In defense of: Pro Wrestling
For many, the following diatribe will be considered old hat; for others, it might be less so. But continuing with the theme of my post last week on music, I will now state unequivocally that I am today a fan of professional wrestling and have been for more than 2/3 of my lifetime.
It's not a particularly cool or hip thing to admit, especially now that wrestling is considered to have cooled significantly since reaching new peaks during the late 90s. Even during that time, when wrestlers like Steve Austin and the Rock and groups like the NWO and DX were making it cool to be a wrestling fan again, I still was subject to abuse from those who just didn't get it. Quite amazing that one form of entertainment could be considered of a "lesser" quality than all the others. But why? Take two recent storylines, one wrestling, one not:
a) an long sufferring team overcomes their past to finally accomplish what was considered impossible, beating their hated rivals in the process.
b) a long sufferring individual overcomes his past to finally accomplish what was considered impossible, beating the company's favorite in the process.
Actually, I cheated a bit since the second scenario is really the storyline for two separate wrestlers, Eddie Guererro and Chris Benoit. The first storyline is obviously the Red Sox. Very similar stories, different responses. For the former, books, movies and an endless stream print/tv/internet media has been used to retell this story. For the latter, little to nothing was made of either accomplishment outside the wrestling community. Why? Because wrestling is not considered a sport. Not only that, it's not even considered decent entertainment.
The reasons for this come down to these points:
1) It's predetermined: Now that wrestling openly admits this, it's become the chief knock against it. How can anyone enjoy something that has no real competition in it?
Well, baseball has 30 teams. At most, ten of them have a legitimate chance of winning a title any given season. Realistically, the number is closer to five. So basically, those teams have a 20% shot of winning a title. Sure, they have to actually play a whole season (which is twice as long as any other season and is full of a mind-numbing amount of boring games). But is that REALLY competition? Or is it more exhibition, like wrestling?
2) It's fake: Even the admittance of the predetermined reality of wrestling didn't stop the haters from attacking the "fakeness" of wrestling. This despite the many legitimate injuries ranging from loss of ears to permanent paralysis to various leg/arm/joint/hip problems wrestlers inevitably face. Sure, the violence and the physicality is controlled. And would anyone really want it otherwise? Do we really need to have 6 foot guys bashing each other full strength with chairs?
3) It's stupid: At times, it's beyond stupid. But so is alot of TV, movies, music, sports, writing, George Bush, etc. And frankly, I'll take Mick Foley, Ric Flair and others over the Carl Everetts, the Rickey Hendersons and the Jose Cansecos every day, thank you very much.
4) It's sleazy: No argument here. Vince McMahon, the only real promoter left, is a scumbag personified. He's not above using the death of his wrestlers in storylines and runs a billion dollar business and doesn't provide his workers with healthcare. Appalling? Absolutely. Then again, one need only look at guys like George Steinbrenner, various movie studio chiefs, the people in our government and elsewhere to find people who make McMahon look like a saint.
5) It's homoerotic: So was Brokeback Mountain. It got nominated for a bunch of Oscars.
I think you get my point. Wrestling isn't brain surgery and wrestling fans know this. Aside from some children and mental midgets, we all get the problems wrestling has and choose to watch it anyway. I don't expect anyone to like wrestling because of this, but I'd like to think people could accept that some intelligent, mature adults can choose to watch grown men beating the crap out of each other while wearing nothing but underwear.
Or at least, you could keep your laughing and catcalling to yourself.
It's not a particularly cool or hip thing to admit, especially now that wrestling is considered to have cooled significantly since reaching new peaks during the late 90s. Even during that time, when wrestlers like Steve Austin and the Rock and groups like the NWO and DX were making it cool to be a wrestling fan again, I still was subject to abuse from those who just didn't get it. Quite amazing that one form of entertainment could be considered of a "lesser" quality than all the others. But why? Take two recent storylines, one wrestling, one not:
a) an long sufferring team overcomes their past to finally accomplish what was considered impossible, beating their hated rivals in the process.
b) a long sufferring individual overcomes his past to finally accomplish what was considered impossible, beating the company's favorite in the process.
Actually, I cheated a bit since the second scenario is really the storyline for two separate wrestlers, Eddie Guererro and Chris Benoit. The first storyline is obviously the Red Sox. Very similar stories, different responses. For the former, books, movies and an endless stream print/tv/internet media has been used to retell this story. For the latter, little to nothing was made of either accomplishment outside the wrestling community. Why? Because wrestling is not considered a sport. Not only that, it's not even considered decent entertainment.
The reasons for this come down to these points:
1) It's predetermined: Now that wrestling openly admits this, it's become the chief knock against it. How can anyone enjoy something that has no real competition in it?
Well, baseball has 30 teams. At most, ten of them have a legitimate chance of winning a title any given season. Realistically, the number is closer to five. So basically, those teams have a 20% shot of winning a title. Sure, they have to actually play a whole season (which is twice as long as any other season and is full of a mind-numbing amount of boring games). But is that REALLY competition? Or is it more exhibition, like wrestling?
2) It's fake: Even the admittance of the predetermined reality of wrestling didn't stop the haters from attacking the "fakeness" of wrestling. This despite the many legitimate injuries ranging from loss of ears to permanent paralysis to various leg/arm/joint/hip problems wrestlers inevitably face. Sure, the violence and the physicality is controlled. And would anyone really want it otherwise? Do we really need to have 6 foot guys bashing each other full strength with chairs?
3) It's stupid: At times, it's beyond stupid. But so is alot of TV, movies, music, sports, writing, George Bush, etc. And frankly, I'll take Mick Foley, Ric Flair and others over the Carl Everetts, the Rickey Hendersons and the Jose Cansecos every day, thank you very much.
4) It's sleazy: No argument here. Vince McMahon, the only real promoter left, is a scumbag personified. He's not above using the death of his wrestlers in storylines and runs a billion dollar business and doesn't provide his workers with healthcare. Appalling? Absolutely. Then again, one need only look at guys like George Steinbrenner, various movie studio chiefs, the people in our government and elsewhere to find people who make McMahon look like a saint.
5) It's homoerotic: So was Brokeback Mountain. It got nominated for a bunch of Oscars.
I think you get my point. Wrestling isn't brain surgery and wrestling fans know this. Aside from some children and mental midgets, we all get the problems wrestling has and choose to watch it anyway. I don't expect anyone to like wrestling because of this, but I'd like to think people could accept that some intelligent, mature adults can choose to watch grown men beating the crap out of each other while wearing nothing but underwear.
Or at least, you could keep your laughing and catcalling to yourself.
posted by Mike at 12:58 PM
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