Two Years Ago Today, Wrestling Changed Forever

[Richard Blonoff]

Yes, on this very date just two years ago, the sport of pro wrestling was forever changed by one man....and his penis. I'm talking about Joey Ryan, and his penis.

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Ryan had had moderate success on the independent scene before this, but this one move, a comedy spot in DDT wrestling in Japan, skyrocketed his fame. He was in Rolling Stone, in the New York Daily News, featured on Vice, you name it. He was getting the type of coverage that pro wrestling's and WWE's biggest stars rarely got themselves, and it was all due to one spot involving another man, Danshoku Dino, well known for his overtly homosexual character, grabbing his dick. Since then Ryan has gone on to be one of the most in demand independent wrestlers on the scene today and is moving enough merch and making enough from bookings that he doesn't need the backing of a big name company to make a living.

Now the spot, and by extension Ryan, haven't been without its detractors. Chief among them is the ever opinionated Jim Cornette, who claims that Ryan is ruining pro wrestling.

What are your opinions on the spot and it's place in wrestling?

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think it's a funny comedy spot, one that even a non wrestling fan would get a chuckle from. Joey Ryan certainly gained popularity from it, I don't follow the Indy scene at all but know who Joey Ryan is just because of the hype this one silly antic brought out in the media. The spot is just plain silly and it doesn't ruin wrestling no more than Santino's Cobra Strike or Mae Young giving birth to a hand did. It would be quite another story if a full wrestling show had nothing but ridiculous antics in it, but one every now and then won't do a shred of damage to wrestling at all. Wrestling is about suspending your reality and watching characters who are exaggerations of normal people, every now and then they take that one extra step to get attention.

 

[#hamler]

Joey Ryan is the opposite of what's ruining wrestling. He's got character. He's got charisma. He stands out. All of which is severely lacking on the independent scene. Ricochet, Cody Rhodes maybe even the Young Bucks cannot hold a candle to Joey Ryan's ability to ooz charisma. He's remained consistent in his ability to draw and the amount of shows he does on a weekly basis proves it.

As for the spot above, it's a comedy act - I really see no problem with it. Joey Ryan can be a bit excessive at times (the lollipop thing can be tough to watch) but he's making tons of money without the WWE machine behind him and that earns my respect.

Besides, it's not like that gimmick isn't something WWE would've done in the late 90s. Hell, they pushed the envelope pretty hard with Goldust. Joey and his antics are just fine.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Joey Ryan is the opposite of what's ruining wrestling. He's got character. He's got charisma. He stands out. All of which is severely lacking on the independent scene. Ricochet, Cody Rhodes maybe even the Young Bucks cannot hold a candle to Joey Ryan's ability to ooz charisma. He's remained consistent in his ability to draw and the amount of shows he does on a weekly basis proves it.

As for the spot above, it's a comedy act - I really see no problem with it. Joey Ryan can be a bit excessive at times (the lollipop thing can be tough to watch) but he's making tons of money without the WWE machine behind him and that earns my respect.

Besides, it's not like that gimmick isn't something WWE would've done in the late 90s. Hell, they pushed the envelope pretty hard with Goldust. Joey and his antics are just fine.

Your first point is a great one. So many indy guys have little to no character. They just go out and wrestle, maybe do some flips or hit each other with some weapons, and that's it. So few people have a defined character, and I think that is why when you do have someone who is more than just a couple of fancy moves or a dangerous dive through four flaming tables, they are always hot tickets. There is a reason guys like Joey, Colt Cabana, and as much as I hate to include them, The Young Bucks get opportunities that other guys on the scene don't get and that is because they are more than a couple flashy moves.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Is he ruining wrestling? Not at all. If anything, he's someone that actually has traits that are largely missing from the indie scene: charisma, personality and character. He's not some spot monkey who delivers 15 suicide dives, a dozen or so variations on a flipping splash or deliver 37 superkicks per match, which makes him stand out considering the aforementioned spots have become what's defined indie wrestling for most of the past decade.

