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Archive for April 30th, 2009

I’ve never been a fan of Mickey Rourke, nor am I a fan of many wrestling-themed movies, because so few ever even come close to getting it right. That’s where The Wrestler surprised me. Rourke’s performance was superior to the absolute best moments of Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, while director Darren Aronofsky adroitly captures the mood and atmosphere of pro wrestling.

Of course, I’m not talking about life in WWE here; I’m talking about this small, one-state promotions that are basically the talent farms for the big guys like WWE, TNA and the mid-majors. These are also the places where burned-out talent goes to die, and that’s the sort of character Rourke portrays.

While many comparisons have been made between Rourke’s Randy “The Ram” Robinson and the careers of Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair, the image I kept getting in my head was that of Shawn Michaels, since that’s the sort of wrestler Rourke would fit in with better. And his fate is as sad as any suffered by the victims of Mesothelioma.

Anyway, the movie was terrific… something I don’t often say about wrestling movies. But this one could have been lifted straight out of Have A Nice Day by Mick Foley.

It’s not often that I stray outside the WWE to talk about other aspects of professional wrestling, but I had to mention how much I enjoy the app known as Wrestler on Facebook. You can build your own wrestler, purchase moves, train, join a tag-team as well as a stable, and just generally do a lot of matches.

In the early going, it’s frustrating because it’s hard to win when you only have a half-dozen moves and everyone else has twenty. But it’s a trial by fire that soon fades from memory. Sure, it’s not as fun as a series of European cruises, but it’s a whole lot less expensive, too.