Calling all Global Extreme Wrestling alumni!

[Thingybloke]

In a little over a month GEW will be celebrating its tenth birthday with a special anniversary edition of Extreme Extravaganza, and we'd love to see some old faces from the fed's past make special guest appearances! If you're a GEW alumnus and you think you might be interested in putting in a showing, please shoot me a PM

[V]

haaaaahahahahaha.

but i wasn't that notable.

i was just thinking the other day that it'd be extremely hard for me to ever do standard efedding again because... i dunno, it's hard to explain.  too much of the other side of the barricade finally, maybe...

[Thingybloke]

Lauren was notable there. V... less so.


I kinda dig what you mean though. I mean it's not the same thing of course, but since I started reenactment I've got very little patience for historical or pseudo-historical roleplay. I try to be patient but I can't help it; I'm like, "Christ sake, that is NOT how you'd set up a camp... if you held a sword like that, you'd cut your own achilles tendon... oh, you're actually using your shield defensively, that's cute..."

Talking to you always reminds me that's a total double standard on my part, though. I like fedding precisely because I *can* deviate from realism. In fact I think fedding is one of the big reasons I no longer care about 'real' wrestling. That's weird, I suppose. I'm reminded of a quote which I think Lisa had on Facebook for a while? "If you don't have time to read, then you don't have time to write." Well, I write a wrestling show every other week, and yet I could count the number of real shows I've watched in the last year without needing to take my socks off.

[V]

yeah, it's basically like that.  people who use fantastical and seemingly-to-me random takes on what the wrestling business is like irk me.  things they couldn't know, okay, it might seem quaint from my perspective but it is what it is. 

some of them just obviously don't try to reason and would rather shill implausible bullshit, though.  like... the wrestling companies out there that have been open for a year or less and somehow are MEGAFAMOUS brands that make enough money to support fifty-odd wrestlers on their roster whilst touring.

donald fucking trump could start a wrestling company and if it operated like that, it'd still be broke in six months.  ted turner didn't even start a wrestling brand like that, he bought out another already established company.  gtfo.

also on the irks list, similarly, are people who make their wrestlers out to be megarich for no good goddamn reason.  if you're an heir or successful at something else, that's one thing.  and it's one thing you better juggle well because wrestling and training take up time.  but i think we all know that lifestyle's a bullshit presentation otherwise.  mick foley didn't break six figures until he won the wwe title.  most of these people are doing well if they've got themselves a decent house in the suburbs near an airport that has a home gym and tanning bed in the spare room.  they might also have a moderately expensive car in the garage that they rarely get to drive because they're using rentals to tour.  this isn't a business of mcmansions and lamborghinis, especially these days.

[V]

some part of me can understand that that kind of rant is utterly shitting on the fun, though.  and it's not as if i haven't taken enough artistic license with shit here.  so i'm not going into efeds anymore because i couldn't gag myself on some shit and that's not fair.

[Thingybloke]

Fair dos. In that case I'll just say, I understand what you're saying and agree on much of it, and even that which I don't agree with I still appreciate and respect your perspective. My only rebuttal is that... reality is rubbish. You get pissed off with fantasy wrestling. I get pissed off with fantasy history. But at the end of the day a lot of people prefer fantasy to reality. You and I might not but a lot of people RP for wish fulfillment.

[Tim]

Everything Kore is saying is right, but honestly, none of that really matters to me.  I mean, I guess when some wrestlers pretend like they have all this free time in their RPs and do crazy shit and their world doesnt revolve wrestling or training, thats lame, and I try to keep my efed characters' lives centered around the actual wrestling, because that makes sense, but as for the megafamous thing?  I mean, yeah, thats kind of the point.  That shit would never happen in real life, but the point of efedding is that it isnt real life and that it takes place in some bizarre alternate universe where this shit is possible for some reason, so idk.

Just my two cents, for whatever their worth.  Even though no one asked.

