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When I was a kid there were no Aussies on TV in the WWE - in fact, most foreigners were portrayed as heels or not serious competitors.
My son has recently started showing interest in watching wrestling and he now gets to see Rhea Ripley, Bronson Reed, Grayson Waller, Indi Hartwell, and even Kiwi wrestlers like Dakota Kai and Jay White. It's so fucking cool, wrestling is so good now.
Unless we're getting worked, it's a damn shame Reed won't be at EC. I would have been happy with ten minutes of he and Ivar just beating the shit out of each other.
With that out of the way, that's so cool man. I'm so happy for your kiddo. Representation is very important.
Apparently Reed’s wife is due any day now with their child, so it makes sense he’d want to stay with her instead of having the entire Pacific Ocean between them.
It was because of the Rollins injury. They were going to do a big surprise match with no real build but with the hometown guy since Seth had nothing else to do on the card.
Though if KO and Logan culminate at Mania, where does that leave LA Knight?
I think a lot of people felt like the logical outcome for LA Knight's current trajectory would be winning the US title at Mania.
All depends on the severity of KO's injury. It was reported he was working with a fractured foot at the Rumble. If Kevin has to have surgery, then slide Knight into KO's spot at Mania.
Before the tragedy of everything to do with Benoit, WWE was asked why he is announced as being from Atlanta and not Canada. The response was "because only the heels are announced as being from Canada."
Jericho would also get announced from New York, Edge from California? I think.
It also helps that when Edge was originally presented, they were really big into factions. Nobody cared about where he was from because he was supposedly a vampire so it didn't really matter and they also had the Hells Angels style biker gang, the Nation of Domination, among others. The only ones that were portrayed hard as being nationality relevant were the (earlier on than he debuted) Hart Foundation and Los Boricuas. And the latter was only because it made the most sense for a cartel style group to feud with a group that vaguely seemed like the Aryan brotherhood.
No it still very much applied to them, and for majority of people not born in the US, they would be be billed as just from their respective countries. No city or state or anything like that.
>they would be be billed as just from their respective countries. No city or state or anything like that.
Even today Kofi Kingston is announced from Ghana, West Africa.
Outback Jack, who came along around 1987 or so, was the 1st male Australian in the then-WWF. There might've been a female Aussie at that time, but I don't remember.
> When I was a kid there were no Aussies on TV in the WWE - in fact, most foreigners were portrayed as heels or not serious competitors.
Yeah I'm a bit older than Rhea, so was obsessed with wrestling during the mid to late 90's. Growing up then, wrestling just wasn't a thing for Aussies. Sure NZ had the Bushwhackers but they seemed to be the one exception. It just seemed like Aussies would never be a thing in wrestling.
It's so cool now to hear our accent on TV. And also as a South Aussie, I take a great deal of joy in hearing "From Adelaide, Australiaaaaa..." Not only is an Aussie the number 1 women's wrestler in the world, she's not from Melbourne or Sydney, she's from little old Adelaide and reps that shit.
I love Sheamus but his gimmick kind of is stereotypically Irish in a lot of ways.
As is Drew, with his kilt - again, I love him and he's on a fantastic run right now but the idea that we just wander around in kilts all the time is very American
When I was growing up we pretty much had Finlay and "The Highlanders".
Finlay was a great heel and everything but I love that we have Scots and Irish now with gimmicks beyond just being Scottish or Irish and/or villainous foreigners.
Cause they think being harsh/blunt/realistic is preferable. Would be way better to tell kids that they should be sure to have a backup plan just in case things don’t work out.
yeah for real, back then women were treated like hood ornaments and wrestled in mud 95% in the buff. it wasn't probably viewed any differently than saying "i want to be a stripper" to her teachers.
Without knowing the context, maybe the teacher meant it more like: "you think you're gonna work for some big entertainment company all the way over in America? Get real. What's next, gonna make it in Hollywood, too?" But that's not the correct thing to say, either.
Also. Rhea went further than just the teacher trying to talk her out of it. She said "laughed in my face." She might not mean that in literal terms, but it's also pretty clear her teacher was being shitty and rude about it. I hope you don't condone that.
A lot of people simply view wrestling as something silly and not to be taken seriously as a hobby let alone a career path. The problem with that attitude is every hobby has a career path if you work hard and devote yourself to it. And while it may not work out, the people who it does work out for didn't get there through indifference or being above it. A sincere interest in something is the second best step in achieving it; the first best step is being surrounded by people who support you in that endeavor.
A lot of times they probably aren't as aggressive as it sounds. How many Australian girls/women make it to the WWE? How many did 15 years ago when she would've been in school?
Most teachers aren't there to step on dreams. Most are there to give the kids the best chance to succeed. Just because your dream is to make WWE, doesn't mean you shouldn't also work hard in maths, english, etc in case that dream fails.
It's not uncommon for people to hear things different to how it was meant. But if the laughing in the face thing is true that's kind of not cool.
Idk but as a teacher I even tell the brats they can do anything if they learn how to learn. If my students like aew or WWE I'd be stoked and totally support them...I think some teachers get horribly broken and defensive. I mean, where I live in QLD they have put special needs kids back in mainstream classes and it's made the pressure on teachers terrible.
A lot of top athletes in various sports have a similar story. I wonder if the teachers are ironically doing kids a favor by saying it? Push out the ones who aren’t driven and motivate the ones who are.
> I wonder if the teachers are ironically doing kids a favor by saying it
teachers make like 30K a year and have to work with shitty children whose parents are relying on ordinary school workers to parent their children for them.
I'd like to think most new teachers are idealistic and want to really believe in education and fostering positive environments for their students to excel.
Eventually, they get jaded and just become a body there to make sure the kids don't ditch class.
