Any fellow wrestling/WWE fans here?

[StayPuft]

(06-11-2012 11:18 PM)Old Dwarf Wrote:  Well "Childern" back in the early 50's when TV was just getting started,Wrestling was big on TV,we all remember
Gorgeous George & Haystacks Calhoun.I think at the time most people didn't realize it was fake!.

It died out as TV got more programing options,then in the 70's it made a comeback as "Entertainment"
I watched with my young son & basically tore up the TV room.This was the Superstar Billy Graham,Bob Backland,
George the Animal Steel era .

OD

The wrestling industry was actually EXTREMELY protective of this “secret” for a long time. It wasn’t until fairly recently that they officially came clean about it. I think it would have been the late 90’s or early 00’s, but I can’t remember for sure. Vince McMahon himself finally came out and admitted that, while fake isn’t exactly the right term (the wrestlers do still take a lot of punishment and endure a lot of pain), it is all predetermined and for entertainment.

To be honest, I think it was a GREAT move. After all, the vast majority of wrestling fans were pretty near 100% sure it wasn’t real. Back in the day was one thing. Nowadays, it would be insulting our intelligence to try to continue to expect people to believe it is real. So, I think it was actually a smart move, and helped them to gain even better mainstream acceptance. More people were able to see it for what it really was, just pure entertainment. In the past, non-fans always thought fans literally thought it was real. Most of us knew the truth all along. So, this put that all behind us. You know, for the most part.