Professional wrestling is a strange hybrid of performance art and sport. It has been going strong since the 1970s, and the modern era shows possibly the biggest growth and spotlight on the industry in decades. While World Wrestling Entertainment has been a fixture on television screens since the late ‘80s, a new rival promotion has sprung up to challenge the dominant WWE: All Elite Wrestling. This upstart company differs from the global wrestling titan that is WWE, and it has many drifting, eager to see something new.

World Wrestling Entertainment has been the standard-bearer for professional wrestling for the longest time. It was founded in 1953, when it was known as Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd.

It underwent several phases, including but not limited to: Vince McMahon Jr. buying the company from his father, the “Attitude Era”, and the rebranding from World Wrestling Federation to its current incarnation, World Wrestling Entertainment.

All Elite Wrestling, on the other hand, was founded just last year. It was founded by the popular faction of wrestlers called “The Elite” with the financial backing of the Khans, Tony and Shahid.

The new promotion came about when an analyst named Dave Meltzer remarked that an independent show could not sell 10,000 tickets. The Elite, led by Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks took it a challenge and created a pay-per-view event called All Out, gathering wrestlers from different promotions to successfully sell 10,000 tickets.

The Elite, realizing that this could be a big thing, began planning and eventually allied themselves with father and son tycoons Tony and Shahid Khan to create a new promotion. That promotion became All Elite Wrestling. It secured a deal on TNT for a weekly television show called AEW Dynamite, and now constantly challenges the WWE for viewers and supporters.

In writing the storylines and scripts, WWE tends to take a more traditional approach, having a team of bookers and writers to decide the outcomes of every match and feud. Chief among these are Vince McMahon himself, Bruce Pritchard, Paul Heyman, and Paul “Triple H” Levesque. This virtually gives each wrestler’s character to the team to be handled as they please.

In contrast, a big lure for wrestlers to come to All Elite Wrestling is the creative control they get. This means that wrestlers for the most part don’t get handed scripts and given characters, but get to be themselves. They also have some say to which matches they lose and which matches they win, which can be a problem for when wrestlers have ego trips and refuse to “job” (lose matches).

WWE employs a system in which they do not have official win-loss records, preferring to use viewers’ recent bias for their benefit. Most of the time, matches are determined based on how much the company favors the winning wrestler and not building on previous wins and/or losses.

Meanwhile, AEW use a concrete win-loss record that they show fans. This gives transparency and shows clearly who are winning and who aren’t. Logic thrown into the mix, this means those who win more get closer to title shots and more meaningful feuds.

As All Elite Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment continue their battle for control of the pro wrestling world, a good thing to realize is that the true winners are the fans. Competition does bring a better product, as each one is trying to outdo the other, and that makes it all the more entertaining for us. After all, what’s better than two athletes going at it in the squared circle? Two promotions going head-to-head in a war for us wrestling fans’ hearts.

The first time I ever attended a retreat was an experience I’ll never forget. It was January 2015, and the thought that it was 5 years ago surprises me, for it seems like yesterday.

I was a shy 11-year-old about to graduate sixth grade in a couple of months, and about to turn 12 in a few days. My siblings were in high school, and I constantly tagged along with them wherever they went.

It all started when we received the news that there was going to be a retreat camp in Phillip’s Sanctuary for the high school students. Phillip’s Sanctuary is a retreat camp located in Antipolo, Rizal, with obstacle courses and stuff like that.

My parents were chosen as the official medic team and I was supposed to be their assistant. However, the facilitators wanted everybody to join so I became an accidental participant, which turned out to be a good thing.

The way to Phillip’s Sanctuary was long and difficult. It was a very isolated place located on a high hill. However, we arrived there just in time to join the others on the walk down into the camp itself.

Along the way, we read a poem on the trees on the way to the campsite. It was a beautiful and clever poem about trees. When we arrived, we were given an orientation by Master George, the camp master, and his facilitators. Afterwards we had an a.m. snack.

We were then instructed to change into sports clothes because the games were about to start. We did so and we trekked down to the game field. We had a lot of activities and games that required teamwork and effort. After taking showers, we all went back to the main hall and listened to Obet Cabrillas’s talk. 

He told us about how special the Filipino is. He taught us the things we needed to do to remain close to God: prayer, scripture, community and environment. It was a really effective speech and we all enjoyed the comedy inserted into the talk. I found myself thinking about each lesson as I lay in our tent that night.

The next day we headed to a Rock Garden where we praised God with songs. Then we had a special time of talking with Him alone. After that, we went back to camp to listen to Mr. Rene and Mrs. Lily’s talk about how to build healthy relationships.

After having a delicious lunch, we then proceeded to make flags for ‘War Games’. We talked about our plans in the game and discussed the rules.

Then we headed down into the field. War Games was an immensely fun activity. Every time I think about it, I smile at the scene of me chasing away a member of another team, sneaking up from behind in an attempt to take our flag. I recall my teammates patting me on the back for it, and me realizing that I got to contribute even if I was just a “saling-pusa” or sit-in.

 We all had a group sharing in which we discussed each other’s strong and weak points. I confessed that at times I had difficulty paying attention. After that we did a praise and worship, which was extremely fun. In retrospect, that was the first praise and worship that I can remember being part of. It makes me feel blessed to have been an accidental participant.

We had a bonfire at the field where we played War Games. We all roasted hotdogs and marshmallows around the fire while having a good time by singing songs. I remember taking the lead in ‘Hey Soul Sister’ and everyone applauding, a memory I’ll cherish and put right next to the time I hit a 99 on the karaoke for ‘Nobela’.

It was then that I realized I was an ambivert, a personality type with a balance of introvert and extrovert qualities. I was a silent type of person at first, but when I got comfortable with people I was pretty talkative and outgoing.

The next day, we went back to the rock garden to have morning prayers. However, it rained so we had to take shelter in the nearby chapel.

It was here that I truly got touched. The facilitator had a sharing in which she revealed to us that that day was the day that her father died. It made me realize that God always is there cleaning up our messes and loving us unconditionally.

The day after the camp ended, I turned 12. That seems like such a long time ago, but up to now I remember that beautiful 2015.

I will always remember and cherish those fun days at Phillip’s Sanctuary. I got touched in lots of ways and I learned so much. It was an unforgettable experience at camp, and quite frankly something I’d be telling my kids about, one day in the distant future–the first time I found a true connection in worshipping God.

When I was a young, energetic 11-year-old, the first Coldplay song that I heard was “Viva la Vida”. It was a beautiful song that stuck with me. I found myself digging, searching for more of this band, much like the king in the song was searching for the reason of why it all went wrong.
That search led me to classics such as Sparks, the Scientist, Fix You, and Yellow, the last two of which I viewed as songs through which God was speaking to me through the lyrics. (“I will try to fix you/For you I’d bleed myself dry.”)
As I was going through my early teenage years, songs such as True Love, Magic, and Ink resonated with me as I sought and fought to find love. (Dramatic, sure, but adolescence is pretty dramatic if I do say so myself.)
When I couldn’t see and be with me my friends, the song “Fun” tore my heart. I wept (and still do, to this day) every time I heard it.
Nowadays, the band is evolving, changing their style with the times–and honestly, so am I.
This past 2019 has been a whirlwind of events in my life and I don’t know what to feel at times. But when I open Spotify or YouTube, I feel at peace, knowing that I’ll always have a song to go with me for the ride.
“When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse.
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try
To fix you.”
Chris Martin’s silvery, beautiful voice always reminds me that everything everything is gojng to be alright in time.
“Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And everything that you do.”
I look up at the night sky, take a deep breath, and move on in life, with my favorite band playing on.

Whew. This was a long time coming.

I’ve been wanting to create a blog for a long time now. My tita (aunt in Tagalog) had previously created a blog for me before, but I forgot the password, my username, and most of my information. Now I want to start something new and start afresh.

I feel like I’m a writer at heart, and I want to use that God-given gift so I can share my experiences, give people a heads-up on the quality of certain movies, and also an idea of how good (or how bad) certain hair products are. I’ve legit wanted to do this for a long time, and I’m so excited to start this. 

Here we go!

-Jedi