Friday, May 22, 2015

Your Feud of the Year is Dave Meltzer vs. the Lead Singer of Zwan

Billy Corgan getting into feuds he know he can't win
Photo via Rolling Stone
If you think professional wrestling can't be quirky, weird, wonderful, and plain entertaining, then you've probably stopped following it a long time ago. Sure, the exterior might be a bit off-putting thanks to the warts shown by various wrestlers in and out of character. The Smackdown promo from Paige last night where she went full transphobe on Tamina Snuka is a disappointing example of this, and one Lacy will be covering around 1 PM Eastern today. But if you're immersed in wrestling culture, then you'll find a whole ton of just the weirdest, most amusing happenings, like the godfather of wrestling journalism getting into a subtweet war with multi-platinum front man of such groups like Smashing Pumpkins.

The argument wasn't a matter of happenstance. Billy Corgan was named the head of creative in TNA just a few weeks ago, and well, Dave Meltzer has been at the forefront of reporting the end of that company's television deal with Destination America. Meltzer and his cohort Bryan Alvarez have actually drawn the ire of TNA fans all across the world with their "biased" reporting against the company. I mean, if I were a hardcore fan TNA and was invested in ignoring every single one of the terrible things it has done, both in the  narrative and in real life, I might be a bit sensitive to bad news reported about it. But I'd also have a lobotomy because that's the only way I might have been a huge fan of that company after around 2005.

Granted, Meltzer, while the most respected person in his field, is not perfect by any means. However, when it comes to his reports on TNA, he's kinda been spot on. He was the one who broke news that TNA was getting the deal with Destination America to use the most recent example. And the newsman doesn't just report all the good and flowery things about a promotion unless he's on that promotion's payroll, at which point he wouldn't be a newsman and instead be a hypeman. Granted, Meltzer could be accused of being a hypeman for maybe Ronda Rousey or New Japan Pro Wrestling, but that's neither here nor there.

Of course, when the big report came down Wednesday night, the TNA base, from the rank and file who habituate sites like TNA Mecca all the way up to the weasels in the front office went on the offensive, which wouldn't be news except that the guy who once dressed up like an ice cream man for a highly-acclaimed 1993 music video was one of them:
Speaking from personal experience, Meltzer is not one to back down from assaults on his character. And honestly, in this situation, he pretty much dropped the mic on Corgan:
The weirdest thing out of all of this isn't even that Corgan got his ass owned by Meltzer, but that Meltzer is also way more hip to Corgan's original profession than the man is himself. I mean, yeah, I loved Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness just as much as anyone, but Corgan's lost touch with music, which is probably why he's scurried into wrestling. Of course, maybe he hasn't been in the best state of mind for awhile, since he went from being the figurehead of the fourth-at-best most popular indie promotion in Illinois (fifth if you count Chikara's Chicago dalliances selling out quicker than in most other venues the company run) to being the head of creative on the sinkingest ship in the mainstream. Meltzer, on the other hand, knows himself at least one of the most current artists in hip-hop:

Look, you all know I'm not the biggest fan of Meltzer in the world, but he's pretty much owning the former lead singer of Zwan here in every facet. The only way Corgan can even hope of coming back is if he records a diss track about Meltzer on the next Smashing Pumpkins album. Even then, the damage might be too great. Still, no matter what steps it takes next, this feud is a huge reason why pro wrestling is more than what it appears on the surface. I don't think a more eccentric form of entertainment exists, either in the narrative or in the behind the scenes stuff.