How are people still watching WWF and WWE?

All I know is they were the voracious Wal-Mart of the wrestling world, consuming all the interesting promotions until they became a monopoly. Explain Wal-Mart, you explain the appeal of the WWE.

Many (if not most) fans of pro-wrestling are aware that it is a staged performance and not true athletic competition. They enjoy the spectacle of it and the "stories" that are told.

Once a dude asked me if I minded if he changed the TV channel in a gym I was at to put on WWE. He (not being the most PC guy in the world) explained to me that wrestling shows are like soap operas for men.

CDI is fake and people watch that. The Big Bang Theory is fake and people watch that. It's called World Wrestling ENTERTAINMENT for a reason.

Like I call you DUMBASS for a reason.

It's a soap opera. Were you born yesterday, OP?

How are people still watching all of the reality shows? Those are just as fake, yet we get countless threads about them on DL. It's called mindless entertainment for the mindless.

OP fuck you. We know it's fake but the athleticism is real and amazing. Some of these men and women are in incredible shape and can do incredible moves.

On top of that, there are at least 30 really hot muscular guys rolling and jumping around in underwear. What's not to love?

[quote]Many (if not most) fans of pro-wrestling are aware that it is a staged performance and not true athletic competition. They enjoy the spectacle of it and the "stories" that are told.

That's gay.

[quote]CDI is fake and people watch that. The Big Bang Theory is fake and people watch that. It's called World Wrestling ENTERTAINMENT for a reason.

Honey, WWE does not list a cast of actors and a slew of writers like those shows do. Get bent. We have real sports, not phony ones. There's no need for people to wank to WWE.

Professional sports and corruption is a redundancy. Whenever people can gamble on something, corruption takes over. Drugs and money laundering through sport memorabilia are only the tip of the iceberg.

Billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent subsidizing sports facilities in this country every year, money needed for schools, roads, food for the poor and medical care for the elderly.

All professional sports are rigged. Professional wrestling is choreography and not a sport, unless you want to call all acting and dance a sport.

You do realize that just about everyone realizes that every form of reality tv is fake, and that reality tv is extremely popular, don't you?

Yes, all entertainment is "fake" in one way or another, except sports, which is notable in the case of "professional" wrestling since it is nominally based on a real sport and more-or-less markets itself as a "pro" sport like football or hockey.

But ok, if you accept it as entertainment, fine. But can we talk about what bad taste you have? It's ridiculous on more levels than I can even process. Male soap operas? No, try comic books or premium cable dramas. Eye candy? If you like bloated steroid freaks straight from the trailer park.

"Professional" wrestling is just...no. I can't. How can anyone watch such mindless drek? Are you a mouthbreather? Do you currently own acid wash jeans? Do you listen to any music made by non-white people? Have you ever watched a Meryl Streep movie? I'm just trying to get a handle on who on Datalounge actually watches this crap.

Some of them guys are real purdy.

I know it's fake but 1) I appreciate the displays of athleticism of the wrestlers and 2) I watch because a lot of them are fucking hot. I record the show and fast forward past any wrestler I don't find hot. I watch the hot guys and for fun I watch the ladies wrestling too.

As far as I'm concerned, 50% of the many male wrestlers are fucking hot as hell.

Remember when Cyndi Lauper got involved in it? That was SO bizarre and random.

It sucks now that they've made it G-rated. I used to love watching Edge, Triple H, HBK and all of those guys stripping down, showing ass, walking around in thongs and just being sexual. They had to clean up their act, and now it's boring as fuck. Vince McMahon has been making the news recently because he's now an ex-billionaire. The WWE stock recently took a BIG hit.

R11, personally I view 'culture' as a means to an education--about myself, my life, my buried inner subconscious selves and minds, and those of others and my communities. Observing your reactions and thoughts to all that you consume, culturally speaking, is incredibly revealing, and can lead you to think critically. 'Taste' is for people who are happy to play in the narrow cultural sandboxes that their peers and surrounding communities tell them to. 'Taste' is for people who accept proscription, and are happy not to ask 'why' too much. I prefer to see, investigate and question everything presented to me, whether that's A la recherche du temps perdu, or Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Both have something valuable to teach me, even if it's ugly or upsetting.

