WWF is fake? So is Lord of the Rings. Scott Manning March 7, 2002

Watching WWF with some friends
Ever notice how people feel the need to point out that wrestling is fake? You may be one of them. Anytime I have had someone over to watch WWF, they have to make a comment about how fake, scripted, or choreographed it is. They refuse to let themselves enjoy wrestling for what it is and would rather go through a continual reality check right in front of my TV.

A wrestler does an incredible move or gets hit in the face with a chair and they say, "Wow, that was awesome. But it's all fake, right?"

While they're reassuring themselves, and anyone else within a reasonable shouting distance, I'm missing all the action.

The fact that wrestling is less than real is not news to anyone - least of all someone like me who has been watching the WWF since the early 80's. When people feel the need to remind me of this, either because they are worried that I believe it or because they aren't sure if wrestling is dramatized or not themselves, I tend respond with a sarcastic reply of, "Wrestling is fake? I'll be damned. All these years and I never knew!"

The hypocrisy of it all
When you go to a movie, do you feel the need to say, "This is not real. I mean, it's all scripted, and Mel Gibson didn't just kill twenty Vietnamese, right?" No. We don't talk about how Lord of the Rings is completely made up and the actors aren't really killing each other with deadly swords and fiery magic. This is because everyone knows that even when movies mirror real events, that what we are watching is a bunch of people playing pretend in order to entertain the audience.

If you cannot get passed the fact that a movie is purely for entertainment and are constantly reminding yourself and others that it is made up, then you will never be able to enjoy it. The same goes for wrestling. WWF is Sports Entertainment.

En - ter - tain - ment.

Some people refuse to allow themselves to enjoy the action, candor, and drama of wrestling by verbalizing the element of pretending involved. If we constantly reminded ourselves how Gandalf isn't really a wizard, could we enjoy the movie as much? Or what if every time Russell Crowe killed another gladiator, someone whispered, "That's not real blood, right?" It would not only annoy everyone, but it would take away from the experience of being taken into a story.

Go ahead and tell me that a chair shot to the skull was choreographed. So was Gandalf jumping on the back of a giant eagle from the top of a stone tower.

The Rock's funny comments are scripted? So are all of Mel Gibson's inspirational speeches in every war movie he's ever been in.

You say that the whole plotline of the WWF was fake from the beginning? Well, so was the whole plot of The Matrix. (Come on, you didn't really think that Keanu Reeves would be "the one", did you?)

Get over it and enjoy the show
Its time for wrestling fans to come clean: movies and wrestling are fake. We're not deceived by either of them. Now we can all go to Scott's house for another entertaining episode of Monday Night Wrestling. Everyone else can go watch that fake NFL game in the bar down the street.

May 8th, 2002
Recently, the WWF changed its name to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). We've decided to leave the article as it is, because its going to take a while for everyone to get use to the name change.

Related Links:
Wrestling forum
See all the mistakes in Fellowship of the Ring
See all the mistakes in The Matrix