None Of Us Are Fans Of Real "Wrestling"

[The Brain]

I put wrestling in quotes because I want to address a certain type of fan. There are some on this forum (not calling out any one individual) who claim they are fans of pure wrestling and not sports entertainment. They loathe Vince McMahon for turning wrestling into a sideshow and making it so gimmicky when realistically sports entertainment was around long before VKM. He just came up with the phrase. These fans don’t care about all the drama. They just want to see good matches. A lot of times these fans seem to think they’re better than other fans because they are fans of so called real wrestling. To put it nicely, I don’t believe you.

We are all fans of sports entertainment. All we’ve ever known is sports entertainment. The people who claim to be fans of wrestling instead of sports entertainment often reference someone like Bryan Danielson and point out that it’s his ring work that they appreciate. That’s fine, but his ring work has nothing to do with actual wrestling. It’s just one particular style of sports entertainment. I hate to point out the obvious, but we all know Danielson’s matches are scripted. We know he is working with, not against his opponent. We know his opponent is allowing him to execute moves on him and vice versa. Therefore how could you consider this anything but sports entertainment? What you mean to say is Danielson is very good at your preferred style of sports entertainment.

My whole point is some of the so called real wrestling fans need to drop their elitist attitude. You’re just coming off as foolish. At least the admitted sports entertainment fans acknowledge that of which they are a fan. The fan of “real” wrestling doesn’t even realize the thing he criticizes is actually the thing he enjoys. Just because you like Daniel Bryan and I like John Cena does not mean you’re a better kind of fan than I am. We just have different preferences. Actually I’m capable of enjoying both styles because I don’t want a WWE where everyone is the same. We’re all watching for the same reason; to have fun. One person may get his fun from action. Another may get it from drama, and a third may get his from comedy. None are right and none are wrong, but we can all get our fun at the same place. That place is professional wrestling, also known as sports entertainment.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

Couldn't agree with you more. You tend to get this elitist attitude from those who are Indy fans and much like Indie music fans, they think they're better because they're bands or wrestlers are less known but better and yada yada yada.

Proffessional wrestling is about athleticism, but it is mainly about telling a story. It tells stories through promos and the individuals bodies. Without those stories the matches would become boring and even the biggest "real wrestling" mark would want more than just good matches, they'd want some thing to peak their interest. Thats what sports entertainment is, the telling of stories through various methods, culminating in a wrestling match. It's all the same basic thing, just with different styles.

 

[bookerman]

If you want to view wrestling as a legit sport, I have no problem with that, but, at the end of the day, we all know it's scripted. When you look at other sports like boxing, MMA and even non-fighting sports like basketball or football, there is always some sort of build-up. Where I come from, soccer (real football, but let's not get into that right now) is really revered and there is always an emotion involved in important matches. Come World Cup time, I always cheer against Brazil, because they've won the damn thing 5 times and I don't want to see them win it again. The announcers point that out, or they talk about how this World Cup is some young player's breaktrough, etc. My point is, that if two guys get in the wrestling ring, beat the living crap out of each other, bleed for 45 minutes or more, it wouldn't mean anything with no actual story or build-up, because they can't get me emotionally involved. I will have forgotten it a heartbeat later. I want to see Bret Hart kill Shawn Michaels in the ring, I want to see Stone Cold destroy McMahon, because it means something in the long run and I will remember it. The "They" angle TNA did, like it or not, had a long build-up and I kept rewatching it days after it happened, just because it was the payoff I had been waiting for so long. I digress. Some people may like their wrestling "pure" or "real" and I can accept that, I just don't understand it. To me wrestling has always been about good vs. evil, big vs. small and the underdog Rocky Balboa beating the younger Creed in some shape or form. It has been that way for years and you know what? It's fun and it works.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

At least someone finally realizes it. I know that Bryan Danielson is a great wrestler I have seen his indy matches, but you would have to be a dumbass to not realize the WWE would make him cut down on that aspect and have a more exciting move set. Besides there really is no one in the business (unless Angle jumps to wwe again or something) that could have a technical wrestling match with Bryan. hell theres really no one that can have the matches that Angle and Benoit had and while those were amazing to a great deal of people, I have also seen instances where some consider their matches boring. Majority of fans in the WWE want to see guys like Evan Bourne, or Rey Mysterio you know all the exciting guys rather then watch a couple of guys who have earned NCAA championships in the past or anything of that nature. This is sports Entertainment like the OP said. the WWE focuses on ENTERTAINMENT more then WRESTLING. People need to get that through their heads. Im so sick of hearing Cena cant wrestle, Orton cant wrestle etc I guarantee 80% of the WWE roster have never wrestled an actual WRESTLING match. Wrestling and Pro wrestling are 2 completely different things