R15 hits on an interesting point, that is, the intersection of sex and power, and how WWE (or WWF as it was known then) presented and explored the idea. The GMs and the guys financing the whole operation probably don't give a sh-t about the sociopolitical messages they send through the programming they design, but I think this particular pro-wrestling corporation accidentally reintroduced the idea to cable TV that a gladiatorial bout is an erotic, charged, and potent encounter, and suggests to us that the fantasy of human strength and capability endures in our consciousness. Its Achilles, it's Gilgamesh, it's every man stronger than ten bison that ever existed in our tales of old. That's what you're looking at, here---and isn't it amazing that such an archetype still holds cultural weight?

Then there's all the rest that came with Attitude! Era; increasingly profanity, racial conflict addressed (Los Guerreros), taboos (rape, incest), intimations of corruption and criminal activity. All of this played out in the Theatre of the ring encourages questions of power in those watching. Where ARE our boundaries, really? Who controls us, subtly, in our everyday lives? What are our bosses, our spouses, our lovers and leaders really up to? I love the critical streak it promoted, the world it created during those years, with an archetypical bunch of characters. As I mentioned, we've had these stories before, it's all politics--the Gods of Olympus vs. the armies of Greece, the courts of Heian vs. the samurai, so on and so on.

Face facts, guy--we need someone to spit in the face of our values. The alternative is stagnating, and never changing the way we look at our communities and relations and exchanges of power and wealth and self.

The problem with WWE now is that it is attempting to align with cultural mores. Big mistake. The draw during its boom years was that it created it's own culture, ran on its own clock. I could give a damn about technical wrestling as a sport, or as a choreographed, scripted, skit based reality show. I wanted to see transgression, like around 90% of it's viewing audience during the 90's/00's.

i WATCH for the hot guys

Mmmm, I remember many a lazy Saturday morning nursing a hangover and rewatching Tivo'd RAW. For the half-naked dudes, obviously.

Edge was my deal. Very tall and muscular with long blond beach locks, and tanned, but sexy in a greasy, devious and scuzzy way, rather than a jerk jock like a lot of wrestlers. His character was like the trickster or the reverse psychologist, always talking his way out of trouble and playing everyone off against each other, I loved it.

His chemistry with Randy Orton was off the charts, too, no way those two never messed around backstage. Despite both being heels (bad guys) the majority of their matches together, and not being touchy-feely performers, they would constantly hug and massage each other, and have conversations with an inch between their faces. Insanely hot.

Adam Copeland (Edge) was always one of the hottest to me too, R18. He had a sexuality that was just raw. I remember he was in a storyline with Lita, and he would just grab her and kiss her at any given moment, and he'd USE his tongue. Like, really USE it. Since retiring, he's shorn his locks and is acting on SyFy's HAVEN. I used to imagine him having a thing going with Christian.

It's fake, but the injuries are very real.

R20, yes, important to remember that. These guys are essentially trained stunt fighters, whose stunts are often absurdly dangerous and repeat week on week. Many get in trouble for steroid use, yet are only on pills to speed up recovery from injuries that limit ring/screentime and dent their momentum. It's a brutal business, and WWE are notorious for treating their talent like circus animals (unfortunately, since they had entertaining programming for like a decade or so). I've switched to watching only Ring of Honor (ROH) and TNA now--they're cheap indie productions, mostly on Youtube, and a little kid/teen-centric, but at least wrestlers are treated respectfully and like human beings.

R19, not a subscriber but I'd love a dedicated thread for Adam. He's gorgeous, and I think a lot of people are drawn to his (yes) 'raw' sexual energy. I need to check him out in Haven, I keep forgetting to watch it. He's still a really pretty man when cleaned up, and he's always been an excellent actor (for a sports entertainer, anyway...)

