Paul London Revitalized My Interest in Pro Wrestling

People often ask me, "How come I like pro wrestling?" I am not ashamed by it. In recent years, things have just not looked good for the business if you consider all the drug abuse scandals. Still, I will admit, despite being 21-years old and knowing very well that the show is indeed (*GASP~!*) fake, I find plenty of entertainment from watching talented men and women beat the snot out of each other.

There's just a certain magic quality that's just so remarkable knowing everything is choreographed. When someone messes up a move in wrestling (or "botches a spot" for you wrestling nerds), it is noticeable. These people innovate creative ways to put on a show. Notably, the WWF/WWE commentators say wrestling is "not ballet," but in a lot of ways, it is. There's a lot of practice behind the techniques in wrestling, and if someone messes up, people can get hurt.
It's a precise combination of physical ability and acting, and it's definitely not something everyone can do.

There was a time in my life when I was getting horribly bored with the past time. It was around 2003 that the mainstream WWE became rampant with these huge guys (such as The Big Show, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar) who lacked any interesting moves, and put on these slow paced matches that mostly consisted of poorly executed punches and a finisher. Just when I thought I was about to finally be able and live a normal, pro wrestling free life, I happened to watch a show called WWE Velocity and saw a wrestler named Paul London.

Originally, I was visually drawn in because I felt that if you squinted enough, it pretty much gave you a picture of what I'd look like if I were a pro wrestler. (At the time, I was slim enough and my hair really resembled.) However, as his match went on, I was convinced that the man was insane. He would do things and take risks that I had not seen anyone else before.

Sure, you would have a wrestler like Jeff Hardy do things like a flying clothesline off the ring apron, but Paul London would run on the ring apron, leap off to do a "shooting star" (a front flip), and land on his opponent, making it look like he horribly injured himself in the process. Despite Paul London dressing in bright, goofy costumes (he usually had tassels on his boots), by comparison, (with all due respect to Jeff) he really made Jeff Hardy look like a pansy.

Paul London transformed me to become a geeky, internet fan who downloaded various shows of other wrestling promotions. I was entranced by this man's physical ability, and I just had to watch more. He was like a phenomenal trapeze artist. . . except he hurts people!

Through watching other matches, I found out the man could also wrestle (which, ironically, a lot of the people in pro wrestling can't do), throw some damn good looking kicks, fight in a hardcore "street fight" atmosphere, and make the fans laugh when he's talking on the microphone. It was through this that I became exposed to wrestling shows such as Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action, as well as become fans of indie wrestling stars CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Brian "Spanky" Kendrick, Alex Shelley, Colt Cabana, Homicide, etc. etc.

So needless to say, I was happy six years later to watch the man who entertained for years through his daredevil attitude at a live show. On February 21, 2009, I attended the So Cal based wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's 98th event titled "Express Written Consent."

In an age where you can tune into a two hour WWE or TNA show just to get an hour and thirty of talking and drama, and thirty minutes of wrestling that's devoid of actual wrestling, it was refreshing to watch this show. PWG is a different breed of wrestling; you've got great technical and hard-hitting fighters such as Scott Lost and Davey Richards, but you also got comedic wrestlers such as Chuck Taylor and Kenny Omega. (Taylor is known for throwing invisible grenades and Omega can shoot "hadokens.")
It's a good balance, and I think there's really something for everyone. From the shows I have went to, there hasn't been anything too bloody or gruesome, but matches have been known to occasionally involve a chair, brawling in the audience, and definitely outside dives that really gets the audience to move out of the way. (I'll talk more about this when I write a more detailed review of Pro Wrestling Guerilla.)

The main event of "Express Written Consent" featured Paul London tagging with The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Johnson) against The Dynasty (Joey Ryan and Scott Lost) and Karl "Machinegun" Anderson. London came out to The Smashing Pumpkins song "The End is the Beginning is the End," and I became a kid again. I made sure to give him a high five on the way in. I still think the man is batshit crazy; his entrance attire is a bright orange space suit and he is generally goofy in his mannerisms and speech.

Older wrestling fans will say Hulk Hogan lifting and body slamming Andre the Giant was perhaps the greatest wrestling moment of all time, but for me, it would be Paul London hitting his top rope shooting star press on Scott Lost. I got the chills. Like a true fanboy, I forgot all the bad things in my life for a split second, and was just awestruck by joy and elation from witnessing such a thing of beauty.

I shook Paul's hand afterwards, told him what a great match it was, and had a photo taken with him. I left the night with a good feeling, and of course, ever since, I've been in attendance at PWG's shows.

All photos were taken by me at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's "Express Written Consent." February 21, 2009.