Line #70 Wrestling/JoeyRyan


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_p2dboe4u1m1rlmi6co1_1280.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Legalize Sleaze.]]
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4	Joseph Ryan Meehan (born November 7, 1979) is an American {{professional wrestl\|ing}}er and promoter, better known by the ring name Joey Ryan and his gimmick of a brash man who for all the world looks like if Music/JonLajoie was a [[TheSeventies 1970s]] porn star, complete with luscious PornStache. He had a long career on the independent circuit, but is now a pariah in the industry after over a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct as part of the [=#SpeakingOut=] movement, to the point that every booked wrestler withdrew en masse from an indie show when they learned he was involved.
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6	During his early years as a profesional wrestler, he was one of the founders of Southern California promotion Wrestling/ProWrestlingGuerrilla (PWG), where he held the PWG World Championship once and the PWG World Tag Team Championship four times (three times with Scott Lost, one time with Wrestling/CandiceLeRae as the World's Cutest Tag Team). From there, he would eventually work with several other promotions in USA, like Wrestling/RingOfHonor, Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance, where he became a one-time NWA World Tag Team Champion with Wrestling/KarlAnderson, and the wrestling TV series ''Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX''. He also worked with NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, for which he was the head booker of from January 2011 to August 2011. In 2012, Ryan signed a contract with [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling]], where he worked until his release the next year. He was re-signed by the the promotion, then known as ''Impact'' in 2019, where he worked under the name "Joseph P. Ryan" and formed a Wrestling/RightToCensor-[[{{Expy}} esque]] stable called "Cancel Culture", but was fired in 2020 after the allegations against him came to light.
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8	He worked on several independent promotions around the world, like [[Wrestling/{{MLW}} Major League Wrestling]], [[Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam DDT Pro-Wrestling]] in Japan, as well as the TV series ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground''. Also, he founded the promotion Bar Wrestling.[[note]] Which closed after the 2020 allegations against him. [[/note]]
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10	Joey Ryan can be seen making a cameo in the NSFW video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rnJAe3zuzQ Close Up]]" by Music/{{Peaches}} & [[Music/SonicYouth Kim Gordon]].
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12	!!These tropes associated with Joey Ryan are brought to you by the 87%ers:
13	* AHeroToHisHometown: He's from Hollywood, California, so the Championship Wrestling From Hollywood crowds tend to give him a pass on a lot of things.
14	* AbortedArc: In season 4 of Lucha Underground, his previously-established status as an undercover cop and mole for Dario Cueto went completely unmentioned, mostly because the other aspects of the related storyline had been written off or excised.
15	* AnimalMotifs: Formerly a giant rooster. [[DontExplainTheJoke Makes sense, given his gimmick.]]
16	* ArtisticLicenseLaw
17	** When he was accused of stealing the Championship Wrestling From Hollywood Television Title Belt, Ryan claimed that possession was 9/10ths of ownership. Needless to say, that wouldn't justify theft if Cintron had actually pressed charges.
18	** Joey's other antics aside, he was correct at least in that he had the right to continue appearing on Championship Wrestling From Hollywood shows, provided they would actually take him back. Whatever legal action TNA could threaten, he should have been legally allowed to go where he pleased as an independent contractor, so long as he did so when nothing was scheduled on his contract.
19	* AssShove: Wrestling/KarleePerez shove his own [[TrademarkFavoriteFood blow pop]] up his behind after decided showing the fans of Beyond Wrestling that Ryan was wearing a thong wasn't humiliating enough.
20	* BaitAndSwitch: He's defeated Nick Madrid. Now number one contender Willie Mack is set to defend against Tyler Cintron... and then Joey Ryan's music plays.
21	* BallsOfSteel: Part of his Lucha Underground gimmick involved [[NoSell noselling]] [[GroinAttack groin attacks]]. Vampiro once quipped that he has a "bionic [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Six Million Dollar Man]] jockstrap".
22	* BreastAttack
23	** Many of his intergender matches involve him using a move called the "Boobplex", where he hits his female opponent with a German suplex using her breasts as the handle; in turn, his tag team partner Wrestling/CandiceLeRae has a variation she does involving [[GroinAttack male opponents' crotches]], appropriately dubbed the "Ballsplex".
