Friday, March 25, 2011
Wrestling: Now and Then
I grew up during the 90's era of WWF wrestling when The Rock was still a wrestler. My father's side of the family would watch Monday Night Raw and Smackdown religiously, but somehow I could never get into it. It looked so silly to me that I would just do other things while they were watching it. Although sometimes I did watch the programs with them I hardly paid any attention. I would ask them questions about whether they knew it was fake or that all of their favorite wrestlers were also their favorite actors. What they told me was that they didn't care. What mattered to them was the entertainment that wrestling provided and continues to give them to this day. Who am I to knock them or the millions of people who continue to watch these programs (shoutout to Prof. Lirette) with a relish that will never fade.
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Looks like the Rock has built quite a career for himself in cinema. He was the Scorpion King and the lead in Walking Tall. Now he will be starring in the new Fast and Furious movie along with Vin Diesel as the head of the police team bent on taking down Vin's crew. Can't say it will be a good movie in any way, but the Rock is still a huge and built guy and will certainly be pile-driving Mr. Diesels head into the concrete to please his fans this time around. Yay grappling violence!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen The Wrestler? Mickey Rourke's character is assaulted with a staple gun in the ring.
ReplyDeleteLike yourself, I'm also greatly bewildered by the appeal wrestling has for so many people around the world. The greatest disconnect for me and the key reason why it never commands my interest is the very fact that it isn't real. It makes the overly dramatic nature of the acting seem even more silly. In contrast, MMA is more appealing, as one who has also trained in the martial arts at one point, I can appreciate much more easily the time, effort and skill it takes to win fights against fighters so well trained
ReplyDeleteTo me, the most astounding thing about wrestling is the the fact that individuals are willing to go as far as die for a 'fake' sport. Although it is often swept aside, there is a piling list of deaths that can be connected to the pro wrestling career. I hope to expound upon these deaths in a future post, but a recent example that comes to mind is Chris Benoit. This ex-wrestler's life tragically ended with the murder of his wife, boy, and himself. I think that the use of the word 'fake' may be an inappropriate way to describe the events that unfold on television. For instance, we wouldn't refer to bodybuilding/weightlifting as fake because steroids are involved. Nevertheless, the training that wrestlers put themselves through combines many of the elements of bodybuilding, martial arts, and injury prevention exercises. I am only an occasional viewer of pro wrestling, but I believe its label as 'fake' is undeserved.
ReplyDeleteThis link speak a little about the brain condition of Benoit upon his autopsy: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3560015&page=1.