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