Enough is enough. We need a thread to discuss and watch wrestling and MMA fights.

I'll start it off with a great match between Stan Hansen and Andre the Giant in Japan. And a 4 Horsemen promo, because any proper wrestling thread has to include Ric Flair.

Andre the Giant Vs Stan Hansen 09-23-81
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP2yMV2KVbQ

The Four Horsemen - It's an all night ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA5arwOq3jA

Prepare yourself to get bombarded with John Cena jokes. You have been warned.

Wrestling? Isn`t that this we-pretend-to-fight-each-other thing? The thing where funny looking guys get money for bullshitting the audience?

Hulk Hogan's debut is, well, I don't know. It doesn't make any sense...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEYcnqiRcVM

Video games aren't real either man, do you call developers bullshitters too? Or fictional authors?

It's all scripted, sure, but then, so are movies and TV shows. It's kind of like watching superheroes or playing fighting games.There are loads of different characters, each with their own personalities and special moves, none of them real.

Figured it out somewhere between Undertaker throwing lightning bolts and Sting being rescued by Robocop, have you? Congratulations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn-yJjHNjr4

Gave up watching professional wrestling many years ago (the WWE's shift toward a more sanitized and family friendly atmosphere was really sucking the enjoyment out of it for me - not necessarily because they opted to go that route but more because it was done so hastily that there was no time to adjust to it naturally). That, coupled with the fact that many of the performers I enjoyed watching during the mid-90s through 2000s were either retired, dead (as depressing as that is to write), or working in a capacity that didn't exactly keep me interested in seeing what they were doing meant that it was time to move on.

Some things you just never forget though. Most promos cut by the Rock, David Flair's Titantron video, the dastardly "Fingerpoke of Doom", Vince being the "Higher Power", The West Texas Rednecks thinking rap is a bunch of crap, Edge & Christian's fondness for kazoo renditions of entrance themes, the completely tasteless (no pun intended) Pepper steak segment, The Ultimate Warrior's GONNA GETCHA GONNA GETCHA mirror, , [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlANqxZxhm8]Ralphus, Harvey "Hervina" Wippleman in drag, the absolutely ridiculous excess of the 24/7 rule and so many, many other things (I realize I'm overlooking a good deal of material from the 80s and some gems from other promotions - like the televised ECW match where Super Nova brandished a Captain America shield, just to name one example - but if I sat here recollecting everything then this post would be book length).

AND HIS NAME IS.............

What? You say video games are not real? You mean I didn`t kill billions of people in those games? Damn, now I have to sue the programmers and the whole gaming industry for betrayal!!!!!
Well, honestly: In games and books and movies no one says that it is real, but in the wrestling industry they pretend to be real. I know that there are many people out there who believe that all the fights are real, and often young people getting hurt coz they are trying to make their own wrestling fights with their friends.

Fake wrestling and MMA in the same thread? That's like discussing about the happenings of real war zones of the world, and Team Fortress 2 team battles. Sure there is shooting in both, but...

I've never really found fake wrestling interesting, but MMA yes. Oddly though, I started getting a bit uneasy watching MMA fights, some of them are just so brutal. That's especially odd because I trained some too (but didn't compete), then I started to get squeamish watching them.

Maybe I should try watching fake wrestling after all, at least I know it is fake...

In fictional books and video games the story absolutely is presented as being real. Some works break the fourth wall but that's an exception to the rule.

I used to love professional wrestling. Now WWE bores me silly with a stale product. But NXT is still awesome.

Because a thread titled 'MMA/UFC/Pride/Kung-Fu/Karate/Kendo-but no pro wrestling because it's fake' was a bit long for a thread header.

Here's a quick mini doc on the beginning of UFC. Interesting to see the changes over the years.

Brutal beginnings of the UFC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzImQo7cdg

I stopped watching after Punk lost the belt. Del rio was gone, Kane was gone, Punk disappeared shortly after. only good thing was Bryan was coming up, but they dragged that out and I don't even know if Bryan got his day. with Del Rio gone, the thing that brought be back in disappeared, and then I didn't care anymore. RAW had gone to 3 hours shortly before that, and that was playing with my interest. it's just too long.

now wrestling is at an all-time low. pretty much they've dumped it all on Wyatt. I don't particularly care for Rollins and would have expected Ambrose to have become bigger but I guess Rollins is the prettier. anyway.

it's just boring right now. there's nothing good going on. is there anything good going on? last time I watched it was months ago just on occasion. haven't even looked at it since.

and I don't really care about MMA because it's bloodsport and fuck bloodsport. it sucks all the mystique and fun out of martial arts. I'm not completely knocking it. it's good for those that like it. I just don't. I do respect that dana white built it all up out of something that was almost gone.