Writer. Author of the pro wrestling thriller "How to Ace Your Comeback." He/Him or They/Them. Avatar by Scott Pendergraft.
David Gibb’s Journalist Portfolio
View as a gridThe Wrasslin' Essay: WWE Shows No Mercy | Wrestledelphia
wrestledelphia.com
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WWE No Mercy was positioned to establish precedents. As just the second Smackdown-specific show of the new era, Sunday evening should have been a night of barn burning action and wild emotional swings. No Mercy should have typified the "anything can happen in the WWE" mantra and set a standard for future co-branded shows to follow.
The Wrasslin' Essay: The Brian Kendrick Komeback | Wrestledelphia
wrestledelphia.com
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With the second round of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic half complete, one name already destined for Round Three stands out: Brian Kendrick. After Tajiri's loss to Gran Metalik, it felt like the gold watches had been handed out and it was time for the honorees to get off the stage so people could eat.
The Phenomenal Finish Solidifies AJ Styles As A Heel
wrestledelphia.com
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It's the summer of 2016, and all human beings live in a world where AJ Styles has beaten John Cena in the middle of a WWE ring. The scale of Styles' first major victory since his arrival at the Royal Rumble makes for huge headlines on its own merit, but many fans are still clamoring over the circumstances of The Phenomenal One's win.
The Wrasslin' Essay: The McMahon Family Circus | Wrestledelphia
www.wrestledelphia.com
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With WrestleMania 32 a month away, WWE has their three top matches seemingly set in stone. Roman Reigns will challenge Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Dean Ambrose will face Brock Lesnar in a Street Fight, and Shane McMahon will take on the Undertaker in Hell in a Cell for control of the WWE. While all six of those names have some juice behind them, the biggest WrestleMania of all time is not set up to be anything more than a commercial success.
The Wrasslin' Essay: The Rumble & The Title | Wrestledelphia
www.wrestledelphia.com
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Even as their industry has drastically shrunk in size and popularity over the past fifteen years, the WWE has succeeded in turning the so-called "WrestleMania season" of late January to early April into a reliable boom time for fan engagement, mainstream media coverage, and profitability. This year, as the company careens into the final build for what they have already promised as the biggest, best-attended WrestleMania of all time, the question looms large over the next week: Can the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the Royal Rumble save each other in time to make this 'Mania season something memorable.
The Wrasslin' Essay: Simple Pictures Are Best | Wrestledelphia
www.wrestledelphia.com
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The prolific children's author Nancy Willard masterfully taught her readers one of wrestling's most important lessons in her 1977 story Simple Pictures are Best. The book tells the story of an elderly couple who decide to have a portrait made in celebration of their anniversary. The wise but meek photographer who comes to their house to take the picture repeatedly advises them that "simple pictures are best," but the husband and wife insist on including everything from pets to musical instruments to prize-winning vegetables in the portrait.
Bad Things are Bad: What Bob's Burgers Can Teach Us About WWE (Part 2)
500onwrestling.com
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In the opening moments of "World Wharf II: The Wharfening," Bob Belcher finds himself a babyface in peril. Due to a moment of personal weakness and ambitious greed, our typically upright hero fell in with the wrong crowd, and as a result, faces a literally rising tide that threatens to drown him. During Bob's dark night of the soul, his flip phone, the perfect metaphor for the lack of professional notoriety and financial success he finds so irksome, becomes the principal prop in his struggle to survive.
Nice Things are Nice: What Bob's Burgers Can Teach Us About WWE (Part 1)
500onwrestling.com
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Static characters are the enemies of storytelling. If nobody ever changes, then nothing of consequence can occur in a narrative no matter how many things "happen" in the plot. Herein lies one of the main flaws of WWE storytelling in the twenty-first century. New acts are introduced, given an initial push to establish who they are and what they stand for, and then they simply continue being that person for seemingly ever. The first half of the two-part fourth season finale of Bob's Burgers ("Wharf Horse") displays exactly how a show in a genre built on well-established characters can still present dynamic, character-driven stories.
Is Wrestling ___?: LeBron James
theclassical.org
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After the Game 5 loss that put his opponents on the hill to win the NBA Championship, LeBron James matter-of-factly told the media, "I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world." Generally, people who say things like, "I make a lot of money," or "I look fantastic naked" are met with universal scorn because, well, it's rude and socially aggressive. For King James, however, it seems less clear-cut as to whether we should see him as a blowhard spouting self-aggrandizing garbage in the face of a loss or a proud leader with his back to the wall, trying to exude confidence.
Is Wrestling _______ ?: Goldeneye
juicemakesugar.com
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While July 4th is obviously an American holiday, the underpinnings of it - nationalism bordering on jingoism, alcohol and explosions - have long been embodied best by, ironically, a British man: James Bond. And for anyone whose ever been to a wrestling show, especially in the WWE, you're very aware of the importance those three things have in the world of sports entertainment. For over sixty years in print and fifty on screen, he's been one of the top box office performers in the entertainment world in a run to which even Hulk Hogan can't hold a candle.