Wrestling with the Reputation
There’s a stigma that follows the sport of professional wrestling everywhere it goes. When the average person who’s not a fan thinks about WWE, they think about the old days: Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Macho Man Randy Savage, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, etc.
They think of gratuitous violence for the sake of it, outdated social culture when it comes to the treatment of minorities and women, steroid scandals, the concussions, and ridiculous storylines.
But most of all, people who don’t watch wrestling think to themselves: “Why would anyone watch this? Don’t they know it’s fake?”
Hi. I’m Nick. I—like everyone else—know wrestling is fake (we prefer the term scripted…the athleticism and injuries are as real as it gets), and I’ve been watching wrestling for as long as I can remember.
True Story: One time at WrestleMania, a kid named Nicholas was picked out of the crowd and teamed with “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. They won the tag team championships, making Nicholas the youngest champion in WWE history. It was dumb television at its finest. He brought the belt to show-and-tell at his school later that week, and would relinquish his championship because of his prior commitment to his elementary school education.
Like professional wrestling itself, its fans are also surrounded by a stigma. People have a vision of what wrestling fans look like in their minds. But did you know that the largest wrestling promotion in the world, WWE, is also the largest traveling entertainment company in the world? They are on the road every week of the year, traveling both across the United States, and regularly putting on shows internationally. They run 3 televised shows a week, plus non-televised live events and at least one pay-per-view show a month. Monday Night Raw, WWE’s flagship show, is the longest-running episodic show in television history.
When you Google the words “wrestling fan kid”, this is one of the first results that show up. Let’s analyze: the man on the left is holding up the “too sweet” hand symbol, made famous by a group of wrestlers known as The Kliq (Kevin Nash, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon/Scott Hall, X-Pac). Modern wrestlers have asked to borrow this hand symbol from their elders, and have been given permission. It’s a sign of wrestling royalty, and fans from all over the world throw it up to celebrate their fandom of this really stupid thing we all love.
Then we’ve got a bunch of people crammed in the middle, including the redhead kid from Jimmy Neutron. And then there’s the legend: the guy with the SummerSlam t-shirt with Vader on it, rocking the sweetest bowl cut this side of 1993.
WWE’s largest show of the year, WrestleMania, attracts thousands from across the world, and is broadcast to millions of viewers worldwide. While the United States has the Super Bowl, planet Earth has WrestleMania.
So while there’s still a negative reputation that’s attached to professional wrestling, this kind of entertainment—sports entertainment—has one of the largest fandoms and audiences in the world. And there’s tons of progress that has been made in order to combat the stigmas that have been attached to the sport for decades.
In the rest of this post, I’m going to give specific examples on wrestling landscape, progress, cultural impact, and why there are so many fans like me out there.
Wrestling Landscape
This photo is an example of something called an independent wrestling match. They can take place anywhere—from a bar or club—to a park or festival. These guys probably aren’t signed by a large company, but instead just performing on a show-by-show basis. The mat looks much softer than a traditional wrestling ring. The guy in the underwear and knee pads has his opponent draped over his shoulder, possibly looking to perform either a “burning hammer”, “back body drop”, or maybe a “flapjack”. Those are all real names of wrestling moves that I am not making up at all.
I’ve already mentioned WWE’s global impact, but to truly understand how big professional wrestling is, you have to know that there is a ton of wrestling outside of WWE throughout the world.
Major companies include:
New Japan Pro Wrestling. Ring of Honor. Evolve. IMPACT. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
Each of these competitors has their own style of product, filled with amazing athletes and characters that rival those of any other beloved television show or live performance. New Japan largely focuses on moves that are stiff—simulating realism by having competitors legitimately land punches, stomps and other strikes. The performers are not out to hurt each other, but protect each other in this simulated chaos.
Ring of Honor provides a haven for wrestlers that are technically sound, but either don’t have the experience to make it in WWE just yet, or just don’t have what they’re looking for. With that, these performers often showcase their abilities with breathtaking matches while keeping an edginess to their product.
