I wrote an article in June recounting how I really felt about the WWE "Oh, No! What Happened to Vince McMahon?" which received terrible reviews from the wrestling community on B/R.
Well, I have no love lost for the WWE and do not keep it a secret from my readers here.
As I expressed in the other article I had a friend who once hung out with many WWE celebrities who, now that she has died, do not, want to acknowledge her. She could reach out for them even after her death, though.
A strange fact that they may not be privvy to, because they were not her best friend, which I indeed was (ever since she was 10 and I 15 when I first decided to befriend her), is that she tape recorded all of her phone calls with them and loved to play them for me, although I am sure this was as illegal as was her drug sharing with them; it was a sad fact of her life.
Of course Jan was not selective, she taped many of our phone calls and her calls to friends who were judges, police officers and many Peoria lawyers as well.
That Jan, such a card!
But Jan, or JJ as I have referred to her before, left me with a lot of things, many pictures of her with the "stars" who don't seem to remember her now.
Too bad; I have proof.
But if it were not for Jan having to have evidence of all her conquests and insider information, I would not know all the interesting things she knew from "being inside the circle of trust."
Because of her alcohol and drug abuse, Jan was not one to be trusted; perhaps that is why she always had to have proof.
(Somewhere I have a picture of Pete Rose, one of my idols who she just had to besmirch to disallusion me, in a pair of red underwear from when he was with her in Peoria. She looked a lot like his first wife, so that must have appealed to him. To really rub it in she got me a signed baseball too).
- B/R Ticket Guide
Oh, Jan, how I miss our long talks!
But my gripe with the WWE is more with the tripe they call "story lines," the stupid stunts Vince McMahon comes up with and the affects these have on both gullible adult fans and particularly children.
I have always preferred reading books of substance rather than comic books. That is why I like MMA rather than the WWE.
WWE is even worse for the mind than comic books were accused of being back in my day, when there were no video games, of course. Now these games are being accused of rotting the minds and morals of our youth.
Too many deaths have occurred due to the influence of the WWE.
And I am not referring to the accident that took Owen Hart's life, or the drug abuse that killed Miss Elizabeth, nor the steroids that have caused the death of Chris Benoit and his family at his hands.
Many teenagers trying to imitate the choreographed moves they have seen on WWE have been injured themselves, or have killed or injured friends or siblings not knowing these moves are rehearsed for TV and not safe at the hands of impressionable children.
Leaping from trampolines, ladders, and hitting each other with chairs proves fatal for children who see these things on TV.
But on TV of course the supposedly indomitable fighters get up and walk away to return the next week unscathed.
Parents who watch the WWE with their children should think long and hard about this.
I do not approve of steroid use in any sport, but I think professional wrestling where even Hulk Hogan had to admit under investigation, to having used steroids, has been especially irresponsible in this aspect of their "sport."
I find calling professional wrestling a sport offensive because regardless of where they got their start, fighters having an NCAA title or Olympic medal does not make the WWE a sport—it is athletic entertainment.
Because the outcome is rehearsed and predetermined it should not qualify as a sport.
Right now I am very tired of being attacked by the Brock Lesner fans for my dislike for him.
Yes, my dislike stems from his having participated in professional wrestling.
Excuse me for not being impressed by him and that is not an apology.
My oldest grandson is almost 16 and unless he gets bored, may someday be a champion.
He began at the age of five and for the last three years has gone to State.
It is embarrassing to admit that I took his father and mother to see WWE events in the Illinois area because Jan got the tickets for free.
Thank God the bad influence did not affect my family.
When my sons competed in wrestling they knew that WWE was phony, although a lot of their friends who tried out for the sport did not.
My message to parents of young children who love sports is to involve them in martial arts. With a reputable instructor their children will learn discipline and respect and learn the difference between real sport and phony WWE entertainment.
I love sports, but the WWE is just a bad form of entertainment.
comments (38) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
ow, you should never call me Mrs Doubtfire --Buhbye
about 1 month ago
HAHAHA
Dorothy, how do you keep attracting these gentleman callers? And such literary wonders at that! LOL
from about 1 month ago
The elegance of their elocution is exotic in the extreme, is it not Jersey Joe. Is it cause fearsome interlopers have entered their den? Guess I remind them of a teacher who kicked them out of English class robbing them of the thrill of attending graduation. But no, that couldn't be, I taught grades 6 through 12.
from about 1 month ago
this jet character is a joke.
i think he's upset because he had to find out from this article that the WWE is FAKE.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for agreeing that he seems a bit odd. Godh, Bob, I hope I didn't do psychological damage to him.
about 1 month ago
I'm not going to be ignorant like the rest. But I am a professional wrestling fan. I was raised upon it by my dad, and I'm 26 now, and my dad and I still watch every monday night together. It is a tradition I cherish with my dad, as it was with him and my grandfather (RIP). Hopefully someday, when I have a son of my own, I will continue that tradition with him. To me, professional wrestling is in my blood, heck my last name is even in WWE's hall of fame.
