review

bit of a failure in the review quest, due to other commitments (and poor timing) on my part i have not been able to watch all of the wwe’s summerslam show. so rather than a reviews of something that i have not fully watched (not that there will be any surprises in the two remaining matches i have to watch) rather i give you pat’s reasons for enjoying wrestling.

i can remember watching wrestling on itv with my gran many many years ago. like most boys of the same age i enjoy it and probably pretended to wrestle in the school playground (i also played at being captain james t kirk and steve mcgarret of hawaii 5-0 fame, (here for a labour of devotion) and no doubt several others of the time.

i lost interest in wrestling for years and years. fast forward to about 2000 and i rediscovered my love of it (not sure if cliff was responsible for it, but he sure helped nurture it, while paul remains my supplier of ppv – thanks to both).

i guess i was in when i choose to rediscover wrestling it was going through a golden patch. the era of attitude was coming to a close and the careers of stone cold steve austin and the rock were also were winding up (for different reasons – injury, hissy fit and spousal abuse on the part of austin a film career for the rock, easily the best thing in be cool, but in such a dire film that is damning him with faint praise).

unlike the wrestling i was used to the wrestling of the wwf (as was) was not sport, but sports entertainment. all the viewers and fans know that the results are fixed (least i hope they do) but that doesn’t detract from the entertainment, it isn’t the result that counts it’s how they get to the result that matters. the building up of storylines, the execution of the matches, the personas of the wrestlers and their interaction with the crowds all go to make the wwe (as is) comic book soap opera writ large.

the wrestlers to be successful have to be more than decent fighters, they have to exude personality, they have to be able to act, speak well and fluently, be persuasive and most of all they have to sell the fact they are “fighting”. the best of the bunch such as ric flair (one there for you jay) kurt angle (my olympic hero) stone cold steve austin, hollywood hulk hogan, the rock, the undertaker can make you believe.
they can carry off being a babyface (good guy) they can be a heel (bad guy) and they can change from being one to the other and all the time you root for your favourite come what may.
do i care if kurt is a good guy or a bad guy, hell no, all i care about is that at some point in the evening i get to hear the “you suck” chant, i get to see him put the ankle lock on someone and that is followed by an angleslam and a woooooooooooooo.
it is physical theatre so much so that when it is done well you live every run in, every ref bump, chair shot, 2-count until the bell goes and the winner is declared.

it may be make believe but in the good bouts it becomes as real as can be as you cheer on your favourite.

i am not a wrestling expert (that title goes to cliff) but i look forward to seeing it as often as i can, because for all it’s fakery there is something honest about it – in it’s portrayal of the fact that the good guy doesn’t always win, that sometimes cheaters prosper, that more often than not might will out, however ever so occasionally the result it the right one and it reminds us all that sometimes the fight is worth the effort. can you smell what the pat is cooking ?