REVEAL YOURSELVES

[Internet Jesus]

Well being Eastern European I am not a wrestling expert... we tend to have dancing bears instead. But the best thing I've read about wrestling so far is this (more content, that):
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/Barthes-wrestling.htm

There's probably very little in the wrestling angle that would interest someone who wasn't raised on it beyond the outermost edges, but you have a fake thing being offered as a real thing, but it acknowledges its fake and still operates under the notion that its real.  There is reality in it, but its pressed into service of the fake.

Figuring out the specifics is a detail left to the viewer, if the viewer even cares to attempt such an undertaking.  Alternatively you could just be entertained, knowing the whole thing is bullshit but resigning that small little voice to the outer reaches of consciousness for the duration.

Or as someone on the interbutts once said through tears "it's still real to me dammit!"

I prefer TV preachers, though it's largely the same thing.

Politics too.  Which is why I feel it is my Humane duty to shit all over things that a true believer spews.  It's not that I don't appreciate the theater, it's that I find it as offensive as if I was sitting next to someone in the theater who insisted that The Avengers was an accurate record of the time that Manhattan was almost invaded by aliens.

Which is not to say that I think politics is useless or ultimately meaningless, just that it should be approached with the mindset that the surface is mostly bullshit and you've got to dig a bit to get down to the reality.

(Which in and of itself is also dangerous - we've both posted with folks who think they've done the digging and arrived at REAL ULTIMATE KNOWLEDGE, but in reality it was just another flavor of horseshit.)

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well being Eastern European I am not a wrestling expert... we tend to have dancing bears instead. But the best thing I've read about wrestling so far is this (more content, that):
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/Barthes-wrestling.htm

There's probably very little in the wrestling angle that would interest someone who wasn't raised on it beyond the outermost edges, but you have a fake thing being offered as a real thing, but it acknowledges its fake and still operates under the notion that its real.  There is reality in it, but its pressed into service of the fake.

Figuring out the specifics is a detail left to the viewer, if the viewer even cares to attempt such an undertaking.  Alternatively you could just be entertained, knowing the whole thing is bullshit but resigning that small little voice to the outer reaches of consciousness for the duration.

Or as someone on the interbutts once said through tears "it's still real to me dammit!"

I prefer TV preachers, though it's largely the same thing.

Politics too.  Which is why I feel it is my Humane duty to shit all over things that a true believer spews.  It's not that I don't appreciate the theater, it's that I find it as offensive as if I was sitting next to someone in the theater who insisted that The Avengers was an accurate record of the time that Manhattan was almost invaded by aliens.

Which is not to say that I think politics is useless or ultimately meaningless, just that it should be approached with the mindset that the surface is mostly bullshit and you've got to dig a bit to get down to the reality.

(Which in and of itself is also dangerous - we've both posted with folks who think they've done the digging and arrived at REAL ULTIMATE KNOWLEDGE, but in reality it was just another flavor of horseshit.)

I can't argue with any of that.   

[Luna]

Well being Eastern European I am not a wrestling expert... we tend to have dancing bears instead. But the best thing I've read about wrestling so far is this (more content, that):
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/Barthes-wrestling.htm

There's probably very little in the wrestling angle that would interest someone who wasn't raised on it beyond the outermost edges, but you have a fake thing being offered as a real thing, but it acknowledges its fake and still operates under the notion that its real.  There is reality in it, but its pressed into service of the fake.

Figuring out the specifics is a detail left to the viewer, if the viewer even cares to attempt such an undertaking.  Alternatively you could just be entertained, knowing the whole thing is bullshit but resigning that small little voice to the outer reaches of consciousness for the duration.

Or as someone on the interbutts once said through tears "it's still real to me dammit!"

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

[Internet Jesus]

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

Why in the name of all that is right and good would you want to recover?  When you have a legit candidate for the US senate running a company that works corpse fucking into an angle you've got everything you need right there.

[Luna]

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

Why in the name of all that is right and good would you want to recover?  When you have a legit candidate for the US senate running a company that works corpse fucking into an angle you've got everything you need right there.

  Wasn't so much as "wanted to recover," it just sorta happened.  When the story lines started jumping the shark, and a lot of my favorites either moved on or passed away, I moved on.

