No, it’s like getting sucked into a performance and/or a good story, and crying at the end of Field of Dreams, or cheering when the rebels blow up the Death Star.
What is it about wrestling that gets such a pole up some people’s ass (hey, speaking of homoeroticism!)?
I’ve got no problem with wrestling, although I don’t enjoy watching it. And of course everyone knows it’s fake.
But I did find it jarring that news reports about Benoit reported his ‘titles’ as if they were something real, referring to him as a “one time world champion”, or “the past holder of several titles.”
Isn’t that kind of like writing an article about Bruce Willis and saying, “Willis, who once saved New York from terrorists and has been known to carry a .45 automatic, which he uses to shoot criminals, said…”
I can understand WWE wanting to maintain the fiction of a competition for storyline purposes, but why do articles about these wrestlers always seem to describe their ‘titles’ straight? I would think the the article should have said something like, “Benoit, who as a WWE wrestler played a champion who ‘won’ a world title”…
Because it shows their status in the company, I imagine.
Who is credited with playing the lead in The Scorpion King (2002), Dwayne Johnson or “The Rock”?
I’ve always thought it was like good dinner theatre.
Oh baloney. Sacha Baron Cohen is usually in character, and The Rock does lots of interviews as himself, as do some of the oldsters like Hulk Hogan.
Yup. That’s about right. The whole “fight” might be a load of BS, but the athleticism required to do a lot of that sh-- uh… “crap” – is still pretty impressive.
I tuned in while channel surfing for the first time since the 80s (back when Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, and my personal favorite, the head-butting Junkyard Dog used to “fight,” while Captain Lou Albano and Cyndi Lauper were running around on the sidelines). All I could think was “Holy crap!” because the acrobatics required of these new 300 lbs guys was incredible.
Fighting = fake. Rivalries = fake. Soap opera crap = fake. But I suppose there is a certain kind of panache and showmanship involved in lifiting a huge 'roided up dude over your head and making it look like you’re bouncing the 300 lbs muscleman off his head (without actuually hurting him), while still looking like a badass superhero.
It’s a load of crap to me, but I can understand that those who do it well have got some pizzazz.
I loved wrestling when I was younger (showing my age: Hulk Hogan, Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, the Hart Foundation, Macho Man and Elizabeth, all that Rock & Wrestling stuff, etc). Every couple of years I tune in and watch for a few months if the current story isn’t too eye rolling.
I remember when Hulk Hogan would fight the Iron Sheik (or whoever was heel of the week) and get beaten to a pulp. Lying almost lifeless on the mat the fans would cheer louder for Hogan. And, just like when people clap for Tinkerbell, Hogan would revive, Hogan would rise, and Hogan would finish off and pin his opponent. Every. Single. Show.
Of course it’s fake (well, scripted). We all know it. We’ve always known it. But, it can be great fun when you get the right guys with a good story.
Even if someone did believe it was real, what harm is it doing?
I like House and Doctor Who. Some people like reality shows. Others like sitcoms. What’s the difference and why do you care so much?
Actually, in promotional appearances, this do appear in character. That is, if they are appearing to specifically sell an upcoming show or PPV, they’ll stay in character. They do give interviews as themselves, not their characters, too. And sometimes, they’ll slip in and out during the interview. I’m led to believe, through some of these out-of-character interviews, that when they play a character for so long, they start to refer to themselves and each other by the character name - for example, most everyone will call Paul Michael Levesque “Trip” (short for Triple H)
This is mostly true - it was a lot truer 2-3 decades ago. The title usually means that the company is relying on the holder to be the headliner and draw fans. It’s the baton. Back ‘in the day’, the wrestlers had much more say in their character and in their promotion, so being the champion was important and generally the champion could get a bigger piece of the gate. While a champion still has to work hard to stay relevant and on top, WWE handles nearly all of the packaging and promotion.
I care so much, I suppose, because it appears to me that passing itself off as a sport is ridiculous. To be honest, I actually thought the majority of fans BELIEVED it to be a sport until reading this thread. (Ya, I’m the OP.)
It refreshes me to see that you know otherwise. But frankly I’m still perplexed to think that anyone with an IQ over say, 30 could accept steroid-pumped men in speedos pretending to wrestle one another could pass as viable entertainment.
How fucking lame is that?
