Do you consider WWE a sport? (tennis, NFL, athletes, players)
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Yeah, absolutely not a sport. Not even an athletic competition in any traditional sense.
They are athletic. They do work hard at their craft and many have a sporting background.
They can do things that many others cannot. However, the same is true for a lot of other performers.
They put on a show, both in person theater, television and affiliated programming.
That doesn't make it a sport though.
You can recognize the athletic ability, the real bumps and bruises, the grind off their schedule and difficulty of the performance and enjoy the product and still recognize it is just a theater product and not a sporting competition
No. The only competition in the WWE is who sells the most merchandise and who's the best in sucking up to Vince McMahon and his daughter and son-in law.
The results are pre-determined but the wrestlers do feel pain and succumb to injuries.
I don't enjoy watching because it's too predictable and boring. Wrestling or "sports entertainment" hit its peak in the 90s. Wrestling no longer has that mainstream popularity it once had. WWE tries so hard to be cool but no one cares.
Peaks and valleys. Without question the mid to late 90's were the most recent 'golden period'.. Prior to that it was the mid-80's.. Before that.. Mid to Late 70's.. before that..
Never has it had quite the popularity of the mid 90's tho. Three solid national promotions (ECW barely fits that description, but) with 2 of them pulling, together, close to or over a 10 share on cable television.
WWE is hovering in the low 2 shares now with no competition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeachSalsa
Yes, it's definitely theater with actors.
Back in the 70s, my grandfather was a huge "fan". Never missed a show. He fully believed it was all real. I remember watching it with him sometimes as a 8-10 year old and thinking there is no way that is real...it's so fake!
I hate using the term 'actors'.. They are, I'm not disagreeing with you.. I just don't like the term.
They're certainly on par with the performers at a Cirque de Soleil show.. Performer, Wrestler, Sports Entertainer.. Those are good terms to describe them. Athlete is accurate as well.. But actor?
And.. I will agree with you on the grandparents.. My Grandfather was a HUGE wresting fan back in that timeframe.. NWA Championship wrestling on TBS. I think he got cable just for that. We were also close to a town where Monday night shows were run weekly.. He loved going and.. I think the two people who he hated the most in life were Ric Flair and Richard Simmons. lol
Not a sport, it's sports entertainment. That word 'entertainment' is a word the WWE loves. That tells you it isn't a sport. Not only does it ruin the mystique around pro wrasslin (kayfabe) , but it allows the WWE to work in more states. Legitimate sports have rules and regulations, one big one is drug testing. Even Stevie Wonder can see these guys are pumped full of steroids and opiates. As long as it is 'entertainment', those rules don't apply.
Looking at the definition of sport it would appear that professional wrestling is more of a sport than some want to believe, especially the synonyms. Though, I can't fault someone for thinking it's not as it doesn't fit the popular understanding of sport.
sport
spôrt/ noun
noun: sport; plural noun: sports 1.
an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
"team sports such as baseball and soccer"
synonymscompetitive) game(s), physical recreation, physical activity, physical exercise, athletics; pastime
"we did a lot of sports"
Looking at the definition of sport it would appear that professional wrestling is more of a sport than some want to believe, especially the synonyms. Though, I can't fault someone for thinking it's not as it doesn't fit the popular understanding of sport.
sport
spôrt/ noun
noun: sport; plural noun: sports 1.
an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
"team sports such as baseball and soccer"
synonymscompetitive) game(s), physical recreation, physical activity, physical exercise, athletics; pastime
"we did a lot of sports"
Now look up the definition of compete. That's where I think it would fall apart.. Because they're not truly competing with each other since the results are predetermined.
Every fan of wrestling gets the entertainment nature of the event but for some odd reason those that arent into wrestling delight in deriding the event with negative and derogatory inferences, yeah we all know its scripted and choreographed, thats why we like it.
Here's the other thing. Professional Wrestling can cause violence as people can get hurt sometimes because you see guys jumping on you which may cause breaking of legs and stuff like that. Plus I have often watch online of a feud between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. I find it more entertainment than a sport.
Is it a sport? No. But as a person who trained with the late Art Barr to be a pro wrestler, fake is NOT a good word to describe what they do. Most people would knock themselves unconscious doing a simple flat back bump. Heck, when you run the ropes the first few times the next day you are extremely bruised and find it hard to breathe without being in pain and trust me, you WILL find a way to sleep on your stomach for awhile after that! LOL!
Pro wrestlers are a combination of athlete, actor and stuntman. The match they have is pre-determined and the goal is to put on a good show without doing any serious long term damage to your dance partner. That said, what they do does hurt. It hurts a lot! You get used to that the more you do it. The major injuries come from mistakes and mistakes do happen. Especially when you go the speed they are going at these days.
Pro wrestlers have died in the ring or immediately after at the hospital. One that hit me hard was Jay Youngblood who was a childhood favorite of mine. He passed away in 1985 after rupturing his spleen in a match and then suffering heart attacks as he was being taken back to the locker room. The latest wrestler that I know of to die in the ring was Perro Aguayo Jr. just last year.
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competitive) game(s), physical recreation, physical activity, physical exercise, 
