Zachary FenellThe Nature of Wrestling
June 1st 2009 13:42
In my introductory post for my wrestling blog I noted how many people may see professional wrestling as a joke but I knew better. But what I didn’t do in my post is explain this statement. Therefore I wanted to take time today to share what I mean.
The main reason people laugh at professional wrestling is the fake nature of the sport. People can’t understand why someone would take time out of their day to watch fake fighting. To defend wrestling I would first point out wrestling really isn’t fake, it is scripted. Wrestlers don’t put their full strength into body slams, punches, and chair shots but they still are putting in effort. And wrestlers get injured sometimes because of it. If wrestling was fake then there would be no injuries.
The corrected statement is wrestling is scripted. The winners and losers are pre-determined. Some spots (certain moments) in the match may be scripted out, perhaps even rehearsed beforehand, but they still take place making them very much real. The problem is people try to associate professional wrestling with authentic sports like baseball, football, and basketball which is a wrong classification.
The best classification of professional wrestling that I’ve read came from Roland Barthes’ Mythologies where Barthes describes wrestling as a spectacle. Professional wrestling is a show which feeds off the audience’s emotion. In this way professional wrestling is inspirational. A fan who knows about the lifestyle of professional wrestlers know wrestlers provide even more inspiration considering they sacrifice normal lives to pursue a wrestling career. They don’t get to spend a lot of time with their families and they put their bodies in harms way. And for this reason professional wrestling and professional wrestlers in particular deserve to be respected. Wrestlers give 100% of everything they have to their trade and that is something we should all admire and try to emulate.
The main reason people laugh at professional wrestling is the fake nature of the sport. People can’t understand why someone would take time out of their day to watch fake fighting. To defend wrestling I would first point out wrestling really isn’t fake, it is scripted. Wrestlers don’t put their full strength into body slams, punches, and chair shots but they still are putting in effort. And wrestlers get injured sometimes because of it. If wrestling was fake then there would be no injuries.
The corrected statement is wrestling is scripted. The winners and losers are pre-determined. Some spots (certain moments) in the match may be scripted out, perhaps even rehearsed beforehand, but they still take place making them very much real. The problem is people try to associate professional wrestling with authentic sports like baseball, football, and basketball which is a wrong classification.
The best classification of professional wrestling that I’ve read came from Roland Barthes’ Mythologies where Barthes describes wrestling as a spectacle. Professional wrestling is a show which feeds off the audience’s emotion. In this way professional wrestling is inspirational. A fan who knows about the lifestyle of professional wrestlers know wrestlers provide even more inspiration considering they sacrifice normal lives to pursue a wrestling career. They don’t get to spend a lot of time with their families and they put their bodies in harms way. And for this reason professional wrestling and professional wrestlers in particular deserve to be respected. Wrestlers give 100% of everything they have to their trade and that is something we should all admire and try to emulate.
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