In the early 2000s, I used to watch WWE wrestling at the tail end of what was considered the Attitude era. To be honest, I don’t really remember much about it except for the fact that I loved ‘The Rock.’ After I stopped watching, I became one of those people who would make fun of others for watching wrestling, saying it wasn’t real and that it was all just a phoney drama that rednecks would watch. I kept my distance from it, my only real connection being the fat that I still enjoyed ‘The Rock’ as a growing movie star. It wasn’t until late 2014, that I slowly started to take an interest into it again. Now, I consider myself a huge fan, and even a bit of a Mark of what goes down in the squared circle.
I don’t feel like I have to explain my interest. I can be a fan of whatever I want without someone else’s approval. But I would like discuss a bit of why I feel the way I do, and maybe reveal some things about wrestling that most people have no idea about. I want to start things off with a simple statement though.
Professional Wrestling is not fake.
I hear this all the time. Whenever someone sees me watching, or hears me talking about. They say that it isn’t real, that it’s just a bunch of greased men pretending to hit each other, that it used to be more real in the ‘80s. My reaction to that is that you’ve obviously never watched. There is nothing fake about Brock Lesnar suplexing Dean Ambrose onto a pile of chairs. And there are way more than men in the industry. Some of the top athletes are women like Sasha Banks and Bayley.
Wrestling is not fake, it is scripted. Those are two completely different things. Yes, it is decided who will win the match beforehand, and several spots will be agreed upon, but those spots still happen. People hurt each other, throw each other around, get injured. It is not just a bunch of tickle fights and gentle shoving in the ring.
But to be honest, the wrestling isn’t the reason I’m into it. I’m into it because of the story. What other TV show shows you a story as real and compelling as Daniel Bryan’s ‘Yes! Movement,’ And as heartbreaking as his forced retirement?
Professional wrestling gives us the kinds of stories that you would expect to see in a normal, fictitious drama, but then gives us a resolution where people actually put their bodies on the line, and aren’t just whacking each other with rubber swords.
That’s why I like it. You may call it fake, but the reason I enjoy it is because it is so much more real than any other TV show out there. Things like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, while good in their own rights, do not hold a candle to the kind of action that can be seen in a wrestling ring. Or the kind of shock value when someone like CM Punk has his infamous Pipe Bomb, Charlotte tells her father Ric Flair exactly how she feels.
I love wrestling. I love the kind of stories it can tell, and admire the kind of dedication and talent it takes for a wrestler to become a legend in the industry. Sure it isn’t a real sport, but it is one of the most interesting thing that can happen in sports.
To see two people step into the ring, both determined and motivated by their respective backstories and drives, go all out trying to prove their worth to each other, the audience, and themselves. To put on a spectacle that will captivate all those around, and make those watching feel invested in their lives. To go to the peak of their physical capabilities in order to put on the match of a lifetime. At the end, it doesn’t matter who won, it matters what they created together.
