My husband and I recently finished watching New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom (Japanese wrestling's version of the World Series).   Of course, it was incredible with fantastic matches, and far superior than any US promotion.

I also went nuts over the entrances.  

The entrances are my favorite parts.  Impressive wrestling aside, the entrances, costumes, and music touch my theater side.  I've worked as a theater producer, dramaturg, director, playwright, costume designer, and probably many other things I don't remember.  I adore the pageantry, the flaunting magnanimity, and the genius certain wrestlers have with their look and characters.  Some know how to communicate their characters using only their body.  Others have some of the most ornate costumes I've ever seen, some worthy of the Met Gala red carpet.  

My husband suggested I throw a letter in a bottle into the internet offering my services to be a Wrestling Artistic Consultant.  Of course, why pick me to help, other than I'm free (for the moment)?

I know what I'm talking about.

​So let's talk about who I like, why I like them, and what flaws I feel they have:

This some impressive acting talent.  His very expressive face tells us everything we need to know about Pete Dunne.  He says he likes to hurt people.  We don't doubt him.  Even when he says it calmly, we believe it even more.  He isn't out of control; he isn't a beast.  He's a high functioning psychopath, and that's the most frightening person he could be.

Dunne carries all his belts like animals he's killed with his bare hands.  He even carries them in his mouth, again, like an animal with a trophy. 

​Even his outfit constructs his character.  He was a very basic wrestling outfit, and a sleeveless vest that looks like he stitched it together with animal skins.  When he makes occasional appearances on NXT in normal dress, he wears well tailored outfits, suits or vests with ties.  He looks civilized and sexy in a primitive way.  He's like a thug from a 1940s film noir who would slap around his mistress for giving him sass.  And though I find abuse of women nauseating, there's something hot about this fantasy.

His attitude is never snotty; he simply doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks or does.  He never screams about being disrespected because, well, everyone respects him.  He insists upon it.  

Dunne doesn't need to say or do much to convey all of this: watch him in the ring, watch him walk down the entrance way, watch him look someone up and down.  This kind of talent is extremely difficult to have.  Having such a fully developed character such as Pete Dunne has, and at such a young age, is impressive.

And, of course, he's amazing in the ring.  He's young and has more talent and charisma than wrestlers who have been doing this ten years longer than him (and he's been doing this since he was 12).  In ten years, he could be running the wrestling world.  

I first experienced him, truly experienced him in full character mode, during the WWE UK Classic.  The WWE classics are all great wrestling, but the UK Classic is tight, well structured, and the wrestlers are fun as fuck.  And of course you get Pete Dunne.  Below is the final match in the classic between Dunne and Tyler Bate, who in his own right is dazzling.  

One of the greatest pleasures I have watching wrestling are the entrances.  In Wrestlemania, the entrances are bigger, grander, full of pyrotechnics and costumes that are beyond the scope of every day episodes of RAW or Smackdown.  In New Japan Pro Wrestling, the G1 Climax or Wrestlekingdom are the great events which inspire the best, most gorgeous outfits and regal entrances.  As for Lucha Underground, it seems as if every day is a day for pagentry, as the lucha style of wrestling is full of color and high drama.  And all of it is delicious.  

Below is a brief collection of my favorite wrestlers and their gorgeous pageantry.  There are many more I could have added, such as Sasha Banks, Bailey, The New Day, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, and Becky Lynch.  The list does go on and on.  These few are the ones I especially love.

I mention Balor first not because of his 0% body fat physique, but because of the body paint.  I've worked with body paint in theater productions, and it is extremely time consuming and always on the verge of being rubbed or sweated off.  What Balor and his artist achieve is continually stunning.  Yes, most of the paint gets rubbed off on wrestlers, but it works with the character.  Balor enters as the demon, a force that he taps into like a superpower.  At the end of the match, the demon has been exorcised, almost washed clean away, and once again he's Finn Balor.