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WrestleCrap

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WrestleCrap
Type of site
Professional wrestling
OwnerRD Reynolds
Created byRD Reynolds
Merle Vincent
URLwww.wrestlecrap.com
CommercialNo
RegistrationMessage board only
LaunchedApril 2000; 24 years ago (2000-04)
Current statusActive

WrestleCrap is a professional wrestling website created by R. D. Reynolds and Merle Vincent,[1][2][3] serving as a "hall of shame" for some of the worst gimmicks and storylines in professional wrestling history. The site is currently run by Reynolds and Justin Henry.

History

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R.D. Reynolds and Merle Vincent launched the site in April 2000 and it quickly developed a following among wrestling fans. After Vincent's suicide in September 2000,[2] Reynolds continued to run the site by himself. He shut the site down in 2001, claiming the high cost of running the site was responsible. It returned the following year, albeit without the backlog of past inductions.[4]

In 2006, the site added several new writers and features.

WrestleCrap is also the title of a book written by the site's creators, with an introduction by John Tenta (ISBN 1-55022-584-7). In addition, Reynolds has co-authored The Death of WCW, with wrestling journalist Bryan Alvarez, and he co-wrote The WrestleCrap Book of Lists! with Blade Braxton, released in late 2007. Both Reynolds and Alvarez were previously featured columnists for British pro wrestling and MMA magazine Fighting Spirit.[5]

In December 2012, Reynolds announced a relaunch of the site, complete with more daily content and interactive features. The relaunch took place in January 2013.[6]

In December 2016, the entire site archive was made available for users who made a one-time donation to the site, or supported the site on Patreon.[7]

Braxton died in March 2021.[8]

Site content

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  • WrestleCrap Inductions, new induction weekly with rotating classic inductions weekly. These have been written primarily by Reynolds over the years, including currently, but a number of others have written them as well.
  • Someone Bought This, a look at some of the more ridiculous wrestling merchandise on sale. This segment often looks at eBay items placed for auction by various users.
  • Headlies, faux wrestling news stories in the style of The Onion.
  • It Came From YouTube, a weekly celebration of the most obscure, insane and sometimes brilliant wrestling related clips found on YouTube.
  • Squash of the Week, a weekly column that focuses on squash matches. It serves as the successor to Jobber of the Week.
  • RD's Mailbag, Reynolds answers the questions he receives via email.

Gooker Award

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The Gooker Award is given each year to the worst gimmick, storyline, match or event in wrestling in that year. The award is named after The Gobbledy Gooker, widely thought of as one of the most disastrous wrestling gimmicks of all time.[9]

Winners

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The 2001 award was not revealed until 2003 due to WrestleCrap's closing in 2001.

Each year's Gooker Award, with the exceptions of 2001 and 2002, was determined by a poll of site visitors. The 2001 and 2002 awards were chosen by Reynolds, since he felt there was no competition those years. For the 2014 award, Reynolds declared that Vince McMahon's comments about "brass rings" and the Bella Twins feud were co-winners due to irregularities in the voting.[36]

WrestleCrap Radio (2005–2012; 2015–2021)

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In August 2005, WrestleCrap introduced a podcast called WrestleCrap Radio. Typically Reynolds and columnist Blade Braxton discussed their personal lives, made jokes that may or may not relate to current wrestling (or wrestling at all), and rarely discussed news items from the wrestling industry. On occasion interviews with guests from within the wrestling industry were broadcast such as their interviews with Vince Russo and Lance Storm. Induction writer Triple Kelly was the unofficial reserve host, having won a co-host contest in 2007. The regular podcasts ended with WrestleCrap Radio episode 249, released on July 13, 2012.

