I know itOs fake. I am aware Kane was not actually in a fire as a small child and wrestles to ease the pain of his soul; heOs just some big Spanish man named Glen that wears a mask. Or at least used to.
And the stereotypical fighting Irishman is not the father of the leprechaun, and the two black guys are not actually street thugs who steal, and the happy jumpy Jamaican guy is not actually from Jamaica. Though it is amazing what they can get away with.
But yet, somehow, there is something enjoyable to this. Yet even admitting this can usually result in a look of disappointment or even pure disdain from a non-fan.
Maybe theyOre not entirely wrong, but then how could it be that wrestling, even in a down period like today, continues to be so popular?
Professional wrestling, as developed in the U.S. and the UK in late 1800s carnivals and circuses, has always been about mindless spectacle. Originally a way to showcase ridiculously large people in a setting slightly more respectable than a freak show, wrestling has involved into a multi-billion dollar, worldwide industry.
In the U.S., from these carnivals came a sort of territorial system, where the country would be split up amongst different promoters, each claiming their own region as part of the National Wrestling Alliance system.
In the 1980s, Vince McMahon did the equivalent of a massive takeover, buying out the competition and taking it national with Wrestlemania in 1985, Hulk Hogan being his major star.
Ever since then, the WWE (formerly WWF) has held a near monopoly on wrestling, being able to shut out just about any competition.
And throughout all its changes, the idea behind wrestling has always been really straightforward. In one corner, there is a figure that the audience loves, known as the OfaceO wrestler. The face is usually the fan favorite, a hero of the people. He plays by the rules to win and provides a great standard for all to live up to. Think Hulk Hogan.
In the other corner is the more interesting wrestler, known as the OheelO. The heel hates the crowd, cheats to win and is mean and/or unstable to the point of random violent outbursts and chair shots. In the earliest days, getting the audience to hate a character was a matter of just presenting him as a sort of foreign enemy; think of an evil Russian commie strongman. For better or worse, this tradition somewhat continues.
Then these two figures, often after a series of interviews or OanglesO to build up interest, engage in a (fake) fight.
And maybe thatOs where the odd art form comes from: getting the audience. Critic Roland Barthes gave probably the smartest take on wrestling with his essay OWorld of Wrestling," comparing it to ancient theater in which the audience agrees to take part in the illusion, giving us an Oexternal expression of tortureO and getting the audience involved along the way.'
And the point of all this, of course, is to make money. In the late O80s, presenting Hogan as a hero and Andre the Giant as a traitor resulted in a match at Wrestlemania III. The match itself was terrible, but the company was too busy making $10 million to notice. Casting Stone Cold Steve Austin as the working class hero against the conniving ObossO character of Mr. McMahon was a similar success story.
The other thing, and any professional wrestling fan that denies this is lying, is that wrestling is sometimes at its absolute best when itOs at its absolute worst. Sure, the early O90s appearance of Robocop as StingOs mystery tag team partner probably didnOt make any money or add any excitement to the match itself, but if you canOt see the pure humor in Robocop being in a wrestling match, well, I canOt help you.
That being said, the industry has received, and deserves, some harsh criticism for its treatment of the health of its workers. The Chris Benoit tragedy in 2007, where the WWE superstar killed his family and himself in an insane, drugged-out rage, wasnOt a random occurrence but a result of a lifetime of painkillers, steroids and an excessive working schedule.
Allegedly, things are getting better with the drug use and health policies; yet until the industry can truly clean itself up, some scorn is quite deserved.
But with the WWE coming to Buffalo on Dec. 14 for its Armageddon pay-per-view event, a lot of people, certainly some UB students, are going to go watch this stupid spectacle. And maybe thatOs not such a bad thing.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
