China's Belt and Road wrestling champion Wang Tao struggles to fund his passion despite the rising popularity of pro wrestling in the country.
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00:00Shit.
00:00Yeah.
00:01Boom.
00:01Yeah.
00:02Yeah.
00:02Ah.
00:04Chinese pro wrestler Wang Tao says American actor Mickey Rourke
00:08inspired him to run away from home at 17.
00:11When I was very young, when I was in fifth or sixth grade,
00:14I watched a movie called The King of Dumbbells on a movie channel.
00:18And since then, I've been obsessed with dumbbells.
00:20And since then, I've been watching videos of dumbbells
00:23and competitions over and over again.
00:26After years of training and some serious injuries,
00:29Wang Tao now holds the title of a belt and road champion.
00:33But like the wrestler Rourke plays in the movie,
00:35he still struggles to make ends meet.
00:38He takes side gigs to keep his head above water
00:40in China's small but committed scene.
00:43I used to do part-time jobs, apart from training and competitions.
00:49I was a waiter and I did all kinds of jobs.
00:52But now in China, it's very difficult to make money
00:55by doing dumbbells.
00:57Part sport and part entertainment,
00:59pro wrestling is known as a stereotypically American spectacle,
01:04one that cultural critics call hetero-drag.
01:07Athletes take on hyper-masculine personas
01:10to fight epic battles in good versus evil stories,
01:13where colorful characters, makeup, costumes,
01:16and endless melodrama create something akin
01:19to a soap opera for teenage boys.
01:22And with each fight choreographed and the winner predetermined,
01:25fans are guaranteed a spectacle.
01:28But despite its success in the U.S.,
01:30pro wrestling still struggles to find audiences in China.
01:35The Chinese market is completely different from the foreign market.
01:38For example, the ticket sales market and so on.
01:42China is a huge market,
01:44but we haven't fully opened up to the Chinese market.
01:46We are still trying to figure out
01:50how to open up to the Chinese market.
01:52Despite the challenges,
01:54pro wrestlers in China, both foreign and local,
01:56are determined to push forward,
01:59traveling across the country to events like this one in Shanghai,
02:02organized by Middle Kingdom Wrestling, the MKW.
02:06China is obviously such a large country,
02:09with so many of the fans fragmented.
02:13But definitely, I would say,
02:18we have more followers, more people are paying attention to us
02:21than ever before.
02:28The dream would be that more people can make a living from wrestling.
02:33You can see a lot of people here.
02:35This is what they're good at.
02:38And I think they deserve to be able to make a living
02:42at what they're good at.
02:44Wang Tao would welcome the income,
02:46but is not motivated by it.
02:48For the moment, the chance to pursue his dreams,
02:50and in this case, win the Belt and Road Championship,
02:53is enough.
02:54The gold belt is still on my shoulder.
02:56I'm very grateful to MKW for this opportunity.
02:59I can stand on the ring
03:01and prove to everyone my strength,
03:03my dream, and my persistence.
03:06This is inescapable.