Hahaha I have a couple of masks but flying from Europe to Mexico for a shag wouldn't be a very cost effective move. Some of them did send pictures and were rather nice too... which is why I have always believed each and every single one of Mil Mascaras' stories about banging all kinds of flight stewardesses and five star hotel reception ladies.

 

I have a friend who wrestles for CMLL, he's not a star at all or somebody most people here would know. He's a very religious good boy and he's actually a pretty good looking chap (sans mask) so he has got tons and tons of groupies at every single big small and medium size arena he goes to. I can only imagine the kind of offers that the real major league stars used to get back in the 70s-80s when the world was a bit more lawless.

 

But, yeah, they did really believe that I was Mil Mascaras. I also had many people asking for autographs, free masks, phone calls and other favours as Mil Mascaras and as Dos Caras back when I used that internet handle in Mexican forums. I had so many requests that I had to change my name.

I've heard most of the these things from non wrestling fans but the last time I talked to someone who was a non wrestling fan was about Mayweather against Big Show. He said that wrestling was for f____. (Yeah, you could fill in the blank.)

 

Also add Colin Cowherd to the stupid things non wrestling fans say as he said on air today, "I don't watch wrestling cause I like girl parts and stuff".

I've heard the "this stuff fake..." and then when something violent happens they get all indignant like I'm watching some criminal acts being committed.

 

There are the people who say how much they hate how wrestling has changed. They hate how it looks more violent or raunchy it gets...then ten seconds later they are booing the heel and cheering the babyface. I tried to explain the paradox to them and they looked at me with what I can only describe as the confused puppy look. Then they want to watch more wrestling.

 

A friend of mine doesn't like wrestling most of the time...until someone "cool" like The Rock or Brock Lesnar is on the screen to kick some ass. He is also the type that I mentioned earlier who says it looks so fake. I show him something a little (not a lot - nothing death match or bloody) more violent and he says that it is too violent to watch.

Why would anyone care what no-fans say about wrestling? They just say it's fake or something to me and I just no-sell it, or go "fine, ok".

This came from a place of ignorance more than stupidity, but someone asked me the other day if I had heard that Rey Mysterio's son had killed someone. I didn't even know where to start.

I also received several sexual offers by women who assumed that I was Mil Mascaras because my mail started with milmascaras (even though I clearly stated in English AND Spanish that I was not Mil Mascaras). And one "promoter" wanted to pay me money if I could provide him with "barrio looking" Mexican boys who could wrestle for his gay themed video company... but I guess I'm getting away from the subject.

 

 

 

Is it terrible that the first thought that came to my mind was "I wonder if that promoter's name was Roberto Feinstein"?

If someone was to say "Hey, you know it's fake?", I'd show them Rusev rolling to the ring in a tank and I'd politely mention that, fake or not, this medium, when done right, is fucking great.

"That table/chair didn't hurt, right?"

 

2 hours ago, War is Raw said:

"That table/chair didn't hurt, right?"

When some WCW wrestlers appeared on Politically Incorrect, Bill Maher was completely incredulous that chair shots actually hurt. Just as there's a surprising number of people who think wrestling is at least somewhat real (or at least used to be), there's a significant number of people who think that wrestling being fake means that everything about it must be fake. After all, what kind of complete idiot would allow someone to hit them for real in a fake fight?

Exactly...makes no sense to an outsider.

Also got "why do people like to watch wrestling?" yesterday while I was watching Kamala + Missing Link vs Andre and Duggan. 

Of course, most obvious and common one: "But you know it's fake right?"

To build on the above posts, they treat it like a sport but the fact that the finish is pre-determined overrides everything else. If the finish is "fake", then everything else must be "fake" too right? They can't possibly be getting hurt. Then, in the same breath, they praise Thanos vs. Hulk as "brutal"

Obviously, not all non-fans are like that. Some recognize the physical toll but just can't get into it because of the scripted nature. Which I can understand (though wrestling is supposed to be to scripted since it's an artistic outlet, conveyed through simulated fighting but I guess that's not for everyone.). 

 

On 7/24/2019 at 10:13 AM, NintendoLogic said:

there's a significant number of people who think that wrestling being fake means that everything about it must be fake. After all, what kind of complete idiot would allow someone to hit them for real in a fake fight?

Heard a podcast where the non-fan host pretty much gave an eye-roll with a sarcastic “yeah, I’m sure they really did have a beef with each other” remark when his co-host, who is a fan, was describing the IRL heat between Hogan and Savage in order to give the background for Savage’s rap song  “Be A Man, Hulk.”

