American actor Dwayne Johnson, left, pretends to fight Japanese professional wrestler Keiji Muto prior to the Japan premiere of his movie "Hercules" in Tokyo on Sunday night. The film opens in Japan on Friday.
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Serrano
The business suit will win.
OssanAmerica
Dwayne The Rock" Johnson's grandfather Peter Mavia was a Pro Wrestler and was in Japan many times in the 1960s. He appeared in the 007 movie "You only live twice" as a Japanese muscle thug and did the fight scene with Sean Connery in Osato's office.
Tel Porter
DAMN I would have loved to see Rock vs Muta in their prime. That would have been an incredible match. The Rock was pure main event box office, and Muta the greatest wrestler of all time.
David Varnes
The Great Muta? The Rock says he'll become The Great Jabroni.
JWithers
Can't wait to see the final installment of "Wild Speed" aka "Fast and Furious".
He needs to walk away from the G.I. Joe franchise. There's no future in that.
HongoTAFEinmate
Almost pro-wrestling royalty. The chap on the right is an especially hard case. He is known as the father of the infamous "Muta Scale".
Yoda_Jedi_Master
Can't believe some here think WWE (formerly WWF) wrestling is actually real! LMAO!
onagagamo
The Rock would smash this joker in real life!
Wakarimasen
It's all "pretending to fight" in wrestling.
inakaRob
onagagamo: agreed. Muto is big, but he has super high body fat. He is consdiered the big muscle man in Japan, but if you actully look at him he has tons of fat on his body. A big 'ol gut. The rock is about 7% BF give or take his current role/training. I would not be surprised if Muto is 15%. He has some big muscles, but big fat too.
HongoTAFEinmate
@Yoda_Jedi_Master Of course it isn't real. That being said, however, some of the folks that do it can be admired for their athleticism and their toughness. It might be all scripted but it still hurts with or without equine growth hormones. :)
hokkaidoguy
I've never really been a fan, but I've got to ask:
So what?
Magicians pretend to do magic. Actors pretend to be other people. Rock stars pretend to be rebellious youth, and on and on. Everyone knows this. Do you think that wrestling fans are somehow less able to draw the line between fact and fiction than fans of James Bond movies?
silvertongue
What is your name? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!
zurcronium
The difference is that the WWE still tries to promote itself as a sport, which it is not. If it was the results would not be scripted as they are. It is a show just as you state. Nothing more. But still many fans think each match is real. What the WWE is really is a soap opera using sports for the storyline.
davestrousers
In any of the many autobiographies by WWE stars, has any of them tried to maintain that its not scripted? Its a bit patronising to WWE fans to say they don't know its scripted.
hokkaidoguy
Zurcronium
So, sports entertainment?
Oh wait, that's what they've been calling it for decades now.
Do people get equally offended by the Harlem Globetrotters?
Leigh Ivan Quintellio Wighton
Not really. They keep bandying the vague term "Sports Entertainment" around. They've actually tried very hard in recent times to not even use terms that describe wrestling moves and such. I suspect it's to blur the lines when it comes to legal issues. Not being a "sport" may bring certain advantages. While the results may be scripted, the bumps and hits they take in the business are very real. Over time many pro-wrestlers become banged up messes. Guys like the Rock are smart in that they got out of the in-ring business fairly early and thus saving his body somewhat.
harvey pekar
Yeah, wrestling is entertainment, the matches are fixed, but it's real bodies being tossed about, slammed, smacked, and people's elbowed. They're pulling their punches, but It feels pretty real to the wrestlers when they fly out the ring. And they're doing to entertain you, not fool you.
bass4funk
Don't forget, The Rock's father was also a legend in his own right. Rocky Johnson who was a hero of mine back in the 70's when wrestling and roller derby was all the rage. That's 2 generations of wrestlers, I guess that kind of talent had to rub off on him as well.
lostrune2
WWE cannot, by law, promote itself as a sport. In the 1980s, the State of New Jersey asked the WWF whether it is really a sport or not - because if it is a sport, then it has to fall under the NJ Sports Commission, including all sports rules and regulations. So the WWF had to admit it's not really a sport, and thus pro wrestling cannot promote itself as a sport.
Tel Porter
For those trashing the way Keiji Mutoh looks these days, don't forget he is a 51 year old now, who has been wrestling very physical and high-impact style since the mid-80s. Watching some of his old matches from the late 80s, early 90s in the NWA and WCW, he was a freak, doing things never seen in the USA before.
Wolfpack
Nobody believes that. It's like watching a movie a hoping that your favorite character prevails over his antagonist. It's entertainment. I do not much care for it but it has produced some interesting personalities such as Dwayne Johnson.