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Strange Things In Wrestling This Month for May 2017 with Marc Madison

By Marc Madison • Published 3rd June 2017
TJR Wrestling

Welcome to the latest edition of Strange Things In Wrestling This Month with Marc Madison. The bi-weekly (ish) version of this column, which tackles things that happened during that time frame, has already put the makeup on like Doink (because he’s a clown). This monthly edition highlights things that weren’t included in the last couple bi-weekly (ish) editions of; maybe because they weren’t deemed significant enough to be a focal point of a column at the time, but have since picked up steam…or maybe we just forgot…or maybe they were so big we needed to discuss them twice. However, we don’t want these other stories to never to be talked about (even if someone else WAS talking about them!). We want to bring them to greater prominence! Showcase the best, the worst, the oddest or angriest qualities because they stand out. Here, we’ll dive…or headlock into a handful of different things, stories whose strange nature is something that should be featured.

You can anticipate something outside normal online wrestling culture when it comes to this (generally) monthly edition, just like the bi-weekly (ish) edition. We may focus on a tweet from a wrestler, an image, a scenario, a match, or even a storyline, This month’s edition includes a psycho killer dancing to the Titanic theme song, Baron Corbin, and an independent wrestler exchanging cookie recipes, why Bollywood is running wild, and the age old debate to dive or not to dive. Without further ado, here are Strange Things In Wrestling This Month for May 2017.

‘Unconscious’ Enzo says so much without….. saying a word?

We probably aren’t supposed to know who did it yet, or why he’s being targeted, but seeing an unconscious EnzoAmore week in and week out has been nothing short of strange. It seems as though the decision to have him down and out is the quickest way to have him shut up and shut down. Who has done it and why did they do it? Was it the Revival? Was it BigCass? Could it be a mosquito or a black fly wanting to take out Amore? As May drew to a close, we have more questions than answers about the beatings that Amore has received. And if anyone can take a beating repeatedly and be convincing, it is EnzoAmore. What has made this so strange isn’t the ‘who did it?’ aspect, but rather the decision to have a guy that talks as much as anyone lay silently prone time and time again. Amore being dazed and confused is pretty much accurate considering some of the monologues his character has had to give since his and Big Cass’s arrival on Raw. If the decision is to end their unit, it wouldn’t be strange, but rather something seen coming for some time. What happens with Enzo afterwards? Does he bring his gift to gab to the Cruiserweight division and add much needed personality there? All there is right now is speculation about whom took Enzo out; anything after that well…that’s left probably for another month.

Return of a Psycho Killer to the tune of a Titanic gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUVsU5137s

It is either the most amusing thing ever or the strangest. Since strange is essentially the theme of this column, we think it’s the latter. As many will recall, at this past month’s NXT Takeover: Chicago event we saw the brand feature a number of solid matches as worthy contenders challenged for championships. It wasn’t about wins and losses, it was all about competition. Right, TommasoCiampa? He mouthed the words ‘This isn’t our moment, this is my moment’ to Johnny Gargano as he rammed his partners head into the entrance way video wall. A stunned crowd was gasping because they hadn’t seen it coming. My wife, on the other hand, claimed that she knew it! She thought it would have happened in the ring, but was waiting patiently for the turn to happen. I wish our family could predict when we’ll win the lottery, though in that case I wouldn’t be writing and you wouldn’t be reading this. However, one thing came out of this that didn’t have anything to do with the heel turn.

When Ciampa did the turn it was about as dastardly as it could be, with Gargano not seeing it coming and being confused and helpless, while Ciampa beat him and put him through two tables while leaping off the announce table. However, that act wasn’t what was amusing what was amusing and strange, it became so when someone put his actions to ‘My Heart Will Go On,’ the Titanic theme song by Celine Dion. We should feel bad for Gargano, but I couldn’t after hearing that played while the attack took place.

