How Gullible Were You?

I saw this topic on another board a long time ago and thought I'd run it by you guys (all three of you).

Before you were smartened up, what were some of the things you believed about pro wrestling? This can be all-encompassing: gimmicks you thought were real, misconceptions about the business, etc. etc. etc.

I will confess to being a HUGE mark back in the old days and I will demonstrate by posting the following:

I actually believed...

1. Vince McMahon was just an announcer and Jack Tunney was the REAL power behind the WWF.

2. Kamala was REALLY from Uganda and spoke no English.

3. The Koloffs really were from Russia.

4. Ole and Arn Anderson were legit brothers (I didn't find out the truth until somewhere around 2000 on that one, I think )

5. The interviews in Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Inside Wrestling, The Wrestler, et. al. ("Press Conference", "PWI Interview", "Q&A") were actual interviews with the wrestlers. I was SHOCKED to find out they were complete fabrications that were dreamed up by the PWI staff (half of whom never actually existed, either. A lot of those guys were pseudonyms).

6. All the territories were just as big as the WWF, but I never understood:

A] Why I couldn't see them on TV.

B] Why all their matches (according to PWI) took place in the same cities/states all the time. Even after UWF/Mid-South and WCCW were syndicated in my area, I still believed they were all equal ... even though the bargain basement production values were RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME. Furthermore, I believed the AWA was even bigger than the WWF and NWA ... until they began taping their ESPN show at a casino in front of 25 people...and later in a TV studio in front of, like, NO people.

7. Missy Hyatt was a prim debutante from a rich Southern family.

8. Japanese wrestling was real.

Things I didn't understand:

1. Why all the wrestling magazines talked about Harley Race like he was the greatest wrestler in the world, but no one seemed to recognize him when he came to the WWF.

2. How Ric Flair could be the greatest wrestler in the world, but get beaten by Ricky Steamboat...who had been beaten by The Honky-Tonk Man. (I was a supermark but even I wasn't buying that HTM shit).

3. Why "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes - who had battled so bravely against The Four Horsemen and proved to be such a badass hero - was fixing cars, delivering pizzas and unclogging toilets (complete with poop on his arms) when he came to the WWF.

4. Why Ted DiBiase didn't just buy the WWF.

I'm sure I could think of more stuff, but this post is long enough already.

How about you?

the nWo, inVasion and ministry were ...pretty much everything when i was younger i thought was real on of the things that made me wanna jump through my tv and absolutely kill them was right to censor i fucking hated them sooo much the music was annoying and just everything about them. you talk about the territory days but then i didnt know there was anything besides wcw wwf and ecw

i really was into the ministry i was convinced he was the devil or something but i still liked it because it was taker, ya know. but what confused me the most, being seven back in 98-99 was when vince broke kayfabe and called taker mark and said he was taking his gimmick too far i turned to my parents and asked whos mcmahon talking to and whats a gimmick they said they didnt know . though i now know they knew perfectly well what he was talkin about. when i was about 13 or so i finally accepted that it was for want of a better word 'fake' i was at a crossroads and questioned myself and asked do i still love this buisness and i realized i did and still do to this day and always will

Another satisfied McMahon customer.

That totally sucks that your Kayfabe cherry was destroyed in such a horrible way. I'm fascinated by what you wrote because I've never thought about how it must be for kids in the post-Kayfabe era. They start out believing in what they see (just like I did) and have their bubbles burst in far more overt ways than than my generation did.

It happened slower, more subtly and gradually for kids from my generation. We pretty much knew it was pre-determined, but we had no idea just HOW pre-determined it was. The thought of ANYONE, let alone Vince McMahon, using the term "gimmick" on TV would have been unthinkable back then. Of course the business wasn't yet a wide open book, either.

Good post!

thanks man

Ok...

- I know it wasn't even plugged that way, but I had serious thought that Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack were different people, especially when they all entered the rumble.

- Kane and Undertaker and their story was real, just exploited by WWE LOL.

- That the ownership of WWE really did change hands from month to month as Austin came back with a "contract" etc etc.

- Austin really id get thrown in to the river by The Rock.

The list goes on...

On the flip side when the parents went mad here in the UK over wrestling, I then believed it was ALL fake. That the blood was special effects, that the ring was a trampoline, that the camera angles made the punches look like they connected. That Suck It, was really Sock It (thanks mom).

Well, I almost cried when Bundy broke Hogan's ribs right before WrestleMania 2, and I think I did cry when Andre turned his back on Hogan (I was a Hulkamaniac).

I knew his name wasn't Hulk, I knew it was Terry. I also knew Piper was a bad guy, and it still gives me chills when I hear (even my head) Piper looking to a betrayed Hulkster and saying "Terry, you're bleeding".

But, hey, I was like 5.