CODY RHODES VS ROMAN REIGNS: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 02APR23

I got a head full of ideas that are drivin' me insane.

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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Well, I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them.

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Real Quick: What happened to Gisele Shaw at WrestleCon Friday night is unacceptable. I don’t know her personally, but as an openly queer person I recognize that we have to call out bigotry when it happens and to make sure we’re seen as human beings. She’s a star on the rise and will only shine brighter.

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WORDS  

I made this painting of Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reigns to highlight the feeling of these two top superstars colliding at WrestleMania 39! I used a fiery color palette to give that explosive feel of these two finally coming to blows and then kept a diagonal set of brushstrokes throughout the composition to take it to the next level.

This painting was obviously made before the match, at the time I’m writing this I don’t know the outcome, but I view Cody as the biggest threat Roman has faced so far. I use the ‘Brock Lesnar on a Tractor’ scale for opponents: Roman overcame Brock on a tractor, so it needs to be someone even tougher. And Cody? Cody clean-swept Seth Rollins in three matches, someone Roman has no clean victories over, and did the last one with a torn pectoral muscle inside of a Hell in a Cell match. That passes the Brock on a Tractor Test for me.

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ICYMI, here's last week's Canvas 2 Canvas episode. Tomorrow's episode will go up on WWE's YouTube channel at 11AM CST!

UPCOMING VIDEOS  

• I’m waiting to see what comes from both nights of WrestleMania and Monday’s Raw. But if Randy Orton comes back it’s probably him.

Card subject to change.

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HEADS UP: The prices on my prints at Schamberger Labs will be going up by $5 in the next few weeks. Real-world cost-of-doing-business stuff is making that happen. I put it off probably longer than I should have but here we are. Thanks for your continued support of the arts!

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Hundreds of prints and paintings at Schamberger Labs!
Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Signed prints at WWE Auction.
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Instagram
YouTube

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WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK

Katy and I finished up Your Honor Season One a few days ago and are a few episodes in on season two now. It’s a pitch-perfect noir story of a bad decision and a crime that sets off a series of horrible events. The cast, led by Bryan Cranston is one of the most perfect ensembles in years full of incredible noted character actors. Although I have to say that I can’t stop picturing Richard Kind as Jimmy Baxter, as Michael Stuhlbarg kinda sorta looks and has similar mannerisms and I really want that version some day.

Batman: The Detective by Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert took me by surprise, which is funny considering how much I enjoy both of their works. It’s a story of an older Batman, not quite to Dark Knight Returns/ Batman Beyond territory, but a Bruce Wayne whose body is slowing down and whose past is catching up with him. Someone is killing everyone he ever saved and he has to race against time to find out who, why, and what their next targets are. Kubert, along with inker Sandra Hope delivers some show-stopping visuals that I’ll be thinking about for a while.

The new season of the podcast You Must Remember This, Erotic 90’s started this week. It’s a look at sex and sexuality in the movies of that decade and their place in American culture as a whole. I absolutely loved the last season that focused on the 80’s and I’m sure that host Karina Longworth will bring her same level of entertainment, enlightenment and wit with this new batch of episodes.

A new episode of the podcast Hardcore History Addendum dropped called The Long View and it’s fantastic. Host Dan Carlin tries to take a lot of our current issues and places them in the long view of recorded (and even unrecorded) human history. He makes some fascinating ideas and connections and I found it to be a must-listen.

Katy and I are super excited about Succession Season Four starting up last Sunday. I got her into the show last season and we’re all in for this final run. Once I got that it’s a comedy presented as a drama I fell for the show.

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Pro wrestling just happens sometimes.

YOU GOOD?  

Katy and I were purposeful this week about being as kind to ourselves as possible. There’s a lot to feel about not being a part of WrestleMania this year and we gave ourselves the space to feel those things, but tempered it all with self-care and caring for one another.

Tuesday night we had an impromptu date night and had a tremendous Italian dinner at a nearby place we’d never been before, and had another fun night out on Thursday for dinner, drinks and unexpected wrestling-themed trivia. One of the answers was Ultimo Dragon!

Work-wise, I finished up this week’s painting and then finally read over Jason Arnett’s draft for our next book ‘War in Vain’. I’ve been the bottleneck on getting this out, which I feel lousy about and it was one of the deciders for slowing down my pace of paintings. I may or may not be more involved as a writer on this one, we’ll see, but I spent the day Thursday doing a pass at a few chapters. It’s a bad-ass action epic set in the too-near future that is one of the most intense page-turners I’ve personally read. I’m amazed at the work Jason’s done on this.

I also had a meeting and a flurry of emails around Top Secret Project: Codename Sabotage. It’s going to take a little longer than I had anticipated but we’re doing all of this right and sometimes that takes the time it needs to take. Having this going on this week especially did a lot to improve the state of my emotional health, I gotta say. It’s such a huge thing that will get so much bigger as it goes.

I’ve also been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation season two while working this week and I think there should be more Dr Pulaski love out there. Great character.

Love you more,
Rob

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EXCLUSIVE PAID SUBSCRIBER CONTENT

Paid subscribers this week will get an exclusive 25% off discount code for prints, upcoming signed print releases at WWE Auction, 24 hour early access to the ORIGINAL CODY RHODES VS ROMAN REIGNS PAINTING and access to the exclusive chat. WE ARE GO FOR PAYWALL.