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[ConfusingJazz]

This is a deep hole you can go down, OP.

Imagine a TV show where the actors don't acknowledge that they are actors.

Also, don't for a second imagine that "scripted" doesn't mean "completely harmless". What they do still hurts a lot, just not as much as it either should or as they act like it does.

And when they screw up, super bad injuries happen.

 

[Krejlooc]

WCW was bought by WWE (then WWF) in 2001. This is in part of WCW management making terrible financial and creative decisions for years leading to Time Warner losing interest and canceling the programming. WWE came and and swooped up WCW, buying their assets.

so wait, wrestling is owned by TV conglomerates? like time warner? It's not like the NFL, where it's an actual organization? Could wrestling actually ever be "canceled" entirely?

 

[Bubba T]

That's the first thing the dude in that video says. That there are magicians and leprechauns in pro wrestling.

Yeah, I know. Talking about it just makes me realize the absurdity of it all, which makes it all the more entertaining.

The 'leprechaun' they speak of is Hornswaggle, who apparently also Vince's illegitimate son, and the anonymous general manager of Monday Night Raw.

LOL

 

[bananafactory]

Thats hilarious. Any examples of a pro wrestler actually getting his ass kicked?

What about blood? The infamous pro wrestling episode of Always Sunny, Frank is convinced it's real because he saw someone "bash their head open." Do people bleed in wrestling?

My friend wrestles in a similar "fake wrestling" league locally here, and he gets injured pretty bad reguarly. While the matches are somewhat staged, the physicality involved can still be dangerous and requires a lot of skill and precision. He's had plenty of broken/bloodied noses, lose a couple teeth when he missed a rope and fell onto the floor, etc.

I doubt they bleed intentionally but I'm sure there's plenty of cuts and wounds in the 'sport'

 

[VoxPop]

umm..

There used to be three main organizations back in the day but WWE bought them both out after some bad decision making on their parts.

It's generally just one ongoing season. Kind of like a never ending TV show. They have 2 weekly shows (RAW, Smackdown). Monthly PPVs (now renamed Special Events). The TV shows are used to showcase storylines, characters, rivalries and what not leading into a Special Event every month.

There are champions. The WWE champion is usually the face of the company and has the biggest storylines usually revolve around him. There are usually one (or two) guys vying for the title at a time. They also have 2 lower tier championships (Intercontinental title/US Title) for mid carders and other scrubs they wanna shove down people's throats. But currently those two titles are held by decently regarded Superstars (no longer known as wrestlers), one of them being the biggest star in their company to give it some legitimacy.

There are also tag team titles where its held by 2 superstars instead of one. They usually only engage in 2 on 2 matches and are mostly regarded as fodder and filler talent for their shows.

They have about 12 (?) Special Events a year. One for every month. Wrestlemania being their annual tentpole show filled with their biggest matches. Basically every one of these wrestlers' goals are to become the top guy in the company by winning the title at Wrestlemania. They have one other big event usually in January where they have 30 wrestlers in the ring trying to throw each other out of the ring. Last man standing gets the main event spot at Mania. These are usually reserved for their biggest up and coming star or whoever they deem fit to headline their biggest show.

It is nothing like amateur / olympic wrestling. I don't even understand where they got that term from. The entire thing is staged and fake. Basically they put on a show pretending to fight in their tights and do their very best to not really hurt each other. Consider it a broadway play of sorts. Occasionally there will be injuries and these guys travel 300+ days a year doing house shows (smaller non tv related local shows to see them live) so they're pretty much battering their bodies on a daily basis.

Japanese and Mexican wrestling are fake as well but they tend to wrestle in a slightly different style where they perform a little stiffer and hit harder (in Japan), and do a little more acrobatic stuff and wear masks (in Mexico). But they're all pretty much the same. I'd say the WWE (USA) is a little more storyline based and more on the entertainment side compared to those two while the latter emphasizes more of the in ring action. Some guys are great wrestlers but lack the charisma to really carry the company and vice versa. Once in a blue moon you get someone who can do both and they usually become the top guy.

