Wrestling reaches a new level and a wide audience
Professional wrestling has come a long way since the days of Friday nights at County Hall.
In other words, this isn’t your father’s wrestling.
That bygone era of “rasslin’,” where the lines were clearly drawn between good guys and bad guys, has been replaced by today’s version of “sports entertainment,” with all the glitz and glamour of a major Broadway production.
“Rasslers” are now “superstars,” with elaborate ring entrances befitting rock stars and embellished by fireworks, pulsating music and fancy camera angles.
In fact, today’s wrestling shows, with their emphasis on over-the-top characters and outlandish storylines, don’t seem to be so much about wrestling as theater.
It is, after all, a ritual drama, an element of theater where the willing suspension of disbelief is highly recommended.
While some might argue that pro wrestlers have always been good actors, this generation of grapplers includes performers who have actually transcended the business and displayed their acting chops on the big screen.
WWE sensation Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the self-proclaimed “most electrifying man in sports entertainment,” parlayed his wrestling success into a profitable movie career and boasts an estimated net worth of $65 million.
Current stars such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Paul “Big Show” Wight and Ted DiBiase have all enjoyed leading roles in films.
To say the least, the “soap opera gone mad” known as professional wrestling has evolved.
It’s popular, it’s trendy and it’s one of the hottest tickets in town.
Local wrestling fans will get a chance to witness the spectacle up close and personal when World Wrestling Entertainment, the industry’s gold standard, brings its Raw World Tour 2011 to the North Charleston Coliseum on Saturday night.
It is WWE’s first show in Charleston in two years and, as always, a sizable turnout is expected.
“We’ve had folks camping out for this show,” said Alan Coker, marketing manager for the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center. “We always get a great response from the community when WWE comes to town.”
While the show won’t be one of WWE’s weekly nationally televised broadcasts, many of the company’s top stars will be performing.
A Triple Threat match for the WWE heavyweight title will feature new champion CM Punk, one of the hottest acts in the business, defending his crown against former champs Cena and Alberto Del Rio.
Other bouts include:
Living the dream
The grapplers just might be as pumped as the fans.
Rhodes, a second-generation wrestler and youngest son of the iconic “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, said he thrives off the energy of the audience.
“The most talented people in WWE are the ones who reach out to the crowd and involve them the most. That’s the goal whenever we go out there,” Cody Rhodes said in a phone interview. “Whether they’re booing gratuitously or whether they’re happy to see me, it’s all good. I encourage and embrace it.”
And, like most of his fellow performers, his background is rooted in athletics, along with a little acting.
Rhodes, 26, a two-time Georgia high school wrestling champion, attended the Howard Fine Acting Studio in Los Angeles for a year.
“I retained a lot of good information from acting school, but the majority of entertainment skills I retained was things I picked up from my dad and my boss (Vince McMahon). He’s been instrumental in helping a lot of the young talent you see emerging on the WWE home front right now. He has been instrumental in guiding us into what we can get the most out of.”
Rhodes’ thespian skills make playing a heel that much easier.
“I just like being able to go out there and be as close to myself as I possibly can, and find the parts of myself that people will be entertained by and people might pay to see,” he said.
“It now just happens to fall on that line where people tend not to like me. It sometimes looks like I might be playing up to it, but I’m not. I guess I might be a little bit of a jerk, and it translates, and have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, and it translates. That’s fine ... as long as the fans are reacting, I’m happy.”
But wrestling, he said, is in his blood.
His brother is fellow WWE performer Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes. He is the nephew of professional wrestlers Jerry “Nasty Boy” Sags and Fred “Typhoon” Ottman, and the godson of former star Magnum T.A. (Terry Allen).
His dad, of course, was a major influence.
“He was the one who exposed me to the business,” said Rhodes, who said he knew as early as the age of 4 that he wanted to be a wrestler.
“I wasn’t even watching it, but I was backstage and could hear a guy jumping around in the ring, and I could hear the reaction of the crowd. I wanted to get out there and see what they were doing. But from that time on, I never thought I would do anything but get involved with pro wrestling.”
‘Reflection of society’
A quintessentially American form of entertainment, pro wrestling is big business with a huge corporate model behind it.
WWE programming is among the most popular on cable television, with several top-rated shows seen by millions of viewers weekly.
Last year’s WrestleMania generated more than
$62 million in economic impact for the city of Atlanta, and next year’s event in Miami is expected to surpass that record.
The publicly traded company raked in $475 million last year and in the four years leading into the recession, revenue jumped 44 percent.
It’s a worldwide pop culture phenomenon with a rabid fan base, building its unique brand of Americana into a global entertainment franchise.
The company stages about 80 live events overseas each year, selling out shows from Mexico to France.
But pro wrestling also is a mirror of the competitive nature of mankind, combining various forms of American pop culture into a grand spectacle known as sports entertainment.
“In wrestling, there’s a perfect balance between the sport and the drama,” Rhodes said. “If you really look back at it and put a microscope on it, the fact that it is a reflection of society is a very fun thing to be part of. It’s a lot of fun entertaining people.”
Political pundit and Hanahan native Jack Hunter has followed pro wrestling since he was 8. He enjoys the suspense of a sporting event, the issues of a political debate and the special effects of a rock concert. Pro wrestling provides them all.
While there are similarities, he said there remains one distinct difference between wrestling and politics.
“While wrestling fans sort of understand they’re just being put on, political observers are far more likely to take the circus before their eyes seriously,” he jokes.
Hunter, who has performed with various bands over the years, bristles when critics take shots at the genre.
“Along with music, it still remains a favorite pastime to sort of get away from real life. People often say it’s ‘fake’ or it’s ‘dumb,’ but the choreographed and campy aspects of pro wrestling aren’t deterrents for me — they are a big part of why I watch.
“People sometimes ask me: ‘How can you watch wrestling?’ My immediate first thought is: ‘How can you watch everything you watch (“Dancing With the Stars,” “Teen Mom,” “Jersey Shore,” TMZ) and not watch wrestling? Seriously?’ ”
Rhodes, who is the company’s Intercontinental champion, said the consistency of WWE makes it so popular.
“It’s amazing how smoothly this episodic television carries on,” Rhodes said. “I think the appeal is that there’s always a payoff. We paint these grand schemes, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Right now, WWE is all geared to WrestleMania and The Rock and John Cena. Just knowing that we’re telling you how great it’s going to be. The great thing about WWE is that it really will be that great. It’s guaranteed.”
“Wrestling fans love the excitement, they love the action, they love the energy of the event,” said Coker of the North Charleston Coliseum. “That’s what attracts them to these shows.”
Perhaps the French literary critic Roland Barthes said it best:
“In the ring, wrestlers remain gods because they are, for a few moments, the key which opens Nature, the pure gesture which separates Good from Evil, and unveils the form of a Justice which is at last intelligible.”
