Violence in Professional Wrestling Causes Violent Behavior in Fans

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The popularity of professional wrestling programs has sky rocketed since the early nineties, and with it so has the popularity of the regular weekly programs that depict it. This is good for business of course, more viewers means more money. But with the rise in popularity of these programs there has also been a rise in violence and incidents that are related to these programs as well. The die-hard fans of professional wrestling will argue that there is no real danger in performing the acts they see in the show, or that there is no way that these shows could cause violence in viewers because it is clearly fake. And they have a valid point, there is no real danger if you are a trained professional who has been practicing the techniques for years and know how to properly perform them. Fans will argue that there is no problem with the shows, that there is no violence being caused by them but the scholars would argue otherwise. Psychologists such as Matthew Bernthal (Bernthal 2005) and Jablonski (Jablonski 1995) have both done research that would argue against these die-hard fans, that have specific examples of violence in viewers and could prove there may indeed be a problem with viewing these programs regularly. This is where my research paper comes into play, is there indeed a problem? Do these programs prevent unnecessary violence? And if so, how do they cause it? Even though the fans will say that the programs are harmless and don’t cause violence in the viewers as long as they understand it is fake, there is indeed research that proves that these professional wrestling programs have caused violent acts in viewers and this research is able to provide specific examples and studies that prove it.

With this research I will use ...

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...restling." School Psychology International 26.2 (2005): 224-242.

DuRant, R., Neiberg, R., Champion, H., Rhodes, S., & Wolfson, M. (2007). Viewing professional wrestling on television and engaging in violent and other health risk behaviors by a national sample of adolescents. Journal Of Adolescent Health, 40(2), S26.

Jablonski, C. K. and Zillmann, D. (1995) ‘Humor’s Role in the Trivialization of Violence’, Media Psychology: Periodical for Individual and Mass Communication 7: 122–33.

Ridberg, R. (2002). Wrestling with Manhood: Boys, Bullying, and Battering. Northhampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.

Tamborini, R., Skalski, P., Lachlan, K., Westerman, D., Davis, J., & Smith, S. L. (2005). The Raw Nature of Televised Professional Wrestling: Is the Violence a Cause for Concern?. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 49(2), 202-220

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