Misconceptions of Professional Wrestling - Part 2

(Part 1 of this article can be found HERE.)

 

When I was younger, people had these ideas and concepts about professional wrestling that they would tell me. It was as if they somehow knew everything about the professional wrestling business. Things I used to hear time and time again were:

 

“Wrestling is scripted”

 

Okay, so is wrestling scripted? Well, that depends on the person and circumstance. Now, when I use the word ‘scripted’ I am referring to promos, interviews and segments. When a wrestler goes to the ring to cut a promo, does he know exactly what he is going to say? Did he just learn a script? Yes and no. I’ll give you an example.

 

Vince Russo

Vince Russo, who was the head creative writer for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1997 - 1999 wrote most of the stuff for the performers. He said that characters such as Goldust and Val Venis he wrote everything for due to their gimmick. He also said when Triple H started with DX he “pretty much wrote every word that came out of his mouth”, but that was because he was in the early stages of a new character and later the scripting became much less. 

 

However, top main event stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock just had bullet points on what they should cover during their segment, and had a lot more freedom in what they said.

 

“The blood in professional wrestling is not real”

How many times have I heard this one? Yes, the blood in professional wrestling is REAL. The process itself is known as blading or juicing. To carry out the blading, a razor blade is concealed in the tape on the wrestler’s fingers or parts of his hands. In some circumstances, the blade may also be stored somewhere else on the wrestlers body, but this is less common.

 

A small incision is made on the forehead, and this will cause the wound to bleed profusely. Scalp wounds also heal very quickly, so in a few days the cut will disappear altogether.

 

Obviously, professional wrestlers know where to cut, but there is a risk that they can cut too deep which results in permanent scaring, or even cutting artery located in the forehead. Probably, the most famous case of this was Eddie Guerrero at Judgment Day 2004. In this match he accidently cuts through an artery in his forehead resulting in massive surge of blood pouring from the cut. Eddie lost so much blood in that match that he felt the effects of it for two weeks after the match.
 

 

“They're just actors”

 

No, they are athletes. I think people really underestimate professional wrestlers, and the attributes it takes to actually be one. It takes an immense amount of training and dedication to be a professional wrestler, and the athleticism required is tremendous.  

Although, there are theatrics involved, that at the end of the day is part of the performance. 
 

Also, do you know the schedule of a professional wrestler? Its 320 days a year! Yes, you did hear that correctly. Many people think they do one TV taping a week, and a PPV every month and that’s it, well I’m afraid that is not the case.

 

Professional wrestling is 365 days a year, with no off season; it’s just 100% percent all the time. The days when they are not doing live TV tapings they are either traveling or doing house shows, which are non-televised wrestling events. They spend time away from home and there families just so they can entertain us.

 

“Nobody gets hurt in professional wrestling”

 

This is probably the most frequent one I heard growing up. Yes, the moves in professional wrestling do hurt. Actually, they hurt a lot. Dave Finlay once said “you can’t see pain, you can only feel it”.

 

The moves that professional wrestlers do in the ring are very impressive, but are also extremely dangerous. If something were to go wrong it could result in serious injury or even death. Probably, the most famous serious injure from a botched move happened on October 5, 1999 during a taping of SmackDown!

 

The match was D’Lo Brown against Droz, also known as Puke. During the match, D’Lo attempts a running powerbomb on Droz but wasn’t able to secure a tight grip on him as he was wearing a very baggy shirt at the time. As a result, D’Lo slams Droz directly onto his head resulting in fracturing two disks in his neck. The accident left Droz paralyzed from the neck down. Although, through treatment he has regained some movement in his upper body and arms. The match itself has never been broadcast. However, the stretcher image can be seen at 0:14 in the video below.

 

Another famous botch happened during the match between Owen Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin at SummerSlam 1997.

 

During the match Hart delivers a botched piledriver to Austin, dropping him directly on top of his head, resulting in breaking his neck. For a few minutes Austin lay in the ring completely paralyzed. After a few minutes had passed, he managed to regain enough movement to pin Hart and win the match. After the match, Austin had to be helped up and led to the back. He didn't take part in another match for four months.
 

 

Now, I can’t write about injures in professional wrestling without talking about Mick Foley. He has sustained countless injuries, broken bones, and concussions throughout his professional wrestling career. He even lost his ear during one match.

 

The most famous match of Mick’s was probably the Hell in a Cell match against the Undertaker at King of the Ring in 1998. This goes down as one of the most violent and dangerous matches in professional wrestling history.

 

There is a lot I could say about this match. Actually, I could probably write an entire article about it. However, I’m not. I’ll just give you an outline of what happened during the match.

 

The match itself consisted of two main high falls, or bumps as they are known in professional wrestling. In the first fall, Mick was thrown from the top of the cell through the announce table, which was a height of 22ft when taking into account the angle at which he fell.

 

Surprisingly, Foley only suffered a dislocated shoulder from the first fall, but was still badly shaken up. At this point the match was stopped, and Mick was taken away from the ring. But being the crazed lunatic that Mick Foley is, he comes back to the ring and scales 16ft up the cage once more to continue the match.
 

Now, the first fall was supposed to take place, although everybody regretted letting it take place afterwards. However, what happened next was 100% legitimate and was not planned.

 

The Undertaker delivers a chockeslam to Foley resulting in a panel in the roof of the cell to give way, and Foley crashes to the mat below knocking him unconscious in the process. On the way down a steel chair which was on top the cell came down with Mick striking him in the mouth causing him to lose one and a half of his teeth. One of his teeth went up into his sinuses and came through his nose. Other than this, from that fall he sustained a badly bruised hip, a pierced bottom lip which was caused by him biting all the way through, and a severe concussion.

 

Foley just lay there lifeless in the middle of the ring for a few moments, and medics immediately rush the ring. Terry Funk, who was at the scene at the time said in his book, "Watching from the back, I thought he was dead. I ran out here and looked down at him, still lying in the ring where he'd landed. His eyes weren't rolled back in his head, but they looked totally glazed over, like a dead fish's eyes.”

 

At this point, the match was stopped again. However, Mick chooses to continue the match. At this point, Mick can hardly get to his feet, and the matches carries on for about 10 minutes, with the Undertaker ultimately winning the match.
 

After the match, Mick refuses to be taken to the back on a stretcher, and has to be carried to the back. Mick receives a standing ovation from the entire crowd.

 

Mick could not remember much of the match itself and had to be shown tapes of what exactly happened during the match. Still, 15 months after the match, Mick struggled to remember peoples phone numbers, an on one occasion drove an hour past his house without realising.

 

The fact is Mick Foley could have easily been killed that night, and for what? Just so he could entertain a crowd. No man will ever attempt what he did that night. Was it necessary what he put his body through that night? No way. But what happened that night will be remembered forever, and nobody will ever try to recreate it.

Oh yeah, did you know professional wrestling is fake? Give me a break.

 

If you would like to see the full match then a video can be found below.

I hope you enjoyed this article, and part 3 will be uploaded soon.

Catch you later,

Giordano