How Did Professional Wrestling Become So Fake?

[@TodayIFoundOut]

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[@fredred8371]

Video starts at 1:15

[@Maven0666]

OH THANK YOU SIMON WHISTLER! You would not BELIEVE the amount of marks still nestled away as in every little niche and and cranny of our small world. Hopefully by sharing this,the ones that follow me will learn more about our caravan and cult of personalities containing wrestlers,their families,musicians,their families and camp. Bless you!

[@Kitzkrieg]

How'd you miss Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson as a crossover football/wrestler? 😑

[@Maven0666]

@@Kitzkrieg That doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not wrestling was real and became a performance act of acrobatic nature.

[@Lions7.62mm]

I really want to like your videos, your topics are so fkn intriguing!! HOWEVER, your speech is SO SO SO SO FAWKING ANIMATED I CAN BARELY UNDERSTAND YOU, IT IS SO DAMN ANNOYING‼️ Maybe stop practicing your voice inflections and just concentrate on speaking clearly, maybe⁉️

[@johntonai4112]

I went to grad school with the son of “Baron von Raschke” One day we were talking about his dad’s profession and he said, “Professional wrestling isn’t fake. It is what it is. No one goes to a play and says, “This is fake”. They understand what a play is, and is not”

[@doddsino]

Did he put the claw on you afterwards?

[@markc4050]

The Baron and Dick the Bruiser Their matches were on Indy tv back in the 1960's with a young Bobby Heenan. The show ran for an hour with the main event near the end. The Baron would be wailing on Dick, sweat and spit flowing down his face. Then Dick would rally beating the Baron...........then the announcer would state, "That's all the time we have today, folks!! This is Sam Menacher telling you to tune in NEXT week for Championship Wrestling!!"......and they did that every week!! What is his son doing now??

[@bobturnley2787]

Pro wrestling is real pro wrestling. The problem is that they've redefined the word 'professional' without admitting that they've done that. They're not wrestlers who get paid to wrestle for a living. They're athletes who get paid to act for a living.

[@Darth.Fluffy]

That's a good point

[@tomorrow4eva]

Well said.

[@whodatboi2567]

To answer your final question, my guess would be that the end goal of fixing and scripting matches in pro-wrestling was always to entertain the audience whereas fixing in other sports is solely for the purposes of making money for a select few and thus tarnishes the "sanctity of competition".

[@eliahabib5111]

One word: bets

[@the-engneer]

You'll never convince me pro football isn't rigged. It's been exposed to have happened in Baseball multiple times, and people take dives in boxing all the time

[@Kyrator88]

@Reed Miller it's very easy if you're the target man or the goalie.

[@MrSheckstr]

@@Kyrator88 I believe the “football “ he is referring to is of the NFL variety

[@Thund3rDrag0n12]

Pro wrestling is all about storylines. The end goal for matches being predetermined is to be able to tell a coherent narrative with the characters you have

[@wanfu5634]

One famous manager (Jim Cornette) broke it down like this: Entertainment is either movies or magic shows. In movies, everybody admits its fake, goes over the creative process, actors talk about what it was like on set, there's a gag reel, et al. In movies, this information makes the viewing more enjoyable because you know everything that went into making it. In a magic show, the entertainment comes from fooling you. But if it's revealed how the magician fooled you, the answer is actually anticlimatic. It is a letdown to know how it all works. So a lot of the entertainment comes from not knowing. Wrestling is a magic show.

[@benspeedschannel888]

Jim Cornette is the man!!! I listen to both his podcasts without fail every week!

[@zwerko]

The tiny difference being that no magician (worth their salt) will get mad at you at saying that what they're doing, while surely entertaining, is not real magic; whereas pro-wrestlers get all offended if you say that what they're doing is theater, not real wrestling/fighting.

[@thelegendkiller4051]

@@zwerko they used to get offended in the past (or maybe acted as if they were offended) but not anymore. Clearly not anymore.

[@HEagle72]

Jim Cornette is a stain upon this earth. He takes this fake stuff more seriously than people take real fighting seriously and cries every time the f word is used.

[@Elementa2006]

@@benspeedschannel888 I used to listen to his podcasts but stopped because he can be so full of himself a lot of times to the point he came across as really annoying and he can't take any form of criticism well and will resort to insults or outright blocking people on his twitter account if you disagree with him even if you weren't directly talking to him.

[@awhitetrashpoet]

As a life long Pro Wrestling fan, I appreciate you not using this video to make fun of wrestling fans. Thank you

[@neighslayer768]

Basically, it's combat theater. It's a live action fight scene between larger than life characters. Why wouldn't you like that? Plus real fights more often than not tend to be pretty dull. Two voids of charisma hugging each other against a cage for 15 minutes maybe legit, but it isn't entertaining. Also Simon, you missed the perfect opritunity to collab with your bigger, beefier clone Simon Miller over at WhatCulture Wrestling.

[@TheMaynne1]

Simon Miller reference gets a Golden Up!

[@Twiceborn_by_grace]

Haha yes! I was looking for comment mentioning Simon Miller.

[@user-in1yw9ty5t]

Combat theater. Im writing that down.

[@richardrawlins2169]

Wtf are you a female

[@evangarvey7612]

I thought the same thing

[@PatrickPaul1203]

My wife calls it a soap opera for guys where everyone is also a professional athlete/stunt person. It’s a tv show before it’s sports, I think that’s why we’re okay with it being scripted.

[@12yearssober]

The NFL is getting that way.

[@stuffandthings6188]

I love pro wrestling and always say it's just a soap opera with chair shots and blood.

[@PieterPatrick]

It is soap opera... ...South Park even said it. 🙂

[@planetphatness]

The drama was always the reason to watch.

[@entropy444]

Its not a sport its a performance. Sport requires competition and since its predetermined it cannot be classified as a sport

[@RAQ_THA_MASTERMIND]

I think the reason the fans do not care that the outcomes are predetermined is that there really just isn't anything like wrestling. It's drama, it's music, it's comedy, it's acrobatics, it's bloody, it's danagerous, and so much more. There is no off season. Storylines can take years. When it's done right it's one of the best forms of entertainment.

[@teethgrinder83]

I presume you can't bet on wrestling like WWE either can you? That was my thought partly on why no one seems to care. I've never been into wrestling personally-i admire the athletics of it but I feel that the fact the outcome is predetermined doesn't really make it a sport, sports are meant to be a genuine contest to win, even figure skating is a genuine contest to win and that's flashy too which is why I'd still call it a sport. Olympic style wrestling is different of course, I'm only talking about the theatrical type of wrestling

[@bluetimeblast]

@@teethgrinder83 I mean in figure skating your trying to show a certain thing. I feel like it's the same for wwe wrestling. They have an idea how that is supposed to go. Probably practiced too. On top of that you need to be very fit to do it. It's kinda like Broadway meets wrestling meets weight lifting/ acrobatics. It's a sport in its own

[@bunniesbunniesbunnie]

"storylines can take years" yeah, one of the most recent blow-offs was Adam Page vs Kenny Omega. Outstanding long-term storytelling. beautiful payoff.

[@teethgrinder83]

@@bluetimeblast oh I agree with your points in the wrestlers competence and o do genuinely think what they do is impressive, I just feel that to call something a sport there shouldn't be a predetermined outcome that's all. What they do is crazy though for sure-its not my thing but I can see why people like it and admire it

[@brianmulholland2467]

I think it's a little deeper than that. These other sports leagues (football, baseball, hockey, basketball, etc) are really about the competition. They have set defined seasons, schedules, playoffs, championships, and competitively focussed rules. Wrestling is, first and foremost, a show. It was a carnival act. It was like an Old West show that featured a fake gunfight that would do a show every hour while the carnival was running. Yes, it was DERIVED from a real sport...but that's not what it was for a long time. So, wrestling is a show with the window-dressing of a sport, while baseball/football etc are sports with the window-dressing of a show. It's the difference in what they are primarily.

