A to Z 2026 - W - Contessina’s Collection of Human Treasures

“In their pop entertainment,” she said, “very little received as much of an impact as wrestling, from the Calamity.

“There was a point where only the taller talent was getting any chance to main event. It was very much like politics. When I became aware of it, obviously that aspect interested me. When you’re short, compared to everyone else, you notice these things.

“The Danab are taller than most humans, taller, more athletic, better physical conditioning, more easily given to putting on muscle mass. They were practically engineered for a wrestling ring.

“It was in Mexico, though, given the lucha tradition of masks, where the phenomenon first became apparent. There was Casco, who wore a helmet, and Extranjero, who was the alien, both of whom were star attractions…

“In the US market, where height had traditionally been prevalent, there was another push for the smaller talent, as had usually happened in response to a disruption in the business. Everyone was happy to see another Mahone triumph anyway. They almost didn’t notice. It was easy to book a David and Goliath program. In fact there was a heel who used an actual Goliath gimmick in the early days, and a Marty Davis who took him on.

“Everyone thought the bigger guys were Danab. It was happening all over the sports landscape. If you hit a lot of home runs you were a Danab, that sort of thing. It didn’t matter what the back of the baseball card said. Don’t let the facts get in the way of your argument.

“I guess the novelty of it made it easy for me to overlook the controversies. I got into wrestling, the history of it. I got into Tommy Mahone, Alex Dane, all of it. Not exactly top of the culture material, but then why worry about that?”

Michelangelo got up and sauntered away.