From Smashing Pumpkins to smashing heads
PHILADELPHIA — Billy Corgan had a night off from the latest Smashing Pumpkins tour and a night out with The Blue Meanie.
No, that’s not the next up-and-coming band with a colourful name, along the lines of the White Stripes or the Black Keys.
The Blue Meanie is a professional wrestler — yes, hair and beard dyed cobalt blue to match his worn T-shirt — and Corgan was his tag-team partner for a Friday night road trip to an independent wrestling show in New Jersey.
His next Smashing Pumpkins concert was a night away, and Corgan wasn’t going to miss it.
The musician-songwriter is more than just another celebrity immersed in wrestling as some sort of quirky promotional stunt.
Corgan’s childhood fandom of the high-flying moves and outlandish story lines morphed into a serious passion for the craft and real-life drama that goes with it.
For the past year, the Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman has worked as the behind-the-scenes brainchild for the Resistance Pro Wrestling promotion out of Illinois.
He teamed with R-Pro owners, brothers Gabe and Jacques Baron, to raise the diminished expectations that usually come with a typical weekend indie show and make the company a smashing success over the first 10 cards.
Stretched out in a Philadelphia hotel room, Corgan explained he’s in the wrestling business for the long haul.
“I like that it makes people uncomfortable,” Corgan said. “I like that it’s not an easy thing to explain. I like when it’s great, it’s amazing; when it’s bad, it’s really, really bad.”
Corgan’s music career has pretty much been all great since he founded the seminal 1990s alternative-rock band that keeps churning out acclaimed records, like their latest, Oceania, even as they endured a breakup, lawsuits, and multiple lineup changes.
He shifted his talents to R-Pro as the creative director, where he consults with wrestlers and maps out old-school story lines with a modern twist to keep the promotion strong.
R-Pro isn’t quite the behemoth of World Wrestling Entertainment. But it’s not the typical low-budget show held in the local high school.
“We want to be able to expand to where we’re a national brand and can run pretty much anywhere in the country,” Corgan said.
“My name and my access to certain things get help get us there, but it doesn’t mean we’re ready for that. We’re better off being a little bit more conservative.”
Corgan and the Baron brothers have no interest in running a typical indie show stocked with old-timers and highspots with no true story advancement.
Corgan wants episodic events where the next show builds off the last one.
He’s pitched a reality show on the promotion to a handful of networks and has even proposed becoming a developmental system for the WWE with Stephanie McMahon, who oversees the sports entertainment giant’s creative department.
“I think it would be to our credit to get people to the top level,” Corgan said. “I think it does a disservice to our talent to not prepare them for the next level.”
Corgan knows well the feeling shared by the prospects willing to fight in any dingy ring for a shot at performing for WWE or TNA Wrestling. Corgan remembers those dues-paying, eight-hour drives in the snow to the next empty club, dragging his own equipment, or performing for small crowds, all for the hope of hitting the big time.
Corgan forged friendships with wrestling personalities like Edge, Chris Nowitzki, Raven, and former WWE writer Vince Russo, and said he was “long past being starry-eyed” about the unique culture of the pseudo-sport.
He wasn’t going to dabble in wrestling; Corgan was building a franchise.
The Smashing Pumpkins just finished a tour, so Corgan hasn’t watched much of the big-league weeknight action lately, but he keeps tabs on WWE’s flagship “RAW” show.
WWE chairman Vince McMahon has put down the script and rumbled in the ring more than a few times over the last 20 years.
But Corgan has no interest in smashing his guitar over one of his worker’s heads.
“I use my hands for a living,” he said, flexing his fingers.
“I don’t even play basketball because I might sprain a finger.”
Still, the common threads of a rebellious spirit, wild excess, and unpredictable fun are why Corgan’s storytelling has worked as well in the ring as on stage.
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