As with Matt Hardy's "Broken" gimmick, this is something that's absurd and somewhat funny, which means it's something you'll probably either really like, sorta like, not really care about, doesn't do anything for you or flat out despise it. I tend to fall in the "not really care about" area, though I've got no problem with Ryan doing something to get himself noticed. I can imagine, however, being royally pissed off or put off if I were a parent and brought my kids to a wrestling show and something like this came about.

Jim Cornette declares that something ruins wrestling when/if he doesn't like it, that's really what it comes down to. Jim Cornette feels that pro wrestling companies should be run like it's still 1975 and will not admit that it can't be done that way anymore, even though he himself tried it with Smoky Mountain Wrestling and it went tits up in a couple of years.

Joey Ryan's not gonna be thought of as an all time great, he's not gonna be in the main event of WrestleMania and he's someone that a lot of us probably won't even remember in 10 or 15 years. What he's doing is getting himself noticed so that he can make some money for himself on the indie scene and if this is what it takes, then so be it because Jim Cornette's not gonna pay his bills for him.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Don't get me started on Joey Ryan. As a wrestling fans, i feel like he represent everything that is wrong with Wrestling today, not because he doesn't have charisma, because he does, not because of his in ring abilities because he's pretty decent. It'S because of the lack of respect he has for the business.

In my opinion, you can do comedy if you want, you need those type of wrestlers in this business but if you're going to do comedy, make those spots believable so to not expose the business too much. Wrestling as already a though enough time being taken seriously if you do stupid shit like this it makes wrestling look like a complete sideshow and you're hurting the business and everybody that is taking it seriously and wants it to be about the competition.

But the younger generations sometimes forget that and would rather do stupid shit that will make a few hundred peoples talk about them instead of actually perfect their craft and create something that make sense and isn't a complete insult. Joey Ryan could have been the next Santino if he wanted to, i've seen some of his stuff before he started doing the penis spot and he's got great comic timing and knows when and where he need to do comedy and when he need to be serious, but in the end, all he will be remembered for his this dumb spot that he does in front of hundreds of fans on the indy circuits and the fact that he could have made it on a bigger stage if he didn't waste it on a dumb spot like this one.

 

[ISkye]

Wasn't funny the first time and then he kept doing it. I still like Joey Ryan as a character and this silly spot won't change that considering he's done it over 1000 times at this point. There are plenty of people who can legitimately work and draw bigger crowds than him with great matches under their belt. He's just not that type of guy. He knows it and owns it to an extreme level. So good for him on all fronts really.

Wrestling won't ever "die" unless modern humanity ceases to exist in complete. It's kind of like Punk music. They are just cockroaches that have had everything including the kitchen sink thrown at them and they manage to maintain and even thrive. They will never go away whether their presence be an infestation or two of them in the crack of a door in an abandoned house.

 

[Rayne]

Joey Ryan's made more money from that spot and the related opportunities that it's opened up than he did during a three-month stint for the #2 promotion in the country, and at that particular time perhaps #2 in the world.

And that's all you need to understand.

Professional wrestling is about getting people to come to you with money in hand, and leave without, several times. If anyone tells you any different, even if they once had that match you really liked, they're either trying to sell you something or they're high on the smell of their own farts. So in that sense, Joey Ryan found something people bought, and they've kept buying it since. High-minded ideals don't have much of a place in an industry where shaved men covered in baby oil put on spandex to work under hot lights.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Its good for Joey Ryan but I don't think its good for wrestling, I know wrestling results are preditermined but I like to watch and enjoy and suspend my belief but I can't really do that when I'm watching some guy beat up like 5 other guys at once with his penis, If I didn't follow wrestling and I took my kids to see a show and he done that I likely wouldn't go back again, Don't get me wrong I enjoy comedy in wrestling and it has its place but not to the extent of making wrestling look completely fake. I have watched Joey Ryan for years and always thought he had potential so its a shame its come to this.