When did you discover wrestling was fake?

[King_of_Swing1520]

Then to my amazement my friend asked the taboo question to the Deadman himself, "Is Wrestling Fake?" *Facepalm* The Undertaker answered, "The things we do to our bodies out there is real."

well taker is one of the greats and he put it best. i didnt really get into wrestling untill my middle school years so i always knew it was scripted but i never thought of wrestling as fake. like some1 said ealier its an art. movies are fake but the acting is real. these guys are dam good athletes and most are pretty good actors. it really is an art to me and the fights may be scripted but they really get hurt performing. its a true mix of sport and entertainment. some of my friends dont really have alot of respect for wrestling and wrestlers because they just say "its fake". ofcourse its fake, thats not the point. thats like saying you dont like a tv show because its fake. its about the story and the characters and the quality of the performance.

 

[cbear47]

For me, I suspected when I saw the oxygen mask in Undertaker's coffin when Ultimate Warrior was trapped inside... numerous botches increased my doubt...

Then one day, Mean Gene told us all how Hulk Hogan beat Ric Flair for the title in the match of the century.

The match was still four days away.

Seriously, who the hell was in charge of WCW back then? Why would you even tape something like that? What if Hogan died in a car wreck the day before, now you got a bunch of Hulkamaniacs hating you and wanting you to die.

See: Hulk Hogan, 2010.

 

[aaronmb]

In 1992, I met the million dollar man and he was the nicest guy. I got to go backstage(well, behind the curtain) and met ric flar and he was awesome too. Considering they were the biggest heels then, it kind of took the 'magic' away. When the NWO started, it was really fun, since you had no idea what would happen, but now with the internet, hell, everyone admitting its scripted. I think its so laughable when fans tried getting in the ring when the nwo was in matches and especially their reactions to things(like what just happened with Cena). Theres actual adults looking shocked and nearly in tears when it happened.
After reading Bischoffs book, he lost a lot of credibility as being a 'genius' and being a huge person in wrestling. He ripped off an idea from a different promotion in Japan for the NWO. Then, he took two main eventers and ended up misleading fans(when scott hall first arrived).

 

[Kenny Powers]

My parents and family always told me it was fake when I started watching at a really young age. I thought "Wow mom and dad, thanks for ruining the one thing I enjoyed." That is like telling a small child Santa Claus or the Easter bunny isn't real. You just have to let kids find out on their own. I kept on believing because even if the wrestling in the ring was "fake" I thought the characters were real.

Once the mid 90s came about and the internet/dirt sheet age appeared, there was little room left for doubt. I knew everything was scripted, but I still had fun believing it was real. That sad thing is that now since everyone became a smark then nothing is fun anymore. No one can watch a wrestling show anymore without being critical. Its the same thing with old movies. Movies that were great 10 or 20 years ago suck today. It's all apart of growing up.

I don't know if it was a single event on a wrestling show that revealed anything. I do remember seeing wrestlers that were supposed to be "injured" but weren't really. After you watch a chambers of horror match where a man is "electrocuted" then its easy to suspend disbelief.

 

[wicked_lotus]

to say that wrestling is "fake" is incorrect as there is a big difference in "scripted" and fake but im going to answer this anyway. i first realized that wrestling wasn't exactly real when austin wrestled hbk for the title with tyson as the enforcer. for months leading up to that i was so mad that tyson was going to cost Austin the match until my mom said its all scripted and told me exactly what was going to happen. of course i didnt believe her until lo and behold it happened exactly the way she said it would lol that was the first time i realized A. that wrestling was not what i thought it was and B. my mom actually knew what she wast talking about

 

[pessimism101]

I found out wrestling was STAGED when I was 7 years old watching WrestleMania VII. During the main event between Hulk Hogan and Sgt. Slaughter, Hogan bladed on camera. It didn't make sense for someone to cut themselves on purpose so I eventually deduced that wrestling was not as real as I thought.

 

[The Bearded One]

I pretty much new immediately it was all a work. I started watching back in 1994 or 1995 and Wrestlemania 12 was the first Wrestlemania I ever saw. My friends taped it and we watched it constantly. But on there was a Street Fight between Roddy Piper and Goldust, in which Piper chased Goldust through Anaheim in a white Bronco. They used footage of the OJ chase for the scenes. I didn't get it, and I thought he as actually chasing him. My friend told me it was fake and that it was OJ Simpson footage. But after that, he also told me it wasn't real.

