What's the appeal of Wrasslin?

[La Paix]

Just to be clear this is not a troll thread or bait for fans of this sort of entertainment I'm just genuinly curious. We used to have a sub forum on the topic but it didn't see much traffic but members have recently asked for it to come back.

I get wrasslin for a younger audience as I used to be a fan. As a little kid I'd love the bigger than life characters and the moves. As a teen we'd smoke endless amounts of weed and watch Raw on Mondays then Smackdown on Thursday and get all fired up to play WCW vs NWO on the Nintendo 64. Those days were fun but as an adult a can't imagine watching an entire episode of this on TV. I get what @FeeO calls the embarrassment shivers.... I actually feel awkward watching after a minute.

Recently there was that clip of Josh Barnett doing some sort of Wrasslin stuff in his open workouts and a few people here seemed genuinly impressed, please help me try to understand.

 

[Pitbull9]

I loved it when i was a kid growing up in the 90s and then when it turned into the Attitude era in WWF and WCW because overall the entertainment factor was great. It turned to shit and i have not really watched it in years. I will turn it on and say what is this shit and turn it off lol.

 

[IschKabibble]

It's performance art that's heavily influenced by childhood nostalgia. If you weren't predisposed to it at an early age, you likely won't find the appeal later in life.

That said, today's product is 100% garbage. They're turning it into tabloid junk. Was a lot more fun when it was about bad ass dudes just trying to beat each other up.

 

[IschKabibble]

It's also interesting to follow behind-the-scenes of WWE since they're such an entertainment behemoth. Who's doing their job well and who isn't, etc.

 

[Ted Williams' head]

I'm with you 100%. And I was a MEGA fan since 3 years old. Grew up with it, all I wanted as a kid was wrestling action figures, wrestling with my friends, playing the N64 video games. All my friends were nuts about it, we had a backyard wrestling league, I even tried to convince my parents to let me drop out of school at like 14/15 so I could move to the states and train to be a pro wrestler. I'm talking MEGA, MEGA fan.

And even I grew out of it. Haven't really followed it since 2004 or so. Every once and awhile when I'm channel surfing I'll throw on RAW for a few minutes to piss off my chick (who can't stand wrestling) and she'll ask me "how does anyone like this shit" and I have no answer for her lol

If I'm channel surfing and I see the Macho Man or Hulk Hogan having a match, I'll watch it for nostalgic purposes, but I have no idea how grown adults still watch it. I have friends my age who still watch it and post about it on Facebook and I just gotta smh

 

[Limpy]

As a young kid I was obsessed with it. I can still remember hopping on my bike and pedaling as fast as I could to the store so I could buy candy because Wrestlemania 6 was on. When Demolition got their belts back from the Colossal Connection I ran around the house screaming with happiness. I was ten years old.

I won't shit on adults that watch it, for me it's no different than our obsession with MMA. We like the characters, the drama, the buildup, the event. No different than house-wives and soap opera's. Hunters and hunting shows. Fat people and cooking shows. Me and porn.

 

[Punch]

I lost interest years ago. I was interested during the Monday night wars and the attitude era, but it became boring and progressively less entertaining as time went on.

 

[sparkuri]

I never cared for it much at any age.
I didn't grow up with much tv, so we saw all the WWF figures, and friends had the toys.
We did catch Big Time Wrestling on rare Saturday mornings, and that had Terry Taylor(my favorite) and Santana and some other guys I don't remember much.
I liked the Ultimate Warrior because he looked bad ass, and the American Dream Dusty Rhodes because of his nickname. But I grew up outside with 3 brothers all about the same age, getting in actual fights. Our hero's were Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwartzenegger.
We knew wrestling was fake off the bat so that was pretty much that.
Ironically though, I loved PRIDE.

 

[ThatOneDude]

I watched it as a kid, went and saw it live when I was in 6th grade, never watched it again.

 

[maurice]

I watched as a kid and wrestled in the backyard with my friends but always favored the moves that looked like catch. Once MMA and BJJ came along, I lost interest.

I can't see myself going back. Don't they just talk 90% of the time now?

 

[La Paix]

As a young kid I was obsessed with it. I can still remember hopping on my bike and pedaling as fast as I could to the store so I could buy candy because Wrestlemania 6 was on. When Demolition got their belts back from the Colossal Connection I ran around the house screaming with happiness. I was ten years old.

I won't shit on adults that watch it, for me it's no different than our obsession with MMA. We like the characters, the drama, the buildup, the event. No different than house-wives and soap opera's. Hunters and hunting shows. Fat people and cooking shows. Me and porn.

