Is Professional Wrestling a Form of Modern Day Theatre?

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Is Professional Wrestling a Form of Modern Day Theatre?  

For many years now professional wrestling has been a ‘sport’ that has been criticised to be rather fake and artificial.  Critics have stated in the past that “Wrestling is for idiots” and that “Wrestling fans must be stupid to not realise that they are not really hitting the other person properly.”  Personally, one feels that professional wrestling is a form of theatre for today that provides entertainment as well as sport.  This has made many people may wonder, is it a sport or is it entertainment? Hence the term ‘Sports Entertainment’ was born.

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) can be a prime example of this.   The WWF has been a family own business for four generations by the McMahon’s.  Its present owner Vince McMahon in the last two decades has transformed the WWF into a multi-million-dollar company, and is at the top of the ‘sports entertainment’ business beating all other rival wrestling organizations for ratings.

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 To try and explain the notion of sports-entertainment to critics is not easy.  It can be said that there is nothing like it in American culture that has had such an impact across the world.  People watch it for different reasons, some enjoy the athleticism, some enjoy the humour and some simply enjoy being an active participant in a fun and exciting community.

The wins maybe predetermined, the moves are choreographed, but the result of the violence is very real.  It could be argued that the wrestlers are just acting and they really do not get hurt, but ...

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