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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rude Pundit - Note to Glenn Beck: Don't Open Yourself Up to a Full Nelson from the WWE
When the Rude Pundit was a kid in Florida, one of his favorite things to do with the menfolk in his family was go to check out the "professional wrestling" at the local coliseum. Back in the day, he got to see Dusty Rhodes, Cowboy Bill Watts, and more. He got to see a battle royal with Andre the Giant. It was big, dumb fun, before the corporatized days of Wrestlemania and the WWE (or, previously, F). Even though many people wanted to know if it was fake or real, the fans didn't give a shit. In the moment, it was real. If the American Dream, as Dusty Rhodes called himself, took off his elbow pads and became a gentle flower cultivator, it didn't matter.
Back in that time, the "bad guys" were often foreign; be it your mad Sheik or your Toru Tanaka, you were always encouraged to boo at the non-white dude while men in cowboy boots stomped them.
Why bring this up? Because it's encouraging to find out that the current WWE champion is a Mexican character, Alberto del Rio, who is a widely loved "good guy." And the bad guys gunning for him are two redneck Tea Party members, Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger, whose rhetoric is just like anything you'd hear at a teabagger rally.
Why bring this up? Because internet radio host Glenn Beck got all upset at the portrayal of his beloved nutzoid Tea Party as racist jerk-offs who spout meaningless, jingoistic bullshit. He called the WWE's fans "stupid" and wondered, "I just don't see a bunch of progressives going and buying their tickets to the WWE." That's right. Glenn Beck turned against a Republican-led company and its customers.
Why bring this up? Because Beck's jawing off led to this bitch-slapping from "Colter" and "Swagger" (make sure you watch until at least 1:45 in):
Now, of course, this doesn't make up for years of sexism, racism, and homophobia in wrestling. But turning Glenn Beck into an out-of-touch elitist who thinks people are too dumb to know the difference between what's real and what's not? That shit is beautiful. And real.
Note: The Iron Sheik, a WWE villain, went ballistic on Beck. He tweeted to Beck, "you deserve to be waist deep in dog shit drink gasoline you insult my fans Im going to beat the fuck out of you dumb bitch". Oh, Iron Sheik, you speak for us all.
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/
Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)you jabronis.
JustAnotherGen
(31,828 posts)JUST because you put Andre the Giant in a post! I want to be six again not be aware that it's not 'real'.
intaglio
(8,170 posts)Go and tell 12,000 wrestling fans that they're "stupid"
Please ...
Pretty please ...
I'll buy the band aid ... well one band aid
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)I wouldn't want the Sheik to stop at one band aid.
intaglio
(8,170 posts)Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)trumad
(41,692 posts)Andy was in character though.
Archae
(46,335 posts)GiveMeFreedom
(976 posts)thanks. Stossel gets his ass handed to him, LOL.
tblue37
(65,403 posts)closed captioning on that video is really, really bad. I'd like to know why the wrestler smacked Stossel--twice. (Though I'd love to smack the jerk, too!)
Archae
(46,335 posts)tblue37
(65,403 posts)johnlucas
(1,250 posts)The proper terms would be Nerfed, Choreographed, & Predetermined.
But each & every one of those moves you see those wrestlers do can severely injure or even kill you!
When Dr. D David Schultz, a 6' 6" 250+ pound man, does a simple slap, his fellow 200+ pound wrestler can take the impact.
Comparatively scrawny John Stossel fell down like a house of cards when Dr. D slapped him.
On screen the motion Dr. D put out on Stossel was exactly the same as he would do to a wrestler on TV.
When you hear Dr. D say "That's an open hand slap" he's making reference to what is seen as the SIMPLEST move in a wrestling show.
He shows just how devastating a simple 'open hand slap' can be to someone not used to this 'tough business' as he continually said.
The way Stossel fell to the floor proves what Dr. D's point about that business being tough when he says "That's why you're not in it".
The moves are nerfed to reduce chance of injury.
They're choreographed for that same purpose & also to put on a better performance.
The matches are predetermined because that makes for more interesting fights.
True fighting is ugly-looking, short-lived, & is unpresentable much less marketable.
Think of a schoolyard fightall clumsy-looking & crude.
All parts of the fight game put rules in to make the fights more watchable & thus more marketable.
That goes for Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, & Wrestling.
Notice how boring boxing can be when the boxers are all locked up on each other in that hugging mess?
One day the inevitable scandal on how the fix is in on MMA will come out & then everybody will understand why wrestling is "fake".
All sports are fixed somewhere.
You think you're REALLY seeing true human competition?
All humans are not created physically equal or even comparative.
It gets boring if one guy wins all the time.
All sports must tell a story whether that story is about the dynasty or the underdog.
People watch sports for the combination of athletics & the story behind the athletics.
Pro wrestling is just more honest with it than the others.
That's what makes them so good. They always straddle the line between Fantasy & Reality.
John Lucas
tblue37
(65,403 posts)Berlum
(7,044 posts)loves to talk big, then whimp out. Sooo Republican. Killer Kowalski would kick Beck's Republican Chickenhawk keester from here to Timbucktu.
tblue37
(65,403 posts)Initech
(100,080 posts)"Ah I was wondering what would break first - your spirit or your body????"
Maybe we could send Glenn to that underground pit prison afterward.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)as a teen as well as Dusty. What memories that brought back. Haven't thought of it in ages.
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)GiveMeFreedom
(976 posts)These guys are great. True "craftsman", real entertainers. Glen Wreck, not so much.
rppper
(2,952 posts)Just now on raw....
In Dallas Texas no less!
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)could never really understand wrestling, though.
johnlucas
(1,250 posts)All kinds of people watch wrestling.
All political persuasions, all economic classes, all ethnic backgrounds.
I learned a lot about life watching wrestling growing up.
It's an essential part of our culture in my opinion.
I'll take even the lamer John Cena-led PG Era of wrestling we're emerging from over anything Glenn Beck says ANYDAY.
John Lucas
jsr
(7,712 posts)HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)All of that clan are laissez-faire Repub monopolists. Not so sure how Steph leans, but the males are definitely card-carrying Teahadists just like Loathsome Linda.
mgc1961
(1,263 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Can't wait to see how this ends.