Joe Rogan And Comedian Patton Oswalt Discuss Pro Wrestling Being Called "Fake"

Comedian Patton Oswalt was on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to promote his new stand-up special on Netflix as well as discuss a wide variety of topics with Rogan. Their conversation ended up turning to the topic of pro wrestling, a topic that Rogan was once critical of in the past back when WWE was also taking shots at Rogan and UFC. Oswalt went on a small rant on people referring to pro wrestling being "fake."

"The thing about WWE that everyone keeps forgetting is yes, it's 'scripted,' but it's scripted mayhem and destruction," Oswalt said. "They are scripting out these people, these men and women, going in the script, you're gonna fall 40 feet on a table of glass. Yes, we scripted that to happen, but it's still a person doing that. There's a level of adrenaline junkiness and athleticism that goes beyond athletics.

"People are like, 'yeah, wrestling's fake.' Yeah, no s–t. It's like when you watch a Jackie Chan film. That's a scripted film too. Stick around to the end credits, he just got his skull knocked open. They literally punched a hole though his skull doing a stunt. So you're dismissing something. Your definition of fake needs to be tweaked a little bit in this case."

Rogan agreed with with Oswalt. He said that wrestlers do not get the credit that they deserve for the schedule that they work and the damage that they out their bodies through. Oswalt also listed the conditions that wrestlers have to work under.

"It's another way of looking at it. It's definitely scripted. It's not like they're risking it all because they don't know what the outcome is gonna be. It's different than an actual athletic event, but it's still pretty badass as far as what they're able to do," Rogan said. "They don't nearly get enough credit for it either. While they were doing it, before the lockdown, they were doing it 250+ days a year traveling all over the country, throwing each other on tables.

"Different times zones, a bad jet-lag, bad food [and] no sleep," Oswalt listed off. "These people have to be in peak physical condition under the worst conditions to maintain that, and also think of the years when WWE was this struggling, basically mom-and-pop operation trying to launch itself, and they even had less resources than they do now, but those guys were still doing that over and over again. It's brutal."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Joe Rogan Experience with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.