Current Issues
Professional Wrestling
When some people hear the word wrestling they think of “2 points takedown” or headgear and singlets. But most people think of the WWF, WCW, NWO, and the
WolfPac. They think of names such as Hollywood Hogan, Sting, Stone Cold, Diamond
Dallas Page, and Golberg. If you have been alive in today’s TV culture, you have undoubtedly heard these names.
Although professional wrestling has been enjoying newfound success lately, it is not a new sport by any means. Professional Wrestling has been around since the 1800’s but it was mainly confined to barns and other small areas with people betting on the winner. These were often bloody and dangerous fights. Dangerous for the wrestlers as well as the audience as sometimes the fight would spill out into the crowd.
Professional Wrestling became more of a spectator sport in the early to mid
1900’s, but it resembled very little of what we think of Professional Wrestling today.
Today, as opposed to old-time wrestling, it is just a spectator event with people cheering for a “hero” against a “vilian”. Most all matches are set up in a way that there is always one crowd favorite, and one that the crowd hates.
Today Professional Wrestling is no longer a sport but a entertainment industry.
The fights are rigged, the wrestling is fake, and the only thing real about wrestling is the money. Millions of dollars are generated by professional wrestling. TV contracts, t-shirts, posters, Video games, movies. These all generate enough money and interest to make professional wrestling the most watched entertainment event today. One of the reasons that wrestling has become such a powerful force in entertainment is that it has all the action of a Jackie Chan movie, all the drama of ER and all of the “eye-candy” of
Baywatch.
I am going to tell you some of todays biggest stars and give you a little background on them.
One of the most entertaining people in professional wrestling is current world champion Goldberg. Goldberg grew up as a doctors son in Oklahoma with his two brothers. Goldberg was even an imposing future at a young age as he was a bouncer in a bar at age 17. He went on to play college football at SEC power Georgia. As a Georgia
Bulldog, Goldberg earned all-confernce honors as a nose-guard and was drafted by the
Atlanta Falcons and eventually ended his career as a LA Ram. Goldberg was not done bashing skulls after he hurt his knee though. He shaved his head and got a tattoo and followed many former football players into Pro wrestling.
While he was in the gang he dropped out of school. In the gang he got in a lot of trouble. He got arrested for the first time in 1957 after a gang fight. From then on he got arrested a lot in 1958 he was Convicted of burglary and given probation. In 1959 arrested for the first time as an adult for unlawful assembly in a raid at a gambling location.
State he got drafted to the Kansas City Royals for Major League Baseball, but instead of going to
Mississippi. He was very well rounded and enjoyed baseball as well as football. Many people say
In his New York restaurant he often waited to greet each guest personally as they walked through the door. He took photos with customers and signed menus. When he autographed he would write a personal note and include the fan’s name. Even when a drunk would come in trying to start a riot, Dempsey would show his gentle side. After all, he never hurt people unless they were in the ring.
Vince McMahon’s WWF is a multi-million dollar corporation and has been wildly successful in capturing the sports entertainment market. “Monday Night Raw,” the weekly soap opera on TNN, is one of the three most watched cable shows each week. In addition, the WWF has weekly wrestling shows on UPN and MTV. Personally, I am caught up in the phenomenon. I set aside my Monday evenings to watch Monday Night Football and professional wrestling. I enjoy attempting to figure out the storylines before they unfold and attempt to guess the action that may happen in the next segment.
stuck to his ears to prevent them from being torn off. Knute often said "Show me
whole life with his two parents who were Italian immigrants. Mike Rose was considered an
A long time ago, back in the olden days, Bruno Sammartino was a superhero who sold out Madison Square Garden countless times. Back in those times, wrestling strictly adhered to kayfabe, so many of the fans believed
While he was going to school, Joe also held two jobs, one before class and one after. Before school he worked at Detroit's Eastern Market, and after at Pickman and Dean an ice company. Joe credited much of his upper body strength and muscularity to this job saying that carrying the ice blocks (up to fifty pounds a piece) developed him.
the University of Missouri until his father forced him to quit and go to work for his
basketball team as a varsity player, which was a big accomplishment for him. With that alone he
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, echoes through my head as I walk to the middle of the mat. "At 160lbs Aidan Conner of La Junta vs. Rodney Jones of Hotchkiss." All I can think of is every bead of sweat, every drip of blood, every mile, every push up, every tear. Why? All of this: just to be victorious. All in preparation for one match, six minutes. For some these six minutes may only be a glimpse, and then again for some it may be the biggest six minutes of their life. Many get the chance to experience it more than once. Some may work harder and want it more than others, but they may never get the chance. All they get is a moral victory. Every kid, every man comes into the tournament with a goal. For some is to win, for some is to place, others are just happy to qualify. These six minutes come on a cold frigid night in February at a place called the Pepsi Center. Once a year this gathering takes place when the small and the large, the best of the best, come to compete in front thousands of people. I am at the Colorado State Wrestling Championships.
One question that viewers ask is, “Is Reality Television really real?” One can think so, but in the long run, it is really not. A great example of discovering this is World Wrestling Entertainment, also known as the WWE. From...
The last discussion of course has proven to be my favorite. The reason for this is I get to analyze television characters that I looked up to since I was a child. I have been an avid watcher of professional wrestling since I was 10. I believe that the broadcasting of professional wrestling on television has brought a strong media influence into the American culture. The professional wrestling promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment, emerged with popularity in the American culture in the 1980’s and provided some over-the-top characters. For the purpose of this post, I have chosen 2 Latino wresters, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterious, to compare and contrast in terms of their representation of the Latino community.