[@sheilarough236]

Watched a documentary about Andre the Giant. Talked about having to script his matches towards the end of his career, so that Andre didn’t have do much lifting, as he was having so much back pain and other health issues. Some caused by a lifetime in the ring, but most caused by the pituitary disorder that caused his gigantism

[@itsapittie]

I saw a documentary about the making of The Princess Bride. Robin Wright said that she weighed 96 lbs (if I remember correctly) but they used wires to assist with lifting in the scene where he carried her. She also teared up when she recalled a time when it started to rain and he put his huge hands over her head like an umbrella. By almost all accounts he was a decent and kind man.

[@KraftyKreator]

@@itsapittie Always the little and the big ones go first. He sounded like a lovely man.

[@maxputhoff1436]

@@itsapittie I remember when he died (yea I'm old), and there were stories afterwards about his spirit appearing to sick children and stuff like that; that is how much my generation looked up to him (no pun intended). In a few hundred years, he'll be a straight up mythic figure.

[@ronniemation]

yeah. if you watch that iconic match he had with hogan you can tell hogan was holding him up much of the match. his back was shot at that point

[@JASON280190]

As a wrestler myself, I can say a large part of the attraction is the task of bringing a crowd that know it’s scripted to a point where they begin to invest themselves in the matches and storylines. The feeling of a crowd reaction is a drug for us

[@jackoneill7610]

Glad to see pro-wrestling get coverage on one of Simon’s channels and not be treated like a joke. I’ve always maintained it’s one of the most under appreciated and underrated, in terms of difficulty, sports in the world. Those guys and girls are inches away from serious injury or worse every time they step in the ring. The precision to navigate through a match, especially some of the more extreme ones, safely is really incredible. Thanks for the vid Simon and co 😁

[@Stable_Genius]

I grew up watching the old NWA/early WCW. Many of the workers from that era are no longer with us. While pro wrestling is "a work," it still extremely physically demanding, not to mention all the hours spent on the road. There is a reason why, not that long ago, many of these guys were addicted to pain pills and booze. Wellness programs are more prominant now then they were even 15 years ago.

[@Tardisntimbits]

Everytime someone sneers about wrestling being a joke, I think of Owen Hart...

[@adambooth7755]

Yes. The physicality is real even if the punches aren't. I always have pointed out to people who say wrestlers aren't real athletes, is that they are like are like stuntmen: The physical acts the pull off to entertain may have a scripted result but the risks to their safety are real.

[@steveswangler6373]

Professional wrestling isn’t a sport. While I have the utmost respect for the athletic ability of the entertainers, professional wrestling is not a sport, it is as vince mcmahon calls it. SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT. It is more akin to the Harlem Globetrotters,. Actual real sports are competition, does anyone consider the fight at the end of Rocky an actual sporting event? No, it was a scripted scene for entertainment, just like professional wrestling.

[@jackoneill7610]

@@steveswangler6373 Sport is defined as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” This is, essentially, a perfect description of professional wrestling. I personally call it a sport and always have, I can see the point of people who don’t to an extent however.

[@Tardisntimbits]

When I was really heavy into it, I think it was a combination of a suspension of disbelief (getting really into certain wrestlers backstories and the rivalries), and the sheer entertainment the whole spectacle provided. Wrestling was fun to watch, and it didn't matter if the match was rigged in the end. All of those folks are still skilled at what they do, and their physicality is impressive. I think too, being in on the joke is just part of being a modern wrestling fan. The experience wouldn't be the same without it. We have so many sports that people get SUPER SERIOUS about, it's nice to have just one that you can let loose and be entertained. People have often said that WWE and similar promotions are like the male soap opera. As a woman, I've never gotten the soaps, but I get wrestling. It's just good, dumb fun.

[@gav8407]

Yes!

[@JamieCoville]

Heads up, the pro-wrestlers themselves HATE it when you call the wrestling fake. A lot of the moves do hurt a bit, but they over sell it or sometimes undersell it depending on how the match is scripted. Plus, there is always going to be human error in doing the moves and that can lead to real pain. The injuries and wear and tear on their bodies is definitely not fake. It would be better to call pro-wrestling scripted instead of fake.

[@AidanPatko]

All you’re arguing is semantics, I could call a tv show fake and it would have the exact same meaning. Glad we learned what synonyms are today.

[@PieterPatrick]

I would never express how fake it is if they didn't make the claim to be real.... (Is that good English? It doesn't sound good. lol) But a Illusionist is a another good example: If a illusionist makes the claim that it's all real, we call it fraud and quackery.

[@agamemnom]

@@AidanPatko incorrect, using the word fake takes away from the effort the wrestlers are putting in to entertain us

[@AidanPatko]

@@agamemnom incorrect, using the word fake takes away from the effort the actors are putting in to entertain us. …see how that works?

[@cichontom]

@@AidanPatko I'll give you a perspective from somebody who is currently in training. It is not "fake." The spots are real. The long hours in the ring, the pain and effort in the gym, the trust you put in your fellow wrestlers, the bumps, the sweat. That is all real. Wrestling has the potential to be extremely dangerous, and that's why I, along with thousands of others, train my body, train my mind, to perform these feats. There's a trick to each b ump you take, every move has its own way to ensure no injury, yeah, but never call what we do fake.

[@sheilarough236]

When my dad was a kid , in the 1930’s, he & his friends would go to their local YMCA on Saturdays to go swimming, etc. 1 thing they would do is watch the professional wrestlers rehearse in the afternoons for their matches that evening. This would’ve been late 1930’s early 1940’s, Kansas City

[@jamesslick4790]

👍👍

[@RealElongatedMuskrat]

wow that's so interesting, what a fascinating snapshot into his history!

[@abyzmul]

Wow, that's surprising because wrestling was very protected back then; those kinds of things were only shared with people that in the business. That's really cool that your dad got to witness that!

[@BRado]

That was my dad fighting!! his name was Rascal McGovens

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Same story my Grandpa was a cop in Jacksonville, FL he knew them all in that circuit and would practice with them for fun.

[@GriffosRetroGaming]

Wrestling fans always hear “wrestling is fake” I always reply “so are films, tv and political promises”

[@AcornElectron]

Playing devils advocate, only one of those three things claims to be real. Claim.

[@alexhobbs1208]

@@AcornElectron wrestling has zombie wizards. I assure you it's not presenting itself as " real " 🤣

[@AcornElectron]

@@alexhobbs1208 yeah I get that, but, like I said, I was playing devils advocate and taking an opposing stance.

[@jasonwilde197]

I think that's a false equivalence. Wrestling pretends to be real. We all know Films, TV, and especially Political Promises are hogwash.

[@jackvos8047]

Rocky was fake? 😲

[@CBfromtgePVera]

It was my brother's favorite thing and I never understood. Last year I went to my first wrestling match. Lucia Libre in Mexico which is the Mexican version of this stuff. It's basically a place where you can drink and yell all the insults and obscenities you want as loud as you while watching very skilled athletes. It's actually very beautiful.

[@TrolledBy]

Mexican wrestling is absolutely bonkers. The moves they do are so risky and require a lot of acrobatic skill and timing. On top of that, they hide their identities behind masks, so they are not doing it for the personal fame but for the sport and the culture itself.

[@neomanrex]

Everyone should see one authentic Lucha show in their lives. It's about as deep as you can immerse yourself in a culture! Like you said it's beautiful

[@JackgarPrime]

It can be hard for people newly introduced to understand the appeal of pro wrestling. But every time I've taken someone to a live show, they've come out of it LOVING what they just experienced and wanting to see more. Especially small indie shows, where they tend to get especially close to the audience.

[@robertlogan5354]

i live in northern illinois, where independent wrestling is thick. one of my favorite promotions to go see is galli lucha. they feature a nice mix of american style and lucha libre. and the audience is largely mexican, so they bring the party with them!

