#i love stories about mentors and proteges! i think they're great and i think wrestling is a great medium to tell those stories

[busaikuknee]

hmmmm

#this is me working through my thoughts so please don't take this as any kind of thesis or declaration #but watching this week's roh taping back #i've been thinking about the number of narratives about young talent and mentors in the wrestling i consume atm #i love stories about mentors and proteges! i think they're great and i think wrestling is a great medium to tell those stories #but i feel that a lot of the ones i'm seeing rn sort of impede the younger talents' ability to stand on their own #like a lot of yuta's recent promos have been “i'm in the same faction as three cool guys you already like!” #and i like the blackpool combat club! but that's not why i like wheeler yuta. #i like wheeler yuta because of his tenacity and willingness to overcome and ability to get a little silly with it on an occasion #the ties to the rest of his stable are important but i feel like only focusing on them is a detriment #sell me on the new guy. you don't need to sell me on three legends. #feel kind of the same way about umino rn but he's still only come back from excursion recently. there's still time to build stuff up #i think that's why i've liked the stuff going on with narita recently? #like his whole thing might be Being Shibata 2.0 #but his current narrative has been about contending with the weight and potential consequences of taking that mantle #idk. it's good to have ties to other wrestlers and the history of your promotion but that can't be your whole character #who are you in isolation? what do you value? what do you crave? what can't you let yourself have?