WWE at the SunDome -- It's not fake, it's scripted

Finally, WWE has come back to Yakima.

OK, I know it wasn't that long ago that WWE's Smackdown roster was in town. This week, we're getting the Raw roster. And what are you gonna do when those 36 Superstars run over you?

Touring is what truly makes World Wrestling Entertainment the top wrestling promotion in the world. For the benefit of those with flash photography, WWE still visits places such as the Yakima Valley SunDome. That other promotion (No, not WCW; they haven't been around since 2001. I mean TNA.) does some touring, but is mostly a studio creation. They have some great wrestlers, including many former WWE Superstars. They just don't take their product to the people the way WWE does.

To be the man, you gotta beat the man, and Total Nonstop Action, aka TNA, keeps trying. For now, WWE is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

It's true, it's true.

This is a good time to have the "wrestling's fake" conversation. I don't disagree with the idea; I disagree with the semantics. People get seriously injured. Owen Hart died. Let's change the wording. Wrestling isn't fake, it's scripted. In general, the outcomes are predetermined. You don't bet on professional wrestling the way you'd bet on a boxing match.

Except for that one time in Montreal, but I hear we've finally moved on from that.

But every time you think you know the answer, I change the question. Raw will bring a number of new faces to the Yakima Valley this week. Most of them have "real" names such as "Alex Riley," "Evan Bourne" and "Jack Swagger." There's also C.M. Punk, the current WWE Champion (unless he loses between the time I'm writing this and the time they get to Yakima), John Cena and a remasked Kane.

I won't lie to you. My pure wrestling fandom, the era in which I knew who everyone was and could predict a script with the best of them, ended right about the time Vince McMahon absorbed World Championship Wrestling into WWE. Of my top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time, only three are still active in either WWE or TNA.

It doesn't matter what their names are. Just kidding. My favorite wrestlers ever are Rowdy Roddy Piper, Mick Foley (also known as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love), The Undertaker, Sting, Goldberg, The Rock, Kane, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

I never caught Hulkamania, even when Hogan was the hero on "Rock 'n' Wrestling," one of the most underappreciated Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s. Remember that show? You probably don't. I do. I can't help it. Do you know the difference between a Stone Cold Stunner and a Diamond Cutter? I do. Can you spot the differences between a Scorpion Deathlock and a Figure-Four leg lock?

For the millions and millions of WWE fans, it's what they live for. They get their fix a few times a week and are lucky enough to see their heroes live every once in a while.

Contrary to what Cena, one of the top babyfaces -- that's a good guy, for you nonfans -- says, you can see him.

You just have to show up at the SunDome to do it. And that's the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so.

* T.J. Tranchell is a Selah-based freelance journalist and founder of the horror website www.warning-signs.net. Email him at tj@warning-signs.net.