Wrestling was It was invented around the start of the 20th century, back then "bear knuckle" fights were all the rage on the side-show circuits but the fighters kept getting too hurt to do it every weekend. Wrestling was a way to give people the violent show that they were craving but without having the performers kill each-other in the process.

Everything from chairs to hammers to cutting is scripted and always was scripted there was no "turning point".

Well Hulk promises it'll be Real again. I hope he can take a few kicks to the knees.

Pretty much. The roots of professional wrestling is a scam where people were asked to bet on lop-sided fights a promoter was advertising only to have the underdog triumph and the promoter sop up all the money. Much of that carney terminology is still in use today, such as mark (people who watch the show, or people who watch it believing it's real) and work (something played off as real but is entirely scripted).

It sort-of evolved from a carney scam to the more vaudevillian entertainment thing it is today.

i get the origins of pro wrestling, but the olden days carny scripted wrestling matches probably looked close to the real thing, right? just with a scripted ending. i guess i'm wondering when the sport stopped trying to convince people it was real and just went full blown ridiculous

That's really hard to point a finger at. It's been a gradual shift. You can point to the introduction of anything as a turning point, such as more unsual moves (piledriver, whipping people into the ropes, top-rope maneuvers). People in the industry admiting that it's not real is relatively recent (even in the 90s, people weren't really willing to admit that), and there are still people that work in pro-wrestling that won't admit it is scripted. There have also been recent examples of federations attempting to go for a more "shoot" (real) style, such as the excellent UWF-i in Japan that was marketed in the United States as Bushido and was a major precursor to mixed martial arts. There have also been examples of MMA fights that were scripted, and are therefore basically professional wrestling matches. It's hard to identify a turning point, and there's certainly no accepted consensus. Realism just gradually gave way to spectacle.

the 50's maybe? Like it's been said before, it's hard to pinpoint when wrestling became wrasslin.

maybe the politics nerds can help me out on this one: when was the accepting 'turning point' of when politics stopped being a collective process of managing state affairs and became staged theater? did modern political staples like claiming god speaks to you or depicting your opponent as a gangland stripper have a real life example that led to its popularity? come on, i know some of you weirdos love to talk about politics.

i don't see the comparison. are you saying i'm asking too broad a question? pro wrestling does not have the history or the complexity of politics. its a legit query.

ps thanks for the info hooker

It went full blown ridiculous well before they stopped trying to keep people believing it's real. The first time I saw an angle where they referenced bookers/agents/jobbing was Buff Bagwell's frst angle after Russo came to WCW which was the end of 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0JkwFlLyi8
4:22-4:30 is the relevant part.

I would have to say most smarks (if that's still a term used today) would say Vince Russo tried to kill wrestling by breaking kayfabe and shitting on its past.

maybe the poeTV nerds can help me out on this one: when was the accepting 'turning point' of when poeTV stopped being an actual youtube-filter and became staged theater? did modern poeTV staples like posting 16 cat videos a day or taking the creating 20 reply-long strings of highly opinionated views on the science of magnets have a real life example that led to its popularity? come on, i know some of you weirdos love to talk about poeTV.

I think it was around the time Roachbud started bouncing people. Or maybe when Cena_mark started posting his own vlogs.

Cat video spam has been around forever, though. I'm pretty sure the first ever video posted here was a cat video, and there never was a "turning point".

People who work in pro wrestling and still won't admit publicly it is fake tend to not comment for the sake of the product. They are actors in a weird stage play that doesn't end. It's less that these guys are delusional (well...mostly). Some of the best performers supposedly only broke character once they were home and their front doors were closed. *shrug*

Gorgeous George was doing elaborate characters and spectacle in the 40's and 50's (Randy Savage's little character details were influenced heavily by him). So. I mean. At least around then? I dunno. I find this entire thing really interesting, but I am not an expert.

Wrestling is to entertainment as Slurpee is to beverage

did i hurt your feelings or something? i'm not asking for dissertation on dishonesty and manipulation in the conduct of the ruling class, i was asking when the first homeboy got hit with a chair. relax, i get it, wrestling is a big deal to you.

I have no memories at all associated with your user name and I've watched less than sixty minutes of pro wrestling in my entire life. Hooker's "realism just gradually gave way to spectacle" reminded me of government in the age of television, that's all.

PoeTV: where good friends come to discuss RASSLIN an' the GUBMINT!

PoeTV: STOP BEING CONDESCENDING ONLY I CAN BE CONDESCENDING

Randy Couture could do it, why not the Hulkster?