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Why the whole world should watch WWE’s Wrestlemania

While many people saw April 1 as the day to play cruel jokes on one another in commemoration of April Fool’s Day, I had a different reason to rejoice. April 1 was my Christmas. It was the day of the biggest spectacle of them all: Wrestlemania 23. Over 80,000 people jam-packed Ford Field in Detroit, shattering the attendance record that used to be held by Super Bowl XL. Over 1 million people ordered the pay-per-view show worldwide. What once started as a risky business move by a young Vince McMahon in 1984 to shake the wrestling world, has turned into an event that will earn about $100 million this year. Not too shabby.

Mohammad Rahman.

I remember sitting in my dorm room my first Friday night at the College. While many of my hallmates were scrambling about trying to find a frat party, I was sitting comfortably on my bed watching “Friday Night Smackdown.” After a few minutes one of my hallmates came into my room and saw what I was doing. Immediately he gave me a shrug and made the standard comment: “You know that stuff’s all fake, right?”

I turned and smiled at him. I debated whether to punch him in the mouth and ask him if that’s fake or to calmly reply. Logic prevailed and I went with the latter. I explained to him that wrestling isn’t fake, it’s scripted. Just like any soap opera, television show, movie or reality show.

As for the violence, well, that’s a different story. I explained to him how wrestlers are individuals who are trained like stuntmen to take the hits in a way that it lessens the danger. However, that does not mean wrestlers do not get hurt. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Wrestlers live a life dealing with pain on a daily basis. That’s why there are a lot of wrestlers who die young from pain killers and steroids.

Several more of my hallmates, hearing the commotion from my television, came into the room and started laughing at the screen as well. They all asked how a smart guy like me could be watching such “garbage.” I thought about drop kicking all these buffoons to Hades, but I relaxed once again. I started watching wrestling when I was about four years old and was hooked from the very first episode I watched.

Professional wrestling is like the ultimate male soap opera. It brilliantly combines drama, violence, sex and athleticism into one neat package for the viewers to enjoy. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t women that watch the show; on the contrary, wrestling has a huge demographic of women, especially in the coveted 18 to 35 age bracket.

So my friends started digging into my reasons, they pulled out the ultimate wild card any non-wrestling fan these days pulls: “It’s not as good as it used to be, back when The Rock and Stone Cold were around.” It’s not the first time I’ve been faced with that comment, but after a few years of thinking and research, I came up with an answer. Back in the late ’90s, wrestling saw a huge boom period due to the rise of wrestlers such as The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. However, it was also due to the shift from hokey storylines to more realistic situations that allowed the wrestlers to be themselves, that wrestling was able to rise up.

Does that mean wrestling is not as popular as it was five years ago? This is true to an extent. Wrestling draws about half the audience it did back in its boom period, but from a business standpoint, that was expected. My passion for wrestling is so deep I actually devoted my final math project last year to the business that is World Wrestling Entertainment, the biggest wrestling company in the world today. What I found was that wrestling is a cyclical business, tending to have its peak period toward the end of the decade.

This brings me back to Wrestlemania 23, the pinnacle of the wrestling business. Back in January, I knew that Wrestlemania 23 was going to be different, because that’s the time of the year when all the storylines take shape for Wrestlemania, and the lineup was a very intriguing one. I had a feeling that this was going to be bigger than previous Wrestlemanias, the one that will bring back wrestling to its glory days, and I was not disappointed. Everything from Jeff Hardy’s 20-foot jump off a ladder to crash onto Edge, to Undertaker keeping his undefeated Wrestlemania streak alive, to Vince McMahon getting his head shaved bald and John Cena, the heir apparent to the wrestling crown, defeating the resurgent Shawn Michaels in the main event just felt like it had an added bit of edge to it — the edge that seemed to be missing a few years ago. It also helped that every media outlet seemed to be covering Wrestlemania, from “Extra” to “SportsCenter.”

In short, it’s good to be a wrestling fan again, and if you’re not one I urge you to give it a try. It’s not targeted at any specific demographic. Wrestling is meant to be enjoyed universally, and if you don’t like it, that’s fine, but there is no need to trash it. Wrestling is about as innocuous as “Flavor of Love” — so remember, it’s not a sport. It’s sports entertainment.

Mohammad Rahman is the Flat Hat online editor. If you continue to question wrestling he will have to lay the smackdown on your candy ass.