They have writers like every other TV show. There are some more talented guys/girls who can work the mic and the crowd without a script but those days are long gone. It's usually mostly written for them now. They also have bookers who determines and schedules the wrestling cards. They have a ton of staff including cameramen, referees, etc. Referees usually have a mic in their ear that is being fed on how the match will go. The wins and losses are predetermined by the higherups. There is a ton of politics in the world of pro wrestling and that's the most interesting part imo. Guys not wanting to lose to other guys, backstage beef, etc.

Vince McMahon (the owner of WWE) pretty much runs the show but has slowly given the reigns to an ex-pro wrestler in HHH and his daughter Stephanie (who HHH is married to irl) as he gets up there in age. Vince has a hardon for machismo roided up bodybuilders so those guys are usually the champions and run the show. Currently the product is in it's dark ages. They had a 56 year old clown feuding with their champion and was injured so he just retired. Now some 48 year old who used to wear slacks to the ring is wearing a mask and ripping through the ring and dragging people into hell.

I've been watching since I was a kid so I'm kinda just sticking around for the nostalgia. There's a ton of history but I don't got the energy to really get into it. I'm sure someone else will do it in this thread much more eloquently and with a better knowledge of it.

 

[Krejlooc]

Indeed they do!

Sometimes they use a concealed razor blade to do a blade job. If it is done organically it's called "hard way" which is pretty self explanatory.

These people cut themselves with razors? In the NBA, if someone bleeds, they stop play for safety reasons. Even in the NFL, cuts and such are stitched up and bandaged.

Isn't cutting yourself with a razor in the ring extremely dangerous? How would you possibly get people to go along with that?

 

[QueenOfThorns]

so wait, wrestling is owned by TV conglomerates? like time warner? It's not like the NFL, where it's an actual organization? Could wrestling actually ever be "canceled" entirely?

No. Consider wrestling a genre of entertainment. WWE is the biggest company in the world, but there are also many smaller and medium sized companies as well. Japan's wrestling has nothing to do with WWE, which has nothing to do with the indie wrestling shows at Ring Of Honor. They're all their own companies that aren't connected.

 

[Timeless]

It seems like it would take a lot of collusion to make something like this work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mGAjAFV7g8#t=3m7s

 

[StoneFox]

Most of the moves in wrestling rely on both wrestlers "selling it" as opposed to actually hurting themselves, and for some people that's enough to call it fake. They are real athletes though, for the most part.

You just have to view it as a Saturday Morning Cartoon show. They don't want to harm their, uh, "actors" but at the same time want to make it entertaining so they make really over-the-top characters and storylines, and how good the writing is is a matter of opinion. There are ton of good wrestlers today that are a bit held back by the writing IMO.

 

[Littlebigbenny]

Is there a script for the whole fight, like a choreography? Are they practising each single match?

If not, how does the opponent know which maneuver a wrestler is going to perform next?

 

[WyndhamPrice]

What about shows? I remember back in the 90's there was like a million different wrestling shows. Do you have to watch them all to get the story? Are they all connected? Or are they all separate shows with their own story lines?

It was territory based before the 90s like someone else said, but then in the early 90s Ted Turner (of CNN, TNT, tons of other things) bought WCW and turned it into a live show broadcast nationally shortly after Vince McMahon did the same for WWF on the USA Network. WCW and WWF had separate rosters and stories but they were always very conscious about what was happening in the other organization on would craft programming in response in order to draw the biggest audience. This is how we got Hulk Hogan going "bad" in the WCW and the Attitude Era of WWF which saw the rise of Stone Cold, The Rock, and many others that are now some of the most well known and popular faces of pro wrestling.

What happened to WCW? Weren't they the competitor to the WWF? Do wrestlers leave one show for the other? Is there like one super wrestling organization that supersedes all others?


