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Wrestling, or the World Wrestling Entertainment industry as some of you avid fans would have me refer to it as, is increasing ever more in its popularity. I myself used to be a fan of it for about a year and watched most of the shows and events, but gradually got bored. From the perspective of a person who no longer watches wrestling I see it as greasy, sweaty men in trunks throwing each other around a ring and pretending to get hurt, and if it was merely just that then not so many people would pay to see live events and tune in to watch it 2 or 3 times a week.
I don’t understand myself why I watched it, if I thought that the Rock was really been hit over the head with a sledgehammer by Stone Cold, or not. I now know that everything is choreographed and it is more of a performance than a fight, but do people not realise this? The Americans do have a reputation for been a little more gullible than the British so it is likely that a fair few of them believe everything that it going on within the squared circle is real. The thing that gets me though it seeing fans that look about 30 or 40 cheering along at the top of their lungs to “Beat his head in”. I would overlook this if they had a son or daughter in tow, but they don’t. I watched wrestling avidly for a good year of my life and enjoyed it but I hit 15 and grew out of it. I see it more as a fad than something you watch for the rest of your life. I think people who pay good money to go and see some staged fighting when they are 30 years old is wrong. They can spend a lot less going to a pub and watching the brawl after closing time, and this isn’t fake violence. So if it isn’t the violence the fans crave what is it?
Do people watch it for its engrossing storylines? This is something I doubt very much. As I said before I watched wrestling for about a year and I noticed the storylines are repeated in a 3-month cycle. There is an affair, someone winning a belt unfairly and a mystery person attacking the ‘good guy’. These storylines are re-used time and time again with a different wrestler filling a different role each time. As I that weren’t bad enough, none of them could act to save their lives. They are trained athletes, yes, but none of them went to acting school did they? I don’t directly oppose trying to fit storylines into the programme as it gives motives for fights which is better than all out violence, and gives the audience someone to cheer for and someone to boo. What irritates me is people using their fame as a wrestler to release a low budget film of their own, riding entirely on the success of a cameo role in The Mummy Returns. Yes, if you didn’t realise I am talking about The Rock’s movie, The Scorpion King, which made him even richer despite the fact the storyline was poor and his acting was drastically worse.
So do people watch for the women? I firstly would like to mention that the way women are treated in the organisation is morally wrong. They are young girls pumped full of silicon and steroids and thrown into a mud wrestling pit or topless sun cream contest (Or whatever they have thought up now). Now I am no prude, don’t get me wrong, I would enjoy watching that sort of thing if it had a show of its own right, but it is merely a ratings booster. They draw millions of desperate hormonal males to an arena to watch “live mud wrestling”. They are unlikely to care about the championship match or the hardcore title been on the line, oh no, they just want boobs and collagen filled lips, and who could blame them? The WWF, or WWE as it is now known, uses adolescent (and desperate) males, to their complete and utter advantage. If we look at some of the women on the roster we will find Trish Stratus, very nice looking woman, the plastic surgeons finest hour if you will. She is used as a trophy girl, she makes her living by escorting muscular fellers to the ring and wearing low cut tops, and who could blame her! I cannot imagine her parents are too pleased though. There were some more serious competitors in the old WWF, namely Chyna, but she got a playboy deal (God knows why!) and then left for unknown reasons. So the only women left in the business are trophy girls who parade their ample surgically enhanced bosoms in skin tight tops for a living. I don’t quite understand how this constitutes as making them wrestlers, they are more of showgirls really, which the WWE use to their advantage to boost their ratings and make people tune into Smackdown rather than a re-run of the fast show.