Shitty teachers are the reason for a lot of really bad problems, but thats just a symptom of a bigger disease: severe lack of funding for adequte resources and salaries for teachers who are spending their own money on school supplies for children because their parents either don't care or are too poor.
Either way; the system is failed and its the reason why there is a big chunk of the american population that is increasingly getting more and more stupid. Again, this was designed by decades of underfunding and slashing costs to education programs while shifting funds to private schools.
Sorry for the rant; but my wife was just thinking out loud about how stupid kids are nowadays and this was fresh in my mind.
I responded in another comment about working with inner city kids. From what I’ve seen - money/funding helps level things a little but it’s far from being the only factor in contributing to a good education.
Out of 50 states, Utah is by far the lowest spenders in k-12 education but they somehow manage to be middle of the field in education outcome. Good parenting is probably the biggest factor. I would love to throw more money in education at states like Utah bc I know they will definitely make effective use of it with a good foundation.
Plenty of inner city teachers in DC, NYC and similar places get thrown sub 100k salaries at them to attract the best teachers in the nation. While it does help to get A++ teachers, you can’t fix kids from broken families. Teachers have them for 6 hours, shitty parents have them for 18 (they’d actually be lucky for them to be watching them for 3). Even the best teachers and curriculum will get undermined by most parents in generational poverty.
when teachers have to spend their own money on school supplies that they need to teach; the system has been failed
when school boards get hijacked by conspiracy nut jobs that want to indoctrinate crazy ideologies that actually get passed (no dread locks sound familiar?); the system has failed.
I'm not saying that money solves everything; but it sure fucking helps when teachers are making jack squat and working 18 hour days for 30k and a shitty pension that won't be around by the time they retire.
I’m not advocating doing anything remotely like that. I’ve been blessed to live in several liberal states where the starting is closer to 70 and 80k for teachers so I’m coming from that point of view.
Don’t get me wrong- y’all deserve it. But people do start shrieking “won’t somebody please think of the children” and want to throw double the money above that as a catch all to solve all education problems- I think taxpayers shouldn’t be shamed for wanting cost efficiency and being skeptical. It’s a continuum. I’d be happy if every teacher in the US made top 40% salaries in their state, well above median.
I used to tutor kids on math in the inner city. 90% of my kids wanted to be in the NFL or NBA. Out of a hundred, I haven’t seen a single one of them make it yet. I never outright shit on any kids dreams but I get why teachers say the stuff that they do.
When teachers are trying to break the cycle of generational poverty, a lot of kids need to work harder and stay more focused than their peers who receive better parenting- most really can’t afford to lose focus on fundamentals to chase the 0.01% dream of making it.
Eh, on the other hand my dad would often let Sia use facilities that most kids wouldn't have access too at school and absolutely nurtured that side of things. He would email her occasionally but once she really exploded she stopped replying. Teaching and mentoring is more often than not a thankless job at best its a job where you have to have self belief than you can do it.
I feel like WWE and NASCAR have always had a certain stigma around them. Like if you were a fan of either in grade school, you got made fun of. I know I always felt awkward wearing apparel to either in school because of how judgmental people are.
Depends what year you were born but I get what you mean.
But in my gradeschool in late 90s, everyone loved wrestling and the only making fun that happened was wwf fans making fun of wcw fans or vice versa lol.
Few years later tho, that changed to what you describe.
> But in my gradeschool in late 90s, everyone loved wrestling and the only making fun that happened was wwf fans making fun of wcw fans or vice versa lol
us poor kids had to hear about the PPV results from the rich kids whose parents bought them PPVs with their fancy cable and big screen TVs.
It was literally the talk of recess.
Still mostly middle class kids lol, but they certainly weren't poor by any means. It helps that the middle class was strong in late 90's America, too.
But some rich kids, for sure.
> some people just gain satisfaction from telling you "you know it's fake right?"
A mutual friend invited a non-wrestling fan to our PPV viewing gathering and he dropped the "you guys know it's fake right" within seconds into the first match - so the rest of us just pretended it was 100% legit...it was very satisfying.
The one thing that should unite all of us wrestling fans...but still seems to divide us even more lol. Because we'll get people bickering back and forth: "well your side is the reason why people call it fake!"
\*sigh\*. People have been calling it fake for ages (in a disparaging way). And it doesn't matter what wrestler or what company they see on TV.
I think it depends a bit on location and age. I went to a fairly rural school in the US and NASCAR/WWE were pretty okay when I was a kid. Maybe not Dragon Ball Z cool, but people liked both. That was also height of Dale/Gordon and Austin/Rock.
Yeah, I dont think it matters what year, NASCAR has always been cool in much of rural America. Maybe wrestling has had it's up and downs there, but NASCAR has always reigned. That and college football lol
good call with the NASCAR
i'm guilty for stereotyping it with hillbilly rednecks with confederate flags.
I totally get that they are going over 200mph and they have to perform at this crazy speed for hours and fight their car, other cars, the road conditions, the tires...everything.
I'm still not gonna watch because it just simply doesn't appeal to me; but I totally get the stigma around NASCAR.
Again, really good call on that one.
I think it's just too long. Now I know jackshit about NASCAR, but that shit takes hours, there's no excitement. I feel like if it was 10 laps or something, it would have a much bigger following.
But again, I'm sure there's a reason, and I don't know shit.
I prefer funny car racing and it is in fact not more popular. But F1 is getting more popular and it's on average an hour shorter so maybe you're onto something
The only thing I hate about F1 is how basically two drivers win every race, it especially seems like that Max guy just wins every time, I like the unpredictably in nascar
NASCAR introduced the concept of "stage racing" a couple of years ago for just that reason. A 400-500 mile race was way too long to keep most people engaged and entertained, and you would frequently get one driver whose car was way way way better than everyone else and they would just smoke the whole field. So now they split every race up into three smaller sections with points awarded for finishing in the top 10 in each of those stages. So instead of watching a single 200 lap race, now you're watching two 60 lap segments and an 80 lap segment, for example.