WCW got bought by Vince McMahon and merged into the WWF when the AOL Time Warner merger happened in 2001 after WWF managed to overtake WCW in the ratings for an extended amount of time. The new Time Warner execs had no interest in showing wrestling on TNT anymore and Ted Turner could no longer shield the dying brand from scrutiny.

The WWE now basically IS pro wrestling in the western world. TNA is maybe the only other major one in the US and they have a negligible audience in comparison.

No, not really. The conversation is more like "how did this farce come to be?" and "how does one take in this farce?"


It's not really a farce because it's theater. It has routes in travelling carnival shows going back to the early-mid 20th century. Vince McMahon is a third generation wrestling promoter, with his father and grandfather having been in the business before him.

 

[TemplaerDude]

A lot of the blood and cuts you see in wrestling is actually deliberately done, usually by way of a razor that's been subtly passed to the wrestler at one point in the match. You don't see it a lot in the WWE anymore (pretty sure it's a no-no in Vince McMahon's book moat of the time) but it does happen.

 

[kidtamagotchi]

Thats hilarious. Any examples of a pro wrestler actually getting his ass kicked?

What about blood? The infamous pro wrestling episode of Always Sunny, Frank is convinced it's real because he saw someone "bash their head open." Do people bleed in wrestling?

I'm sure there are stories of wrestlers getting beat up by fans, I'll have to look it up. People do bleed in pro wrestling. They either slice their own forehead with a small razor blade, they let their opponent slice them with the blade, they use fake blood (mainly when bleeding from the mouth), or they really get cut and get busted open 'the hard way'.

 

[Krejlooc]

I don't doubt that this stuff is still dangerous and takes skill to do - in much the same way that you can have a career ending injury in ice skating despite it not being a blood sport competition. I played Fire Pro Wrestling when I was younger, and used to main Wolf in Virtua Fighter for years, so I know grapples and holds are real things.

Wasn't backyard wrestling a big deal in the 90's until a bunch of teens got paralyzed?

 

[BigJonsson]

These people cut themselves with razors? In the NBA, if someone bleeds, they stop play for safety reasons. Even in the NFL, cuts and such are stitched up and bandaged.

Isn't cutting yourself with a razor in the ring extremely dangerous? How would you possibly get people to go along with that?

Blood is good for business

 

[GavinGT]

Is there a script for the whole fight, like a choreography? Are they practising each single match?

If not, how does the opponent know which maneuver a wrestler is going to perform next?

There is a vague agreement as to the bigger moves they'll do, and what move will finish the match. Everything else they communicate with each other to pull off. The referee helps with this.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

These people cut themselves with razors? In the NBA, if someone bleeds, they stop play for safety reasons. Even in the NFL, cuts and such are stitched up and bandaged.

Isn't cutting yourself with a razor in the ring extremely dangerous? How would you possibly get people to go along with that?

Google "Abdul the Butcher forehead"

And then google "Abdul the Butcher lawsuit"

 

[C4Lukins]

It is a very physical example of homosexual soft pornography. There is very little physical penetration, but the emotional penetration is beautiful.

 

[Man God]

But there is a world of difference in Mayweather dropping a clearly unworthy challenger in a fist fight and the dude above being supposedly dragged to hell. One seems like the crowd should be in on the fix, the other seems like the crowd should not be in on the fix.

And it seems to me, from an outsiders perspective, that getting from one to the other would take years of organization.

That's right! They have the same roots though, powerful shady fight promoters with organized crime connections had their own territories. Eventually these territory bosses met and realized that they could make the fights a lot more entertaining and make a lot more money (at least initially) on the betting if they just rigged the whole thing. As wrestling started to acknowledge more and more that it was a worked sport, the organized crime element was superfluous as no one in their right mind would bet on a completely rigged outcome.

It is important to note that kayfabe, the pretense that the entire show is a real, legitimate sport, didn't really go away until the tv era began. Most wrestlers even into the 60's and 70's were trained as amateur wrestlers and could turn a worked fight into a "shoot" fight (real holds, real punches,etc.) if they felt the need. Like if someone deviated from the regular outcome, of if the promoter was trying to screw you over.

