The defeat of the red squares, really? (Le Devoir)
Martin Vachon August 20, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/357212/la-defaite-des-carres-rouges-vraiment
Votes on the return to class are piling up. By and large, CEGEP students in particular are choosing to resume classes. For them, it’s the end of the strike and the beginning of an intense make-up session to complete courses abandoned last winter. They voted democratically for the strike. They are now voting democratically to end it. I say democratically because, until proven otherwise, it is a democratic process. And the low participation rate is no argument to the contrary. Everyone knows that our premier was elected to power with only 24% of the vote! Enough said.
For some, it is an enormous relief. For others, a bitter disappointment. The two reactions are easy to understand or, at least, they should be. It’s not for me to judge.
But can we really speak of the “defeat of the red squares”? Of course the part of the twittersphere that is hostile to them is drunk with joy at every announcement confirming the end of the strike. Along with kudos and congratulations for the students deemed sensible, it wasn’t long before insults were raining down on those clearly in favour of the strike. “They’re done pissing everyone off!” they gloat. “Beuby, boys and girls!” Spinning round and round.
This tone isn’t new and it won’t be dissipating anytime soon. Still, is this really a “defeat of the red squares”? Far from it! Many indications would suggest that those who think they’ve won the round are sadly mistaken. Here’s why.
Who's Who: Luna
When Goldust brought out “Nurse Goodbody” to his interview with Michael Cole on this week’s episode of Raw, you may have been wondering who Nurse Goodbody was. And then, when she took off her disguise and JR told us that it was Luna, that may not have really answered your question. Here’s what your well-informed WWF fan would have known about Luna around 1997.
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Luna
She began her career wrestling for Moolah’s all-women league, and after getting some experience there, moved on to Florida Championship Wrestling, where she debut as a young, soft spoken reporter named “Trudy Herd,” interviewing babyface Kendall Windham and giving him some kind of award. Kevin Sullivan, a heel in command of a Satan-worshipping cult of wrestlers called “The Army of Darkness,” attacked, and she was knocked out during the scuffle by Sullivan. This seemed to drive her insane, and she shaved half of her head, covered herself in body paint, and actually joined the Army of Darkness. She soon began a feud with Madusa, which would continue for a long time.
After making a name fer herself in FCW, she started wrestling with various other promotions, including several women-only groups and Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling. By 1993, she had generated some interest with the WWF in signing her, and they did. Her first appearance was in April of that year at Wrestlemania IX, where she accompanied then-Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels in his match against Tatanka. Michaels’ former valet, Sensational Sherri, had defected to Tatanka’s side, and after the match, Luna attacked her both at ringside and later in the doctor’s area, which began a feud.
While this feud went on, Bam Bam Bigelow was attacked by Tatanka and began a feud with him, leading to him taking more of a notice of Luna and soon announcing that she was his “main squeeze,” and his “tick,” which lead to fans calling her “Luna-tick.” He began using a moonsault he called “the Lunasault” in her honor. They were set to team up against Tatanka and Sherri at SummerSlam ‘93, but Luna injured her arm, so the match never happened. Instead, Bigelow teamed up with Bastion Booger to take on several Doinks the Clownses, but soon Booger also started getting the hots for Luna, causing some trouble between the two. Luna returned, and joined Bigelow in taking on Doink and his mini-sidekick Dink.
Soon the WWF revived the WWF women’s division, and Madusa, Luna’s old rival now wrestling under the name Alundra Blayze, won the title. Luna began going for the belt and lost several matches to her enemy, while at the same time her relationship with Bigelow started to fall apart. She ended up selling Bigelow’s contract to Ted DiBiase for his Million Dollar Corporation. She picked up a new wrestler, Bull Nakano (who used to look like this but now, according to Wikipedia, looks like a human being), and put her up against Madusa. Nakano won the belt, but Luna left the WWF, so what was the point of that?
Luna wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling four a couple of years, and had a short stint at World Championship Wrestling, the WWF’s big competitor, in early 1997, continuing her feud with Madusa. She lost every match despite her dominant presence, and soon WCW would lose interest in their women’s title.
Is it rude to mention how much a lady wrestler weighs? Sorry. She clocks in at 140 lbs., and a height of 5’6”. She was billed as coming from “the Other Side of Darkness,” which I think is somewhere in Arizona. Her signature moves include the Lunasault (a moonsault), the Luna Eclipse (a mispronunciation of “lunar eclipse,” also a diving splash), and the Luna Bomb (a slingshot splash out of the corner like the Vader Bomb).
Written by Sunshine David (Wm.) Murray