The others all do something similar, but on a small scale. Yet there are even smaller shows that you might be able to find in your local community. How small music acts go from bars to warehouses playing shows for an audience of about 10 people, independent wrestling shows can be the same.
These shows take place in a variety of random, local venues, and star wrestlers who are just trying to make something of themselves in the industry. Back in the day, these wrestlers would only be discovered by trading VHS tapes of their matches with others, trying to catch any break at all by hoping they ended up in the right person’s hands.
Today, YouTube and online streaming help independent wrestlers reach fame in ways that used to be unimaginable.
Two wrestlers in particular used YouTube to completely change the landscape of the wrestling business. They are The Young Bucks.
These are The Young Bucks: Nick (left) and Matt (right) Jackson. These zebra-printed, tassel-loving golden gods of the squared circle have changed the wrestling game, and just might make it into mainstream pop culture with the debut of All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite on TNT, October 2nd. (Not a sponsor)
Nick and Matt Jackson (real last name Massie) are brothers in real life, and a tag team in the ring. After a long career on the independent wrestling scene, they started a YouTube channel to give fans an inside-look at the constant traveling and behind-the-curtain views of shows all over the world.
It grew so large in popularity, that they started to incorporate their own storylines with other wrestlers like their friend, fellow wrestler Kenny Omega. Together, they became a faction called The Elite, and the YouTube channel became it’s own show called Being The Elite, with a cast and stories all their own. Their show blew up, as fans loved the stories and characters created with complete creative freedom—something larger corporations would never allow.
They used this popularity to spawn All-In—a venture funded by the Bucks and friend/former WWE superstar Cody Rhodes. All-In was a pay-per-view wrestling show funded all on the back of independent wrestling popularity, and Being The Elite. The show was a sold out hit, taking place in a 20,000 seat arena in Chicago.
After the success of All-In, longtime wrestling fan and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Tony Khan gave The Young Bucks and Rhodes an offer they couldn’t refuse: the opportunity to start their own wrestling company to compete with WWE, with the idea that wrestlers have freedom to control their characters. They accepted, creating All Elite Wrestling, and giving WWE their first direct competitor since the late 90’s.
Making Progress
Women’s wrestling has taken over in the last few years. It is not a novelty or a gimmick, it’s a display of incredible talent that is long overdue. I don’t know the person in this photo, but she could absolutely beat me up if she wanted to.
Speaking of the late 90’s, that’s when professional wrestling was at the height of its popularity. WWE (then-WWF) was competing with Turner Broadcasting’s WCW, and both companies took turns trying to shock audiences into tuning in. They had a game of tug-of-war for ratings on Monday nights, utilizing racy storylines, scantily-clad women, excessive profanity, and heavy use of weapons and blood. It was a positive for the industry in that audiences tuned in with record numbers, but a huge setback when it came to cultural ethics.
Back then, women’s wrestling was rarely taken seriously. It was an over-sexualized aspect of the sport, holding women back from showcasing their actual athletic prowess. Their characters were built largely upon their bodies, and not much else.
This past April, women headlined WrestleMania in the main event of the biggest show in the world for the first time ever. Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch, built a storyline leading up to the show with pure athleticism, technique, and a hatred that you felt could be real. It wasn’t given to them—it was earned. It was the best story heading into a show with so many good ones.
The first-ever women’s Main Event in WrestleMania history. WWE brought UFC star Ronda Rousey in to give their women’s division legitimacy. Instead, it proved that the women who were already there deserved the spotlight. Fans know this is a scripted show, so the best “fighters” aren’t necessarily the best wrestlers. It requires supreme character work, and perfecting the technical art of pretending to hurt each other while making moves look great and protecting your opponent. “The Man” Becky Lynch and “The Queen” Charlotte Flair are masters of it.
