Pages

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Quit calling wrestling fake


@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've ranted on this before and it seems the time has come to do it again. I have been a wrestling fan for more than 30 years. And yes I know that the outcome is predetermined. What irritates me though is when non-wrestling fans call it "fake". Especially when it's said like this "You know wrestling is fake, right?" or "You know it's not real, right?" 

My chop marks & Masters' busted head
Courtesy: Jason Wilkey photography
As someone who has not only watched wrestling but worked within the business behind the scenes and in front of the crowd, it's insulting to hear this. I've even had a match, albeit for about 15 minutes, but my body can attest, there was nothing fake about what we were doing in the ring. I had red marks on my chest the next day from the chops I took and the guy I wrestled, Mike Masters had his head split open when a chair shot went wrong. The pool of blood in the ring and the six staples required to close the wound are another reminder this business is far from fake.

Injuries from Heath Hatton & "Farmer" Billy Hills
My friend and wrestler "Farmer" Billy Hills posted the pic on his social media after the Cape Championship Super Show. You can see he is clearly not feeling like the action he was involved in was fake. Stride Pro Wrestling Champion Heath Hatton was injured last year in the ring. He continues to nurse nagging injuries that you wouldn't expect from a fake job. He even needed surgery on his head as a result of an injury during a match.

The Walking Dead
Courtesy: AMC
The bottom line is this. I don't tell my friends who love the Walking Dead that the zombies aren't real and no one is getting their heads blown off. We all know there's not a giant gorilla running amok on Skull Island and spoiler alert, Dr. McDreamy wasn't really performing surgery on Grey's Anatomy.  There's no need to remind fans of these movies and TV shows that they're watching something "fake" and there's no need to do the same for wrestling fans. We get it, it's entertainment. I really don't want to see men and women actually beating the hell out of each other.  Thanks for putting up with this rant.




No comments:

Post a Comment