[@sinekonata]

I've watched lucha libre all my youth and AAAALLL I heard everyone around me say is that sure some parts are scripted but not all. They sometimes made a huge deal of trying to reveal each other's identity by taking the masks off the "unconscious" guy. I'm not sure about the reason behind the mask, but it sure was useful to hide blood pouches in them. And when there's blood "you know it's real, they went off script holy shit!!!!" xD

[@allisonbergh4429]

I’ve always thought of it as like full-contact stage combat. The performers (now) are really skilled, it’s just a different skill set than an actual competitive sport would require. My sister-in-law’s family was involved with pro wrestling, and from what I’ve seen the community is surprisingly supportive and tight-knit.

[@dondavis9543]

Well said. It could be argued it takes more self control as you're trying to sell violence without actually injuring anyone.

[@abcdaed]

ive often compared what pro wrestling is to something like a movie or a tv show where you know its scripted and "fake" and i put fake in quotations because the moves are very real i mean recently a wrestler broke his neck on tv anyway, the outcome you do not know and you are looking for suprises and good story telling within the match or with the interviews or promos

[@FozzQuaker]

@Allison Bergh I'm involved with small promotion in North East England, and we have built a family like atmosphere among our Roster... But believe me, it can be very bitchy, lots of back stabbing, lot of politics, Promotions trying to undermine each other and run them out of business and because most of the guys are independent contractors, they are not tied down to one promotion full time, there's not a lot of loyalty... The Group I'm in with is quite tight knit, our promoter tries his best to create a family atmosphere, a 'were all in this together' kind of feel, but was always have to cover our backs

[@FozzQuaker]

@@abcdaed That's exactly it, Professional Wrestling is Entertainment, with a scripted outcome, the performers then have to build up that match through Promos and so on, they then have to work with each other to put on a good match. It's like a Soap Opera, only with a sporting element to it, the moves do hurt, especially when Weapons are used, and some moves are dangerous, a guy I know attempted a move off the top rope a few weeks ago and because he under-rotated he landed on the back of his head and neck and was very lucky to get up and walk away from it. There will always be an element of danger in Pro Wrestling... The one thing that bothers me is the F word... Most people would appreciate the business if they went to a training session and saw how much work goes into it

[@abcdaed]

@@FozzQuaker it’s why I use that word in quotations because it’s not fake at all it’s scripted yes but the moves are very much real

[@stevewhoknowswhomisreallyw4282]

56 here. My grade eight teacher asked the class, "what's the difference between soap operas & professional wrestling"? Answer: At least pro wrestling is entertaining.

[@JackgarPrime]

Usually more logical, too. I've heard of soap operas going in directions with plots that would make even Vince Russo scratch his head.

[@Sd12sx23]

Good take.

[@sinekonata]

And no one believes soap operas have a part of truth.

[@virginiahansen320]

They got away with it for the same reason the Harlem Globetrotters get away with being fake: they're good at giving their customers what they want = amusement. If you make the transition from real to fake in order to cheat your customers, then they'll hate you. If you're doing it to give your customers more value (i.e. more fun), then they'll love you. Simple as.

[@12yearssober]

Add the NFL to that list.

[@mikeyoung9810]

​@@12yearssober Go play nose tackle and come back and tell us how fake it is.

[@12yearssober]

@@mikeyoung9810 The final outcome is already decided before the game even starts. Yes the play is real but is also manipulated by the referees and some players themselves.

[@JackgarPrime]

Poor Washington Generals/New York Nationals. They're literally the basketball equivalent of jobbers.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Wow, I was going to tell Virginia that was a splendid analogy, but all the comments are about the Buffalo Bills.

[@misfit0313]

I was a small child in the late seventies and early '80s when my grandfather would take me to wrestling matches. Even as a child, you could tell it was staged, but my grandfather got quite upset with his insistence that wrestling was real. It turned out that his father was one of those wrestlers who would go to County fairs, festivals, and bars to get into legitimate matches.

[@TenorSaxx]

My argument for pro wrestling to the detractors has always been this: "You like action movies? You know that is also 'fake'. Wrestling is the same but unlike in movies, its much harder for it is live and the injuries sustained are real."

[@neomanrex]

It's hypocritical because they think it's weird or dishonest in some way

[@YouGotTheMelvin]

@@neomanrex stupid is what it is

[@sinekonata]

Real injuries? This is exactly why no one believes you don't desperately want to believe it's in part true. - "Pfff oh yeah we know it's scripted" - "All of it?" - "Well no not all of it. Otherwise it's just silly people in silly costumes, making silly gestures at each other for silly motives" - "That's exactly what we, those who believe it's ALL scripted, see when we watch that, that's why it's no fun"

[@jameswarkentin2798]

My grandfather, very conservative, a hymn leader and Sunday school teacher, would watch Portland Wrestling and laugh with everything he had at the antics of those great men of the 70's era circuit. I think he got into it because one or two of them were personal acquaintances he had worked with in the logging and mill industries of Oregon.

[@MichaelPoage666]

I went to Portland Wrestling several times as a young kid. I saw Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant there live on different occasions. Which is pretty crazy to think about now.

[@ArionRDAW]

Recommendations: Super Eyepatch Wolf has a couple of well-produced essay videos discussing the appeal of pro-wrestling to non-viewers. Wrestling Bios is a channel dedicated to wrestler biographies and episode-by-episode commentary of the Monday Night Wars.

[@georgemetcalf8763]

Wrestling Bios is amazing. It's gonna be bumming af when he has to go into various wrestler deaths and the end of Davey Boy Chinlocks. We're coming up on Pillman.

[@RyanDMoore]

Jim Cornette's Drive-thru.

[@robertstuart480]

I'd also recommend "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling" by Max Landis.

[@jarretc110]

pro-wrestling really has no appeal outside it's niche audience. that's why those shows can't pull in half a million viewers consistently and that number is steadily decreasing.

[@johnandmegh]

@@jarretc110 Probably true about the niche - but that can be said about a lot of forms of entertainment that can exist now, because not everything on TV has to have mass appeal. And the niche is big enough (WWE's main show usually gets more than 1.5 million each week, and AEW's main show hovers around 1 million weekly, plus folks who follow via media other than live broadcast) to still make money for the companies involved - so while it's not a broader pop culture phenomenon anymore, the niche seems sustainable for now.

[@nealhoffman7518]

Entertainment value plays a huge role in why people don't care if it's fixed. Nobody goes to see the Harlem Globetrotters expecting the Washington Generals to win. They go to see the razzle dazzle

[@JackgarPrime]

How do people find themselves signing up for the Washington Generals or New York Nationals anyway? You know even trying out your job is going to be making the Globetrotters look good at your expense. Is it used like a tryout team or something, like when you've been there long enough and understand the show inside and out you could get a chance at moving up to the Globetrotters roster?

[@Ticketman99]

Smarks do

[@ozymandias3097]

Wrestling is among the last remaining forms of theater, and arguably the one with the most widespread appeal.

[@TBMartin]

Apart from theatre itself. And its only actually a small minority who enjoy wrestling. The tv figures prove that. The last time wrestling had a broad appeal was over 20 years ago.

[@RSpracticalshooting]

@@TBMartin I mean, WWE had $1bil in revenue last year so they're obviously still getting a pretty large audience.

[@Rabbit-the-One]

@Shotgun Cat ok Boomer

[@TBMartin]

@@Rabbit-the-One Really child? Or am i not allowed to treat you like you treat others?

[@TBMartin]

@@RSpracticalshooting WWE make money from other avenues, not just wrestling so its hard to say that 1 billion profit was from wrestling alone.

[@kaidos123]

When you’re asking “why is wrestling allowed to be fake and nobody cares, when other sports would spell the end of the league?” It’s like asking why are movies and television shows allowed to be fake while the news has to be real. It’s because pro wrestling as we know it today isn’t a sport. When it started being a work, it became a brand new form of art and theatre, and ceased being a competitive sport. The reason it’s allowed to be fake is the same reason Bruce Willis throwing an evil German played by Allan Rickman out of a skyscraper window is allowed to be fake.

