Putting Wrestling Comics In A Headlock—An Interview With Writer/Creator Michael Kingston

LARGER-THAN-LIFE CHARACTERS? CHECK! A fantasy world where anything can happen? Check! Large men in spandex? Check and check! I could, of course, be talking about professional wrestling, but just as easily also be talking about certain genres of comic books. Quite frankly, these two worlds have so much in common that it’s amazing there hasn’t been more extensive overlap between the two.

Enter Michael Kingston, creator of Headlocked: the comic meshing these two worlds together so well that your favorite wrestling stars are lining up to get involved. With Headlocked and its spinoff series, Tales From The Road, Michael has collaborated with over 40 wrestlers who share his passion for telling stories through this unique art form. PWI recently caught up with Mike to discuss all things wrestling and comics.

PWI: Where did the idea for Headlocked come from?

MK: I was a wrestling fan since the very first Saturday Night’s Main Event. George “The Animal” Steele hooked me as I was flipping through the channels, and I had never seen anything like it. That was my entry point, and I’ve watched wrestling every day since. [Growing up] I loved wrestling, loved comics, and I’d buy all the wrestling comics but … I just felt that they weren’t written for wrestling fans. So, I always thought there would be a market for a book like Headlocked. I took my idea to comic book companies, and I got laughed out of every room I went into. Literally! One guy actually laughed in my face. So, I decided to make the book myself. I worked two jobs for a year to make enough money for my first print run. And then I took it on the road, selling it out of a backpack at wrestling shows. As I started going to bigger conventions, I would meet wrestlers who liked what I was doing, and they helped support it. From there, I hooked up with Jerry Lawler, who does the covers for my books, and it just sort of spiraled from there.

PWI: Do you think there are similarities between trying to make it in the wrestling business and trying to make it in the comic book business?

MK: There are so many similarities between both in terms of what they are as art forms and businesses. A lot of the support structure that surrounds wrestling and comic books comes from the fans. They’re both kind of dominated by a singular aesthetic. When you talk to people about wrestling, they tend to think of WWE. And, when they think of comics, it’s superheroes. Then, obviously, you have colorful characters, the battle between good and evil … the sort of joke is, comics are like 2-D wrestling, and that’s why I found it strange to meet so much resistance early on. But I think the themes of breaking into these businesses are there. The emotional rollercoaster I had breaking into the comic business is the same as an independent wrestler has breaking into wrestling. The physical part is different, is all. Hopefully, I don’t have to fall off a ladder to make a comic!

PWI: You have collaborated with a lot of wrestlers so far, and I think it’s clear this is what sets Headlocked apart from previous wrestling comics. How important was this element to the success of the series?

MK: It’s my favorite thing to do. And the stories we tell are entertaining, but they are also important to the talent. The story I did with The Hurricane for Volume 1 of Tales From The Road, [at the time] he was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for an MRI on his neck, not knowing if his career was over. So, the story we ended up telling was very powerful, and it’s even more powerful when you understand the circumstances behind it. If you give people something they’re excited to work with, you can tell the difference. Everything we make is made with love and passion, and I want people to experience that.

PWI: Wrestlers are obviously creative people, but this is a different way for them to tell stories. What’s the creative process like for you putting a story together with them?

MK: It’s different for everybody. Mick Foley wrote me a prose story. The Iinspiration and I had a Zoom call, and we talked out the story and had an email chain providing input. But, once we get a concept and the story beats, I’ll write it and send it to the talent. And we’ll work on it until we have something we’re happy with. But it takes on many different forms.

PWI: Has anyone surprised you with their creativity?