But I don't watch it like it isn't real. I still think it's real when I watch it. I still get lost in the excitement and showmanship of wrestling like I did when I first started watching it. I don't view it as fake while the show is going on. but after the show when I get on here to discuss things, that is when I come back to the real world so to say.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

When watching Rocky III when it first came out before I really watched wrestling... There were several little in-jokes about it being fake... Hogan basically destroys Kayfabe by being nice to Rocky after the bell...

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I've known wrestling is scripted for as long as I can remember. I never had SKY tv as a young kid, so I never really watched it at a young age. By the time I was able to watch at about 11 years old, it had already been mentioned in coversations with friends and family that it was "fake". So, I never had the experience of believing that what I was seeing was real. I knew that it was pre-determined, but I only discovered the blood was real later on. Most people I know still argue that the blood is all capsules, but I know its not.

I dont think of wrestling as "fake", and I always try to put this across to haters. I get teased by my parents, girlfriend and friends about still watching wrestling and told to "grow up", but I argue that as they all watch soap operas, then there is nothing wrong with watching incredible athletes playing a part in a physically demanding, violent soap opera. So what if the endings are pre-determined?? It doesnt bother me! I love the athletisism and violence of it, so thats why I watch

 

[One to Remember]

i gotta say a lot of you guys sound outright outrageous describing your epiphanies.. i cant figure out thought why half of you have parents that call it fake. I mean thats like your own mom n dad making fun of you is it not? My mom is not a fantic but she didn't say "hey its fake ya know.." WTF kind of parents did u all have? It was gradual for me, iat one point thought some matches were fake and some were real. The jig was up for me sometime in 1999or so. Some of you have said that seeing a heel eat at a waffle house with a face or seeing the Undertaker as a zombie made you think wrestling was fake but characters have nothing to do with the sport element. I did not think basketball was "fake" or fixed because of how bizarre rodman acted or the arrogance of ron artest during that brawl. It bothered me briefly but each time i watch a wrestling program i forget all over again. So to answer your question i realize its fake at 11:15pm on mondays, by 9:01 on thursdays, by 10:01 on fridays, and by 11:07 on tuesdays.. i realize it everytime i lose my wrestling high..

 

[TMStick62aw]

I remember getting into it when I was six, I had an uncle who wrestled while in high school and he would tell me it was fake, how mad I would get and just shake my head yes but on the inside I didnt believe him. Then I was about 13-14 when the Monday Night Wars exploded and everyone was watching it, but like all good things there were "haters" that would say it was fake, so I would put them in a torture rack, slam them into chairs, apply sharp shooters, DDTs, and pile drivers and ask them if that was fake.(that was before the "do not try this at home." campaign) Anyway through all that I eventually settled in my mind that it wasn't fake, it just wasnt a real competition. I attend a lot of shows now that I am older, I cheer for who I want to cheer for, I enjoy having that, for I respect the art of pro wrestling and knowing who I think have paved their dues and have wrestling in their "blood". Ten Years ago I would not have been excited to know that William Regal was on the card that I was in attendance for, but now I get really excited to see him and others like him perform, I also still though pick favorites to cheer for and enjoy it for what it is and has always been for me, the greatest entertainment I've enjoyed following for the majority of my life.

 

[Dzone]

I saw a recorded "video" when I was like 6-7... it showed them cutting themselves if they are meant to bleed and don't etc. I kinda thought it was fake already though so... ¬.¬.