Because while a wrestler may not actually “win” a title, he certainly earns it. The belts are put on the guys who are selling tickets/pay-per-view buys/driving ratings. How do they do that? Either they have great matches, they give great/funny interviews, or both.
In other words, to be a world champion, a wrestler has to be one of the very best at his job. Does that just make him the best actor/stuntman? Sure. Other actors win awards too; they’re called Oscars, Emmys, and so forth. A championship belt is no different; it’s the company’s way of saying, “you’ve been a top performer”.
The Rock has retired. From wrestling, that is.
And the Killer Bees! They were almost as cool as the Brtish Bulldogs (back when there were two of them).
Actually, when I came across it recently and paused to watch a couple minutes, I was amazed by how much scripted junk there was. Jeebus, shut up already! I remember when Boris What’s-His-Face sang the Soviet National anthem before the big rumble with the ggod-guy of the season. But now they spend most of thier time mugging for the camera, and threatening the other guy, and there are all these long, involved plot lines (or so it seems).
I preferred the simple days of George “The Animal” Steel eating a turnbuckle.
I think that a guy traveling through time and space in a blue police box is the very height of entertainment. That’s certainly lame to a great many people, too.
Take a cold, hard, critical look at what you like. I’m sure there’s something that others would consider lame. We all have them.
(P.S. As far as I can tell, there ain’t a thing wrong with buff guys in speedos pretending to wrestle - you can always hit the “mute” button on the remote 
)
In the same way that I accept a 5’4" Chinese guy dressed in 19th-century peasant garb pretending to beat the living crap out of the evil nobleman’s henchmen to be viable entertainment.
The plotlines in most Jet Li, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films are often as laughably thin as those in the WWE, but they’re still fun as hell to watch.
How fucking lame is that?
I forgot about the Killer Bees! They and Junkyard Dog were my sister’s favorites.
I always went for the “bad guys”. I loved Piper and Brutus Beefcake. Gosh, Rowdy Roddy Piper, when he was good he was good, but when he was bad he was terrific.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts. 'Nuff said.
Leaffan, you’re not looking to be convinced, you’re looking to shit all over something that other people enjoy.
Taste is subjective. I’m sure that there are others that are equally baffled by whatever it is you like.
Let me assume that you ARE being serious, and let me ask you- what do you consider the criteria for valid entertainment to be, and how does professional wrestling, in your opinion, not meet those criteria?
And by the way- I still mark out for Shawn Michaels and probably always will. Hogan used his backstage influence to SCREW my guy at SummeSlam, threatening to refuse to do any more appearances if he wasn’t booked to win. And he won like a fucking chump- kicking out of Sweet Chin Music and using the same old bullshit Five Moves of Doom. Essentially, he used his backstage pull to yank the rug out from under all of Shawn’s promo work.
Fuck Hogan. Stay retired, you bitch, and stop collecting a paycheck at the expense of decent talent and viable storylines.
Besides, when Orton got suspended on the European tour, Michaels held Cena’s hand through an extra 15 minutes of filler time and got more out of Cena than anyone has seen since Cena turned into a low-rent Marky Mark. That’s what’s great about Michaels- you could put him in the ring with a bucket and half the audience would walk away thinking, “Man, that bucket was AWESOME!”
Just because the outcome is predetermined, that doesn’t make it fake.
And a real fan can be savvy about all the stuff that goes on backstage and still unabashedly mark out when it’s warranted.
You watch the first Dudleys/E&C/Hardys TLC match, or Michaels/Razor Ramon (the first Ladder Match) or Steamboat/Savage (the bell-to-the-throat match), or Hogan/Andre (the passing of the torch match) or the Rockers against any jobber team, and you tell me that you NEVER stop and say, “Did you see THAT?”
Why do you think I’m totally marked out for London and Kendrick right now?
I will SUPLEX anyone that says they’re not COOL.
Hell, that’s why I started watching it.
Oh, please. It hasn’t done that in years. It calls itself “sports entertainment” for a reason. You don’t give a tin shit about wrestling, you just want to feel better about yourself by looking down on others, and the Benoit tragedy gave you an excuse.
Precisely.
I cordially invite you all to join me in the Pit. Well, not me, because I’m going to bed. I cordially invite you all to join my post in the Pit.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8724254#post8724254