What to tell someone who says it's not real?

[RoaringElbow25]

Me and a friend of mine got into an argument about Wrestlers being real athletes. He says all they do is take steroids and beat each other up. What do you tell someone who says their not real athletes to convince him they are real athletes?

[BENJII]

You level them with a Powerbomb and ask them "Did that hurt, bee-atch???"

Actually, just point out the fact that in japan the training schedules are far more gruelling, and that the moves are far more stiffer. Although he has a point, your friend must be thinking that every wrestler on gods green earth is Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior...

And if that didn't wok.... go back to the Powerbomb technique

[samoth]

Yeah, whenever someone says "such and such move doesn't actually hurt", do it to them. It's the same as people who say they don't watch wrestling because it's a male soap opera and they don't even hit each other. They're just talking about stuff they are ignorant towards.

[Peru-Yakuza]

I prefer Wakigatame, Choke Sleeper, or Satsujin Backdrop Driver.

[lCS 39]

i've had this argument with my buddies that don't watch pro-wrestling also. it took a while to get the point across that pro-wrestlers are legit athletes, some were more open to what i tried to get across and some weren't, those who weren't i had to take drastic measures and prove to them pro-wrestling is legit by showing Kazushi Sakuraba fights in PRIDE where he did pro-wrestling moves like mongolian chops, single leg boston crabs and what not, it worked well and it made them interested in pro-wrestling and also breaking down how MMA and Japanese Pro-Wrestling are closely tied into each other.

when all else fails take your friends back and execute a rear naked choke! and don't let go until they believe!

[Luds]

I got in a discussion with a friend who hadn't actually watched a wrestling match since the 80's... He used to see Barry Harrowitz against THe Berzerker and said: Enough of this crap!

Well just show your friend a good cruiserweight match! You can't say that these guys aren't real athletes!

[Famine]

Hey, when someone says wrestlers arn't athletes, just remind them that Curling is considered an Olympic Winter Sport and those people are considered athletes.

I mean come on, pushing a big rock and then sweeping ice away from infront of it so it slides beter makes a great athlete!

[lCS 39]

curling is a strange game and you do have a point.

[LizardKing]

Heh heh. It's funny how GB won gold in curling and now the whole country "likes" the sport. Before the winter olympics no one cared about curling.

Anyway, I always find that "wrestlers aren't real athletes" arguments can be easily solved by making the disbelievers watch some Puroresu. I had a similar type argument with a good friend, who is rather influenced by Sports Entertainment. He has been watching WWF for ages, and because he is an intelligent guy, correctly thought that wrestling is not a sport, it is entertainment. Because he has only been watching WWF, I agreed with his point of view. Anyway, I argued that Puroresu is more of a sport, with legitimate athletes than the WWF. He couldn't see my point of view, so a few days later I made him watch Jushin Liger Vs Great Sasuke from the J Cup. He sat through it all without saying a word, and when it was over, said "F*ck, that's good." Anyway, we went onto see the final, and when Pegasus won, he had to agree that Puroresu is a world apart from sports entertainment.

[Hom3R]

The same thing about Norway(my country) who won the men finals. Noone cared about it before but all of a sudden people started going to the curling arenas!

[Mikey Freedom]

Nothing says reality like the figure four leglock...trust me, it makes believers out of anyone

[BurningSpirit]

Hmmmm, the germans usually dominate at curling.

[highpriest]

I don't know how to say this with out sounding concieted.....so the hell with it I'll sound concieted (lol).....I've played football, baseball, basketball, been on wrestling teams and have won multiple state championships in track and field. I have trememdous thumb muscles from playing virtual pro wrestling 2 on my nintendo 64. But never ever ever in my life have I heard of a sport called 'curling'.......what the hell is it???

[Luds]

Well, it's tough to define what a "sport" is... Look at the olympic games. We all know that Hockey, Ski, Figure Skating... are sports... But where do we draw the line?

I don't know if anybody heard this, but one of the "sports" that was being demo'ed at Salt Lake this year was BRIDGE... Yeah, the card game! They even had medals and all...

Keeping that in mind, curling has to be a sport...

But if you mean that sports imply physical ability, one might say that baseball isn't really a sport... (why isn't it at the olympics?)

In conclusion, I think that there is no doubt that wrestlers are real athletes, that baseball and curling are sports deserving to be at the olympics, and this is a wrestling board, so enough about that!

[Ganso]

Umm Luds, Baseball is an olympic sport it is during the summer olympics. And yes, i think we should stop talking about sports on this board too