Why We Watch...Exhibit F

We watch professional wrestling for the technical execution of Ric Flair, the rugged, double-tough grappling style of Stan Hansen, the foreign object wielding chicanery of Abdullah the Butcher, the self-induced humiliation of Jim Hellwig, and the brazen tauntings of Dick Murdoch. (Sorry folks, I'm too lazy to link back to all of these references/posts...just a take a stroll through the Arabian Facebuster archives to relive these wonderful memories) We also watch wrestling to marvel at the spectacle of a most generously proportioned, two toned mullet sporting, Mulkey Brothers annihilating fellow named "The Ragin' Bull" Manny Fernandez repeatedly fly through the air, each time landing his knee squarely on the chest and throat of his hapless opponent, Invader III; not to be confused with Invader I, the dastardly son of a bitch that stabbed Bruiser Brody to death in a shower stall 19 years ago.

While this footage -- taken from Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council promotion, circa 1989 -- may seem excessively graphic and violent for late 1980s syndicated television, the volume of splattered blood on the canvass and quotient of superfluous gore is not incomparable to more contemporary examples, be it a footage from the crime scene of a high profile murder covered ad nausea by Fox News, an egregiously botched plastic surgery on Dr. 90210, or a particularly malicious bum fight on Disney's acclaimed after school serial Hannah Montana.

Enjoy the ruthlessness.