But his article only reinforces the obivious–you can’t stomp a guy’s face
and drop him on his head without drawing blood and breaking his spinal chord.
So, now that we intelligent, sophisticated dopers all agree on the details–what about the 50 million suckers who still watch it?
Do they honestly think those big hulks are showing physical prowess and actually hitting each other. ?
Or am I the only geek who doesn’t get it–the whole crowd is there because they know it’s a sham, ,but it fits their definition of fun?
Not only do all people who watch wrestling know that its fake, but many of the wrestlers themselves publicly talk about how it is acting and not fighting. Its not like a big secret at all, wrestling is entertainment that involves storylines and acting in addition to the matches. Its fake just like sitcoms and soap operas are fake, which is why I dont understand why people always attack wrestling for being fake. Would you watch if it were real? Or is it just that all programming that you watch on television is reality based and you cant have any acting?
Longer answer, I’m a fan. I also not that they’re not really beat the stuffing out of each other. I also know that whilst people aren’t being dropped on their head the physical strength is still there and the skill is making it look convincing. Of course it is dangerous, things go wrong, people get hurt, the blood is normally real, and wrestlers are sore after a match. That’s why fans and wrestlers get upset when people say ‘not real’ or ‘fake’. I say this from a position of no experience, IANAW I have just read a lot of stuff by and about pro. wrestlers.
So why am I a fan – why do I watch ? Because I admire the skill of the wrestlers both to wrestle and to work a crowd, I admire the strength and also the imagination to come up with some impressive looking stuff that’s still reasonably safe.
When watching I don’t really worry about the pre-arranged aspect and in a particularly good match I’d forget altogether. It’s all about watching and rooting for your favorites and occassionally going Holy Shit when they do something stunning.
Just my 2c, hope that helps. There are several wrestling threads in the pit and MPSIMS that go back and forth between fans and non-fans and inbetweeners.
No offense to you personally but that is a really stupid question. Pro wrestling hasn’t marketed itself as a true sport for a decade or so… they make no bones about their profession being any more real than any other TV show or movie. Do movie fans know that Leo didn’t really drown when the Titanic sank or that Vader really isn’t Luke’s father?
With that being said, there are still some fans that still believe it’s legitimate but those are the same people that would believe that we never walked on the moon; Elvis isn’t dead; and the Blair Witch Project was a real documentary.
“Cecil’s Mailbag” columns are written by members of the SD Science Advisory Board, not by Cecil himself. But I’m sure he’ll forgive you this once.
As for wrestling, they’re not fooling anyone. Mainly because they’re not trying to. I have to recommend Mick Foley’s book. It’s a no-bullshit autobiography published shortly before his retirement. Quite worthwhile, and a good, educational read if one has an open mind about pro wrestling.
Sure, there are still marks out there who believe that nothing is choreographed. Of course, a lot of people don’t have the firsthand experience necessary to know that a properly-thrown punch can break a person’s nose, and some of the unprotected bumps taken in Japan show that with the proper conditioning it’s absolutely possible to land on your head without breaking your neck, provided you know that you’re about to take that particular fall. (See, among others, Kenta Kobashi’s Burning Hammer.)
But me? I watch because professional wrestling, at its best, is two people who using their athletic ability and emotion to tell an interesting story. It’s been bad in the States lately, but when in doubt I can always watch some of the matches from Japan in the 1990s, and I’m still blown away by some of them. Professional wrestling isn’t meant to be seen as a competition anymore, but as an art form.
Robert de Niro didn´t kill anybody in “Taxi Driver” but it is such a good film. I used to watch wrestling and I knew it was fake, but it didn´t make it less fun. As all things if you don´t like, just don´t like, and if you do, you do. That´s all. i don´t think anybody over twelve years old could think wrestling is for real, still I find it funny. It´s like… uh… MTV´s Music Awards, it´s fake, but it´s funny to watch.
I have spent a lot of time stuck on oil rigs with folks who control the tv and like the “redneck soap opera”, I understand the attraction of watching someone getting smacked upside the head with a chair, my problem with “wrassling” is that there is way too much soap opera between chair smackin’s and the badly written soap opera puts me to sleep.
besides, these modern wrasslers don’t hold a candle to “el Santo”
My sister started watching it when she was four years old, and she knew it was fake even then. At least, she knew it within a couple of months when our brother (then aged six) told her so.
Later, she’d say this about pro wrestling: “It’s so funny, it’s fake! I got my like of it from my great-grandmother, too.”
Oops… the first part of the above quote from my sister should read: “It’s so fake, it’s funny!” Transposed the words there for some reason… the heat is zapping all of my available brainpower.
My first wrestling match, 1983: I was dismayed and a little frightened at how passionate the fans were, how they acted like this wrestling match was a genuine sporting event—some people were betting on the outcome of these matches!
Then Jesse “The Body” Ventura, future Gov. material, waltzed by in pink tights. God bless my brother and his front row tickets!
I laughed so hard I nearly ruptured something, earning me a raised eyebrow from Mr. Ventura. Some fans are aware, some aren’t.
The majority of fans know that the ending of the match is predetermined - go to any wrestling message board and search on the term “booking”.
The action is choregraphed to a certain extent - depending on the people involved, the entire match can be sketched out or just winged up to the finish.
As for the injuries, there are some real ones. Sabu broke his neck during a match with Chris Benoit. Rob Van Dam broke his leg during a match, as did Sid Vicious. As for Mick Foley, here’s a list of his various war wounds.
I think that perhaps some people watch it for the same reason they watch auto racing, not because they enjoy the show/sport so much as they’re hoping for some blood and gore.
I seem to recall a while back some wrestler falling to his death… or was that just a pre-arranged stunt for ratings and publicity?
Just as a side note - if you ever find yourself on a wrestling message board, you should know that wrestling fans are VERY sensitive about Owen’s death.
He was considered one of the best workers in the business, but more than that, the workers loved him. Mick Foley, in the book mentioned above, speaks at great length about how much he loved Owen. Add to that the fact that a lot of fans feel that Owen was being deliberately misused after the controversy and subsequent cutting of ties between Bret Hart and WWF (WWE) owner Vince McMahon - Owen was being used in a silly superhero gimmick, for example, and wasn’t being ‘pushed’ up the card - and the fans often consider anyone who asks about the Owen incident a troll.