So if we took the storylines and the scantily clad women out of the formula, what is left? Fake violence and stupidly high risked stunts, the latter is the only one that is really appealing. Fake violence is what I expect to see on the likes of Coronation Street or in a pantomime, not in a live show, which tells people “do not copy this at home”. What is not to copy? Are easily influenced kids not to pretend to slap their friend with a car tire? The fake violence, I cannot imagine, is much of a ratings winner, seeing as it is easy to see how fake it is and how laughably ridiculous how a wrestler reacts when the other hits him with a leg drop. So, the high risked stunts are all that are left it seems. Such high risk manoeuvres include the Swanton bomb, as utilised by the Hardy Boys, powerbombing a wrestler through a table/steel cage/stage or throwing another wrestler onto a chair/barbed wire/electric fence with killer bee’s taped to it. These high risk moves get the adrenalin pumping though our veins and get us excited seeing them. But such spectacular occurrences have left some wrestlers maimed or even dead. Such wrestlers as Owen Hart have died to try and make the industry that little bit more exciting.
So whatever WWE has that makes millions of fans tune in each week is beyond me. Perhaps it is the high risk endeavours of superstars, maybe it is to see who the next champions will be or perhaps it is just because they like someone to cheer on. Whatever it is, it certainly works, and for the life of me I cannot figure out what it is.
-Kyz²²-
I don’t understand myself why I watched it, if I thought that the Rock was really been hit over the head with a sledgehammer by Stone Cold, or not. I now know that everything is choreographed and it is more of a performance than a fight, but do people not realise this? The Americans do have a reputation for been a little more gullible than the British so it is likely that a fair few of them believe everything that it going on within the squared circle is real. The thing that gets me though it seeing fans that look about 30 or 40 cheering along at the top of their lungs to “Beat his head in”. I would overlook this if they had a son or daughter in tow, but they don’t. I watched wrestling avidly for a good year of my life and enjoyed it but I hit 15 and grew out of it. I see it more as a fad than something you watch for the rest of your life. I think people who pay good money to go and see some staged fighting when they are 30 years old is wrong. They can spend a lot less going to a pub and watching the brawl after closing time, and this isn’t fake violence. So if it isn’t the violence the fans crave what is it?
Do people watch it for its engrossing storylines? This is something I doubt very much. As I said before I watched wrestling for about a year and I noticed the storylines are repeated in a 3-month cycle. There is an affair, someone winning a belt unfairly and a mystery person attacking the ‘good guy’. These storylines are re-used time and time again with a different wrestler filling a different role each time. As I that weren’t bad enough, none of them could act to save their lives. They are trained athletes, yes, but none of them went to acting school did they? I don’t directly oppose trying to fit storylines into the programme as it gives motives for fights which is better than all out violence, and gives the audience someone to cheer for and someone to boo. What irritates me is people using their fame as a wrestler to release a low budget film of their own, riding entirely on the success of a cameo role in The Mummy Returns. Yes, if you didn’t realise I am talking about The Rock’s movie, The Scorpion King, which made him even richer despite the fact the storyline was poor and his acting was drastically worse.
So do people watch for the women? I firstly would like to mention that the way women are treated in the organisation is morally wrong. They are young girls pumped full of silicon and steroids and thrown into a mud wrestling pit or topless sun cream contest (Or whatever they have thought up now). Now I am no prude, don’t get me wrong, I would enjoy watching that sort of thing if it had a show of its own right, but it is merely a ratings booster. They draw millions of desperate hormonal males to an arena to watch “live mud wrestling”. They are unlikely to care about the championship match or the hardcore title been on the line, oh no, they just want boobs and collagen filled lips, and who could blame them? The WWF, or WWE as it is now known, uses adolescent (and desperate) males, to their complete and utter advantage. If we look at some of the women on the roster we will find Trish Stratus, very nice looking woman, the plastic surgeons finest hour if you will. She is used as a trophy girl, she makes her living by escorting muscular fellers to the ring and wearing low cut tops, and who could blame her! I cannot imagine her parents are too pleased though. There were some more serious competitors in the old WWF, namely Chyna, but she got a playboy deal (God knows why!) and then left for unknown reasons. So the only women left in the business are trophy girls who parade their ample surgically enhanced bosoms in skin tight tops for a living. I don’t quite understand how this constitutes as making them wrestlers, they are more of showgirls really, which the WWE use to their advantage to boost their ratings and make people tune into Smackdown rather than a re-run of the fast show.
