Wrestling's Fake!

[HYHYBT]

It's *presented,* though, as a competition, not just as an exhibition of skill. You therefore have to expect that a lot of people will think it ought to *be* a competition, just as it was scandalous in the 50's when it turned out they were rigging quiz shows. Especially since there really is wrestling that *is* a legitimate competition, even if it does tend to be duller to watch.

It helps that at some point they more or less quit pretending it was real... but then, knowing that takes away a lot of the enjoyment for a lot of people. Most football fans wouldn't be interested in watching a game if they knew the teams had spent the week together practicing through a script of how each play would go, who would score when, etc., even if it *did* give the result more pizazz.

Of course it's physically taxing, painful, and dangerous. Too many wrestlers have died performing not to know that. But it's still more akin to a ballet than to a sporting competition.

[Andara Bledin]

It helps that at some point they more or less quit pretending it was real...

And that was only so that they wouldn't have to deal with sports regulations as regards insurance and the like, since entertainment regulations were less costly to adhere to.

^-.-^

[Hyena Dandy]

And that was only so that they wouldn't have to deal with sports regulations as regards insurance and the like, since entertainment regulations were less costly to adhere to.

I'd have to disagree with you on that one. That's part of it, but not the whole of it. Might be why they stopped listing themselves, but its not why they cut the whole world in on the joke.

Its really a combination of reasons. Part of it is what TV Tropes would call "Power Creep/Power Seep."

As time went by, moves that used to be match-enders became mid-match maneuvers, and the moves that were REALLY the match enders got flashier and flashier.

Another part is the characters. Gorgeous George is to blame for what Wrestling is today. Which is, well, I think a good thing. Personally, I would say Gorgeous George was one of the most important entertainment figures of the last century. Muhammed Ali and James Brown both call him a major influence, but that's off topic. Gorgeous George brought the gimmick into wrestling. And then everyone had to have a gimmick. As time went by, the gimmicks got odder as well. A flamboyant, overconfident man... Rough-neck brawler. Those make sense, as you move into the sixties, you see it get odder, and characters emerge that you would never see in the real world. Again, it reached a point where this needed explanation.

Another part, again, storylines. This is separate from characters, but its tied into it. It used to be that wrestlers having a 'feud' would put on a couple shows here and there, but as WCW (no relation to the one in the nineties) and Vince McMahon Sr started airing their shows, their started being stories behind the matches more and more. And once again, attention needed to be payed. I'll believe two competitors who just hate each-other in the fifties, that adds to the match. But as time goes by, we start wondering why some authority figure doesn't step in

There is some weight to what you said, that its cheaper to claim you're running entertainment.

Also a wrestler got into an argument in a bar in the 80s. Afterwards, he was brought to court and charged with assault. The guy he 'assaulted' claimed he'd been powerbombed. The wrestler claimed that was impossible, because he could only do that to someone co-operating.

But while it was dying in the seventies, and on shaky legs throughout the 80s, Kayfabe really died in the nineties during the WCW/WWF Monday Night Wars...

without wasting too much more of your time...

To say that money was a part of it is true. But cheaper venues was far from the whole of what brought down Kayfabe. In the end, it ended up like an episode of Fawlty Towers. The lies just got bigger until they collapsed under their own weight.

[AdminAssistant]

But while it was dying in the seventies, and on shaky legs throughout the 80s, Kayfabe really died in the nineties during the WCW/WWF Monday Night Wars...

Really? Kayfabe is dead?

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reason...tors-in-world/ Many of those examples are from the late 90's and 2000's.

Pro wrestling is scripted, and they've become a lot more obvious about it. But, much like Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, the performers do put their bodies on the line for their performances. They get hurt, a lot. I'm guessing that most of the female wrestlers have breast implants. Imagine that you have bags of silicone on your chest. Now let HHH clothesline you. Regardless of how carefully choreographed that is, it's not gonna feel good when they eventually rupture. (I know both Lita and Chyna have had their implants rupture.)

It's scripted, it's entertainment, it's fiction. It's not 'fake' and I think that to say it's 'fake' is an insult to the performers who have been maimed and killed for the sake of their performance.

[Andara Bledin]

I'd have to disagree with you on that one. That's part of it, but not the whole of it. Might be why they stopped listing themselves, but its not why they cut the whole world in on the joke.

Hate to burst your bubble, my friend, but you were barely a babe when this all went down, and at the time I was a fan. I was watching Wrestlemania on PPV while you were still in diapers.