I mean no disrespect. Yes, I have watched and ordered a number of UFC fights, but I still prefer professional wrestling to the UFC. Its my opinion and I have my right to like what I do.
from about 1 month ago
Of course you do, and my friend did meet some great wrestling family's like the Hart family which she thought well enough of to want them to have one of the exceptional puppies from our litter; she was many things, but Jan loved animals with a passion.
Family traditions are what life is all about, and as long as kids are taught that it is make believe and not real they can keep it in perspective and not kill or maim all the other kiddies in the neighborhood trying to emulate the actors.
about 1 month ago
Respectfully, Dorothy, professional wrestling may not be your form of entertainment, but that certainly doesn't mean that it is a bad form of entertainment.
I am a professional wrestling fan. I enjoy the athleticism and I enjoy the storylines. Going to a live event and feeling the energy in the arena is a phenomenal experience for me, and the millions of people who attend events. Just because the outcomes are scripted does not, in any way, take away from the sheer athleticism that is required to participate in professional wrestling. I have a dear friend who works in the independent scene. He has seen MMA fighters come into professional wrestling schools and, more often than not, the MMA fighters can't hack the rigors of pro wrestling training. Just something to think about.
Blaming the WWE for children enacting wrestling moves at home leading to injuries and untimely deaths is akin to blaming video games, roleplaying games, and horror films for untimely deaths. In other words, it is completely erroneous and sensationalistic. It is a parent's responsibility to monitor their children's activities. It is a parent's responsibility to teach their children moral values. Despite that, the WWE provides warnings that professional wrestlers are trained to execute the manuevers seen on television and it is not safe to emulate the wrestlers without training. Thus, the WWE fulfills their obligation; parents must take responsibility for their children. Video games don't turn people into killers. Horror movies don't turn people into killers. The WWE does not turn people into killers. But they certainly seems to make good scapegoats for people who aren't willing to provide a moral compass for their children.
Discussing the steroid use in professional wrestling cannot simply be left at that. Steroid use is rampant in baseball, track and field, bodybuilding, and other legitimate sports. In point of fact, while the WWE has instituted a policy that not only tests for steroid use, drug use, and other medical conditions that might be negatively impacted by the strain of wrestling, no other organization can make the same claims. In the WWE, suspensions are handed out for only the first two failed drug tests and on the third, it requires automatic termination. Further, the WWE has begun the practice of paying for rehab for its current wrestlers AND anyone who has ever worked for the company. It doesn't matter if the person hasn't seen the inside of a WWE ring in years, the rehab is still fully covered. How many athletic/sports organizations can say the same? How many Hollywood production studios can say the same?
I am perfectly satisfied with the WWE as entertainment. Not only do I enjoy the storylines and watching the artistry of the matches, I am impressed with the measures that the WWE takes to ensure the overall well-being of its wrestlers. I actually like the phrase you used. Athletic entertainment is very apt. More often than not, the fans of the WWE are aware that professional wrestling is scripted athleticism. This isn't 1987, when the world of kayfabe was alive and well.
Interestingly enough, as a child I was a gymnast. As a teenager, I was a cheerleader on a competition squad, a softball player, and a swimmer. As an adult, I take martial arts classes. Even with the participation of real sports, I still find the WWE to be compelling entertainment.
To cap off, let me tell you a little story. My father graciously used his press connections to get me floor tickets for WWE's No Mercy this year. My friend and I were sitting next to a father and his two children, ages 5 and 7 respectively. Both kids were happy, well adjusted children who reveled in cheering for good guys and booing the bad guys. And, because I could, I helped both kids get close enough to the railing to get their hands shook by Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, and Rey Mysterio. All four men took a few extra moments to make these two kids feel special. These supposed jerks, as well as several others stars of the WWE, take time out of their lives to meet with children with disabilities and spend time chatting, taking photos, and signing autographs. They fly across the ocean to provide a show for the troops of the United States, spending time with our soldiers in the field.