 

[Skikkiks]

Thats hilarious. Any examples of a pro wrestler actually getting his ass kicked?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lXAGZtMxU8

Great Antonio here didn't feel like 'selling' (meaning he wasn't looking like he was getting hurt) Antonio Inoki's offense so Inoki decided to actually kick the shit out of him and destroy him. When a wrestler goes off script likes this and decides to take matters into his own hands, it's called a "shoot".

 

[Krejlooc]

Is there a script for the whole fight, like a choreography? Are they practising each single match?

If not, how does the opponent know which maneuver a wrestler is going to perform next?

My main problem with wrestling when I was a kid was that they would lay there for like minutes waiting for the dude to set up his attack. Like, they're supposed to be writhing in pain but they'll stand up and bend over and let this dude position them in ways that realistically nobody should.

I guess most suspend disbelief at that stuff, but it stuck out like a sore thumb. I could never get over it.

 

[cntr]

From what I get, it's just soap opera with sweaty bodybuilders.

 

[Parmadillo Marshmallow]

WWF was forced to rename to WWE because of this.

 

[Krejlooc]

It's not really a farce because it's theater.

I don't mean farce as a pejorative. Theater can be farce.

 

[QueenOfThorns]

My main problem with wrestling when I was a kid was that they would lay there for like minutes waiting for the dude to set up his attack. Like, they're supposed to be writhing in pain but they'll stand up and bend over and let this dude position them in ways that realistically nobody should.

I guess most suspend disbelief at that stuff, but it stuck out like a sore thumb. I could never get over it.

Think of wrestling as more of a play or movie than a sporting competition. Like in DBZ where they stand around waiting for people to transform into their final form or charge their attacks. It adds drama!

 

[Bubba T]

so wait, wrestling is owned by TV conglomerates? like time warner? It's not like the NFL, where it's an actual organization? Could wrestling actually ever be "canceled" entirely?

WCW was the only company to my knowledge that was owned by a conglomerate like Time Warner. WWE is it's own (publicly traded) company. Both were/are actual organizations with its own staff, crew, management etc.

WCW died because the company that owned it was no longer interested in it. WWE wouldn't necessarily have the same fate, as they are their own company and they work off TV deals for their shows. If Comcast (their current TV partner) canceled their contract, they'll seek another deal, or just put their shows on their new network (though that will come as a huge blow, TV deals are very lucrative to organizations like WWE, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. The last 4 generally have labor disputes and salaries effected by the TV deals negotiated by their leagues).

 

[WyndhamPrice]

A lot of the blood and cuts you see in wrestling is actually deliberately done, usually by way of a razor that's been subtly passed to the wrestler at one point in the match. You don't see it a lot in the WWE anymore (pretty sure it's a no-no in Vince McMahon's book moat of the time) but it does happen.

Vince took a pretty hardline stance against stuff like that not just because the WWE went in a more PG-friendly direction but also because if you look at guys like Dusty Rhodes towards the end of his life and other older wrestlers their heads are all scarred to shit. It's just not good for your body.

Same goes for why you see people getting hit way less with chairs than say, in the Attitude Era. Now that we're seeing wrestlers get older it's really telling that doing that stuff unchecked is just bad for you. The WWE still doesn't have the best track record for its performers (pretty sure they still don't get health insurance through the company because they're considered independent contractors?) but changes have definitely been made to make sure bodies aren't being brutalized to the degree they were in the past for a cheap pop.

 

[Krejlooc]

Google "Abdul the Butcher forehead"

And then google "Abdul the Butcher lawsuit"

jesus fucking christ

 

[Krejlooc]

So when WWF bought WCW, was it basically a dream match era for wrestling fans? Like Capcom vs SNK?

Do the wrestling organizations in Mexico and Japan ever cross over with the ones in the US? Does Europe do pro wrestling?