Baron Corbin and CZW exchange pleasantries

He is the Lone Wolf, and he does what he wants and says what he wants. If you don’t believe me, ask the likes of DolphZiggler or Dean Ambrose, or most recently SamiZayn. He is supposed to be a sore loser, and it shows each time he beats someone down after losing a match. Corbin leaves the ring looking more like the winner than a loser almost every time. So, when he recently took to Twitter to put a heckler in his place, it wasn’t just great, it was fantastic. For instance, he attacked Ambrose a few months ago and had him pinned underneath a forklift. More recently he attacked Zayn, the first time for making comments about him, and the second time after losing a match to him. He beat down Zayn so badly that they had to carry him out on a stretcher! So, when he recently took to Twitter to put a heckler in his place, it wasn’t just great, it was fantastic. The heckler, current Combat Zone Wrestler Geoffrey Bravo, commented on how could any woman love someone who is balding, kinda in shape and has a lost look. Corbin’s reply? “I don’t get how you call yourself a pro wrestler. Wrestling for chips and maybe 5 bucks just makes you a pretend wrestler. Big difference.”

I don’t own a glass house, and I know that because of that I shouldn’t throw stones. Corbin proclaimed that he is more of a wrestler because of where he is, and certainly stepped on someone who threw stones at him. Don’t heckle unless you can back it up kids, and Corbin could. Chips do sound good right now, though. Especially, Ketchup…yes, we Canadians like Ketchup flavoured chips.

You will eat this serving of JinderMania and you will like it!

There is the saying that you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Ever feel like, no matter what you do it just isn’t good enough? Maybe someone can listen, can work hard, can get good grades, and it still doesn’t seem like it’s enough. That seems to be the prevailing belief about JinderMahal. Despite being in the final for the inaugural NXT championship years ago, against Seth Rollins, he has been used sparingly during his two runs with the company, Mahal has generated such a difference of opinion among those watching him. Maybe they question the validity of his newly jacked up body or how he achieved it. There is also a widespread belief that he doesn’t deserve that spot. It seems like a no-win situation…or does it?

Whether the heat he is getting is because fans genuinely don’t want to see him in that spot, or because of the America-hating heel he portrays, Mahal and WWE have some special on their hands. It doesn’t matter whether he is loved or loathed, Mahal is getting a reaction. Funny enough, he is the change that has long been clamored for, and he really does tap into a different demographic. So, whether he has been forced down our throats like soggy cornflakes or not, Mahal is here and will certainly change the perspective that he shouldn’t be there by simply walking around calling himself the champion. And the Maharaja as well!

The wrestling formula debate…dive…vs….headlock

It was widely talked about and it managed to not only get fans to share their opinions, but got wrestlers both past and present discussing it as well. What first began as a message sent by Canadian indy wrestler Daniel ‘D-Man’ Parker to Rip Rogers escalated into something no one could have imagined. Rogers, a long time Ohio Valley Wrestling trainer and former wrestler, gave his thoughts on today’s match formula for independent wrestlers. That led to Randy Orton sharing his thoughts via social media, starting simply with him retweeting Rogers. While Rogers didn’t write the original message, he clearly shares the same feelings. That led to Orton’s infamous ‘apology,’ following his response to a tweet from former WWE tag team champion and current one-third of the Ring of Honor six-man tag team champion, Bubba Ray Dudley.

It also led to Young Bucks accepting the apology, tongue firmly in cheek. What was unique was that there wasn’t one side that all fans or all wrestlers were on. There are those that enjoy the storytelling of today’s independent stars, but there are some that are staunchly against it. It has come down to a battle between dive and headlock. This seems to have led to discussion, memes and online trolling, exemplified by a recent video that Randy Orton shared showing him administering an RKO out of nowhere to a competitive diver messing up their dive.

So ends this edition of Strange Things In Wrestling This Month with Marc Madison. It is said May can come in like a zebra and go out like a tiger (that sounded better in my head), but whoever said that probably didn’t take professional wrestling into account. Who knew that across the wrestling world, we would see such stories as fighting among wrestlers online, lower card wrestlers getting a shot and it being rejected, and why Enzo is saying so much by not saying anything at all!

As per usual, we featured some odd and unusual suspects, and social media played a major part in many of the stories. We could have talked about other things that caught our attention, but at this writing we didn’t focus on…dives….or headlocks. We are above that here with our Strange Things In Wrestling series! We hit you with the hard-hitting facts…or at least land in close proximity of being remotely hard-hitting, maybe with a curve, potentially a slider. What were we talking about again? Did we miss something or should we have talked about something else in this month’s edition? Let me know and we could discuss it during our mid-year strangest things review of 2017.

For Strange Things In Wrestling This Month, this is Marc Madison saying, see you at the end of June…and let the massive pondering begin!

…….Nah, there is a pretty good chance we’ll be back next month….armbar!

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