TURN ON THE FOG MACHINE

July 28, 2017 4:58 PM

League of Heels: A Video Game Wrestling Documentary (about the League of Heels)

also: Documentary Q & A

posted by juv3nal (8 comments total)

In a semi-related videogame wrestling news: Steam's Latest Hit Is A Wrestling Game That Already Has Nearly 2,000 Custom Characters [Kotaku]

“For the past couple days, Fire Pro Wrestling World, the latest entry in a decades-old retro-style wrestling series, has been surging up Steam’s top-ten best sellers list. At first glance, it’s hard to understand why. It’s a pro wrestling game that looks like it was made in 1995, and it lacks the name appeal of WWE or even smaller, beloved organizations like New Japan. It’s also missing a robust story mode, and it’s in Early Access, so it’s generally a bit rough around the edges. Despite all of that, I couldn’t stop grinning like a doofus when I played it for a couple hours last night. There are a couple reasons for this. First and foremost, the game’s Steam Workshop is a veritable buffet of beefcakes—and also bears, Resident Evil villains, Persona 5 characters, and Goku. It’s not just a bunch of skins slapped atop the same few wrestlers, either. The game includes a detailed “logic” system that allows you tweak everything from showmanship to the percentage chance that a wrestler will use specific moves depending on different situations. It’s absolutely nuts.”

Not trying to derail too much, but the next generation of Video Game Wrestling is set up.

This documentary looks like it'll be interesting to watch. A Great share. Thanks for posting.
posted by Fizz at 5:10 PM on July 28, 2017

You're not wrong. I've already seen twitter posts of people recreating League of Heels personalities as characters in Fire Pro Wrestling World
posted by juv3nal at 5:13 PM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

I love it when Metafilter and Giant Bomb, my two favorite internet things, cross over.
posted by penduluum at 5:15 PM on July 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Possibly my favourite thing about LoH is Austin Walker's incredible list of aliases.

I mean

Walter Benjamins
Karl Marx Zuckerberg
Earn Cheese Sanders
Swagneto
LeBron Games
posted by juv3nal at 5:26 PM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

King Kong Bundy. From Atlantic city, you should hear him roar. Andre the Giant, a Frenchman, the son of Bulgarian immigrants, hopped in the back of a Deuce Chaveau farm truck of a famous poet and playwright to go to school everyday. They talked about cricket, the sport, on the way to and from. A white American Yokozuna, who earned every win, even the ones where he sat on the tiny pretty-boys in fake fights. Tugboat, who was athletic and enormous and made the Undertaker's entry into legend actually legendary. A face turned heel to team up with his worst enemy, and together, the most massive heel-face turn in wrestling history, even if you were gauging by weight. A horrible end to a storied career. Shocker.

Champions. Not because of their undeniable athletic ability and immense presence. But because they could sell a move like nobody's business.

I like fat wrestlers. Bam Bam Bigelow retired after saving actual kids from an actual house fire, because the dreams of the moment never left him alone.

This video? The emotions are so strong because the stakes are so small.

Serious, tho, Undertaker vs. Tugboat. If you like comic-book superpowered wrestlers wrestling, this is the match for you. Bonus? The good guy loses. But he doesn't lose easy.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:03 PM on July 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also, there is a match where Hulk Hogan has to pick one partner, and Andre the Giant gets to pick two.

Bam Bam and Hulk Hogan, against King Kong Bundy, The One Man Gang, and Andre the Giant - none of them heels less less than 500 lbs! Compared to B.B. Bigelow's 400 plus (give or take a hundee), it should be a squash match, but everyone involved was so athletic (except late-career Andre, who could act up a storm to compensate) but! But! Hulk Hogan is DQ'd on a technicality early in the match! He can't get back in the ring without being shut out of future matches! A very young Bigelow is on his own. Bam Bam, who is a literal giant himself, fights and defeats two other literal giants bigger than he is, only to lose when Andre cheats. It's a very fun match to watch, if you like three 500-pounders going off the top rope like they're skinny little Luche Libré Técnicos, King Kong Bundy roaring more convincingly than any movie ape, and also Hulk Hogan and André the Giant getting into each other's faces. And I know you do.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:48 PM on July 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Just wanted to say that a dear friend of mine is part of the League of Heels and featured heavily in this documentary. Said friend has a blast performing and really appreciates the audience support and enthusiasm. It's a bright light in life for her, if her face is any evidence whenever she tells me stories about it.
posted by Snacks at 11:40 PM on July 28, 2017

I helped a friend buy bootleg copies of Firepro Wrestling (among others) and a modded Playstation 1 to play on way back in the 20th century. It's nice that people are re-creating those old Japanese wrestling games.
posted by Megafly at 3:49 PM on July 31, 2017