In Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remake only one trick is being renamed

Like the rest of the gaming world, you’re probably hanging out for the Warehouse demo of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater reboot. If you pre-ordered the remaster, you’ll have access to the hallowed Warehouse until the game’s full release on September 4.

But the ‘mute’ grab? That particular trick and all under the ‘mute’ banner will be renamed. This is in honour of Chris Weddle, the deaf skater who pioneered the trick. So say hello to the ‘Weddle’ grab.

In the upcoming reboot of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, the ‘mute’ grab will be renamed the ‘Weddle’ grab in honour of its creator. Here’s the back story.

On his Instagram page, Tony Hawk offered an explanation. Citing the fact that Weddle was a “quiet, mute guy”, the trick’s name stuck. But in an effort to correct the record and properly distinguish between the deafness and muteness, the trick will take on the name of its creator. Hawk states:

“It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition.”

The photo below shows the ‘Weddle’ grab in all its glory, performed by the creator himself.

 

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For nearly 40 years, we’ve shamelessly referred to this trick as the “mute” air/grab. Here is the backstory: around 1981, a deaf skater and Colton skatepark local named Chris Weddle was a prominent amateur on the competition circuit. The “Indy” air had just been created & named so somebody proposed that grabbing with the front hand should be known as the “Tracker” air. Others countered that Chris was the first to do, so it should be named after him. They referred to him as the “quiet, mute guy.” So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth. In recent years a few people have reached out to Chris (who still skates) about this trick and the name it was given. He has been very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy, as he is hearing impaired but not lacking speech. I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the “deaf” or “Weddle” grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was “I am deaf, not mute.” So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab. It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition. Thanks to @darrick_delao for being a great advocate to the deaf community in action sports, and for being the catalyst in this renaming process. I told Chris tecently and his reply was “I’m so stoked!” And then he shot this photo in celebration yesterday. 📷: @yousta_storytellers_club

A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on Aug 12, 2020 at 8:40am PDT

As for the demo, Activision says, “you’ll be taking part in a classic, no-frills Single Session. You have two minutes – unless you go into Overtime by keeping a combo going past the time limit – to rack up as much score as you can as you explore the Warehouse.”

For all the details on the upcoming Warehouse demo, head over to Activision.