Pro-Wrestling: Real or Fake?

I stated before that I trained to be professional wrestler. During the course of this training, I learned the ins and outs of taking "bumps" and learning the ropes.

A thing that sometimes annoys me, is when I hear people say that wrestling is "fake".

Yes, the outcomes are predetermined. Yes, you try to protect your fellow wrestlers while in a match. But, tell me. How do you fake being picked up in the air and dropped to the ground?
Some people believe that the ring is padded, that is a big misconception. The ring is plywood, covered in a quarter-inch of carpet padding. The padding is not to protect the wrestlers, but to protect the canvas that is stretched over it. The "ropes" consist of elevator cables, covered in tape, or rubber. The first time you throw all your body weight into those, it's kind of a shock. Imagine dropping your weight onto the top rail of a fence as an example, and you're close.

Wrestlers as a whole, are expected to build muscle mass to protect their bodies from minor injuries such as bruising from the ropes, and mat. A side-effect of this is the fact that most of these guys are quite strong. Contrary to popular belief, you do not "hold back" or pull your blows when you smack someone. If I was going to hit somebody with my forearm, I would do just that...hit them, as hard as I can, so the crowd doesn't lose their suspension of disbelief. Chopping is fun too, as an initiation into the ring, I was given a choice to receive a chop from thirty guys, or thirty chops, from the man who ran the organization. I poorly chose the thirty from one guy thing. I was so welted that I almost bled. Sounds fake huh?

As far as bleeding goes, they do not use ketchup, or blood packs, or anything else to simulate blood. The most common way to "juice" in a match (as bleeding is called) is to hide a small piece of razor blade in the tape on your wrists, and to inconspicuously cut yourself while on the ground. Another way, is to allow your opponent to knock his knuckles on your eyebrow until it splits, causing a great flow. The only other way I know of, is to actually get injured from a blow by a chair, fist or some other oblect.

Chairshots, now there is an often misunderstood manuever. When hitting someone with a chair, the object is to hit them with the flat portion of the seat, while not holding back the force of the blow. That shit hurts, I don't care who you are. What's worse, is when in the heat of a match, you and your opponent are slightly off on timing, and you get hit with the wrong part of a chair. That often leads to a trip to the emergency room.

I guess what I am saying is, next time you see wrestling on TV, and think "this is so fake." Remember that these guys are great athletes, that can make something predetermined look improvised, and savage, while still keeping from crippling the guy they are in the ring with.

So if you think that falling seven feet onto a plywood mat, and bouncing back to your feet is fake, I say, try it yourself sometime.