Lately, I’ve been watching wrestling again. There’s a whole new group of wrestlers, along with familiar faces — I saw Booker T the other night and I thought, “I used to watch Booker T back in the 80s!” He looked terrific.
It makes me feel great to watch wrestling. The emotions are so clear and understandable. The athletic feats are so amazing. Wrestling is for the people and it can make just about anyone smile, laugh, cheer, and even sometimes — cry.
When presented as a traditional athletic contest, American pro wrestling is completely fake.
When presented as the world’s longest-running athletic soap opera?
Nothing can compare.
Like everyone else who follows the world’s highest level of sports entertainment, I have my favorites. Sadly, several of them are gone — far too soon. Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth: both no longer with us. Rowdy Roddy Piper: gone. “Sensational” Sherri: gone. Chyna: gone.
The three women all lost their lives due to overdoses. Macho Man & Roddy Piper? Heart attacks. I don’t want to say anabolic steroids, but I will.
Pro wrestlers do not tend to have long lifespans, although some of them appear to be forces of nature who may be immortal: Ric Flair just hosted the Gasparilla pirate parade in Tampa.
Ric Flair knows he’s a walking, talking miracle, too. Just one of the kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing son-of-a-gun’s sayings is “Diamonds are forever and so is Ric Flair.”
There is no earthly reason Ric Flair should still be alive — it isn’t just his superhuman consumption of alcohol — he’s been in plane crashes and walked out okay. Ric Flair’s here because — Whoo!
Are these men and women today’s versions of Roman gladiators? Or ancient Gods? Yes, and so much more satisfying than empty movie superheroes. Explain Ric Flair in superhero terms: it would be a great character, but in real life? A million times better. Am I a gigantic Ric Flair fan? Hell yeah.
Ric isn’t wrestling any more, but his daughter Charlotte, who is exactly like him, is.
I can’t tell you what I felt like when I turned on wrestling again after a 20 year hiatus and saw this tall, gorgeous blonde woman and realized, “That’s Ric Flair’s daughter!” Yee-haw!
Wrestling is a family business. Many of the wrestlers we see today are third and fourth-generation. Wrestlers are related in other ways, too. Godlike Roman Reigns, the current WWE champion, is former champion and filmstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s cousin; Roman and Dwayne are both related to the Usos, and all of them are part of a multi-generational Samoan wrestling clan. Dwayne Johnson’s father Rocky Johnson: well, this is what he looked like in his heyday (with a young Rock):
When I first saw Randy Orton, I was like, “No way!” Randy’s dad, Cowboy Bob Orton, was a highly-entertaining bad-guy wrestler (“heel”) in the 70s and 80s. But Bob Orton was never the biggest or “best-built” guy; as a heel, he had a big gut as well as a permanent arm injury that meant he always wore a type of cast, which he used to hit others with, or to conceal hidden weapons like razor blades, etc. His son Randy is 6'5" and billed at 250 pounds.
Many pro wrestlers, male and female, have mind-boggling physiques. I know from pursuing fitness and wellness that looking the way nearly all wrestlers do represents a full-time job of nutrition, workouts, and yes, obvious supplementation —
Is pro wrestling violent and is the blood real? I can write seriously about that later, or you can read the heartbreaking and tragic story of Chris Benoit.
Wrestling matches aren’t a traditional athletic contest. I’d call them more of a demonstration. Anyone who feels that pro wrestling doesn’t use athletic skills is mistaken: not only are many wrestlers, male and female, former NCAA athletes, some are former pro football players, gymnasts, and UFC champions. Ronda Rousey (UFC Champ/WWE champ) is unbelievably fast, strong, and agile. Kurt Angle is a former Olympic gold medalist. Brock Lesnar is an NCAA wrestling champion, former pro football player, and MMA champion. His nickname is “The Beast.”
Like Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth, pictured above, many wrestlers are married to each other. Brock Lesnar is married to Sable (wrestler and model) who was previously married to another wrestler.
And it’s all one big show. The show is big enough that it can be followed, in all of its intricate details, from Gorgeous George in the 1940s and Bruno Sammartino in the 1950s, through the 1980s and the Hulk Hogan era to the present day of dozens of storylines and outrageous matches and feats of athleticism.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is by far the biggest wrestling enterprise, but there are many others, from regional and international locations. The man who is probably the largest (but far from only) driving force in wrestling’s metamorphosis from big gorilla guys mauling each other in smoke-filled boxing arenas to today’s long-running, ultra-sophisticated athletic soap opera is Vince McMahon. Vince has long had a horrible reputation in many ways, and announced his retirement from WWE last year.
WWE is now managed by Vince’s daughter Stephanie and her husband Triple H (Paul Levesque).
Nobody wants it to go to nothing; WWE has a market cap of over $6.5 billion and its stock trades at over $80 a share.
We’re going to watch the Super Bowl today: a whole different set of athletes will be competing on the field.
Unlike football or baseball, WWE’s seasons are ever-green and ever growing and evolving. You never know who will turn from heel to babyface (good guy/woman).
Do I like that wrestlers have shorter lifespans due to their hard lifestyles and the work that they do?
No.
But I love listening to their ridiculous palaver, their over-the-top antics, and I respect and love every single little thing they do.
This is entertainment for the people and it delivers everything it promises — and then some.
Disagree? Fight me.