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| Rooting for Icarus should be wrong, but it feels right Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
I've always respected Icarus' talent. He's had a proclivity to troll audiences the likes I have never seen in the wrestling industry at any level. To get booed in the indies and keep a job as a wrestler for as long as Icarus has is nothing short of amazing. I mean, to be viable in the non-corporate world, you have to get people to like you, right? That's how guys stay afloat in a world where promoters think $20, money that won't even cover the gas it took you to get there, is fair pay for a wrestler. They get fans to like them, and thusly, their merchandise sales make up for the shortfalls they deal with on show pay alone. So that makes Icarus' career that much more impressive.
But part of the fun of Icarus being the most effective bad guy in all the land is that it's so gosh-darn fun to boo him. The more merciless, the better. Part of the wonder of going to Chikara shows is thinking of new and inventive ways to let Icarus know you just don't like him. He relishes his role to the point where he's developed innovative ways to rouse his brand of rabble.
That's why it's going to feel so weird June 2 when I'm at the Trocadero for Aniversario: Never Compromise and I'm vociferously supporting Icarus to win the Grand Championship.
Here's a guy who, not nine months prior, stole pizza that I was enjoying with friends outside the Easton Funplex before Night 3 of King of Trios. If you know me, you know that no one steals food from TH and gets away with it, even if the crime is just relentless heckling for the duration of your natural life. I have been one of the leaders of the Icarus Jeer Squad even before he personally and culinarily wronged me. So what gives? Why am I now rooting for him to win the Grand Championship over a wrestler in Eddie Kingston whom I kinda dig? Well, there are a few reasons.
The first reason is probably ironic in nature, in that I would love to see the reaction he'd get as Grand Champion. It would be the ultimate troll move by Chikara, and as you know, I'm an aficionado of trolling when it's done right. I would have relished seeing him, a gen 1 original of maybe the least likely stock win the biggest prize and unseat Kingston in his first reign as Champion.
The second reason is another silly one, a kayfabe reason that may or may not be proven true by the time the events of this season (or even this iPPV) have concluded. Right now, the events of the last year in the Chikara timeline have suggested that there may be some time anomalies going on. Alliances have been splintering, unlikely forces have brought wrestlers together, rudos have been acting nicer, and tecnicos have been playing a, well, ruder role in the proceedings. While I sit and write about Chikara with an analytical eye more often than not, as a fan, I tend to immerse myself into the lore while I'm at shows. So, if the timeline is all fudgy, and the wrestlers are acting off-kilter, maybe that means as a fan, I feel the effects of these anomalous reactions as well. So, rooting for Icarus to me is just getting in the mood for my environs.
The third, and probably most important and relevant reason, is that the story has made me sympathize with Icarus. I'm one of those schmaltzy genpoppers who loves a good redemption story. There really has been no one in Chikara mired in the depths of heeldom and hatred than Icarus, at least in the time I've been following the promotion. So to see his heart grow three sizes over the last six months is the ultimate in redemptive storytelling. The man tried to reach out to Sugar Dunkerton and be a real friend to him, and it cost him everything, even his budding partnership with the Boisterous Ballhog of Chikara. That's a testament to how good Chikara is at portraying stories like this, and also how good Icarus as a performer is at overcoming his typecasting and delivering real power to me, a viewer. A great wrestling company should at the very least be able to provide that kind of emotional gravity within its fans at the bottom line.
So, that's why I'm turning a corner and rooting my hardest for Icarus to walk out of the Trocadero as Chikara Grand Champion. It may be the biggest sign that Robert Newsome's "Darkest Timeline" theory is correct, but it actually feels right. In wrestling, just as in any form of entertainment, you react as a fan in a way that feels right. I know, it's strange territory for all of us.
But part of the fun of Icarus being the most effective bad guy in all the land is that it's so gosh-darn fun to boo him. The more merciless, the better. Part of the wonder of going to Chikara shows is thinking of new and inventive ways to let Icarus know you just don't like him. He relishes his role to the point where he's developed innovative ways to rouse his brand of rabble.
That's why it's going to feel so weird June 2 when I'm at the Trocadero for Aniversario: Never Compromise and I'm vociferously supporting Icarus to win the Grand Championship.
Here's a guy who, not nine months prior, stole pizza that I was enjoying with friends outside the Easton Funplex before Night 3 of King of Trios. If you know me, you know that no one steals food from TH and gets away with it, even if the crime is just relentless heckling for the duration of your natural life. I have been one of the leaders of the Icarus Jeer Squad even before he personally and culinarily wronged me. So what gives? Why am I now rooting for him to win the Grand Championship over a wrestler in Eddie Kingston whom I kinda dig? Well, there are a few reasons.
The first reason is probably ironic in nature, in that I would love to see the reaction he'd get as Grand Champion. It would be the ultimate troll move by Chikara, and as you know, I'm an aficionado of trolling when it's done right. I would have relished seeing him, a gen 1 original of maybe the least likely stock win the biggest prize and unseat Kingston in his first reign as Champion.
The second reason is another silly one, a kayfabe reason that may or may not be proven true by the time the events of this season (or even this iPPV) have concluded. Right now, the events of the last year in the Chikara timeline have suggested that there may be some time anomalies going on. Alliances have been splintering, unlikely forces have brought wrestlers together, rudos have been acting nicer, and tecnicos have been playing a, well, ruder role in the proceedings. While I sit and write about Chikara with an analytical eye more often than not, as a fan, I tend to immerse myself into the lore while I'm at shows. So, if the timeline is all fudgy, and the wrestlers are acting off-kilter, maybe that means as a fan, I feel the effects of these anomalous reactions as well. So, rooting for Icarus to me is just getting in the mood for my environs.
The third, and probably most important and relevant reason, is that the story has made me sympathize with Icarus. I'm one of those schmaltzy genpoppers who loves a good redemption story. There really has been no one in Chikara mired in the depths of heeldom and hatred than Icarus, at least in the time I've been following the promotion. So to see his heart grow three sizes over the last six months is the ultimate in redemptive storytelling. The man tried to reach out to Sugar Dunkerton and be a real friend to him, and it cost him everything, even his budding partnership with the Boisterous Ballhog of Chikara. That's a testament to how good Chikara is at portraying stories like this, and also how good Icarus as a performer is at overcoming his typecasting and delivering real power to me, a viewer. A great wrestling company should at the very least be able to provide that kind of emotional gravity within its fans at the bottom line.
So, that's why I'm turning a corner and rooting my hardest for Icarus to walk out of the Trocadero as Chikara Grand Champion. It may be the biggest sign that Robert Newsome's "Darkest Timeline" theory is correct, but it actually feels right. In wrestling, just as in any form of entertainment, you react as a fan in a way that feels right. I know, it's strange territory for all of us.