"Outed" even going to shows at 3, I knew they weren't really trying to hurt each other. How many steel chairs do you think it would take before the whole roster is in ER/retired. We like it because it's entertaining.

I considered it as a career in my 20s. Believe me, the outcomes are fake but it's more than a notion actually living that lifestyle. The mats are VERY painful to take bumps on. It's not as easy as it looks.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was my fantasy daddy during the WWF Attitude era.

It's redneck theatre. They know it's fake.

I enjoyed it and even wrote for a wrestler's website until the early 00s, after WCW was 'bought up' by WWE and turned into the 'reality show'-type garbage you see today. I stopped watching when they had Triple H fondling the dead cheerleader in the casket. Too much.

Man, WCW. That was some ride. Eric Bischoff had cajones, that much is certain. No-one would touch the McMahons during the early 2000's, until Eric went after them. He got great talent on his side-- Sting, Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon, Scott Steiner, Hogan, Eddie Guerrero. nWo were so fun to watch during the Monday Night Wars. It was all so cool--a true cruiserweight division (Bischoff invented the term), 'International Objects'.... Insane Troll Logic basically ran that promotion. I think they had WWE/F facing banruptcy at one point in around 1998 (the tables turned quickly, but still..)

It's too bad they hired so many wrestlers that it crippled their bank balance, and allowed poor booking/writing to prevail. A small roster of well-developed and well-written characters in comprehensible and watchable storyline would have kept it going, no problem. Although, I guess it wouldn't have been WCW without pure insanity, chaos and revolving-door talent running the place.

This was also the promotion that started the trend of using female 'wrestlers' as essentially half-time dancers and lingerie models, which wasn't such a good move.

InVasion (the brand takeover by WWE) was botchy as Hell, but still entertaining. Chris Jericho really came to the forefront during that period (he unified the two Championship belts, I believe?). I think this whole debacle was why Wrestlemania X-7 turned out so well--it was kind of a massive F.U. to WCW for trying to take down the Big Boys. Can't blame them for trying, though.

I still prefer TNA, but I love that WCW once got away with a complete continuity reboot (scrapped and started over with all characters/storylines) in the later years, and NO-ONE noticed, as the show was THAT scattershot. Oh, and the time Kevin Nash forgot to book any matches for that one Nitro episode (his sole responsibility at the company), leading to the white hummer/black hummer incident (Nash gets run down by a white hummer, Sting rides to work in a black one---ergo Sting ran down Kevin Nash).

I watch solely to see hot men wearing speedos and wrestling trunks showing off their bulges and ass.

r16, have you been reading Roland Barthes?

He wrote a very interesting philosophical monograph (Le Monde ou l'on Catch) about the cultural subtexts of "professional wrestling". This essay is old -- it appeared in his Mythologies from 1957 -- but he sums up nicely some of what you're saying. I don't know whether it's been translated, but since you quote Proust in French, I don't imagine it's an issue for you.

I love that backstage politics become totally evident in-ring, despite the best attempts at 'kayfabe' (concealing business manoeuvres as 'storyline'). That's how both Lita and Chyna (strong and agile female wrestlers, big draws) essentially got thrown out of the company--sadly their romantic exploits were not considered profitable unless used for Cheap Heat (crowd pops). Stephanie McMahon once quipped, not a year or two ago, 'there are no such thing as politics in the WWE'.

Stephanie is the most interesting case, in fact. Married to a former roster leader, Triple H, and emphatically the Boss Bitch (by dint of being the Boss's daughter), 'The Vincess' now heads the Creative Writing team.

It's lucky for her Chris Jericho only cameos on occasion now, since he keeps veering off-script and making veiled references to being involved with her intimately whenever she puts a mic in his hand. There's still speculation that they were involved (as well as a ton of UST). It would cripple her image and her character arc if that were true--much depends on her being seen as moral, the perfect wife and the upstanding, if corrupt, leader.

