Politics and Professional Wrestling.

When looking at the political process, I can't help but see similarities between it and professional wrestling. Some of you are probably thinking, "What the hell? How could you possibly compare politics to professional wrestling?". My reply would be, how could you not see it? It's a very easy comparison, if you look for it. The key there is looking for it. Politics and wrestling have several points of comparison. Allow me to point them out:

1) Heels and Babyfaces- In the political realm we the people normally choose between two candidates. In wrestling most matches are one on one. In the match you would normally have a babyface( a good guy people cheer for) take on a heel( a villian people boo). In the match people will pull for the babyface to win. If they win the people cheer, if they lose the people get all kinds of upset. The same goes for a political race. We the people find a candidate to support, and in turn they become our babyface. And in turn their opponent becomes our heel in the race. If our candidates win we celebrate, but if they lose we tend to feel a little sad as if we had lost as well.

2)People get sucked in- When going to a wrestling event you can't help but see people get sucked in. If the wrestler is doing their job properly, they will get the fans to care about the going ons of the match as well as the outcome. Same as in politics. It's the politicians job to energize their base for the election so they get a big turnout. They want people to be sucked in to the process. If they are then they will probably vote. In wrestling they want people to be sucked in so they continue to buy tickets, ppvs, merchandice, etc. And if you've ever seen a fan whose been sucked in as well as voters whose been sucked in you would swear that they're one and the same in terms of their passion. Wrestling fans will shout and scream as if they are a part of the action. Voters will do the same thing. In both cases it's not always civil. That's how passionate both sides can get.

3)We want clean elections/matches but don't always get one- One of the biggest similarities is the fact we the people/fans want straight up clean elections/matches. However we don't always get them. In wrestling when a promoter wants to stretch out a feud they'll do screwy finishes. A screwy finish is one that includes, but not limited too, outside interference and use of an illegal object. Wrestlers(typically heels) will occasionally win a match based on this screwy finish. Which leads us fans to cry foul due to our not gettin the type of satisfaction we were craving. In politics we sometimes are subjected to gutter politics. This is where the candidates do whatever they need to do to get elected. There isn' t anything off limits in this type race. It's the kind of race that reminds of the phrase coined by the late Eddie Guerrero( a great wrestler), "If you're not cheating, you're not trying". That phrase epitomizes gutter politics. When we the voters get this type election we tend to punish the worst offender by voting against them, if we even vote at all.
This kind of politics is what demoralizes to voters. After awhile if things aren't fixed people tend to stay away from the process. The same is said for wrestling. If a company does too many screwy finishes they will start to see their fanbase shrink. In the past we've seen both occur. WWE has lost a lot of it's audience in the past ten years, and when it comes to elections we tend to celebrate when we get a fifty-percent turnout. However, in the last year things look like they may be changing. WWE's screwy finishes have gone down and while the fans they've lose haven't returned yet, there are positive signs. And in this current political season it looks as if we may get our biggest turnout ever.

and finally,

4) The art of the promo- All that a wrestler or politician needs to be successful, is to be good at making promos/speeches. If you're a good communicator then the world can be your oyster. Look at the Rock(a former wrestler), he wasn't the best wrestler in the world. Hell he wasn't the best wrestler of his era. However, when ever you talk to a wrestling fan and you ask then who there favoriter wrestlers are more often then not you'll hear the name The Rock. Now how can this be? If he isn't that great a wrestler, how can he be a favorite wrester for many people? It's quite easy actually. The Rock is, without a doubt, the greatest at delivering a promo. He was the great communicator of professional wrestling. He could sell his matches just by his promo. That's how good he was. He was so good at it, people looked passed his average wrestling ability. In politics it's exactly the same. You don't have to be the smartest person in the world to be a politician if you're a good communicator. Communication skills can more than make up for other short comings. President Reagan was one of our greatest Presidents, yet he didn't understand everything. He had his shortcomings. Yet because he was such a great communicator, which is his moniker(The Great Communicator), he exuded confidence in the America people. As with a wrestler it's the responsibility of the politician to sell his canidacy through his speeches. Even more so if they happen to have a shortcoming.

These are just a few ways that politics and wrestling are similar. I'm sure you could find more similarities if you look for them. Again, the key is to look for them. They are there.


That's all for now.

Chesswiz77 is out.