Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Counterpoint: Wrestling is not dead

Guest column by the MIT Comparative Media Studies program:

From the few matches that I've seen from the 90's and beyond, I can see that now, more than ever, wrestling is a form of pure entertainment. Ole Anderson writes in his most recent book that modern wrestlers just don't know how to wrestle. The idea of appearing to pull off a shoot, of really working the audience, seemed beyond the likes of Ric Flair and Lex Luger. I must admit that older wrestlers sold the athleticism of wrestling a lot better than most of the new guys. Sure they didn't incorporate the high-flying antics that are the staple of the modern wrestling program; but they were more, as they say, "scientific" about their moves.

In saying that wrestling today exists purely for its entertainment value, I admit that wrestling has always existed, to some extent, as a form of entertainment. When I sit down to watch a match today should I judge how well these guys carry out a fight, or am I missing the point? Should I just let slide the fact that most punches will never connect or that some guy purposely drew his own blood? I guess it comes down to me wondering what really constitutes wrestling's "entertainment value."

There are some elements to wrestling that will never change, such as the actual matches and the core wrestling that will always be there. But you'll always have the older generation that gripes that it's not the same - it's changing, it's different, it's dying. But everything changes, and as we've seen, if you don't change with the times, you don't make it. This is appealing to wrestling as purely business - you have to market to the current generation, who has a new standard.

In this day and age when everyone knows that it's fixed, wrestling has to be extra creative to get a rise out of fans that maybe it didn't need in the past. With the internet "smarks" around and making up a good part of your hardcore longtime fans, they seem to step up their game and try to keep on top of it. In the 80s, I don't think they had to deal with results being leaked before things actually happened. Times are different, and to pretend that no one can see past the rosy lenses now would be an insult to the fans.

So what do they do? They get flashier. The matches get shorter to have more backstage segments. The finishes are rarely ever clean. Wrestlers must be stronger, faster, and smarter in an effort to impress and appease the fans. The result is a more complete and entertaining product. They blur the line between reality and work, making you wonder. Wrestling today is completely different from what it used to be, even though the goal to entertain is still the same. That much hasn't changed and won't ever change so long as the goal in the end is to make money.

If you're a fan of today's product, I think you just have to accept that it's different. Is it always better? Well, that's personal opinion, but realizing that it's different and will still keep changing will make it more enjoyable overall.

Article written by the MIT Comparative Media Studies department, Article edited by Benjamin Zeidler

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