Redd Reddick checks in with some provocative thoughts on kayfabe.

“Redd” Reddick — The Other Side of the Ropes

Another rant? Keep thinking that…

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” Reality is what you can get away with” - Robert Anton Wilson

I know I said I’d wait until next month to write my next piece, but I’m prone to believe that if I put off another thought that seemed pertinent enough to commit to type then I’d do so lest suffer the pains of forgetfulness and having to dredge my memory for another month or however long it takes to recall what it was I was pondering, so here I am. Before I get to my nagging thought, I do want to point out that above quote was made by a man, who for all intent and purposes, left this plane of existence a week ago last year and made a profound impression on my perspective on life over the past 5 years. Hail Eris!!!

Speaking of ‘real’, if anyone living in Philly recalls the broadcast that was on television last wednesday within the Indy circuit, they’ll have they unhappy task of seeing a program that ‘exposed’ the wrestling business. Without even seeing it personally, I knew what it was right away. How did I do that, you wonder? I saw that same show back in ‘98 as I was hooking the VCR up to my TV a half hour before November to Remember came on and I had the channel turned to the NBC network that had the show on. This was during the era where Kayfabe as it was known at the time came to an end. Did I just say that? This is the guy whose first column piece adamantly stated that it was still alive and well. Have I jumped on the bandwagon that said it’s dead now? Absolutely not. I stand by the fact that Kayfabe isn’t dead. It just isn’t the same. What I failed to mention was that the perceptions even 10 years ago aren’t the same as the perceptions 10 years later. The world is changing at an alarming rate and so is the way people see it, which is why certain fashion trends may be considered as a disaster and others are accepted with arms wide open. Well, the same thing happened with Professional Wrestling.

What we all sometimes forget is the fact that wrestling has always been the poster boy for Guilty Pleasures in the eye of Pop Culture, even when it was at it’s most lucrative. While it was cool for a minute it was still never taken seriously. Even after 2007 had one of the worst years of wrestler fatalities, people still question its legitimacy. I never even see professional stuntmen get that much flak.

Even when professional boxing is losing its lustre, people still take to it. What most people don’t realize is that boxing and wrestling are the flip sides ofthe same coin; while people see boxing as too real, they see wrestling as not being reall enough, so it makes one wonder exactly how many levels of real there is. Shows like the expose aren’t new; they come about every so often and mainly by people who eventually have to shed ‘truth’ behind something either because it was backed by someone who felt they accomplished something by revealing something that was dishonest or just wanted to take the wonder out of something magical, which ironically happened 2 days ago when the same network aired a special that exposed street magicians. Bet you that didn’t Davis Blaine though, did it?

Truth of the matter is, you can try to split open the goose that laid golden eggs and still find an ordinary goose on the inside and just as dead, because it was still goose just the same, you can keep peeling back layers of onion skin and still cry. You can dissect wrestling all you want and still not know what makes it work because it redefines itself. Remember when I said perceptions change constantly? So does the face of wrestling, and you can never go home again…

– Redd