I'm over shitting on adults watching it. I agree with most of your lost except the similarity with our obsession with MMA. Many of us train or at least know a good amount about real combat so the interest makes sense. Then you add in the competitive nature and even if we all know ZUFFA oicks whi gets the opportunities the fight still has to be won as its not scripted.

If you're an adult with young kids I can see it. I would never think the writing and story lines are so intriguing that it could be compared to any other great sitcoms or any other written show. I guess there's a strong resemblance to reality TV like soap operas as you mention but that's just as odd IMO.

 

[Punch]

I'm over shitting on adults watching it. I agree with most of your lost except the similarity with our obsession with MMA. Many of us train or at least know a good amount about real combat so the interest makes sense. Then you add in the competitive nature and even if we all know ZUFFA oicks whi gets the opportunities the fight still has to be won as its not scripted.

If you're an adult with young kids I can see it. I would never think the writing and story lines are so intriguing that it could be compared to any other great sitcoms or any other written show. I guess there's a strong resemblance to reality TV like soap operas as you mention but that's just as odd IMO.

 

[La Paix]

Yup. I'm just genuinly curious as to what those strokes are, nice glasses

 

[Punch]

Yup. I'm just genuinly curious as to what those strokes are, nice glasses

Oh... YOU know...

 

[Leigh]

Like most, I liked it as a kid but grew out of it. My dad used to shit on it and now I see why. I've tried to watch it again recently and it's just horribly hokey. And they all look the same - greasy long hair, speedos, knee pads and long leather boots.

If you like it, cool, but it seems the same as watching soap operas to me.

 

[Pitbull9]

I'm with you 100%. And I was a MEGA fan since 3 years old. Grew up with it, all I wanted as a kid was wrestling action figures, wrestling with my friends, playing the N64 video games. All my friends were nuts about it, we had a backyard wrestling league, I even tried to convince my parents to let me drop out of school at like 14/15 so I could move to the states and train to be a pro wrestler. I'm talking MEGA, MEGA fan.

And even I grew out of it. Haven't really followed it since 2004 or so. Every once and awhile when I'm channel surfing I'll throw on RAW for a few minutes to piss off my chick (who can't stand wrestling) and she'll ask me "how does anyone like this shit" and I have no answer for her lol

If I'm channel surfing and I see the Macho Man or Hulk Hogan having a match, I'll watch it for nostalgic purposes, but I have no idea how grown adults still watch it. I have friends my age who still watch it and post about it on Facebook and I just gotta smh

Holy shit my girls says the exact same thing

 

[Ryann Von Doom]

whats the appeal of those, pictures of motion? I mean, i can see the appeal of them to young kids, but why would anyone above the age of 15 want to watch a movie? Its all fake, so why watch it when you can watch a documentary?

 

[Zeph]

whats the appeal of those, pictures of motion? I mean, i can see the appeal of them to young kids, but why would anyone above the age of 15 want to watch a movie? Its all fake, so why watch it when you can watch a documentary?

 

[Punch]

whats the appeal of those, pictures of motion? I mean, i can see the appeal of them to young kids, but why would anyone above the age of 15 want to watch a movie? Its all fake, so why watch it when you can watch a documentary?

I don't watch artsy films, but wouldn't dog anyone for liking what they like. Same thing applies here. *shrug*

 

[La Paix]

whats the appeal of those, pictures of motion? I mean, i can see the appeal of them to young kids, but why would anyone above the age of 15 want to watch a movie? Its all fake, so why watch it when you can watch a documentary?

I'll reply to your question in hopes that you'll extend the same courtesy back.

In motion pictures the actors are believable (in good ones of course). Lots of movies have great story lines that can create all sorts of emotions like fear, suspense, anger, humour or get your imagination going or make you think about a certain topic in a way that you once never did.

As far as movies I enjoy Sci-Fi, action, thrillers and documentaries the most. Besides docus I love how some movies are incredibly creative in the story lines and the ones with great special effects are always extra entertaining.

Suspense thrillers are awesome as I enjoy the edge of your seat not knowing what fucked up twist or turn is about to happen or when something will jump out at you making you shit yourself. Sci-Fi and fantasy like LOTR is amazing for its grand scale, story, special effects, costumes and all sorts of other things. Action flix give you that holy shit sensation and martial arts films do as well.

