The Intricate Spectrum: What Is It?
Every wrestling fan has been mocked or teased about being a pro wrestling fan. Wrestling fans are often asked stupid questions that pretty much insult our intelligence and often expose the general perception of wrestling on a wide-spread basis.
Just the other day I an encountered a situation, I had a few family members over and I was sitting watching RAW when I was bombarded with moronic questions;
You Do Realise Wrestling Is Fake?
Why do you watch this crap? It’s all rehearsed and scripted.
More then anything that annoys me about this perception is the fact they totally overlook these guys as amazing athletes. Choreographed, scripted and fake that is wrestling’s general perception YET; these same aspects they look over while watching their favourite movies and refuse to hold them in the same value. I couldn’t help but sit and think about one particular question that was asked though; why do you watch this crap? Why do I, how did I become a wrestling fan? This caused me to look back on my childhood. My first memories of watching wrestling was as a small child hiring videos from my local video store being amazed at these huge men seemingly pounding each other to death. Wrestling provided me with all athleticism of sports and athletics and the drama of television. Too me it was the perfect show. My little eyes lit up as Ricky Steamboat took on his foe Ric Flair, My emotions riled up by the cocky Nature Boy which caused me to cheer louder for my idol Ricky Steamboat. Wrestling was something that completely captured my imagination, my heart pounded for every near fall and I even remember crying when Steamboat lost.
Time moved on I was no longer a child.
Some things never change even as a teenager I was still a fan, the only difference was I had become more hardcore into the business but the ridicule remained the same. I still had that sparkle in my eye as I cheered on a fresh new crop of wrestlers and had my big time mark out moments. But throughout the whole tenure that I have watched wrestling the same questions keeps coming up, why do you watch this crap? To which I have never given a definitive answer. I always tipped toed around it and had a joke. How do you explain something to someone who has a completely negative view on something what you see in it?
I have tried pointing out the athleticism the intrigue the suspense and the overall entertainment of watching wrestling but seemingly nothing works. In a world were everything is based of numbers the number of people who find wrestling utterly ridiculous compared to fans who love wrestling there is a massive difference. Do I rest on my laurels and just let the general perception be what it is rather then try and explain why I like it? Or do I attempt to convince them that wrestling is more then just a fake sport? One day I vividly remember having this discussion with my father who is of the non-wrestling conception and I sat down and watched a specific match with him which was Ricky Steamboat taking on Ric Flair at the Chi Town Rumble. My father casually came in and sat down during the match and stated I don’t know what you see in this crap. The ever present question had now seeped out my fathers lips; I decided to go for it and explain it to him, As I sat and explained psychology and the high amount of intellect and artistry that went into good wrestling he began to understand. As my weekly routine of watching and RAW & Smackdown continued I noticed my Dad started to sit down and watch occasionally not only did he watch but he became interested. Months rolled by and my Dad started pointing out little things and started stating how certain wrestlers seemed more realistic then others, He at that moment pin-pointed the exact thing that makes wrestling an art. If the general argument is that it’s choreographed and fake, why can’t other people just like my Dad see the artistry in it when they previously didn’t care for it?
It’s simple a general consensus is the antithesis of the rift between the wrestling fan and non-wrestling fan. It was once rumoured black magic was in fact real when a few cases become reality, What had happened was curses had been used to kill or paralyse the intended victim, It was discovered by scientists this had happened due to the strong belief of black magic in the community and how it was drilled into them as children that it was real, What does this have do with anything you may ask? Well simply put perception is reality and the general perception is wrestling is fake then that’s how it will remain as it is consistently drilled into everyone’s heads it’s fake and fake generally means inferior. Just as black magic is taught and made to believe to be real wrestling is taught in the exact opposite. When toned down into a simple logical form you can’t force someone to like something they have never liked and have been convinced not to like. To the un-trained eye wrestling is just simulated violence but to the fans it’s an art form that of which holds the same value in their eyes as to quality art, Steamboat vs. Flair is OUR Mona Lisa that we will cherish in the highest artistic regard for generations to come. The pure artistic merit of these amazing athletes and their ability to tell a story threw selling and simulated offense is the exact reason I LOVE WRESTLING.
Thank You
Matthew James
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