In my mind, they give selflessly more than most entertainers and athletes. And they are a combination of both.
about 1 month ago
Mina, You certainly sound like a very lovely person. My girlfriend was a beautiful size 3 young woman who was an actress and model. She could have had a future in films and had many people who fell in love with her. She lived with Henry Winkler when he was playing the Fonz on Happy Days, and many people were willing to promote her. She also had many problems, such as her issues with drugs. The many WWF (at that time) stars she hang out with, one of whom you cited for his "good deeds" for disadvantaged children, was one of the same "boy toys" she did drugs and drank with. These men you admired took advantage of her addictions, enabled her and also used her for her body, if you get my drift. I am sure they would show you the same amount of attention they did her. Then you could witness their other deeds, behind closed doors and out of the public eye. I believe Bret Hart has become disallussioned with the organization and has written a book on those "good old days when Jan was around. I would like to see if he would disavow having known her as the others have. Listening to the conversations she taped would certainly open your eyes and give you a very different view of these athletic entertainers. Jan herself was big on helping disadvantaged children, but it did not keep her from the drugs and alcohol that eventually killed her.
I am an educator and former RN and have studied the effects of all types of violence which many
different activities have on children. Karate teaches discipline, enhances self esteem and has a beneficial affect on children. An article by a fifteen year old boy detailing the harm he had witnessed was directly related to watching WWE and how it caused young children to behave, asking that the local government ban its events to hinder its bad influence. This was what has made me a crusader. He bemoaned the fact that MMA was illegal where he lived, but professional wrestling was allowed b/c of increased revenues it brought to the state. His letter was very well written and completely compelling. the instances he gave were horrific. Too bad you and he couldn't be having this conversation.
from about 1 month ago
One of the men I cited, that I do admire as a person, has detailed his journey as a professional wrestler, as a person, and is brutally honest about his former drug and alcohol addictions. In his own words, he admits to having been addicted to painkillers, doing other drugs, and drinking too much. He admits to being selfish, angry, immature, and less than concerned about other people. But that man also found faith, kicked his addictions, and made a conscious effort to change. Going forward from his metamorphosis, he has been humble, honest, and forthright about his previous shortcomings, while living as an example for others. For that reason, I find him worthy of admiration. What he did back when during that time period is not to be ignored, but neither should he be mired in his past mistakes.
I am of the mindset that it is unfortunate when drugs and alcohol prematurely end lives, but addicts choose to spiral downward in their addictions. Someone else may do drugs or drink with them, but that other person isn't pouring the alcohol down their throats, isn't administering the drug, isn't making the choice. Just as I don't blame video games or horror movies for murderers, I find fault only with the person consuming the drugs and alcohol.
By the by, Bret Hart is the last person to be casting stones from his glass house. The man did write a book and in it openly discussed his dalliances with drugs and alcohol, and his shameless exploitation of women. He justifies it with the concept that serial cheating on his wife was better than being addicted to painkillers or other drugs, which he also took on occasion.
Again, however, I will reiterate. The WWE takes what precautions it can to prevent children from emulating what the wrestlers do on broadcasts and at house shows. The WWE is not responsible for how children behave; the parents of those children bear that responsibility. It is the same mentality that would allow someone to claim that playing a fictional video game or watching a movie causes children to behave in a certain manner and that is just not acceptable. People have personal responsibility. Until a child is old enough to discern right from wrong, the parent has a resonsibility to be the moral compass.
I am not a fan of professional wrestling with my eyes closed. There are instances in the history of the business that are less than ideal. There are stories of drugs, alcohol, death, steroids, and suicide. There are also stories of hope, change, triumph, artistry, and positive impacts on the lives of fans and wrestlers. Every sport, every avenue of entertainment, every walk of life, all of them have similar stories. Both the positive and the negative.
My main point is that these stories are not unique to the WWE, or professional wrestling as a genre.
from about 1 month ago
Yet, dear Mina, the problem has been very prevalent in the WWF/WWE since th &0's at least b/c that was when I, a responsible adult steered my children away from the "sport." My friend who was five years younger than me, and felt she was mature enough to make her own decisions. A month before she died she told me she wished she had listened to me and was sorry she had been such a bad influence on my children.
I did every thing I could do and have no regrets. She felt she was above taking a professed straights advice and paid the consequences. I could see she was on the path of self destruction, but so many "enlightened adults" she felt secure in her making her own decisions. In our shared time together I saved her from abusive boyfriends and husbands. I protected her from knives, guns and four men on one occasion--I just simply could not protect her from herself, but I am still very sorry for her. With her beauty and personality she could have had it all.