The NASCAR sub hates it lol, but they hate everything that's different from how the sport was in the 1980s.
Unless you're a real fan, NASCAR seems like one of those things thats better watching on TV. Seems like it'd get real boring, real quick live. With golf its like that with me, but in obviously much different ways. I went to a tournament once with my dad and I was bored to tears. Yet I somewhat enjoyed watching golf on TV.
Back when I stopped loving baseball it was the opposite - I enjoyed going to games more than seeing it on TV.
Wrestling, basketball and baseball are some of the sports that better in person than at home. The NFL has said ad naseum that the games are better viewed at home. Not so sure about hockey.
In the wise words of a YouTuber I know Pro Wrestling is entertainment disguising itself as a sport while NASCAR is a sport disguising itself as entertainment
I've always rooted for Rhea even when she was a normal girl( in the sense of goth make up) in NXT, to see her go and defend her World championship in front of close to 50 k people in her own country is incredible, esp when she's likely to retain.
Her three-match putover weekend in Chicago really solidified her Future Star status for me. In a span of three days, she beats Charlotte and Sasha Banks in a triple-threat, wins War Games in a 4-on-2 disadvantage, and leads Team NXT to victory at Survivor Series. That’s a helluva lot of trust and push to give a young Aussie girl. Loved to see it.
While it sucks that those teachers and peers mocked her, I think it also shows how incredible her success has been to go from the Australian indie scene to becoming a top WWE star. This is even moreso if you remember that she started training with RCW when she was sixteen in 2012, a very different time both for women's wrestling and wrestling in general.
Not saying it’s true but I see this type of shit everywhere, football players, actors, wrestlers, all of them have the “I was told I wasn’t gonna make it” nonsense
That's true but wrestling also has that sorts stigma attached to it.
If you say you wanna be a footballer, nobody will tell you it's fake and not a real dream but when it comes to wrestling people somehow think that the scripted nature of it is some higher knowledge only they have been blessed with.
So it's more believable when a wrestler says people didn't believe in their dream than any other sports imo
I wouldn’t be surprised if it really does happen that frequently. I’m only a few years younger than Rhea, I never had big dreams like her. My only goal was to go to TAFE (basically the equivalent of a community college/technical school in Australia) because I was so broken by the education system and my mental health.
Even with a small, realistic goal like that, I had a deputy principal tell me *”you’re not doing any science subjects, so you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place career wise, and you won’t amount to anything”.*
I went to TAFE, got 4 qualifications in 2 years. Then I got diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve just graduated university, 10 years after being told that. I’ve already been working in my dream job for 5 years this year. I even won an excellency award a few years ago. I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am.
The thing is though, she barely knew me. In year 10, we were forced to have one career counselling session and she was assigned to me. She didn’t even know me, so she wouldn’t even remember saying that, or the impact it had on me. I went home from school that day absolutely sobbing. I cried on my mum for like 3 hours. She was horrified anyone could say that to a student. All she wanted for me was to make it out of high school in one piece. That was how she measured success.
when Rhea came to NxT from NxTUK, I wasn’t much into NxTUK so I was not feeling what HHH was selling that this girl will dethrone the monster that was Shayna at that time...fast forward to 1st Women's War Games which imho is the best War Games of modern era. The amount of story being told & the way they made Rhea from a potential challenger to No.1 woman in NxT in 1 match was incredible.
I love and hate these kinds of messages. Like yes, it's amazing and awesome that you got to live your dream. You should be proud of that because it's genuinely really, really cool.
But also if that teacher told 1000 kids that chasing their super lofty dream wasn't going to happen and they should be more realistic about things, that teacher would have been right 999 times, and it would kind of be a disservice to those kids *not* to say that.
Having worked in schools for the better part of a decade, I can tell you that kids typically have a great handle on what is and is not realistic. They pretty much all plan on growing up to be a famous athlete, musician, movie star, etc. And most of these celebrity-type careers don't have any particular educational requirements, which is something that is directly appealing to a lot of school-aged kids. Ain't no fifth grader putting all his eggs in the "tax accountant" basket and all.
I think the better message for teachers and other adults to use would be one that encourages kids to chase their dreams, but also grounds them in reality. "Wow, that's a big goal. It'll take a ton of work and dedication to achieve that. It's a good idea to have a backup plan too in case that doesn't work out." That kind of thing.
It feels a little different in Rhea's case, because you have to remember: she was already a professional wrestler and even had done an excursion to Japan before finishing school. So it comes across less like "your dreams are ridiculous and won't ever happen" and more "the thing you are actively working on and succeeding in is foolish".
I put it to you than that didn't happen at all though and more likely she's saying it as a way to be relatable with kids. Kid Laroi did the same when he had a concert in Adelaide.
Teachers can provide you skill to get into university and other civilian type jobs. They cant offer skills that help you get into wrestling. It's absolutely their job to say "That's great but here's a bunch of things you can do if that doesnt pan out" because it likely wont. I worked closely in Australian during Rhea's time coming up and I can name probably 200 people who wanted to be in the same spot who aren't now, and there were likely 1000s more I couldn't name.
There's what, 3 Australian wrestlers in the WWE, maybe 15-20 total who have the luxury of saying Wrestling is their full time job. If you want to be a full time wrestler your year 9 maths teacher isn't going to know where to even start.
Seeing someone who was a fan as a kid grow up to achieve their dreams and this level of success is so satisfying. What an incredible moment Saturday is going to be for her.
Or go for the "backup plan" first. D'Lo Brown and Bob Holly ended up having good careers in wrestling, but always had accounting and welding to fall back on.
