WrestleCrap
WrestleCrap
| URL |
WrestleCrap.com |
| Commercial? |
No |
| Type of site |
Professional wrestling |
| Registration |
Message board only |
| Owner |
RD Reynolds |
| Created by |
RD Reynolds
Merle Vincent |
| Launched |
April 2000 |
| Current status |
Active |
WrestleCrap is a professional wrestling website created by RD Reynolds and Merle Vincent (who died in September 2000), serving as a "hall of shame" for some of the worst gimmicks and storylines in pro wrestling history. The site is currently run by Reynolds and Blade Braxton.
History
Reynolds and Vincent launched the site in April 2000, quickly developing a following among wrestling fans. After Vincent's death in September 2000,[1] Reynolds continued to run the site by himself. He shut the site down in 2001, claiming the high cost of running the site was responsible. It returned the following year, albeit without the backlog of past inductions.
In 2006, the site added several new writers and features.
There is also a book written by the creators of WrestleCrap with an introduction by John Tenta, with the same name (ISBN 1-55022-584-7). Reynolds also co-authored The Death of WCW, with wrestling journalist Bryan Alvarez. Most recently, Reynolds co-wrote The WrestleCrap Book of Lists! with Braxton, which was released in late 2007. Currently, both Reynolds and Alvarez are featured columnists for British pro wrestling and MMA magazine Fighting Spirit.[2]
Site content
- WrestleCrap Inductions, new induction weekly with rotating classic inductions weekly. These have been written primarily by RD over the years, but a number of others have written them, with "Triple Kelly" Kelly Parmalee now being the lead induction writer.
- WrestleCrap Radio, RD and Blade's weekly take on recent events in the American wrestling scene.
- Headlies, Faux wrestling news stories written by Justin Henry and Sean Carless.
- Jobber of the Week, where a random wrestling jobber is profiled by Blade or RD, most often Blade. WrestleCrap contributor Robert Q. Seidelman would sub for Blade on occasion but has not written a JOTW column in several years.
- Weird World of Wrestling, which used to be a separate website by Madison Carter, that was inspired by WrestleCrap.com but focused on the independent scene.
- Burgan's Gimmick Table, the finest wrestling merchandise never made.
- Someone Bought This, a look at some of the more ridiculous wrestling merchandise on sale.
- RD's Ramblings, comments on current events in pro wrestling and replies to the emails he receives.
- RD's Book & DVD Reviews
- Re-Writing the Book, a column that looks at fictional alternate universes in wrestling, for example "What if the Montreal Screwjob never happened?". Started by Jed Shaffer, the column is now written by Neil Cathan and Simon Rawls.
- It Came From YouTube, a weekly celebration of the most obscure, insane and sometimes brilliant wrestling related clips found on YouTube.
The Gooker Award
The Gooker Award is given each year to the worst gimmick, storyline, or event in wrestling in that year. The award is named after The Gobbledygooker, one of the most disastrous wrestling gimmicks of all time.
Winners
The 2001 award was not revealed until 2003 due to WrestleCrap's closing in 2001.
Each year's Gooker Award, with the exceptions of 2001 and 2002, was determined by a poll of site visitors. The 2001 and 2002 awards were chosen by Reynolds, since he felt there was no competition those years.
WrestleCrap Radio
In August 2005, WrestleCrap introduced a podcast called WrestleCrap Radio. Typically Reynolds and columnist Blade Braxton discuss their personal lives, make jokes that may or may not relate to current wrestling (or wrestling at all), and rarely discuss news items from the wrestling industry. On occasion interviews with guests from within the wrestling industry are broadcast such as their interviews with Vince Russo and Lance Storm. Induction writer Triple Kelly is the unofficial reserve host, having won a co-host contest in 2007. As of May 2010, she has hosted the show twice.
Segments
- RD's TRIP... to the Grocery - Reynolds discusses various food items he comes across at the "foodmart". Occasionally, Braxton will host this segment, or either host will talk about going to a completely different place, such as RD's trip to DisneyWorld. On rare occasions, this segment will even showcase celebrity trips to various locations, such as Jonny Fairplay's trip to a local Canteloupe Festival.
- Fan Fiction Theatre - Presented by Sir Alec Heineken (Braxton), this segment presents a reading of wrestling fan-fiction, which often involve graphic sexual encounters between the story's subjects.
- Obscure Wrestling News - Reynolds and Braxton discuss random news stories from the wrestling world.
- Question of the Week - Reynolds and Braxton (attempt to) answer a question that has been submitted by the listeners.
- TNA News - This segment involves discussion of TNA news but due to the incompetence of the correspondent, the segment rarely involves very little actual discussion of TNA, if any. The role of TNA correspondent has been described as something of a 'poisoned chalice', as the TNA correspondents invariably end up meeting an untimely demise, drawing comparisons to the Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher position from the Harry Potter series of books. The TNA correspondent position was most recently held by C.S. Irwin, a man who acted in a similar manner to Horatio Caine from CSI: Miami. Despite breaking the record for the longest-running TNA correspondent in Wrestlecrap Radio history, previously co-held by Johnny Six and Mike Check, Irwin's segments supposedly garnered the lowest listener ratings of any part of the show. As a result of this, he was eventually taken away by The Ratings Reaper, an anthropomorphic personification similar to The Grim Reaper responsible for ushering anything with low ratings into the afterlife. The current TNA correspondent is Blade's mailman, The Honky Tonk mailman, a parody of pro-wrestler The Honky Tonk Man who reports outdated news using copies of the Wrestling Observer newsletter stolen from a customer on his route.
- Current Wrestling News - Reynolds and Braxton discuss WWE-related news.
- Blade Braxton's Weekly Wrestling Haiku - The longest-running segment on the show, Braxton reads a haiku he has composed, related to an event of that week's wrestling programming. This is almost always the final segment on the show.
- Call-Ins - Although not a segment per se, these are a weekly occurrence on the show. This involves various characters "calling in" to the show to ramble on about various topics, to the frustration of Reynolds and Braxton. The most common characters featured are "Gay Popeye" (Reynolds) and "Angry Jim Ross" (Braxton), among many others.
See also
References
- ^ "WrestleCrap FAQ". WrestleCrap.com. WrestleCrap. http://www.wrestlecrap.com/faqyou.html. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
- ^ Fighting Spirit Magazine - About Us
- ^ a b c "Previous Inductions". WrestleCrap.com. WrestleCrap. http://www.wrestlecrap.com/oldinductions.html. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
- ^ Schramm, Chris (2007-02-15). "Guerrero storyline dubious award winner". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/02/05/pf-3532058.html. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
- ^ "2007 Gooker Award". WrestleCrap.com. WrestleCrap. http://www.wrestlecrap.com/gooker2007.html. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
- ^ "What was the Worst of 2008?". http://wrestlecrap.freepolls.com/cgi-bin/pollresults/006. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ "What was the Worst of 2009?". http://wrestlecrap.freepolls.com/cgi-bin/pollresults/007. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ "What was the Worst of 2010?". http://wrestlecrap.freepolls.com/cgi-bin/pollresults/008. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
External links