Tell Mr. Michaels "hello" for Janet the next time you see him.
from about 1 month ago
Clearly, any engagement in reasonable discussion will wind up back at the same nexus. Professional wrestling is evil because your friend was an addict that engaged in her addictions with wrestlers. While sad, the cold fact remains that wrestling is not the only arena with sad stories of addictions and death. Hollywood, sports, entertainment, high school, college, and just about every walk of life shares the same issues.
By your theory, your children should have been isolated from movies, from television, from sports, from music, from any sort of public or private education system, and generally living in a bubble.
Sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?
You are perfectly entitled to hold whatever opinion you form. By the same token, however, your personal vendetta does not entitle you to denigrate people who hold a different opinion.
I'm sorry your friend couldn't kick her habits and it resulted in an untimely death. My sympathy, however, doesn't extend to blaming anyone but Janet for those results.
from about 1 month ago
You are beginning to sound so defensive . . .. You are free to do what you want with your life, that is how I lived until MS intervened.
I was better at rescuing the children of the inner city, alcoholic or detached parent, and the outcasts, than I was in saving my own children. I never drank, smoked or did drugs, but my children do and have paid a high price for it. I am living to support my grandchildren in any way I can to help offset their parents mistakes. My life has not been lived in vain and if nothing else, I have saved many lives.
You go ahead and enjoy your life, save our conversations and please look back on them after you have more life experience and see if anything has changed.
about 1 month ago
Now Dorothy you knew I would have a comment here obviously. I want to respnd to this because you have yet to answer the question of why not to watch. Sure what happended to your friend was horrible, I am not talking about that. And Like I have said before it is true that some have used drugs, but you cannot pin drugs just on wrestlers though. Even MMA guys have done them, I know it weird isn't it. and many have before in other sports. Heck look at the Cincinnati Bengals for an example, none are wrestlers. If you say not to watch because of drugs then you are off base totally Dorothy. I would also like to respnd to this:
"Many teenagers trying to imitate the choreographed moves they have seen on WWE have been injured themselves, or have killed or injured friends or siblings not knowing these moves are rehearsed for TV and not safe at the hands of impressionable children."
Are you kidding me??? MMA is good to watch guess, if they imitate something it should be wrestling compared to MMA. See that is totally bias Dorothy, you cannot say that playing with a Sharp Knife is bad and hand them a Pistol. They are both bad and should be left in the hands of people who know how to use them better. I have more to say but I think the others covered it.
from about 1 month ago
I do not believe in worshipping at the feet of false heroes. My friend loved to disallusion me by showing me the frailties of the people I once had admired. Henry Winkler,Hulk Hogan and Pete Rose were a few of them. Henry turned out to be arrogant and egotistically thought his knowledge of Shakespeare was superior to mine and therefore did not impress me with his boorish attitude, Pete Rose slept around and proved to be corruptable (he was exposed to his admiring public and spent time in Marion, a prison in my home state, and the Hulk whom my children idolized, cared more about how a woman looked and if she was pretty and petite, which I suppose he thought put him in a better light as he was starting to bald even back then, than he did about a woman's character. Hulk messed himself up there didn't he? Ironic!
As I replied to another person, a fifteen year old made me aware of the pain he encountered seeing the damaging influence WWE had on his peers. I had followed the case of a twelve year old boy imprisoned for killing his little sister with a wrestling move he was imitating from seeing it on TV. He was shocked when his sister, unlike his WWE hero did not get up and walk away.
I put my children in Karate and while they were in it they had exemplary behavior. Turning to recreational drugs in their late teens was their downfall, but that was an activity they did not aquire at home.
from about 1 month ago
See your making this all about wrestling over what a few people did, and that is wrong blaming all fighting sports is one thing but blamming just wrestlign is another. And unlike MMA hardly, the WWE say don't try this at home. At every PPV, event, and show. You know for a fact that it is true. And sure pro-wrestling is coreographed like a dance is, but MMA is not and it is all fighting, would you rather peole just hurt each other liek they do in MMA or just play around in wrestling? Both are bad to imitate dorothy, but my problem is that you only blam one, both wrestle, both fight, why blam one when the other is just as bad, if not worse?
from about 1 month ago
Because in my experience with martial arts in general, I have only seen positive results, and in WWE I have seen many, many negative one. If you read many of my articles you will see how often I mention these WWE related, negative consequence, and this is NOT in reference to my girlfriend.