While everybody knew that pro wrestling wasn't really a sport, the state regulatory commissions were still making them adhere to sports regulations, and Vince McMahon wasn't about to keep toeing a line that wasn't his to toe, so in the late '80s, he essentially "came out" with pro wrestling. It was actually kind of a news thing at the time with him coming out declaring that it was entertainment and thus not eligible for the regulations that sports had to adhere to.

Gradually, the nature of professional wrestling became an open secret, although American promotions' events were still often regulated by state athletic commissions through the 1980s, until World Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon publicly admitted that wrestling was entertainment, not competition. This action garnered mixed reactions from the wrestling community.

It stayed kind of low-key for a few years, but that was really a major turning point. It's like the cat had been let thrown out of the bag, and so they stopped trying to keep the storylines quite so believable.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

On a completely random note, one of my professors played the priest who almost 'married' Stephanie McMahon and Test back in.... 2001? 2002? He said they were all very friendly and professional.

[Hyena Dandy]

I'm sorry for my lack of clarity, Andycorn, but we seem to have made similar points. People knew before McMahon cut the world in. The idea that everyone thought it was real was already gone by that point.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Wrestling is definitely NOT fake. Just ask Darren Drozdov. The guy is paralyzed for life because of a botched wrestling move. Ask guys like Edge and Sabu and Steve Austin, who've had their necks broken while wrestling. The list goes on.

Pro wrestling is a unique creature of a business and unfortunately it typically only draws attention from the mainstream media when a tragedy happens. The Bruiser Brody Murder, The Owen Hart Accident, The Death of Eddie Guerrero and most recently the Chris Benoit Murder-Suicide. It never fails that in the days following these events the talking heads on TV that know next to nothing about wrestling start making ridiculous statements and blame the whole thing on "roid raige". Yes steroids exist in wrestling, but not every pro wrestler is a roided up freak. When I was in college in Canada, I attended local wrestling shows the next town over and one thing I noticed immediately is the performers were much smaller and much less ripped than WWE guys.

Pro wrestling is perceived very differently by fans and media depending on locale. In North America it's viewed largely as a glorified circus sideshow, but if you go to somewhere like Mexico and Japan, things are very different.

Mexican wrestlers are still very much showmen, the acrobatic lucha libre matches are designed to be less like real athletic competition and more like showcases, BUT wrestlers in Mexico are much more highly respected than in North America. Take a guy like El Santo. He was one of the first majorly successful luchadores and today holds a place in Mexican culture not unlike that of Elvis Presley in the United States.

In Japan wrestlers are highly respected as well but the wrestling itself is different. Japanese wrestling is highly focused on athleticism and realism and far less on gimmicks and rock-star like theatrics. Japanese wrestling fans behave much similar to fans at real sporting events than American wrestling fans do.

Also, wrestlers have to deal with physical strain far more than most other athletes. Not only are matches held year round, but unlike Football, Baseball and Basketball players, they have no union to represent them. Instead they are usually considered independent contractors and oftentimes do not even get health insurance as part of the job, even in a big company like WWE (though in that case the company has implement "wellness" screenings in the wake of the Eddie Guerrero death and Chris Benoit incident). I remember a 20/20 story on wrestling way back during the attitude era days and there was an audio clip in there of Chris Jericho (I think) saying that if the (at the time) WWF wrestlers were on pro sports teams, hardly any of them would be cleared to play because of how beat up they were.

Wrestling, although it is scripted and choreographed, is a tough, demanding business. Look at the ever growing list of wrestlers who have died at considerably young ages, in many cases younger than 45. The average lifespan of a wrestler is, regrettably, far shorter than that of an NFL player or NBA player.

I loved wrestling as a teenager during the attitude era. I still enjoy it. I don't devote as much time to it anymore, but I'm not ashamed and will never be ashamed to call myself a fan. I did think that statement over when the Benoit news broke, but I decided I wouldn't let the crazed actions of one wrestler turn me off the entire business for good.

Wrestling is many things, but it's not fake.

Also a wrestler got into an argument in a bar in the 80s. Afterwards, he was brought to court and charged with assault. The guy he 'assaulted' claimed he'd been powerbombed. The wrestler claimed that was impossible, because he could only do that to someone co-operating.

