Wrestle Crap - Television Tropes & Idioms

"The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling!"

The brainchild of "The Real Deal" RD Reynolds and "The Worldwide Menace" Merle Vincent, WrestleCrap was created as a "hall of shame" for Professional Wrestling — a place where they could stretch their comedic muscles by poking fun at the pseudo-sport. It has since grown into wrestling fandom's anti-Serious Business (or so they wish), a place where people can remind ourselves that wrestling is inherently silly in the first place and shouldn't be taken seriously. In short, it's the conscience of the Internet Wrestling Community.

Each week, the WrestleCrap staff post an induction, usually written by either RD or his protege Triple Kelly (or Merle Vincent, before his suicide) that tears one of wrestling's stranger or sillier gimmicks, feuds, or storylines apart; they essentially perform the digital equivalent of a pantsing on their given subject, with whimsical prose and crude humor. The previous three weeks' inductions are posted as well, in addition to three rotating "Best of WrestleCrap" entries re-posted via requests on the forums (full archives used to be online, but were taken down due to bandwidth costs).

WrestleCrap has grown greatly since its inception, and has come to host the following additional features:

WrestleCrap Radio: A podcast featuring RD and Blade Braxton musing on wrestling and life in general (with the occasional interview).
It Came From YouTube: Where the gang takes a look at a weird and wacky video from wrestling's past.
Jobber of the Week: Blade Braxton's weekly salute to the men who lose for a living.
Burgan's Gimmick Table: Derek Burgan's look at the wrestling merchandise that never was.
Someone Bought This!: A look at the wrestling merchandise that was, but should not have been.
Rewriting the Book: Jed Shaffer's Alternate History Fan Fic series that explores how wrestling's past might have gone differently with a key nudge in the opposite direction from time to time.
WrestleCrap Headlies: In a parody of various less reputable wrestling newz sites, WrestleCrap decides to take a crack at making up their own wrestling news.

WrestleCrap also gives out an annual Gooker Award in the first couple of months of a new year to the most horrid thing to happen in wrestling in the previous year. The award is named after the Gobbeldygooker, which was possibly the worst thing ever in the World Wrestling Federation: they hyped the hatching of a giant egg for months going into Survivor Series 1990, where it finally hatched...and gave us Hector Guerrero in a bad turkey suit dancing with "Mean" Gene Okerlund (yeah, it wasn't pretty). With the exception of the 2001 and 2002 winners (which were chosen by Reynolds himself), all of the winners have been decided by polling the site's visitors. The list of winners of the Gooker Award is practically a list of the worst modern pro wrestling angles ever:

2000: David Arquette, WCW Champion.
2001: The InVasion.
2002: The Katie Vick debacle.
2003: Al Wilson, Torrie Wilson's father.
2004: The 2004 Raw Diva Search.
2005: Jim Ross' (kayfabe) firing and the resulting colonoscopy skit (yes, you read that right).
2006: WWE's exploitation of Eddie Guerrero following his death, a.k.a. "Eddiesploitation".
2007: Hornswoggle is revealed to be Vince McMahon's son.
2008: Mike Adamle's stint in WWE.
2009: The Chavo Guerrero/Hornswoggle feud.
2010: The NEW Monday Night Wars.
2011: All things Michael Cole.

Not only has WrestleCrap become a popular online destination for wrestling fans, but its name itself has entered the Smart Mark lexicon. It's also gathered quite a following inside the business, as several wrestlers have written in to say how much they love the site, including no less than Chris Jericho. John Tenta, known to fans as "Earthquake", gave the site an exclusive interview and wrote the foreword to RD's first book.

Book? Yes, there have been two books based on the site — WrestleCrap: The Worst of Wrestling and The WrestleCrap Book of Lists! — and the notoriety gained from the site allowed RD to co-author the book, The Death of WCW.

Every December, the site has posted reviews of some of the worst Christmas movies of all-time, including Hulk Hogan's Santa with Muscles, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, the Mexican movie version of Santa Claus, a 1986 remake of the classic holiday operetta Babes in Toyland (featuring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Pat Morita, and an actor named Gorgy Gress as Jack Sprat with a cameltoe), and a Goldberg-as-a-murderous-Santa film called Santa Slay.

Not bad at all for a bunch of guys making dick and fart jokes about crappy wrestling, huh?

This website provides examples of:

Accentuate the Negative
The Alcoholic: Blade in the early days, did the WrestleCrap Radio podcasts wasted. He's better now.
Arch-Enemy: Kent Jones, or any so-called YouTube "shooter"; they really look down on them.
- They also declared war on former wrestler Damien Demento, who took a shot at them in his YouTube videos.
April Fools' Day: Special episodes that would run under odd circumstances once a year. Very well could constitute BLAM episodes but RD and Blade do reference the episodes from time to time.
Author Appeal: In this case, bad cinema. Every Christmas, RD spends an update or two dissecting terrible movies, with an annual tradition of inducting a horrible Christmas movie in lieu of a wrestling angle/gimmick.
- Occasionally applies to pro wrestling personalities; RD himself has said several times that he loves Trish Stratus.
Ban On Politics: One of the major rules on the message board is to never discuss politics or religion, though the rule was temporarily relaxed during the 2008 Presidential Election.
BLAM Episode: The April Fools episodes. One was a faux "first episode", one was nothing but dreams among others and they do get referenced later on from time to time.
Butt Monkey: Blade is the regular victim of potshots from the rest of the staff, including Kelly. When someone makes a reference to (filthy) hobos, a remark that "Blade isn't here to defend himself!" will usually follow.
Defeat Means Friendship: While they never really "defeated" Vince Russo, RD and the site were certainly critical of him, but he has been on their podcast, and quite cordial, twice. Once for an interview over how he got in the business and why he did what he did, and another to talk about anything out of the oridinary. This interview lead to:
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The aforementioned Gay Popeye and Angry Jim Ross.
Footnote Fever: The occasional "Note from RD" appears in inductions done by someone other than him.
G.I.R.L.: The message boards were pranked by the the "female" poster "Miss Kendrick" in 2009, and by "Starwolf" (who was dubbed "Starwang" by some posters) in 2007. This post pretty much describes it:
ravenm: "Pretend to be a girl. Starwolf, Miss Kendrick, etc. Everyone will hate you..."
Fun with Acronyms - "Nathaniel Edward Rodham Davis,""NERD" a none to subtle shot at IWC who worship TNA Impact.
Grumpy Old Man: Mic Check, the TNA correspondant is an old man who has lived forever and working in the radio market.
- Angry Jim Ross.
Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: When the 2004 Raw Diva Search won the Gooker Award, RD noted that his fanbase was, primarily, males who (presumably) enjoyed women. But that didn't stop them from voting the Diva Search as the worst of the year, because when you tune into a wrestling show, the first thing you assume you'll see is...well, wrestling.
- He has mentioned in other articles how wrestling has the uncanny ability to take some of the most gorgeous women and make them almost unwatchable. He's not sure how they do that, but they do.
- Blade Braxton would like everyone to know that he is indeed, all about the clam.
Hey, It's That Guy!: During WrestleCrap Radio's "Co-Host Contest" auditions, the first person to get an audition was future YouTube ranter and self-proclaimed "D-list internet 'celebrity'" Hellsing920.
Memetic Mutation: Almost all of the (forced) wrestling memes were born on their Message Board (Lex Luger, Dennis Stamp, etc.)
- Basically, their message board is one of the pro wrestling equivalents of 4Chan, the other one being 420chan's /wooo/. Batista was (and likely still is) their Photoshop poster child.
- Forced Meme: In 2009, RD tried to force "Basketball Jones" (Triple Kelly's nickname for Batista) as a meme, even going as far as to filter Batista's name as "Basketball Jones" on the original forums. It failed.
Message Board: After much demand, The Craphole was created on May 2011, around half a year after the website and its old message board (now The Freakin' Awesome Network Forums) parted ways in October 2010.
News Parody: The "Headlies" section.
Punny Name: Mike "Mic" Check. A radio DJ who rambles about the good old days and whether he would play well in yourmarket. Almost all spellings of the name is "Mike" and not "Mic".
Refuge in Audacity: The WrestleCrap Radio podcast is rated mature for a reason with RD and more often Blade engaging in some very tasteless humor. If a subject in question is gross or tasteless enough, RD will hit the outro music to say that the show is over.
Retcon: Stubby's death. He was killed in a BBQ fire, but brought back, somehow.
- Well, it was pretty obvious that he'd be back at some point since Blade repeatedly mentioned that they never found the body. Granted, he appeared again randomly and it took several appearances before they asked him if he wasn't supposed to be dead, at which point he spun a double entendre-laden story about being snatched by a beaver.
A Riddle Wrapped In A Mystery Inside An Enigma: In the induction for TNA's Last Rites Match from 2007, on the matter of Sting describing death as a "choice" where one of those choices is, in fact, life, RD calls the meaning and exact point of Sting's remarks a "riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a crummy TNA storyline".
Rogues Gallery: The TNA Correspondants, Johnny 6, Johnny 4, Megatrolla, Angry Jim Ross, Viewing Booth Bill Cosby, Nathaniel, Honky Tonk Mailman, Stubby, Mic Check and others.
Running Gag: After writing an induction about Man Mountain Rock, he of the WWF guitar, RD began using an image of him shrugging complete with the caption "Yeah, I don't know either dude." Usually when RD or someone else would ask a question regarding one weird moment in the induction.
- Officially now an Overused Running Gag after 7 consecutive appearances. Fan demand brought him back for an 8th.
  - By this point, he's become something of a mascot.
Second Hand Storytelling: Blade always has some kind of story about his childhood friend Don.........Don Mason. Such stories include having Don using the date rape drug on himself at a concert, taking a trip to a farm and seeing a man have sex with a horse, molesting Cabbage Patch Kid dolls, among other wonderful topics.
Self-Deprecation: Remember, folks, no matter what sort of crap you actually bought, you'll never be as big a dork as RD and Blade, who shelled out $200 for Katie Vick's cheerleading outfit — signed by Triple H.
Sitcom Arch Nemesis: The /wooo/ board on 420chan.
Speak of the Devil: "Speaking of" segues turn up in the inductions and radio shows.
Squick: Some of Blade's Don........Don Mason stories. See Second Hand Storytelling.
Take That!: The character Nintendo John was made specifically to dig at John Cena who one night came out on Raw and made numerous references to Nintendo games to crowd cheers. Any time Nintendo John would even mention Nin-Ten-Do! applause would play.
That Other Wiki: RD has a disdain for Wikipedia. This is disdain is due to the site having some claims that he considers to be some of the most outrageous things he has ever read and for declaring that he has died three times.
Westminster Chimes: The sound effect used for the short-lived Clocktrolla device on the WrestleCrap Radio podcast.
What Could Have Been: The Rewriting the Book section of the website is this, pondering how a key moment in wrestling could have gone what how it would have changed the course of the company and careers it affected.