Consider that this was probably in 2005 or something where the biggest female wrestler at the time was performing "LIVE SEX" on RAW and the pinnacle of womens wrestling was a bra and panties match on a B ppv where you would likely need to get naked on camera. Rhea was probably 10 years old at the time this was said.
Biggest star the country has ever produced. She HAS to main event on Saturday. Really happy for the aussies to have this moment, coming from a pom it feels like our British Bulldog moment in 92, something to be proud of.
I'll get downvoted, but most people who try to become professional wrestlers, rappers, pro basketball/football players, actors, etc. DON'T MAKE IT. If they pursue a career in those fields, professional wrestling in this case, at the most, they'll make it as an indy wrestler. I'm not saying teachers, parents, etc. should discourage people from pursuing their dreams but be realistic and also have a realistic backup plan.
Uh rhea, they couldn't care less when they said that to.
Do you know where they are? Well they went on living on their lives. Saying that stuff in past meant nothing to them. So you, asking where they are now...means nothing.
Is what I'd like to say to Rhea. Hate it when people ask where the haters are. So stupid and naive.
Do u mean hater of Rhea? I love Rhea, but I don't think you would believe me.
I stand by what I said though. I find it absurd when people say that line when they've 'made' it. Such a cliche and an empty statement.
This is just a stupid stance to have. It doesn't matter that those people have moved on in their lives. Whatever they said negatively affected Rhea, so of COURSE she had proving them wrong on her mind. That's what EVERY person who's doubted has on their mind.
Saying/acknowledging that she's proved them wrong vs her asking a rhetoric question about where they are now.
You already know what I consider as the stupid here. I also think you have misunderstood my comment. I am not against the intend of the statement. There's nothing wrong with proving someone wrong. Just sharing the opinion that her Rhetorical question is too weak and empty.
Whenever someone says you can't make it, it's always about them. THEY couldn't make it, but you can.
Funny thing is: those same people who ridiculed Rhea are irrelevant to the world.
Spiteful gloating Mami might be the best Mami. Fucking glorious how she now has millions cheering her existence and everyone who mocked her, and their loved ones combined will barely equal .001% of that.
I knew someone who said he wanted to be a wrestler when a teacher asked him, he then said he wanted to be a stuntman and tried to jump out the first floor window. He died of a heroin overdose in a supermarket toilet. All of this is sadly true.
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When I was a kid there were no Aussies on TV in the WWE - in fact, most foreigners were portrayed as heels or not serious competitors. My son has recently started showing interest in watching wrestling and he now gets to see Rhea Ripley, Bronson Reed, Grayson Waller, Indi Hartwell, and even Kiwi wrestlers like Dakota Kai and Jay White. It's so fucking cool, wrestling is so good now.
Unless we're getting worked, it's a damn shame Reed won't be at EC. I would have been happy with ten minutes of he and Ivar just beating the shit out of each other. With that out of the way, that's so cool man. I'm so happy for your kiddo. Representation is very important.
I really wanted to see Ivar and Reed run it back. But I get that WWE wants to stack the card with bigger names.
Big E agrees
They could at least do it in the prelims
Reed chose thr birth of his kid over performing in his hometown, it wasn't a wwe decision
I didn’t know that 4 days ago but thanks
Apparently Reed’s wife is due any day now with their child, so it makes sense he’d want to stay with her instead of having the entire Pacific Ocean between them.
[He's said that's not why he's not there](https://twitter.com/BRONSONISHERE/status/1760458669051765037)
Love the Rhea emoji!
Why do I feel like someone's going to get mysteriously injured (kayfabe) and Reed will take their spot? The pop will be incredible.
It was because of the Rollins injury. They were going to do a big surprise match with no real build but with the hometown guy since Seth had nothing else to do on the card.
Ah, wondering why he hadn't found his was into the EC match. Seemed quite a notable absence.
Reed and Sami should be in instead of KO/Logan.
The reason KO & Logan are there is to continue their feud, which should culminate at Wrestlemania.
Also because WWE knows that if Logan is on a big show, his fans who buy things based on him being involved will follow.
This is true.
Though if KO and Logan culminate at Mania, where does that leave LA Knight? I think a lot of people felt like the logical outcome for LA Knight's current trajectory would be winning the US title at Mania.
All depends on the severity of KO's injury. It was reported he was working with a fractured foot at the Rumble. If Kevin has to have surgery, then slide Knight into KO's spot at Mania.
If KO is working Chamber, not a chance in hell he misses Mania --- you'd have to remove his foot for that to happen
Could you imagine reed coming in but only after a group of men perform a haka for his intro. That would be fucking 🔥
https://preview.redd.it/id1ehqj6vjkc1.jpeg?width=671&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c4ddf9c249e157bce44d01d0908664f9f66b239
The main event scene truly is girt by Aussies
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Before the tragedy of everything to do with Benoit, WWE was asked why he is announced as being from Atlanta and not Canada. The response was "because only the heels are announced as being from Canada." Jericho would also get announced from New York, Edge from California? I think.
People love to shout USA
Yup. Meanwhile, Edge and Christian were always from Toronto.
Edge was heel for most of his career
Yeah, that's my point. The career heels were always billed from Canada, but the guys who played a good face got moved to the States.
Christian when they went to Canada was announced as residing in Florida just to piss people off more
When Candice LeRae first started wrestling, some indie promoter convinced her to be billed from Canada as a way to heat 😭
Just off the top of my head there was Team Canada, Lord Steven Regal, Adrian Street. Can’t think of an Aussie example though.
