I’ve been a fan of wrestling for the better part of this decade, and that was thanks to a game me and one of my best friend bought WWE2k13. Even if wrestling itself wasn’t a big passion or anything, the games were always really appealing, that being said…some years later and it is the opposite, I don’t play the games that much but… know I can call myself a fan of wrestling, a “mark” if you will (mark is a wrestling term for a fan). I could go on and on, defending why liking of bug sweaty man fighting over belts when most of them just have shorts or speedos on. Actually, I’m here to talk about “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling”, a show that “G.L.O.W”s if you will.

Like in most reviews I’ll avoid the maximum of spoilers possible.

G.L.O.W is a Netflix show that follows a group of woman in a journey to became wrestlers. But quickly we realise that it is much more than just that. It a show where everything should go wrong, the premise, the characters backstory, the characters motivations, well don’t get me wrong the show is actually pretty good, but kayfabe (another wrestling term that is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as “real” or “true”, so in this case I’m talking about how bad things are for Ruth and company not for Alisson Brie and the rest of the cast) wise, almost every detail points to obvious disaster (well i started writing this while still watching the series so at this point I have no idea if things will turn out ok or not). Why disaster? Well first of all the closest we have in the cast of girls with wrestling experience is a daughter of a wrestler and a “badass”, there are no promoters, the “director” and producer are in it for money, and so far the “potential” wrestlers are as much of a ragtag of individuals as it gets.

When it comes to actor power we have an interesting cast, well to be completely honest I knew almost no one, apart from Alisson Brie, Rich Sommer and some cameos from a variety of wrestlers, well the rest of the cast had really solid performances, on par with the “Netflix Original” quality we got used to from shows like “Orange is the New Black” and “Narcos”, but there were a few performances that stood out.

Alongside Alisson, both Betty Gilpin (playing the role of Debbie/Liberty Belle), Marc Moron (Sam), Sydelle ( Cherry) and Ellen Wong, that later I found out, played Knives Chao in Scott Pilgrim, stood out. But to be fair the cast was evenly good, even when playing stereotyped characters.

The 80’s feel is really subtle, apart from the intro to the show, and aside from the clothing and hairstyles and a few pop references it really goes by “unintrusively”. Yeah the WWF and WCW influences really linger in the background as well as the “Soviets are the scum of the earth, ergo great villains” trope.

As mention before there are a few cameos from wrestlers, names like Joey Ryan Jonny Mundo/John Morrison, Brodus Clay/Tyrus, Carlos Colon Jr (Carlito) and Christopher Daniels to name a few, I probably missed several others but most of them apart from George Murdoch and Carlos Colon, just appear as background characters or stars in their own wrestling matches.

The series is really fun to watch, with an easy to follow yet interesting plot with space for character development, from surprisingly pretty much everyone! Apart from the last episode that I haven’t seen yet. The series was a pleasant surprise! Both from a wrestling fan and non-wrestling fan I really liked it, and it brings more to the table if you don’t know much about wrestling.

As a wrestling fan, I find it weird the lack of references to the female wrestlers of the time, nor any nods to the “original” G.L.O.W that had was short lived….well 80’s female wrestler promotion.

Yeah I know this isn’t the best review out there but it is my review, and my first series review.