Popular Culture Review Vol. 14, No. 2, Summer 2003 | Page 18

14 Popular Culture Review skill— needed to join the profession. The closest many fans can get to the action is attending events or posting to internet forums. Gambling, by contrast, is open to virtually anyone—with the current popularity of penny slots, it seems that no for tune is too small for the casino. There may be a world of difference between a penny slot player and a high roller, but in essence they both do the same thing, albeit on a different scale. In this way, casino gambling is far more accessible than professional wrestling Thus, it isn’t that surprising that professional wrestling and casino gambling are related, if only distantly. Each simultaneously balances the real and the fake, and each teases its audience with a payoff that it usually never delivers. Each also relies on spectacle to pull in marks. While spectacle may be four-star restaurants or a five-star frog splash, it still serves the same purpose—to put “asses in the seats.” It would seem that fans would get tired of “fat men in their underwear” pretending to fight, and tune out professional wrestling. One also might think that casino pa trons would begin to realize that the odds against them will never permit them to “quit winners.” But both forms of “entertainment” are enduringly popular, mostly because their formulas were successfully distilled from decades of carnivals. University of Nevada, Las Vegas David G. Schwartz Works Cited Fiske, John. Understanding Popular Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989. Harrah’s Entertainment. Profile o f the American Gambler, 2002. Las Vegas: Harrah’s Entertainment, 2002. Available online at http://www.haiTahs.eom/about_us/survey/survey_02.5.pdf Mankind (Mick Foley). Have a Nice Day! A Tale o f Blood and Sweatsocks. New York: Harper Collins Books, 1999. Mazer, Sharon. Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998. McGowan, Thomas. American Carnival: Seeing and Reading American Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. Opton, Michael, ed. Nevada Gaming Almanac 2002. Newton, MA: Casino City Press, 2002. Sheehan, Jack. “Sam Boyd’s Quiet Legacy.” In Jack Sheehan, ed. Players: The Men Who Made Las Vegas. Reno and Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press, 1997. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. 2002 Annual Report. Available at http://ir.shareholder.com/wwe/downloads/annual-2002.pdf