 

[TheBWO]

It's fake? ....who knew? No, I can't say I remember, because as a kid, you would see people get beat unmerciously, and the be able to come out the next week and cut a promo. My father always said "now watch, he'll be back next week", and sure enough he was. I took it with a grain of salt for a period, and couldn't figure out why it was never "covered" on the nightly sports during like, Wrestlemania, etc. It would be in the paper on occasion, but that was the only PPV they would cover. The older I got, and once I realized that Santa Claus was my parents , the Tooth Fairy felt mysteriously like my mother's hand in the middle of the night, and that no one could sustain a bleeding one week and come back with a patch on their head the next week, I was done! All kidding aside, I never knew how wrestlers wrestled.....I mean, I never knew how they knew a clothesline was coming, or when to succumb to a pin, until I watched Beyond The Mat. It SO made sense to me then, and there was even a RAW that Flair had been chopped in the chest by someone, and I actually heard him on TV say "Okay, one more". I think my entire first clue was watching Razor Ramon many years ago and the camera got up close on him when he was in a chinlock applied by someone (of course, can't remember by who), and he mouthed the words "backslide", and sure enough, 2 seconds later it happened. Not that I didn't know it wasn't fake then, but at least I understood the communication aspect of it.

 

[The Doctor]

It was in my drama class. We were having a lecture on staged combat. The lecturer was demonstrating some holds, and then she said "If you want a really good example of stage combat, try watching professional wrestling". Now, I had never really watched wrestling; I had just played the games. I never really put much thought into whether it was "fake" or "real". But at that moment I found out it was staged.

And you know what that made me do? It made me wait until Saturday (that's when ECW and Smackdown came on in Italy), turn the TV on, and watch wrestling, just so I could see this staged combat. I was hooked, and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

[Frank Gotch]

In about 92-93 WCW/NWA was having a tag title tournament and i went to a show at the baltimore arena. Well while waiting outside I saw Ron Simmons drive up in a car with Big Van Vader in the passenger seat, I asked my Uncle why they were driving together if they had to fight later and thats when he let me in on the secret that Wrestling was fake

 

[Sicc Nick]

I think for me it was around Tough Enough when I found out it was fake. I started watching in 1998, and argued with everyone constantly about whether or not wrestling was fake, and I even said something along the lines of "well if they have razors, maybe it's 'cause they are slicin' and dicin' their opponent!," but other than that, I didn't even listen to anyone's claims that it was fake, because to me, there is no way you can fake certain things that happened on that show, and turns out, although scripted, a lot of that shit IS real, so there ya' go.

But in '98, the one thing that was completely ridiculous to me, was when Steve Austin had that fake gun, and did all that kind of stuff, and Shane did the swerve-in and backstabbed Austin, and all that stuff. That's when I first started asking around, is this real or fake? My dad liked to sustain kayfabe, and told me it was real, and led me to believe that all the way into the year 2000.

That's when Beyond The Mat came out. That explained every single thing about the show and what happens backstage, and was also filled with shoot interviews. That movie, although very good and one of my favorite movies of all time, ruined wrestling for me, definitely. Although the narrator did not mention blading or anything of that nature, or the punches not landing, et cetera. So I still thought it was pretty real, and I enjoyed the real bloody matches. Which is why I went to ECW and started watching that.

THEN! Tough Enough came. I'm not gonna' get into that, but Triple H practicing fake punches? Taking bumps? Etc? ******ed.

The end.

 

[Rasha]

I barely remember this happening due to my age at the time, but it's been told me to me by others.

Around 1989 (7-8 years old) I was staying in the Omni Hotel in Atlanta with friends & family to attend a Hawks/Celtics game. At this time almost all of the Turner-owned companies had their corporate offices in the lower levels of the Omni, including WCW. We were walking around one day and were close enough to the WCW office just in time to see Flair walking out. One of the dads in the group recognized him from a distance and called out to him. He was very nice, shaking hands and posed for a few pictures. I only watched WWF at the time so I actually had no idea who he was.

A few years later, once Flair came to the WWF, I saw him on TV and recognized him. I saw him being such a huge jerk and asked why he wasn't the nice guy from the hotel anymore. Then it all got explained to me.

 

[natlee75]

By the time I actually started following wrestling, I already knew that it was "fake." I of course had heard of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior and the rest of them (one of my middle school friends was a huge wrestling fan with every single one of those LJN rubber figures) and had seen some episodes of that WWF cartoon, but I had also heard about the fallout from the 20/20 interview in 1984.

In any case, the first wrestling match I really watched was Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Championship at Summerslam 1991. I think I would have realized wrestling was fake even if I hadn't already known because during the Legion of Doom vs. Nasty Boys match there was one close-up of when Animal was "punching" one of the Nasties and his fist was nowhere near connecting. That really stood out in my mind at the time - I went to my best friend who was a huge wrestling fan and pestered him about why they didn't do a better job at faking everything, LOL.

