Rise of The Dragon

Bryan "The American Dragon" Danielson

I’ve told you before that Bryan “The American Dragon” Danielson is the best wrestler in the world. There’s little to no doubt that when it comes to main event, WWE style, no one on the planet can touch Chris Jericho. But in terms of innovative, athletic, in-ring pro-wrestling artistry, Danielson is in a league of his own.

Trained by William Regal and Shawn Michaels, The American Dragon has seemingly been on the verge of greatness for years now. But while fellow ROH Champion alumni Samoa Joe and CM Punk have managed the leap to the big time (Punk as current WWE World Champion, Joe as perennial TNA also ran) Dragon has remained in the indies. Though beloved by aficionados of the sport, in recent years he’s seemed all but destined to remain admired by the critics but unknown to the masses. Like the Velvet Underground, or Demi Lovato.

But now that’s changed. Reports surfaced Monday that Danielson has signed with WWE. In all likelihood he’ll report to the FCW developmental league at the end of August to begin work on morphing his unique, violent, international style into something that conforms more easily to WWE. Whether he emerges as a more accessible, more charismatic version of his old magnificent self (see CM Punk) or larded with a silly, career-killing gimmick (see Colt Cabana aka “Scotty Goldman”) remains to be seen. Danielson has greater potential to become a Benoit/Hitman/Angle style performer than anyone else I know of. A technical marvel whose in-ring ability elevates him to the championship ranks despite the distinct lack of size Vince usually prefers in his champs.

More than anyone else of his generation, Bryan Danielson has the potential to inspire a return to the basic fundamentals of wrestling while continuing the modernization of the craft. It’s a difficult line to walk – a reverence for the old ways crossed with a progressive, creative sensibility always on the hunt for something new – but it’s the line Danielson’s tread for years. Now perhaps we’ll have the opportunity to see this great wrestler continue his project on the biggest stage of them all. Very exciting news at a time when WWE is starved for very exciting news.

Bonus #1 – Paul Heyman on why the ending of Sunday’s SummerSlam was one of the best things WWE has done in ages – and what it meant for CM Punk.

Bonus #2 – Bryan Danielson vs. John Cena in a WWE ring back in 2003. Cena was young and new, Danielson was young and unsigned. Though five years later these men would stand on opposite ends of the pro-wrestling spectrum, here they seem more evenly matched than fans of either would ever imagine.

Here we go again…

Fish wrap

Now Magazine, the premier wank rag for Toronto’s bourgeois bohemian set has a pro-wrestler on the cover this week. It should surprise exactly no one that said wrestler (current NWA Champion Blue Demon Jr.) is a luchador. The hipster fascination with lucha libre – So exotic! So kitschy! So foreign! – has been in full swing for a couple of years now and lord christ almighty am I sick of it.  The cooptation of lucha masks as symbols (of what exactly?) has seemingly entitled a generation of bandwagon clingers who wouldn’t know Mil Mascaras from Mac mascara to proclaim their love for “Mexican wrestlers” while keeping safe distance from the white trash, Coors Lite drinkers they associate with North American wrestling.

Blue Demon Jr., of course, is a bonafide legend and his appearance at Harbourfront this weekend is a fantastic opportunity for fans to see a genuine luchador. God knows I’ll be there Sunday to see him and the cadre of local talent being brought together by local rassler, trainer and all around great guy Rob “El Fuego” Etcheverria. But the Now article, authored by one Jordan Bimm – who displays a Wikipedia-deep knowledge of the sport – offers little more than a gloss on the subject. Perhaps it’s silly to expect more from a three page article in a free alt weekly, but simply dropping insider terms like “kayfabe” doesn’t make up for a lack of perspective, context or insight.

