WWE/TNA: Wrestling and Hollywood Are Very Similar but Treated Very Differently

I’m sure this topic has been discussed dozens of times on this site, but this is a first for me writing about it, so I’m going to do it anyways.

Unfortunately, we are in a world where people who don’t like something for whatever reason will bash it unconditionally, even if they don’t know all the facts. I’ve done it, I’m sure most of you have.

At one time or another every person has heard the terms “wrestling is fake” and “wrestling fans are stupid and too into it.”

A few days ago I was catching up with an old friend who went on a tirade about how one of his past co-workers (who I actually can’t stand) was a diehard wrestling fan and how my friend can’t believe that a grown man “who’s not mentally handicapped” can be such a mark and devote his or her time to watch and attend these events, never mind spend money on memorabilia.

I am by no means obsessed with wrestling, I was when I was a preteen but as I grew older I found myself interested in other things, I still watched Raw when I had a chance, it was only around 2006-2008 that I began to watch it on a more regular basis.

I haven’t attended an event since 2003 and the only wrestling things I purchase are games and occasional PPV’s. I do watch clips on YouTube and I have entrance themes on my ITunes…but that stuff is damn catchy!

I write about wrestling here because I love to write, it’s an outlet to talk about how you feel and also a way to connect with a worldwide audience and view/compare everyone’s opinions.

Now when my friend started to go off on his little tirade I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and it wasn’t necessarily what he was saying, but it was the way he said it that caught me off guard, the hate and hypocrisy coming out was awful, it’s like he was classifying die-hard fans as lepers and that they are fools who are wasting their life.

But does this also apply to people who are obsessed with football? How about baseball? Or basketball? What about music and films? After I got home that night I started asking other people on their thoughts towards the business, and the comments were atrocious.

I’m not nine years old anymore. I know wrestling isn’t 100 percent real, the outcomes are predetermined, the progression of matches are usually choreographed to an extent before an event and not all the moves make contact with an opponent despite that performer “selling” it, but that doesn’t mean that these people aren’t putting their lives on the line to entertain their fans….literally putting their lives on the line.

Say what you want about backstage politics and someone’s attitude, but they could at any moment die just to make you cheer or boo them.

I make films for a living, it’s what I do; I love it and one of the best feelings in the world is when an audience member or someone I don’t know comes up and tells me how much they appreciate my work.

Now I don’t make films to impress people; I make films because I just want to and I have fun doing so but every person that goes into a movie theater knows 100 percent that what they are about to watch is completely fake, the outcome of the film was predetermined, any fight scene or car chase was completely choreographed, but yet people fully embrace this?

The same goes for TV shows….is there not a double standard here? 

Just like how film fans wait for their favorite actor to pop up in a new film, or a highly anticipated sequel to come out, wrestling fans look forward to an old face making a return or the next episode of Raw, Smackdown or WrestleMania ect.

Wrestling isn't just an avenue

Now I’m not writing this article just because one person I knew talked like a hypocrite, this is just about the majority of people who give “marks” and the business a bad name because they don’t understand what they are bashing.

Yet these very same people are probably shelling out hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars a year on movie tickets, video games and sports apparel.

What the difference between buying Halo or WWE '12? What’s the difference between going to a Red Sox game and buying a ticket for Raw? 

Wrestling isn’t just an avenue for fans to get their weekly dose of violence; it’s got comedy, drama and sometimes head-shaking, DVR rewinding “Oh my god did that just happen” moments just like any other entertainment platform.

From a wrestler’s standpoint it can also be a way to open up doors for so many more opportunities, The Rock became an international movie star, Brock Lesnar became the UFC heavyweight champion, Hulk Hogan does….whatever Hulk Hogan does!

But at the end of the day, the business helps both the fans and it’s performers out in so many ways. 

Wrestlers die, it happens, not everyone is perfect and accidents happen. The same goes for actors, but when an actor dies, people don’t go calling for strict rules and investigations on Hollywood. Owen Hart died when his harness snapped and he plunged from the air and hit the turnbuckle.

Actor Brandon Lee died when a real bullet was used instead of a dummy round. Numerous wrestlers have died as a result of dependencies on pain killers. Heath Ledger died of a “toxic combination” of prescription drugs due to the mental state filming “The Dark Knight” took on him.

I’m all about Freedom of Speech, in fact I’m usually the first moron to use that term at the worst time, however I am by no means saying everyone has to like or say they like wrestling, hell, half the time I don’t like it, but just because it’s not as real as say football doesn’t mean that people should knock it.

If you’re going to take anything out of this unorganized rant it should be that the next time you’re going to bash something, at least make sure you know all your facts and don’t call something fake when it’s not.

Because there’s nothing fake about being away from your family for 75 percent of the year, taking a chair shot to the head or tearing a quad. If anyone reading this thinks it’s fake, go ask Mick Foley how he feels every morning…..On that note….Have A Nice Day!