[Blitzkrieger]

How about a link to GEW?  I've seen it somewhere before...can't remember where though lol

[V]

well, there you go.

that's why i can't efed.

"professional wrestling" isn't a fantasy world for me.  it's firmly entrenched in my life.  and the discrepancies between the fantasy and the reality make it something where you can't "write what you know".

i've been that person stopping at the gas station after an indie show with a banged up face trying to figure out what i can get to eat that coincides with my diet and still leaves me money for gas to make it home... and had marks in the gas station recognizing me and fawning on me while i did it.  been that person flown to another state to wrestle by a promoter and still didn't have the money to do more than walk the city streets after if i wanted to make cab fare back to the airport.

it's not that all of your time's dedicated to wrestling.  it's that ANY time that isn't dedicated to wrestling is dedicated to finding ways to make money and/or find accommodations so you can keep wrestling.  which, since it takes you away on weekends and weird hours in the weekday, means either a rotating door of shitty minimum-wage jobs or turning into some kind of borderline conman/hustler (which if you know the history of wrestling, is beautifully full circle).

yeah.  as i said.  a little too much a piece of reality.

maybe it's still just me.  not the type to do one of those celebrity rps either.

[Tim]

well, there you go.

that's why i can't efed.

"professional wrestling" isn't a fantasy world for me.  it's firmly entrenched in my life.  and the discrepancies between the fantasy and the reality make it something where you can't "write what you know".

i've been that person stopping at the gas station after an indie show with a banged up face trying to figure out what i can get to eat that coincides with my diet and still leaves me money for gas to make it home... and had marks in the gas station recognizing me and fawning on me while i did it.  been that person flown to another state to wrestle by a promoter and still didn't have the money to do more than walk the city streets after if i wanted to make cab fare back to the airport.

it's not that all of your time's dedicated to wrestling.  it's that ANY time that isn't dedicated to wrestling is dedicated to finding ways to make money and/or find accommodations so you can keep wrestling.  which, since it takes you away on weekends and weird hours in the weekday, means either a rotating door of shitty minimum-wage jobs or turning into some kind of borderline conman/hustler (which if you know the history of wrestling, is beautifully full circle).

yeah.  as i said.  a little too much a piece of reality.

maybe it's still just me.  not the type to do one of those celebrity rps either.

No, I get it.  And I've known actual indie wrestlers and I've seen what the lifestyle is like, but I guess the escapism in efedding is just a selling point for most people, even if being on the "other side of the barricade" as you put it has made it really ahrd to just suspend disbelief when fedders throw that sort of bullshit around.

[Thingybloke]

Which I totally appreciate, Kore. I guess it's the same impulse as soldier friends have had when they've got back from Afghanistan and found they no longer have any interest in war movies; it's not finding the lack of realism offensive or disturbing or anything like that, it's just a case of simply not having any empathy with what's presented because it's nothing like the reality they know. I have friends in very prestigious jobs and even for them it seems to be the same story at the end of the day; nothing is glamourous when you do it for a living, but it's made to look glamourous in stories.

Which I think is, by the way, the big difference between what you do and what I do. It's not the training - you know we wouldn't let people do what we do without extensive training, and we're out in all weather conditions. It's not injuries - we've had our fair share of broken bones, cracked ribs, concussions... I broke my friend's elbow. To be fair he also broke my nose at the same time, although that's hardly as bad. And we have the NHS over here but even so when you get injured, you just get on with it, right? I've fought on a concussion and it's not fun, but you just do it anyway. Nor is it even the politics and prejudice of promoters; don't get me fucking started on some of the crap we've had to fight through to get bookings. Even when you described "having marks fawning over you" - been there done that. I'm like fuck sake, I can barely stand, I've got a swollen elbow and a cut gushing blood, my shoes are falling off and I medically NEED to sit down and have painkillers and a joint and six pints of water or I am going to FUCKING DIE, now is NOT the time to be asking me detailed questions or telling me how much you liked it.

