The Superlink Party: Impact Wrestling Shines, Kazuchika Okada Hits ESPN

In today’s Superlink Party, we take a look at Impact Wrestling’s strong showing on EC3’s last day, Kazuchika Okada’s ESPN appearance, Lars Sullivan being awesome, and more Daniel Bryan notes.

Let’s start with Impact Wrestling.

NXT and SmackDown Live were both sensational this week, between Johnny Gargano’s beatdown of Tommaso Ciampa and Daniel Bryan’s highly anticipated return to in-ring action.

But no show made me laugh more than Impact, and I love how much this company has embraced the “fun” side of professional wrestling. There’s just so much silliness on this show, whether it’s all the talent hoping EC3 gets fired or Braxton Sutter referring to himself as “BS” before pulling a Ross Geller and calling Allie “Laurel”.

Although I could care less about Austin Aries vs. Alberto El Patron at Redemption, which is problematic because it’s the main title feud, I’m pretty much invested in everything else. Su Yung’s debut was intriguing, Matt Sydal’s match with Aries next week should be one of the best TV matches in any promotion this year, Kongo Kong vs. Abyss had some crazy moments, and EC3 was, well, EC3.

It’s no surprise that Impact Wrestling is on the rise, posting yet another rating over 350,000. Outside of the tasteless Sami Callihan angle, which is only getting worse, and El Patron’s prominence in the title scene, everything else they are doing is gold.

More On Daniel Bryan

Dr. Robert Cantu was one of the doctors WWE mentioned as having cleared Daniel Bryan to return to in-ring action, and he’s also one of the most important figures in neurosurgery and head injuries. His list of accomplishments are impressive, and he’s written important papers on the subject of head injuries in sports. Cantu also has to negotiate among many actors, such as sports leagues and the athletes themselves, putting him in a delicate position that can leave him vulnerable to pushback from all sides.

So when Cantu speaks about something related to head injuries, it’s important to listen. His words have added importance when they are about an athlete he’s personally cleared, and Newsweek was able to get him to comment on his decision to clear Bryan.

"“I determined that Bryan is currently asymptomatic, has a normal detailed neurological and cognitive neuropsychological examination, normal EEG, and an MRI that showed no definite evidence of a prior brain injury. It is my medical opinion that there is no absolute contraindication to his return to in-ring action in WWE.”"

So there you have it. But despite this positivity, Bryan and WWE will wisely continue to play things as cautiously as possible. The WrestleMania 30 hero will be tested extensively after each match, because Bryan has suffered ten documented concussions in his career and could be at high risk of future brain damage.

Lars Sullivan Has The Best Workout Videos

I usually roll my eyes at some of the workout videos that the WWE and the superstars themselves post, because most of them are really friggin’ lame. Like who wants to watch someone “punch” Jinder Mahal’s core while he does his ab workout?

But this? THIS. Yes, this. God, Lars Sullivan is the man.

And called this, as Juice Robinson would say, a “mothertruckin'” cooldown.

Kazuchika Okada Makin’ Moves

They don’t call him the “Rainmaker” for nothing.

The IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the greatest champion in the history of professional wrestling – that’s Kazuchika Okada, in case you’ve been living under a rock or can’t be arsed to watch wrestling outside of WWE – made an appearance on Nación ESPN.

He joked about hitting Max Bretos with a tombstone piledriver before hitting with him a very, very light chop. They should’ve brought WALTER on. He wouldn’t have been so nice to Bretos.

Anyway, this was a cool moment, and ESPN should do stuff like this more often.

Xavier Woods Clarifies Origin Of Pancakes In Gimmick

A month ago, PWTorch’s Bruce Mitchell wrote a piece in which he claimed that The New Day’s recent usage of pancakes is an example of racism, as it is, in the author’s eyes, a reference to a character named “Sambo” in the book “Little Black Sambo” who loved pancakes. The book contained depicted a black family as caricatures both in illustrations and in writing. “Sambo” would turn the tigers who chased him into pancakes, and the pancake link is clear here.

He believes that this is yet another example of Vince McMahon, Brian James, and WWE using a cultural stereotype in their programming that is offensive to black people. Some fans agreed with him, while others believed that he found something that simply wasn’t there.

Mitchell wrote the following in the piece:

"“What I do wonder about is why Ettore Ewen, Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah, and Austin Watson – talented, smart, and highly-educated men – would go along with this ugly No Coloreds Allowed throwback. I find it hard to believe that they, even at their age, wouldn’t recognize those pancakes and what they symbolize, or that someone wouldn’t have quickly clued them in.”"

Newsday recently conducted an interview with New Day member Xavier Woods, who spoke candidly about the notion that the pancakes have something to do with “Little Black Sambo” or race.

"“If there’s ever any source of contention or anything like that, I think that it’s a situation where you should take a look at yourself and think about how deep you are looking into something that’s not really there.”“All we want is a blank slate. And if people continue to refuse to give us one, then they’re doing nothing more than continuing to hold up the social constructs that we’re trying to break down.”"

Although I don’t blame Mitchell for trying to keep the WWE accountable in some way, he shouldn’t have said that about the New Day, especially since the tone of the passage is a bit condescending. He implied that they didn’t challenge Vince or the WWE, and it’s problematic that he implied that the three “went along” with the gimmick.

Following Woods’s comments, that’s the end of that story, but even if this isn’t a case of the WWE handing black wrestlers an gimmick with roots in racism from the south, Mitchell’s skepticism wasn’t unwarranted, nor was it inaccurate in a broader sense.

After all, our Raphael Garcia wrote about how the WWE still struggles with creating characters for minority wrestlers, and WWE’s past is filled with examples of gimmicks that portray black wrestlers negatively.

The New Day like to be silly, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But others will be worried about the stereotypes they conjure up, and it’s up to the New Day to be aware of that when they try something new due to WWE’s own dubious track record, as colleague Chris Jeter told me.

In this case, the “flapjacks” were clearly in response to “lumberjacks” (note that the New Day were never actually the lumberjacks in the “Lumberjack Match” against Kevin Owens and Sam Zayn), but I can see how the racist connotation arose, even if it was not the intent at all.

Around The Web

If you only read one other article today, please check out this piece on VICE Sports about the first black women’s professional wrestlers, whose influence has become forgotten. And that’s a shame, because one of them should have been honored at this year’s WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal instead of Fabulous Moolah. The VICE piece includes Moolah’s role in downplaying the influence of these women, but the focus is on the incredibly talented women. And we owe it to them to try and research more about their careers.

Yahoo! Sports interviewed Kenny Omega about the “Golden Lovers” storyline, which led to the following quote from Omega:

"“If LGBT people can identify with our story, if they think ‘the Golden Lovers are my team,’ I’m good with that. It’s the story of two wrestlers who shared dreams on their way up, who became fast friends, who are now reuniting at the top of their game.”"

I’d like them to go “all in” with a storyline that helps make wrestling seem more inclusive to the LGBTQ community, but if they don’t believe they can pull that off effectively, then it’s better to err on the side of caution. In any case, the “Golden Lovers” story between Omega and Kota Ibushi is arguably the best thing going in professional wrestling, with the possible exception of the Gargano/Ciampa feud.

Next: Why Seth Rollins Should Win The IC Title

Another interview worth checking out is Bullet Club member Hangman Page’s interview with Fightful.com. Page has been low-key great this year.