Let's get it out of the way: Yeah, wrestling is fake. There, I said it. We've known for years ever since Vince McMahon testified that it was so he didn't have to pay a sports tax in New Jersey. So what does that mean? Does that mean people waste their time watching a television show where people pretend to do things they wouldn't do in real life? Wait that sounds like acting. Because every person on "Grey's Anatomy" is a medical genius and Bryan Cranston really made meth on "Breaking Bad."
But enough about that, yeah wrestling is fake or rather the punching and kicking is fake. You see, while the "combat" is fake the actual athleticism in WWE, TNA, New Japan Pro Wrestling, etc. is real, quite real, in fact. These people are machines able to pull off these moves that are fake. The average person probably can't do a Tombstone Piledriver on their buddy without hurting them. There's a reason why every Pay-Per-View starts with a warning saying don't do this at home; yeah, the matches are scripted but good god you can get hurt doing this at home. This is what is called kayfabe, or staying in character for the purpose of wrestling storyline for sports entertainment.
So with all of that out of way the average person might ask, "Then why do you watch it if it's scripted and not real?" I could easily answer that with, "I find it entertaining," at which point we delve into a conversation of subjective taste and in the year 2016 the only taste that matters to anyone is their own and they will immediately disregard your opinion. Personally, for me and my buddies, it's really fun to see who knows the working of the industry to guess how each match turns out.
Let's say you're watching a match. You know that one of the wrestlers is clearly a heel (bad guy) and the other is clearly a face (good guy). Now the idea of this is combined with having knowledge of backstage workings, usually with the help of Wrestling Observer Newsletter written by Dave Meltzer (a pro of the industry) and the Internet Wrestling Community. From all your knowledge you know that Vince McMahon (owner of WWE and the man that makes the decisions of winners) doesn't like certain types of wrestlers (short, skinny and people he didn't handpick to be the star of the company). You also pay attention to storylines that are going on. The underdog character tends to lose a lot until he starts beating certain wrestlers. The Monster Heel is the one that easily beats people in really short matches until he is beat by a face, usually for the championship belt. Using the knowledge you have to figure out matches is what makes some of the fun in watching Wrestling.
Still, can't beat a traditional match where they beat the hell out of each other with chairs though.
