Pro wrestling and magic, seemingly disparate forms of entertainment, share surprising similarities. Both rely on elaborate performances, captivating storytelling, and a delicate balance between illusion and reality. Let's delve into the fascinating world where wrestling meets magic.
The atmosphere in the theatre is so contagious you can’t help but boo as “The Bad Guy” mouths off to the audience. Then the fight begins, and you gasp in surprise as ”The Bad Guy” is thrown into the air and comes slamming back down to the mat with the loudest “SMACK” you’ve ever heard!
The Art of Storytelling and Illusion
Both wrestling and magic are very old forms of entertainment that have adapted and persisted to this day. Both involve highly flamboyant, expressive performances. Both are steeped in lies. Precious, fragile truths that must be kept from the audience at all costs.
Ultimately I feel the point of telling a story is to make your audience feel something. You want to manipulate their emotions, and there are easy or difficult ways to do that. It’s easy to make someone feel happy, or sad. Show your audience a puppy - happy! Kill the puppy - sad! Also, don’t do that! The point is it’s easy to instill the most basic emotions, but what about complex emotions like pride or wonder? How do you make your audience proud of a fictional character?
These things are identical in every way, an obvious truth that we all ignore because beyond the lie is a whole world of incredible things. Wrestling is fake. There’s no such thing as magic. Which gets me neatly back on topic. If neither wrestling or magic are real, how can they be important? Important, like cinema or literature? I have a theory.
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When you watch a film, or read a piece of fiction, there is always some degree of disbelief being suspended. What separates film from pro wrestling is that wrestling dances right on the edge of your disbelief. Wrestling challenges you to know it isn’t real, but still go along for the ride.
More so, it challenges it’s performers to keep you on the path. It’s their job to get your attention, and to hold it so firmly you never waiver back into disbelief. I felt pride. That’s the true beauty of wrestling: it walks a fine line but when the greats like Ibushi manage to pull it off, it’s magical.
A whole theatre of people who know full well there’s no such thing as magic, still completely stunned by a perfect performance. What more need I say?
The Shared Elements of Performance
There are remarkable similarities in the performances of both forms. Pageantry is paramount; music and lights are used for dramatic effect. Both work best in front of crowds, as the crowds are crucial participants in the show. The performers themselves often put their bodies on the line for their craft.
Real wrestling! The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is packed full with real wrestling moves, brought to you by the Fight Choreographer Joe Isenberg and Assistant Fight Choreographer James Long (the energetic professional wrestler/cast member). Under the watchful supervision of these two, the actors learned moves like the Powerbomb and Superkick.
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JOE: “They’re real. Stage combat is like a series of magic tricks; like a dance that never varies. This allows the actors to seem out of control, while never losing it.
When asked about tricks used in the falls, Shawn T. Jose Joaquin Perez, the actor who portrays Macedonio Guerra, admitted that one move terrified him: “The Powerbomb. My respect for James Long has increased two-fold. This man throws himself around, slams down onto the mat (even concrete sometimes), and gets right back up. He plays his role beautifully and makes all the moves look amazing.
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) isn’t just about wrestling. Paul Levesque recently said, when speaking to Pat McAfee, that WWE is not a sport; it’s a “movie about a sport”.
To build interest in the matches, or to otherwise convince sponsors that WWE isn’t that tawdry wrasslin’ to which they are allergic, WWE likes to orchestrate various stunts. WWE does this in order to portray its “Superstars” as larger-than-life.
In the post-match angle, Kane and Paul Bearer, after interfering and costing their storyline relative, dragged the casket back up the entrance ramp. Then, with ‘Taker ostensibly still inside it, Kane took an axe to the casket before setting it ablaze.
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The Dead Man did not die; if you watch closely, the casket was positioned directly against the ring apron. Ironically, when Kane and Bearer locked down the casket, literally sealing ‘Taker’s fate, they were actually protecting him through misdirection.
The Illusion of Reality
There is a constant stressing that “wrestling looks real,” which, like, no, it doesn’t. I’m very sorry to the wrestlers out there but wrestling does not look real.
One of the wrestlers even mentions this pretty early: It does not take a genius to figure out that they’re stomping when they punch, when they kick, etc. But then the show goes on to treat the audience as if they’d never figured this out.
They had missed everything where some reporter or filmmaker or whatever had asked wrestling fans, “Hey, why do you like this shit?” And people from 13 to 90 knew it was entertainment, period. They just enjoyed the show.
And this has always seemed to puzzle people who don’t like wrestling; still does, actually. You still will find UFC fans or the like on social media going, “LOL that’s fake, you know that’s fake right?” Yes. That is the disconnect between fans and people who are aggressively not fans.
The latter group can never, ever understand the fascination, not even a little bit, because their brains so often go to, “But it’s not even a real competition,” and they cannot get around that, it is a 10-foot thick cement wall for them.
There is this theory on magic, that I believe very much, which is once one thing is seen to be phony, the whole thing crumbles, and it crumbles completely. I think the same theory holds true for wrestling.
When things go wrong in a match or in a magic trick, you see the seams and it all starts to unravel. However, there’s more to this sentiment. Penn goes on to say that, although he and Teller saw some of Shin’s moves, they still felt it was perfect.
No match, no trick, is ever perfect. Perfect art doesn’t exist, unless it engages you so much emotionally that it feels perfect. Magic and wrestling are uniquely suited to this pursuit, because chasing perfection is intrinsic to both.
Ultimately, both wrestling and magic are extremely silly. All art has it’s naysayers - that’s kind of the point. Few art forms are the butt of more jokes than wrestling or magic, but all art has value. The most basic job of art is to entertain, but to be truly considered Art with a capital ‘A’, it needs to mean something. Art makes you think, Art makes you feel.
Usually when a medium of artistic expression becomes popular, there will be those who will run it down to try to discredit its legitimacy. The famous film critic Roger Ebert once claimed video games could never be art. There was a time when the Roger Ebert’s of the world claimed film would never be art. All art forms get derided, but all art forms are capable of creating something wonderful.
What pro wrestling and magic have uniquely in common is that neither are brand new ideas. Wrestling has been around since the 19th century, and magic dates back to prehistory. These aren’t the new kids on the block, fighting to make a name for themselves. No, these two have a long history and neither have really gained the respect of their peers.
Like all forms of art, magic is about self expression. I might perform a trick I learned online, but I do it my way. That’s one of the great things about magic: everyone does their tricks their own way.
Personally, I’m fond of the more unusual methods of telling stories, which is why some of my favourite things are wrestling and magic.
I love magic for the performance, the variety of ways a magician can lure the audience in and manipulate them, weaving a narrative of falsehoods right before their eyes.
Penn Jillette said that right after Shin put on what may be the greatest card trick performance of all time. One of those rare moments where something truly incredible has just taken place, when something as silly and unimportant as taking a playing card and making it disappear, becomes a totally transcendental moment for all involved. That’s real magic.