era, and their return could be fruitful in getting new talent over. Perhaps Michael Cole would be in a good position as a latter-day Bobby Heenan.

I'll try to begin having regular content here, as I still watch tons of wrestling.