10 Wrestling Fan Complaints That Absolutely Suck

10. Old Wrestling Is More Believable Than Modern Wrestling

It is and it isn't.

Finishers were finishers back then, and weren't kicked out for a hollow pop, but then, the begging off spots in the 1980s look positively quaint, even cheesy, when viewed through a modern lens. Watching, say, a GIF of Bobby Eaton blowing away Ric Flair with a rapid, believable barrage of worked punches does give pause - there is absolutely none of the visible cooperation that facilitates much of the best moments in the modern game - but, were it actually real, Flair would emerge from that spot with cauliflower ears and a head like Joseph Merrick. It's a very, very convincing illusion, but as with almost all of professional wrestling, it does not hold up to a pedantic scrutiny the art form by its nature does not lend itself to.

Almost all of professional wrestling.

Too often, the people making this argument are looking at an isolated GIF in bad faith to support a macro point that can never hope to make sense. To use just one example of a performer who strives for shoot realism - many don't, undermining the argument before they send tweet - Zack Sabre. Jr.'s work is almost hermetically perfect, and it's not as if he's working Mid South.