Wrestling was started as entertainment for the average joe who couldn't afford tickets to the game and was just sitting at home wasting his time. It evolved into a multi-million dollar business and changed its audience along the way. In the late 80's, almost every kid you talked to was a "Hulkamaniac" and that was the "in" thing to be. When the World Wrestling Federation decided to garner its sport to another market, "the New Generation" was born complete with children, teens, adults, senior citizens and even women. This was nearly unthinkable in the 80's but with brilliant strategists like Vince McMahon, (the Bill Gates, if you will, of wrestling) wrestlers like Shawn Michaels peeled off their clothes every chance they got which eventually sent more and more women to Ticketmaster buying more and more tickets to live shows.
The question still remains though. If wrestling is so beneficial, why is looked down upon?
The answer can be summed up in one word: Jealously. When wrestling was in its boom period in the 1980s, other sports took heed. Why would the average fan who lived in Toronto care if the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup? Why support a sport that with all of its greedy athletes had a labor dispute that could result in a possible delay or (in some extreme cases) even a cancellation of its games. Why not become a fan of the only sport that plays the entire calendar year without a single day off? Why not become a wrestling fan?
As soon as the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the
National Football League and the National Basketball Association saw
this for the first time, so too did the mysterious rumours start floating
around that wrestling was fake.
Being a wrestling expert (I have watched it faithfully since 1983), let me dispel all rumours now when I tell you that wrestling is not real. It is just like any other boxing match or any other show where the moves and the winners are decided well in advance that keep the fan paying a premium. But I again ask, why is that wrong?
Wrestling is fake but does not hide that fact. Other sports do. Recently Tiger Woods won the Masters golf tournament by one of the widest margins ever in the history of the tourney. He was the first African-American to do so, and the "event" was much publicized. This resulted in "Tiger-Mania" with people buying anything with Woods' face on it. Tiger Woods may have won the tournament but Nike and American Express (his sponsors) were the champions. You cannot convince me that the victory was not set-up in advance.
When the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup a year ago it was its first year in a place other than Quebec. The fans in Denver were accustomed to seeing hockey regularly and so the McNichols Arena was sold out almost everytime the Avs had a home game. This resulted in a lot of money for the League so unlike most I wasn't the least bit surprised when the Colorado Avalanche was announced the 1995-96 Stanley Cup champions.
Another example can be seen in who the Avalanche played that year. Why it was none other than the Florida Panthers who themselves were only a recently developed team. Again the same sort of idea held true. The fans in Miami like the Denverites had never seen hockey before and bought hoards of tickets even though the team didn't have one superstar and really had no legitimate shot to win anything. Unlike everyone who was engaged in the Panthers' miracle run, I saw it coming a mile way.
Wrestling is a religion. Most of its fans are devoted supporters who never miss a match. For this, they are rewarded by being told that they should spend their time doing something more productive. What people today fail to understand is that wrestling is productive. It is a good way to pass the time and almost never fails to provide you with a chuckle you otherwise might not have had. The twisted plots and sagas all combine for more of a soap-opera than a sport but this is why wrestling fans love it. In a day and age where crime is visible almost everyday, wrestling is beneficial and keeps kids (and even adults for that matter) away from trouble. Wrestling fans should not be looked down upon. They should be looked up to. Watch one RAW IS WAR on Monday night, and I guarantee you will no longer turn your nose at us.