I loved professional wrestling unabashedly -- when I was 10. I briefly liked it in an "ironic" way during college. And then I grew up. You're right that the number of adult men who genuinely love wrestling (and the fact that the likely next president is in the wrestling hall of fame) is worrisome.
Funny, the appearance of Hulk Hogan in prime time on the final night of the RNC rattled me so much that I felt like I had to write about it, too, for slightly different reasons. Here's a link in case anybody's interested:
I really don't mean to harsh anybody's mellow here: People should enjoy whatever they enjoy! (I like a lot of VERY dumb stuff.) I just don't think the current movement to say "no, no, wrestling explains a lot and therefore we should take it really seriously" is all that helpful.
Vince McMahon made the wrestling world worse. An out of control tyrant who crushed his competition, and wore his performers to the point of death, in some cases. Horrendous human being.
There was a time in the nineties where WCW was more popular than WWE. They had the backing of Ted Turner, and I would argue that McMahon made wrestling more unseemly with some of the storylines of WWE in order to top WCW. There was weird stuff like Vince having an incestual relationship with Stephanie, the Undertaker kidnapping her, a lot of sexual violence storylines.
Some people have never actually heard a Trump speech, start to finish. They did at their convention. Watching their expressions change as he droned incoherently on and on gave me hope. There is no there there, just an angry old man with many axes to grind. The Hulk may have been the high point of the evening. Now that is sad.
Preface: I'm a huge wrestling fan at 40, and I've never stopped being one. It seems to me that you have the issue inverted here. I don't really care if you like wrestling, and I'm not going to try and sway you, but wrestling is just like sports, movies, tv, music, or any other entertainment medium. They're mirrors of what we're all doing collectively, not the other way around. If cynicism has spread (and I agree with you that it has), it's from society into art.
Are the fans that are more interested in whats behind the veil of a wrestling show any different than the NBA fan more interested in twitter beef than a box score, the film fans on twitter fighting about box office numbers, reality tv as a whole, or whatever music stan culture has become? If you think "hey, I don't need ANOTHER cynical, dumb form of entertainment in my life" that's cool, and believe me wrestling is cynical and dumb. I just don't think it's any way unique in that regard.
I do think there's something to do this. But I would still argue those things, at their CORE, are meant to be a *reflection* of truth rather than *an active rejection* of it. But I have no doubt that your expertise dramatically outpaces my own.
I agree with you totally about professional wrestling. I have felt this way a long time, and I am glad someone as articulate as you has verbalized this so well. It is truly part of the absolute mess we are in today in my opinion. Thank you again, Will. In my view, pro wrestling is vulgar and fake and degrading to women and really men too.
We are messed up in our culture today. To think that Trump, who truly is a circus act at best, if I am being extremely charitable, was the POTUS, and may well be again, is an absurdity and an obscenity. Seeing all my “Christian” brethren be “all in” for such a disgusting person has driven me bonkers, crazy, loony tunes, or whatever word you choose, these past ten years. If we ever thought one of our two political parties would invite the group of criminals, grifters, low lifes, abusers, etc. to speak, people would have laughed. It is pathetic. We are morally and spiritually bankrupt as a people.
Now we have Hulk Hogan, Dana White, Amber Rose, Savannah Chrisley, et al. as our thought leaders and “influencers” speaking at the RNC. Is this what we want in America? Apparently so……..
As a 71 year old, I feel like I live in an alternate reality. I grew up with Walter Cronkite and 3 TV channels—-really 2 where I grew up, ABC had not made it to central West Texas yet. When I was 13 or so I attended my ONLY pro wrestling event. “The Lawman” Don Slatton (tall wiry not young white guy)versus Thunderbolt Patterson(stocky strong black guy) in West Texas in 1966. Guess who was the good guy and who was the bad guy? Nothing overtly racist or bad happened, but I remember thinking this is not normal, this is not good. This is silly and weird and unhealthy.
There's someone below defending wrestling -- I haven't responded to them yet but I will -- and I want to be clear that I don't think there's anything WRONG with someone liking wrestling. I just don't think it's good for us. Which is fine! I like lots of things that are bad for me. I just can't really defend them in any serious manner.
Rick I'm almost as old as you are and you've said everything I could have said. My South Texas town had two tv stations and one station shared (rotated) two of the networks!
I don't get it. How can all these religious leaders and church goers worship such an unrepentant, sinning, horrible person. They're not just along for the ride-they WORSHIP him!
That's why I hold on to my belief that Trump IS the Anti-Christ. The parallels from the Bible are uncanny. I just hope the first atomic bomb hits my town first. I'm too old to fight zombies.....