24	** Parodied in Wrestling/{{CZW}} where he hit on Greg Excellent by clamping on his man boobs.
25	* CallingYourAttacks: A rather extreme example in Family Wrestling Entertainment, where he boasted to Wrestling/IvelisseVelez exactly which moves he was going to use on her ''months'' ahead of their scheduled match. You can image how well that went for Mr. Ryan although he did manage to hit Ms Velez with the boobplex, which seemed to hit her BerserkButton.
26	* CardioVascularLove: Some of his entrance attire have illustrations of him and Wrestling/CandiceLeRae framed by a {{heart symbol}}.
27	* CarpetOfVirility: With an impressive hairline going down to his belly button. Often seems to pour water or oil on himself for added effect. He's even weaponized his body hair by pushing into the eyes or mouths of his opponents.
28	* CasanovaWannabe: Especially in the sense that he's a sleazy guy who gets his hands all over his opponents, no matter the sex. Needless to say, not too many people find that pleasant. In Lucha Underground, it was played up even more as a cover for him being an undercover cop.
29	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Transformed from a sleazy heel who had the image of a typical 70s/80s babyface like Wrestling/MagnumTA to an internet darling type character not too far removed from [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] and Wrestling/CMPunk (still with the sleazy old school image of his indies character) to "The King of Dong Style", a gimmick mainly based around his penis being superhumanly strong and tough.
30	* CombatPragmatist: In LU's Aztec Warfare match (their version of the Wrestling/RoyalRumble), competitors can ''only'' be eliminated by pin fall or submission. So Ryan twice tried to get around it by handcuffing himself first to the fence outside the ring, then to the railing of the stairs. Matanza and Mil Muertes solved the problem by respectively tearing the railing out and breaking the handcuff chain before beating Ryan up.
31	* ContinuityNod: After his World's Cutest Tag Team partner Wrestling/CandiceLeRae signed up with WWE in 2018, disbanding their team, Ryan or people who interacted with him would make references about "the blonde girl he used to team with."
32	* CoolShades: Especially as Joey Hollywood, with white rims. In Lucha Underground, he sported a badass pair of police shades.
33	* CounterAttack:
34	** Yeah, spreading your legs is natural when Irish whipping someone, but be careful that Joey doesn't instead slide through them while holding your arm and then give you a pump handle suplex!
35	** His infamous "dickplex" against Danshoku Dino in [[Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam DDT]] definitely qualifies; Dino attempted a {{Groin Attack}}, only to find, to his dismay, that not only did the aforementioned "Balls of Steel" protect Ryan, they also allowed him to proceed to judo throw Dino using only his... yeah. This, now called the "[=YouPorn-plex=]", has come to be part of his ensemble of moves, although he no longer uses it as a counter attack.
36	* CrowdChant
37	** Los Gallineros got "KFC", "Pollo Loco" and rooster calls.
38	** His protestation to Wrestling/ChristinaVonEerie and Wrestling/{{Carlito\|Colon}} not being appropriate "Family" Wrestling Entertainment sparked a chant of "Joey's racist".
39	** "Touch his dick" whenever he goads his opponent into setting up the [=YouPorn-Plex=].
40	* DefeatMeansFriendship: He and Candice started out feuding, with both scoring wins over the other but neither being able to finally end it. They eventually decided to just quit the feud and team up.
41	* DidntThinkThisThrough: His plan for Aztec Warfare II was to handcuff himself to the guardrail outside the ring, preventing him from being pinned. Sounds good, except for the glaring flaw was that he couldn't do anything at all while cuffed to it and was wide open and was beaten down by others during the match. The handcuffs didn't deter Matanza either, he just ripped the rail free before dragging Ryan into the ring.
42	** He still hadn't thought it through the following Season, when he tried handcuffing himself to the stair rail during Aztec Warfare III. He lasted even less time, as Mil Muertes came out, broke the handcuffs, hauled him into the ring, and eliminated him.
43	* DirtyCop: In Lucha Underground. Ryan may be loyal, but he's also crooked (probably another reason Officer Reyes hates him). When he's searching Dario Cueto's office for evidence, he finds Cueto's stacks of cash in his desk draw and his reaction is ''literally'' "payday has come early".
