In Japan it's a
sport. In
Canada, it's
tradition. In
Mexico, it's
religion. In the
US - it's a
joke (NSFW language).
Perhaps rightly so.
In step with it’s
history, American professional wrestling has a
sordid, carnival-like
backstage atmosphere, replete with
insider slang. Extensive travel schedules and
backstage politicking (QT movie, NSFW language) take their toll in the form of
drug abuse and an
unusually high mortality rate. While a
few transition into
mainstream careers,
most don’t.
A
billion-dollar industry , it has seen a fair share of
success (NSFW image) over the years:
Books,
movies,
video games,
cartoons,
records (not to mention an
ECW nod in the lyrics to
El Scorcho) and even punching
John Stossel in the head. But it’s
inconsistent and never seems to meet the level of popular acceptance as in other countries. It is, by and
large, dismissed as a novelty for the
NASCAR crowd, barely respected enough to be
kitsch.
In truth, it’s a
back-breaking,
death-defying, colorful
soap opera of questionable taste that is
anything but
fake
posted by StopMakingSense
on Feb 16, 2005 -
30 comments
RIP Mr Perfect Former WWE star "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig was found dead yesterday at the age of 44, joining a
long list of professional wrestlers to
die at an unnaturally young age.
It's no secret to participants and fans of the pro-wrestling industry that its performers live unusually stressful lives. With working schedules commonly encompassing upwards of 300 shows a year, their bodies take a constant beating that often leads to alcohol and painkiller dependency. Furthermore, despite the high-profile scandal of the mid-90s that eventually saw Vince McMahon acquitted of trafficking steroids to his employees, the abuse of performance-enhancing chemicals continues to be the rule rather than exception, driven by the endless quest for bigger and freakier physical size and proportions to wow audiences.
posted by plenty
on Feb 10, 2003 -
24 comments
