new thread
Nitro is pretty good, he's improved a lot since being on Tough Enough. I really wanted Benoit to win, hopefully his family situation will not be serious. But I'm also really glad CM Punk didn't win, I've hated Punk for years.
Although it can be fun to watch sometimes just for the show:)
Simon
I was never into wrestling. I did meet Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka in a gym once. Nice guy and didn't mind sharing his time BSing with me.
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Splat
The way you've phrased that implies you'd like the action to remain as it is (with all the fancy moves), while removing the factor of predetermined results and having the wrestlers genuinely out to beat each other up. Is that what you meant? If so, how does the legitimacy of the contest matter? Setting aside for a moment the fact that modern-day wrestling action is only even possible because of co-operation/'acting', the visual aspect (i.e. the flashy moves) would be the same, so how would it be any more satisfying to know that people were really going at it? The whole point of pro wrestling is to engage fans in a story while giving them exciting action, much like many other forms of entertainment. Saying "it'd be cooler if it was real" is like saying "the Rambo movie would be cooler if he actually shot all those people dead".
This isn't aimed directly at you (yet), because I don't fully know what you meant above. On the basis of the earlier point that modern day pro-wrestling is only possible due to the joint efforts of two wrestlers, I can only assume you meant you'd rather see pro-wrestling stripped down to legitimate grappling, with all the nice moves abandoned. In which case your point is still flawed because you're trying to make pro-wrestling something it isn't, and doesn't even claim to be.
I don't know why I typed so much, but I hear this alot and as a (former) fan it gets tiresome. This type of response normally comes across as hostile, but it isn't :P. I'd be interested to hear what you did mean by the above quote.
Matt
"Professional wrestling", as cited in this thread, is purely entertainment, as you note, and shouldn't be categorized as a true sport such as professional boxing, baseball, football. Your analogy is false in the way you meant it, but true in that the choreography and destined outcome make it actually more like a play or movie than anything else. Because of this it dissociates itself with a true sport where the winners and individual actions are unknown until it/they happen.
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Splat
YEH!
There are quite a lot of long hair wrestlers out there actually, it's ncie :)
Yeah, I was pretty glad about that too. Chris Benoit was probably scheduled to win the match, but I'm sure you know about how he had a family emergency back in Georgia. I hope, for Benoit's sake, that everything is ok, but I'm really glad to see Nitro win a world title. He's gonna be a big star one day =)
I wouldn't have minded seeing CM Punk win this match either. I've been a big fan of him since his days in ROH. I'm sure Punk will win a major WWE title one day as well =)