By Sam King

Long Live Pro Wrestling #0 takes a former wrestler and puts him on a talk show. It presents the different perspectives on professional wrestling and then takes a humorous twist. This is a quick issue that kicks into some action, but the main storytelling goal or conflict has not yet been presented for the series.

The issue immediately begins with the television interview, which takes up the majority of the action. It is supposed to be a way to promote the show, but things go sour when the talk show host begins to take jabs at the fakeness of professional wrestling. This is heightened when he takes personal jabs at Evan, the wrestler being interviewed, and his mentor. The whole thing is seen as a disaster, but it turns out that it may just have been a publicity stunt as the title of the series is directly stated to close out this issue.

The interaction between the talk show host and wrestler is entertaining, although the multimedia being shown doesn’t come off that effectively from my viewpoint. I am familiar with pro wrestling. I was a kid when the Rock was a big deal, and he was my dad’s favorite. I remember fondly watching the Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the WB, up until the WB was no longer on regular television. Then we stopped watching, but on occasion, dad would talk about older wrestlers like Ric Flair. Even now he will put on DVDs of ladder matches and other assorted things. I’ve heard the argument about how it is fake from my mom numerous times. Scripted or not, it doesn’t make it any less fun, wild, creative or entertaining. The New Day is a bizarre group with a lot of gimmicks and the VaudeVillains make me laugh. It almost seems goofier now than it used to, but maybe that is part of the appeal. I think it is interesting to see how pro wrestling is branching into comics now. However, I don’t know how this one is going to fit in.

So far, there is no indication as to where the story is going or what the goals of any of the characters are. Evan, the retired wrestler, wants people to watch his show, but we don’t know what his show is going to be like. The talk show host wants ratings, and he’s already getting them. I have yet to discover what the title indicates for the series. Does it mean that wrestling is losing its appeal and the show is trying to bring it back? Is this title about the show or is it about the people behind the show? Is the issue entertaining? Yes. Does it do a good job of presenting a direction of the series and something solid for readers to latch onto for the future? Not really. While I would love to rank this one higher based on entertainment value, it just doesn’t give us enough to warrant that since it fails to set up a long-term story. This feels like it could be a one-shot with no broader context. Someone wanted to write a pro wrestling mini-story, and this is it. I need more in order to truly say that this series is going to be worth waiting for or that this issue in of itself is worth buying.

This isn’t one of the better books this week, but it is too soon to say if the series will be interesting or not. The artworks fine, but it is nothing overly special. There is nothing that truly sets this apart from any other title apart from that it focuses on pro wrestling, but we have WWE official titles that do that too, with more flair and popularity due to branding. This series is going to need something really special to make its mark amongst other comic titles and make it stand out. Hopefully, the next issue does that.  

Score: 2/5

Long Live Pro Wrestling #0
Scout Comics