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Is Pro-Wrestling Real, or Fake? |
A few years ago there was an interview of Pro-Wrestler Hulk Hogan by Geraldo Rivera (well before he had his own show), specifically on this question. Geraldo caught Hogan at the dressing room backstage and proceeded to repeatedly ask Hogan if wrestling was real. Hogan kept punching him and asking him, “Does that feel real?” Geraldo’s nose was broken, however there were no other serious injuries, and if I recall there were a few lawyers talking, but nothing came of it.
Beyond that though, most if not all of pro-wrestling these days, are in fact entertainment, and not necessarily sanctioned challenges. It’s a lot more profitable that way, and it sure does put on a great show for the money...
After watching one match after another, you will see how many moves should prove deadly, and hospitalizing… However they aren’t. If they were truly as violent, heavy, and forceful as they seem, spines would be breaking left and right, leaving a trail of caskets, wheel-chairs, and many knocked out cold. Neither the obituaries nor the emergency rooms concur with this though. It’s in fact just great showmanship.
Sometimes accidents do happen, and they are likely 100% just that. Though occasionally they will get hurt real bad and have to retire, and once in a great while someone gets fatally injured. One thing for sure about pro-wrestling, there are many stunts, and they all do them. Often the moves hurt the one that looks like it didn’t more than the one it does. This is because they do the move and are in complete control, and responsible for their actions. Many leave the ring after the matches tired and sore for sure, however not in the ways you would expect.
Many different wrestlers have their trademarked moves, and typed of matches. In WWF, the undertaker was notorious for closed casket matches, and his sidekick Paul Bearer was always trying to get one going in the sideshows.
In the older days, there were the infamous closed ring matches where the entire ring was fenced in, and it wasn’t over till one was totally out of it 3 or 4 times. It looked like a death match they hit the mats so hard from upwards of 25 feet drops off the fencing.
Modern day wrestling gets out of the ring as much as it is in. It’s very common for them to hit each other over the head with chairs, tables, barriers (that are much more available and usable than they should be to keep the audience out). In reality, the injuries would take months to heal, not the 15 minutes between matches.
The tombstone is when a wrestler picks up their adversary in a suplex, turns them upside down, and drops them head first into the mat. In reality the one dropped would no doubt have significant neck and quite possibly entire back injuries. Again, the one dropped may even still win the match! Go figure!
The big boot is simply a kick to the face. If this move were for real, broken jaws and noses would occur frequently, and scar for life. There would be a number of neck injuries too. But instead of local stories from the emergency room, they simply show up ready for it again next week (or sometimes the same day even). Many never get stopped with this even.
In Modern Pro-Wrestling, there is a lot of art, science, and copyrighted storyline. Like any other actors, these actors do a heck of a job keeping their fans into their show for the duration and beyond. While some do think it’s real, most do realize it is a great show. People pay for the show, and that’s what they get.
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