 

[Man God]

WCW was the only company to my knowledge that was owned by a conglomerate like Time Warner. WWE is it's own (publicly traded) company. Both were/are actual organizations with its own staff, crew, management etc.

WCW died because the company that owned it was no longer interested in it. WWE wouldn't necessarily have the same fate, as they are their own company and they work off TV deals for their shows. If Comcast (their current TV partner) canceled their contract, they'll seek another deal, or just put their shows on their new network (though that will come as a huge blow, TV deals are very lucrative to organizations like WWE, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. The last 4 generally have labor disputes and salaries effected by the TV deals negotiated by their leagues).

Specifically it was because of advertisement buy rates and the new management of AOL-Time Warner not liking "Wrassling". Ted Turner considered wrestling to be what really made the Turner Cable System what it was and basically promised to keep it going until he was forced out. He was forced out by the merger.

 

[Krejlooc]

Same goes for why you see people getting hit way less with chairs than say, in the Attitude Era.

Speaking of this - are they actually being hit with real chairs? Does that stuff actually hurt? Like if someone came and bashed me with a folding chair, I'm pretty sure I'd have a real injury. How do these people do it? I'm guessing there is a technique to make it look and sound more painful than it actually is?

 

[phaonaut]

People really get hurt OP and sometimes purposely, there is a wrestler by the name of New Jack that would intentionally hurt other wrestlers. I don't want to type much about it, but some of the incidents you can look up is Mass Transit, Vic Grimes and in this incident he was charged with felony aggravated assault to commit murder.

 

[QueenOfThorns]

So when WWF bought WCW, was it basically a dream match era for wrestling fans? Like Capcom vs SNK?

It should have been, but WWE was more focused on proving themselves as the superior brand than giving people the dream matches and storylines they wanted. (They would debut WCW wrestlers and make jokes out of them and have the WWE wrestlers treat them as unimportant.) A bad time for everyone involved.

 

[VoxPop]

So when WWF bought WCW, was it basically a dream match era for wrestling fans? Like Capcom vs SNK?

Do the wrestling organizations in Mexico and Japan ever cross over with the ones in the US? Does Europe do pro wrestling?

It was supposed to be but they totally botched it. A lot of the contracts of the top WCW guys didn't carry over with the buyout so it was a while before we got to see their biggest stars in WWE. Also Vince McMahon was adamant about burying (making them look like shit/lose) WCW guys to prove WWE's superiority. So basically WCW was SNK.

Cross overs happen but not so much anymore. If anything, wrestlers who have been released by WWE would go over there to work. And vice versa. They usually pick up international stars so they can use them on their own international tours.

 

[Bubba T]

Specifically it was because of advertisement buy rates and the new management of AOL-Time Warner not liking "Wrassling". Ted Turner considered wrestling to be what really made the Turner Cable System what it was and basically promised to keep it going until he was forced out. He was forced out by the merger.

This is true. The ineptitude of WCW management caused people to stop watching the product, which made the decision easier to drop the promotion. There would be very little chance that Time Warner would of dropped WCW if it was still a ratings shark. Hell, even competitive with WWE at that point. Money talks.

 

[QueenOfThorns]

Do the wrestling organizations in Mexico and Japan ever cross over with the ones in the US? Does Europe do pro wrestling?

Yeah. Most wrestlers are free agents, who can work at different promotions at the same time. Though very rarely for the WWE. WWE wrestlers never work at other promotions.

 

[bigkrev]

So when WWF bought WCW, was it basically a dream match era for wrestling fans? Like Capcom vs SNK?

Do the wrestling organizations in Mexico and Japan ever cross over with the ones in the US? Does Europe do pro wrestling?

