#glow 1985

After listening to a variety of reviews , podcasts and youtube and print, I am  very disappointed at how these commentators and watchers  seem to fail to do (Or just do not bother to do ) due ‘deep diving’ (aka research)  into the actual persons and history of the ORIGINAL GLOW  when discussing the the Netflix ‘Bizzaro’ GLOW.

I very well understand that GLOW creators and writers,  Liz Flahive  and  Carly Mensch , have had to bend and twist and blend and combine and modify persons and events in the Original Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling saga to prevent being creatively shackled into a ‘mockumentary’  of Original GLOW.   This post is to point out those differences for those people who have not bothered to fall into the GLOWHole of the events and history of the ORIGINAL GLOW timeline.

  The Original GLOW was the creative brainchild of David McLane, who had this brilliant idea of forming an all women Professional Wrestling while living in Indianapolis  . In Netflix GLOW David McLane is replaced with the character of Sebastian (Bash) Howard , a massive wrestling fan and enthusiast .  Where this difference is is that David McLane is not ambiguously or unknowingly  gay ( that anyone knows of or speaks of)  NOR is he from Malibu area ,NOR was he from “Old Money” , NOR did he have a butler (Or a GLOWBOT ) .

Things David McLane DIDN’T own. Possible exception on the Elvis costume

TIMELINE and LOCATIONS

Much of season one was accurate on a larger scale, but the storyline mixes some elements and changes a few others  .   In the Netflix story , the first audition and training takes place in “Chavo’s Gym”  (easter egg nod to Chavo Guerrero , the cast’s wrestling trainer) in Reseda ,Ca that was bought instead of rented, by Bash  .  In Original GLOW , David  held initial auditions at a GOLD’s Gym  ,then moved everything over to the Broadway Boxing Gym in Watts, L.A.  Where training was initially started by Mando Guerrero ; Uncle of Chavo Guerrero Jr  who trained the actors of the NEtflix series.  In the series script, Mando is replaced by  Salty “The Sack” Johnson (played by wrestler JJohn Hennigan aka Johnny Impact (TNA IMPACT!) and Johnny Mundo (Lucha Underground) .

Just as “The SACK” was inexplicably replaced  by Cherry Bang in the Netflix show , Mando was also inexplicably replaced by  Professional Wrestler Cynthia (GLOW name ‘Pepper’) Peretti.  The scene where Cherry puts a sleeper on Melrose (girl had it coming), to prove to her how ‘real’ wrestling is , is totally based on truth , except it was Mando that “Sun Tzu – Art of War ” moment.**  According to the ‘myth’  , he left her “flopping on the mat like a fish”

Naptime for Rosen- oh and that look on Cherry’s face ? I am NOT gonna mess with her because of that look.

***(Sun Tzu was once hired by the King of Wu  to train an all women’s bodyguard composed of the King’s Concubines .  When the women failed to take training seriously, he , personally beheaded the woman who he had made their capitan for failing to have those women take training seriously–AB)

THIS  is where Netflix had jiggered the official timeline.  Netflix GLOW puts the moving of GLOW to Las Vegas FAR later than it actually was .   Netflix put the hiring of a director (Sam Silva) WAY earlier than the real GLOW .  In Original GLOW history, a director (Matt Cimber) wasn’t hired until AFTER GLOW moved to Vegas.

David McClain WAS the ring announcer for original GLOW seasons 1 and 2 (recorded 85  and 86 ) They DID get that part spot on with Bash Howard doing the Announcing.  Chris Lowell /Bash did a great job replicating  David McClane’s announcing style.

