“Wrestling Isn’t Real. You Know That, Right?”
How I Became Part of the WWE Universe
I am now part of what is called “the WWE universe”, a collective entity composed of the audience of WWE wrestling fans, referred to by name during live wrestling television shows WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown Live. The “WWE Universe” is a term used unilaterally in promotional material, like social media accounts, live appearances, and charity events to name a few. With the 25th Anniversary of WWE Raw and Royal Rumble approaching, I wanted to write about how a person who spends hours analyzing literature as a graduate student, and teaching high school English by day came to be a Wrestling superfan. Especially when it is so awfully, obviously staged. (You know wrestling isn’t real, right? You know it’s fake?) Even though it is fake and staged, I ended up really loving how over-the-top it is once you get passed that. I learned to come in with the expectations that everything is exaggerated, and that’s what makes it so much fun!
It has been fascinating coming into wrestling as an outsider and finding a new, surprising form of escapism. I came into the wrestling fandom in a unorthodox, roundabout way. It all started with my obsession with “trash” television and reality TV. My mother and I spend many a session together settling down to watch these reality series, and for some reason love how the drama unfolds, even though it is so over the top. Moments like when Theresa Guidice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey flipped the table at a dinner party because fellow cast member Danielle Staub denied allegations in a scandalous novel about her that was going around town are just so mesmerizing that you wonder how adults can act like that.
Despite the fact that I suspect reality TV shows are more scripted and directed than they might claim to be, I had accepted some unbelievable moments from them. Yet I always felt very anxious around my friends who loved wrestling. From the way they would talk about the matches and their favorite superstars, I would feel like you might tip-toeing around whether to tell a child that Santa Claus isn’t real, not wanting take away that magic at the very least, and not wanting to have an awkward conversation either (You know it’s fake, right?). I realized they could say that about my mother and our conversations about the real housewives, but my admittedly mostly male friends and I ended up with some common ground finally on this subject when my latest reality TV obsession became Total Divas. I started to make a connection between the high-drama reality TV world and the over-the-top wrestling world.
Total Divas is a reality TV show centered around several female wrestlers. I had actually recognized a couple from my buddies who were wrestling fans and would spend many of our hangouts watching wrestling recaps and videos. I got pulled in, as I so often do, invested in the day to day lives and drama between these women. I watched as they worried about garnering TV time and ambitiously clawed their way to being better than the rest. There was even a cat lady like myself, Natalya Neidhart, who quickly became my favorite personality. I now count her as one of my role models; she is an athletic, ambitious, and strong woman who grew up in wrestling with famous wrestling relatives. Instead of bringing down the other females, she oftentimes encourages and mentors them.
(And speaking of the women wrestlers, I can’t wait to watch the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match!)
I had also had a mild obsession with John Cena for awhile before stumbling across Total Divas. I thought he was absolutely hilarious in Trainwreck, well-spoken in most of his interviews, and seemed overall a very good-natured and intelligent guy. On the show, I got to see more of John Cena, as a major plot point was his reluctancy to commit, in terms of marriage, to long-time partner Nikki Bella. The show highlighted a different side to Cena, such as how great he is with children in the Make-A-Wish Foundation(of which WWE has a long history of involvment). It was very interesting to me to see more of this “private” side of him-or however private you can consider reality TV, when his persona in wrestling is this archetypical tough-guy.
