If you're a wrestling fan, then you probably saw last night's episode of Raw where Stephen Amell, the star of CW's Arrow took on Stardust and it was announced Amell, teamed up with Neville (whose finisher is the Red Arrow, so it's Red Arrow and Green Arrow together) would face Stardust and King Barrett at Summerslam, one of WWE's bigger PPVs of the year.
Now, you might be thinking "why are we talking about wrestling on a comic book site?" These two are so interconnected it's crazy. Comic books and professional wrestling have an immense amount of similarities. Just to kick things off, let's present the first piece of evidence for the comics/wrestling connection: Stardust's entrance attire.
If you're looking at this outfit, scratching your head and can't pinpoint where this costume comes from, then you may need to read up on the X-Men story line, "Inferno" because that cape is 100% inspired by Mr Sinister. Even on Twitter, Stardust posts references to comics here and there, and so does Cody Rhodes, the person many people say is behind the facepaint, but frankly, I don't see it. Cody has his own, separate Twitter account and post images of comics he's reading, like SECRET WARS. Normally, I'd share the image, but his account is private. but just imagine the cover to SECRET WARS #3.
Ok, so it's apparent that Stardust likes comic books in some way. Big deal. Lots of people like comics, right? Why does that connect to comic books?
Now, fiction in general is really about the protagonist overcoming obstacles to defeat the antagonist, even if said antagonist isn't a living, breathing thing. But where comics and wrestling really cross over is the simplification of that formula. Mainstream books, for the most part, pit a "bad guy" against a "good guy" and after tensions build between the two characters, they fight, and most times, good triumphs over evil. And both avenues have this level or "normality" where things can get reset back to what fans are used to. After an event is over, the heroes go back to regular life and feud with a new villain. The same goes for wrestling.
What's been happening, for months, is that Stardust has been taunting Stephen Amell, on television, and when Amell finally shows up to a live event, there's a little big of a brawl, which, in turn, turns into a big PPV match at Summerslam where we see if the Green Arrow can take down the insanity of Stardust.
Warning: Insanity coming your way.
In both comics and wrestling, it's all about the buildup to that final fight. For months, Stardust taunted Amell, and we're finally getting the fight between them in a couple of weeks, and if you think about SECRET WARS, since it was already mentioned once, the buildup in NEW AVENGERS and the first few months of SECRET WARS are both the precursors to this final fight, which I'm sure will be good, but a big part of the story is building up to those moments through story. Final fights are memorable, but you can't have them without a set-up.
Let's not forget the many, MANY wrestling characters that have appeared in comics as well. The only real problem is that I can't tell you anything memorable or worthwhile. However, we have had wrestlers like Mick Foley and CM Punk write comics. It's a New Day in comics and wrestling and putting Stephen Amell in a Summerslam match seems nutty, but it actually makes complete sense. Comics and Professional Wrestling are so similar it hurts: The "larger-than-life characters," the unstoppable forces, the storylines, the giant summer events.
If you want to see the moment Amell fought back, check out the video below.
What do you think about the wrestling and comics connection?