Wrestling With My Opinions

As I sat in my room, trying to revise about computer networks whilst simultaneously entertaining the idea of bashing my head in with the guitar in a lame attempt to make some sort of musical statement, one of my friends posted on Facebook bemoaning the various mysteries of professional wrestling unbeknownst to those who aren’t regular viewers of it. Stuff like what could possibly be the appeal of it, what it offers that no other sport does and how many of the wrestlers I would want to stalk and sidle into bed with.

ONLY JOKING. Kinda.

Being a fan of wrestling unfortunately doesn’t tend to go down well with people who aren’t fans of wrestling, because if you admit you enjoy watching wrestling, that apparently gives others a free pass in saying something along the lines of, ‘Oh, you complete and utter cretin’ or ‘Get off my property, I’m calling the cops’. I’ve tried the indignant, angrily defensive front of wrestling, and that doesn’t work, mainly because it only proves the first argument to be true. Since then however, I’ve been able to enjoy the benefits of growing up, which include sophistication, calm and reasoned arguments over a spot of Earl Grey and a slice of carrot cake.

I’ve been a fan of wrestling for a while now; I could even remember the first pay per view I watched. Survivor Series 2002. Main event being the Elimination Chamber for the World Heavyweight Championship. Despite a drop in interest in from 2006 – 2011, I like to think I still have enough knowledge and experience to create a weighted argument into the appeals of professional wrestling.

With the negative attitude from non-fans that is associated with professional wrestling comes the word that most people like to use to display some sort of feeble position of power over regular fans. Fake.

It's a word that instantly causes me to roll my eyes and sigh a big sigh of exasperation. When someone uses that word to describe professional wrestling, you might as well be talking to a barely functioning microwave. It closes off the conversation before it can get off the tracks. It's dismissive, and displays a staggeringly high level of ignorance. Not even so much a scratch of the surface, but more of a tentative prod.

I think where this mainly originates from is the confusion of it being called a 'sport'. Ever since it became public knowledge that the outcomes were the result of a team of writers backstage as opposed to actual, direct competition, it seems all the integrity of wrestling evaporated on the spot. In no world would I watch and consider wrestling on the same level as sports I am passionate about like football, rugby or snooker. It's sports entertainment, with more emphasis on the 'entertainment'. I've always thought once people put it in that train of thought, then maybe it might be a bit more acceptable.

Respect where respect is due, the wrestlers do sacrifice a lot to entertain. I know for a fact I wouldn't last an hour in the environment when I know how much training wrestlers do, and most of the time it's not solely to improve their physique. They need to be safe with each other and make sure they can execute moves correctly and safely, because there is no way that some of the stuff can be faked. If you look at the some of the athleticism and precision some of the wrestlers utilise to execute their moves, it really is something quite pleasing to behold, and that's where some of the legitimacy is in professional wrestling.

The other half of what makes wrestling is the characters that are created within. It is, in essence, a very sweaty, testosterone filled soap opera. Even the staff within the promotion themselves refers to themselves as 'episodically' appearing every Monday night. But just like one will find characters within a novel or a TV series captivating, so would one of a wrestler and his particular gimmick. I, for one, will never tire of looking back at the days of The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker and countless others and all the memories and moments they created.

So why then do people continue to look down on it? Well, the problem is that sometimes it doesn't really help itself out. Such as very very VERY questionable storylines. I seem to remember a feud between Kane and Triple H which involved the latter accusing the former of...er-hem. Raping a corpse. And even went as far as recreating the situation in an attempt to frame him. Considering that this was still a time when I wasn't fully aware of the situation due to being a sheltered motherfucker and whatnot, my parents sure didn't appreciate the awkward questions that were asked soon after.

And of course, there's the air of drugs, steroids and general controversy that surrounds the industry. In all fairness, they are trying to solve one of the issues with the Wellness Policy that looks out for the well being of wrestlers (although this is just the WWE) which came about after the horrible news of the Chris Benoit murder-suicide in 2007. Since then, however, I'm glad to report that it seems to have cleaned itself up since then. Well, questionable storylines are still floating around the place, but that's to be expected since the WWE literally has no major competition to give it a right kick up the arse.

The age-old stance of ‘don’t knock it until you’ve tried it’ stands true with professional wrestling. The only problem is that most of the time it doesn’t help itself out with the problems I’ve mentioned. For all the time I’ve been a fan, everytime I try to defend it’s integrity in front of a naysayer, it runs off behind my back and proceeds to brush its teeth with nitroglycerine and rinse its mouth with motor oil.

Currently listening to: