The Greatest Professional Wrestling Concept Album EVER: Track By Track
9. Choked Out
Killer Lyrics: Half-nelson to suplex reverse / Worried look on the face of the ringside nurse / At one for once with the universe / Choked out.
A short burst of energy and an irresistible toe-tapper. A heavier murky guitar drives the song from the back seat and Darnielle’s vocals dispense the lyrics at speed. All combined give the track a punk feel. The instrumental has the perfect aggression and drive to portray the protagonist’s ambition.
In the territorial era, the simple sleeper hold was often judged to be illegal and was portrayed as a (storyline) lethal manoeuvre. The protagonist is locked in the hold being legitimately choked out. This is a source of personal pride for the wrestler as he fights against kayfabe and refuses to give the audience anything less than an authentic choke out. He sees “diamonds” and “all the colours of the rainbow flood [his] face” as the oxygen drains from his body.
At the beginning, the protagonist wishes for the sanctuary of an “oxygen tent”, but by the conclusion, while blacking out, he is serene and at one with the universe accepting that his future is ambiguously “a real dark place”.