MK: I keep talking about The Iinspiration story just because it’s fresh in my mind. But we had it a certain way, and they suggested a different type of character for the “Heavy” in the story. My initial thought was that it was never going to work, but then it did work, and it actually changed the story into something else entirely. There’s always that moment where everything clicks, and I never in a million years would have pushed it in that direction. But their suggestion was what made that story what it was. Wrestlers are all storytellers. It’s who they are at their core. The ones that really do surprise me are the artists. Obviously, Jerry Lawler does the covers, but we’ve had Fred Ottman, Sinn Bodhi, Ken Anderson. Tony Atlas did a piece of art for us. He does pointillism, which, to me, is amazing to imagine this giant dude hunched over a desk. It’s cool to me because Headlocked has always been about showcasing wrestling as an artform. So, to showcase wrestlers who are artists is the coolest thing to me.

PWI: Any dream collaborations?

MK: Xavier Woods, Paul Heyman, Carmella … I think Carmella is fascinating, creatively, because she makes every gimmick work but never loses sight of who she is. And that’s a real gift that she doesn’t get enough credit for. Zelina Vega … there’s so many. I always say that wherever there is a ring and a payday, there’s a story. I’d love to get to a point where we are big enough to tell stories from less well-known people, because some of the most famous people may not have as many interesting stories that people on the fringes might have to tell. The Boogeyman! I think he’s fascinating. He’s such a unique personality, and I’d love to collaborate with him.

PWI: What does the future hold for Headlocked?

MK: I’ve got Volume 5 of the main Headlocked series in production, and it’s the wildest one yet. I can’t wait for people to read it. Not one person is going to imagine [that it goes the way] it goes. We will still be putting out our Tales From The Road series. And, by June, I’ll have enough content for Volume 4. We are currently only on Volume 2, so we have a lot of stuff still to put out. I’m hoping to do more stuff with Brian Myers and Matt Cardona in the Fig Story vein. I have a million ideas for that. And, in the first volume of Tales From The Road, I collaborated with Gangrel on a story about a guy who trains Bigfoot to wrestle. We’d like to spin that out into a series. I don’t ever see a scenario where I will run out of things to write. So, as long as people keep supporting us, we’ll keep making stuff.

Follow Headlocked Comics on Twitter

“I WILL NEVER RETIRE!” – After Shocking The Entire Chicago Indie Scene, Pat Monix Gives An Exclusive Interview To Pro Wrestling Illustrated About His Recent Faux-Curtain Call

“CARD SUBJECT TO change.”

It’s a common phrase in pro wrestling—one used to make fans aware, in advance, that matches advertised might not go on. While, in the past, it’s often been employed as a bait-and-switch tactic, nowadays, it’s more frequently evoked as a result of travel issues, scheduling conflicts, or injury. 

Or, in the case of Project (Pat) MONIX, a “retirement” that wasn’t.

Monix, the focus of PWI’s most recent “On The Indies” column and Chicagoland indie mainstay, announced that his October 23 Freelance Underground match—initially scheduled to be against Kylie Rae—would be the last of his career. Kylie had to pull out of said bout to take care of her health and well-being, but that’s not the only thing that was “subject to change” about Monix’s alleged Final Phase. 

Freelance Underground’s Final Phase event opened with then-champion GPA’s open challenge, answered by rising star Calvin Tankman. Tankman dispatched GPA quickly, winning the title, and issued a challenge of his own. Monix chose to answer it, leading to the night’s main event.

And, while Monix did not come out victorious, Freelance brass chose to honor him after the match by giving him the original Freelance Underground championship belt—a sort of gold-watch-gift-for-retirement nod to Monix’s contributions to the company and to Chicago indie wrestling. However, Monix played everyone—Freelance Underground, the crowd (who had showered him with streamers ahead of his bout with Tankman), and even PWI— and went on the attack, both physically and on the mic.

There would be no retirement, but, rather, a rebirth. The “Final Phase” was instead the first step into a new persona for Monix, who has now declared himself the “Freelance Undisputed Champion,” compared himself to God, and decided that “six years following the rules, 18 months of [injury] rehab, and one night” was all it took to create this shocking transformation.

https://twitter.com/ProjectMonix/status/1453021463204798473?s=20

In light of Monix (in his own words) “working” PWI, we have secured the supposedly final follow-up interview with the self-styled Freelance Undisputed champion. His comments follow and have only been edited for length and clarity.

