Wrestling: Lies and Exaggerations

[Guest The Bad Guy]

That's what I'm wondering... why does the wrestling consistently lie? Just recently we've been told that the last stretcher match was in 1986 even though most of us know that it was actually in 1981. We've been told that Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels have never had a match although they did in 1991 and it's commercially available on tape. This isn't anything new...

 

As far back as I remember things were made up or exaggerated for dramatic purposes. Andre The Giant was said to be undefeated for fifteen years leading into his battle with Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III, which was also supposed to be the first meeting between the two... the problem with that is that Andre had indeed been defeated in those fifteen years and had fought Hogan. Hogan had even hit the body slam on Andre prior to Wrestlemania III, though it was still considered impossible for whatever reason.

 

It's common to look at older wrestling videos and notice things like twenty minutes having gone by being announced when the time is closer to eight to ten minutes. Yokozuna's excuse for losing the World Wrestling Federation championship to Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania IX was that he had just wrestled a twenty minute match with Bret Hart, the actual time was barely over ten minutes.

 

Heights are also frequently exaggerated, both the heights of the actual wrestlers and the heights from which they leap. Andre The Giant was reportedly only 6'11" which was six inches lower than his listed 7'5", Hulk Hogan's listed height has plummeted from seven feet to 6'7". I also seem to recall a match at a Bash at The Beach where the Nasty Boys jumped from no more than five feet in the air and the comemntators claimed it was twenty to thirty feet in the air.

 

Since I've rambled on for four paragraphs... what's my point? I think professional wrestling could be taken a bit more seriously and would be quite a bit more fun to watch if things weren't forgotten or ridiculously exaggerated. Don't you think that the Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair storyline would be far more entertaining if the 1991 match was acknowledged in some way... perhaps that could have explained Flair's recent heel turn, that since he had beat Michaels he didn't think he was worthy to be his partner.

 

Speaking of things that were made up... let's not forget the Rio De Janiero tournaments for the world and intercontinental championships... Anyway... I've given my opinion, so what do you think?

[Guest CheeseBurgersSuck]

HBK was too scared people would see his mullet if they showed highlights from that match in 91

[Guest Austin3164life]

Heights are the most exagerrated. When I met The Rock a while back, he was only about two inches taller than I am, and I am only six-one. They want to give the "larger than life" feeling I guess.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

The whole concept of pro wrestling when it turned into a work was the "larger then life" appeal. Hogan was a superman type guy, Jake the Snake was an evil villian, Andre weighed 700 pounds yada yada yada. It was designed to be the alternative to sports and shows based around reality.

 

Nowadays we're still lied to on a daily basis, more so then during the 80's when you think about it. Because we're led to believe that 3 Minute Warning, Nathan Jones, La Resistance, Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash have talent.

[The Dames 0]

I find it equally ironic that the Hogan/Andre match at Shea Stadium is on the Hogan Still Rules DVD as well as the famous Hogan/Andre match.

 

If any new fan watched those matches in chronological order, they wouldn't understand the big deal about WM 3.

 

Dames

[Guest crandamaniac]

Why am I thinking of the Buried alive match that Micheal Cole announced where he said the tombstone weighed some 5000 lbs.

[Guest alkeiper]

Heights are the most exagerrated. When I met The Rock a while back, he was only about two inches taller than I am, and I am only six-one. They want to give the "larger than life" feeling I guess.

 

Rock's listed at 6'4". If he were 2" taller than you he'd be 6'3". That's not that far off.

 

If any new fan watched those matches in chronological order, they wouldn't understand the big deal about WM 3.

 

It works still because Andre won that match. If anything, it adds something to it because Andre beat Hogan before. The bodyslam means something because Andre gained considerable weight.

[LooseCannon25 0]

how about "Oh no.....he just threw those ringsteps right on his back. Those steps weigh in excess of 2000 pounds at least"

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Its to create dramatic effect. I dont mind the hyperbole so much since it seems more menacing to say something is made of steel and 100 pounds rather than plastic and 10 pounds or whatever. Or saying someone is 7 foot tall 5oo pounds rather than 6'6' and 350. Of course it seems kinda stupid sometimes. I hate historical inancuracy more since its part of their history and all...

[Guest Some Guy]

Even JR openly scoffed at Hogan's claim that Andre was 700lbs. Andre was almost always listed by WWF as 7'4" 525 from WM 3 on, at WM 3 Hogan said that he was 550lbs which was contradicted by Andre's ring intro that night.

 

My big thin is not so much that they exagerate things, it's the inconsistancy in which they do so. I don't really care that there were 78,000 people, not 93,173 people at WM 3, what irritates me is that Hogan has turned that into 94,000 and I've heard peope say 100,000. Shit by the rules of rounding numbers off you would round 93,173 down to 93,000, not up 827.

 

BTW, the ring steps are metal of some sort and probably weigh about 50lbs or so judging by how they are lifted by various guys.

[Guest Goodear]

I think professional wrestling could be taken a bit more seriously and would be quite a bit more fun to watch if things weren't forgotten or ridiculously exaggerated. Don't you think that the Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair storyline would be far more entertaining if the 1991 match was acknowledged in some way... perhaps that could have explained Flair's recent heel turn, that since he had beat Michaels he didn't think he was worthy to be his partner.

 

No I do not think that a match that took place 12 years ago would make the event more interesting to a casual consumer of the WWE product. Quite frankly if Flair were to bring it up, about 95 % of the audience would just be all, "So what?" Especially considering some of the people Ric has lost to in the last few months, your storyline makes little to no sense. The "first clash of legends" simply has more appeal than "second match since there was one a long time ago while Shawn was a member of the freaking Rockers".

[Guest WhenDanSaysJump]

Summerslam 2000 : "King, I don't know how far Shane fell, was it 50, 75 feet?"

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Wrestling, inherantly, is based on a lie.

 

The Wrestlers and Promoters work/lie/cheat/scam the fans into buying tickets/ppvs to see their shows. Sure, "wrestling is fake" is an accepted lie, but it's a lie none-the-less. If they can 'pretend' that two guys really want to beat each other up, why can't they 'pretend' this never happened, or pretend this guy is this big, or pretend that people are interested in this...

[Guest razazteca]

World Heavyweight Champion? Yet the WWE title is rarely contested outside North America.

[Guest wildpegasus]

To answer the original question the WWE always lies because they think nothing of their fans' intellagence. They just want to make their product look better than it is but in doing so they really only make themselves look stupid.

[Guest OnlyMe]

they think nothing of their fans' intellagence

 

Irony meter.... high

[Guest wildpegasus]

Yikes, I shouldn't be typing so fast. My statement still holds true though.