Do We Take Wrestling Too Seriously?

[Orange]

More specifically, I mean TNA. I haven't been able to watch TNA these past few weeks due to being busy and DVR not recording it, so this is going off no knowledge of any skits or anything outside of the JWOWW segment and spoilers I have read. But my question is, do we take TNA far too seriously? I mean, when it gets down to it I don't necessarily think wrestling is a sport that's meant to be taken too seriously, and I think we have a tendency to over-analyze the storylines and angles. I can understand everybody has their vision or ideas of what TNA should be doing, but it seems like some people get overly angry at it (not anybody here, Spoony for example). So do we sometimes tend to overthink and over-analyze a sport that really shouldn't be?

I hope this post makes sense, I know what I'm trying to say and I hope I got it across here.

[nerdinitupagain]

For a place that's called WrestleCrap...
This board does take wrestling too seriously.

[Deleted]

I don't think so. I get extremely frustrated with TNA booking(don't get me wrong, WWE gets on my nerves sometimes too) and I think a lot of people do because they're passionate about professional wrestling, which on the surface can look pretty silly given how strange wrestling can be, but I think most people on this board recognize how unique professional wrestling is.

People get animated when something upsets them in sports, film, music or television, I certainly don't take my gripes with a wrestling company to work and school with me, but pro wrestling is definitely one of my favorite passtimes so when I see a company like TNA make so many bad moves I and many others may get a bit dramatic about it.

I think we get especially hard on TNA for the fact that they're closer to WWE than anyone could've predicted a wrestling organization could get post-WCW. And in the year 2010, with a WORLD of mistakes made from both WCW and WWE in the past to learn from, a wealth of smart wrestling minds, it's extremely frustrating to watch TNA repeat history so many times and drop the ball so consistently.

[Jim Stansel]

Oct 15, 2010 12:08:47 GMT -5 nerdinitupagain said:

For a place that's called WrestleCrap...
This board does take wrestling too seriously.

cough..The 'Crap..cough

But yes many do take wrestling too seriously. I mean think about it..its oiled up men wrestling for belts. orrr if you really dont like somebody, your gonna wrestle them! its best when you just take it at face value and dont think about it too much. I mean think about it The Undertaker is a zombie....that wrestles people. A Zombie that wants a Big Gold Belt! That doesnt sound too serious to me!
That being said, it can be frustrating when your not enjoying the product. I think its a catch 22 (not the sweet ska band). I think i have confused myself in this post. I give up

[Deleted]

I think this thread is proof that there are people that do.

Its wrestling - and we're on an internet forum.

Learn to take a joke people!

[jadison]

TNA takes wrestling too seriously. The whole show is like "holy shit I'm gonna kill you and take CONTROL!" there's no levity at all. They make people over analyze by overbooking the shit out of everything. Wrestling matches are the least important thing in TNA right now, bar none.

[xxx4lyfe]

I take it pretty damn serious. Like I do with other sports, and how I get thoroughly into them, I get into wrestling. How fans of MMA get so into MMA, it's the same that applies here.

I have always felt that way, and I will always feel that way. I'm a wrestling fan, and as a fan, I feel I can either criticize or praise what I like and what I don't like. When I'm forty, I'll be doing the same thing, and so on and so on.

[El Hijo De Slapnuts]

I get into it but I get into the frustrating booking and such like any good smark would do.

I don't tend to get into storylines unless they're really good(like the currect CeNexus storyline).

[HMARK Center]

People definitely do. Frankly, people often take almost anything on TV far too seriously.

I realize that people who consistently watch a show feel they've put an emotional investment in it, and hope to see a return on that investment in the form of a cathartic payoff, but wrestling is typically about as silly as it gets, and better to watch by just turning off the over-analytical part of your mind and enjoying the classic archtypes that get used again and again.

Granted, I get overly serious about sports I watch sometimes, but I like to think that my reactions to games 5 minutes after it ends tend to level off a few minutes later, and life goes on as normal.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

There's nothing wrong with getting emotionally invested in wrestling- it's what all good fans do. The promotions want you to cheer your favorites and boo your most hated, regardless of how conscious you are of what goes on backstage (and even then, we ought to take all dirtsheets with a grain of salt).

However, there is something wrong when a fan continues to support wrestling that bores them 95% of the time. There's always something I'd like to improve on or change about any company I follow (though I doubt I'd make them more money), but watching anything should never be a chore. If it's offending your sensibilities or you're just not that interested most of the time, cut your losses.

I love wrestling, but my interests vary too much for me to become addicted to it.

[xxx4lyfe]

Oct 15, 2010 13:45:24 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

There's nothing wrong with getting emotionally invested in wrestling- it's what all good fans do. The promotions want you to cheer your favorites and boo your most hated, regardless of how conscious you are of what goes on backstage (and even then, we ought to take all dirtsheets with a grain of salt).

However, there is something wrong when a fan continues to support wrestling that bores them 95% of the time. There's always something I'd like to improve on or change about any company I follow (though I doubt I'd make them more money), but watching anything should never be a chore. If it's offending your sensibilities or you're just not that interested most of the time, cut your losses.