What’s happening here: Charlotte has Rousey in a submission move called “The Boston Crab”. If Ronda were to tap out, Charlotte would win and become a double champion. Becky didn’t want that to happen, so she runs in to give Charlotte a “bulldog”, faceplanting her into the mat. The referee just wants to do his job.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the progress made in the inclusion of minorities in major storylines. The longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history are The New Day. A tag team made up of three black wrestlers: Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. The last one I mentioned, Kingston, was born in Africa, originally played a Jamaican character with a fake accent, and is now more of a portrait of himself and is the current WWE champion. This group has helped paved the way for the success of minorities in the future of the wrestling business.
Now, we’ll move on to the gratuitous violence. While weapons are still a large part of the wrestling industry, profanity and blood are utilized much less. This is in large part due to the WWE becoming a PG-rated product with multiple corporate sponsors and an anti-bullying campaign. Most of today’s mainstream wrestling doesn’t stoop to the tactics of yesterday to garner interest. Instead, the athletes are better. The characters feel personable. There are still creative struggles—teams of television writers don’t always understand wrestling culture and what the audience wants—but that just adds to the discussions that fans have. We know it’s all just a television show, so we debate stories and characters just like we would with any other show on Netflix.
Cultural Impact
Before Dwayne Johnson became the biggest movie star in the entire world, he was a defensive lineman for the University of Miami from a family filled with professional wrestlers. After his football career, he decided to join the family business. He ended up changing the business forever, becoming a wrestling and Hollywood icon, and also did this sick photo shoot with a turtleneck and chain. Fanny pack not pictured.
Did you smell what he was cooking? Yams. It was yams.
When it comes to the cultural impact of wrestling, there isn’t much debate anymore. Americans have been hooked on wrestling since Hulk Hogan was ripping off his own shirts at a record pace and telling kids to say their prayers and eat their vitamins. These are actors by the nature of their profession, and some of them transition into large acting roles very naturally.
The Rock has done it most famously. From the humble beginning of The Mummy franchise’s The Scorpion King, to HBO’s Ballers, The Fast and Furious Franchise, Jumanji, and much much more. The former WWE champion is everywhere.
Following in his footsteps is his former rival, John Cena. The Dr. of Thuganomics (that’s a real nickname his character used to have when he used to talk different and challenge people to rap battles) is transitioning to bigger roles in movies and in television as well, even though he used to have real-life beef with The Rock for doing the exact same thing and not coming back to appease wrestling fans. The beef has since been squashed.
The late Roddy Piper was in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The movie The Wrestler gave a chilling depiction of the life of a journeyman professional wrestler. Netflix’s GLOW is a show based on the real Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling TV show from back in the day, and continues to beat the drum for the wrestling industry in mainstream culture while flaunting the empowerment of women.
Inside the ring, characters are finding new ways to inspire their audiences. WWE superstar Ali is a real-life former Chicago police officer. He’s a Muslim man who set out to show people that they don’t have to fear people that look or sound like him, and that not all cops are bad. Leading up to that career, he was an independent wrestler being put into roles that saw him as the bad guy, because of his faith and skin color. He now serves as an inspiration to many after presenting his real-life anecdotes as part of his new on-screen persona. He "chases the light”, focusing on positives to drown out the hate in this world. He’s a real-life super hero, performing as a wrestler on television, and that is something that inspires me.
Why Should You Be a Fan?
Listen, I can’t make anyone become a fan of wrestling. I grew up with it. It’s in my blood. My wife’s family loves it. It’s a part of our lives.
But, I hope that I’ve been able to enlighten you on what wrestling actually is: entertainment.
Think of it as performance art. Or a stunt show. But with comedy, drama and shocking moments mixed in. The characters are larger-than-life, and the performers are putting their bodies on the line to play their parts.
If I go to a sporting event, there’s a chance my favorite team might lose and I will leave disappointed.
If I go to a wrestling show, I can immerse myself in the experience and the story, and leave happy like when I leave the movie theater.
There are so many different types of wrestling matches to watch. From action, to violent and scary, to comedy, to drama and suspense, there isn’t much that hasn’t been done in this crazy world.
I will leave you all with some of my favorite examples on why I love wrestling.
The first is the best wrestler in the world having a match with a 9-year-old girl. You’re welcome.