My husband, both sons, 15 3/4 years old and 4 1/2 year old are all wrestlers--the youngest has a new pair of Asics wrestling shoes that my husband got for him two visits ago. My guys practice "real" wrestling that has NOTHING to do with and barely resembles what you and WWE fans watch. All have studied Karate. They all excelled at wrestling. My husband has been in fights with drunken idiots and smart asses and submitted them with wrestling moves preventing what could/ would have been ugly situations; last submitting an idiot who was dumb enough to challenge him when he 45. The kid grabbed my husband around the neck from behind saying "never trust a black man!" and my husband broke his hold, reversed and submitted him, telling him in return, " and you learn never to jump an old redneck." He could have punched him out and injured him, but he didn't. He used his actual wrestling skills to subdue, not hurt him.
Guess you, from watching WWE would have been up a creek with no ropes, ladder, etc. to jump off of, or folding chair to hit him with, huh.
My husband, and even I have used a wrestling/judo technique to throw horses behaving badly. And if I had to, with an adrenaline burst, I could still do that in spite of my having MS. That is not so much a brag as it is my having 'muscle memory' that I can resort to in an emergency.
As a psych nurse I had to hold off, but not harm four different adult patients who had physically attacked me (each of these being on seperate occasions). One enraged male patient who had injured an RN on a medical floor and tried to strangle his wife, grabbed my left breast, refusing to let go and most definitely attempting to hurt me. My knowledge of/and basic martial arts training were what I used until a speed team could arrive to subdue him. I held off a man with 'crazy' strength who tried to injure me, for a period of almost 45 minutes,( b/c a nurse I worked with had taken my walkie talkie with her and I could not alert security).
I know muscle locks, how to break holds, pressure points, and how to use another's strength against them. I can protect myself and the only time I have been hurt was when my oldest son (in a fit of rage because I stood up to him), hit me in the temple and knocked me out. I just did not see the punch coming to block or deflect it due to having lost my peripheral vision (from MS).
The people who have attacked me did try to use WWE moves, as they used chairs, bedside tables and trays to try to hit me. So yes, I have had experience with WWE tactics too, but have never used them.
In college I was taught dirty street fighting, but have never used it--that is as close to WWE as I will ever get.
I have my reasons for disliking WWE, but not martial arts. And incidentally, my nine year old granddaughter and 15 year old granddaughter both started taking Karate at the age of three and have never suffered form it, but have gained an awful lot due to practicing it.
This reply has exhausted me mentally and physically (MS), so this had better be our last interaction. Go to my archives, read all my articles and you will know as much as I want anyone here to know about me and my life, and it is all true.
about 1 month ago
Elizabeth died of a mix of alcohol and painkillers.
Elizabeth was allegedly struck in the face by a Larry Pfohl ten days before she died -- struck on Easter Sunday.
Elizabeth was in a car accident just two days later -- the car driven by Larry, allegedly intoxicated.
Besides Larry's word on it, what evidence is there that Elizabeth died of "drug abuse" as opposed to a terrible misjudgment?
I do not mean to be confrontational. Merely, I see room for doubt, and I only want to give her the benefit of it.
from about 1 month ago
She and Janet preferred painpills and alcohol. A shared addiction. Janet tried to hook me on painpills--she caused a local female doctor who was smitten with her to lose her medical license for writing prescrptions for the strongest pain pills with codeine that were available and they shared them. When they were caught the doctor's loyalty to Jan prompted the good doctor to take the fall and legally absolve Jan who received no charges. Jan was a good manipulater and loved to share her addiction with her friends. Guess I was just not corruptable. What Ms E was into at the time of her death, I have no way of knowing. Janet's death was reported in the paper as an overdose on Methadone. Jan had been reaching out to me for help. but I was having my own health issues and would not spend time with her due to my extreme allergy to second hand cigarette smoke. I found many things about her death suspicious and because of her propensity "to get everything on tape" encouraged the authorities to do a further investigation--they didn't and Jan haunts me in my dreams and wants me to find the one responsible for her death. Another of her friends told me how she had been ripped off for a classic Mustang: he died very shortly after she did. I am not an investigator, just a friend of hers with a lot of intuition--but that is another story entirely.
about 1 month ago
I saw the title of the article and the way I read it made me think that you were saying that we ought to watch WWE. Like if it was about the lottery: Why not play?....Anyway, Dorothy, Jan did sound like a card. She must have had a room full of tape recorded convos.
I must disagree with you once again though. It is kind of hard to say that WWE is to blame for kids reenacting moves. The WWE cannot stop people from mimicking their product. Soceity likes to mimic what they see on tv regardless. People see a celebrity in something, people pick up that fashion. This is a copycat world. The WWE does tell people not to try this at home. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't do my share of backyard wrestling. I did it all through high school and we knew what moves we weren't going to try.
