When was the last time you've heard a wrestling fan say, "wrestling is too unrealistic" or "wrestling is beyond believable"? If the answer is no, I wanna live in whatever dystopia you reside in because I envy your ignorance.
All wittiness aside, it is pretty common to hear pundits and fans say that the medium of their entertainment (pro wrestling, in this case) is too darn unrealistic.
Now, why is that? That depends on when professional wrestling or the specific style of pro wrestling came into their lives.
Some might have grown up in the "realistic sport" presentation that territories like the WWWF presented back in the 60s/70s.
Others might have been brought up in the late 90s Attitude era Jerry springer/Vince Russo esque offering (uh, The Undertaker and Kane literally existed by then).
It's a weird discussion to have since I and the 3 people that read this, can put out the gazillion things in wrestling that are deemed "unrealistic" whether it's wrestling moves, characters or the sheer presentation as a whole.
Look. This isn't the piece to crap on people that feel this way since wrestling is subjective but rather why I disagree with that notion since this medium is a scripted, collaborative form of entertainment.
Part of professional wrestling's appeal (in my opinion) is how stories are being told in the most minimalistic of ways.
And those stories can include aspects of real life. However, pro wrestling shouldn't stop from there just because "oh, that thing actually happened in real life".
Embracing the scripted nature of the industry leads to more creative autonomy within the medium.
It also "freshens up" the quality of storytelling in wrestling. I mean, how many times do I have to witness the "can two wrestlers co-exist" cliche (the answer is, "not enough" according to WWE).
A great case to support this belief is Lucha Underground.
For those not familiar with the series, the show uses aspects of live wrestling that we're used to as well as scenes that are filmed like your typical TV series or movies that are out there.
The innovative creative liberties don't end from just presentation alone, it's also the characters and the in-ring offerings too.
Which is how the cinematic matches became a thing last year and man, I could watch the boneyard match over and over again without the sense of boredom in my body.
I know this is the part where I list other examples that correlate my argument with "FACTS AND LOGIC" but I'm sure y'all got the memo by now.
At its core, wrestling, like all art forms, evokes all kinds of emotions out of people and it shouldn't matter whether it came from a "logical" or a "realistic" perspective.
Otherwise, a wrestling version of CinemaSins would probably exist by now (oh, wait, it does exist? Well, sh*t).
If you're f**king entertain then why bother the realism of it?
Yes, I know. This article is shorter than whatever the hell Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is. But, getting to the point is better than babbling on about a topic, you know, like your uncle in every family visit. Leave your thoughts on the topic below and follow me on Twitter @omartheplayaguy.
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