W.T.F. (South Park)
In the episode, the South Park boys form their own backyard wrestling league, drawing droves of fans more interested in the acting and scripted dramatic storylines than athletic elements.
The episode parodied several aspects of professional wrestling, highlighting the sport's emphasis on such theatrical elements as costumes, back stories and scripted storylines.
The episode received generally mixed reviews, with several commentators calling professional wrestling too easy a target for South Park satire.
After watching a live WWE match between WWE superstars Edge and John Cena at the Pepsi Center and being totally enthralled, Kyle, Stan, Cartman, Kenny, Butters, Jimmy and Token decide to join the school's wrestling team, unaware how different the sport is from professional wrestling.
As its popularity increases, the boys add an auditorium, complete with proscenium staging and theater-style lighting, to the back of Cartman's house.
Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny secretly decide to relegate Butters, Jimmy and Token to smaller roles, thinking that it will give themselves a better opportunity to impress McMahon.
They hold tryouts in the manner of a theater audition in order to find new talent for their show, which is now more reminiscent of musical theatre than wrestling.
Mr. Connors sneaks into the event and unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the wrestling ring with a rocket launcher, killing Kenny instead.
The South Park episode highlights the theatrical elements of professional wrestling, such as the costumes, back stories and scripted dramatic storylines.
For example, a try-out involves no actual wrestling at all, but rather dramatic monologues, and resembles the audition scene from the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line".
are purposely fake-looking to emphasize the scripted nature of professional wrestling, and utilize elements typically featured in real matches, like the use of metal folding chairs as weapons.
[3] The episode also includes references to the musical Fame, the film Waiting for Guffman and the reality television series American Idol.
Ramsey Isler of IGN said the professional wrestling parody was "pretty spot on", but that the target was too easy, and the episode "lacks a lot of the punchy kind of comedy that the show is usually known for".
Nevertheless, Isler said the writing was clever and had funny moments, like Kenny's "El Pollo Loco" character, and the scene where the gym teacher tries to take down a security guard with a traditional wrestling move.
"[4] Carlos Delgado of iF Magazine gave the episode a C+ grade, saying professional wrestling seems like a topic South Park should have mocked long ago.
Delgado said the best scenes were the first moments of the boys' wrestling league, but that the "novelty of the idea starts to fade" and the developments become too outrageous.
Salon.com writer Mary Elizabeth Williams called the show "perennially offensive [and] still shockingly funny", and particularly praised Cartman's wrestling character "Bad Irene", who professes a love of and addiction to abortions.
The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode,[10] a collection of deleted scenes, and a special mini-feature Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of South Park Studios, which discussed the process behind animating the show with Inside xBox host Major Nelson.