The ones who seem to be more incredulous about the existence of pro wrestling are sports-types, of which I admittedly am not. Especially in the media, though that may not be as much the case now when marks like Bill Simmons and others are important voices in that world. But certainly in the 90's there seemed to be more than a whiff of condescension about it's place in culture by Sports Illustrated and definitely ESPN (specifically when Nitro and Raw were starting to be a ratings threat to Monday Night Football). Compare that to Hollywood, where wrestlers might have gotten a bad rap as bad actors for awhile (Roddy Piper in They Live and Andre in Princess Bride excluded), but someone like Sylvester Stallone who other than being a fan had a heightened respect for what they did.

 

On 7/28/2019 at 2:54 PM, SteveJRogers said:

Heard a podcast where the non-fan host pretty much gave an eye-roll with a sarcastic “yeah, I’m sure they really did have a beef with each other” remark when his co-host, who is a fan, was describing the IRL heat between Hogan and Savage in order to give the background for Savage’s rap song  “Be A Man, Hulk.”

The other day the SummerSlam 1990 main event came up in a This Day In History segment.  And the non-fan gravitated completely to mocking the use of “Rude” for Richard Rood’s stage name.

Okay, whatever.  But one of this guy’s pet peeves is when legal names aren’t actual names, or legit spellings of names.  So if he only knew Jim Hellwig’s legal name post 1993, and what his widow and two children from that marriage have as last names! *rolls eyes*

 

Last summer I went to Milton Keynes (the worst city in England) to see a Rev-Pro/NJPW co-promoted show. When I was getting the bus the next morning a pair of old women started talking to me, I mentioned that I had come here to see wrestling. One of them remembered the World of Sport stuff when it was on ITV, and upon talking a little bit about it I realised she thought that stuff was real, and I could not convince her otherwise

2 hours ago, El McKell said:

Last summer I went to Milton Keynes (the worst city in England) to see a Rev-Pro/NJPW co-promoted show. When I was getting the bus the next morning a pair of old women started talking to me, I mentioned that I had come here to see wrestling. One of them remembered the World of Sport stuff when it was on ITV, and upon talking a little bit about it I realised she thought that stuff was real, and I could not convince her otherwise

Why would you try to convince her otherwise?  Kayfabe, yo!

Had someone ask me where in US was NJPW operating out of. Seriously.

I once explained the Montreal Screwjob to my Dad and I'm pretty sure he thought I had brain damage when I tried to explain the "real" aspects of it.

17 minutes ago, Mrzfn said:

I once explained the Montreal Screwjob to my Dad and I'm pretty sure he thought I had brain damage when I tried to explain the "real" aspects of it.

Its hard for some to get around the idea of someone double crossing them.

A PED supplier to a famous athlete once admitted in an affidavit that he kept evidence, including used items for taking the drugs in the event that the athlete turned on him.

A sports talk show host, who was completely on the athlete’s side, so that may have something to do with the reaction, found this so inconceivable that someone, no matter how much of a slimeball, would do such a thing “in case the guy double crossed me.”

While as I said, the sports radio guy was a big supporter of this piece of shit athlete, but I can see someone being incredulous of what Vince and company did to Bret that night.

It's a weird reaction since you would expect the first thing you'd do if you were involved in shady dealings is to have enough dirt on everyone else in case shit goes down (or maybe I've just been following the wrestling business too long). 

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

It's a weird reaction since you would expect the first thing you'd do if you were involved in shady dealings is to have enough dirt on everyone else in case shit goes down (or maybe I've just been following the wrestling business too long). 

Hell, movies and TV shows depicting organized crime, or even simple police and legal procedurals will tell you that! 

I think it was that plus the idea that anything in wrestling could be "real" was really inconceivable to him. He basically assumed I had been worked, and no amount of explanation could convince him otherwise!

1 hour ago, Mrzfn said:

I think it was that plus the idea that anything in wrestling could be "real" was really inconceivable to him. He basically assumed I had been worked, and no amount of explanation could convince him otherwise!

LOL!  Well, to be fair, there are fans, and people in the business, including some who were there at the time, that think the whole damn thing was a work all along. =;)

Trying to explain to non fans that indie companies and NJPW have been selling out major arenas in the past two years in the US. They have no concept of how popular wrestling is right now because its still a very niche thing and not really covered in the mainstream. I get a lot of "last time i was at a show it was WWE and the place was half full, you can't be telling me some Japanese company is really going to be able to run Madison Square Garden?" "There's no way tickets are selling out for that shit at Capitol One Arena, if you really want to go, we'll get a group together and just buy tickets at the door when we get there"