We got an invasion of WCW. It was a disaster for several reasons- most of the top stars of WCW chose to sit at home with their massive garunteed contracts they were still owed, ego prevented WCW from ever being strong, and a Buff Bagwell vs Booker T match in Washington that was so awful people stopped caring about WCW.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (the top promotion in Japan, probably the second biggest promotion in the world) has agreements with Ring of Honor (likely the second biggest USA company) and CMLL (a big Mexican promotion) to exchange talent, and they will do crossover matches from time to time.

 

[Krejlooc]

People really get hurt OP and sometimes purposely, there is a wrestler by the name of New Jack that would intentionally hurt other wrestlers. I don't want to type much about it, but some of the incidents you can look up is Mass Transit, Vic Grimes and in this incident he was charged with felony aggravated assault to commit murder.

the first one you linked, I'm reading comments - the guy fucking died? Holy shit

 

[UberTag]

watching

there are leprechauns in pro wrestling?

This is how leprechauns are treated in the WWE.

 

[VoxPop]

This is how leprechauns are treated in the WWE.

Happier times

 

[Krejlooc]

That kind of sucks that they squandered their opportunity to have a huge cross over. I was a big fighting game fan at the time, and when Capcom vs SNK and SNK vs Capcom came out, it was like worlds colliding. One of the biggest events in video games for me.

I saw on here the other day that Sting is having his career ended after going 0-2. I'm guessing he was a WCW wrestler? So did he just recently come out of retirement or something? Isn't he like 50? Did most of the WCW stars just quit when they were bought out? Who were the big WCW stars?

To give a frame of reference for wrestlers I know, I know Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage (from the slim jim commercials), Yokozuna, Razor Ramone, Doink the Clown, Bam Bam Bigalow, Bret the Hitman Heart (all from WWF Wrestlemania the arcade game), the rock, goldberg, stone cold steve austin... and that's about it. All those are WWF, right?

 

[WyndhamPrice]

Speaking of this - are they actually being hit with real chairs? Does that stuff actually hurt? Like if someone came and bashed me with a folding chair, I'm pretty sure I'd have a real injury. How do these people do it? I'm guessing there is a technique to make it look and sound more painful than it actually is?

It's a little bit of both. If you watch enough wrestling you can kind of begin to see how people get "hit" without getting hit, but in the mid/late 90s it was not unusual to see someone get straight up clocked with a chair. Granted, they've always been flimsy, thin stadium style chairs but enough of those can do some damage over time.

Another example of how these guys "fight" is the fact that you will never see a wrestler actually punch someone with a closed fists. It's always an open hand "chop" or slap, or a forearm or something because that's waaaaay safer for both parties.

That kind of sucks that they squandered their opportunity to have a huge cross over. I was a big fighting game fan at the time, and when Capcom vs SNK and SNK vs Capcom came out, it was like worlds colliding. One of the biggest events in video games for me.

I saw on here the other day that Sting is having his career ended after going 0-2. I'm guessing he was a WCW wrestler? So did he just recently come out of retirement or something? Isn't he like 50? Did most of the WCW stars just quit when they were bought out? Who were the big WCW stars?

To give a frame of reference for wrestlers I know, I know Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage (from the slim jim commercials), Yokozuna, Razor Ramone, Doink the Clown, Bam Bam Bigalow, Bret the Hitman Heart (all from WWF Wrestlemania the arcade game), the rock, goldberg, stone cold steve austin... and that's about it. All those are WWF, right

The big crossover moments that would happen in that era would actually come from wrestlers switching companies. It was always a huge deal! Imagine if Capcom didn't have the Marvel license and Wolverine showed up unexpectedly in Street Fighter 3 unannounced!

Sting is an unfortunate situation because he came to WWE for the first time ever this year since WCW ended 15 years ago and it looked like they had some decently big plans for him despite him being in his 50s. He got injured (not life threatening or anything) and it's up in the air if he's going to come back.

The big stars of WCW were the NWO members (always in flux but the main guys were Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Kevin Nash, and Razor Ramone), Goldberg, Sting, Rick Flair... and not much else, which wound up being a huge problem for WCW as it went on. Guys like Chris Jericho and Steve Austin were constantly getting short shrift for older wrestlers which led to them going over to WWF and becoming superstars.

