This
may be an unpopular opinion amongst non-wrestling fans. But I am so sick of the
lack of respect people have towards professional wrestling and the WWE in
general. Seriously why oh why do people feel the need to degrade those of us
who love it? I’m going to assume you watch movies right, or you watch TV? Well
guess what here is the truth, almost everything you watch on TV isn’t
real! “The Walking Dead”…not
real…”American Horror Story”…not real, hell even half of what you see on the
news networks, isn’t even real, or at least not what is appears to be before
the media put its twist on it. I love both of those shows I mentioned, and
plenty of others, but the point is why is it looked down upon so much by the
outside world to enjoy a PRE-DETERMINED show that is live? If anything it’s way
more of a talent to be a WWE superstar or a professional wrestler anywhere in
general, than it is to be an actor. Why? Because it’s done live in front of a
crowd, in front of a camera. There are no re-shoots, no stunt doubles, this is
pure talent whether you think so or not. Notice I said Pre-determined earlier,
that’s because the term “fake”, is actually pretty degrading for a wrestler.
It’s far from fake, yes the winner of the match is decided before hand, but who
cares!? You know that TV show you watch, the person who just died, it was
planned (I know mind blowing). I’d absolutely love to see you do a shooting
star press, jumping from the turn buckle in the air, landing on another human being,
without hurting them seriously and without hurting yourself. Or for that
matter, anywhere else, they do these crazy moves off of ladders, barricades,
and out onto the outside of the ring (where the ground is even harder than in
the ring). (shooting star press video below)
I remember back in high school, someone found out I was a
wrestling fan, and their exact words were “Wow I just lost respect for you”.
What!? (Stone Cold Pun intended!). Lost respect for me? You lost respect
because I love a TV program where men and women put their bodies on the line
for our entertainment? Does anyone realize just how much these guys put on the
line for their fans? You call it fake, but these superstars suffer so many
injuries its crazy. One of my favorites, WWE superstar Randy Orton, once was
tossed to the outside of the ring landing straight on his back region. His
collar bone literally popped out of place. You could see it, he even said it.
Not fake! But guess what that son of a bitch got back up, and finished that
match. Do you even comprehend the pain that he must have been in?
That’s not even one of the worst ones; I could literally go
on forever with the injuries that occur. Stone Cold Steve Austin getting almost
paralyzed by Owen Hart from a botched pile driver, Brock Lesnar breaking his
neck from an insane shooting star press, Vader’s eye popping out of its socket
during a match, are just to name a few. It happens so often, and sometimes so
brutally, that it ends superstar’s careers. Yes these guys get their careers
ended by entertaining us, the fans. And what do they get in return from the
outside world? Such disrespect it’s disgusting.
The worst injury to ever occur…well I guess you can’t really call it an
injury, but that’d be Owen Hart. If you don’t know, in 1999, Owen Hart died in
front of a live audience, and on TV. No it wasn’t in the ring, he was making an
entrance, suspending from the rafters, and a cable wasn’t secured, he fell and
was pronounced dead on the scene. Sad stuff huh? He did that doing his job, his
passion, its one of the saddest moments in wrestling history.
Let’s
talk strictly WWE here for a minute. Do you know how many awesome things the
WWE and its superstars do outside of just wrestling? Probably not, because you
were too busy condemning them from the start. But they are involved in so many
awesome charity programs, and also create plenty themselves. For example look
up Connor’s Cure, I guarantee if you watch one of their videos for it, it’ll
warm your heart(video below). If it doesn’t, well maybe you don’t have one. It’s a charity
to raise money for pediatric cancer research; they sell merchandise for it, and
also contribute to it themselves. Connor himself was the first ever recipient
of the Warrior award, they created in their Hall Of Fame for amazing people
like him. Yes the WWE inducted a small child with cancer into their hall of
fame, and made all of his dreams come true meeting all of his favorite
wrestlers. But the WWE and its wrestlers are just horrible right? They also
help raise money for Susan G Komen every year; you know to help fight breast
cancer. They have a program called Be A Star, to help kids get through
bullying. WWE Superstar John Cena, whom I’m sure you know of, has the highest
numbers of wishes granted for the Make A Wish Foundation. He has over 500
wishes under him. That man goes above and beyond for his fans. The WWE also has
been going overseas to perform for the troops each and every year. They offer
free admission to all military personnel to any of their events. How do you not
respect all of that? These Men and Women give their lives to their fans. On the
road 24/7, performing, and working out, that’s basically their life.
