Wrestling? Twist my arm.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts — an’80s vintage WWF baddie — has seen better days. How do I
know? I saw him on Wrestlevision.
Wrestlevision is a locally
produced show devoted to Western New York wrestling. It
combines wrestling matches, comedy sketches (often parodies of TV shows like Cheaters or Live with Regis and Kelly filmed in the same nondescript office
space) and interviews, and is corralled by host Scotty Bender and a variety of
co-hosts.
It was during Wrestlevision‘s televised trip to
Philly that I saw Jake The Snake. Sporting sweaty,
thinning hair, sweatpants, and cowboy boots, he jumped into the ring, berated a
young wrestler in face paint, and then clotheslined
the punk. Later, he gave an addled interview.
Wrestlevision covers federations
all over Western New York, including Rochester’s
NWA Upstate and Roc City Wrestling. Watch as the wrestlers take over rented
community halls across Upstate, causing audiences to jump out of their folding
chairs.
The wrestlers earn it. In one
Empire State Wrestling match in Wheatfield, J-Man and Jonny
Puma exploded out of the ring, took down a Christmas tree, and then moved their
way to the bar, where they threw in some makeshift moves involving a soda gun.
The shows offer a goofy, wholesome
reverence to the sport. From Bender’s earnestness to co-host Ivan the Impaler’snerdily intense
interviews to the wrestlers’ playacting, it’s all gold.
Wrestlevision is on WBGT-TV UPN
18, Sundays at 3 p.m. and Tuesdays at
1 a.m. The next new episode — the
75th — airs Sunday, April 9. www.wrestlevision.com.
— Erica Curtis
Ring around the caller
The cellular phone provides the
human race with many things: dependable communication during emergencies; a
reliable time source for those too cheap/lazy to wear a watch; and perhaps most
importantly, unlimited entertainment value thanks to the plethora of options on
the ringtone market.
If your Cingular
phone still sounds off with cheery, cascading chimes or your Sprint phone
blares that tinny, chirpy alarm, it’s time to get with the revolution. Scads of
sites like www.jamster.com offer tons of songs available for downloading, some
free, but most requiring a credit card. An unassuming friend of mine gets laughs
every time she receives a call and the dulcet strains of Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin'” drift from her speaker. My brother has assigned
different tones for each caller, selecting the Super Mario Bros. theme for my
video game-addicted brethren. Even my parents — practical Luddites
who fear even using the toaster — have Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and
Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman” on their phones.
Currently the most popular
downloads include Sean Paul’s inescapable reggaeton
anthem “Temperature” and T-Pain’s “I’m N Luv (Wit a
Stripper).” But if you’ve been waiting in line at the grocery store or the
movie theater in the past few weeks, chances are you already knew that.
— Eric Rezsnyak
This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2006.