 

[Splendor]

LONG POST INCOMING

I have insomina right now and can't sleep so I will try to answer your questions in order with detail and also have tl'dr for each question. Remember OP you asked for this.

1. Is there a season?
There is no season for wrestling. Monday Night Raw, WWE's premiere show, airs every week for the entire year, and every 4-6 weeks a special event, normally known as a pay-per-view, is held that typically ends that cycle of storylines.

TL'DR: No. Wrestling is always on tv, and there are special pay-per-view events

2. Is there a playoff or championships?
There are belts that the wrestlers fight for, there are multiple belts with different levels of esteem placed in them. The current highest rated belt is the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and the champ defends whenever the storyline says so, but normally it is defended every pay-per-view.

TL'DR: There are title belts but no playoff or championship in the traditional sense.

3. Is it fake and do they acknowledge that?
It is very much fake, matches are predetermined and everyone on screen is playing a character on some level and wrestling fans know that. WWE acknowledges their performers not as wrestlers but as "sports entertainers" which they do to make it clear that everything is scripted. However on the shows themselves they do not break what is known as kayfabe, which is the term for acting in storyline and like your character. the crowd cheers along because it is fun and part of the deal of going to a wrestling show.

TL'DR: It's fake and everyone pretends it is real b/c it's fun.

4. How did it become fake?
This is a long story but essentially people who ran wrestling promotions had legitmate contest but realized that people would rather see a good guy face a bad guy and eventually overcome him then actual sport and made more money with scripted matches.

TL'DR: More money in fake stories then real sport.


5. Is it worldwide and is mexican and Japanese wrestling fake too?
The wrestling styles differ in different countries, but the answers to all parts of this question are yes.

TL'DR: Yup.

6. Is it all one big league?
No. For a long time wrestling was regional and different companies ran different territories without infringing on each others space too much. More popular dudes like Andre The Giant would go and travel around but most people worked in a single territory for most of their career. That is until Vince McMahon Jr. took over his father's company, the WWF, and started taking other territories talents more agressively and also got a TV deal. This is the beginning of the modern idea of wrestling, with WWF (later renamed to WWE) as the biggest wrestling business in the world, but other wrestling promotions and companies still exist and in the 90's a company called WCW actually beat WWF in ratings and was a rival for a long time (WCW was what you were watching when Hogan became a bad guy OP) however, mismanagement lead to WCW going under in the early 2000's, when it was then bought for a comparitively cheap price by the WWE.

Right now worldwide the biggest promotions in each of the major wrestling countries are WWE for the US and overall world wide, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) for Japan and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) for Mexico.

TL'DR: No, there are many seperate promotions worldwide.

7. How do they decide who are good guys and bad guys?
Typically either a wrestler will make a character for himself or the person writing and running the promotion they are in will make a character for them to play. Vince McMahon is infamous in more recent years for heavily scripting the wrestlers promos (the times they talk rather then fight) and overall stifling creatvity from wrestlers themselves by having total creative control on who does what and when. Oftentimes characters will switch roles from good guys to bad guys or vice versa if they are stagnating in popularity in their current role or if the story demands it.

TL'DR: The writers or wrestlers themselves. Specifically Vince Mcmahon in the WWE.

Also, about Goldberg, he eventually did lost and had his last match at wrestlermania tourney against former WWE Champ and former UFC Champ Brock Lesnar.

 

[phaonaut]

the first one you linked, I'm reading comments - the guy fucking died? Holy shit

No he didn't die, at least not that night. The story is basically a 17 yr old lied about his age and experience in order to wrestle with New Jack. New Jack cut him really deep, to the bone if New Jacks story is accurate, with a surgical scalpel. The guy freaked really bad and started screaming.

 

[Zabka]

Honestly there wasn't much talent in WCW worthy of a big invasion storyline at the time. It didn't help that good wrestlers like Booker T and DDP were made to look like chumps.

