''Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets'' is a 1998

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

about

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

. It was first aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television on November 1, 1998, and released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

on September 22, 1999. Nick Bakay narrates. The special was produced by

Nash Entertainment Nash Entertainment is an American reality television production company founded in 1994 by Bruce Nash. The company is located at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of ...

, the same company that produced '' Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.''

Content

The stars of ''Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets'' are eight real-life professional wrestlers who wear

masks A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

and work under pseudonyms to conceal their true identities. The reason given is that, by explaining wrestling's secrets (known as "breaking

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...

" within the industry), their livelihood was at risk. The wrestlers are featured in a series of vignettes that explain how professional wrestling matches are staged, such as how participants in a match including the referee assist each other and how bookers plan storylines. ''Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets'' was filmed mostly at an empty

Grand Olympic Auditorium The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditoriu ...

in Los Angeles, although an audience was present for some scenes. One former participant, Michael Modest, claimed that the wrestlers had been initially misled into the nature of the show, and only discovered the true nature once they had signed their contracts. According to him at least one wrestler was quoted out of context during the trailer. He claimed also that the masks were added by the show, as the wrestlers did not fear the show would harm their careers, and questioned the show's accuracy.

Reception

The

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

issued a statement about the special shortly before it aired, stating that "NBC has hired a bunch of bitter, masked wannabe 'pro wrestlers' that couldn't make the cut." The WWF further went on to say and that the real secret to professional wrestling was that "All of the WWF Superstars sacrifice their body and soul to entertain the fans." A review published by the

Canadian Online Explorer Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' in ...

was heavily critical of the special and wrote that it revealed nothing that fans didn't already know and that wrestling crowds willingly suspend disbelief. They also wrote that the producers "insulted the viewers they sought to educate."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0499206, Exposed! Pro Wrestlings Greatest Secrets NBC original programming 1990s American television specials 1998 television specials 1998 in American television Professional wrestling films American wrestling films