‘We make Movies’
Vince McMahon describing the WWE (Beyond the Mat, Directed by Barry Bluestein)
In the twenty plus years of its fruitful existence, sports entertainment has brought the once ultra-butch smack and crack man balleigh of professional wrestling from dull bingo halls to the glamour and glitz of big city arenas. Wrestling’s renaissance has almost certainly etched this remarkable hybrid into the cultural side note known as Americana.
There is no denying the success of sports entertainment. It makes mere grapplers into global superstars, it sells millions of pounds worth of merchandise (the WWE being the second biggest shifter of branded merchandise in the United States) and it remains consistently successful in the shark infested waters of television ratings. On paper, sports entertainment, whether it is the WWE or the old WCW, has made this business a global commodity.
Yet despite its overwhelming success sports entertainment, or wrestling, is still somewhat of a cultural ‘knock knock’ joke in western society. It’s proved itself financially, it’s proved itself in terms of sheer popularity, and yet wrestling is still not an inherent part of the social straight and narrow. The WWE’s prime target audience is males aged 18-30. Therefore due to its popularity, of which there is no denying, I could randomly walk into a room of average working to middle class males and strike up a conversation about wrestling. I would not be made fun of and the majority of the room would share this as a common interest, wrong! The fact is that wrestling is not something one whom is to be considered ‘average’ and therefore safe and popular, should talk about.
So why does an institution such as pro-wrestling, that on paper rivals other socially acceptable obsessions such as the English Premiership and the NFL not fit neatly into a normal, average male conversation. My top theory surrounds the very thing that makes it so popular. Professional Wrestling is not a normal form of escapism, its own codes and conventions mean that it does not fit into any categories within the realm of western popular culture. This ‘identity vacuum’ that wrestling often vacates is what I believe prevents this astonishing past time becoming an escapist institution.
So what is wrestling? Where does it fit? To openly explore wrestling’s generical home I must consider every possible residence.
SOAP OPERA – Many educated wrestling fans, namely certain members of the IWC, will tell you that the WWE is pure soap opera. Despite the degrading way in which it is tagged as ‘soap opera’, these sports entertainment sceptics are actually not far from the truth. Wrestling, especially mainstream wrestling does posses certain codes associated with Soap Operas. It has open end and multi-strand narratives, it has a cast of numerous ever changing characters, and if you wanted to be really anal we could compare the common setting such as the ring to Ramsey Street (Neighbours Aus), Weatherfield (Coronation Street UK) or Albert Square (Eastenders UK). Yet despite its similar traits soap operas do not include announce teams, bout cards, backstage interviews and a live audience. The fictional side of wrestling is indeed similar to Soap Opera, yet the non-fiction of wrestling is what makes it distinctively unlike and therefore ultimately not a Soap Opera.
SPORT – This is where it starts getting heated. There are many who believe that there is Wrestling – The Sport, and Sports Entertainment – The Entertainment. In the past I’ve heard ludicrous statements such as ‘entertainment raped the sport of wrestling’. The fact is that wrestling’s pre-determined format makes it inherently not a sport. Sport is organised competition, which means there is a genuine competitive match up to conclude who is the better team/player. Wrestling’s make up provides us with a glossy sheen of competition, but beneath it is simple scripting. This is why I believe there is so much dislike towards the WWE. People who bad mouth the WWE forget to realise that no matter how much the likes of ROH presents itself as a sport, it is and will never be a sport. Therefore bad mouthing the WWE for ‘raping’ the sport of wrestling is a moot point, they might as well attack gravity for keeping them on the ground. It’s fundamentally senseless.
PANTOMIME – Like it or not, wrestling is more like Pantomime than any other form of popular entertainment. The players (wrestlers) on stage (the ring) interact with the live audience to present the story. Although it is less so today, in the early days of Sports Entertainment it even looked like pantomime, with colourful costumes and comic book characters. Wrestling could almost be described as extreme pantomime. One of the big clues to the confirmation of this analogy is the way the industry refers to wrestlers themselves. ‘Performers’ is the term most commonly used, not competitors or sports men and women, but performers. Yet despite the obvious similarities Wrestling is not a pantomime, pantomimes act out the story with songs and skits, whereas wrestling acts out stories with pre-determined violence.
So if wrestling isn’t soap opera, or sport, or even a pantomime, then what is it? The answer is something I suspect many of you already know; wrestling is, well, its wrestling!
Professional wrestling is a culture within a culture. The WWE is our version of Pop Music or Hollywood, ROH is like the Indy record labels and Independent film market, and TNA is like those movies that seem to cater for both, that remain respected in the alternative world, but also have potential to be box office crowd pleasers.
It is wrestling’s very own ambiguity that makes it so fascinating, and for many so utterly enthralling. If I go back into the room of average males, if I followed each one of them twenty four hours a day for a week, I would discover that there would be more than a few closet wrestling fans amongst the bunch.
Within western popular culture, this business is still a foreign language. It is academically ignored, yet I can’t understand why. Maybe it is because you can’t put a label on wrestling. It’s the only form of popular entertainment of its kind and I for one am exceptionally proud to be part of it. So to the rest of popular and alternative culture I say this (in the way only wrestling can) ‘Pigeon holes this (Insert Steve Austin’s middle fingers)……’
‘We make movies’ Vince McMahon
No Vince, you make wrestling!
Tony Hudson
To anyone who’s showed me support I thank you. I love writing columns and I love that you guys read them.
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