I understand your reply to be if ones fake and I enjoy it why not the other. If I'm right here then the answer is movies know what they are doing and do it on a much higher level. The "acting" in wrasslin is honestly cringe worthy, I really don't think it's debatable yes? Nobody in those outfits delivering those lines on that stage can be taken as a high level actor, somebody like the Rock does well in movies but while in the squared circle its funny on purpose. There's no real solid soundtracks that sell like hot cakes or make people want sing along either. I could go on but I think I've answered enough to get something back from a fan pro wrestling

 

[Ryann Von Doom]

I'll reply to your question in hopes that you'll extend the same courtesy back.

In motion pictures the actors are believable (in good ones of course). Lots of movies have great story lines that can create all sorts of emotions like fear, suspense, anger, humour or get your imagination going or make you think about a certain topic in a way that you once never did.

As far as movies I enjoy Sci-Fi, action, thrillers and documentaries the most. Besides docus I love how some movies are incredibly creative in the story lines and the ones with great special effects are always extra entertaining.

Suspense thrillers are awesome as I enjoy the edge of your seat not knowing what fucked up twist or turn is about to happen or when something will jump out at you making you shit yourself. Sci-Fi and fantasy like LOTR is amazing for its grand scale, story, special effects, costumes and all sorts of other things. Action flix give you that holy shit sensation and martial arts films do as well.

I understand your reply to be if ones fake and I enjoy it why not the other. If I'm right here then the answer is movies know what they are doing and do it on a much higher level. The "acting" in wrasslin is honestly cringe worthy, I really don't think it's debatable yes? Nobody in those outfits delivering those lines on that stage can be taken as a high level actor, somebody like the Rock does well in movies but while in the squared circle its funny on purpose. There's no real solid soundtracks that sell like hot cakes or make people want sing along either. I could go on but I think I've answered enough to get something back from a fan pro wrestling

The "cringe worthy" acting in prowrestling is just your opinion. Nothing more. Thing is, no matter what your retort is, movies are fake and some cringe worthy acting( ie; transformers, tmnt, hunger games, etc etc etc) parralells the statement you made about prowrestling. Your not so subtle jab at us fans of it can be used for literally any medium that isnt real life or a documentary.

 

[IschKabibble]

I'll reply to your question in hopes that you'll extend the same courtesy back.

In motion pictures the actors are believable (in good ones of course). Lots of movies have great story lines that can create all sorts of emotions like fear, suspense, anger, humour or get your imagination going or make you think about a certain topic in a way that you once never did.

As far as movies I enjoy Sci-Fi, action, thrillers and documentaries the most. Besides docus I love how some movies are incredibly creative in the story lines and the ones with great special effects are always extra entertaining.

Suspense thrillers are awesome as I enjoy the edge of your seat not knowing what fucked up twist or turn is about to happen or when something will jump out at you making you shit yourself. Sci-Fi and fantasy like LOTR is amazing for its grand scale, story, special effects, costumes and all sorts of other things. Action flix give you that holy shit sensation and martial arts films do as well.

I understand your reply to be if ones fake and I enjoy it why not the other. If I'm right here then the answer is movies know what they are doing and do it on a much higher level. The "acting" in wrasslin is honestly cringe worthy, I really don't think it's debatable yes? Nobody in those outfits delivering those lines on that stage can be taken as a high level actor, somebody like the Rock does well in movies but while in the squared circle its funny on purpose. There's no real solid soundtracks that sell like hot cakes or make people want sing along either. I could go on but I think I've answered enough to get something back from a fan pro wrestling

You're taking the product at face value. Most of the buzz around pro wrestling is the fandom itself. A lot of adults still follow out of blind habit as a result of watching as a kid. I guess some of us have a higher tolerance for cringey stuff. Personally, I can only stomach the first and last five minutes of their weekly cable show because most of their performers are shit. Certainly the top ones since CM Punk left.

I think this guy said it best...

 

[Punch]

Your not so subtle jab

I think that this is just from years of being put on the defensive from dickhead anti-fans. Bw's phrasing was respectful imo.

 

[IschKabibble]

Here's the tl:dw of that video above:

 

[La Paix]

The "cringe worthy" acting in prowrestling is just your opinion. Nothing more. Thing is, no matter what your retort is, movies are fake and some cringe worthy acting( ie; transformers, tmnt, hunger games, etc etc etc) parralells the statement you made about prowrestling. Your not so subtle jab at us fans of it can be used for literally any medium that isnt real life or a documentary.

I'm not out to offend anyone, I'm just asking the appeal and you've replied twice with no effort to give one.