A few weeks ago, I began my third descent into the world of professional wrestling. My first was almost 30 years ago during the period known as “Rock n’ Wrestling,” when wrestlers appeared in Cyndi Lauper videos, and Cyndi Lauper appeared at wrestling matches.
I quickly learned that wrestling was “fake,” and while I tried to deny this fact, it was pretty clear that these guys were not actually hitting each other. I also soon learned that every match was fixed, the winner already selected before the match had even started. The pro wrestling world calls this staging by promoters and suspension of disbelief from fans “kayfabe,” but over the years the wall of secrecy has been eroded to the point that fans understand that the outcome of every match has been predetermined.
The last time the sport piqued my interest was during the late 1990’s “Attitude Era,” when WWE was battling WCW for Monday night supremacy, Hulk Hogan was a bad guy, and a beer-guzzling wrestler named “Stone Cold” Steve Austin held the championship belt. I was so interested in pro wrestling during this time that I actually purchased ringside seats for a WCW Monday Nitro taping in Saginaw, MI in 1997. If you watch that episode online, you will catch my cable television debut when I tear up some nWo propaganda for a cameraman who asked nicely. Yes, even the fans in the crowd are fake sometimes.
Whether it was a lingering fascination with pro wrestling or the nostalgia of my childhood, I started reading David Shoemaker’s great new book The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling. Shoemaker covers the history of the sport from its earliest days as a carnival sideshow, to today’s pop culture phenomenon with a focus on the lives of dead wrestlers. It is a fascinating read for fans, even if it is a bit sobering that so many of the wrestlers we followed as kids are now deceased. In fact, seven of the performers I saw that Monday night in 1997 are now dead.
So with a rekindled interest, I started scanning the internet daily for current wrestling news, which led to returning to WWE Monday Night RAW a few weeks ago. I may have been out of the loop for almost 15 years, but it was easy to assimilate myself once again. RAW is essentially a soap opera with the people in charge (i.e. The McMahons) working with or against the superstars (the main attraction), and a bunch of second-tier wrestlers there to fill the three-hour show.
Twenty-five years ago, the antagonist was the Ultimate Warrior. Fifteen years ago it was Austin. And now a straight-edge punk rocker named CM Punk is the thorn in the side of everyone behind the curtain. Well, at least he was up until I decided to start watching, because Punk quit the WWE hours before that night’s episode of RAW.
I had started to watch videos and listen to interviews with Punk, and he immediately became my new favorite wrestler. Punk had worked his way up from the independent wrestling circuits in Chicago to being the WWE champion in 2008 and the company’s number one instigator. Punk’s “gimmick” is being an out-spoken opponent of whatever is popular; essentially he is portraying his real-life persona. On that Monday morning, Punk told Vince McMahon he was “going home,” and walked out on the WWE. He has been removed from WWE events, and has not spoken with anyone since leaving the company at the end of January.
The day before Punk’s departure and my return to RAW was the pay-per-view event Royal Rumble, a 30-man battle royal with the winner receiving a title shot at WrestleMania in April. Punk finished fourth, and part of his dismay with the WWE was that a former champion named Batista returned from filming the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, and won the Rumble.
The internet rumor mill has Punk returning either for RAW on March 3 in his old stomping ground of Chicago or for WrestleMania in April. After listening to Marc Maron’s interview with Punk for his podcast, WTF, I would not be surprised if Punk is actually finished with the WWE. But wrestlers leave and return so often that Punk staying away would be more shocking than if he returned.
The Royal Rumble also included an earlier match with Daniel Bryan, a crowd favorite with a massive beard and the simplest of catchphrases (“YES!”), who felt that he should have been included in the Rumble. Over the past few weeks, Bryan has assumed the instigator role left open by Punk’s departure, and worked his way into Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. The winner of this six-man steel cage match faces Batista for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania in New Orleans on April 6.
Bryan was the final wrestler eliminated by current champion Randy Orton after some outside help from Kane, a former wrestler who is now the WWE Director of Operations. The majority of fans wanted Bryan to win on Sunday, and judging by the crowd reactions after the match, many thought he would win. But if you’ve watched enough soap operas, you know that the villains within the WWE will do anything in their power to stop that from happening. Even with all the media attention given to Bryan recently, it will probably be better for business if he continues to have setbacks before becoming the champion.
When I told some people that I had started watching pro wrestling again, they chuckled. Grown men apparently do not watch other grown men in fake fights with predetermined outcomes. But I never watched pro wrestling because of the matches. The draw for me is the insane interviews, the over-the-top theatrics and the larger-than-large personalities of the wrestlers. Vince McMahon says that the WWE is “sports entertainment,” and he’s right. The men and women who walk into the ring are most definitely athletes, and they are also there to entertain the masses.
You can say that about any athlete in any other sport in America. They just tend to wear more clothing.
Follow Jeremy Klumpp on Twitter @Klumpp13
