My only previous experience of seeing a live wrestling match dates back to my childhood in England. Sometime in the 1980s, I dimly recall viewing a show by the now-defunct British Wrestling Federation in the dreary seaside town of Weston-super-Mare.
All I can remember was that it involved two fat, panting, Spandex-clad blokes ungraciously throwing each other around the ring, with white-haired old ladies waving their umbrellas at them.
While the Spandex might live on, wrestling, thankfully, has evolved somewhat in the intervening years, with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) adding a huge dose of theatrical glitz to proceedings.
And with WWE on its way to Abu Dhabi, the organisation gave me the opportunity to preview what to expect by flying me out to watch Summerslam, the second-biggest event in the organisation’s calendar.
Taking place at the capacious Staples Center indoor stadium, it was a sheer assault on the senses. Think of the loudest rock concert you’ve ever been to – wrestling easily matches those decibel levels.
If it wasn’t the roaring of the 17,000-strong crowd, it was the boom of pyrotechnics and the thunderous entrance music that accompanies each star. In fact, I doubt those spectators in the first few rows have heard anything since.
As for the contests themselves, the fact that they’re totally scripted is no longer a secret. But this means you’ll never have to experience a disappointing draw or moments of torpid play as one does in real sports.
Instead, the two combatants will invariably be embroiled in an epic battle, with as many melodramatic twists and turns as the showdown of a Rocky movie. The fact that it’s about as authentic as one of Sly Stallone’s celluloid rumbles doesn’t seem to bother anyone.
Case in point: the bout between the crowd favourite CM Punk and the hulking Brock Lesner. At one juncture, as our hero lay writhing on the floor in feigned agony, a young lad next to me kept bellowing “Get up, punk!” at the top of his voice. He seemed to earnestly expect his vociferous encouragement to affect the result. (It didn’t. CM Punk lost.) Nevertheless, the audience seems prepared to suspend all disbelief.
For the main bout of the evening, the crowd’s loyalty seemed torn. It involved two good guys, or “faces”, as they’re known in wrestling parlance: the bearded underdog Daniel Bryan and the current world champion John Cena. But after a particularly drawn-out fight, Bryan triumphed, only to be met by a cascade of ticker tape and audience adulation. His glory was short-lived, however, as a turn of events saw Bryan being felled by a sneak attack by the referee. Then rival wrestler, Randy Orton, arrived in the ring and pinned Bryan down, snatching the title away from our plucky hero.
The intricacies of this contrivance were lost on me, yet I could not help but feel aggrieved. “That really was quite unfair,” I found myself protesting to a Mexican journalist.
This outcome was as close to a shock upset as you get in WWE. Yet, as people streamed out of the stadium, everyone could be sure that Bryan will one day achieve retribution for this inequity.
For in the narrative of wrestling, while the heroes may lose the battle, they will always win the war. (Indeed, at the next WWE pay-per-view event, Night of Champions, Bryan enacted his revenge over Orton.)
WWE may be a brash, choreographed sham but it also is glamorous and entertaining. In fact, while both purported to be wrestling, it’s completely unrecognisable from what I saw in that grimy hall in Weston-super-Mare so many years ago.
• WWE Live takes place at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi, from October 10 to 12. Visit www.wwe.com for more information
hberger@thenational.ae
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The biog
Age: 19
Profession: medical student at UAE university
Favourite book: The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Role model: Parents, followed by Fazza (Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed)
Favourite poet: Edger Allen Poe
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THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
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The specs: 2019 GMC Yukon Denali
Price, base: Dh306,500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 621Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.9L / 100km
SPECS
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Persuasion
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The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Layla%20Kaylif%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eslam%20Al%20Kawarit%2C%20Rosy%20McEwen%2C%20Muhammad%20Amir%20Nawaz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
LAST-16 FIXTURES
Sunday, January 20
3pm: Jordan v Vietnam at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
6pm: Thailand v China at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: Iran v Oman at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Monday, January 21
3pm: Japan v Saudi Arabia at Sharjah Stadium
6pm: Australia v Uzbekistan at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: UAE v Kyrgyzstan at Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tuesday, January 22
5pm: South Korea v Bahrain at Rashid Stadium, Dubai
8pm: Qatar v Iraq at Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Mobile phone packages comparison
The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
EMILY%20IN%20PARIS%3A%20SEASON%203
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SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
