In (Perpetual) Defense of Professional Wrestling

Much like Chris Rock has said about Hip Hop, I love pro wrestling but I'm tired of defending it.

It has been around (in one way or another) since the dawn of civilization and considered to be the oldest sport in existence.  Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all had storied histories of contests between two men battling in a ring in front of large crowds.  There are also strong traditions of wrestling contests in India and Japan that go back as far as the beginnings of their cultures.

Lets skip ahead a few thousand years and go to the roots leading into the modern concept of what we know today as Sports Entertainment.

Aside from the American Indians having a strong background in wrestling to solve differences, and Abraham Lincoln wrestling over 300 matches in his lifetime, there were a bunch of Irish immigrants who settled in the Vermont area in the 1800s and with them came a long standing custom of fighting in front of crowds in the New World.  The soldiers of both sides of the American Civil War used their downtime to wrestle each other.  Once the war ended, many of these ex-soldiers did it for money at county fairs.


A market began to flourish and many top grapplers from all over the world began to come to America at the dawning of the 20th Century.  Eventually a World Champion was needed for what had become the biggest sport in the USA; the match between Georg Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch lasted over 2 hours, with Gotch winning by submission.  At this point it was still a legitimate sport and controversy ensued because Gotch allegedly greased his body to get out of holds easier and rubbed the oil into the face of his opponent

The rematch 3 years later in 1911 was seen by 30,000 people at Comiskey Park in Chicago.  Gotch paid $5000 to one of Hackenschmidt's training partners to injure him in training before the big contest, twisting his knee.  Despite the injury, Hackenschmidt agreed to the match because Gotch also claimed to have an injured neck (but he didn't).  It was to be a two out of three falls match and here's where it starts to get interesting: the two men planned out the ending beforehand.  Hackenschmidt agreed to lose the match as long as Gotch would drop the first fall to make Hackenschmidt look strong.  Gotch double crossed him and won two falls straight.

Word got out about the fix being in and Pro Wrestling was relegated to the carnival circuit for decades in shame.  What saved it was television which made it rise again especially in the 80s and 90s.

OK, enough with the history lesson.  I'm only trying to explain the roots in order to make my case why I am still a fan of pro wrestling in my 30s.

When I was a kid, it was the larger than life characters like Hulk Hogan that reeled me in along with arenas full of kids.  In the 90s, the product got more of a modern edge and pandered to testosterone-infused teenage boys.  In each case, the direction of the product matched my generation and my age quite perfectly, so I was always the target market.

In the 1980s, all of the characters were larger than life.  Hogan was this big shiny 302 lb. tanned and muscled hero, fending off all challenges.  He couldn't wrestle worth a crap, but what he could do was work the crowd like no one else.  When he threw a punch, he would precede it with an appeal to the crowd physically asking, 'Should I?  Should I?' with his motions.  When he took a punch, you would think that he got hit by a train.  When you're too young to know better and you think it's all real, you can't look away from any of it for a second.

It was the drama of it all that really pulled me into it; the intrigue, the crowd, the despair and the triumph all playing to my young emotions.

Then the 1990s came and with that the hormones really kicked in.  The matches became more violent, the women were more trashy, the storylines more risque and overall the product exuded an attitude about itself like every passing week of action was more controversial than the last.  Myself and millions of others were glued to their TVs every Monday night, with 4 to 5 hours of new programming from two multi-million dollar companies.  The indie scene was also epitomized by the advent of upstart ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) whose concept was to take all the risks, shoot on the big boy competition, and be the bloody, violent punk rock underbelly of Wrestling.

It was a constantly ridiculous product that addicted the viewer with it's sense of chutzpah and titillation and you couldn't tear me away.

The last decade has seen a decline in popularity in a lot of senses.  WWE got mainstream and has geared it's programming back to the kids for the most part, with the good stuff almost always being relegated to the Pay Per View buyer's eyes.  The last half of the decade especially was mired in controversy, early deaths, drug scandals, mainly amplified by the fully grown and mutated internet community.  Sure this stuff was happening behind the scenes, but in the present day, there's no longer a "Behind" in the Scene to speak of; just look at WWE's newest show NXT to illustrate that point.  It's a show that is out in the open about developing the talents of new performers.  It's a blend of work and shoot, and I feel it's an effort to translate the development of the business into this century (finally).

It is nothing but entertainment with just enough bright spots to keep me going.