“You know it’s fake, right?”
Almost every time I come out of the closet, so to speak, about my wrestling fandom, the question is the first and only response given by whoever I am speaking to. Since the late 90s, celebrated Attitude Era ended and Stone Cold stopped stunning, the outlook on wrestling turned sour.
Now it is seen as childish and fake, and while it is undeniable wrestling lost its mainstream appeal, it is much more real and vastly worthier of respect than non-fans want to give it credit for. Wrestlers, depending on what company they work for, sacrifice their bodies for more than 300 days out of the year. 
They are consistently deprived of a real family life, and the maneuvers they perform take the highest degree of athleticism. As a hardcore fan of WWE and other promotions (yes, they exist) like New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor, I take offense to the constant vitriol spewed at wrestling, and I believe it is time to set the record straight.
Yes, of course wrestling is not real in the sense of who wins what matches. Bookers determine this. However, for every pulled punch or fake chair shot, there is a 450 degree flip off a ladder or a suplex which requires the competitors fall on their backs from several feet in the air. Even the punches and chair shots are not always faked. 
Maybe in WWE they are, but as I have said, other promotions do exist and certain ones practice a style of wrestling dubbed “strong style,” which allows for wrestlers to punch, slap, kick and elbow each other in a very real way.
Regardless of the semantics here, there is no justifiable reason to pass off wrestling as something for uneducated rednecks and children. It may not be a sport due to the outcomes being predetermined, but it is a beautiful form of entertainment combining high-quality acting and superb athleticism at its best. 
For such a fake form of entertainment, wrestlers certainly get injured and die a lot. Chris Weller of USA Today’s Medical Daily describes the risks surrounding wrestling.
“(F)ootball still has only one-twentieth the death rate before age 45 as professional wrestling… Professional wrestling, of the performance-art variety, is an industry of maximalism. It’s the biggest and the strongest sacrificing their bodies until it’s the biggest and whoever’s still left,” Weller explained.
When thinking about the long list of wrestlers who died too young — Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Test, Chyna, Andre the Giant, Mr. Perfect and many more — one begins to realize the impact it has on a person’s body. Almost everything about a match hurts, simultaneously requiring sky-high professionalism and skill in order to protect both competitors.
Concussions, the bane of the NFL’s existence, are commonplace in wrestling, too. ACL tears, broken bones and several life-threatening injuries happen more than they should. Compared to even the roughest sports, wrestling stands in a league of its own in terms of how brutal and unforgiving it can be. For this reason, if for nothing else, it deserves to be seen at least in the same vein as film. 
Some might still claim wrestlers are just failed athletes from other sports or otherwise do not have the capacity to excel in “actual” athletic contests. While some, like Roman Reigns, were indeed football dropouts, others have storied careers even outside wrestling.
Take Brock Lesnar for example. A former two-time collegiate All-American, NCAA Heavyweight Champion, UFC Heavyweight Champion and overall monster, Brock Lesnar is a literal freak of nature. He could arguably take any fighter in MMA before his diverticulitis diagnosis, and calling his skillset fake would be the definition of laughable. Ken Shamrock was one of the pioneers for UFC back in the 90s, and Ron Simmons was a Florida State football phenom. 
For maybe the most impressive feat, Steve Hanley of The Sportster describes Kurt Angle’s prowess in the wrestling world.
“Angle was an accomplished amateur wrestler who won an Olympic Gold medal with a broken neck, as he would brag for so many years in WWE. He was also a two-time NCAA Heavyweight Champion, and won several other titles as well as medals in the field,” Hanley stated.
This guy competed at the highest level in the world for amateur wrestling and won the whole thing with a broken neck. But he does not qualify as an athlete, right? For the most part, any and all arguments against the validity of respect for wrestling are based on willful ignorance and mob mentality.
It is cool to disrespect wrestling, so everyone does it. The truth of the matter is wrestling is an art and as such, should be treated with dignity.