 

[The Pizzaman]

I must have been about 12 when i realized that wrestling was fixed but am now 37 and am still needing the weekly fix. Its like a soap opera or good film. You know its just acting but find yourself shouting at your TV set when your favorite wrestler is losing or is cheated out of the championship, or getting destroyed and outnumbered outside of the ring. You wish that some day you will meet your fav and will get to slap his hand whilst he is walking down to the ring or he gives an item of his ring attire to your child standing next to you who believes he has just had superman's cape given to him. You spend hundreds of pounds of your hard earned cash on tee shirts, key rings, programmes, PPVs, face masks, Baseball caps, pencil cases and so on to keep the wrestling story alive. Its all about belief in what you see and not what you know. Its only fake if you believe its fake and real if you forget the reality of what wrestling is. The stories may be fixed but the danger to the wrestlers is real!!!

PEOPLE ARE FAKE. PRO WRESTLING IS REAL!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fadeddragon2469]

Wow, I don't normally ever post on these forums, i just like to read and get everyone elses perspective. But, I had to comment on this...

I remember the first time I found out it was fake. It was like, 1990-1991. I was about 7 or 8 years old and for any child during that time most likely your favorite wrestler is Hulk Hogan. Well, at some point during that time John Tenta aka Earthquake was getting into a major feud with Hulk Hogan. My memory is a little foggy about the details but I know at some point Earthquake did his finisher on Hogan on the floor or something like somewhere between 4-8 times. They start saying that Hogan may have a broken neck and they put him on a stretcher. I start BAWLING! I mean, I'm an 8 year old kid and its my hero. Well, my dad finally decided it was time to tell me it was "fake" lol. He pulls out a newspaper article to show me a picture of Hogan with his kids in a pool at his home and it says he was taking some time off or something. But yeah, that was it...

 

[Horseman420]

Now, I'm from old school....I mean from the 70's. I started going to the matches with my Dad and brother and Grandfather in '75; I was 8, my brother 12. We cheered the good guys, booed the bad guys, but after a while we started really WATCHING it. Just like someone wrote about WMVII when Hogan blatantly bladed, that's how we started. Back in the mid-70's they BLED! From sitting close to ringside for so long ( in Philly ), we noticed how when someone came up bleeding, they always went face-first into the mat with their hands near their face; it wasn't like now where you're looking for it so you can be "smart". Then you start to notice them talk to each other, and the rest just follows.

On a side note, has anyone met the type of person who "knows" wrestling is isn't real, and still thinks they use the infamous "blood capsules"??

 

[byrnside]

Definitely when I went to my first live event. It was a taping of WCW Saturday Night in Atlanta in '93 or '94 I think. I would've been between 8 and 9 years old then. Up until then I argued with everyone that it was real just like most of you. Even now when I go to a live event I think about how the camera men really do some wonders for the business when it comes to some wrestlers.

 

[longlivetheBrood]

I guess for me it was when I saw Dusty Rhodes & Ric Flair sitting side-by-side, dressed to the nines, watching the Lakers vs. Celtics courtside, laughing it up and having a grand old time. This just days after watching them bash each others' brains in inside a steel cage lol.

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

For me it was when Eddie Guerrero died. I was not that young, but I was stupid. I was about 13 and when he died I tuned to Raw and saw that everyone was there on the entrance ramp. My friend had told me he had died, but I did not believe it.

I asked my cousin why everyone was there and he told me that it was because backstage they were like a family. I then understood that what they did was just a profession and it was fake.

 

[jmt225]

Right from the beginning.

My bitch of a grandmother (who I lived with) made sure to remind me how fake pro wrestling was whenever I tuned it, and how I was dumb to be watching such fake nonsense, even though this was the same person who watched fucking Murder She Wrote every time it came on.

However, knowing it was "fake" never ruined my enjoyment of the sport. Wrestling at the time was more about characters and stories than they were about the actual wrestling... so I didn't look at it in a competitive aspect. I had my favorites who I connected with, and I rooted for them. It was as simple as that. Every wrestling show was like a live action movie, and I enjoyed the fuck out of it; that feeling stayed with me all throughout my childhood well into my teen years.