By DAN GELSTON (AP Sports Writer)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — He looked over the Arizona audience who had bought tickets to see a wrestling match involving the most powerful heavyweight in the world, as measured by both box-office success and impressive muscles. Then The Rock began to verbally attack his opponents. And as is often the case with public outbursts nowadays, merely attacking his opponents was not sufficient. He also felt the need to insult the audience.
“The Rock did some investigating, and here’s what he discovered. This is the reality. This is a fact. Phoenix, Arizona is the number one city in America for using cocaine and meth,” The Rock declared to a loud crowd who appeared to enjoy the insults. Only then did he proceed to defeat his WrestleMania opponents.
Were The Rock’s claims accurate? Or were they solely a way to engage in aggressive trash talk? More importantly: Does anyone truly care, as long as the entertainment level is extremely high and WWE continues to attract more fans to watch and spend money on its key event, WrestleMania, taking place in Philadelphia this weekend?
In the blurry area that merges sports, entertainment, and even politics, the concept of being bad has never been so popular. Say what you like. Do as you please. The public loves it. And for many years, the extravagant world of professional wrestling has thrived right in the midst of it all.
Outside the ring, Dwayne Johnson trades in his Superman spandex for Clark Kent glasses and a leather jacket as he works on creating a positive image to promote his movies, his tequila brand, his men’s care line, his football league—business ventures where the most important thing is not insulting the competition by calling them a group of “roody-poo candy-asses.” However, under the bright lights every week on live TV, Johnson understands that storylines are built on his Hollywood villain persona.
“I believe everybody wants to be the hero, the good person. Everyone wants to be adored and cheered for and seen as the champion, which is wonderful and expected,” he states. “But, in my career, I have felt that the real achievement is when you have the opportunity to take control of the situation, you seize it with both hands. And that is the opportunity to be a great villain.”
The Rock is scheduled to be the main attraction on one of the two nights of the annual WrestleMania event taking place in Philadelphia this weekend, with over 70,000 fans expected to fill the NFL stadium that is the home of the Eagles on each night.
City street poles are covered with banners of your favorite wrestlers, or the ones you love to hate. Philadelphia has been inundated with wrestling conventions, autograph signings, independent wrestling shows, podcast recordings, a 2K24 gaming tournament, and all the other elements that have transformed the industry into a mainstream cultural phenomenon.
Right from the beginning, WrestleMania was created to be unique.
In 1985, Mr. T and Muhammad Ali helped fill Madison Square Garden, and “The Showcase of the Immortals” rapidly turned a night of wrestling typically held in smoky arenas into the Super Bowl of entertainment. As WrestleMania approaches its 40th anniversary, it has never been larger—even with founder Vince McMahon being shunned and removed from the company following a lawsuit related to sexual abuse.
Yes, McMahon and Donald Trump even fought at WrestleMania in 2007 in a 'Battle of the Billionaires' match.
'Donald Trump, to some extent, represents a lot of American culture,' McMahon said in 2007. 'He's larger than life, which really fits into what the WWE is.'
Perhaps wrestling truly reflects who we are as a nation. Even if you still cringe at the very idea that anyone would enjoy this type of wrestling, chances are you've still heard of The Rock and Hulk Hogan. Andre the Giant and John Cena. You've tried a Slim Jim because Randy Savage promoted it, or shouted 'Woooo!' at a hockey game like Ric Flair. Dave Bautista became a WrestleMania champion before he even guarded the galaxy.
'Look at the way it was promoted in the 80s, when Vince McMahon really changed the entire industry,' said author Brad Balukjian, whose new book is about 1980s WrestleMania stars. 'He has the action figures, the cartoon, the bedsheets, and the lunch boxes. He turned these guys into the Batmans and the Marvel Cinematic Universe of the 80s, in a way.'
Fans have long been in on the act — and embraced it. It's a mutual agreement for even paying customers to play their own roles in the four-sided ring performance. So they cheer. They boo. And despite all evidence to the contrary, they openly accept that each move is as legitimate a sporting action as anything found in a weeknight ballgame.
Wrestling pretended for so long to be legitimate. Comedian Andy Kaufman shocked people when he was slapped by wrestler Jerry Lawler on 'Late Night with David Letterman.' But the truth was revealed long ago. On Wednesday, Johnson and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns appeared on 'The Tonight Show' without any manufactured theatrics on their final hype job ahead of WrestleMania.
Former WWE star Dave Schultz slapped a '20/20' reporter in the 1980s for calling wrestling fake. Now ESPN, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, and CBS Sports have dedicated sections that report on both storylines and behind-the-scenes news, where the real drama is more likely found. Wrestling news is taken as seriously as any other sport's.
But is it? A sport, that is.
Debate the definition as much as you like. Wrestling — a precursor to reality TV and all the Real Housewives — isn't going away. And its biggest fans are often the athletes who want to be like the larger-than-life stars.
This week, Joel Embiid was about to reveal that he suffered from depression during an injury that cost him two months of his NBA career. But before the Philadelphia 76ers big man unburdened himself, he put on a WWE T-shirt with the slogan of the wrestling company's most boorish faction, Degeneration X: 'Suck It.'
For professional wrestling, there is momentum at hand. WWE's weekly television show 'Raw' will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal worth more than $5 billion. That's some serious cash that even the 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase would envy.
So go ahead. Mock wrestling if you want. Or ignore the deception and embrace Hulkamania and the frenzy that followed as a staple of the global sports landscape. Because it's not leaving the building anytime soon.
Consider John Kruk, former Phillies star and team announcer. You would think that the most important moment of baseball each year would be a must-watch for him. However, he said on TV to wrestler Kofi Kingston that if pro wrestling is coming to town, other things come first.
“If it was a World Series game, if the Phillies aren’t playing, and wrestling was on,” Kruk said, “I’m watching wrestling.”
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