[@Helvetinpartatera]

And Alan Rickman was REALLY dropped out of a skyscraper's window. Just like how Undertaker really did throw Mankind of Hell in a Cell in 1998.

[@dankellis1]

Uh, hasn't anyone told you about news yet?

[@SuperMonkei]

Because it's not a sport?

[@kaidos123]

@@SuperMonkei did.... did you even read the comment?

[@jackojohnston8885]

Wait.....that was fake?

[@daneanderson7437]

My dad used to walk into the room and see me watching wrestling and say “that’s so fake” and I’d sit him down and tell home that I’ve got some news for him that he’s not going to believe. I’d look him in the eye. Hold his hand. Then I’d tell him “dad, I love you and don’t freak out; but Grey’s Anatomy is not a reality show about doctors.” Or that the people in Son’s of Anarchy aren’t really in a motorcycle gang. As I’d be doing this bit, someone would go flying off a top rope through a table or get hit in the head with a chair and I’d say “hard to fake that”

[@rubberchix]

This never happened you liar

[@codyconnolly2954]

and then the cat stood up and clapped.

[@theboombody]

You probably could show a stiff worker or a botch or someone bleeding a lot too. Those are usually the parts that are actually real. I was watching the 2002 Royal Rumble the other day and the Undertaker gave Maven a brutal unprotected chair shot after being eliminated. Made me cringe seeing it. I really changed my stance on selling chair shots as I got older. I used to make fun of the Rock for putting up his hands when someone would hit him with a chair. I don't anymore.

[@daneanderson7437]

@@codyconnolly2954 he would bap at the screen as Austin would get tossed his beer.

[@michaeljones-um8sn]

almost everything they say on TV and school is fake BS.

[@duckydarrick7460]

This would have been a great opportunity to collaborate with Simon Miller. You guys could be the KZbin equivalent of a tag team and call yourselves "The Simons!"

[@mrmojomajestic8317]

(slaps bald head) Hell yes !!!

[@RAS_Squints]

Haha it is really funny the the two guys I send patron money to are British, bald, and named Simon. On a side note too, alot of people say Andy Murray from Whatculture is Simon Whistler's long lost Scottish brother

[@jaguarrejack]

Why? *slaps each other's bald head* Here's Why?

[@georgemetcalf8763]

Bald English English, unite! Hey, it's Matt Easton, too!

[@PapaGatorGaming]

Wait, this guy isn't Simon Miller?

[@JOMFSE]

That submission in the thumbnail is an Americana. I love it

[@ClickClack_Bam]

It's a great submission hold although I don't do it the way the thumb shows. It's too easy to counter doing it that way.

[@JOMFSE]

@@ClickClack_Bam yeah I’ve never done that way either, but if the opponent is untrained it should work easily

[@cbeaudry4646]

The older Catch Wrestling name for it is the " Top Wrist Lock," and the Kimura is the "Double-Wrist Lock." The new names we know now come from Gracie BJJ. Kind of how the "Wrestler's Guillotine" has been renamed "The Twister" by 10th Planet JJ. The Kimura was named after a Japanese Grappler (not sure if he was Judo or JJJ) who used the "Kimura" a lot, and the Americana got it's name because an American Catch Wrestler taught it to one of the older Gracie's

[@skinhead5]

We watch wrestling for entertainment. We love the story lines, the characters, and the action. Also, we the audience are an important part of the show. The chants and meme signs energizes the players and we feed the energy off each other .

[@intelligentfool09]

🎯

[@KingSilly]

You hit the nail on the head Carl!

[@algotkristoffersson15]

But we can have characters without scripts, like in role playing games. And, as it is presented as a sport that would be more okay

[@robertlogan5354]

the drama of theater, the action of sports, the crowd energy of a rock concert.

[@0ldFrittenfett]

When I started watching it in the late eighties as a 12 year old, I knew that it could not be real because for example a Tombstone would just kill or at least paralyse a person. But thanks to kayfabe, I thought it was kind of a competition like in a card game. "I do a Piledriver!" "Okay, that shook me a lot, but I kick out and then get you in a figure four leglog!" I think I even did such fights with my friends, where nothing was scripted but one of us told the better story and won.

[@staceyn2541]

That actually is a great analogy. Like Magic the Gathering or Pokemon but physical. Clever!

[@jliller]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought something like that around that age.

[@SuperFunkmachine]

That's why in places where it was "real", the piledriver was a banned move, an every year or two some villain would do one an nearly cripple the hero with it.

[@JackgarPrime]

Exactly how my friends and I looked at it as kids. Which is why I would always try to work towards getting them in the Sharpshooter, because we all knew Bret Hart was the best and if you got put in that hold, it was all over!

[@robertlogan5354]

aside from getting the word on who goes over from the booker, that's how a lot of matches get worked out.

[@DanPeters182]

You've skipped something pretty crucial here. At the point where you mentioned wrestling matches being seen in either towns or the countryside, what would happen is a tour headlined by two wrestlers would be arranged. Obviously two high level wrestlers going full pelt for several events so close to each other would be detrimental to their health, so they would have a "shoot" match behind closed doors and then essentially play out the match as is had happened at each event without having to put so much strain on their bodies. There are some great books on the subject with interviews from guys who learnt off the people who were there. Check out Physical Chess by Jake Shannon.

[@kineticentertainment769]

I think he still did an amazing job and this video is much, much better than I would ever had expected. I strongly suspect that the script was written by a serious wrestling historian.

[@davidkaplan2745]

Before watching, I'm going to answer the question with "They do what the fans like to see and what makes them the most money"

[@shaolin1derpalm]

A fellow legit pro wrestling fan?

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@David Kaplan Then explain the InVasion angle? WWECW? New Blood? Starcade '97? Road Wild 97? I can keep going. This is just a taste. I haven't even tackled the past decade. (Or the Black Scorpion, for that matter. Oh, and wait until you hear about the AWA's death throes.)

[@vault14hunter]

Unless you're modern day Vince McMahon. Then anyone that the fans really want a push (Kofi Kingston/Big E/Daniel Bryan/CM Punk/Keith Lee etc) are going to see a sample sized amount of success & then is going to be thrown into obscurity because they don't look like Hulk Hogan from the 80's & 90's. Nevermind about intelligence levels outside of the ring as long as they agree with whatever VKM says.

[@charlesflint9048]

I still fondly remember seeing in the 1960s here in the UK on TV elderly ladies poking at wrestlers through the ropes with their brollies and walking sticks at the likes of Mick MacManus.

[@WaddedBliss]

Dirty fighter. Always went for the ears! My nan hated him. Hahaha!

[@ifritmog9011]

"The only thing that's real is the money and the miles." Ernie Ladd

[@lilith4961]

Im a pro wrestling fan and I gotta say you did a great summary of how wrestling became "fake". When people just enjoy it for what it is, a mix of a sport and art, its a fascinating thing!

[@christopherharper9932]

I wrestled folkstyle and Greco-Roman way back when. But after that, I fell in love with Judo and BJJ! Wrestling is a sport of glory and honor. You can be on the wrestling TEAM, but when you're out on that mat, GASSED and giving up points it's just YOU!

[@jackalovski1]

i dont think there's many sports out there where acting and theater are as key a part of the skill set as the physical sport. Sports I think could support a theatrical spin like wrestling, fencing, motor racing. Basically any sport or activity you'd get a stunt double to do if you were featuring it in a movie.

[@michaelb1761]

Sport? Doesn't there need to be competition for there to be a sport? Pro wrestling is theater not sport.

[@jackalovski1]

@@michaelb1761 yeah and it’s not like we have awards for actors being good or anything.

[@rainbowtheythemshe1115]

@@michaelb1761 it's dancing with violent stunts. Dance is a legitimate sport that requires real endurance, strength, athletic and technical skill. Sometimes it's (partially) choreographed, sometimes there's improv involved... But it's always one heck of a workout, even to athletes from other combat or performance sports.

