The Progressive Liberal is a solid character. He strikes the right level of condescension and punchable smugness. His line delivery’s a little suspect and his actual wrestling leaves something to be desired, but those can be remedied. At its root, this is a good gimmick. If you’re in Kentucky and free on Friday, watch Richards against some guy in a sleeveless shirt in a “Crybaby Match,” where the loser “will have to wear a diaper and suck on a bottle.”Others picked up on the story.

It’s not so much that the Kentucky audience is completely conservative — in one of the promo videos below, the crowd starts chanting “feel the Bern” when Richards steps up to the mic — it’s that the Progressive Liberal perfectly embodies the smug elitism Democrats on the coasts are stereotyped with. His interviews pretty much consist of him correcting people’s pronunciation and grammar, or questioning the intelligence of the “hill-jacks” who showed up to watch the match. He insults country music, saying fans only like it because it’s “slow and simple… just like you are.” The problem is Richards lacks muscle tone. And technique. Say what you will about his dirty tactics and the like, but The Iron Sheik was big, menacing, and knew how to wrestle.