But my biggest beef with the article stems from the lede, where Bimm feels the need to begin with a mention of the Chris Benoit murder/suicide of  ‘07. Not content to simply reference a tragedy having nothing to do with the rest of the article, Bimm also propagates the lie that the horrific incident was “roid-induced.” Though the popular media has latched onto the ‘steroids are to blame’ angle from the start, most experts cite the mental damage Benoit sustained from repeated concussions he suffered in the ring as the true “cause” of his psychopathic behaviour.  Hell, the CBC even dedicated an entire episode of The Fifth Estate to the story. Little to no proof has ever been offered that “roid rage” played any role in the killings, beyond the simple fact that Benoit was, indeed, on steroids at the time. This is exactly the kind of bullshit Chris Bell railed against in the documentary “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*” which – if you haven’t already – you TOTALLY have to see.

Lucha Libre is awesome. But it’s fetishization by those who wouldn’t be caught dead attending an actual wrestling show is patronizing and annoying. Ring of Honor – the premier North American independent wrestling organization – has two shows scheduled for Toronto next weekend at the Ted Reeve arena. On hand will be some of the best wrestlers in the world, including Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries and Lance Storm. Hell, even wrestling legends Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair will be there. Still, something tells me ROH won’t be getting the same front page treatment as their hipster-approved Mexican counterparts. To do that might involve an honest-to-god investigation of a genuine subculture that hasn’t already been vetted by the cool kids – and that’s about as far as you can get from Now’s modus operandi.

"The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson

Misawa

Mitsuharu Misawa

Last Saturday, just as Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” was released in the land of the rising sun, tragedy struck as Japanese wrestling legend Misawa died in the ring. And though the story of a past-his-prime wrestler (Misawa was 46) pushing himself to the point of breaking may draw comparison to Aronofsky’s film, that’s about all Mitsuharu Misawa had in common with “Randy the Ram.”

A former high school wrestler, Misawa rose to fame in Japan’s puroresu world in the 1980s as the second Tiger Mask. After removing the mask mid-match in 1990, Misawa would rise in popularity, becoming one of, if not the most popular wrestler in Japan for the next decade.

In 2000 Misawa formed Pro Wrestling NOAH, an organization revered around the wrestling world for the quality of it’s in-ring action and talent. Misawa was fighting in a tag-team match in the main event at a NOAH show in Hiroshima when he took a back suplex that rendered him unconscious and which caused the immediate spinal cord damage that killed him.

To call Mitsuharu Misawa a great wrestler is to understate the case. Renowned pro-wrestling critic and reporter Dave Meltzer has been reviewing matches from around the world since the early 1980s. In that time he has awarded 65 matches a 5-star rating. 24 of those matches featured Misawa. A multi-time world champion who developed an international reputation among fans despite rarely wrestling outside of Japan, Misawa built his reputation not with hype, catchphrases or elaborate gimmicks, but with the quality of his work, his connection with the fans and above all, his love and passion for wrestling.

That wrestling somehow isn’t “real” or that it is in some way fraudulent or “fake” is both the most common and the least pertinent criticism of the art. Those who wish to dismiss it out of hand will point to the pre-determined outcomes as reason enough. But wrestling is not sport. It is theatre, a spectacle of athletics that uses sport as it’s canvas upon which to paint stories of pain and hope and victory and loss.

Mitsuharu Misawa was an artist who died in the creation of his art and who will continue to inspire others as the legacy of his work and his contributions to the form continue to influence and inspire the next generation.

Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi - 5 Star Classic

SAY IT AGAIN!

My dad wore a cast for five years!

So Evil WWE Champion Randy Orton was on a Mexican talk show yesterday and freaked out on the host before storming off set after the gentleman made the mistake of bringing up The Legend Killer’s recent rash of injuries.

God I love wrestling.

FINLAY VS. SAINT

Dave “Fit” Finlay vs. Johnny Saint – Before he was WWE’s resident fightin’ Irishman, Finlay was a star in England. Here, in a match from some time in the ’80s, he challenges Johnny Saint, one of the greatest grapplers from the golden World of Sport. If you’ve never seen British wrestling with it’s round system, technical emphasis and strict rulebook then strap yourself in and enjoy this awesome piece of work.

Part One                   Part Two