No, the difference that I can see (from my admittedly limited perspective, anyway) is the fact that we're not looking to make a living off it. We usually break even on individual shows when you factor in that we get free food, water and coffee while we're there, but we've still poured ridiculous amounts of money into this which we're realistically never, ever going to see back. And we're all shit fucking poor to start with anyway. But we have the luxury - when the training or the injuries or the politics get too much - of being able to walk away for a while. While we are looking to establish something above minimum wage or dole queue income from it, it's not a full time vocation and we don't *need* to do it just to survive. Hell, we get an off season in winter anyway. So on that front, I don't understand, not properly, but I'm aware of the point on the horizon from which I could understand. If that makes sense.



And those celebrity RPs are just fucking ridiculous.

[V]

i think there are some in wrestling that would do it as a hobby.  i've joked before that this is less a "business" than a really expensive hobby, and stated in all seriousness that none of us can really say we know "the business" until we've hit a point where we, ya know, actually pay our bills on it and manage to break even.  so in that context, i know very few people who know the business.

the same glamour that's used in efedding as "the fantasy"?  it lives on in most of these guys too.  all wrestlers are marks in some capacity still.  and so much of the politics and bullshit that circulate?  it comes from "chasing the dream" in this capacity.  wanting to see your name in fucking lights.  having the nice house and the nice car and the nice spot in a big company and all the marks knowing your fucking name.  when you're asked to make ridiculous personal sacrifice to do this, that's what they'll bring up every time.  and when it comes down to it, THAT is why i may never go back.

i'm too much of a realist to look at that and not go, do you realize how slim the chances are of ever seeing breaking even are, much less how FEW spots there are out there like the one you want?  you might as well start playing the lotto, kid.

you do this because it's what you do.  that's the only justifiable reason to do it anymore.  period.  i'd go back to it if i had the option of wrestling at times that don't interfere with me having a decent real job and paying the bills, but i'm soooo past the idea of sacrificing any kind of normal life for a dream that's a giant steaming load.  i'm done making the trips where whether the promoter actually pays me determines whether i get back.  i've looked into just training with different places for the love of the ring and sharing some of the knowledge Akbar gave me, but every time i do people start talking about shows when i've said that's not what i'm aiming for at this time.  i'm a pretty girl who knows how to wrestle, and they can't imagine that i DON'T want to be the center of attention somewhere.  wrestling would be benefitted so much if the wrestlers and promoters stopped trying to work other wrestlers or promoters and just told the godforsaken fucking truth for a change.

sorry i'm ranting, but...  it's nice to air it out loud in a forum that can halfway grok it.

[Thingybloke]

Well you know any time you need to rant about anything, my ears are open.

Halfway between a job and a hobby, aye? Too invested to be a hobby, not sustainable enough to be a job. I think that's something I was trying to aim at earlier. I fucking love MsChif because she's always made it clear that wrestling, to her, *is* a hobby. Of course, not everyone can be a microbiologist for their day job.


EDIT: Y'know, what saddens me the most about what you were saying there is that there is really no such thing as a superstar wrestler, at least not in the English speaking world, so ultimately the dream is a lie in the first place. I've seen TNA fans trying to claim AJ Styles as a household name; I'm like, damn, not even John Cena and Randy Orton are household names. Not really. They're very very important but only to a very small number of people. Talking to non-wrestling fans, Hulk Hogan is "Oh that wrstler from the 80s, he had that shitty reality show didn't he, is he still alive?" The Rock is "That big dude from the terrible B-action movies who wants to be the next Vin Diesel." Roddy Piper is "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum." Ric Flair is "Who? Never heard of him." I don't want this to sound like I'm shitting on wrestling; it's just the nature of the beast. It's the same deal with UFC - Velasquez and GSP are simply not Tyson or Ali in the "your name in lights" factor and they probably never will be.

[Mark Chapman]

I like this thread. It gave me a little incentive for my GEW rp