Fact: kayfabe is alive and well in the WWE Universe

Curt Hawkins posted a photo yesterday of the wedding gift he’d had made for Natalya and Tyson Kidd (who, it seems, got married properly in a low-key way, and then in a WWE way, to be featured on Total Divas, which looks like it may be the worst TV programme ever made).

I was delighted to note that, among the congratulations, there were adorably naive comments from fans who were bewildered as to why Natalya was marrying Kidd when she was going out with the Great Khali.

No, seriously.

 

Fact: ‘Spandex, Screw Jobs and Cheap Pops’ will soon be available on Kindle!

Thanks to those of you who’ve got in touch to ask if ‘Spandex, Screw Jobs and Cheap Pops’ will be available for e-readers – I’ve checked and can confirm that the e-book version should be available to buy in the next few days.

And thanks to everyone who’s bought a copy so far – do let me know when you’ve got your copy, I really hope you enjoy it.

You can look forward to reading about:

• the stars’ thoughts on wrestling training schools in the UK
• what it’s like behind the scenes at a show
• the women of British wrestling, including Nikki Storm, Rhia O’Reilly, Sweet Saraya and the Blossom Twins
• why being at a WWE tryout is “like having a football trial with the whole of the Manchester United team watching”
• what it’s like balancing a “real job” with wrestling – and what happens when you get injured

and, of course, much, much more!

The book is available to buy now online and at all good book shops.

There’ll also be another competition coming up soon, so keep an eye out for that.

(PS – normal TOWIS service,complete with return to our normal name and artwork, will resume on July 1st.)

 

 

On Summer Rae, Christy Hemme and the Blossom Twins

I was going to start this blog with an apology for returning to a subject I’ve highlighted many times before.

But then I decided not to. I make no apology for highlighting appalling behaviour where it occurs, and it’s occurring far too much in professional wrestling at the moment.

I could perhaps overlook the slightly sinister leering of WWE’s announce team, who have a particular Summer Rae fixation at the moment. She’s a gorgeous girl, and goodness knows, I’m not in any position to tell people that they shouldn’t comment on the attractiveness of wrestlers. However, when that’s all you have to say about someone, and you’re saying it twice a week on international TV, and you’re old enough to be her father, and you’re veering into the territory of telling her to take her clothes off, then it gets rather uncomfortable.

Question: do you want to be a professional wrestler?

If you’ve ever found yourself wanting to be a professional wrestler, this edited extract from Carrie Dunn’s new book, ‘Spandex, Screw Jobs and Cheap Pops‘ is for you…

Historically, the UK scene has had a very mixed reputation for the quality of its training.

Mark Sloan, who founded the Frontier Wrestling Academy in the south-east of England, doesn’t believe that in reality it’s any worse than any other sport. “There is a lot of bad stuff out there,” he says. “But people will just try it anyway.”

Johnny Moss concurs, commenting scathingly: “The majority are run by people who haven’t even had proper training themselves. Unfortunately what happens is someone who is an awful wrestler that struggles to get booked anywhere ends up setting up his own promotion, so then they are guaranteed a booking, then opens a training school as it’s a good little earner! All I will say to anyone who wants to learn how to wrestle is research the school you are thinking of going to, who are the trainers? What have they done? Where have they wrestled? Who have they trained?”

Harvey Dale, a manager and ring announcer, is heavily involved with ‘The House of Pain’, one of the most reputable training schools in the UK, headed by veteran Stixx. Talking to him, he is obviously angry about the bad schools – not necessarily from a business point of view, but because of the danger caused by inadequately-trained wrestlers performing on shows.

“There is a whole host of ‘self-taught workers’ and ‘backyarders’ appearing on ‘shows’ at the moment,” he says, using those quote marks with heavy irony. “These guys – usually guys in their very early 20s or late teens – then think that they know it all and are safe to teach others how to work safely. This is where the danger comes into it.”

Competition: win a copy of ‘Spandex, Screw Jobs and Cheap Pops’ plus Heels In Pink jewellery!

If you’ve not already bought a copy of ‘Spandex, Screw Jobs and Cheap Pops’, we have a fantastic Twitter competition for you!

All you have to do is follow author Carrie Dunn @carriesparkle and Heels in Pink @heelsinpink – and tweet to tell us the UK wrestler you’d like to see immortalised in jewellery.

Closing date is 12 noon on Monday 10th June – so get following and tweeting!

If you’re not lucky enough to win, you can buy ‘Spandex, Screw Jobs & Cheap Pops’ now or click over to Heels in Pink for your bling…

Good luck!