The “Dusty Spur /GLOW-tel” (though it MIGHT be possible the GLOWgirls when the training was taking place in Watts MIGHT have been housed in a motel. I have no history from that era to go with — AB) . -Netflix got this MOSTLY right . There was no “Dusty Spur” that I am aware of while GLOW was training in LA  but the rules were the same, no booze, no drugs, no boys a 10 pm curfew AND, (in case of the ORIGINAL GLOW girls)No watching themselves on television ( The GLOW producers ensured this by not allowing syndivation in Vegas) . Of course, just like the Netflix GLOW girls, the Original GLOW girls did have their rules breakers . (Coff coff HOLLYWOOD coff coff )

The Original GLOW girls were later housed in apartments they dubbed “The GLOW-tel”  with same restrictions.   Of course, some GLOWgirls went with the rules , some did not.. (coff coff ..Hollywood.. Coff) some got away with it , some did not. I assume  there were plenty of  “Rosen” types who liked to snitch.  A big difference between the Original GLOW  and NETFLIX GLOW is that the original glow girls were required to ALWAYS be in character . They were always to refer to each other by their ring names ..Full on “Method” acting.  The  ‘Sweethearts’ and the ‘Killers’  were not even allowed to fraternize with each other except during rehearsals  , working matches and doing the skits.

This never happens

Bash and Debbie going to NAPTI season 2 happened ; real world season one.  There was a trip to NAPTI , (who actually WENT is currently unknown)  but with better results , gaining distribution in 30 US markets and 6 overseas.  I think that , maybe, in season three, there is a more successful NAPTI visit?  Hmm you will have to see my season three predictions posting.

  The crush Carmen has on Sebastian, the creator  / producer?  Well, in actual real life, Mountain Fiji ( Emily Dole ) actually DID have a crush on the director of REAL GLOW  , Matt Cimber.  She admitted her crush to him in 2012 during a reunion for  the GLOW documentary .    Watch the NETFLIX GLOW Documentary for more on that  .

Carmen and Sebastian, sitting in a tree…

The Dance number between Zoya and Chola Junk Chain was an ACTUAL thing! But it was Ballet where Zoya and Junk Chain did breakdancing .

Col Ninotchka and Susie Spirit Dance sketch  :

Casting

I am not talking the actors playing the characters, I am talking the characters themselves .

Creator / Producer –  David McLane / Sebastian Howard . Other than what I  have already covered,  It seems NETFLIX did a pretty fair job with representing Mr. McLane.

Director -Matt Cimber / Sam Silva  The only traits that Matt and Sam had in common was having a long directorial background.  Oh, and a fair bit of sexism.

Executive producer(s)  – in seasons 1 and 2 of Netflix GLOW doesn’t have any “executive” producer  ,unless you want to count Birdie Howard as the executive producer, since Bash;’s money came from HER .  Real world – Executive producer  was Meshulam Riklis , ‘owner’ of Rapid American Corp and owner of the Riviera Hotel and Casino .

Owner- In Netflix Glow , there was no actual “Owner” unless you want to say it was Bash Howard, but he was more of the “father” of GLOW. In Original GLOW, Jackie Stallone was written in to be the ‘OWNER” of GLOW . IT is no outside realm of possibility for a “Scripted in” owner to show up in NEW GLOW .

Managers-  Professional Wrestling has a long tradition of ‘managers’ who ‘owned’ either individual wrestlers or a “stable” of wrestlers. There were no managers in season one and two of Netflix GLOW. Original GLOW had two managers, Jackie Stallone ( also ‘Owner’) managed the stable of “good girls (baby faces) ” called Stallone’s Sweethearts  and Actress Kitty Burke Municino was brought in to play “Miss Kitty” , the Manager for the “bad girls” “Kitty’s Killers”

Wrestlers/Ring Personas

Liberty Bell/Debbie Egan –  Every wrestling promotion in the 80’s and 90’s had an “all American Patriot”  in GLOW it was ‘Americana’ who was succeeded by ‘Liberty’ .  Debbie added a good touch of “southern belle” personality and accent so add in any of the three “Southern Belle” wrestlers .

