by Stephen Kerr-Robinson

Created on: October 03, 2008   Last Updated: April 21, 2012

Professional wrestling has transitioned over the years. Many years ago, wrestling was seen as a true legitimate sport. Wrestling was seen as a true test of a mans athleticism and resilience. Not to say that today's wrestling lacks any real athleticism. Because it still requires a lot of athleticism, it's just that today's wrestling, the athletic nature of it, comes second to the entertainment skill that one must possess.

This whole transition that I mentioned happened in the mid 80's. And it was started by 2 men; there were obviously other people involved during this whole transition, but there were 2 men essential to the change in wrestling. Those 2 men were Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan; they changed the very foundation of pro wrestling and helped it evolve into sports entertainment.

Now I can honestly say that I do really enjoy pro wrestling as entertainment. I have heard a lot of people say that they don't. And that they think the entertainment aspect of wrestling has ruined wrestling. Many of these people are old school wrestling fans, and I understand how they feel but I just don't feel the same.

Not to say that I haven't enjoyed a wrestling match from that era, because I do, I enjoy a lot of the wrestlers and the matches from that era. And I do like a good technical wrestling match, I mean who doesn't? But many people say how this is what wrestling is all about. But is it really? To me wrestling is about one thing and that's the fans. Without a doubt wrestling is the most fan interacting sports/entertainment product. But to those who feel that somehow entertainment has taken a stranglehold on wrestling, and wrestling has lost its identity because of it. But the truth is that wrestling needs entertainment, it always will. And that is a proven fact, Hulk Hogan the ultimate symbol of sports entertainment took a regional unmarketable industry and he turned it into an International phenomena.

Anyway back to what I was saying about the fans. It's the fans that make wrestling what it is. An example of this is, if you have 2 technically gifted wrestlers such as Bret Hart and Dean Malenko but have them wrestle in front of no crowd at all in an empty arena. The match wouldn't seem nearly as good as a match with 2 less talented wrestlers, but in front of a large crowd. And the reason that this is possible is because a crowd can make a match seem better than the 2 wrestlers competing could ever make it look.

So, do I enjoy pro wrestling as entertainment? Well of course I do. I won't over hype entertainment aspect of wrestling, because it has some bad things. Such as the terrible storylines and the over the top characters. But the positives weigh out the negatives like the fans. The chants, the cheers, the boo's, the standing ovations, the atmosphere they create and the ability to make a possibly useless match seem like match of the year. You may be wondering why I used the fans as an example of why I enjoy wrestling as entertainment. Well that's because the fans are a big part of sports entertainment.

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