An article written by: Lee Sonogan
“There are a lot of similarities between dancing and wrestling. The costumes are the same, the spandex and all that, but you have to be light on your feet to do both, and you have to remember choreography.” – Chris Jericho
Hello, my name is Ungroovygords and I am a professional wrestling fan. I watch highlights of weekly shows and watch the wrestling pay per views. Professional wrestling is not for everyone. It’s raw entertainment keeps me interested. How can you watch pro wrestling when you know it is fake? You are in the wrong place if you’re looking for a real fight. Pro wrestling is sport’s entertainment. It may be a combat sport but, in the ring they work together not against each other.
Would you call an action movie fake and scripted? No, wrestling is a live show that is also an action movie/tv show. Some may even say professional wrestling is a creative art form. When wrestling is good, it is good and I see it as art. I can totally see people not liking wrestling due to the fact that not everything in wrestling is good or great. Some wrestling moves and movements seem unrealistic. Then wrestling also has comedy elements to it. Also how the show is booked. Wrestling can be an over the top spectacle at times. I have left and rejoined watching wrestling many times.
Everything bad in wrestling is forgotten if there is good wrestlers telling a good story in the ring and on a mic. It takes wrestlers years of training to pull off what they do. A wrestler needs fast pace reactions to pull of sequences of impressive wrestling moves. Psychology to make the crowd react positively or negatively (Audience pops). Endurance to wrestle multiple times a week. Charisma to cut a good promo (Speech). Plus they have so much more responsiblity they must do.
Lets talk wrestlers and why they are good. You may have heard of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin? Both out of wrestling now, but still are household names. You see them in movies and as personalities in more projects. Their talent and skill all comes from years of professional wrestling. YouTube now some of their wrestling promos and matches they had together. These two create the wrestling magic I am trying to explain to you. Not all wrestlers are even close the level of The Rock and Stone Cold and many more main eventers.
There is no epic moonsaults or RKOs in MMA. Wrestlers are characters (Gimmicks) with signature wrestling maneuvers and catch phrases. Wrestlers have stood the test of time and had careers that last for years. In retirement they still manage to make a living. Wrestlers and the business has evolved from its origins. These days they are more fast paced and complex. Hulk Hogen’s era of wrestlers could never keep up. Then there is more of it out their with death matches, Lucha, women promotions, comedy promotions and so much more.
WWE and NJPW are the wrestling shows I watch the most. Highlights of wrestling shows are less than an hour compared to the length of most wrestling shows. Second would be the YouTube channels WhatCulturewwe and Cultaholic. I am even going to a NJPW show in Melbourne, Australia this month. To see the arguable best wrestler in the world, Kenny Omega wrestle live is going to be worth the price of the ticket of admission. WWE and NJPW are the two biggest wrestling companys in the world.
Some of the best wrestling matches and promos in pro wrestling (All recommended)
- Undertaker vs Shawn Micheals (Wrestlemania 26)
- Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada (Wrestle Kingdom 11)
- Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret hart – Submission match (Wrestlemania 13)
- Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerro – Mask vs tittle (Halloween Havov 1997)
- Mick foley vs Randy Ortan – No Hold Barred (Backlash 2004)
- Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Triple H – Three stages of hell (No Way Out 2001)
- John Cena vs CM Punk (Summerslam 2011)
- Kurt angle vs Brock Lesnar – Ironman match (Smackdown 2003)
- Undertaker vs Mick Foley – Hell in a Cell (King of the Ring 1998)
- Chris Jericho vs Shawn Micheals – Ladder match (No Mercy 2008)
- Dean Malenko vs Chris Benoit (Spring Stampede 1997)
- Daniel Byran vs CM Punk (Over The Limit 2012)
- Rob Van Dan vs Jerry Lynn (Hardcore Heaven 1999)
- AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura (Wrestle Kingdom 10)
- Tazz vs Bam Bam bigelow (Living Dangerously 1998)
- Sabu vs Terry Funk – Barbed wire match (Born to be Wired 1997)
- The first elimination chamber match (Summerslam 2002)
- Bailey vs Sasha Banks – 30 min Ironwomen (TakeOver: Respect)
- So much more wrestling matches worth watching!
- Randy Savage’s Cream of the Crop promo
- CM Punk’s Pipe Bomb promo
- Stone Cold’s King of the ring promo
- Paul Heyman’s On Night Stand 2005 promo
- Dusty Rhode’s Hard times promo
- The Miz’s Talking Smack promo
- Chris Jericho’s 1004 Holds promo
- Jake The Snake Robert’s Muck of Avarice promo
- Joey Styles’s Quitting promo
- Vince McMahon’s Life Sucks promo
- Ric Flair’s Royal Rumble Victory Speech
- Hulk Hogan’s Heel Turn promo
- Edge’s tells all about his hate for John Cena on Smackdown
- Eddie Guerrero’s goes off on Rey Myserio’s mask promo
- Scott Steiner’s Math
- The Rock’s Hell in a cell opponents promo
- Mick Foley’s You think I got Many Dates After That?
- So much more wrestling promos worth watching!
The business of professional wrestling also interests me a lot too. With social media, podcasts and ‘shoot’s, fans of wrestling can not connect more than ever. Wrestlers are freelance contractors and usually travel to different places weekly. On the road they pay for everything them self. Wrestling gives people different opportunities. As I described with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, many other wrestlers have gone to other entertainment businesses, written books and more. Some even have gone into politics.
In conclusion, professional wrestling is my favourite sport because of all the reasons above. What other sport is like pro wrestling? What live audience is unique as wrestling fans? Wrestling is bad in a lot of aspects while still being interesting enough. When they fail it can a part of the interest. Every fan of wrestling has their own opinion and usually have ideas to make it better. It is one of the parts of wrestling I enjoy. My favourite wrestler was the Undertaker back in the day. Now his not there much any more and I do not have any favourite wrestler. But I can pick favourite wrestling matches out of any show I watch. I recommend wrestling to people who watch the best of professional wrestling.
PS – If I have not been convincing enough to justify the interest of mine. It does not matter because everyone has stuff they like that other people do not like. Do not label me as stupid for watching because it is the only sport that I follow and enjoy!
“Wrestling was like stand-up comedy for me. Every night I had a live audience of 25,000 people to win over. My goal was never to be the loudest or the craziest. It was to be the most entertaining.” – Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)
Here is some links to my book for sale: