“The crowd has taken on a more violent approach towards me."
November 23, 2022 11:52 AM Subscribe
Two pro wrestlers developed ‘The Progressive Liberal’ to be the bad guy at matches. Then the atmosphere turned far darker (previously on MeFi)
A lady pulled out a lighter, tried to light my trunks on fire while they are on me.
Careful! That man is made of straw.
posted by adept256 at 12:23 PM on November 23, 2022 [58 favorites]
Careful! That man is made of straw.
posted by adept256 at 12:23 PM on November 23, 2022 [58 favorites]
Who could have possibly predicted this outcome
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:37 PM on November 23, 2022 [30 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:37 PM on November 23, 2022 [30 favorites]
Surely not any republican leaders who are shocked and appalled at any violence happening in their war on the libs
posted by Jacen at 12:49 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Jacen at 12:49 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
The guy: "Well, I've got a Biden collage shirt, and one of Kamala Harris. The Biden one triggers more people than anything, 'cause I don't think half these people even know who Kamala Harris is."
His mentor: "It's a small mountain town, poor county, poor community, no hope. He represents to them everything that's put them in that position."
A guy who wrestles as 'White Trash Millionaire': "I don't see how things could get any worse. But with Trump, we would find out."
posted by box at 12:51 PM on November 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
His mentor: "It's a small mountain town, poor county, poor community, no hope. He represents to them everything that's put them in that position."
A guy who wrestles as 'White Trash Millionaire': "I don't see how things could get any worse. But with Trump, we would find out."
posted by box at 12:51 PM on November 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
“We’re complete opposites,” James said. “I’m a gun-owning, tobacco-chewing, Bible-believing mountain person; Dan is not. But Dan and I can get along.
I wonder if people like James ever reflect on the fact that it's his people doing this crazy violent shit, and not the other guy's.
I suppose he might counter that if BLM can burn every major metro area in America to ash, a pair of Biden trunks is nothing to panic about, but... well, that BLM shit is just made-up fantasy nonsense. You'd think, given his line of work, he'd be able to spot it.
posted by klanawa at 12:52 PM on November 23, 2022 [12 favorites]
I wonder if people like James ever reflect on the fact that it's his people doing this crazy violent shit, and not the other guy's.
I suppose he might counter that if BLM can burn every major metro area in America to ash, a pair of Biden trunks is nothing to panic about, but... well, that BLM shit is just made-up fantasy nonsense. You'd think, given his line of work, he'd be able to spot it.
posted by klanawa at 12:52 PM on November 23, 2022 [12 favorites]
I mean, American right-wing political discourse feels like a kind of kayfabe anyway.
posted by Paragon at 12:59 PM on November 23, 2022 [40 favorites]
posted by Paragon at 12:59 PM on November 23, 2022 [40 favorites]
The Two Minutes Hate, but charge admission.
posted by allegedly at 1:08 PM on November 23, 2022 [22 favorites]
posted by allegedly at 1:08 PM on November 23, 2022 [22 favorites]
Who could have possibly predicted this outcome
I think Umberto "Four Eyes" Eco stormed the ring, once, grabbed the mic, and gave a lecture on this very subject to a confused crowd of fascists.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:20 PM on November 23, 2022 [28 favorites]
I think Umberto "Four Eyes" Eco stormed the ring, once, grabbed the mic, and gave a lecture on this very subject to a confused crowd of fascists.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:20 PM on November 23, 2022 [28 favorites]
I mean, American right-wing political discourse feels like a kind of kayfabe anyway.
I've thought the same thing for a while now. There's a strong element of "This terrible thing is OK because I'm in on the joke!" to the conservative mind-bubble. Sure, Trump is obviously a huge piece of shit—anybody can see that—but pretending that he's not is part of a fun game whose end goals are (a) expressing solidarity with other members of the conservatribe, and (b) pissing off liberals. "Ha-ha, you thought wrestling/politics was real? How dumb are you?"
posted by The Tensor at 1:27 PM on November 23, 2022 [27 favorites]
I've thought the same thing for a while now. There's a strong element of "This terrible thing is OK because I'm in on the joke!" to the conservative mind-bubble. Sure, Trump is obviously a huge piece of shit—anybody can see that—but pretending that he's not is part of a fun game whose end goals are (a) expressing solidarity with other members of the conservatribe, and (b) pissing off liberals. "Ha-ha, you thought wrestling/politics was real? How dumb are you?"
posted by The Tensor at 1:27 PM on November 23, 2022 [27 favorites]
“Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex.”