On his decision to, essentially, play the long-con:

“In professional wrestling, the card is always subject to change. And this, quote, unquote, ‘closure tour,’ every single match that I was booked for, one way or another, was changed. This was a reminder that pro wrestling works this way. And, for a long time, I let pro wrestling work me. When I took a step away, and decided to take the step back in, I decided that I was going to work wrestling. So, when these changes took place, I was ready. I was prepared. And it didn’t faze me one bit.

“When you’re someone who gives their all to this, and you’re someone who does all the right things, and you’re someone who plays the game, it constantly plays you. There’s a breaking point. And I hit that breaking point mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. And I didn’t love wrestling anymore. And it was hard. It was a hard pill to swallow. Because it wasn’t my fault. I did everything right. I showed up. I worked hard, I followed the rules. And that’s just not how wrestling works. Wrestling will take from everyone over and over and over again. And I simply made a decision in my mind that I was never going to let that happen again. I’m doing this how I want to do it. I’m doing it on my own terms.”

On Monix’s match against Calvin Tankman and its aftermath:

“As far as wrestling Calvin Tankman in the main event, you know, going into a match like that, that this is a tall task. This is one of the most dominant wrestlers on the independent scene. So, going into that match, yeah, I had every intention to upset him, and beat him, and go out on top with that championship. But I had a feeling that even if I came up short, fans were going to react the way they did. I had a feeling the fans would react that way if I won, as well. 

“So I already knew, win, lose, draw, going into that match, what it meant for me, and what I was going to do going forward when I was in the ring. And I was handed a token of appreciation, the original Freelance Underground championship belt. And the crowd reacting as if it was a gift and award and not what it actually was—a consolation prize—that was just the cherry on top. That was the validation of my own thinking that these fans don’t understand what it’s like to be in my shoes. They’ve never laced my boots up. And most of the people in wrestling hadn’t walked a day in my life. 

“Someone in the tier of wrestlers that I’m in, if you’re an elite talent, and you have an elite work ethic, and you fully commit yourself to this industry, you’re in a very, very small group of people. And that doesn’t always get rewarded. So, when this crowd looks at a situation like that. Getting streamers, and getting applause, and seeing that people emotionally care about you—seeing people literally crying in the crowd, lots of people literally crying in the crowd—and then you get a consolation prize, you get a token of appreciation. All these people think that’s something that you’re going to be happy about. That was the moment I realized that I was right about, ‘I understand how wrestling works.’ “

Monix, on who he is, where he’s at, and moving forward:

“I feel mentally, at a point in wrestling, where I’m a mastermind, I feel physically at a point in wrestling, where I’m gonna have the best match on any show. And I feel emotionally about wrestling, that wrestling can’t touch me. And I feel spiritually about wrestling, completely ascended. 

“So, when I had the microphone, and I had the championship over my shoulder, the crowd was cheering, crying, smacking, banging on the mat, I had every single person in there doing all the moves that I had intended. It was a checkmate. In that moment, I knew everything going forward is mine, it’s on my terms. And no one can touch me. And, when said the things I said, after all that, they proved me right. Again, because then these people decided to cheer me.

“When I look at wrestling, and I look at the people that I was trying to appease, I was never going to win them over by playing fair, playing clean, following the rules. Everything you’re going to see going forward is going to be on a whole different level. The Final Phase, that wasn’t a show, that wasn’t a match. The Final Phase is infinite, the Final Phase is forever; The Final Phase every single day going forward for Project MONIX is that mentality of living on your own terms. Being at the top will never end. And that is what the Final Phase was, is, and always will be—as long as Project MONIX wrestles, which will be forever.”

As far as that original Freelance Underground title belt, which Monix initially referred to as a “consolation prize,” it appears he now has a new perspective. After all, he is calling himself the “Undisputed” Freelance champion. 

