**
Yeah, not exactly the biggest movies, but big enough to make some decent cash.
And that’s before merchandise sales. Good old Steve Austin, though I dislike him, designed all of his own shirts and rakes in the dough with them.
I went from watching it in high school to looking down on it as plebian. but in the last year or so, I’ve found myself watching it again. I tape the shows, and just fast forward over the shouted monologues.
Hell, it’s no worse than my love of cheesy martial arts movies, IMHO.
I don’t get it.
It’s so BAD.
I’ve seen a little of it once
and my thought was,
how can anyone watch this.
And all the cheering and so to it,
I meen it’s fake.
It’s horrible.
Even if you paid me,
I wouldn’t see it.
It stinks.
-You got my picture of it?
-Good.
-Thougth so.
See a good movie instead.
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Of course it is fake, they call it sports entertainment now and talk about the lingo of shoots (real stuff and yes occasionally something real happens, like when a guy hits his opponent too hard and the other guy gets mad and hits back for real).
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It is live (usually) action and the wrestlers are very good athletes (for the most part). They work hard and show up injured a lot, some of them have sustained very bad injuries (ruptured disks, rotator cuff, broken noses, broken bones, etc.) and still come back and do it again.
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While other shows give you 10 - 15 shows for the year and re-runs for the rest of the 35-40 weeks, wrestling is never a re-run and gives you new shows all year long.
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It is the ultimate good vs. evil, though sometimes the lines get a bit blurred (Sting at some points, the Rock before he really became a fan favorite, etc.)
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Parents should not let young children watch this and if their older children begin to imitate the wrestling moves, then they need to have a talk with them.
I figure, I spend the vast majority of my life in the real world. I have to go to work, and drive in traffic, and all the other stuff. So, when I watch movies I like action movies or comedy. I seldom watch dramas and such. I watch wrestling to escape from the regular daily grind.
I also figure I don’t drink or smoke or even get to watch football, so it is my only vice.
Jeffery
Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have posted this in MPSIMS! My original intent was to post it in GD with a title of: “Is WWF Detrimental to Our Children’s Welfare?” Or something like that. 
Remind me never to start a thread here bitching about Jenny Jones, Jerry Springer, or one of those other freaks. I’ll probably be banned from MPSIMS for good!
This whole wrestling thing just slaps me in the face. It is the impossibility of reason. Whenever I see it, my jaw just drops, my brain goes into shock reeling at how any educated person could watch more than 2 seconds of it without their brain melting. I’d rather eat my own face off than watch this garbage. It reminds me of that mentality when I was in the army; That brainwashed, illogical mentality that made me just stand there with a blank face whenever someone would say something that just didn’t compute. Which was all the time. I don’t understand!!! Why? How? How can you watch this?
I know, I know, as has been said before, “Duurrr, well they make a lot of money, George!” or “Uuhhh, well then, don’t watch it if you don’t like it!” I know this, morons!!! And, frankly, I don’t give a crap about all that. I won’t watch it. That’s not the point. The point is, why? Why do you watch? Why not go to the laundromat and watch the clothes tumble around in the dryers? It’s just as entertaining! My problem here is not so much that I can’t take watching it, because I just won’t. My problem is that I just don’t get it. Please, explain this fucking malignant phenomena to me.
Hey yall, just have a beer, smoke a joint, and watch it. It’s fun! You have to watch it for a while to get into the storylines of what’s going on. The first few times I saw it I thought it was dumb. Then my best friend said hey just watch it and you’ll get into it. So I watched it a few times with my friends. We’d pick certain wrestlers. Like I’d be “Big Sexy.” And each of my friends would pick a wrestler. And we’d see if we won! The cool thing about it is it’s live, they sometimes do outrageous stunts, and it is always changing. Week to week sometimes it sucks but sometimes it kicks ass! They don’t have nearly 20 million people watching it a week for nothing!
Remember, Demo, that intelligence has to fit under a bell curve. Half the people have to be on the left side of the curve. Just keep telling yourself, ‘Somebody’s got to build the rockets.’
Case in point.
Life without a little fantasy would be dull indeed (except in a combat zone). The WWF has got to be the greatest soap opera going. And, like any soap opera fan, I keep close track of the story line. Of course, anyone who actually believes that the aggravated assault and battery portrayed on screen is for real needs to have a reality check, hopefully done by a professional.
I agree, though that the language could be cleaned up a little, even though it’s nothing the kids don’t hear all through their day to day lives.
Not that it really matters, but I feel that my intelligence has been called into question.
I have a BS in Computer Science
I have an MBA in Management
I have shown (for the most part) to be an intelligent poster.
I am not a redneck. I am not trailer trash. I am not a hick. I am not a moron. I am a well educated young man (30).
Why do I watch wrestling? First, I started back when I was young watching it with my father. (BTW, he has a BS in Chemistry and a Masters in Biology and was a high school teacher for 30 years, so no dummy there either).
I watch it because it is non-stop excitement. There are guys who run in and hit someone else with a chair during a match. There is always something happening. I like the high flying manuevers. I like the slams, the smacks, the thrills.