I watched TNA training up some British hopefuls yesterday. There was no pretence that the fights are not choreographed but that was not the point. What I did not realise, never having been to any wrestling event, is that the 'ropes' are made of taut steel cable.

Watching a rookie going through the basics, learning to hit the ropes properly and seeing his head whiplash every time as he got it wrong was painful. That is even before you get to the advanced stuff; clambering up ladders and falling onto trestle tables outside the ring, etc.

Oh. Jericho was so hot - and funny - on WCW. Loved watching him as a 'heel'!

Straight dude soap operas.

They are watching because of the virile male body. Some viewers want to look hot like the wrestlers and even be a wrestler, other viewers watch the muscular men's crotches and dream of being fucked by them.

Doesn't take rocket science to determine WHY people are watching it.

[quote]It's fake, but the injuries are very real.

And sometimes lethal.

[quote]That shit was outed as fake decades ago.

So people (over the age of 10) really thought it was real at one time?

It is so real! You take that back! You take that back right now!

I think some of you are not yet realizing that WWE and TNA are basically soap operas for men.. Complete with story lines, good guys vs bad guys, good girls, bad girls and of course gratuitous violence to cheer on. Women watch for the attractive men and so do gay men. Children watch because of the action and have their favorite heroes and are a demographic that these companies chase after with all the actions figures and toys that of course their parents must simply buy for their kids just to make them happy.

WWE did years ago have that fake gay wedding storylike

I find it fascinating that pro-wrestling is the only entertainment and/or athletic business where 'shooting the sh--t' on former colleagues and employers is not only tolerated, but actively encouraged, and used as promo by the big bosses. Is the programming so underground, they can't get the airtime or the legitimacy another way? It feels cheap. I don't know why they don't promote using their rosters' comedic or acting talents more, instead of uncomfortable dirt-dishing.

I could watch Brian Kendrick and Paul London channel-hopping and riffing on dumb pop-cultural topics all the day long and be 'entertained', as much as by their amazing in-ring acrobatics. Give them a series!

They're also a hot team, together. They seem very close....wonder if they ever hooked up? Shoot included below. This gem is halfway in:

"You know who I always thought was a Reptilian? Chris Masters. You know when he'd flex, he'd get the crazy eyes..."

"He has a Reptilian mind."

[quote]Honey, WWE does not list a cast of actors and a slew of writers like those shows do.

Honey, the WWE does hire writers.

[quote]which is notable in the case of "professional" wrestling since it is nominally based on a real sport and more-or-less markets itself as a "pro" sport like football or hockey.

No, professional wrestling has never marketed itself like football or hockey. They market themselves like comic books or summer blockbusters.

I don't watch wrestling myself, but I find it quite rich when DLers want to shit on people for watching it, when there are tons of DLer who watch actual soap operas and shit like the View.

Isn't it something you grow out of? I, my brothers, and our friends watched it until about 7th or 8th grade. I honestly didn't know it was fake until my father took us kids to see it. After that it lost its charm. Sometimes when channel surfing I'll pause and watch because they really have some hot guys. But yeah, for the most part, it's like weed. You outgrow it. Or should.

Too bad that a sexy sport (?) has turned into reality show bullshit. So obviously fake now, but in the old days, it seemed more real with blue collar types battling in speedos- woof....now it's mostly overweight or steroided men not even attempting to wrestle. Remember when matches used to be 2 out of 3 falls? This was before it turned too commercial. Always has been a fetish of mine but stopped watching it on TV years ago. Vince and Linda should die in a grease fire.

Yes the WWF was fun in the 90s. But I was kid back then.

There are many hot guys-that's why I watch. I want Rusev, Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns and more to fuck the hell out of me

Yes, I admit that the guys these days are much hotter than they used to be.