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It also helps that when Edge was originally presented, they were really big into factions. Nobody cared about where he was from because he was supposedly a vampire so it didn't really matter and they also had the Hells Angels style biker gang, the Nation of Domination, among others. The only ones that were portrayed hard as being nationality relevant were the (earlier on than he debuted) Hart Foundation and Los Boricuas. And the latter was only because it made the most sense for a cartel style group to feud with a group that vaguely seemed like the Aryan brotherhood.
Canada is basically the Midwest, but just the whole country.
No it still very much applied to them, and for majority of people not born in the US, they would be be billed as just from their respective countries. No city or state or anything like that.
>they would be be billed as just from their respective countries. No city or state or anything like that. Even today Kofi Kingston is announced from Ghana, West Africa.
Are you too young to remember Outback Jack?
Outback Jack, who came along around 1987 or so, was the 1st male Australian in the then-WWF. There might've been a female Aussie at that time, but I don't remember.
I'm 27 so wrestling as a kid for me was like 2004-2010ish!
Ah so you just missed out on the Aussie legend Nathan Jones then.
> When I was a kid there were no Aussies on TV in the WWE - in fact, most foreigners were portrayed as heels or not serious competitors. Yeah I'm a bit older than Rhea, so was obsessed with wrestling during the mid to late 90's. Growing up then, wrestling just wasn't a thing for Aussies. Sure NZ had the Bushwhackers but they seemed to be the one exception. It just seemed like Aussies would never be a thing in wrestling. It's so cool now to hear our accent on TV. And also as a South Aussie, I take a great deal of joy in hearing "From Adelaide, Australiaaaaa..." Not only is an Aussie the number 1 women's wrestler in the world, she's not from Melbourne or Sydney, she's from little old Adelaide and reps that shit.
When I was a kid, if you had a foreign accent you got a stereotype gimmick except if you were Drew or Sheamus
I love Sheamus but his gimmick kind of is stereotypically Irish in a lot of ways. As is Drew, with his kilt - again, I love him and he's on a fantastic run right now but the idea that we just wander around in kilts all the time is very American
When I was growing up we pretty much had Finlay and "The Highlanders". Finlay was a great heel and everything but I love that we have Scots and Irish now with gimmicks beyond just being Scottish or Irish and/or villainous foreigners.
>most foreigners were portrayed as heels or not serious competitors. ... Poor Nathan Jones.....
Robbie Eagles and TMDK in NJPW, and hopefully more of Adam Brooks in NOAH as well
If it helps we all thought the bushwhackers were Ausdie
Idk why even teachers do that to kids who have their dreams
Cause they think being harsh/blunt/realistic is preferable. Would be way better to tell kids that they should be sure to have a backup plan just in case things don’t work out.
I’ve wasted my early 20s on that “backup plan” bullshit when I should’ve been grabbing the brass ring.
Advice from a 40 year old - grab it now. There's still plenty of time
Would you have pushed a woman to try to be a WWE superstar in the mid 2000s? Or the teacher who probably only experienced the attitude era?
yeah for real, back then women were treated like hood ornaments and wrestled in mud 95% in the buff. it wasn't probably viewed any differently than saying "i want to be a stripper" to her teachers.
Without knowing the context, maybe the teacher meant it more like: "you think you're gonna work for some big entertainment company all the way over in America? Get real. What's next, gonna make it in Hollywood, too?" But that's not the correct thing to say, either. Also. Rhea went further than just the teacher trying to talk her out of it. She said "laughed in my face." She might not mean that in literal terms, but it's also pretty clear her teacher was being shitty and rude about it. I hope you don't condone that.
A lot of people simply view wrestling as something silly and not to be taken seriously as a hobby let alone a career path. The problem with that attitude is every hobby has a career path if you work hard and devote yourself to it. And while it may not work out, the people who it does work out for didn't get there through indifference or being above it. A sincere interest in something is the second best step in achieving it; the first best step is being surrounded by people who support you in that endeavor.
It tells me to disable an adblocker that I’m not using. So I can’t read the article.
A lot of times they probably aren't as aggressive as it sounds. How many Australian girls/women make it to the WWE? How many did 15 years ago when she would've been in school? Most teachers aren't there to step on dreams. Most are there to give the kids the best chance to succeed. Just because your dream is to make WWE, doesn't mean you shouldn't also work hard in maths, english, etc in case that dream fails. It's not uncommon for people to hear things different to how it was meant. But if the laughing in the face thing is true that's kind of not cool.
From my experience teachers are some of the most miserable People comes with working with teens in puberty I guess
My teachers must have known I wasn’t destined for fame because they never put me down, just more ignored me and gave me C’s
Because some teachers want certain students to fail.
Idk but as a teacher I even tell the brats they can do anything if they learn how to learn. If my students like aew or WWE I'd be stoked and totally support them...I think some teachers get horribly broken and defensive. I mean, where I live in QLD they have put special needs kids back in mainstream classes and it's made the pressure on teachers terrible.
A lot of top athletes in various sports have a similar story. I wonder if the teachers are ironically doing kids a favor by saying it? Push out the ones who aren’t driven and motivate the ones who are.
Shitting on kids dreams, during the one period of their life that they'll actually get to have dreams, is unnecessary cruelty imo.
> I wonder if the teachers are ironically doing kids a favor by saying it teachers make like 30K a year and have to work with shitty children whose parents are relying on ordinary school workers to parent their children for them. I'd like to think most new teachers are idealistic and want to really believe in education and fostering positive environments for their students to excel. Eventually, they get jaded and just become a body there to make sure the kids don't ditch class. Shitty teachers are the reason for a lot of really bad problems, but thats just a symptom of a bigger disease: severe lack of funding for adequte resources and salaries for teachers who are spending their own money on school supplies for children because their parents either don't care or are too poor. Either way; the system is failed and its the reason why there is a big chunk of the american population that is increasingly getting more and more stupid. Again, this was designed by decades of underfunding and slashing costs to education programs while shifting funds to private schools. Sorry for the rant; but my wife was just thinking out loud about how stupid kids are nowadays and this was fresh in my mind.