Don't blame Vince McMahon and other promoters. Blame people's lack of intelligence to know what they should and shouldn't do. Blame the parents for not properly monitoring their kids.
from about 1 month ago
Then you disbeleive that McMahon was responsible for the stunt that killed Own Wilson who was under contract and unable to refuse to do it??
from about 1 month ago
I believe you are talking about Owen Hart's unfortunate death.
Ok, great, you picked one big-time example. A horrific death that everyone picked up. Yes, Vince should have listened to the talent there. But it wasn't as if this was the first go-around for a wrestler to be brought to the ring that way. Shawn Michaels and Sting used similar techniques to enter the ring before the Owen tragedy.
So, Vince was at fault for that, partially. The safety guy(s) should be blamed as well but since it's Vince's company, he's at fault.
But Grandma Dee, I wasn't talking about wrestlers' deaths. I said WWE is not to blame for "kids" reenacting moves.
about 1 month ago
Pro wrestling is fake. MMA is real. I'll take real and abandon fake any day.
So what's the problem here? Dorothy, are you and I wrong? Should you and I be watching fake nonsense over real fighting? I'm I making any sense here? Or is pro wrestling real, but we don't know it?
from about 1 month ago
You were right the first time, friend. We indeed are old enough to know better. And I am sure with your life experience, you have seen how the WWE impacts impressionable youth just as I have.
from about 1 month ago
last time I checked this wasn't about real or fake. If there are those wrestling fans out there who feel WWE-type wrestling is real then they need to get their head examined.
I am a pro wrestling fan (sports entertainment fan, if you will) and I know it is staged. I am much more entertained though watching McMahon's product than that of MMA or boxing. For the most part, I know I can get my money's worth watching the predetermined fight instead of a match where the introductions may last longer than the real thing.
For the MMA fans out there, I have nothing wrong with the sport. It is a sport, pro wrestling isn't. But please, Joseph, come with a comment on what is being discussed and it wasn't the realness of the product.
from about 1 month ago
As a retired psych nurse I know how many people out there can't deal with reality, I am not surprised by your choice at all. Reality is hard enough to face to get through life, why complicate things by liking a real sport when there are fake ones that cater to your preferences and make you happy. Good for you! Peace! Be Happy!
As a nurse and retired HS teacher I prefer reality, as hard as it is to take. I gripe about every show I watch that portrays medical misconceptions which the viewers believe are real and may couse them to take risks with their lives. Not my kind of stuff at all.
about 1 month ago
What you talking about Willis?
Sorry i couldnt resist after seeing your last name.
Look Dorthy, I'm sorry you lost a friend. But I feel you have some anger towards wrestling because of that.
I have alot of inside stories too I could share.
I met and lot of the wrestlers 10 years ago.
I know alot of stuff that happened with a prominent group of people in WWE about 12 years ago who traveled together. It's a very personal story I discovered by accident first hand. And at first when I learned that some of my favorite wrestlers were doing drugs , drinking, and using almost groupies, and one of these groupies feared they might have an STD, it nearly floored me.
I accidently found out about this from this "groupie" in passing and it was more then her words that proved this. I inadvertenly found proof of this in person. First hand saw the proof of these incidents and the people involved.
It make me look at a couple of wrestlers different at first, and I felt cynical and jaded that i admired them, but then after a couple of months reality set in and I realized wrestling is just like any other sport or entertainment.
Rock bands have groupies, Basketball players. baseball. Whereever you have famous people you will have hanger on's and people who want to share vices with them and you will have these famous people who will divuldge in this lifestyle. Two wrongs dont make a right.
So I guess what I'm saying is what's your point of all of this?
Wrestlers are humans too and have shortcomings just like anyone else and any other profession.
They arent any worse then a rock band now are they.
Your friend choose the lifestyle she choose. No one held a gun to her head.
I almost feel like you are blaming the wrestlers for your friend being an addict.
Sure they might had done drugs with her, and shared stuff, but was it their responsiblity to get her off of them? No it was her family and loved ones and ultimately herself.
Watch Celebrity Rehab. You'll see that no matter how much intervention, unless the addict themselves truely wants to help, they wont overcome thier addiction.
Villafying WWE and it's wrestlers is an unfair thing to do though because your freind didnt want help.
As to why they later ignored her as you state.
You ever think it's because they are embarrassed by their actions and see the error of their ways, and dont want to remember that period of their lives or remember they associated with someone who was an addict as well. People have selective memories, not just wrestlers.