On August 20, 2015, to coincide with the 10 year anniversary of WrestleCrap Radio, a new episode of Reynolds and Braxton's occasional RD and Blade Show podcast was instead revealed to be the surprise 250th episode of WrestleCrap Radio.[37] Episode 251 was released ten days later on August 30, followed by two more episodes each in September and October.[38]

The show was retired following Braxton's death in March 2021.[8]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The actual match itself won the Gooker Award, not the overall event.[33]

References

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  1. ^ Bakon, Jun. "R.D. Reynolds Interview". Lethal Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Reynolds, RD (September 10, 2000). "Merle Vincent, 1972-2000". WrestleCrap. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  3. ^ Cardno, James. "RD Reynolds". NZPWI. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  4. ^ Johnson, Mike (February 23, 2004). "Mike Johnson and RD Reynolds Discuss WrestleCrap, Bad Gimmicks, John Tenta, the Legend of the Red Rooster & More". PWInsider. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  5. ^ "About Fighting Spirit". Fighting Spirit Magazine. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 10, 2013). "Press Release: WrestleCrap.com, The World's Longest-Running Pro Wrestling Comedy Site, Relaunches". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  7. ^ Reynolds, RD (December 22, 2016). "The WrestleCrap Archives - Now Online and Available Via Patreon!". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "The World Reacts to the Death of Blade Braxton". WrestleCrap Radio.com. March 29, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  9. ^ Cox, Billy (February 24, 2007). "Grappling with Life". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  10. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 2, 2011). "David Arquette: 2000 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  11. ^ Reynolds, RD (September 2, 2016). "The InVasion: 2001 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  12. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 7, 2011). "Katie Vick: 2002 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  13. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 9, 2011). "Al Wilson: 2003 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  14. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 10, 2011). "The Diva Search: 2004 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  15. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 18, 2011). "The Sad Saga of Jim Ross: 2005 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  16. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 19, 2011). "Eddiesploitation: 2006 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  17. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 20, 2011). "Vince's Bastard Son: 2007 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  18. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 30, 2011). "Mike Adamle: 2008 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  19. ^ RD Reynolds and Triple Kelly (January 31, 2012). "Hornswoggle vs. Chavo: 2009 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  20. ^ Reynolds, RD (October 5, 2016). "Induction: The NEW Monday Night Wars: 2010 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  21. ^ Reynolds, RD (December 26, 2012). "All Things Michael Cole: The 2011 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  22. ^ Reynolds, RD (June 3, 2016). "Claire Lynch: The 2012 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  23. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 20, 2014). "Induction: Heel Dixie Carter - 2013 Gooker Award Winner (Winner Turkey Dinner)!". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  24. ^ RD Reynolds and Art0Donnell (February 5, 2015). "Induction: Vince McMahon and the Brass Rings - 2014 Gooker Award Co-Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Art0Donnell (February 5, 2015). "Induction: Bella vs. Bella - 2014 Gooker Award Co-winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Art0Donnell (February 11, 2016). "Induction: The Rusev-Lana-Dolph-Summer Rae Love Trapezoid - The 2015 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 26, 2017). "Induction: WrestleMania 32 - 2016 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  28. ^ Art0Donnell (January 18, 2018). "Induction: Jinder Mahal, WWE Champion - The 2017 Gooker Award Winner (for real this time)". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 16, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Art0Donnell (January 31, 2019). "Induction: WWE Crown Jewel – The 2018 Gooker Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 1, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 16, 2020). "Induction: Seth vs. Fiend Hell in a Cell - 2019 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  31. ^ Art0Donnell (February 4, 2021). "Induction: Retribution - The 2020 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 8, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ Art0Donnell (January 27, 2022). "Induction: NXT 2.0 - The 2021 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved January 28, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Art0Donnell (January 26, 2023). "Ric Flair's Last Match - The 2022 Gooker Award Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved January 27, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 26, 2024). "CM Punk in AEW". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  35. ^ O'Donnell, Art (January 23, 2024). "James Mitchell's NWA Samhain Coke Party - The 2023 Gooker Award Co-Winner". WrestleCrap. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  36. ^ Reynolds, RD (January 20, 2015). "And Your 2014 Gooker Winner Is..." WrestleCrap. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  37. ^ Reynolds, RD (August 20, 2015). "RD and Blade Show – 10th Anniversary". WrestleCrap. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  38. ^ "Category Archive for 'RD & Blade'". WrestleCrap. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
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