It is escapism.
Why do you like a play? Why do you like a TV show like Law and Order? Why do you like anything?
We all have different likes and dislikes. If we all liked the same thing it would indeed be a dull place.
Jeffery
It’s amazing how much fun you can have MST3K’ing professional wrestling.
And it’s easy, too!
To me, it’s live action comic books crossed with The Three Stooges. And some of the stunts are amazing.
Professional Wrestling.
It’s like a soap opera for men.
But more fun.
I don’t expect deep meaning from an action movie, but I still enjoy them from time to time. I am not a Pro-Wrestling Fan, but I enjoy it more because a friend of mine is a Pro-Wrestler. It gave me a new perspective of Pro-Wrestling. I don’t think Pro-Wrestling is a sport, but the wrestlers are definately athletes. Jumping, running and acrobatic stuff like that will wear you out!
Another odd thing about wrestling is…
The people who say it’s fake say it’s fake for the same reasons that the wrestlers say it’s real. I found this amusing.
Its shallow, rediculous, and that’s why it is so popular.
I can understand why people don’t like it though.
We wrestling fans aren’t dummies. We got the PTC, the WWF’s perennial censor, to shut down their own sponsor page, after we found out that they were getting money from WWF merchandise.
I would bet that today no more people believe that wrestling is real than believe soap operas are real. That doesn’t mean you can’t get worked up if Erica has to have the operation on your soap, or if Triple H becomes a face (fan favorite) because his wife starts hanging out with another wrestler on Smackdown.
My recommendation for enjoying pro wrestling is to root for the villains. Cheer when they do their treacherous acts. Applaud when they cheat. Whoop it up for their nefarious managers and valets. Champion those who promote adultry, backstabbing, enforced value systems, rulebreaking, and all other vices. Boo heartily when the villain gets his/her comeuppance. Hold a party and have friends over cheering just as mightily for the heros.
I had a great time cheering the Undertaker when he was leading his Ministry of Darkness and actually crucifying Stone Cold Steve Austin at the end of one episode of RAW and embalming a wrestler on another. I’m enjoying just as much now booing his annoyingly popular "American Bad-Ass’ persona --and pray that Kane will turn on him for revenge on the fire that killed their parents so long ago!
It’s OK to hate wrestling, Democritus. Just don’t let yourself watch it a few more times or you may find your very intelligent self getting involved in the bizarre characters, ridiculous plots, and talented moves that make wrestling less a plebian TV show, and more a satirical modern morality play.
And, pro wrestling is great training for aspiring politicians.
Count me in as another wrestling fan here. As a matter of fact, I vaguely qualify as what people on the Net call a “smart mark.” In other words, a fan who knows a lot about the behind-the-scenes politics.
One point I must make: wrestling is a mock-sport, and the matches have a predetermined outcome. Furthermore, the guys go to great lengths to avoid injuring their opponents. However, it is not “fake.” The term “fake” implies that these men don’t hurt themselves. As someone who’s spent a bit of time in rings (not professionally), let me assure you that a guy will be much more sore and tired after a 10 minute wrestling match than after an hour and a half football game.
Furthermore, one cannot make a good assessment of professional wrestling without watching a Pay Per View event. That’s where these guys put it on the line. That’s where Mick Foley took a 25 foot fall from a cage twice in a row. That’s where Jeff Hardy will do a Swanton Bomb from a 20 foot platform, onto another body lying on a table. Sure, these guys know who’s going to win before the match even starts, but to dismiss the daredevil acts they perform day after day as “fake” is wildly inaccurate, and quite ignorant.
Now if it’s not your proverbial cup of tea, switch the channel. Nobody ever said pro-wrestling was intelligent or highbrow stuff. I just don’t think that a person should be portrayed as an idiot for finding this mock-sport entertaining.
My ex-roommate was a hardcore wrestling fan - he watches everything even the smaller wrestling organizations - and let me say that the athleticism in the ECW is simply amazing. Still not “real” (though the potential for serious injury increases dramatically), but highly entertaining, much like the kung fu flicks that I believe someone else mentioned before.
As for the whole high/low browness of it, check out Roland Barthes’ essay on wrestling. It’s the first essay in his book Mythologies though I’m sure it’s been printed elsewhere.
The day I read about “Pro Wrestling” in my sports section will be the day I give up reading the sports section.
I could not agree more with the OP.
But…but…
Oh, man!
What about Superman, though? Please don’t tell me that’s fake!
There seems to be a stigma around the word “fake” as it applies to wrestling.
Actually, I’m pretty sure that the term “fake” means that wrestling is a mock-sport, and the matches have a predetermined outcome.
I am not a great fan of wrestling. That is, I don’t know many of the characters or story lines (it’s all gone down hill since the days of Chief Jay Strongbow anyway). But I do think it’s hilarious to watch. I will stand behind your right to watch it and enjoy it until the day I die. But make no mistake. It’s fake. I, for one, am glad it’s fake. If it wasn’t, the shit these guys “do” to each other would result in about three or four fatalities a show.