Taking Professional Wrestling to the Mat

Media Column

Academic Psychiatry, 25:2, Summer 2001 125

Taking Professional Wrestling to the Mat

A Look at the Appeal and Potential Effects

of Professional Wrestling on Children

Jim Waxmonsky, M.D.

Eugene V. Beresin, M.D.

Professional wrestling (PW) has gained a firm foothold in American culture and appears to

be here to stay. Children comprise a large portion of its audience, much to the dismay of

many parents and clinicians. Society has struggled with how to respond to their children's

fascination with PW, a novel hybrid between sports and entertainment. Parents expose

children to sports, thinking they will learn healthy ways of managing conflict and aggression.

However, PW is not a sport. Its values are the exact opposite of traditional sportsmanship;

it demonstrates to children that cheating and verbal intimidation are effective

problem-solving techniques. Because PW resembles sports, children risk applying its values

to legitimate sports, as well as other realms of life. Parents can prevent this association by

differentiating PW from sports, and the entertainment industry can prevent it by stopping

their aggressive marketing of PW to children. (Acad Psychiatry 2001; 25:125Ð'-131)

Dr.Waxmonsky is a resident in the McLean/Massachusetts

General Hospital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program and

Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. Dr.

Beresin is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Residency Training Program for Massachusetts General Hospital/

McLean Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at

Harvard Medical School. Address reprint requests and correspondence

to Dr. Waxmonsky, Department of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, WAC 725,

55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114.

Copyright
2001 Academic Psychiatry.

There is no denying that professional wrestling

(PW) is firmly entrenched as part of modern culture.

In 1999, the most-watched cable television show

was the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s "WWF

Raw," which was more popular than "Monday Night

Football" with teenage boys (1). The WWF show,

"Smackdown," was the second-highest-rated network

TV show (2). PW is now shown in 120 countries,

in 11 different languages (1).

It also evident that many children, both boys and

girls, are drawn to wrestling. Fifteen percent of PW

viewers are under the age of 11 (1). Children buy PW

toys, watch their shows, practice their holds, and idealize

their values. Although there is no denying PW's

popularity, there is still great debate surrounding its

impact. Specifically, many parents, teachers, and clinicians

are concerned about the message that PW

sends to children. PW has been criticized for its sex,

violence, profanity, and advertising to children. Even

such bastions of cultural morality as "Inside Edition"

have hurled stones of criticism at PW (1). In fact, criticizing

wrestling has become such a pervasive social

trend that PW has incorporated it into its own plots.

The WWF has created a character called The Censor,

Steven Richards. The Censor and his followers try to

"censor" (which is a WWF euphemism for beat up)

other wrestlers that they find objectionable.

Television has certainly produced shows that are

equally if not more violent and sexualized than PW.

The problem withPW, which is also one of its greatest

assets, is that it is a novel hybrid between sport and

entertainment. In fact, wrestling promoters now prefer

the designation "Sports Entertainment." American

society has never really been exposed to such a

combination before and is struggling with how to understand

it. Is PW just another aggressive "extreme"

MEDIA COLUMN

126 Academic Psychiatry, 25:2, Summer 2001

sport, such as rugby or arena football, or is it more akin

to a soap opera that features muscular men in combat

instead of hideously wealthy socialites? The answer to

this question will help determine what the potential

impact of PW will be on children. The goal of this article

is not to condemn PW, as it is clearly going to be

a part of American culture for years to come. Rather,

the goal is to analyze PW's broad appeal and predict