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Taking Professional Wrestling to the Mat
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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 childrens
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 PWs
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 PWs broad appeal and predict