BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
There are fans, there are fanatics, and there are devote followers. In many ways professional wrestling is a lot like organized religion. Not in the offensive or tongue-in-cheek kind of way either. What I mean is the target demographic and the devotion involved. There are those who “believe” in a faith but aren’t as fanatical as some, but some believers will go to church every week and make religion a big part of their daily life. Regardless of the extent of your belief and practice, you’re still a “religious person”. Some wrestling fans can be “marks”, “smarks”, “insiders”, or even the professionals themselves. Regardless, if you have “it” in you then you’re always going to be a “wrestling person”.
It’s getting closer to WrestleMania and for a “wrestling person”, it’s a big deal. The Royal Rumble to WrestleMania period for a “wrestling person” is like the holiday season between Thanksgiving to New Years for most others. Tis the season to be a wrestling fan. If you’re an avid viewer, a semi-casual die hard, or a freaky fanatic you’re paying attention to what’s going on. It makes sense. People will watch and appreciate it at their own leisure. They’ll get into other sports, life, and other programming. Life is full of distractions, complications, and things to do. No matter what, if you’re really a “wrestling person” then you know what’s going on.
This makes me think about the comparison of markdom. The taboo nature of professional wrestling is that it’s “fake” and “scripted”. In today’s world, so what? Just about everything we see on television is “fake” and “scripted”. Does anyone care that “reality shows” are “fake” and “scripted”? Nope. Still, this is a taboo. Much like how someone could criticize a “religious person” that their beliefs are “fake”. As offensive as it may be to those who devote their lives to an 100% unproven entity, there isn’t much difference. You’ll have the wrestling fans who’ll buy into everything. They’ll innocently see everything “as is”. You know, the “marks”. From there it goes on to different levels of obsession. Then those see behind the curtain know that most religion is based on parables and that the morals and heart of the stories that have been passed down is what people should take in… not the literal. I would think the fair comparison would be the wrestling fans who don’t bitch too much about things and appreciate the art of the storytelling in and out of the ring. Those who’ll go too far off their rocker to complain about a certain aspect of wrestling are like the religious people who cling on to one or two stances; be it abortion, death penalty, etc., and make it their mission to “save people”.
It’s all the same. We have our saints, we have our devils, and we have horrible looking shirts.
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