Was the wrestling real to you?
July 5, 2016 7:46 AM
As I was drifting to sleep last night, I came up with the half-baked theory that professional wrestling didn't appeal to me as a kid because the wrestling part was so obviously fake, and I could see that it was obviously fake because I regularly wrestled with other kids on the playground at school. (For example, you don't take your attention off your opponent for a millisecond, let alone a minute.) Is my theory, that exposure to real wrestling reduces the appeal of professional wrestling, true?
If you loved wrestling as a kid, did you believe it was real? Or did the reality on the mat not matter? And did you wrestle with other kids, formally or informally?
What I didn't realize as a kid was that the wrestlers were fighting together, working hard to put on a dangerous gymnastics show without permanently injuring their partner-opponent in the ring.
I also had no idea about the meta-game of winning attention and popularity; it took me years to realize that existed as a layer over rule-bound competitions even in real life, let alone in what appeared to be an explicit example of a rule-bound competition on TV. So that could be an alternate explanation: I couldn't enjoy the meta-competition, because I didn't know it existed.
Which explanation is better?
If you loved wrestling as a kid, did you believe it was real? Or did the reality on the mat not matter? And did you wrestle with other kids, formally or informally?
What I didn't realize as a kid was that the wrestlers were fighting together, working hard to put on a dangerous gymnastics show without permanently injuring their partner-opponent in the ring.
I also had no idea about the meta-game of winning attention and popularity; it took me years to realize that existed as a layer over rule-bound competitions even in real life, let alone in what appeared to be an explicit example of a rule-bound competition on TV. So that could be an alternate explanation: I couldn't enjoy the meta-competition, because I didn't know it existed.
Which explanation is better?
This post was deleted for the following reason: Sorry, as framed this is pretty much chatfilter. -- LobsterMitten
I was totally into WWF as a kid in the 80s. I absolutely thought it was real when I started watching at around age 6. I think I twigged to the charade when I was about 9, and the appeal wore off very quickly after that.
Later, in my early twenties, I was able to rediscover the sport and enjoy it for the athleticism and spectacle.
posted by 256 at 7:55 AM on July 5, 2016
Later, in my early twenties, I was able to rediscover the sport and enjoy it for the athleticism and spectacle.
posted by 256 at 7:55 AM on July 5, 2016
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posted by Melismata at 7:54 AM on July 5, 2016