A few weeks back, I went to take pictures at a WWE NXT event at The Corbin Arena.
I have not watched wrestling in a few years, and I had never heard of any of the wrestlers, but I still had a good time.
I grew up watching wrestling.
While my mom’s mother despised it, my dad’s mother was the exact opposite. She loved wrestling.
You did NOT try to tell her it wasn’t real. (She was one of THOSE wrestling fans…LOL.)
Back then wrestling tried to maintain what has affectionately been dubbed “kayfabe.” In other words, wrestling did its best to maintain the illusion its story line was real.
Every Saturday afternoon, Grannie would watch wrestling broadcast on channel 10 out of Knoxville with babyfaces (good guy wrestlers) like Bob Armstrong and heel (bad guy wrestlers) like the Mongolian Stomper, who used to famously stomp opponents with his big black cowboy boots. If I was over there, I always watched with her.
In the late 1970s, Corbin was a regular stop on the wrestling circuit with matches every few months at the old Edwards Gym, the Corbin Speedway and the Corbin High School football field.
Grannie would frequently make my dad or my aunt take me and her to watch. (My guess is they flipped a coin to decide, which one had the “privilege” of taking us…LOL.)
I saw several wrestlers before they hit the big time, like Ronnie Garvin and Chief Wahoo McDaniel.
Although the matches at Edwards Gym and the Corbin Speedway occurred approximately 50 years ago, what I saw at The Corbin Arena a few weeks back was not all that different. It was just a lot flashier.
The formula both then and now goes a lot like this.
Before the match started, wrestling heels usually would get on the microphone in the center of the ring and antagonize their opponents and the crowd with insults.
Then the faces would come out often yelling back on a microphone. This would go on for a few minutes. Eventually the action would commence in the ring with matches going back and forth for several minutes.
When the heels won, it was often by cheating. They often go running quickly out of the ring as the face is yelling at them from inside the ring.
When the faces won, they often showboated in the ring playing up to the crowd. Then they would walk around the ring high fiving fans and signing autographs or memorabilia.
So why watch wrestling if it is not real? Why watch a soap opera when you know it is not real? Why watch a Hallmark movie – which are often badly written in my opinion – when everyone predictably already knows what is going to happen? Why watch a Sylvester Stallone action movie when we already know the hero is going to win?
I can remember Lillian Babb teaching us in sophomore English about “willing suspension of disbelief.” In a nutshell, this is where the audience temporarily sets aside its logic and just enjoys the show or the book for a few minutes.
Both wrestling and movies are escapism. Both are a chance to get away from your humdrum life for a couple of hours and forget about what is bothering you.
The Corbin Arena has two upcoming wrestling shows, which might be interesting to watch.
The first is Little Mania Micro Wrestling, which will take place on July 25.
“We’re the #1 midget wrestling show in America — and for good reason. While the others play it safe, we push the limits. We bring hard-hitting action, wild comedy, big characters, and an energy that fills the building from wall to wall. It’s part brawl, part circus, all chaos — and fans can’t get enough. Our shows sell out, so grab your tickets early and experience why Little Mania is the show everyone’s talking about,” reads a post on The Corbin Arena website about the event.
This event should be at least a little different to say the least.
The second is the AMW Superbowl of Wrestling on Aug. 22.
This one features some wrestlers I have at least heard of, including Charles Wright (previously known as The Godfather and Papa Shango), Tatanka, Dr. Tom Prichard and Ricky Morton and his son Kerry Morton. Ricky Morton was famously one half of the legendary tag team, The Rock and Roll Express along with Robert Gibson.
It also includes a lot of guys I have never heard of, including Stan Sierra, Marty Clay, Luke Menzies and Lord Murphy Costigan. (Anytime a wrestlers persona starts with the word “Lord,” it is a pretty good bet he is a heel…LOL.)
I am sure both wrestling shows will go much like the matches I watched at the old Edwards Gym and the WWE NXT event I saw a few weeks ago at The Corbin Arena. If the performers do their jobs right though, these shows should be entertaining for their audiences, and help them forget about everything else for a couple of hours.