Jorge, I have always been skeptical if not cynical when my fellow believers talked about the Antichrist. It always seemed overblown and hysterical; HOWEVER, seeing supposed Christians following OF ALL PEOPLE Trump has surely got me thinking too………………..
Will, I feel like you and I are blood brothers when it comes to politics. I recently wrote you and now, after reading your last couple of posts, wish I had added more
You are too young. You missed the heyday of "professional" wrestling. Those splendid days of wonder, my youth when all things were a source of discovery. when my father brought home the first TV it opened up the world even wider. Only two channels, (well mostly one, but we got a second one from across the border on days that were not too windy and the attennae stayed stable). The programming was limited but Friday night was All Star wrestling; Gorgeous George, Killer Kowalski, Gene Kiniski, Haystack Calhoun, The Sheik and of course the highlight was always the 'midget wrestlers'. It was much before any concept of wokeness. Not only did we have midget wrestlers we could actually call them midget wrestlers. As a preteen boy I was enthralled with their skills, the mayhem, the drama and then as I approached my teenage years the endless debates with friends on whether it was fake. Thank you for evoking these grand memories, ones I had not recalled in decades, perhaps a half century.
Thanks for the rant about professional wrestling. I followed it briefly when I was a kid, back in the days of Bruno Sammartino and Killer Kowalski. Then I grew up. It was merely niche entertainment back then. Unfortunately, it's now a symbol of the vulgarity that's taken over too many aspects of American life. That may make me an old man shouting at clouds, but at least I'm not voting for a vulgarian in November.
Will, I feel like you and I are blood brothers when it comes to politics. I recently wrote you and now, after reading your last couple of posts, wish I had added more
I couldn’t agree more ! Professional Wrestling has always felt very wrong since its inception for a multitude of reasons .
I loved professional wrestling unabashedly -- when I was 10. I briefly liked it in an "ironic" way during college. And then I grew up. You're right that the number of adult men who genuinely love wrestling (and the fact that the likely next president is in the wrestling hall of fame) is worrisome.
Funny, the appearance of Hulk Hogan in prime time on the final night of the RNC rattled me so much that I felt like I had to write about it, too, for slightly different reasons. Here's a link in case anybody's interested:
https://medium.com/rome-magazine/donald-trump-the-hulkster-and-me-9e1d5c04d86e?sk=13f43330aa2a8a0688fb73eeca6eb570
I really don't mean to harsh anybody's mellow here: People should enjoy whatever they enjoy! (I like a lot of VERY dumb stuff.) I just don't think the current movement to say "no, no, wrestling explains a lot and therefore we should take it really seriously" is all that helpful.
Vince McMahon made the wrestling world worse. An out of control tyrant who crushed his competition, and wore his performers to the point of death, in some cases. Horrendous human being.
I should definitely be careful not to conflate "Vince McMahon" and "wrestling."
There was a time in the nineties where WCW was more popular than WWE. They had the backing of Ted Turner, and I would argue that McMahon made wrestling more unseemly with some of the storylines of WWE in order to top WCW. There was weird stuff like Vince having an incestual relationship with Stephanie, the Undertaker kidnapping her, a lot of sexual violence storylines.
And the way Vince treats wrestlers health is horrible.....
Some people have never actually heard a Trump speech, start to finish. They did at their convention. Watching their expressions change as he droned incoherently on and on gave me hope. There is no there there, just an angry old man with many axes to grind. The Hulk may have been the high point of the evening. Now that is sad.
Preface: I'm a huge wrestling fan at 40, and I've never stopped being one. It seems to me that you have the issue inverted here. I don't really care if you like wrestling, and I'm not going to try and sway you, but wrestling is just like sports, movies, tv, music, or any other entertainment medium. They're mirrors of what we're all doing collectively, not the other way around. If cynicism has spread (and I agree with you that it has), it's from society into art.
Are the fans that are more interested in whats behind the veil of a wrestling show any different than the NBA fan more interested in twitter beef than a box score, the film fans on twitter fighting about box office numbers, reality tv as a whole, or whatever music stan culture has become? If you think "hey, I don't need ANOTHER cynical, dumb form of entertainment in my life" that's cool, and believe me wrestling is cynical and dumb. I just don't think it's any way unique in that regard.
I do think there's something to do this. But I would still argue those things, at their CORE, are meant to be a *reflection* of truth rather than *an active rejection* of it. But I have no doubt that your expertise dramatically outpaces my own.
