I was going to talk about this eventually, I swear.

What do you get when you take a business that’s known to be more “entertainment” than “sport” and give the pure entertainment side it’s own television show?

You get “WWE: Unreal,” the “docuseries” currently in its second season on Netflix that offers viewers a look inside the formerly-secretive “Writer’s Room” of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Let me be completely honest: I have a really hard time with this show. Part of wrestling’s allure has always been the suspension of disbelief that lets fans on occasion think that even though everything else is bullshit, that one thing they saw on the card was real.

That bit of sleight of hand is something I’ve experienced myself as a Hall-of-Fame* pro wrestling manager. When you convince a crowd that you’ve gotten away with something so heinous they actually try to hit the ring and attack you? It’s a wild and crazy moment but that’s when the business really gets magical.

And the issue I have with “Unreal” is that the magic gets stripped away. You see all the tricks of guys like Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Bruce Prichard, and Brian “Road Dogg” James. There’s plenty of moments where fans will see something they recognized from the last year’s worth of programming and get the full explanation of how the entire thing played out with zero secrets retained.

Now for some people—maybe those folks who like the old “Masked Magician Reveals All” specials that used to appear on ABC or UPN a couple of decades ago—this might be a fun thing to watch. But if you know anything about the business or are more than a casual fan, you’re just going to get two seasons’ worth of confirmation bias in 5-6 episode chunks.

If you’re not a diehard fan I don’t see the appeal for this at all. I will give “Unreal” credit for making the men and women who perform for WWE seem far more human than we normally give them credit. They seem human, having emotional breakdowns and panic attacks back in the gorilla position before big matches take place.

That’s another issue I take with the show. Part of professional wrestling isn’t me being concerned whether these people are having “real life moments” or stressing out over whether they’ll be received warmly on returning from injury. No, the thing about wrestling is these larger than life athletes are (allegedly) beating the piss out of each other for my enjoyment. How am I supposed to enjoy the fights if I know the guys are hugging in the back?

Watch it if you’re interested in a real exposure of the business of professional wrestling. Personally I prefer that a little mystery remain, but I’m not the target audience for this show.

RATING: **1/2

See y’all next week!

*I was given this title by a friend of mine who thought it would be hilarious. I wasn’t going to correct anyone who called me a “hall of fame manager.” I had appearances to maintain.