R41, unbelievably, that's true. The adorable and sexy Colt Cabana (real name Scott Colton) wrote and starred in a webseries about 'Creative', and the sheer f-qwit-ery that goes on during the surprisingly exhaustive writing process in wrasslin'. Colt is close friends with CM Punk, I believe.

It's hit and miss as a series, but there are a few episodes that did get me to laugh out loud. The Easter Eggs are the best part of the show--if you are or were a fan of any of the big promotions in the 90's/2000's, the notice boards in Creative's office yield many in-jokes and references (during one ep the board was blank except for a quote in the left corner, 'yo ass betta CAAALLL SOMMEEBODAAYYY').

I'm so glad somebody else loves Colt Cabana! He is such a cutie pie. He's also good friends with the adorable Chris Hero.

WWF/WWE is considered to be a sports soap opera. Fake yet entertaining. Now days they struggle hugely. It's too PG for the audience it wants to hold.

Fucktards the WWF = World Wildlife Federation.

There is no WWF for wrestling. That is why they were forced to change it to WWE, as the WWF sued them.

I've heard a lot the usual 'used to bang jobbers' about Jericho, which would make him no different than most top-carders on the roster at any given time of their career apex (Cena, Orton, Trips etc.). He's liberal, Canadian and sings in a pop-rock band, it's not a stretch to imagine. But, I think Chris is far more interested in the ladies, especially if they have massive tits, a mountain of $$$, and they pretend to hate him.

Tbh I always thought Chris and Steph were actually having hours of it, there was always that heavy flirting and eye contact in their scenes. They were so going at it behind Hunter's back whenever Chris would have a comeback (so every 3 years like clockwork), which would also piss off her dad. I remember one interview where Stephanie mentioned Vince pushed her into dating Hunter, presumably because Vince has a thing for guys like that, and some kind of freaky complex about his daughter dating his own masculine ideal...wonder if the company would be in a different state now if Steph and Chris had got serious? I doubt short, sassy, campy and smartmouth Jericho would have had a place at the McMahon table even if they had shacked up for real, quite honestly. Like Shane, Chris is the son Vince would not realistically choose.

This type of wrestling is consdidered soap operas for heterosexual males. Even though it is more like a caricature, it evokes all those ideals about "being a man": physical strength to defeat rivals, receiving the admiartion of other men and picking up the sexiest women.

Mommy told me too be good

And always read thy book

If you fuck a man and fuck him good

You're forever on the hook

The devil is much trouble

When he walks into the room

If your let your problems bubble

The anger turns to gloom

So let the sunshine in

Take it on the chin

Mother's never lose and father's never win

Mommy told me to be good

And always read thyne book

If fuck her hard in the vadge

You're 'ever on the hook

But give it to her up the ass

And you will then enjoys

The freedom from those whiney girls

And bouncing baby boys

So let the sunshine in

Take it on the chin

Mother's never lose

And father's never win

About the soap opera comparisons, it’s even better when there’s real life drama. Take yesterday’s drama involving announcer Corey Graves (think a more rockabilly version of CM Punk) cheating on his wife with a female talent, Carmella. His wife went on this twitter rampage right before the start of WWE’s Elimination Chamber payperview so when Carmella came out for her match the audience kept chanting “Corey! Corey! Corey!” That’s not even the worst, you also had Edge sleeping with Matt Hardy’s than girlfriend Lita. And wrestler and former TNA wrestling owner Jeff Jarrett cheating with, arguably his best wrestler pound for pound, Kurt Angle’s wife. The Montreal Screwjob to this day gets mentioned feverishly when talking about WWE’s greatest scandal, although their biggest, The Benoit murder-suicide they to this day avoid like the plague.

The Great Mae Young (RIP) was the Edith Massey of the WWF Attitude era.

Speaking of Attitude Era it’s great to FINALLY have Chyna get inducted along with DX to the WWE HOF.

Evidently, it's coming to primetime on New Fox next fall.

That sloppy stripper-beating nobody Ambrose is finally gone, thank ‘Taker.