So if we took the storylines and the scantily clad women out of the formula, what is left? Fake violence and stupidly high risked stunts, the latter is the only one that is really appealing. Fake violence is what I expect to see on the likes of Coronation Street or in a pantomime, not in a live show, which tells people “do not copy this at home”. What is not to copy? Are easily influenced kids not to pretend to slap their friend with a car tire? The fake violence, I cannot imagine, is much of a ratings winner, seeing as it is easy to see how fake it is and how laughably ridiculous how a wrestler reacts when the other hits him with a leg drop. So, the high risked stunts are all that are left it seems. Such high risk manoeuvres include the Swanton bomb, as utilised by the Hardy Boys, powerbombing a wrestler through a table/steel cage/stage or throwing another wrestler onto a chair/barbed wire/electric fence with killer bee’s taped to it. These high risk moves get the adrenalin pumping though our veins and get us excited seeing them. But such spectacular occurrences have left some wrestlers maimed or even dead. Such wrestlers as Owen Hart have died to try and make the industry that little bit more exciting.
So whatever WWE has that makes millions of fans tune in each week is beyond me. Perhaps it is the high risk endeavours of superstars, maybe it is to see who the next champions will be or perhaps it is just because they like someone to cheer on. Whatever it is, it certainly works, and for the life of me I cannot figure out what it is.
-Kyz²²-
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Kyz22 wrote:
> Anyway, enough from me now and thankyou for sharing your opinion, long
> as it may be.
Yeah, it was a bit long wasn't it :).
Although, I think I would agree that there are still some out there who believe it is real, although I think it's more of the younger viewers ... which is why they show the "don't try this at home bit". Basiclly, the wrestlers know how to 'not' hurt each other when doing the moves, and when they use items to hit each other with, they are not as solid as what they make out to be ..... kids, probablt don't know this, so the WWE try and encourage the younger fans not to go and get a pole from the garage and smack your mate over the head with it, or climb up the stairs to do a splash.
> Anyway, enough from me now and thankyou for sharing your opinion, long
> as it may be.
Yeah, it was a bit long wasn't it :).
Although, I think I would agree that there are still some out there who believe it is real, although I think it's more of the younger viewers ... which is why they show the "don't try this at home bit". Basiclly, the wrestlers know how to 'not' hurt each other when doing the moves, and when they use items to hit each other with, they are not as solid as what they make out to be ..... kids, probablt don't know this, so the WWE try and encourage the younger fans not to go and get a pole from the garage and smack your mate over the head with it, or climb up the stairs to do a splash.
Shush, fool.
Hercules! wrote:
> Come on then, tell us what things you like so maybe one of us that
> doesnt like that subject can rip it to pieces like youve done to **our**
> subject of wrestling.
My subject, I started it. So there.
> Come on then, tell us what things you like so maybe one of us that
> doesnt like that subject can rip it to pieces like youve done to **our**
> subject of wrestling.
My subject, I started it. So there.
Come on then, tell us what things you like so maybe one of us that doesnt like that subject can rip it to pieces like youve done to our subject of wrestling.
What stupid name has that move got then?
Super-Ultra-Throwing-Window-Chucker?
Super-Ultra-Throwing-Window-Chucker?
*Ant throws phi11ip through the sugarglass window, and phi11ip acts like he has been thrown through a real window*
Much more authentic, I feel.
Much more authentic, I feel.
Hercules! wrote:
> But that doesnt spoil our fun. Its entertainment for god sake. What do
> you think the 'E' stands for in WWE.
Excretement...
Which is a posh word for.... CRAP!
+START PHI11IPS BIAST ONE SIDED VIEW OF WRESTLING+
It's the biggest pile of crap ever, most kids liked it when they were in junior school, that being 100 and 11 year olds and at that age, the spectacle of seeing two men fight, doing all these ~cool~ moves was fun. Most kids believed it was real so there was more fun. Once everyone started to realise that it was all planned, the exitement ran out of it. What's the fun when you know they are gonna win? Storylines are being leaked out months in advance and the acting...