“I’m the Freelance Undisputed champion, because I did something that no one in Freelance Wrestling would ever be able to do, has ever done, or will ever do. I am the Freelance Undisputed champion; I was gifted a championship because I performed and existed on a level that, in Chicago wrestling, has not been touched, has not been matched, has not been seen. 

“That championship being handed to me in the moment may have been perceived as something different by the people in the building, and may have been perceived a certain way by myself, and then perceived a certain way by the management handing it to me going forward. It represents the best wrestler in Chicago. It represents anything I want it to be, whether it’s Freelance Wrestling, whether it’s Freelance Underground. Anyone who wants to wrestle me, that title is going to be on the line. But it’s my title, it’s my championship. And I’m never going to lose it.

“Project MONIX is the Freelance Undisputed champion. The booker, the promoter, the people in charge, they don’t get to pick who the champion is anymore. Because I picked, I made a decision that I was going to do something special in a world where nothing special is happening. Anyone who was there that night knows that it’s fact. Anyone who watched the stream knows that it’s fact. Anyone who reads this PWI article knows this as fact. Anyone who is in professional wrestling, right now, whether they want to admit it, whether they’re on the independent circuit, or AEW, or WWE. They know it, too.”

Subject to change, indeed.

ALTERNATE PWI “500” COVER: Lulu Pencil

While our December 2021 PWI “500” issue is already printed, we were recently given an interesting suggestion by indie powerhouse Parrow:

Who is number 500 on @OfficialPWI I want them to have their own alternative cover!

— Parrow (@Parrow_) September 8, 2021

Parrow suggested that the 500th best wrestler in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s celebrated annual ranking be given their very own cover variant. And, honestly? This sounded like a terrific and fun idea—especially because this year’s #500 is joshi cult favorite (and fellow journalist) Lulu Pencil.

After we suggested this might work, the “Pencil Army” was out in full force, calling for us to make Parrow’s wild idea a reality. And, with the help of Gatoh Move (and Baliyan Akki in particular), we did.

Our thanks to Akki, Gatoh Move, and the many ChocoPro fans who wanted this. Who knows? Maybe it’ll become an annual tradition. Click the enlarged image below to download a full PDF version, suitable for printing and attaching to your print copy of the December 2021 issue.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF COVER

A Brand New Era: WHAT’S N(E)XT FOR WWE ON TUESDAY NIGHTS?

WHEN VINCE McMAHON paid a visit to the Capitol Wrestling Center earlier this summer, there were those who met the news with curious contemplation … and others who met it with downright dread. Many believed that the Chairman’s presence in Orlando on a “scouting mission” meant that change was afoot for the yellow-and-black brand. And, in the coming weeks, that proved to be decidedly so. A rash of NXT talent was released not long after this, accompanied by rumors that McMahon and his inner circle (that includes John Laurinaitis, Bruce Prichard, and WWE President Nick Khan) had decided that it was time for NXT to change the way it was doing business.

In recent years, WWE’s third brand had become the place where hardcore fans could go to get their fix of a more streamlined WWE product—one that featured great action, fresh characters, and simple storytelling. So confident were WWE brass in the NXT product’s appeal that they decided to move the weekly NXT show from the WWE Network to the USA Network and go head to head with the debuting AEW Dynamite. The theory behind this was that the mix of the WWE name and the style of product that NXT offered would be enough to steer hardcore and casual fans away from AEW programming. This theory proved disastrously wrong.

Enough has already been written in PWI and elsewhere about the Wednesday night ratings war that it doesn’t need to be repeated here. But, simply put, WWE lost. It turned out that given the choice between an alternative WWE product or a totally alternative product from someone else, wrestling fans went with the new company. As a result, WWE quietly moved NXT to Tuesday nights and surrendered Wednesdays to the All Elite upstarts.

• 

In the aftermath of this, WWE downplayed any real significance of the move—or, indeed, the ratings loss—but, for a man who gets angry when a sneeze gets the better of him, you can be sure that Vince McMahon did not take kindly to the defeat.

