Rasslin'

Being from the South, when I was younger the television broadcast channels were chock-full of "professional" wrestling-- that is, guys and women with ridiculous names who dressed all macho and pretended to be badasses.

Although a few naive people will tell you television wrestling is real, the bouts were scripted, all show, acting, and sometimes of the highest quality. The theatrics were unbelievable-- flying chairs, flying referees, opponents being thrown off the ring into the seats, fights moving into the audience area. It had to be dangerous work, even if it was all theatrics.

When, a year or two ago, Sweetie and I blundered onto the dark set of one of Second Life's four or so wrestling federations, she told me she wanted to see a match. I um-hmmm it, but she wouldn't let it drop. So, last week we visited a show at VWE, Second Life's Virtual Wrestling Entertainment.

It was exactly like wrestling on television. When two big-name wrestlers met to sign an agreement, I predicted the table would wind up broken.

Photo by Sweetie

"Nonsense," said Sweetie. "They're behaving like gentlemen." Two minutes later one of the gentlemen slammed the other onto the table, breaking it, and him.

Sweetie loved the show. "It's completely Second Life," she said.

Photo by Sweetie

"It's just like television wrestling," I said. "Exactly."

"That's not possible," she said.

Sweetie, it turned out, had never watched a wrestling show on television.

I eventually convinced her it was the same.

"I was wondering why they weren't throwing their opponents halfway across the sim," she said. "I guess you're right."

Photo by Sweetie

Sweetie was soon in the spirit of things, booting and hissing the wrestlers she didn't like.

I just have to say, I hope she doesn't have the bug too badly.