Don't get me started there!
Basically, I can't understand what makes all these thousands of American all go to watch a match when the outcome has already been pre-determined. They even make these banners and think that cheering on their favourite wrestler wil mkae them perform better!
WHat's the point?
Would football be as popular if ever game was decided before the season and we just went to a match to see our team lose or win knowing beforehand what would happen!?! All of Roy Keanes antics all being planned ahead,
'Today Roy, you will do a kung-fu flying kick at the ref'
Basically, my conclusion of it is that it isn't a sport as I have been told before and it is basically just turning into violent kiddies soap opera...
+END BIAST ONE SIDED VIEW+
Go on wrestling fan, take my post to bits and say how wrong it is! You're never gonna change my opinion!
> But that doesnt spoil our fun. Its entertainment for god sake. What do
> you think the 'E' stands for in WWE.
Excretement...
Which is a posh word for.... CRAP!
+START PHI11IPS BIAST ONE SIDED VIEW OF WRESTLING+
It's the biggest pile of crap ever, most kids liked it when they were in junior school, that being 100 and 11 year olds and at that age, the spectacle of seeing two men fight, doing all these ~cool~ moves was fun. Most kids believed it was real so there was more fun. Once everyone started to realise that it was all planned, the exitement ran out of it. What's the fun when you know they are gonna win? Storylines are being leaked out months in advance and the acting...
Don't get me started there!
Basically, I can't understand what makes all these thousands of American all go to watch a match when the outcome has already been pre-determined. They even make these banners and think that cheering on their favourite wrestler wil mkae them perform better!
WHat's the point?
Would football be as popular if ever game was decided before the season and we just went to a match to see our team lose or win knowing beforehand what would happen!?! All of Roy Keanes antics all being planned ahead,
'Today Roy, you will do a kung-fu flying kick at the ref'
Basically, my conclusion of it is that it isn't a sport as I have been told before and it is basically just turning into violent kiddies soap opera...
+END BIAST ONE SIDED VIEW+
Go on wrestling fan, take my post to bits and say how wrong it is! You're never gonna change my opinion!
I agree with the last part of the statement.
What angers me is how they present the violence as been real, when it isnt.
What angers me is how they present the violence as been real, when it isnt.
I used to watch wrestling quite a bit. Sure when I was younger I thought it was real, but even when I knew that it wasn't it didn't spoil my enjoyment of it.
For instance, you don't enjoy a film or television programme, because it's real do you? Terminator sure as hell isn't real and I certainly know when some actor in a film gets filled with bullets it isn't real, but I still enjoy watching films like that.
Being honest, I think this shows what a unique job that the wrestlers have. They are producing a live TV programme with fight scenes which would take actors in the movies ages and loads of takes to do.
The main selling point of the programme for me, were the amazing fights which had never been done before. Things that had never been attempted, like when Mankind was thrown 20 feet through a table, were what made the WWF special. But now it's all the same. You can't tell the matches apart, and there are no outstanding, new, wrestlers who'll go through hell and back to make good matches for the fans. I think they just want to be the best and make loads of money, which doesn't make good viewing.
For instance, you don't enjoy a film or television programme, because it's real do you? Terminator sure as hell isn't real and I certainly know when some actor in a film gets filled with bullets it isn't real, but I still enjoy watching films like that.
Being honest, I think this shows what a unique job that the wrestlers have. They are producing a live TV programme with fight scenes which would take actors in the movies ages and loads of takes to do.
The main selling point of the programme for me, were the amazing fights which had never been done before. Things that had never been attempted, like when Mankind was thrown 20 feet through a table, were what made the WWF special. But now it's all the same. You can't tell the matches apart, and there are no outstanding, new, wrestlers who'll go through hell and back to make good matches for the fans. I think they just want to be the best and make loads of money, which doesn't make good viewing.
Wrestling. Is. Pants.
Thats all i can say on this matter.
Thats all i can say on this matter.
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