I love wrestling, but my interests vary too much for me to become addicted to it.

Oh definitely. If someone literally despises a company, but yet either A) watches it or B) continues TALKING about it, it makes no sense. But for me, I enjoy WWE, TNA, & ROH for all seperate reasons. I can enjoy the two mainstream products and than the indies for varying reasons, and be entertained at least half, if not a little more of the time.

[Janc_95]

Oct 15, 2010 12:51:05 GMT -5 xxx4lyfe said:

I take it pretty damn serious. Like I do with other sports, and how I get thoroughly into them, I get into wrestling. How fans of MMA get so into MMA, it's the same that applies here.

I have always felt that way, and I will always feel that way. I'm a wrestling fan, and as a fan, I feel I can either criticize or praise what I like and what I don't like. When I'm forty, I'll be doing the same thing, and so on and so on.

:/

As big a fan of pro wrestling as I am, I've never called it a sport. It's sports-entertainment. Yes, the men/women are athletic, yes they injure themselves, no pro wrestling is not a sport.

[Djm Doesn't Find You Funny]

Is this the excuse to use when wrestling shows are really, really bad?

It's just pro wrestling, right?

[MrBRulzOK]

It'd be one thing if TNA was successful and what they were currently doing was working. I mean who I am to get mad at a company for being successful? The problem though is that they are not. You can say all you want about their house show numbers and their international rights fees, but the bottom line is that their buy rates are lower than they've ever been and their ratings have stagnated. They are not a self sustained company. The day that Spike or Panda Energy give up on them is the day that TNA goes down in flames.

But yeah, I suppose that I do. I mean don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the sillier aspects in wrestling. That's part of what makes the business fun. I just hate it when things are detrimental to the company in question.

[Deleted]

I absoutely take it seriously. It's top athletes putting their lives on the line to entertain us and prove they are the very best. When companies show little to no respect for this, I take issue.

Besides, worked or not, wrestling is a combat sport. Not a comedy show.

[zeez]

I try not to take TNA seriously but sometimes it's hard not to, especially when the company makes booking decision so blantantly stupid that it makes you wonder how this company will ever compete with the WWE. I care about the company enough that I want to see it do well. You can't care about the company without taking it at least a little seriously.

[Deleted]

This board? Absolutely, with TNA in particular.

If I watch it, I watch it. If I miss it, I miss it. That is my take with Impact. Others here micro-analyze everything, including things they have no business discussing (what the wrestlers make, how profitable TNA is, etc, etc). It's laughable some times.

[Andrew is Good]

Let me put it this way.

I was thinking on asking the mods for special threads to discuss politics and religion, like, special boards down at the bottom, and if you do any flaming or be a dick in anyway, you're gone, or some s*** like that. One reason I would appeal to that is, for someone like me personally, I like talking politics and religion, but I usually get more amped up when talking about wrestling then I do politics and religion. So, for me personally, I'd more like drone on and on about why I think something in wrestling is good or bad, then I would politics and religion. So, in short, yes, I do take wrestling too seriously. The reason being, I want it to succeed and get better.

No, I know it's not "technically" a sport. But, like cheerleading, there are a lot of athletic things done, potential injuries, people work their asses off, and to just brush that off is somewhat ignorant I think. Some people also take it seriously because they see people getting their careers hurt or ruined. Robby E for example, that whole Shore deal is being hated by everyone. This gimmick is one reason why Jim Cornette hates Vince Russo so much. A young, up and coming talent in wrestling get shackled with a bad gimmick, because Vince Russo has no idea what goes on in Jersey except for what's on the Jersey Shore, and instead of having the kid FROM THE AREA do his own spin on the character, they make him a complete rip off. I have no problem with celebrities coming in to add to a gimmick, but my god, they just started, they haven't even had a match yet. I think the gimmick would be so much more successful if the guy had a friggin match first.

To compare and contrast, Jim Cornette gave New Jack and Mustafa the gimmick, The Gangstas. Now, do you think Jimmy went up to the Gangstas and told them how to act? No. They got the gimmick, and from what they saw and their own experiences, they made the gimmick theirs. He gave the Headbangers their gimmick. But do you think Jimmy knew what people like that were? No. He has no idea about that kind of culture, but Mosh and Thrasher did, so they took it and ran with it.

And like, you don't want TNA to go out of business, but they have people who think Daniels isn't good enough to be on the roster running it.

[dlg3000]

I take it seriously enough to want it to succeed. I want the booking to be better. But I don't take it so seriously to a point where I can't be entertained by TNA. Sadly enough, I didn't find TNA in the past two weeks interesting.

You know when you take wrestling too seriously is when you take yourself too seriously, ie, become an out and out mark.

[joeiscool]

LOL Some of the people who say they want tna to succeed are the same people who complain when tna gets good ratings with "bad" shows.

What you want is tna to succeed only if it puts on shows you like.