More Than I Thought I Wanted To Know About 'Rasslin'

DUDE!

I just spent 4 hours researching professional wrestling on the Net!

I get into these research moods and just go after a subject, learning all I can until (a) I'm exhausted or (b) I find the answers to all my questions about the subject. And I just got off a tear about catch wrestling.

The irony is that I hate wrestling!

I'm not into sports in general, but I'm a bit of a snob about professional wrestling. It just seems mindless to me. In the '90s a coworker/friend/one-time-roommate tried to sell my on pro wrestling by explaining "It's a soap opera, dude," to which I replied -- and would still reply -- "I don't like soaps." (I am, of course, ignoring the fact that TV shows like Lost and anything created/co-created by Joss Whedon are Prime Time soaps, though I'm not ignorant to the fact, lol.) My argument is that it's poor writing, poor acting and not even minimally entertaining to sit through. (I don't do Reality TV, either. Give me J. J. Abrams- or Aaron Sorkin-quality writing and production or give me nothing at all.)

But as fate would have it, I have aired WWE Smackdown every Friday night at work for the last several years. Last year the CW -- which is my exclusive domain for the first few hours of my shift on Fridays -- THANKFULLY dropped it... But then My Network picked it up... Which is what I air immediately after the CW! :( I can't escape the 'rasslin'!

It's bad! I mean, I already know a few of the names and their characters, and a couple of the story lines! This is despite the fact that I usually come in with a podcast to listen to to distract me from the on-air crap. (If I'm just doing my work, part of my brain continues translating what's going on on-air. But if I have a podcast to listen to, that part of my brain half-way focuses on what's being said on the podcast even though I can still hear what I'm airing. It's like I'm focusing on what I'm doing, but part of my brain is focusing on the podcast, then another part of my brain is simply resgistering that the on-air content is still on-air. Otherwise, that second part of my brain would continue feeding my information about how Triple H feels about Edge this week, or whether or not Michelle McCool is currently a good guy or a bad guy, even though the first part of my brain is busy editing and adding/subtracting times.)

One of the reasons I'm noting this in an entry (other than so you can laugh at my lunacy) is because I've never actually timed a research jag before, lol. I mean, there are the sort of on-going obsessions with KISS or Kevin Smith or Alice Cooper or the paranormal (which has become a sort of full-time obsession now) or cinematic history or whatever, wherein every 6-16 months I'll get curious again and have to research for weeks until my curiosity is sated. But I also get these short-term obsessions, where one question leads to three questions, which in turn lead to five questions, and so on. I know that in the past I've lost hours questing for information on a given topic, but this is the first time I've known roughly when I began and when I ended, lol.

4 hours tonight. ;P

And you know what? If you stuck a book in my hand and asked me to read for 4 hours, I don't think I could do it, lol! But give me a question and the resources to answer both the initial question and the questions that will inevitably pop up as I learn more about the topic, and I can lose hours!

What set me off on this particular quest was one of the characters breaking Kayfabe. If you've acted before, this is like stepping out of character, or breaking the Forth Wall. (Although you might wanna hit the hyperlink above: breaking kayfabe is actually a bit more complex in the wrestling world that merely acknowledging the audience.) Wrestlers always deliver these speeches before getting sweaty with each other, but this one guy said something that seemed to actually acknowledge the difference between the "wrestling world" and real life!

That surpised me. I mean, everyone knows that pro wrestling is entertainment, not a sport. But are the wrestlers allowed to admit that? Publicly? Like, ON the actual SHOW?!!

The answer to that question lead me to Wikipedia that particular character, which lead me to the work "kayfabe". And that word offered a peek of the behind-the-scenes world and craft of wrestling that begged a handful of other questions that needed to me answered! I leanred a bit about the history of wrestling, the difference between Greco-Roman and catch wrestling. I know that my favorite character on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N' Wrestling, Junkyard Dog, was a face, and that Hulk Hogan's character in Rocky III was a heel. I also know enough Carny-speak to know not to let a sharpie peek my poke, and not to go looking for a glass hammer or an underwater lighter, and that if I see someone toting a plush, they just may be a shill.

All useful things to know!

Well... maybe "useful" is stretching the point a bit. ;P