I just watched two guys beat the living shit out of each other on TV. You know that thing where they combine a little bit of martial arts, boxing, and wrestling? I don’t know the rules, but I got the impression there weren’t any. There was a third guy in the ring masquerading as some kind of official, but it didn’t look like there was much for him to do but get out of the way. It looked like there was only one reason for him to intervene… when one of the contestants lost consciousness he stepped in to keep the other guy from beating the unconscious guy to a bloody pulp while he was lying prone.

In my defense, I didn’t go looking for this. I turned the TV on while I was poking around on the PowerBook, thinking I might catch the end of the Rays game.

I was struck dumb by the brutality. These guys were bleeding so freely from the nose the white canvas ring looked like a work of abstract art. All I could do was stare and wonder what was happening to these guy’s brains. Boxers have problems and they just use their hands. These guys were taking knees and kicks to the face… just freaking unbelievable. (I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the leg can deliver a considerable amount of force.)

I thought to myself… here’s a display of disposable people, disposing of themselves for money. It’s illegal to rent your body out for sex, but it’s perfectly legal to rent it out to be beaten, bloodied, and broken? If you took the money out of the sex would it become legal? If you took the money out of the beating would it become illegal?

My second thought? Maybe this puts an end to “professional” wrestling. After all, this shit is real.

Oh, wait… just as I was editing, someone suffered what appeared to be a compound fracture of the lower leg (I’m not sure if it was the tibia, fibula, both or neither which opened a wound… there was already a lot of blood involved). I think it’s time to turn the TV off.