Last but not least. As being a parent I can say this. I would far more be concerned with my kids or any kid emulating UFC, and MNA then wrestling.
How can you say wrestling warps kid minds and that kids emulate wrestling and injure others but not look at uFC as well.
So would you say it's ok for 2 kids to watch a UFC pay per view and then go on the playground the following monday and beat each other with straight punches and kicks until one falls to the floor and passes out.
So you dont have to teach a kid watching MNA that they shouldnt emulate it, but WWE is the devil's entertaiment. A kid watches wrestling and he'll go out and murder someone.
You gotta see how perposturus your rationalization is on this.
MNA is a blood sport.
It's banned in many states.
Are you a aware of this?
I'd be more concerned with my kids watching UFC then I am them watching wrestling.
Kids can use UFC moves on another kid alot easier then doing Rey Mysterio's 619 believe me.
Dealing with physchology though you really should reevaluate why you hate wrestling. because if I was a betting man I would say it's because of how your freind was "treated" by wrestlers.
If she did drugs with UFC fighters then you would be writing against them now instead.
about 1 month ago
Pro wrestling is being discussed...the last time I checked, Shane.
from about 1 month ago
pro wrestling is being discussed, yes, but it wasn't on its realness or fakeness.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I can't ever understand individuals as yourself who sit here and bash entertainment because it is fake. Okay, you don't like it, say that, but is it really nonsense?
I can say it's nonsensical for two people who have never met before to enter a steel octagon and proceed to bash each other's head in? And for what? That would seem nonsensical to me but I'm not going to go around telling others that the sport they like is stupid or anything.
I can't get over how the MMA fans seem to have this holier than thou attitude when it comes to their product vs. wrestling. Because MMA is real and wrestling is not. Yes, ok and? That means that your sport is promoting actual violence, but that's ok huh? Wrestling is basically promoting drama, but that's not ok b/c it's fake. I guess that's how society just is, especially seeing as how this world has a fight first mentality. Heck, the US was founded on violence.
about 1 month ago
Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie!
I write Editorials, the definition and purpose of writing Editorials is to express ones (in this case, "MY"), opinions. Why I have a particular opinion is completely my business and I owe no one an explanation for what my opinion is and why it was formed.
Why don't you get a GED, a dictionary or enroll in an evening Adult Education class concerned with the study of English or Creative writing, and watch a little LESS fantasy on TV. It is affecting your intellect, IMHO.
about 1 month ago
Dorthy, I didnt attack you so why are you attacking me?
Did i call into question your intelligence.
Geez I must have struck a nerve as to why you hate wrestlers, if you would lash out like this at me.
Would you like to be judged by your apperance?
So why is it ok for people to say I look like I do drugs or need a GED.
It only makes you look ignorant and narrow minded.
I didnt crtiize your right to opinion I simply stated that if you critize wrestling as being a bad influence then you have to do the same to UFC. Children seeing UFC are just as impressionable, and it can be just as detrimental to them. And I also stated just because your friend was a wrestling groupie doesnt give you the right to assume all wrestlers are evil and blame all the problems on society on wrestling, it's wrong and dangerous. You sound like Tipper Gore. Your misdirecting your anger onto something because you lost a friend who did drugs with wrestlers.
from about 1 month ago
Scroll back up to my most recent interaction with Joe, I am too infirm to have to do another rebuttal for you. Check your spelling errors and grammar usage to see why I feel you need to further your education, your writing speaks for itself, as I belive mine speaks for me? My appearance has always been irelavent to me. I ask that people judge me by my deeds. If people cannot overlook my appearance (I am sixty two, for God's sake and have never aspired to be a model, I am content with myself and my looks), then I do not have the time to waste on them, my time is too short as it is.
And I repeat, (just in case you are ADD), scroll back up and read my response to Joe who just asked me the same question.
about 1 month ago
Let me tell ya something Pro wrestling is nothing like or as you said "the closest thing to street fighting"
People who get in bar fights and street fights dont go busting a pedigree or stone cold stunner on someone.
They do however emulate UFC style of beating someone to the ground until they bleed to death.
Ever watch all the Youtube video's of college hazing and the incident with high school girls who hazed other girls. They beat these people with cloesd repeated punshes. Over and over again. Much like UFC does.
UFC is promoting violence and it is much more emulated because the moves are alot easier to do then learning a wrestling move.
If you dealt with the crimanally and mentally ill that's on you. It doesnt give you the right though to label people and critize them on their writing skills or make them to be the scum of the earh because there's wrestling fans out there.
Ever see these UFC guys? They look like they should be on death row, with there shaved heads and tattoo's and mucled out bodies.