ECW invading could have worked but it was handcuffed to WCW's corpse.

This is a pretty good writeup of why WCW "taking over" was a bad idea.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/raw-is-wcw-the-most-awkward-match-ever-26128195

 

[Krejlooc]

It's a little bit of both. If you watch enough wrestling you can kind of begin to see how people get "hit" without getting hit, but in the mid/late 90s it was not unusual to see someone get straight up clocked with a chair. Granted, they've always been flimsy, thin stadium style chairs but enough of those can do some damage over time.

Another example of how these guys "fight" is the fact that you will never see a wrestler actually punch someone with a closed fists. It's always an open hand "chop" or slap, or a forearm or something because that's waaaaay safer for both parties.

This is always what I assumed. I did a student movie in college and they had us punch a dude with our fists in a way that looked brutal and actually sounded rough IRL (before they did editing) but didn't hurt either of us.

 

[QueenOfThorns]

That kind of sucks that they squandered their opportunity to have a huge cross over. I was a big fighting game fan at the time, and when Capcom vs SNK and SNK vs Capcom came out, it was like worlds colliding. One of the biggest events in video games for me.

I saw on here the other day that Sting is having his career ended after going 0-2. I'm guessing he was a WCW wrestler? So did he just recently come out of retirement or something? Isn't he like 50? Did most of the WCW stars just quit when they were bought out? Who were the big WCW stars?

To give a frame of reference for wrestlers I know, I know Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage (from the slim jim commercials), Yokozuna, Razor Ramone, Doink the Clown, Bam Bam Bigalow, Bret the Hitman Heart (all from WWF Wrestlemania the arcade game), the rock, goldberg, stone cold steve austin... and that's about it. All those are WWF, right?

The biggest WCW stars were Sting, Ric Flair, Goldberg, DDP. But they also had Hogan, Macho, Scott Hall, (Razor Ramon, starter of the NWO which was WCW's biggest moneymaker.) Kevin Nash (Also in NWO.) etc.

 

[VoxPop]

That kind of sucks that they squandered their opportunity to have a huge cross over. I was a big fighting game fan at the time, and when Capcom vs SNK and SNK vs Capcom came out, it was like worlds colliding. One of the biggest events in video games for me.

I saw on here the other day that Sting is having his career ended after going 0-2. I'm guessing he was a WCW wrestler? So did he just recently come out of retirement or something? Isn't he like 50? Did most of the WCW stars just quit when they were bought out? Who were the big WCW stars?

To give a frame of reference for wrestlers I know, I know Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage (from the slim jim commercials), Yokozuna, Razor Ramone, Doink the Clown, Bam Bam Bigalow, Bret the Hitman Heart (all from WWF Wrestlemania the arcade game), the rock, goldberg, stone cold steve austin... and that's about it. All those are WWF, right?

Yes he was one of WCW's top guys. He was famous for never coming to the WWE despite everyone else having done so. He was in some shitty little organization for a while dressed up as The Joker (yes the Batman one). After making soem decent scratch and realizing the error of his ways, he finally came over to WWE. At 56 years old. Got buried by a retired wrestler (son in law of the owner and known to bury talent whenever possible) at their marquee show and recently got injured by a nazi loving performer ending in retirement.

Yes those guys are from the WWF and most if it not all also were in WCW/ECW.

 

[Krejlooc]

So Vince McMahon - he's like an actual character in wrestling, right? As in, he is also a wrestler and fights other wrestlers? But there is an IRL Vince McMahon too? Are they the same actual actor? Does he actually own the WWE or is he just a fake owner type of thing?

 

[GavinGT]

So Vince McMahon - he's like an actual character in wrestling, right? As in, he is also a wrestler and fights other wrestlers? But there is an IRL Vince McMahon too? Are they the same actual actor? Does he actually own the WWE or is he just a fake owner type of thing?

He owns the company (which he inherited from his father) and sometimes wrestles too. It's his real name.