Last week was very productive for Outreach. I attended four shows (two wrestling and two concerts) last week (WCW5, HOG Isolation, and Slide Away Day 1 and 2) and connected with fans and wrestlers about the project. I am burnt out. Everyone seemed genuinely interested in the concept and provided us with some resources that could be useful if we were to continue this project beyond the semester. With the showcase slowly approaching, I will not deviate from the original vision, and any additional information at this point would also make our load heavier for the little time we have remaining.

Although the project is not yet completed and requires the final push from everyone involved, I am pleased with the team’s production and output last week. Our group’s focus this week is to complete all the final components for data visualizations and add any necessary finishing touches to the webpage. Outreach is, for the most part, now complete. I also want to shift my focus on the presentation to improve it from the previous one, which includes the feedback we received from Nicole and my classmates. There is so little to do, but also little time to do it. I wish there were more shows and films to see this week but at this point. Everyone also has other classes and any remaining tasks that need to be completed. I will likely take on that load.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all for our final class of April tomorrow.

Spring Break is almost over, and it’s about time to get back to work on this project. I hope everyone had a rejuvenating hiatus. Basically, I worked from home, got a new Les Paul guitar, played video games, saw some old-school AJW (All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling) matches on YouTube, and am currently going to watch the final night of Wrestlemania. All in all, I say it was a great Spring Break for my mental health. 

Which was the reason I didn’t schedule anything for our group during the break, and that’s because we all need time to decompress by any means we see fit. I feel ready to go and coming in hot to make this final push. Shout out to all my GDPW gold members.

Wow, I have seven of these posts already. Anyway, shout-out to all my GDPW gold members this week for helping with the presentation. As we all learned last week, the presentation is to be done by a single person. I was looking forward to being up there with my GDPW members, but the final show will be a singles match, haha. Cathy and I had discussed the presentation in class last week; she was going to make it and present it.

However, as it later became known, a single person will do it, and presenting in front of a crowd should be the Project Lead’s task. Although the group has learned a vast knowledge of professional wrestling, I would have no issues with anyone filling my shoes for the presenter role. Furthermore, since Cathy created the presentation, I needed to write the blog this week, and she could take a break from this week’s personal blog. Elijah and Madison also contributed to the presentation, including the design and input. I loved the team effort and unity that made the presentation for Tuesday possible. It will improve after Tuesday’s feedback, and we can all go to the drawing board while we work on the missing pieces for our project.

Regardless of feedback, the team came through this week, which is what collaboration in DH is all about. Like minds creating something even as simple as a slide presentation, the effort is always there, and it’s just another great week of making something together. Business cards should be coming in this week. We have already blown our budget and have still not received the grant funds. That has not stopped us, and we can’t wait until May 13th when GDPW invades Martin E. Segal Theatre; tickets are on sale soon.

So much is going on, and so many things must be done. There is not enough time, but I want to know who leaked our group topic project to Madison Square Garden. Haha. In all seriousness, I was surprised earlier this week when I received an email to reserve my free press conference tickets for Taylor vs. Serrano 3, who will be headlining an all-women’s boxing event in July at MSG.

It’s just amazing to see this event happening. I should have focused this DH Project on women’s boxing, but it’s too late to deviate. I also enjoy watching boxing; it’s one of the things my family used to do every month when there was a big PPV event with well-known prize fighters like Oscar De La Hoya, Pacquiao, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr, Mayorga, etc. However, my heart and passion lie in wrestling. I wasn’t upset the event wasn’t wrestling. When will there be a women’s card for wrestling anywhere soon? Lo and behold, one of my good friends messaged me this past Saturday.

Right in Queens, there will be an all-women’s wrestling event, Women Crush Wednesday 5, on April 23, hosted by Battle Club Pro (BCP). I immediately bought my tickets for two reasons: I went to the 3rd show for two years, and it was amazing, and second, it feels like a fantastic outreach opportunity. I did pay out of pocket for this event since my group had already decided that on April 23, Cathy and I would be going to another event, House Of Glory’s (HOG) Isolation on April 25 for outreach. Had I known that BCP had this event planned, I would have bought tickets for WCW 5 instead of HOG with our funding. Oh well, I can’t complain. There are two wrestling shows in one week. I haven’t been to an event since December 2024, when I ran a show gauntlet with some friends and saw AEW/ROH (All Elite Wrestling/ Ring of Honor) at the Hammerstein Ballroom for 3 days straight.
Anyway, I am looking forward to April as we are just about to enter it. The group is in the right headspace, and we have goals and assigned tasks to complete this month. We will work together as a team and persevere if we encounter any hiccups. That’s what makes this project the best I’ve ever worked on. I can count on my team, and they can count on me. I wish everyone a fabulous April.

Plans change. That is one thing I learned this past week. Initially, GDPW had considered using Commons to host our site. However, after last week, we decided it was best to have our front-end dev, Elijah, choose the domain and site he preferred working on to ensure we have the fewest bumps going forward. In this case, plans changed to benefit the project and the group. So far, we have the most essential things for the project. We have the data, we have the website, and we have plans. We only need to start building on top of the foundation we have built so far and eventually put on the finishing touches by Spring Break.

Things will ramp up for sure, but everything has been moving smoothly as every week goes by; the project keeps improving and is one step closer to completion. After this week, the project lead will need to start setting more structured tasks and timelines so that we can use all of April as much as possible to complete everything. This will prove to be challenging but manageable. I don’t want to overwork the team, but I also want everyone to enjoy the time on this project. Regardless, I will do my best.

It’s halfway through the semester, and at this point, it feels that we have done so much, yet there is still much to do. GDPW is moving according to schedule, and the team deserves a reward for its efforts so far. Tomorrow night, some of the team members are going to see the movie Queen of the Ring. QotR is a film about the story of Mildred Burke, the champion professional wrestler who was one of the sport’s pioneers at a time when all-girl wrestling was banned in most of America. Mildred is one of the key figures in our research; it is both an educational and entertaining experience to see the film while it is still playing.
I also look forward to attending a wrestling show in late April with Cathy to do outreach work. There are so many pieces moving for this project to come to fruition. Besides all the hard work, there are moments when it brings me joy to continue doing it, whether going out with team members or even learning about other wrestlers I have never known about.

Data is everything. Everyone wants it; everybody needs it to make an informed decision. Gathering the right kind of data and enough data is the backbone of this project. From the initial stages of this project, the extraction process was as rudimentary as I imagined. However, during the process and building of the DMP, it became apparent that the data was more than what we would use to make visualizations. The data is the foundation of our whole project. Without data, how can we call GDPW a digital humanities project?t. Sure, it has the basis for a scholarly project like the research, but it needs the data. Why? Per our revised project proposal, the subtitle is “The Numbers Don’t Lie” by Scott Steiner.

Scouring the data proved just as time-consuming as collecting, extracting, and creating it. It is crucial that our data be flawless and have the information that my team needs to create what we want to show the audience. This data process was the most arduous task I have had to do so far, as it isn’t as simple as I first thought. It required some extra steps. As a current DH student, I am still learning and am looking forward to what other research and data I can uncover and create different projects.

Martin Bueno (he/him) is a part-time M.A. student in the Digital Humanities program and Project Manager for GDPW (Gender Disparity in Professional Wrestling). Currently, not trying to work myself into a shoot. (insider wrestling terms)