Make Mine a Heel Post Mortem

Growing up in Texas there were two things that a lot of people did religiously.  Watch football and wrestling. My first wrestling event wasn’t on TV.  The first time I saw professional wrestling was live at the now defunct Sportatorium in downtown Dallas. It was World Class Championship Wrestling. I cried the whole time cause I thought people were really being hurt.  That certainly made the experience itself pretty memorable.  My mother told me right then and there it hurts some, but they aren’t as badly hurt as they make out.  So then I was fascinated by it because I wanted to understand how you could fake that stuff.  My little brother and I would watch religiously, and yes sometimes we did very unfortunate things to each other in misguided reenactments.

My love for football came later as I grew up enough to actually understand the mechanics of the game.  I think it’s a very interesting analogy.  I hated football right up until the moment I understood it.  I think a lot of life is like that.

The character of Dominique ‘Dangerous’ Dutton was originally created years ago as I participated in a play by mail wrestling promotion one of my friends was running.  I loved it because once a month I could sit, and plot out the comings and goings of my wrestling stable called Bad Company. Thanks to my ability to write a ‘mile a minute mouth’ head heel and four flunkies, Bad Company had the entire roster after them, and the top dogs of a sister promotion. With this paper testing done I figured had he been real, he would’ve gotten a rise out of anyone. So when I decided to write a wrestling romance novel it just all came together.

It was a dare I gave myself to write a viable novel about 2 things I enjoy so much I never want to try and live without them. Make Mine a Heel was a project and writing of pure love. It even has a muse that I dedicated it to if you read the book. But it wasn't just the dedication or the love of something like wrestling. It is a love letter not just to athletes of the sports I feature but to the people in the background often behind the scenes that have accepted roles people would assume are less glamorous but are not by any means less important. Its about a function and process.

Love is always hard to convey. Especially when something lives and breathes in you. I often find myself defending wrestling from the 'fake' naysayers. I argue so is most entertainment does that really take away from what you are seeing, what you are feeling?  I don't think so. I wanted to write something that gave a different perspective of the sport. One that highlighted many of the things that fans and none fans alike take for granted when thinking of this type of performer and professional. As a lifelong artist I know what it is to have your life's blood not respected. So I hoped to be able to use one of my passions to highlight and honor someone else's.

I feel like I have a decent amount in common with most people in the professional wrestling business. I have those childhood memories of watching wrestling and being obsessed with it. I developed an a true love for storytelling and physical expression. I also create art and it all has a base in the divine. We all are telling a story of some kind. I wanted this story to do the business justice but I could only do so from a limited fan perspective as I have never been so bold as to wrestle myself or be very close to someone who did or does for a living. So I always hoped my love letter to the business would be received as that and not undermine or disrespect what for me has always been something I've had the utmost respect for. I could gush about professional wrestling indefinitely but I don't want to bore you. So please grab read and enjoy.

Available in ebook from the following venders: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads

Hi My Name is Christina and I'm a Wrestling Fan

I won't wait for the Hi Christina. I'll just get to my story. 

I'm going to tell you why I am a professional wrestling fan.  I love it, always have.  I love watching the over the top histrionics. I love the sometimes base level one caricatures of common tropes. I love the bluster. I also admire the athletics, the form, and the ability to really go out there and pull me as a viewer into the match.  I love the crowd engagement no matter how ridiculous.  I love the way it never apologizes for what it is and the performers really pour all of who they are into what they are doing. I love that its one of the few things that is filmed and broadcasted live weekly and monthly.  I love that for all the admonishment about being fake it is literally the realest thing I can watch on television when you consider the competition is scripted 'reality' TV shows, propaganda news and recycled sitcoms that won’t trust a live audience anymore. I cut my teeth over 2 decades ago from the promotion that most modern wrestling tropes have tried to turn into a science.

What I dislike about wrestling ironically enough is a part of what makes it so unique.  Some of the pervasive fan base. I hate the ones that need to go online and try and show their 'in the know' smarts by commenting foolishly on something they cannot even begin to understand based on a low tier observation from the comfort of their couch. The ones that feel the need to judge talent by standards that no talent can even understand what to pursue because that fan has literally just made up a justification for why this talent is beneath the standard. The fan that criticizes what they can't do to gain their 15 minutes of fame among a self-hating contingent that uses sarcasm and cynicism to justify what they love to a what they assume is an unreceptive general public.

It seems like every week this is becoming the more popular fan type. But I have to beg of you to consider what you want to be to wrestling. One of those detractors or a fan. I can't keep track of the online rants about dumb booking, dumb finishes and who is burying who.  And I remain mystified at how some can't manage being a fan who loves something enough to actually see it beyond themselves and their personal preferences.  How one can watch what these people are doing and not see them. They are artists and they have bled literally into their art. It’s difficult for me to look at the pains, the challenges, the sacrifices and not appreciate the single minded determination and focus it takes to be good at the job they do. Being good is subjective but we can all agree being good is the only thing really that gets you to the top or even close enough to see it no matter your business. If you're a fraud everyone sees it. When its broadcast live to millions it’s even more apparent. There are many talents that family name, connections and interest just didn't make up for what they lacked as a performer. So the idea that being good is not a quantifier is already a lost lot.

I believe experience is a great teacher.  In certain professions is the only valid teacher. I couldn't tell you what to do if you botched a move in a big match on a PPV.  I can't tell you what that it factor is that makes someone marketable.  I can't tell you how to pace a match between two differing styles just right. I can just tell you if it looked good to me, the average 20 plus year fan that has seen almost every major promotion and every major performer for the last 2 decades. And unless you've done the gig that's all any of us can do.

So I'm not going to go over the ins and outs of booking or in-ring performance, what the next rivalry is and how it should be built.  That is for a very good reason. None of those are my expertise.  What I have over 2 decades of experience in is being a fan. What pains me most days when I'm trying to enjoy something that I have been a fan of for over two thirds of my life is the not so knowledgeable ramblings of people who have appointed themselves, COO, Master Booker and In-Ring Architect when they haven't even figured out how to do the very first job of watching professional wrestling. Which is just being a fan.