In all performing arts there is a separation between the performer and the audience. This idea holds true for everything from ballet to sports like football. One group watches the show and the other group is essentially the show itself, they are the reason the audience is there. This thought creates a clear division between the two groups.
The audience needs the performers. Without performers the audience has no reason to gather together. While performers or athletes can do their part of the equation without an audience quite easily without losing the meaning of what they do. Athletes can play sports amongst themselves and performers can practice their craft all alone if they chose to. They are simply more important than the audience who observes them. This idea is subconsciously part of our thinking as we enjoy a play, sporting event, or in the case of this column - a wrestling match.
This type of thinking leads to us as an audience viewing the performers as something different than ourselves. We create a distance in our own minds between the two groups. This can take the form of idolizing a hero, despising a villain, or simply observing the performance objectively.
The performers are not us. We are not them.
This idea was explored heavily by Roger Waters and his band Pink Floyd on the 1979 concept rock album “The Wall”. The album explored the idea that there is a wall between performer and fan. One is watched and the other watches. This idea of division is painfully obvious when one looks at the mainstream wrestling scene of groups like WWE and Impact Wrestling. Audiences are held back from the wrestlers with imposing black barriers. The interactions between wrestlers and the fans are heavily controlled and limited almost always to just however long the show (or performance) lasts. Everything is strategically planned to give the audience the subconscious notion that they are looking into a world that they are not a part of. They don’t have to worry that a villain like HHH will attack them or really even get all that near to them. They are safe and removed from the situation by that division, by that invisible wall.
The arena rock of the 70’s that defined this concept was soon met with a rebuttal known as Punk. Punk music was personified by bands like the Sex Pistols, Bad Brains, and The Ramones. These bands rebuked the idea of playing in larger venues preferring to play small clubs where at times they were almost on top of their audience or vice versa. There were no oppressive barriers or security measures, if you went to a punk show… you were in the show whether you wanted to be or not because the division, that invisible wall between performer and fan had been removed. Punk bands of this time period saw themselves as part of the very groups they played to and it only takes a short internet search to find video of just how intimate those shows were.
Much like the response of Punk to the big arena rock of the late 70’s, smaller independent wrestling promotions often have the same intimate …and nearly chaotic atmosphere. Head to nearly any indy wrestling show and I guarantee you’ll see wrestlers talking with fans extensively before, during, and after the show. Sometimes you’ll even see them share a quick drink or a smoke with fans outside the building where the matches are taking place. There is almost never a sense that the wrestlers see themselves above the fans that pay to see the show. I believe this is because, much like in the Punk music scene, the performers identify with the audience. After all everyone who is involved with an indy wrestling show is in some way a fan of the sport of wrestling. No one is getting rich off of it so there has to be genuine love wrestling present for a show to happen. A mutual love of an idea or a thing (I believe wrestling is both) is just one of the many ways we connect with our fellow man. This is another way that “The Wall” is broken down.
The lack of separation between wrestlers and fans on the indy scene also helps fans feel closer to the wrestlers, so when that wrestler’s match takes dramatic turns …the audience cares more about the outcome because they care about the participant.
The action of the match also can have a greater effect on the audience because with a lack of barriers and over zealous security there is more of a chance that the action will coming spilling into their laps. This can both be a good thing …
and a bad thing.
The breaking down of the barrier between the show being put on and the fans was a large attraction to me as I first began discovering independent wrestling. There was always a sense of “anything can happen” when you attend a good Indy show. I have many times at shows dodged debris or wrestlers themselves that were thrown in my general direction. Sure this can be nerve wracking and the idea of wrestlers being so casual with their fans may cause some to say that it’s “hurting the business” but in my opinion, it will always be special.
I mean it’s not every day that a fan can be so very close to what they care about.
-Matt
mattessary@cheapheatradio.com
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