Larger Than LIFE. Review on Wrestling

As for any kid growing up in the 90’s there was one favorite show on television. It was the mythical land where superheroes fought, slayed demons and eventually good prevailed. It used be the topic of the hot discussions in school corridors. Students preserved and fought for their collections of postcards and cards of their superstars as if it were their holy grail. Welcome to world of Wrestling Entertainment.

Satellite television was beginning to trickle into our homes, and with it came various shows that were tried and tested hits in America. Along came the WWE bouquet of shows with their maniac

superstars and gruesome fights. Kids got hooked on like anything, they found ready made superstars, some one they can follow… the Hitmans, the Undertakers and so on…

I for one used to be a real big fan, never missing a single show. Not realizing then that this is but a never ending Soap Opera. To be very honest I think WWE brand must get some kind of an award for being the longest running Soap ever. You will find everything and anything ever found in any soap and more here.

Credit surely must go to the script writers for thinking up all these. To sustain interest in a show for more than 50 years (as I know), to find different combinations and story boards is absolutely cool. Probably Hollywood needs to look here for better scripts 

Wrestling entertainment is all but and better than synchronized dancing, the fights aren’t real, but the stunts are people do get hurt. The wrestling ring has seen many a deaths and broken bones… Owen hart being a case study... unfortunately he succumbed to the entertainment part of WWE rather than the wrestling part. He died trying a spectacular entry sequence.

Unlike popular belief, the fights are surprisingly unrehearsed, the moves and stunts are carried out impromptu, by using a well defined set of gestures to communicate the kind of the move the opponent needs to or is going to try. The wrestler needs to react to these signals and help his opponent pull off those moves.

Another popular misconception is matches are fixed way in advance. Yep in a way it is true, and story lines do dictate the outcomes, but most of the matches are not decides until the last moment. The outcome is told to the participants by the referee. And the wrestlers wrap up the match according to the verdict.

The referees have a lot of jobs in the ring, least of which is to officiate the match. They periodically check on the wrestlers to get their status. Pass on the crowd behavior so as to decide where to take the match and stuff.

Also I admire the people who work behind the stage, the sets the props, the fireworks, the lighting... all this is simply amazing. It sets up the ambience for the matches. They create the hype, make the superstars, sell the merchandise, and also make the money.

Sometimes when my friends tell me now that we know that its all fake it doesn’t interest them anymore, they have grown out of it and stuff. I would like to say chill out guys, its only as fake as a soap on TV or a Movie. And its way more interesting, at least here the heroes don’t ask for a duplicate and they don’t have any retakes. This is reality television before reality television was even thought of. So sit back, relax if you can and allow these guys to get the child out in you

Enjoy – As they say – Its larger than LIFE