If you want some idea as to why I’m obsessed, or just see a really thought provoking video, check out this PSA he did below. It has a great message and highlights the depth that Cena has outside of the one-dimensional characters one finds in the ring. It challenges preconceived notions even I unfortunately held about wrestlers:
A turning point for me in how actively I followed actual wrestling came this summer with WrestleMania 33. I was at my parents’ watching the cable pre-show because the rumor mills had said that John Cena was going to finally propose in real-life to Nikki Bella in-ring after a tag-team match against The Miz and Maryse (who are actually married in real life, a fact acknowledged in their wrestling “storylines”). I had seen Maryse and Nikki butt heads about their personal lives on Total Divas. I am a hopeless romantic, but the pay-per-view special was priced obscenely high for my budget. I was going on and on and gushing about the relationships I knew from reality TV to my Dad. About how Nikki and John were probably going to get engaged, how Dean Ambrose was married to the commentator, and how Maryse blamed Nikki for costing her a professional opportunity, so she frequently flaunts her marriage to the Miz. I had no illusion that I would bring myself to pay for WrestleMania, especially because at this time, I hadn’t even really watched actual wrestling programs. I was resigned to look up the highlights after the fact, but still my dad asked about the price. However when I told him how it was nearly $80, he said “Jeesh, I would have spotted you because you’re so excited but that’s insane.” I don’t know if they are all this expensive, or if this one was because WrestleMania seems to be the premier event of the year for WWE, but I do know that cable subscribers can watch the weekly shows on USA Network. It’s part of why I think they put high stakes on storylines culminating at PPV events, so that the cable show is not enough to get the full story or the payoff to some big plots. Following this discussion, my dad offered one of my favorite quotes this year from him, which really got me thinking about the narrative aspects of wrestling: “I swear Stephanie, you’re the only one who watches wrestling as if it’s The Young and the Restless.”
But am I? I don’t think I am, not remotely. It turns out these soap-opera like stories are also present in weekly wrestling television events. There are scripted romances and rivalries, and sometimes betrayals! I discovered that this could really be the whole appeal of it. It is this high drama that demands the highest level of suspension of disbelief.
In the summer months, I was flipping channels and noticed WWE SmackDown was on. Figuring I would probably recognize the women formerly known as “divas” (in a surprisingly inclusive move in 2016, it was decided that Women wrestlers would no longer be branded as Divas, but full-fledged superstars like the men), and having enjoyed the little bit I had seen during WrestleMania enough to cure my boredom, I kept the channel on. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the melodrama! It reminded me almost of ancient epics or theatre from the middle-ages. You have the heroes (faces) and the villains (heels). It is that simple-there is no in-between. Although, a frequent form of conflict is a “heel-turn” or a “face-turn”, where a face will suddenly backstab a partner, or a heel will come to the defense of another wrestler. Wrestling narratives follow certain laws or formulas, including that a wrestler can only be a heel or a face at any given time. There are several of the common identifiable archetypes you can spot in the carefully crafted personas on the rosters.
For example, you have the “jesters or fools”:
…and the “warrior”:
…and what’s a hero without a villain?
I mean, yeah the characters are one-dimensional, but what amazed me is that this is executed consistently and intentionally. There’s something about knowing what to expect and getting behind these personas that is so much fun. Now, I even subscribe to the WWE Network streaming service, which gives access to extra programing and all the pay-per-view events. I really have become obsessed!
When all I was talking about became wrestling, a friend had me check out a documentary called Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling. I have now made many of my friends watch it with me, since it accurately and humorously discusses some of the merits I’ve found in wrestling-that it is a unique and fun experience which does have a narrative quality. The documentary is available for free on Youtube and Amazon Instant Video, and it is part character study, part Drunk History meets WWE. In this very humorous account, director and wrestling enthusiast Max Landis chronicles the rise and fall of wrestler Paul “Triple H” Levesque. In analyzing this character arc, he argues that while the matches are predetermined and the plotlines admittedly push the boundaries of belief, WWE is imaginative and plays on people’s desire to experience stories. And as an interesting twist, the male wrestlers are all portrayed by women.
“Humans crave melodrama. They crave fiction. Our imagination is our greatest gift and our greatest curse, because we’re bored all the time. And that’s what fiction does for us. It gives us a sort of simulator for bigger stories and bigger emotions…it’s us watching and feeling. The human capacity for empathy through imagination-that’s why we have stories…”- Mark Landis
Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling also features several cameos by famous actors; Josh Peck, Darren Criss, Macaulay Culkin, David Arquette, Haley Joel Osment, and more make appearances.
I love that wrestling is an outlet for me. I look forward to the raw, simple feelings like seeing someone overcome being an underdog. It is endlessly fun to see these larger-than-life personalities interact with each other each week. Even though it is so formulaic, I get caught up in the chants (like Daniel Bryan’s famous Yes! Yes! Yes!) and the boos and the energy as a full-fledged member of the WWE Universe. I know wrestling isn’t real, as much as “reality” television isn’t truly real, but the raw emotion, success and failures, drive and character-who says those things can’t be real?