Now we just have to wait for Colby to leave.

[quote] And wrestler and former TNA wrestling owner Jeff Jarrett cheating with, arguably his best wrestler pound for pound, Kurt Angle’s wife.

Then J.J. having the actual audacity to write his golden goose A.J into a grimy loverat s/l with Dixie Carter just a few years later. Talk about projection. I loved TNA back then and forgave them a lot of awful shit but that one was the last straw. A.J. took it like the champ he is, but holy shit was it gory.

My husband is a scientist, has a Ph.D. in Epidemiology. Lives, eats and breathes, data all day long. When he gets home, his favorite thing to do to unwind is watch a coyple of matches of wrestling. Doesn't matter what league or style. With the advent of streaming content, he's able to get wrestling shows from all over the world- British, Japanese, of cpurse Lucha Libre, and the aforementioned WWE. When we were first dating I was extremely puzzled why a man of such high intellect could be drawn to a form of "sport" that's so cartoonishly orchestrated, almost to the point it's like slapstick ( and indeed he likes the Three Stooges too.) But maybe that's the point- for certain men, watching high-action entertainment is what is needed to unwind, and logic need not enter into the matter one iota. For that matter, my husband is also enamored of Godzilla movies, Jackie Chan, and bad 70's action flicks: it's a good thing I love him.

Well it sure as hell beats Drag Race, the Kardashian’s, The Housewives, Wendy Williams, BOTTOM of the barrel shows popular with a certain demographic . And I put an emphasis on “bottom” ;) I’d much rather see a choreographed in ring epic between Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles than some soap actress getting into staged fights with other hasbeen or failed actress wannabe. You know what that’s called ? A glorified soap opera. It’s only a matter of time before we see Deidra Hall throwing a champagne glass at Susan Lucci.

R55/R60

OP, people know trump is fake and still love him, that should answer your question

I've never watched it. I tried to watch it for a few min and had to turn it off. I don't get it either. But it is theater. There is a stage, actors, lights and script.

R59 I think the lockerroom and the industry insiders & smarks/diehards will miss Jon more than the casual fans tbh.

I love how Dean left months back and yet until a couple days ago - when his baby was literally born - the last post on Windham's (Bray's) IG was a goopy slashfan photo-edit about how he & Dean are soulmates. Windham even captioned it likewise, with "I’m gonna miss us trying to kill each other, more than I should.". Knowing him, he wasn't being glib at all. Maybe these two freaky scuzzy homewreckers should have just hooked it up and let the ladies be, they deserve each other honestly.

oh and how could I forget, there was also this delightful tweet.

[quote] Follow @WWEBrayWyatt Ps. I miss you too @JonMoxley 7:39 am - 14 May 2019

R16:

No.

Kardashian’s ?

NO. You are an idiot.

More gay content, even tame and silly and suggestive, would get so many more eyes on the product. But VKM won't.

R66 they did have the greatest chemistry and something deeply intense between them, I loved Bray & Dean together too! Even kind of shipped it though it was way too goofy by the end thanks to some of the worst booking and finishes I’ve ever seen in 15 years of fandom🤕why must this company ruin everything that has potential? (Sidebar do you hate Bray’s new gimmick? Cuz I sure do)

Ambrose is the only wrestler to ever get Bray so upset and traumatised he cried (over Dean breaking Abigail’s chair). I guess in the minds of twisted characters like theirs that would stand for love..

R70 good news...Jon Moxley is in fact alive & well, and living his new best life in AEW.

With any luck Windham/Husky will quit WWE soon and make his way over there too.

When I was a kid, I loved GLOW.

But it didn't pretend to be real. They even had skits and song and dance routines.

Even at age 10, I recognized good, clean CAMP!

[quote]Vince McMahon has been making the news recently because he's now an ex-billionaire. The WWE stock recently took a BIG hit.

MAGA!

Vince and the N-word.

No wonder he is cool with letting Hoagn back.

