The Gods of Pro Wrestling

[Avernite]

I hadn't considered how blatant Heaven and Hell were in interfering during the Battle of Chicago. I'm sure part of what allowed Ethniu to fully manifest was the Titanic Bronze armour.

I think we've missed in this discussion is the difference between a parasocial fandom relationship and worship or in other words the relationship between a god and their worshippers. To paraphrase Ian Cameron Esselmont in Orb Sceptre Throne "Ascendancy (a lesser form of Godhood in the Malazan world) is a constant battle between what your worshippers want and what you want". A parasocial relationship is a one way thing, worship isn't. As discussed the largest religious groups in Chicago are Monotheistic incarnations of the White God, worshippers were under threat so the White God intervened in a pretty dramatic fashion.

There are also limits to standard celebrity, it's incredibly difficult to control the narrative around yourself in the modern celebrity ecosystem and what are gods if not narratives given power and flesh? Someone mentioned the college athlete who doesn't win the big one and if a god were to keep adopting that guise they would become the god of close but no cigar.

Which brings me back to the beautiful art of pro wrestling. Pro wrestling is stunts tied together by a story and you can reuse the same narratives over and over again almost like telling a myth. For a god who is a pro wrestler (and I'm betting Thor will have crossed over to pro wrestling like so many football players before him) you can use your control of the narrative to maintain your domain and when you are prayed too by your devotees you can offer something back. Imagine for a second you're the underdog in a competition, you know you should lose but refuse to. Now praying to Heath Slater (or whatever memetic loser you want to pick) isn't going to help much, while praying to a god inspired by Rey Mysterio or Bryan Danielson may get you somewhere.

As for Elon if he is a god I'd speculate he's Mammon or someone like that. He didn't invent squat and really pursues some counterintuitive goals in the name of greed.

Though, I wonder, would such a god then be the god of 'fighting a scripted battle with pre-determined winners'? Would be a lousy job title when faced with e.g. Harry 'the rules are more like guidelines, really' Dresden.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Not guidelines, suggestions.

[K.L.O.E.]

Though, I wonder, would such a god then be the god of 'fighting a scripted battle with pre-determined winners'? Would be a lousy job title when faced with e.g. Harry 'the rules are more like guidelines, really' Dresden.

LOL. The god of battle stories isn't a bad role and besides, who's to say they'll be an antagonist?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Loki is evolving into the God of Stories in the comics (as opposed to Lies) that would make him Vince McMahon. Indeed Jim has shield away from questions involving Loki but has dealt with Thor in relation to Odin.

What if the whole Pro Wrestlers as gods is a misdirect and it’s not the talent but the organisers it’s focussing on?

[K.L.O.E.]

Loki is evolving into the God of Stories in the comics (as opposed to Lies) that would make him Vince McMahon. Indeed Jim has shield away from questions involving Loki but has dealt with Thor in relation to Odin.

What if the whole Pro Wrestlers as gods is a misdirect and it’s not the talent but the organisers it’s focussing on?

Isn't stories about war also part of Ares portfolio?

There's a ton of places to go with that. Look at Vince McMahon, Vince Russo and Bischoff or even Tony Khan. All of them have over the top personalities which could be taken as building blocks for a flawed god complex (VKM for sure).

What really triggered this thread was realizing how many connections Shonen Manga have with the world of pro wrestling and how much they draw on Journey to the West which led me a Son Wukong hair clone as an inoffensive wrestler to use. Even if the clone gets jobbed out you know absolutely no one short of Uriel would want to fight the real deal Monkey King.

[TrueMonk]

It could also be that it is the wrestling book in the same way that ghost story was the detective being locked up with the prisoners-book.

It could be an arena in the nevernever where gods fight, everyone is immortal, but something else is on the line. Or maybe there is an event every 1000 years and the winner gets x, or maybe it is supposed to be safe but now one god killed another and Dresden has to figure out what happened.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Well Harry hasn’t seen pro wrestling on TV for decades, he probably turns up at the WWF and ends up wrestling a Panda.