44	** Taken even further in Season 3 where he's no longer loyal at all and immediately sells out the police and Castro/Reyes to Dario. He's clearly rotten to the core.
45	* DiscoDan: His most popular gimmick was a sleazy lecherous creep who acted like he was pulled right out of the 70s. Joey explained that the reason why he played the 70s gimmick heel was because he wanted to be an old-school babyface (both in look and in-ring style) like Wrestling/MagnumTA or Wrestling/HulkHogan, but he took a step back and realised that modern wrestling audiences probably look at those characters as being creepy and sleazy, so he decided to dial it up to eleven.
46	* {{Eagleland}}: Despite the name, his Real American Heroes tag team with Wrestling/KarlAnderson was a Type 2 variant of this, to the point of {{parod\|iedTrope}}ying [[AllAmericanFace the trope said name matches]].
47	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Ryan used to have much shorter hair, a much thinner mustache, fingerless gloves, and be a much more serious competitor, to say nothing of time as El Gallinero.
48	* EccentricMentor: [[Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick Brian Kendrick]], which makes more sense when you remember the Gallinero gimmick.
49	* EnemyMine: His old rival Ivelisse Velez was wary of him in Lucha Underground, especially since Ryan was tagging with the almost universally loathed Jack Evans. However after Evans refused to release a hold on Velez's tag team partner XO Lishus after Lishus had passed out he realized why all the other wrestlers disliked Evans and ended up in his own feud against him. Their mutual feuds with Evans lead to Velez, Ryan and Lishus forming a new trio to chase the belts after he was dealt with.
50	* FightingYourFriend: Against Sunami at Vendetta Pro Wrestling's ''Terror Rising 2015''.
51	* FireForgedFriends: The genuine respect and sportsmanship he showed Wrestling/CandiceLeRae was said to be very out of character during the Alternate Wrestling Show's ''Fourth Annual Women's Tournament'', which is probably a side effect of them having teamed for so long.
52	* GagPenis: His "The King of Dong Style" gimmick is mainly based on his penis being superhumanly big and strong. To the point that he can use it to toss his opponents. It is also super tough, making it impervious to any GroinAttack.
53	* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: During his matches he's usually looking for an opening for what's really important, getting right in the view of and shouting at the hard camera while dramatically pointing at it.
54	* {{Hardcore}}: {{Subverted\|trope}}, at least in the this genre's sense as Joey is not a GarbageWrestler. Rather, the Championship Wrestling From Hollywood commentators said "...he likes to get hardcore in [[{{Filth}} his other line of work]]".
55	* HumiliatingWager: He and Wrestling/PrinceNana put their beards up against Wrestling/NecroButcher and Grizzly Redwood, and lost.
56	* {{Hypocrite}}: He hid a lot of his unsavoury behaviour behind a facade of progressivism and "wokeness". For instance, he was one of the loudest voices calling Wrestling/JimCornette a misogynist for not liking women's wrestling or commenting on female wrestler's appearance and personal lives, something Jim was quite happy to point out once the allegations came out.
57	* IfItsYouItsOK: In Lucha Underground. Though Ryan is most definitely a ladies' man, he was not adverse to XO Lishus bouncing his face off his behind and twerking for him, even seemingly liking it and asking for a kiss afterward. This seeming fondness for Lishus even led Ryan to intervene in his No Mas match with Jack Evans, potentially saving his life in the process. They later decided to team.
58	* ItsAllAboutMe: Usually wants all attention on himself, however when he got it upon his return to Championship Wrestling From Hollywood in 2013, [[GoneHorriblyRight he ended up getting annoyed that everyone had so many questions for him]].
59	* LargeHam: He usually doesn't really need to be given a microphone, as the house mics can let him cut promos just fine. If he's having any frustrations with the referee all but the cheapest seats will hear it just as well.
60	* MaskedLuchador: He was El Gallinero #1.
61	* MistakenForRomance: A lot of people think that he and Candice are dating; they're not. Bar Wrestling attempted to solved this by having [=LeRae=] team up [[BattleCouple with]] her actual boyfriend Wrestling/JohnnyGargano against Ryan and his actual girlfriend Laura James.
62	* TheMole: In Lucha Underground, he was Dario's mole within the police force.
