Things you only knew about because of wrestling

[JNLister]

Ditto "Oh-rient" rather than "Aw-rient", which I'm sure is down to one of the commentators on Sato/Tanaka/Kato matches, possibly Al Hayes.

[patiirc]

Samovar as a tea urn.. Cheers Albert Hall Battle Royale for that one. Failing that US and Canadian states and state capitals pretty much as everyone else.

[PowerButchi]

Morton Downey Jr: The random memory that inspired this thread. He was a big (well, overly lengthy) part of WrestleMania V, my first PPV. I still really don't know what he really was or his place in culture, but I'd have never heard of him otherwise.

 

I've pretty much seen every episode of his show now, and again, it's because of his WWF exposure I've heard of him before seeing him. He was a populist, reactionary, bible thumping, right wing,arsehead bollockbrain. But he had Dr D David Shults on it twice. One about pro wrestling where Dr D verbally murders Jim Wilson and Thunderbolt Patterson in front of an audience consisting purely of marks, and one about Bounty Hunting where yet again Dr D is sharp as a razor with his tongue.

[Doctor Whos Next]

The WWF Magazine taught me all about American zip codes and taxes

 

Randy Savage and Jack Tunney taught me the meaning of the word "reinstate"

 

The Undertaker and Paul Bearer taught me all about death, from when Bearer was first introduced and I couldnt undertand why my dad was laughing at his name. Caskets, coffins, burials. I was getting a bit obsessed. I think my parents were getting woried I was going to stop going out, paint my nails black, and start calling myself Xaviar Ducard or something.

[boshealecta]

Thanks to Gorilla Monsoon, I know about the anatomy of the human body.  I know if I'm ever in a fight to always target the "bread basket"

[Undefeated Steak]

American geography, Roman numerals and the human anatomy are the three biggies for me.

 

I know the names of a boat load of arenas from around the world, too. I can't hear anybody mention Madison Square without thinking of the WWF.

[ColinBollocks]

Definitely the pros and cons of steriods and other PEDs, thanks to spending years listening/reading Meltzer going on about them.

 

I also picked up names for different parts of the human anatomy. For instance, I never had a clue what a sternum was until Bret Hart was driven into a turnbuckle.

[DoinkBrah]

German!

 

Being a kid living in Norway for 7 years of my youth, I didn't get SKY after they began scrambling certain satellite channels, so I got my wrestling fix watching WCW on DSF.  Ssince German and Norwegian are grammatically similar, and the commentators used English names for the moves, I was able to understand it and then apply it to GCSE German when I moved back to the UK.  Got an A* from it as well.

 

States and Provinces like everyone else.  As well as a few national anthems. (well at least melodies).

[Loligan]

The word 'circa'

[Grecian]

Concussions.

Thanks to Benoit, and the work of Chris Nowinski, when my wife fell over and suffered a concussion, I realised how much I'd actually learned about them.

 

Geography, same as everyone else.

 

Thanks to my love of Tatanka, I can also name far too many Native American tribes.

[CTXRussomark]

The definition of "summit" thanks to Todd Pettengill.

[dopper]

Thanks to Gorilla Monsoon, I know about the anatomy of the human body.  I know if I'm ever in a fight to always target the "bread basket"

 

This is my answer too.

 

I learned what the sternum was from Gorilla's commentary when Bret Hart used to go chest-first into the corner, I learned what the bicuspid tooth was from Gorilla mentioning it when someone took a high dropkick, and my favourite is the external occipital protuberance. I think that used to get mentioned after an enziguri mostly.