My kids have found memories of delightful characters like Doink the Clown and Hornswoggle and The Gobblygooker, and people who taught them patriotism like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The Patriot, Sgt Slaughter. They have delightful memorbilla over the years too like foam toys. What can UFC make foam toys of? Nothing because UFC should never be marketed to kids. Marketing UFC to kids is like marketing cigarette's and guns to kids. If and when UFC ever becomes as popular as wrestling, then you'll see even more irresponsible parents in trouble because their kids beat other kids in the playground to a bloody pulp because they saw their new hero's Chuck Lidell and Brock Lesnar do it on tv.
All the people involved in UFC have anger issues and were troubled youth. You think we wrestling fans cant spell go try and read Chuck Lidell's book. His brain is so scrambled it read like a Golden book. I needed cliff notes just to understand his thoughts.
MMA isnt even a sport it's a blood sport and is not even artful or entertaining.
If these guys werent fighting in MMA and UFC they would be in jail for not being able to control thier rage.
You know what Kimbo lice was before he joined MMA? A bum fighter.
Yeah that's right a bum fighter.
And UFC is in the same league as bum fighting.
You want to be morally conscious, who's going to pay for the medical bills the UFC fighters will have when they develop brain damage and parkinson's like Ali did from boxing?
No one because , they'll be used and spit out and forgotten.
But hey maybe you get your kicks out of seeing grown men best each other to a bloody pulp so they can wind up disabled themselves.
about 1 month ago
Sorry, this is not worthy of a reply.
from about 1 month ago
Now you knew exactly what you were getting into when you wrote this article. There's no fan base more passionate the wrestling fans. You're either the bravest writer in the b/r or....
either way not bad.
from about 1 month ago
How sweet you are Daris! My friend thought I was fearless and I have had a gun held in face more than one time. Though many wrestling fans are doubtful, I do know that God loves and protects me. I have saved lives in his name , witness my face when appropriate and have very strong faith, so I am not afraid b/c what ever comes, He holds me in the palm of his head.
about 1 month ago
Guess it doesn't because I made valid points.
7 days ago
Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy, your calm english nanny grammar mixed with your fantastical experience and the experiences of your friends makes your arguments fairly hard to believe.
I do not claim to have lived a life 'on edge' so to speak, or personally know anyone else who has. But for someone to deplore the violence invloved in WWE because it is fake but be a supporter of martial arts fighting because it's real is contradictory to your case. Would you discipline a child for pretending to play cowboys and indians and instead give them real guns and send them to shoot each other for real because it's not fake?
You may say that martial arts teaches discipline, which I would agree with, but it can only be taught to someone who wishes to learn it. You bring up many examples of pro wrestlers who do drugs or have violent pasts or presents, yet as has been proven wrestling is not the only sport to be heavily influenced by drugs, and the recent actions of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are just as newsworthy for their violence as anything done by a pro wrestler.
Yet you still suggest that Pro-wrestling is more to blame for youth violence than MMA. Current MMA fighter Kimbo Slice was once a street fighter, known for his internet videos. Search them on youtube, then do yourself a favour and look at related videos. I have seen pre-teens fighting in school grounds UNDER MMA RULES while other children cheered on. they fought till they were bloodied, and sometimes longer. I am very interested in how you dare explain that is better than what kids see on WWE. If you can't find them I am sure I can find you PLENTY of examples and would be happy to link them to you, but I'd rather you do the searching yourself and see what kind of depraved acts MMA can fathom.
Then you claim in your article you prefer books of substance, which is why you hate WWE and prefer MMA. MMA has no storyline, it is a straight up fight, no substance. WWE adds storylines to the mix, giving depth and weight to what goes on. I too prefer books of substance, Homer's, the Iliad is a great classic work as is Sun Tzu's, the Art of War.
Why do I mention that? because you seem to attack those who you feel are uneducated, as was the case for Ronnie, who was simply voicing his own opinions. Because you could not come up with an argument you resorted to the lowest tactic in debate, attacking your opponents character. For shame.
Well I am educated Dorothy, a college grad, and I don't think it takes much education to see through your deciet. You hide behind what you think is your sophistication, when really you are just being ignorant. You create what you want to believe and stick to it, and when someone dares challenge you with their own ideas that you cannot comprehend you strike back with taunts and insults. But really I can't blame you, as Nietsche said, and I am paraphrasing, man needs order to survive, but the world is chaos, so he creates the illusion of order to survive. But then again as a psychiatric nurse I am sure you are familiar with his works.
write a new comment