― Frank Zappa
posted by TedW at 1:33 PM on November 23, 2022 [44 favorites]
― Frank Zappa
posted by TedW at 1:33 PM on November 23, 2022 [44 favorites]
(Southern States Wrestling on YouTube (recent Progressive Liberal promo), Twitter, Facebook)
posted by box at 1:48 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 1:48 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
When some in the audience told their neighbors to let Harnsberger speak, it boiled over. Punches were thrown. Someone was hit with a chair.I went to a wrestling match and a fight broke out!
posted by adamrice at 2:08 PM on November 23, 2022 [18 favorites]
I went to a wrestling match and a fight civil war broke out!
posted by jamjam at 2:29 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 2:29 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
"Now oxymorons are all the rage. They're often found in the press, and I've heard politicians talk about them on television. Either everyone's been reading treatises on rhetoric or there's something oxymoronic going around. It could be argued that this is not symptomatic of anything."
-Umberto Eco, conciliatory oxymorons
posted by clavdivs at 3:22 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
-Umberto Eco, conciliatory oxymorons
posted by clavdivs at 3:22 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I suppose it would make me elitist to suggest that both the "Progressive Liberal"''s schtick and the crowd's reaction to it are stupid?
posted by Reverend John at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Reverend John at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the wrestling arena!
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:34 PM on November 23, 2022 [23 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:34 PM on November 23, 2022 [23 favorites]
Judging from the previously, he's been around since 2017 at least. The Appalachian Mountain Wrestling channel from the original post has 1500 subscribers, the Southern States Wrestling channel linked above has 500, and most of the videos fall far short of that on views. If you watch the Vice report, he's playing in maybe half-full school gyms. This is just some random guy trying to drum up views and completely failing.
On the other hand, this makes me wonder why Trump doesn't feature wrestling as part of his rallies. The set change would be tough, but it would really get the crowd fired up. This guy probably wouldn't cost a lot to hire either.
posted by netowl at 7:57 PM on November 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
On the other hand, this makes me wonder why Trump doesn't feature wrestling as part of his rallies. The set change would be tough, but it would really get the crowd fired up. This guy probably wouldn't cost a lot to hire either.
posted by netowl at 7:57 PM on November 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
I think there's some media criticism about this story that I'm not really qualified to do, but I hope someone is.
In 2017, this was like a Deadspin/Vice level of newsworthiness. If that (not everyone agreed at the time).
Now, in 2022, he's got the same schtick, approximately the same level of notoriety, and he's on CNN? Is this Elle Reeve moving up in the world, or Chris Licht floating a version of the story where someone visits a diner in Trump country, or is there something more there?
posted by box at 5:53 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
In 2017, this was like a Deadspin/Vice level of newsworthiness. If that (not everyone agreed at the time).
Now, in 2022, he's got the same schtick, approximately the same level of notoriety, and he's on CNN? Is this Elle Reeve moving up in the world, or Chris Licht floating a version of the story where someone visits a diner in Trump country, or is there something more there?
posted by box at 5:53 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Hard to believe I grew up watching The Iron Sheik in the early 80s — just a few years after an international crisis with a genuinely hostile antagonist that dominated media headlines for over a year — and yet for all the insanity I remember of that time there was nothing like this.
It really seems like a case of “no adults in the room” — when the hostage crisis ended I was 7 years old and for school we were asked to draw something to commemorate the event. Taking my cues from what I saw in the (very right wing) community around me I drew a map of the US punching a map of Iran.
And my teachers were so horrified that they called my parents.
Somehow I suspect that wouldn’t happen today.
posted by bjrubble at 9:55 AM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
It really seems like a case of “no adults in the room” — when the hostage crisis ended I was 7 years old and for school we were asked to draw something to commemorate the event. Taking my cues from what I saw in the (very right wing) community around me I drew a map of the US punching a map of Iran.
And my teachers were so horrified that they called my parents.
Somehow I suspect that wouldn’t happen today.
posted by bjrubble at 9:55 AM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
I'd say it points to how far CNN has fallen.
posted by eagles123 at 3:43 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by eagles123 at 3:43 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
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So, basically this scene from The Simpsons, except members of the real audience are less sophisticated in terms of their understanding of drama than the fictional audience on the tv show?
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:17 PM on November 23, 2022 [6 favorites]