IT DOES A BODY BAD SURE IT'S SCRIPTED, BUT THE MEN AND WOMEN OF WRESTLEMANIA 21 FEEL IT IN THEIR BONES.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

When a worldwide audience tunes into the WrestleMania 21 pay-per-view event Sunday, few will probably know the depth of punishment these full-bodied entertainers endure in the ring. Painless pranks and silly stunts? Ask a pro wrestler like Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin about their careers and be prepared to be body-slammed by a bloodcurdling litany of grievous bodily harm.

At the very least, these guys, like movie stuntmen, really do take their bumps. Hogan and Austin, for example, recite a list of complaints that mirrors the gridiron sick bay, taking in broken necks, fused vertebrae, busted knees, and assorted aches and pains. There are no air bags under the floodlights.

Actually, despite the wear and tear and blood loss, nobody calls it professional wrestling anymore. Promoters, fans and participants use ``sports entertainment,'' a term World Wrestling Entertainment guru Vince McMahon coined in the late '90s as pro wrestling became as mainstream as home video.

Either way, wrestling's ongoing soap opera is a top-grossing component of the global amusement business. With a pain-free $300-million-plus annual reach that has elbowed into TV, movies, books, video, toys, clothing and memorabilia around the world. And while the WWE is certainly the best-marketed wrestling entertainment company with the sport's biggest stars under its banner, it doesn't have the field to itself.

Ground zero for the feudal spectator sport of young males is currently Los Angeles, where the annual WrestleMania contest will be broadcast Sunday on pay-per-view for the first time from Staples Center. When around 20,000 tickets went on sale last September for the event, all evaporated in less than a minute, setting records for the fastest sellout in WWE history and registering a swift $2 million.

WrestleMania 21 - which sees such high-stakes battles as Batista vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship; John Cena vs. JBL for the WWE Championship; Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels; Big Show vs. Akebono; Randy Orton vs. Undertaker; Trish Stratus vs. Christy Hemme; and Austin with Rowdy Roddy Piper bringing back the famed interview segment, Piper's Pit - is the knockout punch to a week of local appearances and promotions representing this rude, crude and tattooed pop-culture phenomenon.

``There's something primal about pro wrestling - and it's funny,'' said Chad Williams, the Hollywood Reporter's international news editor, who oversaw a special WrestleMania edition of the magazine last year. ``There's violence and women - things that connect with young males. A lot of people watch it in their pre- or early teens and either stay with it or go through a phase. It's entertaining.

``But you either get it, or you don't.''

More and more people around the world get it, but it wasn't always this way. In the late-'50s, wrestlers like Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie slogged from town to town by car or bus like rodeo clowns, performing for crowds of varying sizes. The stunts have evolved, the story lines progressed, and a previously unheard-of amount of money is being made and spent. Today, WWE superstars travel by private plane, stay in the best hotels and have the top bone specialists on retainer.

``The sport has changed in so many ways,'' says Hulk Hogan, 51, one of wrestling's most mountainous personalities, who will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by actor Sylvester Stallone on Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre (Hogan played Thunderlips in 1982's ``Rocky III,'' starring and directed by Stallone). ``Everything moves faster today because of the Internet, TV, the technology. Our plotlines are more immediate and move quicker. The personalities are gigantic. They have to be. But the past is the future in that the stories and the rivalries have to be so large that anyone in any part of the world can get them immediately.''

Wrestling just got even more in-your-face. Blond, muscle-bound Hogan, discovered decades ago on Venice Beach, has announced he will star in a VH1 ``reality'' series titled ``Hogan Knows Best,'' which deals with family life around chez Hulk. Hogan, now retired from the ring, lives in a Florida suburb on a 20,000-square-foot estate with his wife, a 16-year- old daughter he won't allow to date, a 14-year-old son who wants to be a race car driver, and seven small dogs.

Further, the WWE and Austin announced a three-picture deal under WWE Films, which will produce and finance movies with Stone Cold and other wrestling superstars (former WWE superstar Dwayne ``The Rock'' Johnson has a busy movie career of his own with a resume that includes ``The Mummy Returns'' and ``The Scorpion King''). Austin, incidentally, just wrapped a supporting role in ``The Longest Yard,'' starring Adam Sandler and due in theaters May 27.

``When I started, my goal was to reach the top,'' Austin, 39, said. ``I only knew I loved pro wrestling and I'd found something I was good at. People forget that it takes a lot of hard work. It doesn't happen overnight. It took almost eight years before I got somewhere.''

