[Spoiler: 7.4] List of wrestling references in The Arcadion

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Brace yourselves for a long post. I made one like this around a year ago, but back then it was a lot more speculative as we hadn't seen the final tier. Disclaimer that we ultimately have no official confirmation of anything regarding this storyline's allusions, so take every entry here with a grain of salt. This is every pro wrestling reference I could come up with in the Arcadion storyline, organized in mostly chronological order:

Arcadion:​

• The name of the promotion is Ascension Arcadia, also known as AAC. Most large wrestling promotions also use their acronyms much more frequently than their full names (WWE, AEW, TNA, NJPW, ROH, TJPW, etc.)
• The division between heavyweight and cruiserweight (or colloquially upper and mid card) is accurate to real wrestling, although real wrestlers are primarily divided based on the needs of the storyline, and not their actual weight. A tier lower than cruiserweight does exist but very rarely has actually important titles, it's seen as the realm of comedy wrestlers. The actual third division in most promotions is the tag team division, FFXIV simply had to split the raids into three parts for gameplay.
• Metem's cowboy aesthetic is an overt reference to Jim Ross, the most famous commentator in wrestling
• Feral Souls are a reference to steroids. They are performance enhancers that gradually erode and kill their user, pretty straightforward. Many wrestlers in large promotions turn to steroids as a way to cope with barely having time to diet and work out properly in between almost daily work and travel.

M1: Black Cat​

• Yaana, Neyuni and Eutrope are the owners of the "Tri-tails gym", a reference to the Triple Tails indie joshi wrestling stable, of Io Shirai (nka. IYO SKY), Kana (nka. Asuka), and Mio Shirai. The fact that only two of them actually fight could be a reference to Io Shirai's departure early on in the stable's history, leaving it as a tag team
• After the fight, and after most subsequent fights, the ref bots can be seen checking up on the fallen fighter, verifying if they're conscious enough to continue the match. Knockout wins are fairly rare in wrestling, with most coming from either pin or submission, although the format of FFXIV raids lends itself to knockouts better.

M2: Honey B. Lovely​

• Overall aesthetics are pretty emblematic of Joshi wrestling in general, particularly Stardom's cutesy princess vibes, but her idol/influencer gimmick is likely a reference to Maki Itoh.

M3/7: Brute Bomber​

• Most likely candidate is Stan Hansen. Arguably the most popular American wrestler working in Japan in the 80s, and was famous for his Lariat finisher. I tried looking up the Japanese VO but they don't reference the iconic "LARIATOOOOO" callouts whenever he did them.
• Another candidate could be Hulk Hogan. During his time in New Japan, he also used a Lariat finisher, known as the Axe Bomber. I initially believed it was Hogan because of the feral soul/steroid comparison, but tier 3 wound down with that metaphor so I'm now more confident he's Hansen
• Knocking out the ref and cheating behind their back is classic heel (villain) wrestling, he later even admits it was a staged spot
• Brute Abominator's 'death', both from unsafe working conditions and from overloading with feral souls sadly has many real world parallels. Most famously names like Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Crash Holly, among others
• Brute Abominator's theme lists off a lot of wrestling moves rapid-fire, too many to list in one entry. Most are generic, but some more notable ones are FTR's Shatter Machine, Sgt. Slaughter's Cobra Clutch, and AJ Styles' Calf Crusher.

M4: Wicked Thunder​

• Continuing the reference from Black Cat, the Shirai sisters' name translates to "Purple thunder"
• The match itself is what's called an "unsanctioned match", these are dangerous matches with virtually no rules that the promotion itself wants to clean their hands of (in-storyline), only providing a referee to count pinfall or submission.
• Her style of fighting desperately as her body is physically failing her is a somewhat common in-ring story, particularly in the Japanese style of wrestling (most famously Omega/Okada at Dominion in 2017, potentially even an intentional reference considering Omega is a FF nerd and has worked with Soken, but unlikely)

M5: Dancing Green​

• Disco Inferno. He's Disco Inferno. Literally has a mechanic named Disco Infernal.'
• He's the first proper introduction of gimmicks, the personas and characters wrestlers embody. His gimmick being so different to who he is that it causes mental health issues is a fairly regular occurrence (e.g. Cody Rhodes becoming an alcoholic from his Stardust gimmick) but it's not a reference to anyone specific.

M6: Sugar Riot​

• Much as I'd like to joke her cringy music is a reference to def rebel, I'm really struggling to come up with anything

M8: Howling Blade​

• His arc with Bomber introduces the audience to the concept of faces and heels, or good guys and bad guys. They're heavily discouraged from being seen on good terms in public, to keep the feud as believable as possible.
• Visually very similar to Cody Rhodes, with the bleached hair and the white/blue ring gear, but most of his inspiration comes from the Japanese "lone swordsman" archetype, and not wrestling per se.

M9: Vamp Fatale​

• Most obvious parallel would likely be Rhea Ripley, the most famous female wrestler in the world, with a similar goth aesthetic, as well as dominance and sexuality being a big part of Ripley's wrestling style during her times as a heel.
• Her use of TV and social media to build feuds is very common in modern American wrestling

M10: The Xtremes:​

• Name is a reference to Team Xtreme, or the Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy), arguably the most famous tag team in wrestling.
• The surfer gimmick and tribal tattoos are a reference to Samoan culture, which produced world-famous wrestlers like The Rock and Samoa Joe.
• Fun fact, it's not a tag match, it's a handicap (2v1 or 8v2 depending on how you choose to look at it). The tag structure falling apart as both of them inevitably end up in the ring is poking fun at how a majority of tag matches similarly devolve into chaos.

M11: The Tyrant:​

• He's Shawn Michaels. His design is remarkably similar, his position as the heavyweight champion is synonymous with Michaels, and one of his mechanics is the Heartbreak Kick, a reference to Michaels' moniker of the Heartbreak Kid (who has arguably the most famous kick move in wrestling)
• Smashdown is a reference to WWE Smackdown, their weekly Friday night show.
• Raw steel is a reference to WWE RAW, the Monday night show
• Immortal Reign is a reference to Hulk Hogan, his nickname of "The Immortal One" (lol) and having one of the longest WWF title reigns
• Void Stardust is most likely a reference to Cody Rhodes' Stardust gimmick, seeing as how this entire fight is purely WWF/E references, although the word "star" also appears a lot in Japanese wrestling
• His theme ends with the line "And go back to sleep" which could potentially reference CM Punk's famous finisher, the GTS (go to sleep)

M12: Lindwurm​

• The ultimate villain of the arc being the company's president is a reference to Vince McMahon, former president of the WWE, who similarly positioned himself as the main villain during the Attitude Era against Stone Cold Steve Austin, and was the direct reason for many of the unsafe practices that led to the premature deaths of wrestlers. (Or at least he was until the finale revealed him as a good guy all along and cured all the fighters of nekrosis, still mad about that)
• Getting back up after taking devastating offense is a very common in-ring storytelling tool, most famously in the form of the Undertaker's sit-up.
• He is finished off with a dropkick, a move synonymous with professional wrestling

That's all the references I could come up with personally. I'd love to hear any more from any other wrestling fans in the community. And again, all of these are ultimately speculation until we find out exactly what the writers intended to reference.

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