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I agree completely. Just as you have lots of fans that consistently forget that pro wrestling is a business, you have almost as many that seem to outright ignore that pro wrestling isn't 100% real. The physicality can result in injuries of course as can the general wear and tear of the life. But it isn't a "real competition" and all this stuff about "pure wrestling" in pro wrestling really is a lot of nonsense when you get right down to it. It's cut from the same cloth you hear sometimes whenever some diehard TNA fan will start ragging on the WWE fans for not being "real wrestling fans" or when an ROH fan will start in on TNA.

Real wrestling as in actual, 100% legit wrestling on the lines of Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt simply doesn't get it done anymore. Oh don't get me wrong, they and others like them were tremendous athletes and had damn near superhuman levels of endurance but times change. People stopped wanting to see competiton, they wanted to be entertained. They didn't want to watch two men rolling around on a canvas for sometimes 3 hours at a time. Pro wrestling is about spectacle, it's about putting on a show with interesting characters and athletic, scripted wrestling matches that often have little to do with "real wrestling". For instance, I'm fairly certain ol' Frank Gotch never performed a five star frog splash or Hackenschmidt ever power bombed anybody through the ring.

Am I a fan of "real wrestling", to some degree I think all of us are. Whenever I see amateur or Greco-Roman style wrestling on tv or at a high school or whatever, I'll check it out whenever I can. However, do I want to watch 2 hours of it every week on television? Absolutely not and I don't think most of us do either.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Agreed completely. Alot of people feel that they are smarter than us if we laugh at a Hornswoggle segment, or enjoy a Great Kahli match. I don't watch wrestling to see men grope each other, and try to score a Meltzer 5 star match rating. I watch wrestling to be entertained. No matter if it comes from the comedy angles, or the interviews. I'm a fan of sports entertainment. Seeing two men being as athletically gifted as some of them are is just the icing on top of the cake.

In honesty though, I think I could watch a wrestling program if it was just all drama and no action though. The action is for the PPV, until the feud comes to a head, I want to be entertained, and enjoy the story being told.

 

[Optimist Prime]

The Brain,

Great minds think alike. While my threads and/or posts might be worded differently and subsequently responded to differently as well, we pretty much have the same overall view on things.

I think people feel that watching indy wrestling is something "extra" that they do ON TOP of watching mainstream wrestling...so they automatically feel that since they watch the grapefruit league constantly...they automatically know more than anybody else...because they saw a guy like Daniel Bryan wrestler "before he was a big shot" or something. Not to mention that they convince themselves into liking indy wrestling so much that they get some sort of vicarious relationship with the wrestler so that when he does come up...they automatically want them to succeed. It's similar to those people who love indy music. A lot of them do so, at first, to be "different" and separate themselves from the mainstream...and then a handful of them hate the band when they do go mainstream and another handful creates a relationship with the music and wants them to flourish, another handful likes it because they feel it represents them as a person better...or whatever reason it may be. Usually they've made the decision based on "passion" and anybody else who hasn't taken it as seriously to watch the minor leagues just isn't as "passionate" as you are...and then you get the elitist attitude or responses.

Now, I respect the indy leagues and I wish them all well...but the indy leagues don't have the resources to utilize the drama aspect where they can effectively build-up the matches and where the wrestlers can subsequently build on their personality and character angles...which is why you get so many "new" wrestlers coming up who lack in the personality department...and WWE needs to rely on reality tv stars and older generational stars to supply that area...but eventually that resource may run out in some way or another.

Every aspect of the business is important...I just strongly feel, based on my own experience over many years as a wrestling fan, that the drama/personality/charisma/build-up part of the business should be weighted a little more heavily than just in-ring ability...because after all - the most famous matches in the history of the business had been done by guys who couldn't really "wrestle" all that well...but they were legendary and unforgettable nonetheless.

 

[Whatsinaname696]

wrestling is scripted???? ... I hate you Brain =*( ...but yeah what's really sad is that there was a need for this post or others like it to begin with, I don't HATE real wrestling but if it comes on tv I'll be god damned if I watch it so yeah, I'm all about the "pro-wrestling"... but if you don't know or didn't know the information above, shame on you cuz you obviously made it to this website soooo yeah