Wrestlemania

[dan.schumaker]

Is anybody else watching this tonight?  Or am I the only nerd here who enjoys this sports entertainment?

[EBK]

I just don't know enough about the acting and athletic skill involved to appreciate it, I suppose.  I understand that there is some careful choreography to avoid actual injury, but the feigned injury aspect kills it for me.  It's the same reason I can't watch basketball. *shrug*

[Muadzin]

I have a couple of friends who are probably watching. Me? I stopped watching it in the 80's. It was fun for a while, I grew out of it. The fact that the only channel broadcasting it in the Netherlands went belly up probably also helped a bit. Most people over here call it fake and also typically American. Well, it is fake, and also deliciously American. Also amazing athletes. I loved the Louis Theroux episode where they put him through the training wringer until he threw up.

I just don't know enough about the acting and athletic skill involved to appreciate it, I suppose.  I understand that there is some careful choreography to avoid actual injury, but the feigned injury aspect kills it for me.  It's the same reason I can't watch basketball. *shrug*

It's sports theater. Why is it weird to fake injury in sports theater and acceptable in regular theater?

[EBK]

It's sports theater. Why is it weird to fake injury in sports theater and acceptable in regular theater?

I didn't say there is anything wrong with it or with the fans who watch it.  Just saying that I get pulled out of the fantasy too easily to actively enjoy it.  More a problem with how I perceive it than with the substance of the sport itself.

[alanp]

I've always seen those wrestling shows like WWE and the like as being soap operas for men.

Boxing tournaments and that sort of thing are entirely different.

[Muadzin]

I didn't say there is anything wrong with it or with the fans who watch it.  Just saying that I get pulled out of the fantasy too easily to actively enjoy it.  More a problem with how I perceive it than with the substance of the sport itself.

Fair enough. The sheer obviousness of how fake the fights are can cause suspension of disbelief to many, myself included. But it clearly works for the demographic that it is intended as its been around for decades. It's a proven formula and lamenting that it is so obviously fake accomplishes nothing. The vast majority of wrestling fans know it is fake, and to make fun of those who can't, well, there are fans of all sorts of soap operas who think it is real too.

I've always seen those wrestling shows like WWE and the like as being soap operas for men.

Women like it too. Lots of ripped bare chested dudes, I can understand it if women like to see it for that. And as you said, there is the soap opera element. I wouldn't be surprised if the WWE ramped that up because they know that attracts female viewers. Just like a lot of cop shows have added soap opera elements these days for the same reason.

Boxing tournaments and that sort of thing are entirely different.

It's actual fighting vs. athletic entertainment. The rules for winning are also different. With wrestling there is always a 'clear winner' via a ten count. With boxing the winner often gets determined via a technical jury.