Wrestling Documentaries

[klunderbunker]

After popping in Heartbreak and Triumph, I noticed Shawn talking about how he was calling matches in the ring, being told how a match should end and various things like that. My question is, is this a good idea?

This is done on multiple DVDs so this isn't just a knock on this one. It's all over Rise and Fall of ECW and Monday Night Wars, so this isn't just something Shawn is doing. To me, it's a horrid idea. Wrestling is built on the glorious concept of kayfabe, which is the notion that wrestling is at least mostly real. Why would you put it on a WWE produced DVD that things are all fixed? Are wrestling fans supposed to believe that it's different in WWE than it is everywhere else? I know that for the most part everyone knows wrestling is fake, but why would you just flat out say that it is? It defeats the purpose of kayfabe to do this and it takes away a bit of the mystique. For fans like us, wrestling is about a suspension of disbelief. We know it's staged, but we get into it anyway. What about marks? What about kids that have a very limited idea that it's real? Isn't this possibly going to alienate them?

Am I making too big a deal out of this or am I on to something here?

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Klunder, unfortunately you're still trying to live in yester-year. We've evolved into something more than just the casual fan who enjoys senseless violence. We want to know the ends and outs to everything involved in the fake sport we watch, so we can tell everyone who constantly yells out "Its fake".. I KNOW! with pride.

Truth is, I don't mind it, but Wrestling isn't what it used to be for me and its partly because of this reason. Nothing is hidden anymore. Nothing is as unique as it once was. When you've grown up watching this, and you've taken this amount of time to get into watching and learning everything or as much of everything regarding the Profession as you can.. you ruin it for yourself.

I can't tell you how many times through the course of 2000 on, where something huge has happened and I didn't "mark out" or "pop" the same way I would have back in the early 90's, or 80's. Its because of stuff like this, where they explain to you how things happen and are sorted out.. so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put everything together and figure out if one thing is done this way, then most of it is done the same. (storyline wise, I mean)

I give credit to the W.W.E for as much as I can, however. The reason being is because it wasn't until a couple years ago, did they truly start producing DVDs that explained in-depth behind the scenes stuff. Whereas you've always had non-Industry produced features on the "inside works" of Professional Wrestling. I recall a show with a masked Wrestler, back in the mid-90's, who's voice was altered as to not give away his identity, who told the world that Wrestlers communicated in the ring while in rest holds and they worked back and forth, naming off 5-6, or sometimes even 8-10 moves to follow all during the time they were in a rest-hold.

That was just one example of what ruined Professional Wrestling to me. Others were the storylines that went overboard with trying to blend real life and kayfabe. Like, for example, Orton & Triple H. In this storyline you have Orton attacking the Owner's Family more or less.. yet he can't lose his job because of some random ass lame excuse thats never before been mentioned in the 7 years he's been with the Company. Really? REALLY!?

All in all, whats done is done and it can't be taken back.

 

[The Brain]

I miss kayfabe too, but like Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, kayfabe is gone forever. I completely understand your point, but it doesn't bother me too much. I would be bothered if it took place during RAW or SmackDown. For a dvd it's ok. It's just like anything else. During a movie you want to believe the hero and villian hate each other. When you buy the dvd you can watch the blooper reel in the bonus features and see them laughing together. The only thing I don't like is kids will want to watch these dvds. They should be allowed to believe as long as they can.

 

[absent]

Like the old adage, "you can't put the genie back in the bottle once it's out". In this day and age I think it's the breaking of kayfabe and the revealing of behind the scenes workings is a big selling factor for these DVDs. You want to hear what really happened behind the scenes from the people that were there now that time has passed and they can speak more openly, it's just like any other documentary. If they were still protecting the industry and storylines it wouldn't be a documentary, it would just be re-telling of the TV show.

I think kayfabe can still exist though, you've just got to be really really clever how it's done in the context of something that knows and admits it's a TV show.