In eight years, the pile-drivers, body-scissors and Boston crabs add up. Randy Orton, a third-generation champ who turns 25 on Friday and battles classic bad guy Undertaker two days later at WrestleMania 21, rattles off his own hits list: three broken foot bones, five concussions (two serious), one dislocated shoulder and a handful of surgeries. After each match, he and his 54-year-old retired-wrestler dad, ``Cowboy'' Bob Orton, go over videotapes of the fight, painful as they are to replay sometimes.

``You can't fake it, and there is no off-season,'' the younger Orton said. ``Nobody goes into this to get injured, to break their bones and spill their blood. But it's a sport, it takes athletics and showmanship, and everything about it is bigger than life.''

That colossal delivery extends to the lurid novellas played out on stage. ``About 15 years ago, they dropped all pretense of being a legit sporting event,'' the Hollywood Reporter's Williams said. ``They said, 'You're right - this is a show, the wrestlers are performers, athletes and stuntmen who are out to entertain you.' And the skits and story lines became a much bigger deal.''

Now, Asia is the next stage in McMahon's plan to body-slam the entire universe into submission. ``At first they didn't get us at all,'' Austin said. ``Now the energy level is just crazy. When we go over, we can't leave the hotel, we can't walk on the streets. We're mobbed at the airport.''

At least those hugs probably don't cause bruises.

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

WRESTLEMANIA 21

Where: Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles.

When: 4 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: Sold out, try brokers.

WRESTLEMANIA 21 PAY-PER-VIEW

Where: Various cable and satellite providers.

When: 4 p.m. Sunday; repeated throughout the month.

Cost: $49.95.

You can't pin the WWE down

As anticipation builds for Sunday's sold-out WrestleMania 21, fans are invited to a series of World Wrestling Entertainment events leading up to the big showdown. All appearances are free, except where noted.

TODAY

--Be sure to be at Hollywood Boulevard, between Highland Avenue and Orange Drive (adjacent to the Hollywood & Highland complex), for a preview of WrestleMania 21, including exhibition matches. The hourlong event begins at noon.

--Edge & Maria will sign autographs at Game Rush(at)Blockbuster, 8813 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Westchester, from 4 to 6 p.m.

--Rey Mysterio & Michelle McCool will sign autographs at Toys R Us, 2905 Los Feliz Blvd., Glendale, from 7 to 9 p.m.

--Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, Christian, Matt Hardy, Lita, Kane, Stacy Keibler, JBL, Batista, Miss Jackie, Hurricane, Rob Van Dam, John Cena, Jonathan Coachman, Kurt Angle, Big Show and Trish Stratus will be on hand for the third annual THQ Superstar Challenge, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Tickets are required for this event and are available at Ticketmaster and House of Blues.

FRIDAY

--``Road to WrestleMania 21 Tour,'' featuring WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy ``The Mouth From the South'' Hart, Ron Simmons and Christopher Nowinski, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Westfield Shoppingtown Fox Hills, 294 Fox Hills Mall, Culver City. For more information, call [phone].

--Booker T & Rochelle will sign autographs at Game Rush(at)Blockbuster, 21841 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance, from 4 to 6 p.m.

--Rob Van Dam & Stacy Keibler will sign autographs at Tower Records in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, 15301 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, from 4 to 6 p.m.

--Eddie Guerrero will sign autographs at Toys R Us, 14705 Oceangate Ave., Hawthorne, from 7 to 9 p.m.

SATURDAY

--``Road to WrestleMania 21 Tour,'' featuring Ron Simmons and Christopher Nowinski, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Westfield Shoppingtown Fox Hills, 294 Fox Hills Mall, Culver City. For more information, call [phone].

--Theodore Long & Hardcore Holly will sign autographs at the Team LA store at Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa Blvd., Los Angeles, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

--Chris Jericho will sign autographs at Toys R Us, 11136 Jefferson Blvd., Culver City, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

--John Cena will sign autographs at Game Rush(at)Blockbuster, 9201 Venice Blvd., West Los Angeles, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring a special appearance by Double A from Power 106.

--WWE Hall of Fame Induction will honor Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Hart, Nikolai Volkoff, Iron Sheik, Paul Orndorff, Bob Orton Jr. and Roddy Piper at 5:15 p.m. at the Universal Amphitheatre. Current WWE stars will also be on hand. Tickets are required and can be purchased at Ticketmaster and the Universal Amphitheatre Box Office. For more information, call [phone]. To purchase tickets, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

- F.S.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) ON THE COVER

Randy Orton, left, shown battling Chris Benoit, will face the Undertaker during WrestleMania 21.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Stone Cold Steve Austin, above, is set to add movie star to his wrestling resume. Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, right, will be inducted Saturday into the WWE Hall of Fame. He is also the focus of an upcoming reality TV show.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

(4) Former wrestler ``Cowboy'' Bob Orton now helps his son perfect his moves.

Box:

You can't pin the WWE down (see text)