The topic I have chosen to write about is the world ofprofessional wrestling. There are many reasons as to why this subject hasinterested me. One major reason is that I grew up watching pro-wrestlingon television. As a child, I was fascinated with the spectacle of thewrestling matches and wondered at the wrestlers themselves. At that age, Itook wrestling for what it was. It was a full-contact gladiator sportfilled with exaggerated and extravagant wrestlers, cocky commentators, andinteresting “one-of-a kind” personalities which added up to a highentertainment value. As I got older and more aware of the sport, I did not just see itas another part of sports entertainment but also as a multi-million dollarbusiness which catered to a wide audience. I began to wonder what was itthat made this popular genere work and how it was able to attract thecrowds of people, young and old. I also wanted to know the history ofpro-wrestling. How did it get started and how it became a part of theAmerican culture? As a fan for several of my childhood years, I now wantedto know the real deal behind wrestling.
The professional wrestling sport is a very secretive business. Itis on a “what you see is what you get” basis. Many of the fans take thesport for face value and enjoy it for what it is, even if many of them areuninformed on the inside workings of it all. Although many books have beenpublished about wrestling, a high number of them are as cryptic andsecretive as the business itself. That is why I am motivated to go into anin-depth research to answer and unravel the questions of the professionalwrestling world. Professional Wrestling. Part II: Knowledge andPreconceptionsAfter being exposed to professional wrestling for quite sometime,I became somewhat knowledgeable of the sport. I became familiar with mostof the wrestling superstars it produced, notably Hulk Hogan which manyconsider the icon of pro- wrestling. I was also mindful of the wrestlingmaneuvers and techniques that were used. Although I knew all this, it wasall common knowledge. Through personal experience, the people I know whoare fans of the sport only know this basic ideology of its premise. I feel that one major reason for the scarce information on pro-wrestling is due to the lack of media coverage. Wrestling is infamous forblurring the lines between true sport and pure entertainment. Many majornews, magazines, and articles rarely cover the wrestling world because ofits lack of believability. It is this secrecy and “figure it out foryourself” attitude of the business that brings rise to many enticingquestions.
Probably the million dollar question for wrestling is whether ofnot it is “fake”. Many people find the meaning of the word as somethingbeing completely unreal. It’s things like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairythat are fake since they don’t exist in real life. Pro-wrestling is partof real life and real life is in no way fake. Furthermore, even ifwrestling was a staged event, why does it continue to attract its fans foras long as it has? These aren’t just ten-year olds who can be easilyfooled, but grown adults who spend their hard earned money on live shows,merchandise, and pay-per-view showings. Still, there lies the questionsabout the wrestlers themselves. These are people who are out there doing ajob. There are questions like how much money does a professional wrestlerget paid and how does one even get into the business to begin with? These are all the questions, along with many others, that I hopeto discover and will hopefully bring arise to many interesting andsurprising answers to professional wrestling.Professional Wrestling.
Part III: ResourcesThe main resource for professional wrestling have been thewrestling shows themselves. Resources on written text and literature havebeen quite limited. Many books that have been written are veryuninformative or “watered down” because they respect the secrecy of thebusiness. Many fans can now turn to “sheets”. These are newsletters thatcontain good information and deal with wrestling in a more up front way.
With the lack of information, the average fan is forced to rely on thetraditional word of mouth. If one is able to get in contact with someonewho knows a lot about the business, or better yet, someone who iscurrently or was in some way involved in the business, you could obtain awealth of information. The major problem with that is that they are veryhard to come by and would be likely tight lipped about the whole thing.
With many obstacles and roadblocks in the way in just gettingvital information on professional wrestling, one may have a hard timecreating a research paper. One revolutionary trend that may be able tochange that is the Internet. The Internet provides an uncensored, upfront, view on pro-wrestling. This is a place where you can find the mostknowledgeable and informed people on the sport. The average fan willsimply be overwhelmed and be able to find out things they never knewexisted. They can find out the past, present, and possibly the future ofprofessional wrestling. It is also known that several insiders and one ortwo wrestlers have given candid interviews over the Net. (This is rarebecause the wrestlers or the organizations they work for are unwilling toreveal their true character.)With the available resources, I plan to write a report thatcontains information from a diverse mix of sources along with my personalopinion and feelings in order to shed new light on the professionalwrestling world.