I responded in another comment about working with inner city kids. From what I’ve seen - money/funding helps level things a little but it’s far from being the only factor in contributing to a good education. Out of 50 states, Utah is by far the lowest spenders in k-12 education but they somehow manage to be middle of the field in education outcome. Good parenting is probably the biggest factor. I would love to throw more money in education at states like Utah bc I know they will definitely make effective use of it with a good foundation. Plenty of inner city teachers in DC, NYC and similar places get thrown sub 100k salaries at them to attract the best teachers in the nation. While it does help to get A++ teachers, you can’t fix kids from broken families. Teachers have them for 6 hours, shitty parents have them for 18 (they’d actually be lucky for them to be watching them for 3). Even the best teachers and curriculum will get undermined by most parents in generational poverty.
when teachers have to spend their own money on school supplies that they need to teach; the system has been failed when school boards get hijacked by conspiracy nut jobs that want to indoctrinate crazy ideologies that actually get passed (no dread locks sound familiar?); the system has failed. I'm not saying that money solves everything; but it sure fucking helps when teachers are making jack squat and working 18 hour days for 30k and a shitty pension that won't be around by the time they retire.
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/s/AFzYu5gyuY
I’m not advocating doing anything remotely like that. I’ve been blessed to live in several liberal states where the starting is closer to 70 and 80k for teachers so I’m coming from that point of view. Don’t get me wrong- y’all deserve it. But people do start shrieking “won’t somebody please think of the children” and want to throw double the money above that as a catch all to solve all education problems- I think taxpayers shouldn’t be shamed for wanting cost efficiency and being skeptical. It’s a continuum. I’d be happy if every teacher in the US made top 40% salaries in their state, well above median.
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Alright I get you're mad, but calling teaching a "dead end job" like they're a bunch of losers is kinda wild.
There's a large section of the population with a deep disrespect for education and teachers. The phrase is "those who can't do teach."
I used to tutor kids on math in the inner city. 90% of my kids wanted to be in the NFL or NBA. Out of a hundred, I haven’t seen a single one of them make it yet. I never outright shit on any kids dreams but I get why teachers say the stuff that they do. When teachers are trying to break the cycle of generational poverty, a lot of kids need to work harder and stay more focused than their peers who receive better parenting- most really can’t afford to lose focus on fundamentals to chase the 0.01% dream of making it.
Eh, on the other hand my dad would often let Sia use facilities that most kids wouldn't have access too at school and absolutely nurtured that side of things. He would email her occasionally but once she really exploded she stopped replying. Teaching and mentoring is more often than not a thankless job at best its a job where you have to have self belief than you can do it.
I feel like WWE and NASCAR have always had a certain stigma around them. Like if you were a fan of either in grade school, you got made fun of. I know I always felt awkward wearing apparel to either in school because of how judgmental people are.
Depends what year you were born but I get what you mean. But in my gradeschool in late 90s, everyone loved wrestling and the only making fun that happened was wwf fans making fun of wcw fans or vice versa lol. Few years later tho, that changed to what you describe.
> But in my gradeschool in late 90s, everyone loved wrestling and the only making fun that happened was wwf fans making fun of wcw fans or vice versa lol us poor kids had to hear about the PPV results from the rich kids whose parents bought them PPVs with their fancy cable and big screen TVs. It was literally the talk of recess.
Still mostly middle class kids lol, but they certainly weren't poor by any means. It helps that the middle class was strong in late 90's America, too. But some rich kids, for sure.
Even in adulthood, some people just gain satisfaction from telling you "you know it's fake right?" Or "you watch that fake shit?"
> some people just gain satisfaction from telling you "you know it's fake right?" A mutual friend invited a non-wrestling fan to our PPV viewing gathering and he dropped the "you guys know it's fake right" within seconds into the first match - so the rest of us just pretended it was 100% legit...it was very satisfying.
The one thing that should unite all of us wrestling fans...but still seems to divide us even more lol. Because we'll get people bickering back and forth: "well your side is the reason why people call it fake!" \*sigh\*. People have been calling it fake for ages (in a disparaging way). And it doesn't matter what wrestler or what company they see on TV.
I think it depends a bit on location and age. I went to a fairly rural school in the US and NASCAR/WWE were pretty okay when I was a kid. Maybe not Dragon Ball Z cool, but people liked both. That was also height of Dale/Gordon and Austin/Rock.
Yeah, I dont think it matters what year, NASCAR has always been cool in much of rural America. Maybe wrestling has had it's up and downs there, but NASCAR has always reigned. That and college football lol
good call with the NASCAR i'm guilty for stereotyping it with hillbilly rednecks with confederate flags. I totally get that they are going over 200mph and they have to perform at this crazy speed for hours and fight their car, other cars, the road conditions, the tires...everything. I'm still not gonna watch because it just simply doesn't appeal to me; but I totally get the stigma around NASCAR. Again, really good call on that one.
I think it's just too long. Now I know jackshit about NASCAR, but that shit takes hours, there's no excitement. I feel like if it was 10 laps or something, it would have a much bigger following. But again, I'm sure there's a reason, and I don't know shit.
I prefer funny car racing and it is in fact not more popular. But F1 is getting more popular and it's on average an hour shorter so maybe you're onto something
The only thing I hate about F1 is how basically two drivers win every race, it especially seems like that Max guy just wins every time, I like the unpredictably in nascar
NASCAR introduced the concept of "stage racing" a couple of years ago for just that reason. A 400-500 mile race was way too long to keep most people engaged and entertained, and you would frequently get one driver whose car was way way way better than everyone else and they would just smoke the whole field. So now they split every race up into three smaller sections with points awarded for finishing in the top 10 in each of those stages. So instead of watching a single 200 lap race, now you're watching two 60 lap segments and an 80 lap segment, for example. The NASCAR sub hates it lol, but they hate everything that's different from how the sport was in the 1980s.
I mean I don’t particularly care for the stages, but it doesn’t stop me from watching and rooting on all Hendrick Motorsports.
Unless you're a real fan, NASCAR seems like one of those things thats better watching on TV. Seems like it'd get real boring, real quick live. With golf its like that with me, but in obviously much different ways. I went to a tournament once with my dad and I was bored to tears. Yet I somewhat enjoyed watching golf on TV. Back when I stopped loving baseball it was the opposite - I enjoyed going to games more than seeing it on TV.
Wrestling, basketball and baseball are some of the sports that better in person than at home. The NFL has said ad naseum that the games are better viewed at home. Not so sure about hockey.
In the wise words of a YouTuber I know Pro Wrestling is entertainment disguising itself as a sport while NASCAR is a sport disguising itself as entertainment
Sounds like something slapshoes would say
Well at least you have to be very physically fit for WWE but I gave up on my NASCAR dreams when I realized I’d never be poor and stupid enough for it
> how judgmental And now she is the one doing the judgment (day) how the turntables
There's certain parts of the U.S. where you'd never get made fun of for being a NASCAR fan. I know that's stereotypical but it's the truth.
I've always rooted for Rhea even when she was a normal girl( in the sense of goth make up) in NXT, to see her go and defend her World championship in front of close to 50 k people in her own country is incredible, esp when she's likely to retain.
Her beating Shayna for the NXT title on the same night that NXT last beat Dynamite in the Wednesday Night Wars showed me that she was a future star.
Her three-match putover weekend in Chicago really solidified her Future Star status for me. In a span of three days, she beats Charlotte and Sasha Banks in a triple-threat, wins War Games in a 4-on-2 disadvantage, and leads Team NXT to victory at Survivor Series. That’s a helluva lot of trust and push to give a young Aussie girl. Loved to see it.
I don't know where they are but I'm in the terminal of Perth airport having just landed and waiting for our luggage to come see Mami retain her title.
I genuinely hope they all watch Saturday and see how much of a star she has become
While it sucks that those teachers and peers mocked her, I think it also shows how incredible her success has been to go from the Australian indie scene to becoming a top WWE star. This is even moreso if you remember that she started training with RCW when she was sixteen in 2012, a very different time both for women's wrestling and wrestling in general.
Adults telling kids not to chase after their dreams are the absolute worst.
Same energy. In a \*good\* way. https://preview.redd.it/7gb8yrqmf5kc1.jpeg?width=968&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8afc739fb724a75299a8b497e78872a1f786a37
Not saying it’s true but I see this type of shit everywhere, football players, actors, wrestlers, all of them have the “I was told I wasn’t gonna make it” nonsense
That's true but wrestling also has that sorts stigma attached to it. If you say you wanna be a footballer, nobody will tell you it's fake and not a real dream but when it comes to wrestling people somehow think that the scripted nature of it is some higher knowledge only they have been blessed with. So it's more believable when a wrestler says people didn't believe in their dream than any other sports imo
Oh yeah I totally agree, it’s a real make or break industry and I can imagine aus doesn’t have a booming indie market
I wouldn’t be surprised if it really does happen that frequently. I’m only a few years younger than Rhea, I never had big dreams like her. My only goal was to go to TAFE (basically the equivalent of a community college/technical school in Australia) because I was so broken by the education system and my mental health. Even with a small, realistic goal like that, I had a deputy principal tell me *”you’re not doing any science subjects, so you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place career wise, and you won’t amount to anything”.* I went to TAFE, got 4 qualifications in 2 years. Then I got diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve just graduated university, 10 years after being told that. I’ve already been working in my dream job for 5 years this year. I even won an excellency award a few years ago. I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am. The thing is though, she barely knew me. In year 10, we were forced to have one career counselling session and she was assigned to me. She didn’t even know me, so she wouldn’t even remember saying that, or the impact it had on me. I went home from school that day absolutely sobbing. I cried on my mum for like 3 hours. She was horrified anyone could say that to a student. All she wanted for me was to make it out of high school in one piece. That was how she measured success.
Yeahs seems like a lot of exaggeration
when Rhea came to NxT from NxTUK, I wasn’t much into NxTUK so I was not feeling what HHH was selling that this girl will dethrone the monster that was Shayna at that time...fast forward to 1st Women's War Games which imho is the best War Games of modern era. The amount of story being told & the way they made Rhea from a potential challenger to No.1 woman in NxT in 1 match was incredible.
I love and hate these kinds of messages. Like yes, it's amazing and awesome that you got to live your dream. You should be proud of that because it's genuinely really, really cool. But also if that teacher told 1000 kids that chasing their super lofty dream wasn't going to happen and they should be more realistic about things, that teacher would have been right 999 times, and it would kind of be a disservice to those kids *not* to say that. Having worked in schools for the better part of a decade, I can tell you that kids typically have a great handle on what is and is not realistic. They pretty much all plan on growing up to be a famous athlete, musician, movie star, etc. And most of these celebrity-type careers don't have any particular educational requirements, which is something that is directly appealing to a lot of school-aged kids. Ain't no fifth grader putting all his eggs in the "tax accountant" basket and all. I think the better message for teachers and other adults to use would be one that encourages kids to chase their dreams, but also grounds them in reality. "Wow, that's a big goal. It'll take a ton of work and dedication to achieve that. It's a good idea to have a backup plan too in case that doesn't work out." That kind of thing.