I agree with you totally about professional wrestling. I have felt this way a long time, and I am glad someone as articulate as you has verbalized this so well. It is truly part of the absolute mess we are in today in my opinion. Thank you again, Will. In my view, pro wrestling is vulgar and fake and degrading to women and really men too.
We are messed up in our culture today. To think that Trump, who truly is a circus act at best, if I am being extremely charitable, was the POTUS, and may well be again, is an absurdity and an obscenity. Seeing all my “Christian” brethren be “all in” for such a disgusting person has driven me bonkers, crazy, loony tunes, or whatever word you choose, these past ten years. If we ever thought one of our two political parties would invite the group of criminals, grifters, low lifes, abusers, etc. to speak, people would have laughed. It is pathetic. We are morally and spiritually bankrupt as a people.
Now we have Hulk Hogan, Dana White, Amber Rose, Savannah Chrisley, et al. as our thought leaders and “influencers” speaking at the RNC. Is this what we want in America? Apparently so……..
As a 71 year old, I feel like I live in an alternate reality. I grew up with Walter Cronkite and 3 TV channels—-really 2 where I grew up, ABC had not made it to central West Texas yet. When I was 13 or so I attended my ONLY pro wrestling event. “The Lawman” Don Slatton (tall wiry not young white guy)versus Thunderbolt Patterson(stocky strong black guy) in West Texas in 1966. Guess who was the good guy and who was the bad guy? Nothing overtly racist or bad happened, but I remember thinking this is not normal, this is not good. This is silly and weird and unhealthy.
Anyway, thanks for this column this morning.
There's someone below defending wrestling -- I haven't responded to them yet but I will -- and I want to be clear that I don't think there's anything WRONG with someone liking wrestling. I just don't think it's good for us. Which is fine! I like lots of things that are bad for me. I just can't really defend them in any serious manner.
Rick I'm almost as old as you are and you've said everything I could have said. My South Texas town had two tv stations and one station shared (rotated) two of the networks!
I don't get it. How can all these religious leaders and church goers worship such an unrepentant, sinning, horrible person. They're not just along for the ride-they WORSHIP him!
That's why I hold on to my belief that Trump IS the Anti-Christ. The parallels from the Bible are uncanny. I just hope the first atomic bomb hits my town first. I'm too old to fight zombies.....
Jorge, I have always been skeptical if not cynical when my fellow believers talked about the Antichrist. It always seemed overblown and hysterical; HOWEVER, seeing supposed Christians following OF ALL PEOPLE Trump has surely got me thinking too………………..
Will, I feel like you and I are blood brothers when it comes to politics. I recently wrote you and now, after reading your last couple of posts, wish I had added more
You are too young. You missed the heyday of "professional" wrestling. Those splendid days of wonder, my youth when all things were a source of discovery. when my father brought home the first TV it opened up the world even wider. Only two channels, (well mostly one, but we got a second one from across the border on days that were not too windy and the attennae stayed stable). The programming was limited but Friday night was All Star wrestling; Gorgeous George, Killer Kowalski, Gene Kiniski, Haystack Calhoun, The Sheik and of course the highlight was always the 'midget wrestlers'. It was much before any concept of wokeness. Not only did we have midget wrestlers we could actually call them midget wrestlers. As a preteen boy I was enthralled with their skills, the mayhem, the drama and then as I approached my teenage years the endless debates with friends on whether it was fake. Thank you for evoking these grand memories, ones I had not recalled in decades, perhaps a half century.
I've heard this a few times ... THE IRON CLAW did open my eyes to stuff like this ...
I liked the roller derby that came on after at midnight!
I hadn't thought this about wrestling before. Good take. I nod in agreement.
Plus a link to New Pornographers? This is why I subscribe, Will.
One of the million bands I was too late on.
I think you’ll appreciate Michael Gerber’s new essay: https://substack.com/@theamericanbystander/note/c-62700396?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=8cyrs
Thanks for the rant about professional wrestling. I followed it briefly when I was a kid, back in the days of Bruno Sammartino and Killer Kowalski. Then I grew up. It was merely niche entertainment back then. Unfortunately, it's now a symbol of the vulgarity that's taken over too many aspects of American life. That may make me an old man shouting at clouds, but at least I'm not voting for a vulgarian in November.
Richard, my comment also used the word vulgar without reading yours. Vulgarian fits Trump to a capital T.
Will, I feel like you and I are blood brothers when it comes to politics. I recently wrote you and now, after reading your last couple of posts, wish I had added more
The Iron Claw was fascinating in a way I have never found the actual wrestling productions.
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