Welcome Class.
I Will begin this lesson with a piece of evidentury anecdote. When I attended the ROH 9th Anniversary show in Chicago Ridge, I sat next this annoying guy who was sitting in my families seats when I arrived slightly late. Anyways, flash forward to the second or third match on the card, I can't recall which match but it is not important to this particular evidentruy anecdote. One wrestler delivers and connects with a super kick, the resulting 'pop' echoing through the arena. Everyone in the packed Fieldhouse went ooh! and ah! Everyone except Mr Grabby-seat next to me. He turns to me and says, "that fucker hit his own knee to make it louder. This is some bullshit!" I laughed, because I had noticed this long ago and approve of the sickening sound it helps create. What struck me was the guys indignancy. This honestly ruined the whole show for him as it is a relatively common trick in the biz (you can even see a lil knee slap on Sweet Chin Music,) and was used in most of the matches on the card.
This story resonantes with many people I have talked to about professional wrestling. Things like, "I like it when I was a kid but I can't get over how its fake." Personally, I have never found relevancy in this argument, as even a 'reality' show is often bending the lines of 'reality'. But none the less, this is a common complaint. Perhaps this will help.
First, let's get rid of the notion that wrestling is any sort of fake. It is not an in ring competition, true, but there is no safety net for these guys. To me this is a large reason to appreciate wrestling, even if you ahte everything else about it. The fact that a lot of the matches and promos are pre-discussed makes the sick shit they do to each other all the more compelling. It is not hard to understand why a UFC fighter beats the crap out of their opponents; however, they will not suggest to their opponents interesting and exciting ways to dismantle them. That would take someone insane. Or dedicated. Or Both.
Secondly, it is important to view professional wrestling as an art form. I don't think this should be a stretch- the term 'martial art' is pretty ubiquitous. Never will you hear, "South Park is so fake," or "I can't believe they used fake paints on this portrait." The beauty of this artform is that wrestling is not all about the actually physicality- in fact, some wrestlers have earned a living based solely on their ability to talk on the mic, cerebrally assassinate their opponent before they even lock up, or even just for the fact that the crowd just HATES them and LOVES to see them get their faces stomped. Now their is a threshold for all artforms, especially as a matter of taste. Fine, wrestling is not your cup of tea. I don't care for balet myself. And if we are considering Emo music an artform, fuck that too.
As an artform, the audience must participate with the artists, especially when it comes to the suspension of disbelief. We as an audience must supercede our knowledge that everything before our eyes is for the most part an act to truly enjoy the experience. There is a caveat to this- the artist must pay a lot of attention to this suspension of disbelief or they risk losing even a willing audience. In other words, there is a limit to how 'fake' anything can be before we will universally call 'bullshit!'
To me the WWE product is a good example of where a lot of the time they do not try as hard to suspend that disbelief, mostly indirectly by booking wrestlers that are not very good at the craft. Vince and Co knows that their target audience is children and their parents. Children, and by proxy parents, are easy to please.
On the otherhand, look at an indie promotion ROH or Dragon Gate. A lot of care is put into making it look as real as possible. This is partly because of their target audiences and such, but for a large part it is the result of years of hard work, training, and travelling. In other words, these promotions showcase passion. Passion is a very relatable, if not honorable, trait to convey. The passion shows itself in intense matches and constant creativity. The main issue the indies have is the often subpar production, especially when it comes to house PAs, and the difficulty of conveying complex story structure without a regular television show. Of course this will be changing soon for ROH (drool)
Getting back to the original evidentury anecdote, there is no reason to let a little thing like a knee slap ruin a good show. The wrestlers choose to amplify the sound of his kick, which is well within their artistic license. As a mark in the audience, just enjoy the fact that a guy got kicked in the face for nothing other than our pleasure, and he basically asked for it. Just cause its a 'fake' kick in a 'fake' wrestling match doesnt mean that kick didn't hurt like a bitch.
Next time- A Slave to the System- people who hate the WWE but still watch every minute.
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