As the creative driving force behind NXT, Triple H had built the brand on delivering a product that paid homage to the past, but also very much looked towards the future. It could be said that without his direction, many of the top independent and international names who found their way to Orlando would not have had the chance to do so otherwise. As the summer of 2021 rolled around, however, the word coming out of Stamford was that those same indie and foreign talents who Triple H signed (and the creative direction that pushed them), would be forced to take the blame for NXT’s poor performance on Wednesday nights.

Fast forward to SummerSlam weekend and an interview conducted by Ariel Helwani for BT Sport. In the interview, Nick Khan confirmed that changes would indeed be coming to NXT, and would begin to appear within a matter of weeks. These changes, Khan explained, would pretty much amount to a full reboot of the brand, alongside a change in the types of wrestlers that NXT has typically been hiring. Out with the more traditional “Indie guys” and in with younger and taller talent who can be molded into the WWE archetype.

So, what does all of this mean for NXT as we know it? In all truth, probably a massive shift. Much of NXT’s appeal has always been that it was different than its older siblings, Raw and Smackdown. To stray too far from this could prove to be a fatal decision.

Or it could be an inspired one that will freshen up a product that had grown a little stale. Takeover 36, held the night after SummerSlam, felt like a swan song for the brand in some ways. But only time will tell if it leads to bigger and better things. One thing you can be sure of, though: With roots now firmly planted in McMahon-land, change is coming. And we all wait to see what’s N(e)XT.

For more on the potential changes coming to NXT, check out the latest episode of The PWI Podcast with Al Castle and Brian R. Solomon.

What’s The Deal With The Weekly Ratings? — PWI’s Weekly and Monthly Top 10 Lists Explained

• 

FOR ABOUT AS long as we’ve been compiling weekly and monthly wrestling ratings—online and in our magazines—we’ve been asked about the criteria used for determining them. How do we narrow each roster down to a top 10? And, for that matter, how do we choose who ranks in the overall categories?

As with our annual rankings, such as the PWI “500,” the individual rankings are primarily based on what goes on between bells and between the ropes. Per our official ratings page:

Criteria for ranking includes championships held/defended, win-loss record, push, and technical ability.

Some of those criteria are clearer than others. Championships held and defended, as well as wins and losses, are objective metrics. Push is a little more squishy and subjective, as what constitutes a push (or momentum, influence, etc.) will vary from promotion to promotion. Technical ability is another pretty tenuous way to evaluate a wrestler, even if there’s a general consensus about what solid move execution might look like. And, as we know, this is not always the case.

Evaluation becomes even trickier when comparing wrestlers from across promotions, as we do with our top three categories (Heavyweight, Women’s, and Tag Team rankings). That’s a big part of why we have a weekly and monthly ratings committee, along with a team tasked with putting together our triad of annual rankings.

When people ask how we compile the PWI “500,” I like to tell them that we’re using objective metrics, but evaluating those metrics as subjective human beings. Yes, we’ll look closely at win/loss records and lengths of championship reigns. But we’re not running some formulas through a computer programmed to spit out the list. Instead, we try to take into account the meaning behind the numbers—what they represented within a promotion and the industry at large. Randy Orton may have a poorer win-loss record than his AEW equivalent, but he may have main-evented more shows, faced tougher competition, and put on better matches.

Historically, we placed a great deal of weight on WWE’s place at the mountaintop. And, to some degree, we still do. The company is the industry leader throughout the world, and it will likely continue to be for quite some time. But, as a publication that has always viewed wrestling as a sport, we’ve also noted some changes in how it’s being presented. We’ve even expanded our definition of what constitutes a world championship.

The COVID-19 pandemic has leveled the playing field somewhat in that regard, making it so that WWE talent didn’t automatically wrestle dozens more matches (especially televised ones) than any other American talent. Additionally, streaming services like IWTV and WRESTLE UNIVERSE have greatly expanded the influence of independent and international pro wrestling. These changes are all reflected in our ratings.

