Has the wrestling business become TOO transparent?

[Lynas]

Hey all,
I have a little itch I need to scratch... no not there.. but in my mind...

I was in the back yard today hanging out some washing to dry, when I hear some kids from next door... I look over, and there's 3 boys, about the age of 8 or 9... definitely no older.

So I notice they have a rather large matress set up... It's clear these kids are gonna wrestle... who am I to tell em not too... I used to do it all the time... But anyway I digress... I'm listening to their little conversation when I hear the kids aren't just planning to wrestle each other & throw each other about & hit some fake punches... no not all... this one kid (it becaome apparant quick his name was Matthew), is booking the match... he's booking spots... and he was even calling them "spots"... he was even teaching another kid how to throw a hit & how to land on a chokeslam... and they even agreed on a finish. (Matthew was going to hit a superkick (He called it sweet chin music..) on Boy A, and Boy B would be put down for the count via a chokeslam...

This seemed all to organised for me... Has the wrestling business become that transparent? It's clear he's been watching Tough Enough and all the rest of it... but for heaven's sake he's 8 years old & he's booking a match with a clean finish BRM would be proud of (and TNA would do well to take note of).

We all used to wrestle our friends or our brothers (sisters in some cases)... but I don't ever remember it being that organised... we'd hit moves, spend half our time reversing each other, sometime laying the ground faking injury (the word "selling" wasn't in my vocab at this time) &the rest of the time hitting finishers that your mates kick out of (which leads to the "I'm Stone Cold, no-one kicks out of the Stunner" arguments")...

It's weird, on one hand I found it hilarious... on another side, I felt it quite sad that the business had become that see-through that 8 year old kids are now booking their own matches instead of just rolling around reversing each other.

I never did stick around to watch the match, I thought people might wonder what I'm up to if I'm stood watching & smiling at 3 rather young boys... but I imagine the clean finish stood, and Matthew was your winner....

Your thoughts please? Any similar stories from your neck of the woods?

[Big Red Machine]

While I am very proud of Matthew, I feel very sad while reading this. I feel that the "mark" phase is necessary. As a mark, you develop emotional attachments to wrestlers that are much stronger than you otherwise would. There is a reason that my username is "Big Red Machine" and not "American Dragon." Best moments in wrestling, as a spectator, are when you mark out... but if you haven't been a mark before, this is very tough to do.

My policy with true marks has always been not to spoil their fun. I might enjoy the match on a different level, but their reactions are, in some ways, truer.