Behind the Scenes at Double Trouble

The world of staged matches, like any form of scripted entertainment, requires us to engage in a willing suspension of disbelief. In other words, we know that Russel Crowe isn't a gladiator or a captain in the British Navy, but we suspend that knowledge in order to immerse ourselves in the world presented to us on the screen. While the mainline forms of entertainment have plenty of outlets for releasing "behind the scenes" information (which in some small way gave birth to the brilliant HBO series "Entourage"), those producing staged female wrestling matches seem to have an uneasy relationship between the backstage and frontstage, rarely letting us a peek at the former.

With all of that as prelude, I find this photo fascinating on a number of different levels. Absent the heading indicating that the ladies are signing a contract with Double Trouble before filming a wrestling match in 1991, the viewer could have imagined that the ladies were filling out an application to community college, or checking their little sister's Girl Scout cookie order before sending it down to the regional HQ. The scene is entirely pedestrian, the dining room in a middle class home, with a fancy vase up front and some china neatly displayed in a cabinet to the right. The Marlboro Lights and the Coke can almost serve the role that a bowl of fruit might in a 17th century portrait -- to place the persons within the frame in some kind of context. The context being one of commerce and fantasy, for however much we all willingly suspend our disbelief, in the end we must know that the ladies are doing it for the money and, given that this is America, contracts must be signed before the camera begins to roll.