Now this is real wrasslin'

The McMahons could never come up with something this original and brilliant.

Would Vince McMahon be so bold as to have the ku klux klan wrestle?

I think not!

Lots of little boys like it. It's like boy bands, but for boys, not girls.

R74 in the 00s Vince had a habit of calling every black wrestler he saw ‘Shelton Benjamin’.

Seems complimentary, right? But really he just couldn’t remember their names or tell them apart.

Did anyone else catch the Rhodes’ brothers match at AEW Double Or Nothing?

Cody gave brother Dustin the exact speech that their late father Dusty once did. “I don’t need a partner; I don’t need a friend; I need...my older brother”. Their embrace was so beautiful. I bet Dusty is so proud.

I'll jump right in and note the link between WWE and POTUS. It's the same theatrical, fascist brand of brutality. Another 'reality' show for

Post some hot wrestlers.

R81 maybe. But then, it's an excuse for such people to gawk at oiled-up half-naked men rutting each other...so what does that tell you?

It’s cute how some DL bottoms think the NFL and NBA are true sport sans scripting and manipulation

There are only like 7 good wrestling Twitters industry-wide max. Big E’s is one of them.

^^XD oh that Langston. Now his page is gonna get spammed with fangirls wanting Breezy ass candids

OP none of us are watching WWE anymore.

We’re onto AEW, NJPW, ROH, EVOLVE, IPW..

Fuck WWE. It’s for little kids and idiots.

Ring Of Honor often gets some really hot guys on their roster or even just passing through like the Motor City Machine Guns.

Too bad about the homophobic incel fanboys at typical ROH shows.

R87 there are rumors that AEW is secretly just an offshoot of failing WWE, part of a merger between the McMahons & Khans.

Homoeroticism I suspect is a major component. A chance to check out muscle-y, barely dressed men.

I watch for promos and always did, OP.

A good promo is like poetry or a sermon. It stays with you.

Why do people keep watching monster trucks in an arena?

R84 Vince McMahon is seriously considering rebooting the XFL, his failed pe project. I wish I was kidding.

Some people love fake entertainment. Just look at Reality TV.

Soap operas for men.

Like ballet? Oh, Mary!

Same reason people believe that gay actors fall in love with their female co-stars.

[quote] "We let everybody go behind the scenes and we make no effort anymore as a business to make it seem real. I don’t take myself too seriously...if you say wrestling’s fake, I’m not gonna flip out or whatever—you’re just uninformed. To me, there’s nothing fake about the miles that I’ve put on my body or the actual work that goes into perfecting this as a craft. I put in the same hours to get good at this as a surgeon who went to college. It’s just a much less important job in the realm of society. But as far as the man-hours you put in, it’s hard to do. And there’s nothing fake about the injuries, the risk and how dangerous this is. It’s extremely dangerous. But I won’t be offended; people say it all the time." -Dean Ambrose

OP/R96 the oft-cited quote about wrestling is, "it ain't ballet". Take that how you will.

I miss Fandango, who as we type is rehabbing his injuries.

He posts a lot about WWE & NXT on his SM, but I’m not sure if he’ll go back..

^and 'Prince Pretty' Tyler Breeze is stranded back on NXT. Even his glorious presence won't get me to watch it.

I miss Jessie Godderz - he’s been making some indie appearances after disappearing for two years.

R23 come back and tell us what your gimmick would have been!

lmao R40, those two are a couple of weird stoner goofballs, they just seem like friends. Likeable and watchable, and cute too. They should have had opportunities to do more creative in-ring work together.

But Paul London was Kidman's cakeboy for a while, wasn't he? It came over that way at least. Their in-ring work always got so fraught and intense; iirc it got so personal Billy cried during one angry promo they had to cut. London some 15 years on still talks about his experience working with Kidman as a big disappointment about which he has bitter recrimination (he spins it as a chemistry mismatch and Billy trying to go Over on him), so I assume their personal relationship soured over something they can't or won't talk about publicly.

