Satellite Review:

DSF GLOW Wrestling

Ron Farrar kindly wrote in and mentioned that DSF, a German channel available on the Astra satellite, is broadcasting on Monday nights at about 10 pm some American women wrestling shows. These are from a show that was also broadcast on the Lifestyle Channel and has been available on video cassettes. They are from an organisation called GLOW, which is an acronym for "Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling."

It is very similar in format to the well known WWF shows on Sky One, and indeed the commentators sound almost as if they are the same, although this could be because of similarity of the American accent to an English person. On the DSF broadcast there is an over dub of a German commentary, which obviously detracts from the program form the point of view of English speakers. However some of what the original commentator said gets through. Unfortunately DSF does not have a stereo channel, otherwise it may have been possible to extract the English speech more clearly. Neither does it have multilingual channels like Eurosport.

I do have to say about the actual shows that they are not exactly what HEW is about. One night, for example, a wrestler had an arm dislocated, apparently deliberately. This was not regarded as a regrettable accident but was shown several times in full close-up and in slow motion afterwards, and indeed was repeated the following week, together with an X-ray showing the dislocation.

I should have thought that a dislocation could have been relocated quickly by the medical people that presumably are present at such events, not left for the purpose of taking X-rays. I only hope that the X-rays were a fake and the incident was being milked for all it was worth for a sadistic audience. But even that isn't a very nice idea.

I should have thought that wrestling shows could be divided into two distinct types. One is the Scott Caruthers' sporting type of show, in which it is almost impossible for anyone to get hurt, but people can compete for strength and skill. And the other is a show which is more of a series of stunts in which if people do get hurt it is definitely an accident.

With the present worries about the crime wave and increasing urban violence, it is important for those that enjoy the sport innocently that wrestling doesn't get black listed as an incitement to violence.

Therefore if shows like WWF and GLOW are to survive, then I think that they need to take care with how they present their material. Accidents or fouls should not be glossed over but they should not be made into highlights of the show.

However there are some more normal wrestling moves, such as the ever popular "sleeper" hold. This lady was seen being forced to relax completely, but later recovered to win the bout.