Author Topic: Bob Barker to WWE? (Read 33481 times)

clemon79 · « **Reply #75 on:** September 02, 2009, 07:59:44 PM »

Oh. My. God.

/again, approves

chris319 · « **Reply #76 on:** September 02, 2009, 09:10:50 PM »

The old buzzard has taken leave, that's all there is to it.

pentellit · « **Reply #77 on:** September 02, 2009, 10:38:17 PM »

[quote name=\'gaubster2\' post=\'224750\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 04:40 PM\']/Cue Pentellit response in 3...2...1...[/quote]
gaubster2, I would love to give a response, but I am 100% totally clueless about wrestling shows. I have never seen one. I read these posts and try to follow the thread, but it's like you're all speaking a foreign language. I wish I understood because I'm sure there are some juicy quips and great references going about, but I am totally clueless. The only tv wrestling I've ever seen is promos for it during commercials. (Sorry guys, I'm a TV Food Network kinda gal.)

But here's a question for you; is this tv wrestling real? What I've seen of it during the ten seconds it takes me to find the remote and change the channel, I gotta say it is horribly violent. I can't imagine that a human being, albiet a buff 250 pound side o' beef (with fabulous hair extensions BTW!) could survive the kinds of impacts that I see. Is it real?

And if it's not real, if it's all staged, then what's the attraction? I'm not being facetious here, I would genuinely like to understand the appeal. And also to know if it's real or not.

clemon79 · « **Reply #78 on:** September 02, 2009, 10:39:33 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'224768\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 07:38 PM\']And if it's not real, if it's all staged, then what's the attraction? I'm not being facetious here, I would genuinely like to understand the appeal. And also to know if it's real or not.[/quote]
It's the male version of a soap opera. Simple as that.

pentellit · « **Reply #79 on:** September 02, 2009, 10:45:28 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'224769\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 07:39 PM\'][quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'224768\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 07:38 PM\']And if it's not real, if it's all staged, then what's the attraction? I'm not being facetious here, I would genuinely like to understand the appeal. And also to know if it's real or not.[/quote]
It's the male version of a soap opera. Simple as that.
[/quote]
Do people or "characters" fall in love? (I like a good romance.)

J.R. · « **Reply #80 on:** September 02, 2009, 10:48:23 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'224769\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 09:39 PM\']It's the male version of a soap opera. Simple as that.[/quote]
Would you say Japanese Iron Chef fits in that category as well?

chad1m · « **Reply #81 on:** September 02, 2009, 10:58:41 PM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'224771\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 10:45 PM\']Do people or "characters" fall in love? (I like a good romance.)[/quote]They sure do. And then they fall in love for real and before you know it, one of 'em's set to run the company in a few years.

pentellit · « **Reply #82 on:** September 02, 2009, 11:32:18 PM »

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'224776\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 07:58 PM\'][quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'224771\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 10:45 PM\']Do people or "characters" fall in love? (I like a good romance.)[/quote]They sure do. And then they fall in love for real and before you know it, one of 'em's set to run the company in a few years.
[/quote]
Now see, there's another wrestling reference that I don't get. (I can pretty much figure it out though, but I still don't get it.)

So based on clemon79 saying wrestling is like a male soap opera, and since soap operas aren't real, I'm making the assumption that wrestling is not real. I'm also basing it on a simple knowledge of human physiology and crash test dummies.

chris319 · « **Reply #83 on:** September 02, 2009, 11:45:00 PM »

Your common TV wrestling is most decidedly NOT for real. The outcomes are 100% predetermined. The guys and gals are, however, fabulous acrobats and utilize many of the tricks stunt people use. For example, if I land a punch on someone else, I don't have to connect very hard, but if the other guy reels from it (or looks like he's reeling) it looks like my blow was devastating. If the guy I punch is merely acting, staggers around, falls over backwards, doubles over in pain, etc., it's 99% due to his acting and 1% due to the blow I landed. As I say, they are master illusionists.

They also invent silly plot lines and rivalries.

No wrestler wants to inflict genuine injury to his opponent because he's going to need to wrestle that same guy the next week or the next day in the next city.

clemon79 · « **Reply #84 on:** September 02, 2009, 11:53:50 PM »

[quote name=\'J.R.\' post=\'224772\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 07:48 PM\']Would you say Japanese Iron Chef fits in that category as well?[/quote]
Not as much.

