Pro-Wrestling

It started out as kind of a "sham". before going all out with theatrics and dramatic flair. It has a weird position in pop-culture at the moment, where the biggest company in the game teeters between this line between mainstream and niche. The big, successful mega-corps in this business have a track record of a terrible lack of professionalism; letting personal vendettas get in the way of presenting a product the viewers would love. The performers in the ring need proper co-operation and coordination to simulate conflict and competition. The bad guys going up against the good guys also teeter a weird line, with the "facade" being broken nowadays; when their cheering you because you're an entertaining dick, are you not doing your job? When the fans boo the shit out of you, because you annoy them and get on their nerves, is that a job well done? It's also technically the largest scale, most widely broadcasted form of true live performance, for all that's worth.

Pro-wrestling is really really weird, when you try to think about it too hard. A lot of that really doesn't matter, and admittedly a lot of wrestling is best enjoyed when you don't think about it; but it's sort of fun to. So many aspects of it are kind of contradictory.

Pro wrestling, where "strong style" training involves shaving your head, doing thousands of repetitions in a set, washing everyone else's belongings, living out of a closet and listening to the complaints of "old" men complain about how much harder they had it, "old" being forties and harder meaning getting beat with a shinai cane.

Pro wrestling, where everything you step on is padded wood, metal or concrete, if you're lucky. Where promoters like to brag about their lack of padding. Where slipping around in a muddy dugout, producing fog in an unheated ice garden or losing weight in an air condition lacking bar might be a career highlight for novelty's sake. Where twelve foot drops with nothing but a torso to break your fall are considered normal.

The industry where you work for four different bosses in two days in four different companies in four different venues. Where you study two different languages for the purpose of working in three different countries who will likely hassle you to get a work visa but won't likely dignify your job with the benefits that usually come with getting one.

From what I understand pretty much every aspect of the business is rough, yet people still apply for it, still find ways to beat that lack of medical clearance, that seemingly insurmountable surgery bill, that unable to operate on brain tumor and come back to it. It's a business where an athlete can get disproportionately far with a few natural gifts and a some social savvy but for the most part you have to be as skilled and dedicated to find success as any athlete in any other field.

I will always love pro wrestling. It's awesome. Pro wrestlers are awesome.

edited 2nd Jul '16 12:02:01 AM by IndirectActiveTransport