[Internet Jesus]

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

Why in the name of all that is right and good would you want to recover?  When you have a legit candidate for the US senate running a company that works corpse fucking into an angle you've got everything you need right there.

  Wasn't so much as "wanted to recover," it just sorta happened.  When the story lines started jumping the shark, and a lot of my favorites either moved on or passed away, I moved on.

Well if I was in the mood to let declining quality decide for me I'd have given up on Ric Flair back in the early 90's, and would have missed out on what a train wreck he's become, both in the ring and out.

But I understand where you're coming from, sometimes you out grow something, sometimes it leaves you, and sometimes it's best to let it be in the past.

This is why I don't watch episodes of the A-Team in my old age.

[Freeky]

I'm here for the donuts and friendship.

[Luna]

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

Why in the name of all that is right and good would you want to recover?  When you have a legit candidate for the US senate running a company that works corpse fucking into an angle you've got everything you need right there.

  Wasn't so much as "wanted to recover," it just sorta happened.  When the story lines started jumping the shark, and a lot of my favorites either moved on or passed away, I moved on.

Well if I was in the mood to let declining quality decide for me I'd have given up on Ric Flair back in the early 90's, and would have missed out on what a train wreck he's become, both in the ring and out.

But I understand where you're coming from, sometimes you out grow something, sometimes it leaves you, and sometimes it's best to let it be in the past.

This is why I don't watch episodes of the A-Team in my old age.

I pretty much had it with Ric Flair back when he was yammering about being "Space Mountain, the wildest ride in the park."  Guess nobody told him it was the shortest, and over fastest...

[Internet Jesus]

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

Why in the name of all that is right and good would you want to recover?  When you have a legit candidate for the US senate running a company that works corpse fucking into an angle you've got everything you need right there.

  Wasn't so much as "wanted to recover," it just sorta happened.  When the story lines started jumping the shark, and a lot of my favorites either moved on or passed away, I moved on.

Well if I was in the mood to let declining quality decide for me I'd have given up on Ric Flair back in the early 90's, and would have missed out on what a train wreck he's become, both in the ring and out.

But I understand where you're coming from, sometimes you out grow something, sometimes it leaves you, and sometimes it's best to let it be in the past.

This is why I don't watch episodes of the A-Team in my old age.

I pretty much had it with Ric Flair back when he was yammering about being "Space Mountain, the wildest ride in the park."  Guess nobody told him it was the shortest, and over fastest...

Going to have to agree to disagree with you on that one.  Ric Flai > Maitreya, The hidden Iman, and a returned Jesus all rolled up into one.  That he's also in huge monetary debt to almost all of North Carolina is icing on the cake.  He's the avatar of fucking it up, yet still going far.

Of course it should also be noted that I have a huge mancrush on CM Punk when he's in heel mode , so anyone who can draw heat as a heel is greater than Jesus in my book. YMMV.

[Luna]

It's like a soap opera, only with big, loud men in tights.

(Recovered fan, here.)

Why in the name of all that is right and good would you want to recover?  When you have a legit candidate for the US senate running a company that works corpse fucking into an angle you've got everything you need right there.

  Wasn't so much as "wanted to recover," it just sorta happened.  When the story lines started jumping the shark, and a lot of my favorites either moved on or passed away, I moved on.

Well if I was in the mood to let declining quality decide for me I'd have given up on Ric Flair back in the early 90's, and would have missed out on what a train wreck he's become, both in the ring and out.

But I understand where you're coming from, sometimes you out grow something, sometimes it leaves you, and sometimes it's best to let it be in the past.

This is why I don't watch episodes of the A-Team in my old age.

I pretty much had it with Ric Flair back when he was yammering about being "Space Mountain, the wildest ride in the park."  Guess nobody told him it was the shortest, and over fastest...

Going to have to agree to disagree with you on that one.  Ric Flai > Maitreya, The hidden Iman, and a returned Jesus all rolled up into one.  That he's also in huge monetary debt to almost all of North Carolina is icing on the cake.  He's the avatar of fucking it up, yet still going far.

Of course it should also be noted that I have a huge mancrush on CM Punk when he's in heel mode , so anyone who can draw heat as a heel is greater than Jesus in my book. YMMV.

Eh, he never did it for me.  Thing with pro wrestling is that it's all black and white.  You're either a heel or a hero, or flipping from one to the other.  (Or were, I haven't watched in YEARS.)  I grew out of it.

