by Edgar Suarez Lopez

Created on: November 26, 2009

All us wrestling fans have gotten, at some point, involved in discussions with people that claim that wrestling is fake, and let me tell you; It is a battle you can not win, these people have closed minds and are the kind of people to whom you cannot discuss with,for they will blindly defend their opinion, and will not back it up properly, but will merely shout at you.

Let me try and ilustrate you with the things that i believe these people fail to understand:

-Wrestling is NOT a real sport, it is an ENTERTAINMENT show, it is more like "Friends" than like "Monday Night Football". It is a weekly episodic television show, again, Friends is also labeled like this.

-The wrestling companies do NOT try and make the audience believe that the shows are not scripted, yet again I say wrestling shows are TV series, catalogued in seasons and episodes, scripted and performed, it is like a soap opera, but one with lots of fighting.

-Yes, EVERYTHING is scripted, every single move has been scripted, practiced and performed,LIKE ACTING, the results of the matches are pre-determined.

BUT! Oh there's always a but.

-The moves ARE "death defying", every single performer working for the wrestling business has spent at least 3-5 years in a wrestling school, were they are not only told how to fake giving and receiving punches, but how to fall without crushing their backs and seriously damaging their bodies, if you or I were to take a powerslam, we would probably fall in the wrong position and probably became paralytic.

-Some moves are 100% real. Taking a powerslam involves falling on your back, even though wrestlers are trained to take falls, reducing damage as much as possible, it must still hurt, at least a bit, multiply "a bit of pain" by "n of moves you have taken" and the result is most definitely Painful. apart from that, aluminium chairshots in the back don't hurt too much, but apply our "a bit of pain" formula to discover it must not be pleasing to take several of these. another move which is 100% real and painful is the slap. Yes ladies and gents, when you see a slap on tv while watching WWE for example, you see A SLAP, a genuine, totally real slap across the face.

-Blood is NOT Ketchup. wrestlers blade minor veins in their forheads to simulate like they have been busted open, sometimes, they are accidentally busted open for real.

-Wrestlers get injured, torn muscles, broken bones...these all happen, wrestlers have died in the ring,and from damage recieved while in the ring (search "Owen Hart"and"Chris Benoit".)

My conclusion, whether or not the performers punch themselves for real or not is not relevant, for it still takes tough individuals to mantain an appealing physique, perform the moves in a harmless manner, take constant punishment on a more than weekly basis.

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