Post by Dana Ellis on Nov 30, 2019 22:29:09 GMT -5
Good evening ladies,
Today I am going to bring a more focused essay on just one of the companies that employs me. Of course, I am talking about the re-debuting Premiere Fighting and it's first show Affliction. Now, you may say to yourself "isn't that the least problematic wrestling company out there as far as representation goes?" I say to that "show me where the African American and Hispanic wrestlers are." I certainly don't see them. But it goes deeper than that. Sure, as opposed to the other companies that have hired, the management isn't actively stifling women or encouraging the abuse of them. They've been an incredibly supportive company thus far and have even put a woman in the main event. Sure, the Knockout idea is stupid and sets back their goal by a million years ...but they aren't forcing us to fight on that show and women under contract can fight for both. It's problematic, but not THAT problematic.
However, what is concerning is that Premier Fighting seems to be a hot bed for men with a toxic masculinity complex. Men who feel that the world owes them a debt because that is what movies, television, and media around the world has told them they were owed. In fact, we have veterans of quite a few years in this business who believe that they are owed World Title shots just based off their tenure of being a wrestler, but not the actual quality of their work. Yes, I will get to my opponent for Affliction here, but there are worse problems them him just waiting in the wings. In fact, we have ourselves the poster boy for toxic masculinity as one of the first to sign on the dotted line.
Let's talk about Tony Savage shall we? Let's talk about him immediately aligning himself as some form of the patriarchy within the company. Let's talk about the man who calls himself daddy and thinks that he has some kind of ownership of the World title. Why? Because he just believes that. Even though that this is a fresh start for the company and we all earn our way to a title shot, he thinks the company owes him that title. He believes anyone else who wants that title is offending him as the obvious contender for it.
And why would he make the best champion of Premier Fighting? He will tell you that it is because he has World title reigns all over the world throughout a myriad of years. That is not an untrue statement. He will leave out the facts though. He will leave out the one big problem to any of his claims of being "daddy." Tony Savage is a chaser to put it nicely. A journey man to put it moderately. And a choke artist if we are being blunt here, and I would like to think that we are. What does every single Tony Savage title reign have in common? He loses them quickly afterwards. Like most MEN, he wants what he doesn't have. Right now, what he doesn't have is a World Title and thus he must have it. But once he gets it, like men like him and the way they treat women, he doesn't care about it anymore. He doesn't put any effort into his reigns and quickly lets it go. He stops trying because HEY, he got what he wanted, right? He got the most prestigious title in the company, he doesn't need to defend it or take it to another level ...or go on to be remembered as a legend. He has something he can gloat about for the next company he moves onto once he's left this one, fading off into obscurity after he won what he claims was his. Because the Premier Fighting title won't be special to him. It will just be another thing for "daddy" to put on his resume, while he doesn't acknowledge that he always tends to falter as a champion ...and quickly leaves whatever company he worked his way up to the top to.
Maybe perhaps that is why, despite his claims of being "daddy" of this company, he wasn't booked in the main event. Maybe they don't want to invest in a guy who is more interested in WINNING something shiny and leaving quickly thereafter than HOLDING the Premier Fighting World Championship and staying on top as one it's top stars.
I'll be blunt right here and right now. I don't want the title as an accolade. I don't want it as a trophy. I don't suffer from a chronic case of masculinity like Mr. Savage does. I want the title show that change can actually be made to the wrestling industry; that we could be inclusive and have some growth for once. No. A woman world champion isn't unheard of, but one that wants to her title to improve the company and the industry for the better certainly is. This cause isn't about myself, it is about making wrestling and by extension, a more accepting place to anybody from anywhere. By me holding the title, I protect from the long lasting boy's club and gate keepers who say you need to be a certain type to compete in the ring. I will lift this company up to TRULY being Premier in the way the world sees it. I have the opportunity to change things from the top as the World Champion ...not because I need some ego boost or I've told myself in the mirror that I deserve it, like someone like Mr. Savage clearly does on a nightly basis.
But it doesn't matter, he'll be gone after he wins any sort of title anyways. As said, he's a fickle prize hunter and a journeyman. Nothing more, nothing less.
But you know who isn't a journeyman, but maybe something far worse? Mr. Matt Stone, a man who has seemingly been in this business for close to a decade. He is a man who, yes, has popped up everywhere, but to his credit, has stayed. Granted, a lot of that time, he has complained about what has been owed to him on a regular basis; feeling like he deserves a participation trophy. And yes, we all deserve participation trophy, but we don't deserve to be the main star just because we blessed with our presence. He is a man that needs attention and adoration to feel fully fleshed. He either needs to be loved or hated. He cannot be in the background because, again, the media has told him that if you are white and you are a man that you HAVE to be the star. You need to be seen and you need to be in the spotlight. He has been fed this crap not just by the media outlets and popular movies, but also himself.
And to his credit, nobody has been there to stop him. Nobody has been there to say "you don't actually deserve any of this recognition, you think is owed to you." He thrived in a world where everything is always handed to people like him, while people like me? We have to be told that perhaps we want to be on the Knockouts show or that maybe we should be in the undercard to look pretty. We have to work twice as hard than the Matt Stone's in the world to not feel anywhere close to as privileged as he does ALL THE TIME. We don't get to shoot our mouths and feel good about ourselves. We shoot our mouths and the rest of the world criticizes us for thinking that we have an opinion; that we have a voice. He's allowed to be unfiltered without consequences, but women, we speak out of line and everyone wants to remind us what an uppity C-word we are for thinking the way we think. Matt Stone is not the problem, but he is certainly a product of it that's for damn sure.
But here is the problem with toxic masculinity and people like Matt Stonen and Tony Savage in general.
They create people like Brandon Mercer.
Those first two, as entitled as they may be, at least have a personality. They have wants, desires, and goals. Brandon Mercer? Has absolutely none of those things. He, thus far, has been nothing more than picture on twitter. He hasn't said anything important about our match. He hasn't even acknowledged my existence. He sure has posted a lot of pictures of himself and talks about "preparing" for some vague match he is going to have. But he never once acknowledged how big this match is for both of us. That it might be the one that could make either one of us into stars. Nope. He just posts generic tweets that has nothing to do with anything, but at least he looks pretty doing it.
Yes, that is par for the course for a Zoomer. But it is worse because the generation that came before him has fed his entitlement. What we are dealing with isn't just Toxic Masculinity. It is BLIND toxic masculinity. He doesn't even KNOW that he has it easier than everyone else. He doesn't KNOW that some of us have it worse off than him. He just knows that he posts a pic on twitter and suddenly he has hundreds of followers and deserves to win every match and be on top. It is the two men that came before him that allows that him to be so ignorant. That allows him to think that he can half ass his way into the match and be handed accolades. He truly believes that I am not a threat because I am not. I.E I am not a white man. He doesn't have any clue that I will giving this match my all to score the victory while he doesn't believe I deserve a mention on his timeline.
Well, that is going to change come December the 3rd because the privilege that he has been afforded ends with me. The loss to me will be a shot to his ego. It will be a reminder that NO, you don't just get stuff handed to you because of the gender you were born. No. You have to know what to expect from your opponent when you are scheduled for them. And he will learn that he is depth less photo on twitter and nothing.
He will become Woke to the world around him and as long as he continues to ONLY see himself, he will never sniff gold. He will never bring forth change in the industry. He will just be another face in the crowd.
The free ride for anyone like him ends NOW!