Line #41 Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX


1	[[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wrestling_Society_X_2161.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:267:Step Inside the Bunker...]]Short-lived ProfessionalWrestling promotion aired on Creator/{{MTV}} in 2007.
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4	Presented as an "underground" fight-club, taking place in the WSX Bunker, the focus tended to be on high-flying in-ring action, boosted by a ton of pyrotechnics and MTV production style. While criticized for its obvious use of planted audience members, the thirty-minute episode length, some questionable musical guests, and announcers that oozed TotallyRadical faux-edginess, generally the matches themselves were of high-quality, the wrestlers had some interesting (and often hilarious) [[TheGimmick gimmicks]], and the explosions were pretty cool. During its run, additional matches, promos and commentary was shown online at the show's website.
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6	All in all, it had the marks of a promotion that had just started to find its voice when it was ScrewedByTheNetwork. Originally, the cancellation was blamed on a spot where Ricky Banderas set Vampiro on fire with a flash paper fireball, which, due to a mishap, was larger than it was originally meant to be. In 2016, Kevin Kleinrock refuted the story [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsUNX8_R4_k in an interview]], blaming MTV, their scheduling (Kleinrock had begged them not to put WSX up against Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s revival of Wrestling/{{ECW}}, which they did anyway), and falling ratings for the entire male-centric block WSX belonged to (which was cancelled en masse) instead. The rest of the episodes were quickly burned off in a single night, with the final episode unseen until the DVD release.
7	----
8	!! "Trope Society X":
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10	* AccidentalMisnaming: Lizzy Valentine was said to have called color commentator Bret Ernst "Bert Ernst" at least once.
11	* {{Acrofatic}}: Vic Grimes.
12	* AlliterativeName: Matt Cross and Teddy Hart, "The Filth & the Fury".
13	* ArtisticLicense: The Cartel, a stable of Mexican gangsters, [[CallingCard lays dead fish]] on their beaten opponents. The commentators note that they borrowed this gimmick from TheMafia, who doesn't otherwise have a presence on this show.
14	* BallsOfSteel: The Human Tornado, his balls might be his least vulnerable part.
15	* TheBeautifulElite: MTV would make sure that attractive and cool looking young people were seen in the front rows of the crowd. Some of them were almost certainly plants. Also Matt Sydal and Lizzy Valentine's gimmick.
16	* BlingBlingBang: Keepin' It Gangsta's outrageously blinged-out table and ladder, both used as weapons.
17	* {{Chickification}}: Lizzy Valentine was a trained wrestler herself but was relegated to being Matt Sydal's girlfriend and manager. Could technically be justified as there were no other women on the show for her to wrestle, though it [[Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} wouldn't have exactly been hard]] [[{{Wrestling/WSU}} to find any more on the indies]].
18	* DeepSouth: The Trailer Park Boyz (Josh "Jug" Raymond and "Spider" Nate Webb, managed by "White Trash" Johnny Webb)
19	* DiscoDan: That 70s Team (Wrestling/JoeyRyan and the Disco Machine)
20	* EmoTeen: DIFH [Doing It For Her] (Wrestling/JimmyJacobs and [[Wrestling/SethRollins Tyler Black]])
21	* GorgeousGeorge: [[Wrestling/EvanBourne Matt Sydal]], complete with a "valet" to make it ambiguous.
22	* HumanPopsicle: Matt Classic (better known as Wrestling/ColtCabana), a wrestler recently revived from the 50s who uses hilariously outdated wrestling maneuvers and survives on a diet of "raw eggs, mayonnaise sandwiches and cigarettes".
23	* ImpressivePyrotechnics: Every episode opened with flame jets in the ring posts and a lot of explosions added in post. A lot of episodes ended with StuffBlowingUp in spectacular fashion.
24	* LetXBeTheUnknown: The mysterious X bunker this all took place in.
25	* OddCouple: DIFH were portrayed this way, with Jimmy Jacobs being "The Sensitive One" ([[SissyVillain unsurprisingly]]) while Tyler Black was "The Intense One". Illustrated no better than in a backstage segment after losing a tag match to That 70's Team, where Jacobs strums a guitar insisting that Black talk about his feelings, while Black has a massive rage fit about how they lost to a couple of "hippies".
26	* PartsUnknown: Jimmy Jacobs, from "The Dark Side of a Broken Heart", alternately from "Broken Heart, USA". (For unknown reasons, these were alternated for him.)
27	* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Dew rag wearing, breakdancing Jack Evans.
28	* RealMenWearPink:
29	** Teddy Hart wears pink ring gear since he's a Hart and that's his family's colour.
30	** Jimmy Jacobs, described as "emotionally secure", also wore pink.
31	* ShoutOut:
32	** "The Filth and the Fury" was originally meant to be one to the documentary of the same name about the Music/SexPistols, to the point where Teddy Hart's original tag partner in the duo was named Steve Lydon. However, as Lydon (who'd go on to become [[Wrestling/{{PAC}} Adrian Neville]]) had Visa issues and was replaced by Matt Cross, the ShoutOut ended up being abandoned.
33	** Joey "Magnum" Ryan was a blatant ShoutOut to Series/MagnumPI, which was mentioned more than once on commentary.
34	** That 70s Team, to Series/That70sShow.
35	** Fabian Kaelin's end-of-season look, to Film/AClockworkOrange.
36	* ShownTheirWork: Compared to other musical guest commentators, rapper {{Music/Pitbull}} knows his stuff about wrestling.
37	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Lizzy Valentine, the sole female member of the roster. Well, [[Wrestling/SaraDelRey Nic Grimes]] was female too but the only things ever said about Nic was that Nic was related to Vic Grimes and had a thing for Arik Cannon. The whole significance of "Nic" would be completely lost on those not already familiar with her previous "Nikki" gimmick.
38	* SpotMonkey: Nearly the entire roster. A lot of them would go on to improve and become major names in the indies. Not all of them really needed to improve either, since the show was only thirty minutes long, there wasn't much time to tell stories anyway, [[SerendipityWritesThePlot so creating a distinctive product was the priority settled on.]]
39	* StealthPun:
40	** Fabian Kaelin. (Kayfabe!)
41	** El Hombre Blanco Enmascarado, combined with BilingualBonus. Translates to "The masked white guy", which is exactly what he was.
42	* StuffBlowingUp: For example, the WSX Championship has twice been won via pinfall in an exploding coffin. According to Kevin Kleinrock, the explosions and crazy stunts were mandated by MTV.
43	* TongueTrauma: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_DcwcSCDJ8 "The Transformation of Fabian Kaelin"]], a featurette included on the DVD release, ends with [[spoiler: Fabian severing his tongue with a butcher knife]].
44	* TotallyRadical: The entire production. The commentators have often been accused of this.

Context Wrestling / WrestlingSocietyX