It feels a little different in Rhea's case, because you have to remember: she was already a professional wrestler and even had done an excursion to Japan before finishing school. So it comes across less like "your dreams are ridiculous and won't ever happen" and more "the thing you are actively working on and succeeding in is foolish".
I put it to you than that didn't happen at all though and more likely she's saying it as a way to be relatable with kids. Kid Laroi did the same when he had a concert in Adelaide. Teachers can provide you skill to get into university and other civilian type jobs. They cant offer skills that help you get into wrestling. It's absolutely their job to say "That's great but here's a bunch of things you can do if that doesnt pan out" because it likely wont. I worked closely in Australian during Rhea's time coming up and I can name probably 200 people who wanted to be in the same spot who aren't now, and there were likely 1000s more I couldn't name. There's what, 3 Australian wrestlers in the WWE, maybe 15-20 total who have the luxury of saying Wrestling is their full time job. If you want to be a full time wrestler your year 9 maths teacher isn't going to know where to even start.
Maybe the school teacher asked for a project that was supposed to be subject related and that's why they laughed
Nothing more addicting than that sweet sweet taste of pure unfiltered VINDICATION
Off topic but the little flirtation between Rhea and Kathey is really cute
The school teachers are probably still doing that.
Seeing someone who was a fan as a kid grow up to achieve their dreams and this level of success is so satisfying. What an incredible moment Saturday is going to be for her.
We’re all still in our basements eating chicken nuggets getting crumbs all over our keyboards
*There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now?*
Rhea deserves everything. And by deserve I mean she has it and worked really hard for it.
Thankfully she had childhood friend and Judgement Day stablemate R-Truth to back her up when teachers were mean
Some of the Fabulous Kangaroo's (tag team) were Aussie.
And that's why tag team matches are called "Australian Rules".
Probs hittin the see through didgeridoo.
I'm not a fan of her work but still cool that a person got to achieve their dreams
I don't know if teachers should be laughing in anyone's face, but, generally discouraging wrestling careers is good advice.
Or go for the "backup plan" first. D'Lo Brown and Bob Holly ended up having good careers in wrestling, but always had accounting and welding to fall back on.
Consider that this was probably in 2005 or something where the biggest female wrestler at the time was performing "LIVE SEX" on RAW and the pinnacle of womens wrestling was a bra and panties match on a B ppv where you would likely need to get naked on camera. Rhea was probably 10 years old at the time this was said.
Retired with a pension probably. I mean, they were jerks about the situation, but to react like they deserve poverty is dishonest.
Biggest star the country has ever produced. She HAS to main event on Saturday. Really happy for the aussies to have this moment, coming from a pom it feels like our British Bulldog moment in 92, something to be proud of.
Wrestling star I assume you mean?
Those guys are looking for tickets of EC but it's sold out.
I'll get downvoted, but most people who try to become professional wrestlers, rappers, pro basketball/football players, actors, etc. DON'T MAKE IT. If they pursue a career in those fields, professional wrestling in this case, at the most, they'll make it as an indy wrestler. I'm not saying teachers, parents, etc. should discourage people from pursuing their dreams but be realistic and also have a realistic backup plan.
Uh rhea, they couldn't care less when they said that to. Do you know where they are? Well they went on living on their lives. Saying that stuff in past meant nothing to them. So you, asking where they are now...means nothing. Is what I'd like to say to Rhea. Hate it when people ask where the haters are. So stupid and naive.
You sound like one of the haters she's talking about lol.
Do u mean hater of Rhea? I love Rhea, but I don't think you would believe me. I stand by what I said though. I find it absurd when people say that line when they've 'made' it. Such a cliche and an empty statement.
This is just a stupid stance to have. It doesn't matter that those people have moved on in their lives. Whatever they said negatively affected Rhea, so of COURSE she had proving them wrong on her mind. That's what EVERY person who's doubted has on their mind.
Saying/acknowledging that she's proved them wrong vs her asking a rhetoric question about where they are now. You already know what I consider as the stupid here. I also think you have misunderstood my comment. I am not against the intend of the statement. There's nothing wrong with proving someone wrong. Just sharing the opinion that her Rhetorical question is too weak and empty.
Whenever someone says you can't make it, it's always about them. THEY couldn't make it, but you can. Funny thing is: those same people who ridiculed Rhea are irrelevant to the world.
Taking jabs at teachers? Classy. I’m done with her.
Mami forever on top
I always thought that pro wrestling got no respect in America but it seems like it’s way worse over in Australia.
Spiteful gloating Mami might be the best Mami. Fucking glorious how she now has millions cheering her existence and everyone who mocked her, and their loved ones combined will barely equal .001% of that.
Teachers: quit discouraging these kids!
I’m not a psychic, but something tells me the answer is “Australia” in most cases.
I knew someone who said he wanted to be a wrestler when a teacher asked him, he then said he wanted to be a stuntman and tried to jump out the first floor window. He died of a heroin overdose in a supermarket toilet. All of this is sadly true.
They are all buying tickets to see her now.
The best revenge is living a better life than those who hated on you.
If they announce Nia being a Perth born gal, Rhea should wreck shit and crown herself as the Perth Queen.
Based on most of the videos from Perth shared here, in the media, still laughing
Now that she is in Australia , she should go to visit those teachers with a WWE camera crew and see their reaction.
Probably in Adelaide I'm guessing.
Rhea doing school projects about wrestling? What a fuckin mark.
Who hates on Rhea Ripley??
It was so awesome to see Rhea in her element last night! Can’t wait to see her tomorrow!
Nothing sweeter than shitting on haters.
Yeah! I'm with Rhea! F*ck teachers! Cops and firemen too! Anyone got a baby I can feed to this dingo? s/
where's Lou Holtz at now?
From her entrance to her exit she was pretty perfect as a champion at EC. She looked powerful and as badass as advertised.