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 News from Around the Americas | January 2008 
Bottom Line: It's Sports Entertainment, Dumbass!
 Ron Johnson - Bleacher Report
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There has been much debate about the subject, but I am here to set the record straight: Wrestling is fake - but it’s also real. This may not make sense to some, but those of us who have grown up watching this time-tested tradition known as “sports entertainment” know the obvious truth.
We know that most times, these guys aren’t really punching each other. We know that some of the things they do are staged, yet we still watch. The ones who have a problem with us writing or even talking about it are the ones who need this reality check.
So for all those who don’t like the concept of me or anyone else writing about professional wrestling—listen up and pay attention.
Separating Fact from Fiction
There are several kinds of wrestling in the world, but the two that garnish the most talk and most hype are Greco-Roman and Professional. Most wrestlers didn’t start out like that at all; some were athletes in other sports before they decided to “entertain” the millions of wrestling fans all over the world.
Here’s the fact about professional wrestling: Everything is about showmanship. In other words, people who are in the industry spend countless years training to perform the barrage of aerial, power, and speed moves that they do. Even though we knew that a majority of what they were doing was staged, it still didn’t mean that they didn’t practice it behind the scenes to make sure they would be safe.
Here’s the fiction about pro wrestling: No one really gets seriously hurt doing that stuff. If you believe that, you’re just as much of an idiot as advertised. Superstars like Edge, John Cena, Batista, The Undertaker, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and even The Rock have sustained severe injuries while doing what they do on a daily basis. For 365 days out of the year, they entertain us and make us wish we could do what they do. Even though it is a partially scripted industry, it is still sport. That brings me to the next topic.
What exactly is sport?
In the English dictionary, sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.” Notice something in that definition? Wrestling is included as a sport. They didn’t release specifics to what kind of wrestling. They defined sport as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess. In other words, sport can be contact and non-contact.
To become a professional wrestler, it takes determination, skill, and the will to succeed. The problem with this is that there are those among us that bash pro wrestlers one minute, but forget that they wanted to be them when they were younger. It’s complicated to try to determine who needs the fulfillment more, your adult self or your inner child. But it’s easy to put away childish toys, so why bash something that you feel isn’t real.
Guys like Jeff Hardy, Christian Cage, AJ Styles, and even Booker T have proven that being a professional wrestler takes skill as well as fortitude. Any average Joe can attempt to do what they do, but without training, they would just be glorified stuntmen. As far as not being real, well...
What did you believe was real when you were a child?
It’s easy to say that something isn’t really happening or it isn’t real. When we were kids, we were told to be good or Santa Claus wouldn’t bring any Christmas presents to us. We say that exact same thing to our children now, even though we know that we are Santa Claus. The same thing goes for the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. We know the truth, but our kids have their dreams and their imaginations.
Professional wrestling is pretty much like that. I still remember a few years ago the look in my ex’s son’s eyes when he got to see the Undertaker ride out on his bike. I still remember getting my beer snatched from my hand by the Dudley Boys when the WWE came to Loveland a few years ago. I still remember the “ECW! ECW!” chants that rang out right before the show went on the air.
As a child, I believed that wrestling was real. As a grown up, I know the truth, but still I watch. I enjoy the concept of sitting at home with a beer in my hand, getting ready to watch John Cena bust out a five knuckle shuffle on Randy Orton. Just like as if we were kids, it’s the simple things that make our days and our nights seem so much better.
And plus, my inner child begs for satisfaction. Who am I to deny him that simple pleasure?
Wrestlers Who Entertained Then and Now
When you think about it, sports entertainment can be describing all sports. Would you watch a basketball game even though it was putting you to sleep? Would you watch football if the teams weren’t trying to entertain the fans? The main reason some go to hockey games is to see who will get into a fight, and in some cases, the free giveaways. Let’s be real about this for once. Professional wrestling is just doing what guys like T.O., Chad Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and all those hockey fighters are doing—they all are entertaining us.
Kurt Angle competed in the 1996 Olympic Games, and won a gold medal in wrestling. A few years later, he decided to become a sports entertainer himself. He has been very successful in his craft and people still watch him to this day; no matter how much he sucks. Bobby Lashley is a former collegiate and Armed Forces Champion in…that’s right, wrestling!
JBL, Stone Cold, and Cena all play collegiate football before they ventured into this form of sport. And let’s not forget Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a member of the National Champion Miami Hurricanes team that was dominating the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. If you need proof, one of Rock’s teammates was Warren Sapp.
As you can tell, these guys have been training for the ring even before they knew they would be heading that direction. But with triumph comes tragedy, which brings me to...
Though fake, the Deaths are Real
With all that is going on in the sports world, professional wrestling has been brought in the spotlight due in large part to steroid scandals in baseball. Now why would wrestling be sharing the spotlight with “The Great American Pastime?”
It was due in large part to the speculation of Barry Bonds, but the biggest change came when former wrestling star Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in their home in a suburb of Atlanta. Following Benoit’s death, everyone from Larry King to Nancy Grace were coming out in full force to put the WWE in the spotlight. Benoit’s doctor was even arrested for supplying him with steroid supplements. But Benoit wasn’t the only superstar to feel the pinch of the allegations.
Following Benoit’s death, Vince McMahon knew he had to show that he wasn’t hiding from the media; several wrestlers were suspended anywhere from 30 days to 60 days to even several months. Though some wrestlers accepted their punishment in stride, some such as Chris Masters and Booker T didn’t take it very well.
Masters, who still to this day denies he uses steroids, was released just a few weeks after learning that he would be suspended. Booker T, on the other hand, used it to his advantage. Upon learning of his suspension, he negotiated his release from the company and quickly found a new home in TNA where he currently continues to entertain the fans.
On a side note, there was one death that wasn’t steroid related. For those who feel that the stunts are staged, they should ask the Hart family. Bret Hart’s younger brother Owen was killed when his neck snapped off a turnbuckle at a Pay Per View in Kansas City back in 1998. But I’m going off the subject, so it must be time for...
The Bottom Line
I am well aware of the fact the pro wrestling is fake. But I am also well aware that some of the things that they do to entertain regular people like me leave me respecting them. There isn’t many people who can truly do the things that some of them do. And seeing it first hand in person makes a world of difference.
There are some things in life that are guaranteed: Life and death. But I think I speak for the millions and millions of people who grew up seeing it, still watch it, and even take their kids to it that even though it is a fictitious sport, it is still a sport.
So I will continue to write about professional wrestling, because those guys and girls, are athletes. They spent years training just like any other athletes we write about every day. They bleed, sweat, and cry just like those athletes, and just like you and me.
And even if I am the only person out of the entire Bleacher Report staff of writers who will write anything about wrestling I will feel good knowing that I am still writing about sports. Despite the contrary to what some anonymous readers and George says, professional wrestling is a sport. It’s a sport; it’s entertainment. It’s “Sports Entertainment.” |
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