A PLACE WHERE EVIL PREVAILS

I know that a lot of people may, after reading the title, wonder what I’m talking about. Is there any such place where bad, twisted people are triumphant, are liked, and sometimes even adored, a place where they are cheered for? It certainly can’t happen in the movies. Oh, wait…..  Am I forgetting something? Yes, of course. This is a sports blog. How do movies get a mention here? Where then, or what is this place? Well, actually, there is such a place. Yes, a place where evil is liked, is cheered for, is adored. The sport of professional wrestling provides exactly such a spectacle. Which is why, I think it is one of the most creative and unique concepts ever.

Professional wrestling is a unique spectacle. A spectacle where we see victory, triumph, defeat, revenge, vengeance, tragedy.  And all this, through the form of a sport – wrestling. It is a story which is narrated through the form of a sport. Wrestlers portray characters. A positive character is known in wrestling terminology as a ‘face’, and a wrestler portraying a negative character is known as a ‘heel’. And here’s the uniqueness of the sport. The heel gets cheered for more often than the face. Crazy as it sounds, the main reason for this is that people are tired of the triumph of the good over the evil stuff that they have grown up listening to. People’s interests keep changing, and this most certainly is a welcoming change. They want something that is less fictional and more practical. The triumph of the good over the evil happens in stories. In real life, of course, there is no such guarantee. Wrestling storylines are more realistic, something that the people can connect to better.

A face character does not have much to experiment with. All that he can do is to be honest, persevering, hardworking, and rule-bound. The heel, on the other hand, is a far more dynamic character. The heel is not honest. He isn’t rule-bound. He takes the easy way out. He cheats to win matches. And he constantly tries to find innovative ways of getting himself out of a situation. And the more he innovates, the more interesting and entertaining his character becomes. And that is what the fans seek – entertainment. The heel is obviously the more entertaining character. So, why does it surprise anybody that he is loved by the fans, and is cheered the loudest?

Also, by way of his dynamic nature, he brings out a variety of emotions in the fans. He constantly cheats, resorts to escapism, and in doing so, gets to the fans’ nerves. He brings out happiness, sadness, gloominess, anger, frustration, jealousy. He relates more to the fans. It is the bad man who does it all. He is the cool guy. He is the loved one, he is the hated one. Why, he even wins. Wrestling is where evil is loved. Wrestling is where evil prevails.