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Like many other children growing up in the south, I was known to try my hand out at a headlock or slingshot suplex on my younger sibling. While she did not appreciate my early attempts to live out the dream of becoming a professional wrestler, I considered my early training to be good preparation for my eventual entry into the “jet-flying, limousine ridin, kiss-stealin, whealin dealin” world of a championship wrestler. Looking back on my fascination of professional wrestling (ok, current fandom included), I can surprisingly find that I learned a lot about preaching from this often steroid infested and ego driven male soap opera. Yes, I said preaching. You know that thing that usually happens on Sunday morning and that few of us recently listened too for fear that we be bored to death by irrelevant pontificating. Maybe preaching can me more than that, however, and surprisingly this other world of wrestling may give us some help towards a way forward.
The Power of the Mic
It was 1998, the greatest night of pro wrestling in my estimation as after months of off screen political battles, the then 14-time world champion “Nature Boy” Ric Flair made his comeback to World Championship Wrestling. Throughout the live show broadcast from Greenville, SC, fans interrupted matches and interviews chanting, “We want Flair! We Want Flair!” I will never forget sitting in my dorm room glued to the 13” TV screen soaking in every possible moment and progressing through every possible emotion (including tears!). Finally, “2001” starting blaring from the loud speaker, the fans went nuts, and Ric Flair slowly made his way down to the ring. After what seemed like an hour, the arena came to a hush as fans turned their full attention to what this great champion would have to say.
The microphone, both in wrestling and in church, represents authority. Whoever stands behind the podium or in the ring occupies a unique position of power. This power can be used to manipulate people and further personal or institutional agendas or it can be used for a powerful moment of truth telling. Who determines where this authority comes from? In wrestling or in preaching, the authority can either come from the costume, entrance music, decibel level of the sound sytem; that is the authority can be funneled downward from the institution. Or this authority can be given from the bottom up; that is from the congregation or crowd themselves.
And the difference is dramatic. Think about the reactions of fans to wrestlers who have been packaged by the cooperation and come across as fake and “putting on a show.” Compare this to a wrestler (or preacher) who has been given authority to speak by a crowd (or congregation) because in some way what they say rings true. Somewhere deep down, maybe because of their experience or of the genuineness of what they say, the crowd knows that what they say is more than just scripted lines, it comes from a much deeper place. When Tully Blanchard, a teammate of Ric Flair, came to speak at my college, he told us that the whole “limousine-ridin” image was really lived out to the last detail. Off screen, the four horsemen, what these wrestlers called their team, lived their on screen personas to the max so that there became relativity no difference between the on screen character holding a mic in the middle of the ring and the off screen character at the mall. Other wrestlers (and preachers) portray such an act on stage that is different from who they are that off stage they are almost unrecognizable. Who has the real authority?
Speaking Truth to Power
For more serious fans of wrestling, there are two terms that have unique importance; “work” and “shoot.” As with any soap opera, there are producers and executives that decide upon the various storylines that will be played out and then script the shows for the wrestlers. The wrestlers are expected to act in their characters (some are ridiculous) and not to deviate from the approved script. If a character follows these guidelines and acts in these ways, this is loosely known as a “work.” The company is “working” the audience to get them to go along and buy into the script.
For the company, a wrestler staying in character and staying on script is everything. They don’t make millions of dollars in merchandise based on the wrestlers themselves but on the characters the wrestlers are playing. If a wrestler decides to go off script, this is known as a “shoot.” Shoots are HUGE deals because it is a time in which a wrestler defies the script, the bosses, the systems and structures and uses time to express his or her own feelings about another wrestler, the product as a whole, etc. This has the potential of being incredibly damaging to the system.
Fans are always looking for “realness.” Everyone knows that wrestling is fake and scripted and we love it anyway. But when there is that rare moment that a wrestler shoots and speaks against the script, it is special indeed. Here is where it gets complex. The company knows fans love this as well. So the company comes up with “worked shoots” in attempt to garner ratings which makes more money, etc. These are when wrestlers act like they are shooting but in reality it is all part of the script, all leading the audience where the company wants to take them.
So for a fan..We must learn over time and experience what are real shoots and what are simply worked shoots. And we must like it, because a lot of people watch. Wrestlers put their career on the lines to challenge the controlling powers that be, to testify about what they find lacking in the current state of the business. While other wrestlers silently sacrifice their integrity as wrestlers and as people to please these powers and hopefully escalate in the hierarchy, some are willing to take the risk to speak out.
Now this may seem to be overly dramatic. After all, its just wrestling! But when we think in terms of preaching, there are a lot of preachers who simply follow the script of the system and dare not speak a word against the controlling powers that be in our world. Speaking out on a live TV show put on by a company one is about to challenge is overtly risky and almost career suicide. That desperate word of truth, however, is sometimes the only thing that can turn a situation and the world upside down.
A Horseman is Forever
At the height of Ric Flair’s dominance, he never went anywhere alone. Whenever he had a match or an interview, he was always followed to the ring by the four horsemen, the greatest stable of wrestlers of all time. Flair has often been heard to say, “Once a Horseman, always a Horseman.” The close bonds, both in front of the camera and behind, formed by being a member of these group is legendary in the wrestling business. Flair realized that there is power in numbers and that in the dangerous world of wrestling where everyone is always out to steal your championship belt, it’s good to have friends.
For some reason, many preachers have been taught that the most important part of preparing a sermon is the time spent alone in the office each week in front of countless books. Isolate yourself from the congregation; be more holy than they are because after all you are held to a higher standard. What if preachers followed the lead of wrestlers who understand that the most important part of their weekly sermons on TV is the time they spend talking to other wrestlers about it. They continuously bounce ideas and phrases off of each other, developing together a message for the fans. The best wrestlers stand together in the ring as one gives the message instead of isolated individual behind a podium with no connection with the congregation.
What if somehow the preacher actually talked about the sermon with people on his/her team in the congregation? What if they came out to the “ring” in some way that showed that this is a message both to and from the community? What if preachers learned that sermons arise out of living into a community of friends that truly love and support them?
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Ok. There are some obvious problems with comparing wrestling to preaching. There is the sexist portrayal of women, the questionable ethics and endless quest for more money and power. In the midst of these failings, perhaps we can find something redeeming that can inform our practice and call of preaching. Perhaps we can learn from wrestlers whose fans can boo them or chant obscenities during the middle of their sermons how to earn the right to be heard. Perhaps some wrestler’s willingness to put their real careers on the line for what they feel is right can challenge our often weak accommodations to the powers that be. And maybe the close knit communities that are formed both on screen and off screen by the demanding living and traveling of a professional wrestler can challenge our notions of the preacher alone in a study all week. So maybe the next time you’re flipping through channels and see good ol rastlin, give a listen to some of the best (and worst) preachers around.
More of Mark's stuff can be found at theshiverian.
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