The wrestler you speak of is the late Davey Boy Smith AKA The British Bulldog and you are correct about him making this claim. However, the prosecution in that case had several martial artists/MMA fighters testify that you CAN powerbomb a guy without needing assistance form your opponent. The fact the move is used today in UFC fights is pretty proof positive of that.

Also of note is the fact that an MMA powerbomb and pro wrestling powerbomb ARE different maneuvers. A pro wrestling powerbomb (like Kevin Nash's jackknife, where the recipient is raised about ten feet in the air) DOES require co-operation of the opponent. In an MMA or real life situation, the height of the powerbomb is MUCH lower and therefore so is the risk of serious injury.

[AdminAssistant]

I read an..article? or something that suggested that the Chris Benoit incident could have also been triggered by brain damage from multiple chair shots to the head. In fact, I believe the NFL is growing concerned about long-term consequences of concussions, and those players wear helmets.

And although the feud was staged, don't forget that Jerry Lawler seriously injured Andy Kaufman with a poorly executed piledrive.

[dendawg]

I read an..article? or something that suggested that the Chris Benoit incident could have also been triggered by brain damage from multiple chair shots to the head. In fact, I believe the NFL is growing concerned about long-term consequences of concussions, and those players wear helmets.

Let's not also forget that one of his go-to moves was a flying headbutt from the top turnbuckle. Lord only knows how many concussions he sustained throughout his career.

[Greenday]

Wrestling is definitely NOT fake. Just ask Darren Drozdov. The guy is paralyzed for life because of a botched wrestling move. Ask guys like Edge and Sabu and Steve Austin, who've had their necks broken while wrestling. The list goes on.

The way you word it implies that it's set up. That makes it "fake". Screwing up a rehearsed move does not change it from "fake" to "real". "Real" would mean completely unscripted and it's about who's the best athlete.

[Andara Bledin]

The action itself is real. It's not like it's CGI or mirrors or perspective tricks. It's really happening.

Sure, what they say is mostly scripted... who shows up is set up before-hand... who wins is mostly pre-determined. But they're still there... they're still giving a show.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

The action itself is real. It's not like it's CGI or mirrors or perspective tricks. It's really happening.

Sure, what they say is mostly scripted... who shows up is set up before-hand... who wins is mostly pre-determined. But they're still there... they're still giving a show.

^-.-^

Which is exactly the problem most of wrestling's critics have with it. It's a show.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

In this case both "fake" and "staged" are accurate.

Staged is pretty self-explanatory. Fake needs some further refinement. It is fake in the sense that unlike say a High-School, College, or Olympic wrestling...the outcome is already set and the wrestlers are going through a series of choreographed moves. Either this is scripted out move and countermove by move and countermove, or is simply an instruction of "Make it look good until three moves into the second round when [wrestler] will do a [signature move] and finish you off."

There is "real" wrestling which was a full contact sport dating from at least recorded history to the "fake" wrestling which as some people have put it "Soap Operas for guys".

But being fake doesn't mean that it can not be enjoyed. My beloved Babylon 5 is a fake and it's still a good story (at least to me). Firefly? Fake. Magic? Penn and Teller will cheerfully tell you that it is nothing but lies, tricks and deceit.

But again that "being fake" does not detract from the artistry of the stage magic, does not ruin the stories and should not belittle the efforts of the wrestlers.

If you REALLY want to know what that sort of Wrestling is? It is one hell of a stunt show that showcases the talents of the stunt men and stunt women who are doing some really impressive stunts that can and have gone wrong when they were not done right or some freak random happenstance occurred.

[fireheart17]

I do live steel fighting, it's fairly different in that you can pull shots, you can't pull shots in the air, you have to have scripted some of the stuff to happen, otherwise much badness will ensue.

Does this include swords breaking?

My boyfriend does a similar thing (with two different groups now, if you're interested in the second group, lemme know) and it isn't so much staged, but some elements of it are scripted. There's no guarantee on who will win IN the bouts, but various elements are scripted beforehand.

Examples:

Shield Wall: Separated into two groups: this is determined beforehand. They then proceed to demonstrate the power of a shield wall and the formations to break said wall.

Weapon vs. Weapon: this one HAS to be set up as to who fights whom because there are only certain people authorized to use particular weapons (for example, my boyfriend can only use a spear, sword or dagger, another member is the only one allowed to use a mace etc.).

One scripted demonstration I remember seeing was "this is what happens when you make a crappy shield." One of the members from interstate had made a somewhat weak shield. Our best fighter basically went nuts and put a good few holes in it.