Post by rnrk supports BLM on Oct 8, 2017 23:42:11 GMT -5
Thinking back over the Hell of War match at Ultima Lucha Tres, and how they managed to use the angle behind it to justify the sheer violence, I'm struggling to think of any obvious precedents for these characters in pro wrestling. Military gimmicks have been in wrestling forever, but typically laced with a heavy dose of patriotism (and xenophobia, of course, but that's a strain that runs even deeper in the business). There's none of that with Killshot and Dante Fox. Neither seems at all proud of their service, and Killshot's first promo when they introduced his gimmick implied he wasn't even sure his wartime kills were actually bad guys. They're both pretty clearly dealing with PTSD, and the only support structure they have is the catharsis of beating the shit out of other dudes in an underground fight club.
They're a pair of young men who got chewed up and spit out by the military-industrial complex, and wound up as embittered, violence-prone killing machines unable to function in normal society. Tellingly, while it's still a few days until we find out how this angle is going to wrap up, it looks like the climax of this storyline isn't going to be who's the tougher guy, it's going to be whether Dante and Killshot can reconcile and fight together as a unit again.
This isn't anything groundbreaking for narrative fiction; the embittered veteran struggling with violent impulses is a well-established archetype. And that's part of why it took me this long to realize that I'm drawing a blank on this archetype being used in pro wrestling before. It feels like such an obvious fit for a medium that's all about watching tough, macho men get into violent fights with each other, but every (US) military gimmick I can think of tending to be about waving the flag and/or beating up foreigners.
Any other similar characters in wrestling that I'm forgetting?
They're a pair of young men who got chewed up and spit out by the military-industrial complex, and wound up as embittered, violence-prone killing machines unable to function in normal society. Tellingly, while it's still a few days until we find out how this angle is going to wrap up, it looks like the climax of this storyline isn't going to be who's the tougher guy, it's going to be whether Dante and Killshot can reconcile and fight together as a unit again.
This isn't anything groundbreaking for narrative fiction; the embittered veteran struggling with violent impulses is a well-established archetype. And that's part of why it took me this long to realize that I'm drawing a blank on this archetype being used in pro wrestling before. It feels like such an obvious fit for a medium that's all about watching tough, macho men get into violent fights with each other, but every (US) military gimmick I can think of tending to be about waving the flag and/or beating up foreigners.
Any other similar characters in wrestling that I'm forgetting?
