Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Dalton Castle, Ring of Honor's colourful, flamboyant wrestler. I checked Castle's Wikipedia page (click
here) and was surprised to find out he's been with ROH since 2013. Before that, the 5 ft. 11 in., 219 pound native of Albany, New York wrestled for independent company Chikara as wealthy yachtsman Ashley Remington. And Here's what his Wikipedia entry has to say: "Castle's gimmick is that of a flamboyant showman with an androgynous personality, drawing comparisons to Gorgeous George and Adrian Street (I would add Gold Dust to that list. - Bruno) however unlike those predecessors who have tended to portray villains, Castle typically plays a fan favorite. Castle is frequently accompanied to the ring by two shirtless, mask-wearing men referred to as his "boys (independent wrestlers Brandon and Brent Tate)' who act as human furniture and fan Castle during his matches. What do you think of Castle's gimmick? Is it offensive? Is it time to retire such old-fashioned, theatrical, over-the-top characters (interestingly enough, Castle has a college degree in Communications and Theater)? Or is it all in good fun? Let us know what you think in the Comments section below.
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| Watch Dalton Castle's entrance here. |
Bleccch.
ReplyDeleteI find his performances entertaining -- not meant to be insulting or offensive. I blogged about the meanings behind his feud with uber-manly Silas Young in my "Feud of the Year" series which starts at http://www.wrestlingarsenal.net/wordpress/?p=22457. What I find most compelling is the audience's acceptance, appreciation, and even worship for the blatantly less-straight competitor -- a big change from even 6 or 8 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHi, love, love, love your blog. Would you happen to know which wrestlers are featured in the fifth picture here: http://www.wrestlingarsenal.net/wordpress/?p=23603 (the one captioned "Do you wanna break his leg, or shall I?"). Also, is there a video of that Nigel McGuinness match? Thanks.
DeleteJM, would you try to put http addresses on their own line of text? It makes them easier to Copy.
DeleteI got a service not available message when I tried it.
Third photo from last reminds me of a groomed and washed Joey Ryan. Neither Castle nor Ryan raises my temperature, but that's a matter of my personal preference and does not imply any negative judgment about either of them. I like seeing "newer" people on BCofR. Thanks, Bruno. T.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about this! I'm very intrigued. He sits on a scale of flamboyance I haven't seen before. Castle isn't being overly gay, and he himself is not that effeminate from his musculature. It's great this representation and showiness plays as a fan favorite. The showy sexiness reminds me a bit of Val Venis and how he was popular with the crowds by promoting his sexiness
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo (+Rico) from the early 2000s.
DeleteThe Tate brothers are twins. They've only been in 13 matches (4-9)) either on their own or with Castle. None of their tag matches are on video. Their four wins all came between June and September 2015. If they'd wrestled more with either a video or photo record, they might've deserved their own profile.
ReplyDeleteDalton Castle has great looking arms & legs! His usual ROH Boys, Brandon & Brent are usually working out in their Twitter & Instagram pics. Someone said they're very small for wrestlers, but they're getting better.
ReplyDeleteBTW, is that Chuck Taylor and Tomasso Ciampa as the boys in the last picture? Dalton Castle has wrestled for PWG a handful of times. One of them involved no less than reDRagon as his Boys! (Man I wish reDRagon were still with ROH. I also wish Kyle o'Reilly had a longer championship run!)