The Reconstructed

This is Part II of a reflection on Pro-Wrestling and Church. Part I focussed on Faith and Truth. This part focuses on the practical aspects of community.

Execution/Liturgy

I went to an Ash Wednesday Service recently at a Catholic Church. I like Ash Wednesday and as I grow older the more I like traditions. I find routine more grounding than mundane. Objectively the homily was very hard to understand, the pastor spoke broken English, confused an English word that I can’t remember, the altar boys and girls had no apparent idea what they were doing. In the direct middle of the 10 minute homily another priest cut off the one priest to announce a car was blocking an ambulance from exiting the parking lot which threw off the whole order of service which they limited to one hour. Not to mention I’m not Catholic per se so I still have no idea what to do when despite going to a Jesuit university to study Theology. There is still a lot of sitting and standing for those ex-Catholics that are wondering. They still run back the classics, sharing peace, communion, option for Holy Water at the end, drink from the shared cup.

But ultimately, I went for the ashes, to identify with the death of Christ, realize the depth of my own sin, and the fact that I am merely dust so who cares if I get a job or die tomorrow or lose everything I have ever owned. I was there for the ashes and the experience and that was enough. I wanted to walk to church so this was the place I chose.

Pro-wrestling has a ton of different offerings in 2024, but I’ll be honest the majority of pro-wrestling fan can agree on one thing, they want the wrestling to be good. Unless you’re a child and can’t really tell. You want a match to have you somewhat gripped, you want to see moves that can be believed, genuine feeling of competition unless the story dictates otherwise. Taken as a whole you want the parts of the wrestling show to have good pacing, you don’t want the talking to overshadow the wrestling. And you want the story to be told and concluded or continued through the wrestling.

You don’t want the preacher or their sermon to overshadow God, you are there to worship, to connect with God and to ultimately be conformed to his image so unlike a pro wrestling show, the cameras, the smoke, the loudness, the lights or darkness should never take you out of worship. All of these things have the capacity to take you out of that whether a pastor or institution wants to admit it or fight you on it. There are things that distract from God in church and it is someone’s job to correct them.

Imagine paying to go to a two hour wrestling show and for 45 minutes is a guy cutting an okay promo. Imagine trying to focus on the match and the referee keeps interrupting every sequence to do a cartwheel. Imagine watching the entrance but instead you get a commercial for what’s happening next week. Imagine running to the aisle to slap hands with the good guy and the good guy decides tonight I’m not touching or talking to anyone.

Here’s a reality and principal you could apply to an event such as a church: the smaller the venue, the smaller the stage, the more effort you put into production and lighting and visual appeal and the less you put into personal touch and interaction the more you will miss genuine connection with the people you are reaching or the person in God you are reaching.. People go to local wrestling shows for three reasons, its cheaper, it’s a chance to see guys that might make it to television or used to be on television and its a chance to be very close even more involved with the show (feel free to add). The more the production the less genuine it feels.

I went to a TNA TV taping and sat like 3rd row. The production was so focussed on getting the crowd involved it made me not want to get involved. I felt like I was part of a prop rather than at a show I wanted to enjoy. I have felt that so many times in small church services where people put cameras on others faces or on people and thought “Why the hell are we doing this?” “Who is this for?” I remember the first time this happened to me at a church I attended in college and how intrusive it felt. During a prayer meeting they made a video of people being prayed for and I felt like my time with God was being invaded. It was off putting. Now, it’s almost impossible to go to a church service that isn’t being broadcasted. It’s so weird. Anyway this is a long post about why pro wrestling and church are the same and in some ways this proves why. Know the needs and wants of the audience

Etiquette

Really the point of this series of blogs is to highlight the things that pro wrestling does well and the church currently does not. Mostly because there are aspects of pro wrestling that you only know if you do it, and those things are perhaps the things that most remind me of what church could be.

If you are a wrestler or a worker, one of the things a good trainer will teach you is that it is your responsibility when you show up to a show you are booked on to greet everyone associated with the show at a venue. In a way this acknowledges and honors the people a part of the performance. It might seem like an inconvenient thing to do because it might feel uncomfortable. In fact, say you are on a show with someone who has been on TV or someone who has made it, you are still expected to greet them. You don’t ask for an autograph but you do say hi and acknowledge them even thanking them after the show. There is in the healthiest of locker rooms a culture of acknowledgment even watching each others matches from behind the curtain, offering critique or feedback or praise when asked. There is an element of pro wrestling where you are performing for the crowd and also performing for your fellow workers and wrestlers. Some of those things involve wrestling, some of those things simply involve crowd work.

There is a sophistication and an art to it that make you, the person you’re working with, the promotion look good. There is also an aspect of ring set up and tear down that go into this, but I have additional theories around that on an independent level. (at some point if I’m not getting paid for my work, am I going to come an hour early and stay and hour late, the answer to that is also nuanced but generally has to do with how long you’ve been doing it and if you want to be booked again and what your goal is for wrestling. If you simply enjoy doing it and like the camaraderie of a local promotion, you likely should give as much of yourself as you can). I will say honestly, the answer is based on the circumstances, reading the room, promotion, venue. The same goes for church

The difference in Church is the genuine Scriptural admonition to operate like the family of God, we should in theory greet all of our family members. In theory we should be looking forward to see the people we are in church with. There are a million different ways we systemize church where it feels like work designed for 10% of people to do and then the people in charge get mad that only 10% of people are involved. The systems usually sustain it so this has to be so. Instead of creating church cultures where everyone is equipped to serve, (pray, offer encouragement, share testimony, feed the hungry, heal the sick, greet one another in love), we facilitate consumerism. It is true that at a certain size this becomes more difficult. I don’t know though, Jesus found a way to feed 5,000, although he later insinuated that those that followed him just for food were being consumers.

There is an element of church life where you accept that not everyone wants to be discipled, but there also seems to be a glaring neglect of equipping leaders to actually disciple but instead systematize things so much where creativity, personal responsibility, spiritual growth is confined to a bunch of different roles to help the machine run on Sunday mornings and one other night of the week.

Maybe the church is doing just fine. And maybe I just still have a hard time knowing my place in it.

But there could be another issue, there could just be the lack of genuine accountability or lack of clear expectations that go into the life of the church or a pro wrestling event.

This what will be explored next time.