  Zoya the Destroyer / Ruth Wilder – Easily based ring persona on Ninotchka /  Lori Lynn Palmer. Alison Brie (Ruth/Zoya) has stated in an interview that she studied Ninotchka for hours  to get Zoya right.

Machu Picchu / Carmen Wade   With no doubt in the least, Machu “the gentle Giant” Picchu was directly based on the GLOW wrestler Mt. Fiji / ZEmily Dole .  Both were the largest wrestlers in the showa and both were ,indeed , “Gentle Giants” . Even the Heels ,out of ring, liked her .

  Cherry Bang/ Junk chain  we already cover her , she was very likely to have been based on  “Soul Patrol”  .  Where Cherry Bang differs from Ms. Pieretti is that Cherry has NO previous wrestling experience but TONS of stunt work experience .

  Cherry Bang / Black Magic There are two GLOW wrestlers that were drawn from one more than the other , Big Mamma the Lousiana Voodoo Queen  and The Princess of Darkness  for the ability to control other wrestlers with a “spell” . Black Magic used zombie powder, Dark Princess used a “mojo bone”  .

  Sheila the She-Wolf / Dementia   They  few similarities..  primarily “Crazy eyes” makeup  animalistic tendencies outside the ring , seldom speaking ( I think Dementia only spoke ONCE – in Japan)   and being brought to ringside  tied up or in a cage or both.

The Beatdown Biddies- KKK women -Toxic Twins / The Housewives (Arlene and Phyllis) – the Hicks – Heavy Metal Sisters  – These two sets of persona’s  were NEARLY verbatim.

  Melrose – well she seems to be more unique But she DOES come from a family with  more than a little money. The Rich Girl..Daddy’s money girl   she has qualities of  the tag team of Tina Ferrari and Ashley Cartier  or Roxy Astor  and  Tiffany Mellon  with a healthy dose of Early Madonna .

  Beirut the Mad Bomber  / Palestina  the Terrorist.. ALMOST EXACTLY  one to one .

Britannica / Godiva and Zelda  An interesting pairing, but I supposed had to be . Goddiva the British Bombshell and Zelda. Beauty AND brains ( whis is ironically hilarious because Rhonda is a bit of a ditz).

  Scab –  Justine’s persona is also a difficult one , she is a bit of “Hollywood and Vine” blend ,being a ‘lawless’ little punk rock girl.

  Fortune Cookie  / Matilda the Hun    No!No! No! bear with me with my logic  .. Both China and East Germany were allies with Soviet Union , but where Matilda is large  lumbering  strong and not very clever,  Fortune Cookie is small, agile, quick and sneaky.  Some I have seen will say Little Fiji and even though Little Fiji is/was of an asian descent. Seeing as Wrestling Personas are /were built on stereotypes, this MAY be possible but I think it is more of the russia-china-germany relationship.

A Evil Vile Person Example

  Welfare Queen . I am also giving Matilda the Hun influence on Welfare Queen for no other reason than to provide balance against Machu Picchu. Giantess to Giantess

A Evil Vile Person Example

Chola Junkchain .. totally lost on this one . From what I can tell, she is ALSO a unique persona .clues will develop in season 3 . Thought it was important for her to be in storyline to show the comings and goings of wrestlers  within GLOW AND to give Arthie somone to crush on 🙂

But if I were to  really stretch things, Chola Junkchain would be paired with Spanish Red ESPECIALLY visually last half of season 2

GLOW

    Well , GLOWbugs, that seems to be all I have, for now,  covering the “plot deviations” between Original GLOW and the “Looking glass” Netflix GLOW. If I made any errors in timelines, or missed any plot point / historical deviations or just want to argue ( okay DISCUSS) the recharacterizations between the REAL GLOW  wrestling personas and the NETFLIX ones, shoot me a line at either Twitter or Facebook ( I don’t IG for  I am not photographically oriented.  I do ,occasionally , Tumblr but not often )  or in the BLOG comments OR email me through the CONTACT ME page. Until next posting,