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Critically Lauded Film "The Wrestler" Brings Renewed Popularity To Sports Entertainment

Posted: Jan 26th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Professional wrestling has been thrust back into the national spotlight, courtesy of Darren Aronofsky's new film, "The Wrestler." Actor Mickey Rourke received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for his performance as a washed up wrestler who gets back into the business.

It's more "Rocky Balboa" than Hulk Hogan's 1980s action movie "No Holds Barred" or World Championship Wrestling's gross-out comedy, "Ready to Rumble."

As much as critics want to dismiss wrestling because of its predetermined outcomes, Aronofsky's movie brings realism back to the ring. It shows, very effectively, the toll years of taking "bumps" (or beatings, essentially,) and a lifestyle on the road, can have on the athlete's mind, body and social life.

A wrestling match is more like a ballet than a boxing match. It takes two people to work together to tell a story. Sometimes it produces compelling entertainment, sometimes it's laughable. However, the physicality of the athletes cannot be denied. Combine that with nightly shows in arenas all over the world, and you have a lifestyle more intense than basketball or baseball players. There's no off-season in wrestling.

It makes you wonder why someone would want to get involved in an industry that is very difficult to break into and when you get there, leaves very little room for anything else in your life.

When you talk about professional wrestling these days, you're mostly talking about World Wrestling Entertainment and their Raw, Smackdown and ECW brands.

At the top of the hill on the ECW, which airs Tuesdays on the Sci-Fi Network, is newcomer Jack Swagger, who recently became the brand's champion. Swagger, real name Jake Hager, was an All-American wrestler at the University of Oklahoma, who also played defensive tackle. In his junior year, Swagger caught the eye of WWE's former head of talent relations, Jim Ross, who told the amateur to look him up after finishing school.

Swagger took Ross up on the offer, and after graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance, went to Atlanta for a tryout in WWE's former developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling in 2006. It was a dream come true for Swagger.

"I've been a fan, pretty much all my life," he said. "I've done some form of wrestling since I was six. I idolized it as a kid. In college I was really focused on getting a degree. This came up and it was like destiny. I jumped at it."

After spending time honing his skills in Florida Championship Wrestling, Swagger was brought up to the ECW roster last year and, in just a few months, beat fan favorite Matt Hardy for the championship.

"I put in a lot of hard work in that two and a half years to get myself ready for a spot like this," Swagger said. "I'm just trying to take the ball and run with it now."

Many athletes come and go in WWE. Some don't have the ability, some lack personality to get over with the audience. Swagger credits his amateur background, as well as a persona close to who he is in real life, as the keys to his success.

"I feel really comfortable in that ring," Swagger said. "I've been competing nearly all my life."

Swagger comes off a little brash on television, living up to his name. But watching him in the ring, you get the sense that one day he'll be a top star. And although the lifestyle is one he is adjusting to, at this point, it's still exciting.

"You live out of your suitcases," Swagger said. "I'm from a small town in Oklahoma, so actually I love it. I love seeing the United States, I love seeing Europe, I love seeing Mexico, so I really enjoy that part of it."

Tags: WWE, ECW, Jack Swagger, Jake Hager, Jim Ross