Somehow though, wrestling fans have been chalked up to hillbilly idiots who love their “wrasslin” and NASCAR. This is the farthest from
the truth; wrestling fans come from all walks of life, all over the world.
There’s no one stereo type for a fan, you wouldn’t say there are certain types
of fans for the NFL or for the NBA would you? I don’t see why people look at
wrestling differently. Is it because you think they want you to believe it’s
real? Well that isn’t true at all, especially not anymore. WWE themselves will
tell you straight out on shows on the WWE Network, that it’s scripted. They
openly talk about it. Nothing against my fellow wrestling fans, but it is a lot
harder to get into it now than it used to be, because of the fact it’s so
openly talked about how it isn’t real. I always knew from when I started watching
in 3rd grade, that it wasn’t all real. But like any other show, I
treated it as if it were. I got mad at certain characters; I got upset when
ones would lose if they were my favorite. I was a kid, and I loved every second
of it. But now a days the internet has killed that, under wrestling posts its
always viewed as who needs what to be great, who needs wins, who’s getting
buried, who’s getting pushed, rumors of what’s happening next. I get into this
stuff sometimes myself, it’s kind of hard not to being a big fan. But a part of
me wishes it was like the old days, and I could simply watch the show, enjoy my
favorites, and not look into so much about the wins and losses. But such is
life, now that they have brought in a new era, with brand splits and new titles;
it has been on fire as of late. This is the era of true wrestling skills, never
a better time to get into it than now. You will see phenomenal matches (AJ
Styles pun intended), but I will say however the story telling isn’t as great
as it once was. For some this doesn’t matter, they just want the wrestling. But
remember it is called sports entertainment for a reason, because it isn’t supposed
to be just a sport, but also storytelling, with character driven plots.
I know most fans will
agree though, that what some people say about it is just infuriating. Like when
people say “How can you say he earned the title and has worked hard, when it’s
scripted”. This makes me furious, just because there are pre-determined outcomes
of matches, that shouldn’t take anything away from these awesome athletes. They
work their asses off in and out of the ring; most of them had to go through so
much, so many grueling matches, so many injuries, and backstage politics to get
to the point of being at the top. Another thing people say “oh you like
watching half naked sweaty men”; all I can say for this one, is dude grow
up. If you’re that insecure with
yourself, that you think this way, well I feel bad for you. People love and I mean
LOVE to pull the steroids card too. If we went back thirty years ago, maybe
even twenty, I’d agree with you, that’s why so many legends and older wrestlers
have passed away to young. But now-a-days you are very wrong. Like any sport,
they are consistently drug tested, and if they fail they only get so many
chances until they lose their job. I know people absolutely hate that a person
could possibly eat right, and exercise their ass off to bulk up. But they do,
not to say they don’t use any sort of legal enhancements, but if you think it’s
solely based on illegal steroid type drugs, well you’re wrong. Guys like John Cena and Triple H, use to be
bodybuilders, Cena himself has said multiple times he’s never touched an
illegal drug. But you can believe whatever you want to make yourself feel
better.
Please for the love of god stop comparing professional wrestling
to UFC. We get it; they actually fuck each other up in UFC pretty good. I have
nothing against UFC, and neither do most wrestlers. In fact as much as he isn’t
one of my favorites by any means, remember Brock Lesnar was a wrestler first.
He has gone back and forth, and has proved one thing; it’s possible to be
proficient in both categories. But either way, it’s a whole different ball
game, and there’s really no reason to compare the two. Most of them respect
each other, why can’t you? There are plenty of fans who love both as well. That
goes for all sports really. We see wrestlers attending baseball, football, and
basketball games all the time, and we see athletes from all of those sports
attending wrestling events. Why can’t you show an equal level of respect for
them all? I don’t even watch any of those sports and I respect their talents. With that said though, remember most professional wrestlers work 365 days a year, they don't have off seasons.
The
point to all of this is before you open and run your mouth about wrestling,
think about some of this. These are some amazing humans, able to pull off the
insane. They can do stuff most normal humans can’t and take abuse like no
other. They give their lives to the people, and deserve some recognition for
it. You don’t have to like any wrestling or watch any of it, to see what I’m
talking about. I will forever be a WWE fan no matter what people think, it’s
been one of the very few constant things in my life over time. It isn’t going
anywhere, and neither am I as a fan. Unless you can nut up and do what they do, sit down
and shut up. (Oh and if you managed to pull off that shooting star press, Try
Neville’s Red Arrow)
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