63	* NotMeThisTime: In 2016, Ryan has been continuously winning the DDT Heavymetalweight Championship and making it notable in the US Indie scene, so you couldn't fault Wrestling/MartyScurll for assuming Joey had it when he didn't. Even though the real champion, Rocky Romero, was standing two feet away
64	* OlderHeroVsYoungerVillain: The younger vs who he calls "the old fat guy" Wrestling/TommyDreamer.
65	* OralFixation: Lollipops, [[TrademarkFavoriteFood preferably blow pops.]] He's wrestled matches without taking them out. He can apparently make them last for days, if Robbie E is to be believed, [[CheapHeat which doesn't stop his fans from taking them from his mouth]]. And he's not above taking the lollipops back out of fans mouths to suck on later either.
66	* PerkyFemaleMinion: Chase Walker was accompanied by Trisha [=LaFache=] in the Wrestling Retribution Project. Jade Chung as part of The Dynasty.
67	* PintSizedPowerHouse: Can suplex, slam and toss men seventy pounds heavier than himself, although [[DownplayedTrope he often struggles through the effort]].
68	* PornStache: Purposefully tailored to be sexy, or what he perceives as such. Even more fitting for his Lucha Underground run with the secondary gimmick of undercover cop.
69	* PowerStable: The Embassy in Wrestling/RingOfHonor.
70	* PowerTrio
71	** Los Gallineros, he being the first El Gallinero of the three.
72	** X-Foundation in The Empire Wrestling Federation and Ultimate Pro with Scott Lost and 'Funky' Billy Kim.
73	* ReallyGetsAround: His reason for selling Reyes and the police out to Dario in Lucha Underground? [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "I got child support to pay."]]
74	* RealMenWearPink: Pink knee pads with red and white trunks, really, it works!
75	* ResurrectionRevenge: Hilariously parodied by him at ''All In'', as a form of "homage" to Taker's WMXX return. After being [[{{Kayfabe}} offed]] by [[Wrestling/BulletClub "Hangman" Adam Page]], there was a funeral held for him shown at ''WebVideo/BeingTheElite'' where there was a lot of emphasis on his thing. Come the event, after Hangman won a [[GimmickMatches Chicago Street Fight]] match against Joey Janela, the lights go off on the arena, a video of him having an erection is shown, and eight men dressed as penis (simulating Undertaker's [[{{Mooks}} druids]]) appear on stage to receive the "resurrected" Ryan, who then proceeds to waste Hangman and throw him to the aforementioned "dick druids" who carry the Hangman backstage.
76	* RunningGag: Has ''fourty-four'' reigns as [[Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight champion]].
77	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: How he was able to wrestle in Championship Wrestling From Hollywood while still employed by TNA, apparently. There were actually worries from Championship Wrestling From Florida officials that "That other company" might threaten them with legal action if they filmed him for their television program and told him no but Joey Ryan came back and butted his way into the main event anyway.
78	* ShoutOut: During a Wrestling/ProWrestlingGuerilla appearance, he surprised the audience with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMdKV-C4Dk&list=UUJ_22ZquTaC0CHALFpQjK_w&index=4 this]] impression of ''Creator/AndyKaufman,'' of all people.
79	* SmallNameBigEgo: The catalyst behind his 2012 campaign/feud to be let on TNA after being rejected during the Gut Check competition.
80	* SmugSnake: Joey Ryan is the best and most important wrestler with a TV tropes page! Not only was he the highest drawing PWG Champion of all time, not only was he a ratings bolster on television but he has his own verified twitter account!
81	* SoreLoser: In 2009, after he failed to win the PWG World Championship from Wrestling/ChrisHero, who went on to surpass him in number of days he held the belt, meaning Joey Ryan was no longer the longest-running Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Champion of all time.
82	* SquashMatch: When forced to wrestle his own tag team partner Matt Morgan, Joey didn't do so well. You could give him points for trying but he already guessed how it was going to go.
83	* StartMyOwn: Tyler Cintron was the official Championship Wrestling From Hollywood International Television Champion, but since Ryan saw himself as the biggest television star in the company, on account of his TNA appearances, he brought out his own replica of the belt and called himself the true television champion.
