Yeah, I heard the Benoit story and read part of the thread.
Tragic? Absolutely.
What I don’t get is all the posts from people stating that Benoit was one of your favourites, and that he was phenomenal to watch, etc. Ummm, we’re talking about a fake “sport” here. There’s nothing remotely real about it. Does it take some athleticism? Sure. But it’s a farce. It’s phony. In fact it sucks so badly I can’t watch more than 3 seconds of it without wanting to pour bleach into my eyeballs.
So, tell me, what is it about fake, staged, predictable, over-the-top, silly, badly acted, embarrassingly inane so-called “wrestling” that is even remotely watchable?
This might be almost pit-worthy, but seriously how can you watch this crap?
It’s the male version of a soap opera. I don’t actually watch it, but my BF does and that is essentially how he explains. Well that and a number of the guys are pretty hot.
He obviously doesn’t mean fake as in there aren’t actually two guys in the ring, it’s two cardboard cutouts. It’s fake in that they aren’t trying to hurt each other or even compete with each other.
So are you saying the only thing people are interested in watching is competition and people actually trying to hurt each other? That doesn’t make sense. I watch plenty of choreographed and scripted events - ballet, modern dance, musicals, most of television - and I like it a lot. It doesn’t bother me that Sarah Michelle Gellar isn’t really trying to kill James Marsters - why should this be different? I accept that “Buffy” is trying to kill “Spike” (or sleep with him, or whatever) in the story, and it doesn’t matter that the actors themselves are not homicidal.
Just take it out of that “sports” category in your head and put it into “theater”. These are incredibly athletic actors who do their own stunts in front of a live audience. It’s just marketed as sports because “they” think their target audience - young men - won’t watch something marketed as performance art.
Hey, that was my idea! Take traditional male storytelling (good guys vs. bad guys) and ideals (loyalty, self-reliance) and create an open-ended saga where those things are paramount and everything else shrinks to insignifigance.
I don’t watch wrestling, but if someone else knows what they’re getting and still enjoys it, I don’t see the problem.
If you watched more than three seconds, you might bring intelligent insight to the conversation. Are you of the opinion that people believe the outcome is actually determined in the ring? If so, disabuse yourself of that notion; the stupid people are the ones who think fans believe the outcomes aren’t scripted, not the fans who enjoy the show for what it is. And for the record, it takes remarkable athleticism to do what they do, even from the ‘out of shape’ ones. They do tell stories in the ring, and Benoit was one of the best at that.
As for shows which cause one to pour bleach into one’s eyeballs, do you enjoy any of the following:
American Idol (or any contest show)
Survivor (or any reality show)
Any Judge Judy type show?
CSI
Grey’s Anatomy
most sitcoms?
All these cause the same effect in me, yet despite the constant threads on all of them, I don’t question others’ tastes. You like what you like, you dislike what you dislike, you shouldn’t have to defend your likes to anyone else, nor should you ask someone to defend their likes to you, especially in such a condescending manner. Come back when all you watch is Nova and The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS - then you might have a leg to stand on.
None of which is a SPORT. None of them are a competition.
They don’t have an awards ceremony and the end of the symphony. The Nutcracker Prince doesn’t get a championship belt at the end of the ballet because he defeated the King of the Mice.
Yeah, I know…but I still don’t see how that makes it totally fake? Some could say the same about boxing.
Sure the outcomes are planned, but again, how does anyone know that isn’t the case with some other sports? As far as I know/can tell, the only thing about professional wrestling that’s fake is that the results and storylines are pre-written. So yeah, I agree it’s like a soap opera. And I do agree it’s not a REAL sport. But I wouldn’t go as far as to describe it as the OP did.
I really don’t get Soap Operas. Ummm, we’re talking about a fake “life” here. There’s nothing remotely real about it. Does it take some pretty actors/actresses? Sure. But it’s a farce. It’s phony. In fact it sucks so badly I can’t watch more than 3 seconds of it without wanting to pour bleach into my eyeballs.
So, tell me, what is it about fake, staged, predictable, over-the-top, silly, badly acted, embarrassingly inane so-called “entertainment” that is even remotely watchable?
This might be almost pit-worthy, but seriously how can you watch this crap?
Insert the TV genre of your choice that you don’t like. It’s a TV show that has a huge following (not me included) that makes money for the network. If people watch it, the network will play it.
Do you have favorite actors? Because that’s what good wrestlers are, good actors who also happen to be gifted athletes. You have to appreciate the style in the genre; you wouldn’t judge a kabuki actor in terms of comedy improv. Wrestling is its own genre of acting and some wrestlers (or managers or announcers) are better at taking a scripted play and bringing life to it.
It’s pretty simple, actually. I don’t have to like a genre of entertainment to understand that some people are better at it then others.
I grew up watching Championship Wrestling from Florida. Although it was scripted, there were definitely real wrestling moves and the matches could easily go on for 20-40 minutes. I enjoyed watch the athletics of the moves and the technical wrestling; there was some soap opera elements, but they weren’t the primary focus.
Now it seems like every match ends in about 5 minutes, after about 15 minutes of introduction/music/light show. Yes, there is a lot of athleticism in some of the moves – flying off the top rope, flipping people out of the ring – but to me it’s not wrasslin’. That’s why I lost interest years ago.