/the computers on my home network are all named after Iron Chefs

jalman · « **Reply #85 on:** September 02, 2009, 11:55:31 PM »

It's still real to me! *sobs*

/Real as in non-animated, non-fictitious
// Punches are SUPPOSED to illegal in a normal match
/// However, logic and sticking to rules is not always fully enforced
//// This should be shown in "Pro Wrestling 101" courses.

tvrandywest · « **Reply #86 on:** September 03, 2009, 12:32:01 AM »

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And no, Pentellit, TV wrestling is not real. In fact, it never was.

In researching the bio on Johnny Olson, I was all over the history of the DuMont TV network where two guys we all know and who worked together at TPiR, Johnny and Dennis James started their TV careers in the late 1940s. Both announced the earliest TV wrestling and boxing for DuMont.

The sports were chosen because they were in a small, enclosed, controlled, well-lit, indoor environment - a roped-off ring - that could be covered with only two cameras. It was far easier to broadcast than baseball or football.

They quickly found ways to adapt the two sports for TV. Boxing had timed 3-minute rounds that allowed for regular commercial breaks. For wrestling, a sport without regular timed segments, a stage manager on headset was positioned beneath the springy, padded floor of the ring and would bang on the bottom of the ring when it was time for a commercial. The good guy would pin the bad guy, the referee would count to three and John/Dennis would cue the commercial.

It's now a huge, multi-million dollar sport, and, like Johnny and Dennis, Georgeous George, Gorilla Monsoon and Haystack Calhoun are all long gone. But some things haven't changed ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

pentellit · « **Reply #87 on:** September 03, 2009, 12:50:12 AM »

[quote name=\'jalman\' post=\'224787\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 08:55 PM\']///This should be shown in "Pro Wrestling 101" courses.[/quote]
Thanks Chris and Randy for further elaborating and explaining tv wrestling. Now I can at least better understand and appreciate the athletics, body building, and the theatre and choreography of the sport, (is it considered a "sport"?)

In a sincere effort to educate myself further I did watch the "It's Real To Me" clip from YouTube. But when I opened the Pro Wrestling 101 video and saw it was 93 minutes long (!) I decided to just take you guy's word for it!

It's like the old joke about the basic difference between men and women; "Men like the Three Stooges."

'nuff said!

comicus · « **Reply #88 on:** September 03, 2009, 01:02:38 AM »

[quote name=\'pentellit\' post=\'224768\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 10:38 PM\'][quote name=\'gaubster2\' post=\'224750\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 04:40 PM\']/Cue Pentellit response in 3...2...1...[/quote]
gaubster2, I would love to give a response, but I am 100% totally clueless about wrestling shows. I have never seen one. I read these posts and try to follow the thread, but it's like you're all speaking a foreign language. I wish I understood because I'm sure there are some juicy quips and great references going about, but I am totally clueless. The only tv wrestling I've ever seen is promos for it during commercials. (Sorry guys, I'm a TV Food Network kinda gal.)

But here's a question for you; is this tv wrestling real? What I've seen of it during the ten seconds it takes me to find the remote and change the channel, I gotta say it is horribly violent. I can't imagine that a human being, albiet a buff 250 pound side o' beef (with fabulous hair extensions BTW!) could survive the kinds of impacts that I see. Is it real?

And if it's not real, if it's all staged, then what's the attraction? I'm not being facetious here, I would genuinely like to understand the appeal. And also to know if it's real or not.
[/quote]
Wrestling is an athletic exhibition meant to resemble spirited combat. Scripted "storylines" are written to gin up viewers/fans' interest in seeing the wrestlers fight. The wrestlers, for their part, make every effort to make the performance look real, including taking dangerous falls (known as "bumps" in insider lingo) and sometimes allowing themselves to be hit with weapons. These things don't tickle, and it takes either an extraordinary athlete (Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels) or a complete nut (Mick Foley) to successfully pull off the charade.

Many older wrestlers come away from their careers with crippling injuries, and many more suffer through those injuries during their career. Some wrestle much longer than they ought to simply because they can't bring themselves to do anything else (see the movie "The Wrestler" for a fine dramatization of such a life). Those very real injuries quite often lead to very real drug addictions, which have claimed dozens of young lives or, in rare and more tragic circumstances, led them to madness.

But yeah, Food Network is decidedly more "real," even if I do sometimes wish to see Bobby Flay take a folding chair to the head.

pentellit · « **Reply #89 on:** September 03, 2009, 01:11:39 AM »

[quote name=\'CountdownRound\' post=\'224794\' date=\'Sep 2 2009, 10:02 PM\']But yeah, Food Network is decidedly more "real," even if I do sometimes wish to see Bobby Flay take a folding chair to the head.

[/quote]
Or see Mario Batalli get Flay in a Koji Clutch? (See, I am learning!)