Pro Wrestling's Not Real, But It's Still Cool!

I love action: in films, books, comics and on TV.  Cheesy action is fun.  Violent action is intense.  But I find that I like realistic action the best, at least usually.  When the people involved in an action scene are realistically limited in their abilities and it's well-choreographed, I think it increases the excitement and the tension.

In the early nineties I was a kid.  I got hooked on watching WCW wrestling.  Sting was my favorite wrestler, with his spiked white hair, colorful face paint and great costumes.  It was sort of a California surfer persona.  Actually, when he started out he tag teamed with the guy who eventually became the Ultimate Warrior.  Anyway, I thought wrestling was completely real.  Yes, you read that right.  Real.  And at the time I didn't want to hear anything different.  I assure you there are people today who still feel like that about it.  I've moved on however.

It's pretty silly how long I held out.  But once I became a fan and student of MMA, I knew it was fake.  I mean once you've seen a real fight, even one with rules and limitations, pro wrestling looks fake.  Sorry guys.  Just the way it is.  And because MMA is real it increases the excitement and tension I feel, especially if one of the fighters is a fave of my mine.

Now, don't misunderstand me.  I'm not dissing pro wrestling.  In fact I've recently started watching one of the franchises again.  It's not real, but that's not the point.  They really do put their bodies on the line to entertain their fans, and the ongoing struggle between good and evil is constantly played out.  I'm not being flippant.  I'm serious.  It's a form of theater.  And that's not all.  The UFC has borrowed from common pro wrestling tropes.

In the late eighties/early nineties pro wrestlers started walking out to music.  Guess who does that?  MMA stars.  It's such a big deal, they market their "walkout T's" to the fans.  And promoters love it when fighters genuinely don't like each other.  Even if they're friends, there's pressure to hype the fight.  There's not that much difference between two wrestlers promoting a match and two MMA stars hyping a fight.  That's part of the weigh-ins too.  They're asked to square off with each other, and it usually becomes a stare down.

So my conclusion is simple: pro wrestling's not real, but it's still cool!