[@rainbowtheythemshe1115]

(source: I usually do kickboxing, but have dabbled in pro wresting for fun a couple of times)

[@harlequinems]

Umm football (soccer) requires plenty of acting and theater, watch the player with the ball have someone run towards them and they will "sell" being shot in the leg by a high calibre rifle 🤣🤣

[@PatrickPaul1203]

The script writer actually keeps up with professional wrestling

[@mattyt1961]

or knows how to use Google a quick search will get you all the current information from that video

[@the-engneer]

@@mattyt1961 Yeah if you're just lazy. Google searches have tons of misleading and contradictory information

[@nivision]

@@the-engneer especially on something like pro wrestling, where there'd be generations of deliberate misinformation for the sake of keeping "kayfabe" aka the mystique of the business basically. I'm a little bit floored at how thoroughly this lines up with wrestling history as I understand it (two decades and change as an adult fan and some years in the business through a really well respected mentor).

[@chrishahn3834]

I find that a lot of Simons videos are very well researched. He works with people who seem to be quite good at what they do. :)

[@DMJoeBing]

I caught the little nods, like referencing "Jungle Boy and his dinosaur friends". That's not just a simple Google search. Could've used less of the word "fake" and more of the term "scripted", which is what it is. Simple bumps can screw you up, and legit injuries are quite common. Going through a table off a ladder, even a table rigged to give spectacularly, hurts like a mfer. Powerbombed into tacks sucks. A hip toss into a bunch of d4's REALLY HURTS.

[@raydunakin]

As a kid the only wrestling I'd ever heard of was pro wrestling. In junior high P.E. I thought it would be cool when they said we were going to do wrestling. I was looking forward to using some of the wild moves I'd seen on TV, as well as inventing some of my own. I was deeply disappointed and shocked to discover that the school's version of wrestling was very, very different from TV wrestling.

[@osaji922]

lol Same thing happened to me. The disappointment was out of this world.

[@IAmKingTony]

Good video. I think one thing that's overlooked with wrestling is the immense level of skill involved. It's a lot harder to fake a fight, make it look real, and not actually hurt your opponent than it is to actually fight someone for real.

[@Ticketman99]

Is that why CM Punk lost both fights in UFC?

[@Charactermatters650]

Appreciate this as a long time “real” wrestler and Coach in the USA. In college (University) we had a very good team. We had a famous wrestler called the “Iron Sheik” who used to come in to our room to workout with real wrestlers. His background was as a real wrestler (Freestyle/Greco or Olympic style) in Iran and we used to tease him about his fake “pro” wrestling. His english was not very good at the time - he used to laugh at us when teased and would rub his thumb and pointer finger together while he was laughing back - point being that he was making good money while we could never earn anything beyond a meager coaching salary with our “amateur” wrestling. Real wrestling at the higher levels is very grueling and takes immense training, weight cutting and managing inevitable injuries - the drive has to come from within and takes a unique drive to succeed that very few can match.

[@robertlogan5354]

chuck pahlaniuk (sp?), author of 'fight club', wrote a book called 'stranger than fiction'. it's an anthology of different slices of life, from a bunch of farmers preparing for their annual combine demolition derby in montana*, the time chuck worked as a hospice volunteer, when he went out as a guest on a us navy submarine patrol... and one of those sections is about the state of amateur wrestling. it's been a fee years since i read it, but iirc, he follows some guys who are training for the olympics, and finds out what it takes to keep wrestling after college, where there is no real support system in place. that shit seemed pretty grueling to me. i love pro wrestling, and don't care much about any real sports, but i feel like real wrestling shouldn't be amateur. i'd rather watch real wrestling over boxing or mma. but, i'd also watch pro rasslin over the real thing. or over most anything else. that's just me, though. *or it might have been Idaho, or wyoming... one of those big flat states.

[@shaolin1derpalm]

Wrestling was unquestionably real for quite a while. And into the 70s you still needed to be able to "shoot" and "hook", in case someone wanted to double cross you in a match, particularly if you were a champ.

[@kentan00]

When i was a kid i didn't even think about it being fake or not. We would watch it much like we would watch power rangers or super sentai. it was just really fun watching it with your friends!

[@timspellman47]

Whenever someone told me the violence in wrestling is fake I would show them Japanese death matches. That usually shut them up. Only the finish is fake essentially.

[@Thund3rDrag0n12]

Yeah puroresu is nuts. My neck hurts just from watching it lol

[@ashtonderoy6816]

Pro-Wrestling is easier to promote than real athletic competition. Look at who wastes more manpower through injury and early retirement. UFC or WWE? When you lose a major star? You lose a money draw. You have to build someone else up to take that place. That is difficult. It is better to get the most you can out of somebody & then do planned transitions to someone else. Fixing matches also has the benefit of keeping titles off of relatively unknown stars when prudent. It isn't a perfect system. I won't pretend it is. It is just easier to promote.

[@Sh3rlockhomeboy]

It’s physical/athletic Shakespearean theatre. When it is done when the stories are very compelling ie the golden lovers story. Also good job making something informational about wresting without sounding snarking. It’s fun when you realize that it’s just entertainment

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

Fun fact for bodybuilders and fitness fanatics: the Hack Squat, most commonly performed on a machine that stresses the quads rather than the lower back, was named after strongman and wrestler George Hackenschmidt. He developed a deadlift where he held the bar behind his legs, which concentrates work on the legs and away from the lower back like regular deadlifts or squats.

[@AidanPatko]

I honestly didn’t know it was ever not fake. Great video as always! EDIT: I knew wrestling in general is a real sport, my thought was something like WWE started as “real” and then transitioned to what we know it as today.

[@christiandauz3742]

Undertaken threw someone off a 50ft cage to the sportcaster's desk! That's not fake!!! Wrestlers receive a lot of injuries in their lifetime

[@PopeyeBjj86]

@@christiandauz3742 50 feet calm the F down kid the hell in a cell was not 50 feet

[@idlehands1864]

Pre-determined is the term they like to use, like any other athletic endeavor injuries are a very real prospect at any moment. So it's not fake in that sense, it's probably more impactful than a pre determined boxing match.

[@jimshannononsounds]

@@idlehands1864 Televised pro wrestling is SCRIPTED, not fake. The only ones that do not know the outcome in televised pro wrestling are the color commentators and the viewers.

[@MrNegativecreep07]

@@PopeyeBjj86 about 16 feet, but that's still a terrifying drop to take when it has to be done mid match with no second takes.

[@Zakmccormack]

The best way I've heard it described is its an artform. Like a stage show but the stage is the wrestling ring. I'm a massive wrestling fan and I'd say that was spot on. Commenting before watching the video though, saw the word fake and it wound me up a little haha. I'm sure the video is good though, will watch later 😊

[@GLPitt1]

I read this great book about wrestling called The Squared Circle: Life, Death, & Professional Wrestling. It explains the transition from legitimate contests to the performance it is now. And it does it through profiling the big stars from the early 1900s until now. Ed "Strangler"Lewis and his trainer & manager formed what they call The Goldust Trio. He was a competitive catch wrestler who would go around with a title belt & have other accomplished wrestlers have matches with The Stangler but pay them to lose to him. It made way more $ than actual competitive matches so everyone started pre determing the outcomes and trying not to injure their opponents so they could perform more often and make more $.

[@KiidSaturn]

For me once you know it's booked then it's actually fun cause you notice certain nuances and can still be surprised when you think the story goes ine way but goes somewhere else. It's not about the end result it's about the story and how it's told. Yea some is hokey and doesn't make sense but sometimes it lands and gets over and some other times it doesn't. You just watch and have fun

[@theboombody]

I have a lot of fun watching old royal rumble matches because a lot of stuff I don't expect happens during the match, even though I ultimately know who's going to win at the end.

[@shinerdrinker9249]

I've always told others when they try to embarrass me for being a fan of wrestling, I always say "The only thing fake in wrestling is the result."

[@MrNegativecreep07]

If anyone tells you it's fake, point out that people don't really beat eachother up in films or tv either, but we all still enjoy it.

[@RandalReid]

If wrestling is fake, Stone Cold and Bret's career wouldn't have been cut short, Droz wouldn't have been quadriplegic, Chris Benoit perhaps wouldn't have done what he did, none of the concussions, and the list goes on and on

[@Denji2006]

I just embarrass right back because they always act like morons talking like they've just found out for themselves and arrogantly "feel compelled" to inform you of their discovery. "Wrestling's fake!" - "Yeah, welcome to the 21st century asshole. Next you're going to tell me the sky is blue, right?"

[@3210-n1x]

@@RandalReid ehmm no! It is fake, those guys just were unfortunate that mistakes were made! And the moves were excuted poorly, do u understand if it wasn't fake ppl would be dead from it every week? Or at least black and blue with multiple broken bones lol ur argument is trash and I've been watching since 94

[@Diamondelle84]

@@RandalReid And Cody Rhodes would not have severe bruising from a torn pectoral muscle 😫

[@Jasonmakesvideo]

I just watched a video called “funniest wrestling oversells” or something like that so I believe it still has its merits. The entertainment value is undeniable. Vince McMahon is a POS though and the wrestlers are treated terribly

[@sparrow420500]

Maybe to some, but I'm sure the hundreds of wrestlers over the years who became millionaires thanks to Vince McMahon might disagree.

[@maries8364]

Vince sucked with his treatment but I believe he stepped down some time ago and Shane now runs it. I'll need to look into it but it went downhill

[@tylerhippo]

Should probably just watch AEW or something

[@sideshowonacid]

@@maries8364 Shane has no involvement in WWE. At least right now or in the recent past.

[@sparrow420500]

@@maries8364 has not stepped down and most likely won't as long as he is still alive. Spain has said that she does not really have any interest in taking over the business. Most likely when the time comes, it will be Stephanie and Triple H. Some might say that is the exact reason wrestling has kind of gone downhill. WWE anyway. But being a good boss or not is a matter of perspective. I have had bosses in the past who I like but other people thought were crap, and the adverse to that has also been true. Vince McMahon is the same way. If you ask CM Punk or Chris Jericho about what kind of boss Vince is, I'm sure you will get a different answer than if you ask the Undertaker or The Rock

[@christopherb.2658]

Wrestling may be fake but the injuries you can sustain from doing it are VERY real.

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

Can’t fake gravity

[@TJDious]

Get well soon Big E.

[@theboombody]

Found that out watching Summerslam 1997. Nasty piledriver that had a noticeable effect on Stone Cold's later work.

[@Ticketman99]

My supervisor fell to his death on a job. Does that make landscaping a real combat sport?

[@dtop668]

A paraphrased quote from a classic sitcom, All in the Family. Mike: Why do you watch that? Don’t you know it’s fake? Archie: Maybe they both know how it’s gonna end, but I don’t. So shaddup an lemme watch.

[@miesvaillanykyisyytta3252]

Pro-wrestling is performance art like the circus arts, opera, ballet, theatre or music. It is a pretty distinct form of performance art that combines movement (dance) and acting (theatre). It can also be similar to circus art in that it makes use of dangerous stunts and heights.

[@paultheaudaciousbradford6772]

There’s always people around to call stuff ‘fake’. They just don’t like it when other folks have fun. I once had someone tell me that Gilligan’s Island was fake. Imagine that!

[@hydrolito]

Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Bacchus, Natalie Schaefer, Tina Louise, Russel Johnson and Dawn Wells were all acting using made up names so of course we knew it was fake.

[@jaketheauroran]

If anyone asks why people enjoy fake wrestling, ask them what their favorite movie or TV show is and tell them it's fake. The real question isn't why people enjoy it - it's why a-holes think people are too dumb to know it's fake, and want to insult them by telling them the truth.

[@Ticketman99]

@@jaketheauroran And if I tell you my favorite TV show is UFC? Then what?

[@johnst.baptiste3664]

I had a girl that I dated who described it as 'Athletic Theatre'. This, I believe, is about as apt as it gets.

[@nivision]

a friend of mine coined the term "Murder Gymnastics", which I'm going to call the hyperbolic version of your ex girl's.

[@AidanMillward]

The wwe calls it sports entertainment which probably sells a bit better.

[@jamesfitzgerald1684]

We don't watch it because we think it's real, but because it's entertaining. Everything they are doing puts a toll on their bodies. So it's real in that sense. But there is a lot of acting and physical performance involved.

[@MuhammadsMohel]

Every wrestler used to actually know how to grapple but "faked" it in an exhibition type way and then eventually it became atheletic actors.

[@stevenlornie1261]

and in making this video you had to not only insult the fans but the professionals in the business too. Great work!

[@SUNSHINE-t-m]

been into wrestling for forever and im so glad this video educated me on some extra history

[@AnthonyMazzarella]

A form of Greco-Roman wrestling is still available in the Olympics today. On top of that western-style catch wrestling also influenced the transition from Judo to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil.

[@igormorais4192]

Catch wrestling has zero to do with judo becoming bjj in Brazil. Maeda taught the Gracies egad he called "Kano-ryu jiu jitsu" , the style of judo founder Jigoro Kano which he codified into judo as a tool for education. Judo was then the same as what BJJ is today, it was changed by the federation over the course of the 20th century into the castrated marital art it is now but back then judo was just a style of jiu jitsu. The only thing BJJ and catch have in common in Brazil is that the gracies easily beat catch wrestlers such as Manoel Rufino for decades, having never lost to one until catch wrestling genius/God Sakuraba came by

[@littlenismo]

Yeah, noone cares.

[@tichtran664]

@@igormorais4192 Huh Maeda also COMPETED IN CATCH WRESTLING. In fact he was a CARNIVAL WRESTLERS. Yes they would have scripted matches with each other at the circus but then have SHOOT/LEGIT matches with the audiences.

[@1prshark]

I've been a pro wrestling fan since i was a kid. I think we're ok with professional wrestling/sports entertainment the same way we're ok with watching an action movie or a magician perform his/her craft. We are good with the suspension of disbelief and the casual fan isn't interested in taking a peak behind the curtain.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Same here, started on a black n white TV set. Who could have known back then how big it would become today and that Ric Flair's daughter would out earn her dad.

[@btasler]

I was standing near Ken Patera in the concourse at the Minneapolis auditorium years ago after his match, and a 'fan' threw a beer at him. Barely looking up, his leg came from absolutely nowhere and he kicked the guy in the head and he hit the concrete really stinking hard, at which point about 6 Minneapolis cops piled on him (the fan) and pushed him through the door. That was brutal.

[@mr.mirchenstein6549]

Gotta say, that was a great piece, Simon! Pro Wrestling has such an insane history. So much to cover. Surprised tho, that you didn’t mention George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Jess McMahon. Jess was part of the original NYC Trust. You asked why people didn’t care about wrestling being “Fake”….well, truth be told, THEY DID. But times were different & information traveled different back then, but there were many territories killed off because of the Exposes. That’s kinda how WWE was formed….which brings me to Jess McMahon & the NYC Trust. Jess had already been one of the biggest promoters in NY for over 40 years, but in the 1940s New York’s wrestling scene went almost completely dead….because of this, Jess McMahon moved down to Washington DC and ran his own Entertainment Night Club with music & concerts, gambling, boxing, go carts…and WRESTLING every Wednesday night. This eventually led to his son, Vince Sr., & partner Toots Mondt (of the Goldust Trio & NY Trust) coming down to DC, where they eventually signed a TV deal & created Capitol Wrestling Corporation aka WWE. Eventually business picked back up in NY, so Jess returned & left his son, Vince to run things in DC….eventually, in the late 1960s, the Grandson joined the family business too, young Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

[@BeastieMK]

"Why in this sport.. does nobody seem to care that it is fake." That is nonsensical question. That is just like asking why people don't care that a stage play has a fixed outcome where they would not accept that in any other sport. Pro wrestling is not a sport, it is theater. And that can be said while having the utmost respect for the performers being very hard working, talented, and capable athletes.