84	* StrawMisogynist: Implied prior to teaming with Wrestling/CandiceLeRae ("Cry like the weak woman you are.") Well, sometimes it was implied, sometimes it was overtly apparent.
85	* SweetTooth: That ever-present lollipop.
86	* TagTeam
87	** That Seventies Team in Rev Pro, Guerilla and Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX.
88	** The Real American Heroes with Wrestling/KarlAnderson in several promotions.
89	** With Tony Broadway in Wrestling/{{N\|ational Wrestling Alliance}}WA Pro and Ring Ka King.
90	** Lucky Inc. (later The Happening) with Johnny Goodtime in NWA Pro and the Alternate Wrestling Show.
91	** The Dynasty with Scott Lost.
92	** The World's Cutest Tag Team with Wrestling/CandiceLeRae.
93	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: In Lucha Underground. Him and Officer Reyes aka Cortez Castro don't get along, but they worked together as undercover agents to take down Dario Cueto. At least, until Ryan turned mole.
94	* TemptingFate: Just before his debut bout in Lucha Underground, he stopped by the dressing room to [[KickTheDog taunt his then-partner Officer Reyes/Cortez Castro about the beating he'd just taken]], mockingly suggesting Reyes could watch his upcoming bout for a few tips on how to wrestle, saying he expected to make short work of his opponent. Who would said opponent turn out to be? [[WrestlingMonster Cage.]]
95	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: On his "Joey Ryan Has A Camera & A Website/YouTube Account" series, Joey would deliver some long-winded ones, weekly, to Wrestling/{{Taz\|z}} and Wrestling/AlSnow. [[http://youtu.be/SdkWZntj1ds This is just one such effort.]]
96	* TheRival: Los Luchas to the Real American Heroes of the NWA World Tag Team Titles. Also, some team known as Los Crazy Chickens.
97	* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Despite being denied by the Gutcheck judges, he didn't get the hint.
98	** He actually became this in RealLife for a while after the allegations were revealed, making apology videos and even trying to promote his own events despite the general consensus being that he should disappear into disgrace and obscurity.
99	* TheatricsOfPain: Wrestled three times on ''FWE Reloaded'' showing the effects of each as he advance to the point he couldn't even execute a (Vertical)suplex on Von Eerie(he could his [[BreastAttack usual]] just fine).
100	* TournamentArc: Joey Ryan defeated Wrestling/ChrisHero in the finals of the 2010 Battle Of Los Angeles.
101	* TreacherousAdvisor: One of Willie Mack's trainers and claimed to be his friend. All while striking him after the pretense of a handshake, punching him in the throat, kicking Mack in the groin while he wasn't looking, wrecking Willie's chance at the actual television title and being all around jackass in Championship Wresting From Hollywood.
102	* TwoDecadesBehind: Times two! He once told "the hard camera" operator they were free to go to commercial while he had Wes Draven in a head vise...[[WrongGenreSavvy while on internet pay per view.]]
103	* TwoFirstNames: His most common gimmick has them anyway.
104	* UnPerson: He was editted out of every episode of ''WebVideo/BeingTheElite'' he appeared in, and it's likely [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]] aren't going to trumpet his match at the inaugural ''All In'' any time soon.
105	** Much of the Internet wrestling community has decided that Candice Larae once defeated the Young Bucks for the PWG tag team titles single handedly.
106	* WackyMarriageProposal: He faces his girlfriend, Laura James and proposes mid-match. He then uses this distraction to win the match.
107	* WouldHitAGirl: Claims to be into super kicking chicks. Possibly tying into the Andy Kaufman impression above, he's wrestled a fair share on inter-gender matches on the independent circuit. It probably helps that he's only 5'9", meaning he doesn't tower over female wrestlers the way others might.
108	* WrestlingDoesntPay:
109	** The commentators of Championship Wrestling From Hollywood implied he worked as a porn star when he wasn't wrestling (you don't say?).
110	** In ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'''s storyline, he doubles as a [[spoiler:police officer]]. In fairness, the reason in ''LU'' is not that wrestling doesn't pay; it's that [[spoiler:he's working undercover as a pro wrestler to try and get evidence of the promoter's crimes]]. Said character also has child support to pay.
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Context Wrestling / JoeyRyan