What amazes me about "pro" wrestling is how it can turn normal people into psychos an hour at a time. I had a staid, quiet, grandmotherly aunt who never missed her wrestling and went nuts, screaming at the screen. That was a bigger hoot than the "wrestling".

I agree with those who think it was really more fun in the old days. I prefer the "good guy" vs. "bad guy" rather than the sex and gore and soap opera.

 

Well I for one have loved wrestling since my grandmother, what a coincidence, got me into it when I was a kid. I notice a lot of people on this topic are ripping it because its fake and some like it because of the male soap opera persona that it has taken over the past 7 years or so. I for one have acutally wrestled in a ring and done a couple of matches for fun and it is an art. Guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair are some phenomenal athelese to be able to put on a show under those conditions as often as they do. Now guys like the Rock & Goldberg destroyed wrestling but my personal favorite, Bret Hart, was the master of creatling a physical illusion without contact. Bret Hart can punch you in the face with a closed fist and connect every time and never leave a mark on you. That is wrestling. Acts of violence without actually violence. Guys like the Rock slap because they do not haev the ability to create the illusion like Bret Hart can. It takes a hell of man to keep up his body like that and perform week in and week out 200 plus days a year. I do not hear anyone ripping bodybuilders. Everyone respects bodybuilders calling it a sport but when there is no athletic competition what so ever in it. They pump iron and have extreme discipline but do not perform like wrestlers do. Further more I do not think wrestling is so much of the soap opera it was in 1998-2001. It has kind of died with the storylines and focused more on wrestling. Either way its just good entertainment. There is no off season and believe me it takes a lot to keep taking those bumps and keep on going. Then try wrestling for over an hour like Flair did with Harley Race back in '83 or Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels did in '96. No disrespect on UFC because those guys are in a class of their own but give credit where credit is due. Some of these guys are awesome and some are trash. Either way they deserve a little more than what most people give them. That's all I am trying to say.

 

I used to watch it and still do sometimes but its so easy to see thats its fake that its not even entertaining. It may be fake but those guy and gals can really take a beating and are in great shape.

 

I think rasslin' is a nice getaway every now and then, but it's gotten really stupid as of the last few years.

Everything is the same thing over and over. Two guys/girls duel it out until the next PPV event. then they swap off.

Boring.

 

Yes they can take a beating and they do. I agree the quality of today's wrestlers is quite down than from the guys of yesteryear. There are only a handful that can actually wrestle and like you say the product suffers when the fakeness is too noticable. Then again the politics of wrestling is killing it too first and foremost HHH. Wrestling will bounce back like it did when Stone Cold Steve Austin crushed the old days of the WWF when Hulkamania was running wild. We'll just have to sit and wait for the next Stone Cold Steve Austin but I am glad to see someone is giving them credit from an athletic standpoint.

 

That's another thing the repetition is killing the product too. You are soooo right with the same s**t going on every week. Fueds are put togethre within minutes and are resovled just as fast. It has been boring and the $50 for Wrestlemania nearly gouged my eyeballs right out of my skull. Vince McMahon needs to really re-think his plans for wrestling because what ever touch he had with the public is gone. I will still watch it though because I am a fan and there is hope with guys like John Cena.

 

Personally I liked the WCW better. I liked the wrestlers better than the WWF. But it seems now that there is now competition they went down some. And now that its the WWE they really fell. Bad acting, old plot lines, wierd egos for the wrestlers. Most of the good ones are getting old. If it wasnt for the ladies I wouldnt watch it near as much.

 

It is fake & retarded but exciting at the same time.

People buy into it is because it is entertainment. Anything to get out of the house to spend time with friends & family would work for me.

 

It has nothing to do with wrestling; it is entertainment and a very profitable business.
They just roll around and throw each other to make a living, I might add they do very well at it also………………..making money

 

I look at wrestling the same way I look at soap operas - basic mindless entertainment. Don't think too hard about it or you'll laugh at how ridicules it all is. But then after sitting at a desk all day long an hour a week of complete brain dead entertainment is welcome.

The one thing that is entertaining are the feats of strength and agility these guys can perform. Or the fact that Rick Flair can still walk, let alone put on a somewhat decent show at age 50+.

 

I was a real wrestler in high school and college and now coach. I refuse to dignify that garbage on television by calling it wrestling. I absolutely hate that stuff. Why would anyone want to watch a rigged soap opera starring half naked men?

 

Im still a high school wrestler and I totally agree with you Mcdev. Theyre Talking about what great athletes those fake wrestlers are but they need to watch some REAL wrestling and see ehat a beating real wrestlers take. We're the real athletes doin everything without steroids.

 

Pro wrestlers may not be the same kind of athlete as mat wrestling but it is a totally different kind of atheleticism. Two totally different kinds of atheletes. I agree pro wrestlers are more performers than athletes but the art of wrestling is quite graceful. Mat wrestlers endure a lot but so do pro wrestlers. Then you have some real wrestlers with some actual wrestling accomplishments like Kurt Angle & Brock Lesnar. Angle was an Olympic Gold Medalist in 1996 and Lesnar was NCAA National Champion. Both will tell you that pro wrestling is extremely difficult and not exactly what the general public perceives it to be. Then as far as aggression in competition goes would you dismiss Tiger Woods because he does not endure what Brett Favre does in a football game? No because they excell on high levels in their respective fields. If you ask me golf is not an athletic sport but golfers are considered athletes for the amount of skill required to play at such a high level. The same can be said for pro wrestling. Someone might be the best Roman Greco Wrestler there ever was but does not mean he can lace Bret Hart's boots on any given day and vice versa. Mat wrestlers are very underappreciated but the art of pro wrestling is too. Like someone said before me if you start analyzing it too much then yeah it comes off as ridiculous but you're taking the fun out of it too. Pro wrestling is not meant to be taken serious like real sports but it should be given the same amount of respect because after all most real athletes are on steroids too. Look at Bonds, Giambi, Romanoski, Shane Mosley, etc. all real athletes who are juiced up. You're not knocking them for it so why do it to a pro wrestler? They are not any more guilty than anyone else but I understand your opinion to a point and I do respect it.