[quote]That shit was outed as fake decades ago.

So was religion.

DL posters are basically a passel of Bob Backlunds.

Some vintage Y2K Kidman ass & bulge to complement R104.

^^I forgot he was so juiced and spent some time in WWE. Damn that time went fast.

In fact it’s easy to forget that in WCW Kidman was arguably one of the Top 5 cruiserweights in the world during the late 90s, along with his rostermates Los Guerreras & Misterio. Then he got stuck in a Hogan feud, jumped ship to McMahon and started hooking up with teen girls (in his 30s) all to the detriment of his career potential. Wish he’d just gone to Japan to work on his craft and stayed there til like 2007.

R102 I remember the Bro-Mans in TNA. Jessie was the better worker of the two so I’m glad he’s back.

He had some killer intergender matches with Awesome Kong.

cause there are a lot of pieces of shit zombies out there that like such crap.

R78 I was a little girl who liked it. But then again I grew up into a lesbian, so 😅😅

I guess I can understand the homoeroticism thing, being a homo and all. But that still does not do it for me. My sport for homoeroticism is baseball.

If you want a theory, based on the title of the thread, for me it can easily relate to the same nuts who voted for trump and worship the ground he walks or waddles on, in addition to the shit that plugs up his bowels. In a Venn diagram there would be a significant number of overlapping between trumpers and WWF type fans. And trump would call that Venn diagram fake news, because he, as a very stable genius, has never heard of Venn diagrams, kinda like he still has no idea of how the concept of the executive branch, judicial branch, and legislative branch of our government work together.

I watch for dreamy hunks like Adam Cole. Hmu on the gram Adam bb!

WWE are getting desperate. Didn’t they sell the rights to Cena’s theme for use in a Caddy commercial? Lame.

[quote] Too bad that a sexy sport (?) has turned into reality show bullshit. So obviously fake now

T’occupe, salope!

Ted Dibiase Jnr. is hot as the Hell he’s so terrified of. It’s a tragedy he’s a zealous Christian breeder, and that he quit the Business to work in a field that requires full clothing. He was good in the ring, too.

R88 apparently Alex Shelley is a straight (into fat girls & dommes fwiw), but I’m like “bitch, where”? I’ve heard him talk and seen him in person, and he’s at least bisexual.

His wife divorced him a few years back. Maybe it was because he kept moving Japanese twinks into their house? Hmm?

^Tyler Breeze confesses to having marital problems lately too, coincidentally starting around the time his tag partner Fandango got badly injured. Tyler isn’t legally & officially divorced from his ex-wrestler wife Audrey yet, but as he’s saying things like “ex-Father-in-law” and “my marriage/relationship was falling apart” in public interviews he doesn’t seem to care who knows that it’s over and done with. He talks about the whole breakdown as if he was was quite depressed and not feeling supported or understood by anyone.

I always thought he was gay, honestly, and didn’t know why he married a woman at all. It’s telling that he’s not been reported or seen with any other women since this news broke, nor have any of the female students at his wrestling school said anything that points to him propositioning them (a common problem for women in wrestling). Typically when the marriages of wrestlers collapse, each partner has been flagrantly cheating with another opposite-sex partner or is trying to fuck someone else in the business; by contrast, Tyler just fell into a dark place without his male partner and couldn’t show up for his wife anymore. Lucky he didn’t have any kids with Audrey.

I’m so fascinated by Jim Johnston, the composer who creates all the WWE entrance themes. He seems too intelligent and composed and introverted for the business he’s in, but copes wonderfully.

It's funny, Pro Wrestling and Drag are the exact same thing. In both, the performers create an over the top character and then it's "ALL CAMP" from that point on! One has a straight audience, the other has a gay audience, but they are doing the exact same thing.

I miss ECW for the camp insanity R120, both the original and the WWE-version were so overboard and silly.

OP is wrong and he should feel bad.

Unh. It’s hot.

Go look up Eric Bugenhagen.