[@nitePhyyre]

@@andrewholdaway813 whoosh

[@kmeanxneth]

​@@nitePhyyre how to say you use reddit without you saying you use reddit :)

[@jonhall2274]

Whoosh has been used before reddit. And will be used after Reddit.

[@monot00nz]

As a former wrestling fan, yes, it's because we didn't/don't care. However, I really don't like how a lot of modern day fans treat wrestling characters as real life characters. Yes, it does take talent and skill to be a professional wrestler, but at the end of the day, they're fictional. Even the weakest, most talentless wrestler can be written to be the best (and this has actually happened plenty of times).

[@Apanblod]

Professional wrestling hasn't exactly improved the image of the American public in other parts of the world, I can tell you that. I don't think that's necessarily the fault of the sport itself, but perhaps rather how it's perceived (as in: "How can they be so stupid as to believe it's actually real!? 😂") and the general inability to understand the appeal due to cultural differences.

[@wordupninja]

Nooo it’s all real!! Disco Inferno is the greatest individual combatant to ever walk the face of the planet!

[@TJDious]

IT'S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT

[@josevillescazjr.493]

Disco Inferno! Let's give it up for WCW's best and brightest star, even brighter than DARE I SAY The Nature Boy Ric Flair! WOO!😄

[@cichontom]

Disco Inferno single handedly made the nwo the household name it is now

[@cotopaximusic]

So Teddy Roosevelt challenged people at the White House and Abrham Lincoln created the chokeslam.... anyone else wanna see those two in a Hell in a Cell match??

[@mcwprowrestling]

This was actually really well put together and informative

[@cometnews4]

Wrestling being scripted is fine with me, as long as I don't know the script, and the out come is not highly predictable.

[@guitarguru.3572]

Personally, I think it’s a great show, when executed properly.

[@aaronjjohnson13]

I love when people try to point out "you know it's fake right?" Of course I know it's fake dumb shit. Do you watch M*A*S*H and think that it's a documentary about doctors in the Korean war?

[@patch8376]

I think it's closer to live theater than sports or a soap opera. It's live theater with a squared circle ring instead of a stage.

[@thomasdarnall8912]

I've watched pro wrestling since I was a kid. I lost interest after Chris Benoit's murder/suicide and the birth of the PG era in WWF/E. Now by far my most favorite style of wrestling is the Lucho Libre. Which WCW in their heyday showcased a few of these matches. These matches gave us the likes of Rey Mysterio et al. Telemundo and various Hispanic channels show these wrestling events live from Mexico. I just love their high flying death-defying stunts from the top or middle ropes. As well as the high risk no or little reward upon impact. As well as their way of blending various other styles and forms. Infusing their own techniques of using acrobatic maneuvers blended together creating a highly entertaining match. Not to mention their colorful costumes and masks. Just an awesome experience. I just wish WWE showed these more. As always, great video fact boy. Love your Channel.

[@wiseass2149]

Lucha Libre is so underrated.

[@JDWanko]

I was an independent pro wrestling referee for 4 years. I liked this, but three things I think should be noted-a) I really don't think it's taboo to say pro wrestling (not AMATEUR wrestling, a non-scripted sport in high schools, colleges and the Olympics) is NOT a sport, but more like theater. The bigger taboo is to call it "fake", as many of the moves and match stipulations still inflict legit injury; b) Why not mention Christos 'Jim 'The Golden Greek' Londos" Theofilou created the concept of the "baby face" by being a good looking guy trying to survive a larger, mean "Heel" and making a fortune with it? c) Why not mention how George Hackenschmidt, thinking his match with Frank Gotch was legitimate, was intentionally injured by a training partner who injured him significantly enough to make George throw in the towel against Gotch, discover the truth, but not be rewarded with either the title or a timely rematch? and d) What about "Gorgeous" George Wagner, who's gender-bending antics cemented the idea that flamboyance and working a crowd lead to mucho dinero?

[@gregorykrug8034]

I used to watch a lot of pro wrestling when I was a teenager. I almost immediately figured out that it was a work, but I did not know how. Now, looking back, I can see several factors that have ruined wrestling forever. For starters, Vince McMahon not only drove all of the territories out of business, but he did so with an inferior product. It was all flash and gimmicks to sell merch to kids. On top of that, ring psychology used to be a thing where wrestlers would go to the ring not knowing anything other than the finish of the match. They would call the matches on the fly, playing off of the energy of the crowd, etc. Now, everything is nonsensical, high-flying moves... all to sell merch and PPV buyrates.

[@LastTorgoInParis]

i just view it as different ways to play the music. some bands can do freeflow jazz or grateful dead esque jamming. others are like the beatles or bowie and structure it as art. others are Alice Cooper and chop their head off onstage. i do agree that pure psychology style you refer to is quite rare in mainstream promotions

[@gregorykrug8034]

@@LastTorgoInParis The "music being played" nowadays IMO is more like bubblegum pop. Many people have thought of wrestling as a joke for decades, but Vince's love of gimmicks made it an absolute joke.

[@RandalReid]

I mean a zombie and a clown wrestling each other is a dead giveaway that it might not be real after all

[@gregorykrug8034]

@@RandalReid I agree. Wrestling is to sports as a Friday the 13th movie is to a documentary. People may feel something from it, but no one in their right mind is leaving thinking that they saw something legit. When I was a kid, wrestling promoters at least pretended to be legit.

[@RPhelan99]

That's exactly how modern culture is too. Vince knew the 1980's were going to be all about the flash, pizazz and yes the merch. If that NWA slow southern style was meant to win out it would've. I can't really imagine it fitting into our 5 min attention spans though in 2022.

[@The_Cats_Pajamas]

Fake is a pretty loaded word when wrestling does as much damage to the body as any contact sport

[@ub3rfr3nzy94]

Yeah, but sport isn't fun because it hurts people, it's fun because it's competition. Plus wrestlers minimise damage, a lot.

[@The_Cats_Pajamas]

@@ub3rfr3nzy94 A simple bump onto the "springy" wood floors or bouncing off the ropes a single time will tell you how much wrestling hurts when they "minimize" it, let alone when they do a moonsault off the top of a 16 foot cage and break toes on impact or break your neck on a botch

[@RaijuFiction]

I grew up in the 90s and my family was so into wrestling, it was the only thing we would sit and watch together, and even as a little girl I absolutely loved Sting and Ric Flair, and if I ever wasn't watching (doing something in another room) or if there was a special Pay Per View match my parents had to special order to see them, I would come running or they would try their best to order it for us to watch. I still adore the both of them as an adult, too. Stopped watching when WCW and WWF merged for reference in this comment. There was a point to that trip down memory lane though, I swear! That was...entering the medical field many years later as an adult and participating in a PMT course, only to realize that 90s wrestling was highly-glorified PMT lol. Needless to say, I had a blast in that class, and it took me back. I also learned a LOT in this short little video. Thank you, Simon! Just went down a really great path in memory lane. To answer your question: I actually found entertainment in it! No, I didn't hardcore keep track of things or once and awhile would miss an event, but fast forward those many years when I entered the medical field, and I had a house full of clients that LOVED watching wrestling as well, and it gave us something to bond over :)

[@luorca5686]

I more like to call the modern pro wrestling as a theater that is focus on action stunts with still side of variety of genre of story lines(thriller, drama, comedy etc.) Than fake wrestling. The delivery of angles are already a give away that you will be watching a live action act.

