It's all Fake...

Scripted, pre-determined, yes......

Fake, no.

Grew up on Sunday morning staying as quiet as possible so my mom wouldn't wake up and take me to church so I could watch Wrestling at the Chase and WCCW. When the former started showing WWF instead of the local stuff I was out. Huge WCCW/NWA/WCW fan, not at all a fan of the cartoonish WWF at the time. Stopped watching in the mid 90s and have tried a few times to get back in but never stuck.

Hated Ric Flair because I was supposed to but in high school realized he was the best thing ever. There was one match in either 80 or 81 where David Von Erich had Ric in the claw on Wrestling at the Chase and when Ric got free his head was covered in blood I legit thought he was going to die. That's wrestling!

In HS and college we'd watch and every time a wrestler bladed himself we'd all yell, "CUT CUT CUT" as he did his work and it was glorious. Good friend from college was from Japan and had the Muta match that was the spawn of the Muta scale. Drove him to St. Louis to see a local WCW card and we had a great time.

I like that he describes them, not as alligator shoes, but as "lizard shoes."

This one only gets better as it goes.

A Classic from David Schultz
https://youtu.be/oEIzkLr7JzQ?si=ewQRcJWwaQs6aazV

In my opinion the greatest promo of all time, after Paul E Dangerously busted Cornette open with his cell phone.

https://youtu.be/4lEbFMSPvbk?si=Ouct_-JNjtrUHM5m

shocking lack of Hacksaw Jim Duggan
show your hunt tuff guys and vote

Duggan's promos were terrible. Except for the time that he was diagnosed with cancer and gave an emotional in-ring interview during his WCW days, but he basically dropped kayfabe for that one.

Hacksaw's promos demonstrate how a particular narrative has been festering since the 80's
not quite sure how i escaped full indoctrination, but somehow i did

I am going to nominate AA as an underrated mic worker from the 1980s. He always seemed legitimately pissed off and he did a good job of coming off like an actual tough guy.

Yes and no. If every figure four was real, there'd be a ton of broken legs and dislocated knees, but they definitely take a beating. This episode of Politically Incorrect starts off with Maher saying the "wrestling is fake" thing, and Piper goes off on him. The burn at 12:45 is the best part though.

I've known quite a few Hacksaws in my life, and generally speaking, they're great dudes.

I've never seen this! Hilarious.

The funniest Royal Rumble elimination.

https://www.wwe.com/videos/bushwhack...al-rumble-1991

Yes, but do you realize what it actually is? It’s a play. A live play version of an action movie where the actors do their own stunts. The fake drama in between is the “plot” followed by choreographed fight scenes.

Well sure, and lot of the holds are done in a way to look painful, but not actually hurt.

But the bumps can't be faked. There are plenty of injuries that occur. There are insane characters like Mick Foley as Cactus Jack or Mankind, the latter getting thrown off of the Hell in a Cell cage.

Barbed wire baseball bats, thumbtacks, and going thru tables are hard to fake. The chair shots are mostly done in a way that they take as little damage as possible now (tho in the past, shots to the head were unprotected and real, until they learned about CTE and how brutal that damage could be long-term).

The Six Feet Under podcast featuring Mark Calaway (aka The Undertaker) is really solid woth fun stories and some behind the scenes info (he still protects the business a lot, tho).

https://youtu.be/y1yF_Jg0fPs?si=s9DtzLSgahGUJFyT

Oh yeah...

Latka on Taxi wasn't funny either.

Kaufman didn't do 'funny' humor by telling jokes... the jokes on you.

The joke was on the people who thought they were in on the joke but others weren't.

Like I said...

Once upon a time, the joke was on me. That is no longer the case.