[Internet Jesus]

Eh, he never did it for me.  Thing with pro wrestling is that it's all black and white.  You're either a heel or a hero, or flipping from one to the other.  (Or were, I haven't watched in YEARS.)  I grew out of it.

Most folks get to that age.  But some poor suckers get drawn into it and look for layers of meaning.

Unfortunately, I'm that guy.  Anyone who can make you hate them enough to part with your own money to see them get their asses (fake) beat - that's a person with knowledge.

Also, just for clarification when did you watch?  Your mention of a strict dichotomy between faces or heels makes me think you missed out on 95-2001 or so, when it was all the rage to have your top faces be irredeemable assholes (which in itself was just a reflection on what young men 18-25 wanted to think of themselves at the time), or just resist any sort of classification at all - for example New Jack was consistently presented as a heel, but cheered as a face.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jack

All apologies - if you don't want to continue the conversation, I understand.  It's a topic that fascinates me, but bores the shit out of a lot of people.

[Luna]

Eh, he never did it for me.  Thing with pro wrestling is that it's all black and white.  You're either a heel or a hero, or flipping from one to the other.  (Or were, I haven't watched in YEARS.)  I grew out of it.

Most folks get to that age.  But some poor suckers get drawn into it and look for layers of meaning.

Unfortunately, I'm that guy.  Anyone who can make you hate them enough to part with your own money to see them get their asses (fake) beat - that's a person with knowledge.

Also, just for clarification when did you watch?  Your mention of a strict dichotomy between faces or heels makes me think you missed out on 95-2001 or so, when it was all the rage to have your top faces be irredeemable assholes (which in itself was just a reflection on what young men 18-25 wanted to think of themselves at the time), or just resist any sort of classification at all - for example New Jack was consistently presented as a heel, but cheered as a face.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jack

All apologies - if you don't want to continue the conversation, I understand.  It's a topic that fascinates me, but bores the shit out of a lot of people.

Nah, it's cool.    I quit watching when Kerry Von Erich died, or not long after that.  Broke my heart, it did.

He was my first...  My brother was watching a match that he was acting as a special ref for, back in WCCE, an "I quit" match...  Can't remember who was fighting, just that both guys were bloody messes, and I remember the commentator talking about how both of the guys had been in serious, balls-to-the-wall grudges with Kerry, but both trusted him to ref the fight fairly.  So, yeah, I missed out on that time, that would have been the early 90's.

[Internet Jesus]

Goddamn, the Von Erich clan.  That explains a ton - even the antipathy to Flair.  That was also back in the day before the business came out about its true nature and was still desperately trying to keep kayfabe.

[Luna]

Goddamn, the Von Erich clan.  That explains a ton - even the antipathy to Flair.  That was also back in the day before the business came out about its true nature and was still desperately trying to keep kayfabe.

Well, that, and the fact that, back then, Flair set off every "douchnozzle alert" in my young system.

Yeah, I knew even back then it was faked...  I SAW the match where... fuck, what were their names... pair of brothers who were professional losers...  They were on a card against a pair of big names in a tag-team match, and the guy in the ring managed to mis-time something, rammed himself head-first into the post (missed the turnbuckle completely), and knocked himself out cold, WAY across the ring from his partner.

The few seconds of the brothers staring at each other with, "oh, FUCK, we're supposed to LOSE" all over their faces blew it forever.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Well being Eastern European I am not a wrestling expert... we tend to have dancing bears instead. But the best thing I've read about wrestling so far is this (more content, that):
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/Barthes-wrestling.htm

There's probably very little in the wrestling angle that would interest someone who wasn't raised on it beyond the outermost edges, but you have a fake thing being offered as a real thing, but it acknowledges its fake and still operates under the notion that its real.  There is reality in it, but its pressed into service of the fake.

Figuring out the specifics is a detail left to the viewer, if the viewer even cares to attempt such an undertaking.  Alternatively you could just be entertained, knowing the whole thing is bullshit but resigning that small little voice to the outer reaches of consciousness for the duration.

Or as someone on the interbutts once said through tears "it's still real to me dammit!"

I prefer TV preachers, though it's largely the same thing.

I like Ultimate Fighting... they don't fake the blood.