All of these things are taken into consideration with our weekly and monthly ratings. After all, the “500,” “Women’s 100,” and “Tag Team 50” are, essentially, annual extensions of those regularly updated top 10 lists.

One fairly recent change to our rankings is the blurring and blending of gender lines. Previously, women would only appear on the overall Women’s Top 10 list. In more recent years, women have crossed those imaginary lines and thrived. Some have won heavyweight titles traditionally associated with men. Meanwhile, women’s tag team wrestling has become far more prominent, between WWE’s introduction of multiple tag championships, the revival of the Knockouts tag team belts, and the efforts of promotions like Japan’s World Wonder Ring Stardom.

As those wrestlers have thrived, PWI has tried to recognize their efforts. The “500” is once again open to women who compete in intergender matches, and our tag team rankings are no longer segregated by gender. Since opportunities for women are still fewer, we’ve opted to continue with our overall Women’s rankings, with the caveat that they focus more on women’s divisions and promotions than on any intergender competition.

Is this a perfect system? Surely not. And it’ll likely continue to evolve as the old ways do. In the unlikely event that promotions like WWE, AEW, New Japan, and Lucha Libre AAA get rid of gender distinctions, we would almost certainly follow suit. Until then, we’re doing our best to reflect the current state of the industry.

To that end, we’ve continued to grow our weekly and monthly ratings by adding new categories. For example, we list the top 10 contenders to the IWTV Independent Wrestling World title and have recently added an official countrywide ranking for Australia. If you have any suggestions for our ratings page, feel free to drop me a line at pwi@kappapublishing.com.

“Punk Appears Or We Riot” (Metaphorically)

LOOK … CLICKBAIT HEADLINES aside, I’m not suggesting that fans will actually riot at a wrestling show in the year 2021. But the hype surrounding this Friday’s edition of Rampage—the follow-up to last week’s celebrated series premiere—has officially reached a boil. And, much as I don’t expect actual, physical unrest at the venue, All Elite Wrestling had better deliver what fans expect, or the company is going to have one upset fanbase on its hands.

Let’s take a look at the facts, shall we? The show is in CM Punk’s hometown of Chicago. The United Center holds 23,500. That’s an awfully big venue for a one-hour show in which nothing of note happens. And the fact that so much hype surrounded the announcement of the live event is another tip in the direction that the rumors are, in fact, true.

If Punk shows up on Rampage, this will be his first official wrestling appearance since his 2014 WWE departure. Even at his most popular, the former world champion was not everyone’s cup of tea. But, for the thousands of fans who still chant his name at WWE live events, his returning to the ring would be a very big deal.

Of course, AEW hasn’t merely let fans quietly speculate about Punk’s rumored return. Instead, the company has doused gasoline all over the proverbial fire. The most obvious example has to be Darby Allin’s on-air willingness to fight “The Best In The World.” But there have been other hints.

It’s safe to say that more than a few fans purchased tickets for Rampage who may not otherwise have done so. Add to that the countless wrestling enthusiasts planning to stay in this Friday night to catch the second episode of AEW’s second cable series live, as it airs. Suffice to say, those folks wouldn’t take kindly to all this hype being for naught. The goodwill that has been earned through a particularly strong stretch of programming—one that saw Dynamite averaging more than one million viewers per week—could easily be squandered.

In other words, if Punk doesn’t show up this Friday night, the company had better have something else in store, whether that’s a major title change, a huge storyline development, or another game-changing debut (Daniel Bryan, anyone?). While it’s perfectly fine to tease debuts or dream matches, this is a critical point for AEW. As the company continues to grow, reputation is important. And the last thing fans want to see is a bait-and-switch of this size.

Of course, this is all speculation at the moment. But one thing is for sure: Between Kenny Omega, Christian Cage, and Adam Page, things are already pretty crowded near the top of the card. The addition of CM Punk would make the main-event scene on Dynamite that much more competitive.

And, honestly? That might be a good thing.