[@nicholasschoonbeck6866]

Growing up in the 80's & 90's, many boys & men believed it was real wholeheartedly. Watching the older styles of wrestling also reminds me of the very early UFC matches. A fist fight was fun to watch but when the Gracies entered the ring & used jujutsu, but if you didn't know anything about the style, it was very boring to watch. And that's part of what made Joe Rogan such a huge personality because he was trained & good at describing what fans were witnessing, allowing fans with no knowledge understand more & pick up the terminology & begin to be able to see the techniques.

[@nivision]

back then, kids, maybe yeah. audiences mostly didn't know what a real fight with rules as broad as that would look like till as you said UFC rose to prominence. the adults had to know, the storylines were insane and illogical.

[@gtaylor2455]

And the first style to rise and challenge Brazilian Jujitsu was ... catch as catch can wrestling.

[@HaroldBluetooth-uz1zz]

@@gtaylor2455No it was not.

[@TRIChuckles]

My grandfather was born in 1896. His grandfather was a true wrestler. My grandfather was a big man but kind and gentle. BUT if you even thought about saying it was fake he would get so Mad. Oh half Irish

[@lucasglowacki4683]

It’s not fake..it’s choreographed. There’s nothing fake about getting slammed through a table by a 300+ pound man. I worked with a guy who did small circuit pro wrestling and he had to retire after a broken back when a table flipped on its side as he hit it…

[@TRIChuckles]

True! But you know what I mean

[@whyjnot420]

The answer is simple and ancient: Spectacle. You can see this when you look at Rome. Due to Greek influence, things like pankration are all old hat to that region. Rome takes that struggle/competition and expands it just as they did with the kind of venue that would be one of the cores of entertainment. Turning the 180 degree Greek theater into the 360 degree Roman amphitheater. "amphi" is literally Greek for "on both sides", a modern rendition of amphitheater might be "theater in the round". Now look at the actual contents of the entertainment they offered. Along with the typical things you think of with gladiators, you would get beat hunts with people trained to kill exotic animals. Prisoner executions via methods far more ornate than getting a hammer in the face. Now look at the flashiest stuff, that of the Flavian Amphitheater (the colosseum in Rome.) Early on they could flood the arena to actually have small scale naval battles (there is some evidence of water systems still there today). But this was quickly ramped up with all the renovations to what amounts to the basement or undercroft. What it amounted to, was tons of quick and often concealed ways of getting men, animals and literal sets in and out of the arena floor. Now what do you have? Yes, actual death and carnage and all that. But besides that you get scripted events, at least as scripted as they can be when it actually involves the potential of death to the participants. Famous battles would be recreated, famous types of warriors would be presented, often these were just some ethnic method of fighting that would be, fairly or unfairly, attributed to a certain area or people. The point is.... this is a flashy, larger than life form of entertainment where the end mattered little in comparison to how it got to its end. This was not the circus and its soccer hooligans arguing over which color was more awesome (the race teams were color coded.... they didn't even really use names like a modern sports team afaik) which came complete with soccer hooligan riots as well.... well circus hooligans I guess. Instead you got something where the value was in how it got to its end rather than the end itself. Did the man condemned to be mauled by a rhino stand like a stoic soldier or cry for his mom? Could the bestiarius be entertaining like a bull fighter or just be a lot of stabsbtabtabt and yawnyuwuyanwyanyawn. What was going to happen now that the arena floor had been redecorated to a mockup of a jungle? Pro wrestling is to Roman bloodsport what action movies are to actual fights. We watch plays we know the story to, we watch movies we already know the outcome to, we read the same heroes journey albeit in a different set of clothes every time a heroes journey story is told...... it is not a matter of "is it fixed?" or "is it all fake?" To the latter, it is obvious that the answer is NO..... unless every one of these wrestlers never jumped around a ring ever..... A better question is "what parts are fake and do they matter?" and the answer to that is the same as someone going to see the Pirates of Penzance will say "nothing fake matters". People don't care that there are no actual pirates or that the trees are plastic. They go to the performance. WWF (that E can go and F right off) fans go for the spectacle. I'm sorry but the answer is simply spectacle. Give someone some thing that is larger than life, beyond what they as a man could do, and do it well, preferably with style, and we watch it, because it is awesome, full stop. Being fixed does not impact the spectacle the way it does the outcome of an actual competition. That is all there is to it... everything comes from that one aspect. Movie, play, ffs audiodrama, human execution or a tombstone piledriver, the end can be nice, but it is everything that comes before it that actually matters.... things that are fixed in place beforehand.

[@WhatAboutThemApples]

When people seemed to think they were somehow getting one over me telling me how wrestling wasn't real when I was a kid, I basically would tell them and you know what all those movies and tv shows you watch are fake as well.

[@robertstone9988]

Wrestling has meant so much to me. me and my dad watched it growing up and now me and my son watch it. It's never mattered that it's fake every movie you've ever seen is fake doesn't mean it's not any good.

[@JD.Knight]

Well I've given 20 years of my life to this "fake" sport. And I've seen hundreds of people come and go because they couldn't take it.

[@joelellis7035]

I'll grant you that the physical exertion is quite real, but the competition is fake.

[@sick0em0more0]

once you stop thinking about it as a sporting contest and start seeing as a drama, its actual quite entertaining

[@markwrenn5965]

Oh man, I've said it several times on various Simon videos, I love it when Simon mentions pro wrestling. Now, I get a whole video? It's my lucky day, to be sure.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

5:35 - In France we call this *Parisian Wrestling* where you are using freestyle throws & body slam to send your opponent on a hard ground.

[@silentpoet75]

Your professionalism in keeping a straight face is very impressive.

[@pelago_]

I heard one old indy guy from Victoria call it “Shakespeare with muscles”. It totally is, and those guys and girls get pretty banged up doing it.

[@dustinmartinez316]

All sports sold to a wide TV audience have an element of “work” involved.

[@BaronLector]

As a 22-year vet who started in 2000 and was trained by multiple WWE Hall of Famers (Bob Armstrong & Road Dogg), even carrying a "victory" over the man (Bob Armstrong) who pinned Hulk Hogan (in 1978), I'm interested in watching this. Let's go!

[@UndertakerNeverDies]

As a passionate wrestling fan I really enjoyed this video and felt it was very informative about a bit of the history of pro wrestling. Wrestling fans may understand how wrestling works but we just simply love the illusion of what pro wrestling is even if we know how it really works. For a few hours we forget our troubles in life and get to watch two or more people battle it out in the ring. We watch cheering and hoping the underdog will overcome the odds stacked against him and win there match. We watch cheering and hoping that the face will defeat the heel. So it’s definitely the athleticism in the ring and the storytelling building up to the match and how the match concludes it.

[@EverettBurger]

If you liked this video, I highly recommend the book "The Magnificent Shufflers". I've done a lot of research (and participated) on the history of lots of different styles of wrestling: American folkstyle, Indian Kushti, Ethiopian Tigel, Uzbek Korush, etc. The biggest person to split the two entities into wrestling and rassling was Ed Lewis. He would throw matches on Friday to a local guy during a barnstorming tour. This would increase the crowd for the rematch on Saturday. Which of course he would win. Interesting note regarding Frank Gotch was that there was talk of him taking on Jack Johnson for the heavyweight boxing championship because he was so well known at the time. The biggest

[@Shemp6101]

Simon, let me tell you something. I'm not here to learn I'm here for your smooth British voice to fill the silent void in my life 😂

[@chazzat3113]

Ngl I thought you was vsauce on the thumbnail for a sec as I am new to the channel

[@jimmyfrench4722]

It needs to be fake for the fans. Otherwise, shows would have to be MUCH less common & every match would have too high a chance to be your favorite wrestler’s career ender. Imagine telling MMA fighters they’ll fight every week, and to top that off, add travel to throw off their recovery & prep time…eventually, even the best will be unable to perform & audiences would have to get used to seeing people entering rings looking like they were just beat up.

[@jjb33083]

It's kinda weird, hearing Simon talk about this genre. I love it!