Thursday, June 09, 2005

Scripted Annihilation

Does anyone still think "Professional Wrestling" is real? Don't get me wrong, I know that the people involved really throw their bodies into it, and I know they really choreograph their "matches," but what I mean is: does anyone really think that it isn't a show? That there really is a spontaneity to it?
The reason I bring this up is that I watched wrestling tonight for the first time in a really long time. I was amazed at how well they timed everything. From the entrances, to the movement of the "matches", to how well some of the wrestlers spoke. It really felt like theatre. Really well done theatre. I know they call it "sports entertainment", but I get the sense it is now alot more entertainment now, then sports. In fact, after watching two hours, I noticed that they talked more than they performed. Out of roughly 96 minutes of show (the rest was commercials), maybe 40 minutes (less than half) was actually wrestling. The rest was posturing and talking and such.
My brother in law's brother used to be a professional wrestler. His name really isn't important (and I'm not sure that legally I can put it in here), but he had a good run until his back and neck forced him out. He made millions of dollars without ever having to go to college. David (not his real name) even has a hard time speaking, but the boy could pick a man up and slam him down, and that was enough to get him on TV. Anyone who doesn't think that wrestling is scripted, should talk to any current or retired wrestler, or they should watch a wrestling documentary. These are just a few of the "man behind the curtain" gems one can learn:
Storylines are fleshed out weeks in advance.
Wrestlers who are "bitter rivals" probably travel together.
Wrestlers will often times go over a script together before heading to the ring to "confront one another."
If a PPV (Pay-Per-View) is coming up, wrestlers might get in the ring before hand and go over what moves they will be using.
The announcers will sometimes have a guy on headset backstage who will feed them lines if needed.
I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. It's not real. The moves are, the athleticism is, but the characters and speeches are given to them.
Still, I wonder if anyone really thinks that none of it is pre-prepared and that these characters (and they are characters) are real? I mean come on: when I used to really watch wrestling (back when I was in college and probably inebriated) they had characters that were vampires and a bitter feud between two brothers, one of which was burned when a funeral home burned down. It was downright silly, but it was entertaining. Even David was given a backstory. His character was on the show as part of a gimmick. It became necessary for him to "enter the action", so to speak, and he impressed so much that he was "hired" on the spot.
So, if you're reading this and you STILL think wrestling is real, take a good long look at films like
Beyond the Mat or Wrestling with Shadows. Both of these films take a good look behind the scenes of the wrestling world.

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