Welcome to the first edition of the Grom Guide, the Zaza Zoom-In, the Rings Reexamination? Ok, so I don’t have a locked-in title. I’ve had a Google doc keeping notes since almost the beginning of Violent People, titled “The Untitled Grom Zaza Project.” For posterity I think I’m sticking with that name. My goal here is […]
Let me take you back to Christmas Eve, 1997. Picture a dimly lit room, crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with chaotic energy: a cursing grandma clutching a drink, a crowd of loud degenerates, a shrieking kid clinging to their mom and begging for “Powa Ranjas” toys, and me, hustling my way through the melee in search of spare […]
Let’s get this out of the way: Sam designated the week of November 10th-16th as VP2010s Week here at Violent People. We’ve already seen fantastic contributions from both Sam and Chris. Naturally here I am as the third “founder” posting my contribution—albeit a week late. It’s a bit surprising for me to miss a deadline, […]
Tomorrow evening marks a momentous occasion that will reverberate through history, one way or another. Sam, Chris, Pat, and I are gearing up to record the 25th episode of Violent People Radio. Oh yeah and, the United States of America will elect a president. I went with the VPR joke rather than some quip about […]
As you all know I am the foremost historian covering The Russian Lion, The first World Champion of professional wrestling, George Hackenschmidt, well, at least here at Violent People. My piece on his trip to Australia is without a doubt the writing I’ve worked the hardest on for this site. It also may be my […]
October 2nd 2024: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—a date long circled on our family calendar. The family was filled with anticipation usually reserved for a holiday or birthday. Not for AEW Dynamite, but because Simone Biles’ Gold Over America Tour was going to be there. Somewhere along the way though, my nephew Rodrick and I found ourselves displaced—bumped […]
David Foster Wallace, who wrote the sprawling, postmodern magnum opus Infinite Jest, is also responsible for some of the most deeply entertaining, and genuinely insightful pieces of journalism I’ve ever come across—writing that manages to be both profoundly enlightening and wholly human in a way that sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading. He […]
The Sad Year Bret “The Hitman” Hart sat in the darkened locker room, the roar of a distant crowd echoing through concrete walls. The air carried the stale scent of dried sweat, baby oil, and the bitter stench of lost ambition.1 His hair hung in long, damp strands, the last remnants of his pre-match shower […]
I remember the first time I saw a man hit a woman. I was six years old and I was at a wedding. It was a large wedding with an open bar. In a family full of alcoholics, the best case scenario was limiting the number of drunk drivers to just one or two and […]
April 17th, 2024 Dylan Summers’ hip is shattered in four different places. He finds himself, strapped to a bed, immobilized, facing a murky future with an untold number of surgeries ahead. The dimly lit confines of a Japanese hospital room, the oppressive silence weighed heavily on the mind of the man known as Necro Butcher. […]