Actually, good wrestlers are terrible, hammy, scenery chewing actors who also happen to be gifted athletes. 
It’s a fucking performance. Not only that, it’s a performance that requires the performers to put their bodies at substantial risk because The Show Must Go On. What the hell’s so hard about that to understand?
Wow, what a condescending OP. I don’t actually watch wrestling because I think it’s silly. Not any sillyier than the silly stuff I watch, but not my cup of tea. However, I’m bright enough to realize that the reason people watch wrestling is because they find it entertaining. Really, what answer were you expecting? They watch it because Mr. McMahon pays them to?
However, Rocky Balboa does go home with the Championship belt when he beats Apollo Creed in the second film.
That pro wrestling’s storyline is ongoing doesn’t make their fake championship any more fake than Rocky’s fake championship.
Also, is anyone else amused that the word in the title in scare quotes is the one that’s undeniable? These men (and some women) are quite definitely getting payed for this. They are professionals. (Not all of them are terribly professional professionals, of course, but still…) Ain’t no amateurs in the promotion.
I wish he would! I know way more about the sports entertainment industry and WWE in particular than I ever wished to. It’s all my BF’s fault, but if Vince would be willing to pony up some cash I wouldn’t turn it down.
…jesus christ. Wrestling has been out of the closet for over a decade now folks. You are not enlightening ANYONE, other than a 4 year old, that the matches are predetermined.
It’s theater. It’s a specatcle. It’s meant to be an immersive experience.
Operas are fake, staged, predictable, over-the-top, silly, badly acted, and embarrassingly inane. This is considered high-art? With all due respect, fuck that. It’s to be take seriously because they can sing?
The wrestlers are (for the most part) talented athletes. Do you see what these guys do? In most cases every night. Just because they know how to take a body slam or a plancha or a lariat or a german suplex or a ‘falcon and arrow’ or a frogsplash without getting killed- or that they know how to give a body slam or a plancha or a lariat or a german suplex or a ‘falcon and arrow’ or a frogsplash without killing someone- doesn’t mean what they do is “fake”.
Specifically about Benoit… I loved watching that man. He was the guy who made me forget that wrestling was “fake”. He sold every move, he had the intensity that made you believe he was out there really fighting. With him it really seemed to be a life and death scenario.
AFAIK, no one’s calling it a sport except the people dogging it. It’s sports entertainment, per the WWE itself. It’s scripted athleticism. Not everyone can act, not everyone can perform the physical maneuvers wrestlers do. The wrestling “superstars” can do both-- your opinion of “good acting” notwithstanding.
I need to give you that one…
Actually, in an uninspired defense, I will note that wrestlers play more often to the live audience, and most of what they do is designed so that even those in the farthest seats understand the story being told in the ring.
Good gods, it would take money straight out of Vinnie Mac’s pocket to get me to watch recently. I haven’t been able to stomach the storyline since…hrm, the WWF/WCW merger, I think. Sometime not long after Stephanie and HHH’s wedding, and her resultant heel turn, anyway.
Don’t worry. I hear the Sugarplum Fairy has an even shot of taking them both out with a folding chair!
-Joe
:smack: So sorry. I meant to reply to the OP, not to you, but yours was the last post at the time and I hit the wrong button.
Sure, and after the movie we don’t see interviews with Sly Stallone and Carl Weathers talking shit about how they’re going to GET EACH OTHER AND PROVE THAT THEY’RE THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR!
Still, it’s a silly subject and I’m not going to bother arguing.
-Joe
With all due respect, you can’t be f’ing serious. Forget it was FAKE? That’s like saying you forgot the horses in the merry go round in the amusement park were fake.
I think the appeal of wrestling is that it is the most manly form of homoeroticism.
And?
Films end once the credits roll. Wrestling storylines don’t. That’s the nature of the show. Film actors don’t do promotional appearances in character. Wrestlers don’t do out of character promotional appearances - they continue the storyline whenever they’re appearing as part of their promotion - save in cases like Monday’s tribute to Chris Benoit, or the similar tribute to Owen Hart after his death.
You still haven’t given any reason why this is any different save for scale.
Yep, you nailed it. Guess I’ll come out of the closet now. Boy, do I feel better.
By the way, are the scantily clad women featured on every show there to entice lesbians? Just curious, that’s all.
Naturally, everyone knows that lesbians are drawn to bra and panties matches.
So, when I watch those matches, that’s actually revulsion I’m experiencing. Wow, all these years I had it backwards.
Sounds like some ignorance has been fought today! 
Wrestling is the closest there is to live-action Comic Books.
Regular guys, day to day guys, with alter ego’s who, at night, dress up in costumes to battle each other… some for good, some for eeevil.
They possess strength far greater than normal men.
They can endure incredible punishment.
When watching some of them, you could believe a man could fly.
This hasn’t been true in over a decade. You’ll even hear a lot of wrestlers refer to “their character” in interviews. Not themselves.