I’m a wrestling fan, have been for over 25 years. There I said it. I’m not ashamed to be a wrestling fan, but I
am ashamed of an awful lot of wrestling fans.
Remember when it was fun to watch wrestling? When you didn’t
know that the Undertaker’s real name is Mark, or that actually Hulk Hogan was a
terrible human being? But it didn’t matter because damn it, you enjoyed the
hell out of watching the events unfold?
I can remember being so invested in wrestling that I used to
spend a half hour on the phone every week talking to my friend on a payphone
about the Smackdown results, the Smackdown results! Can you imagine spending
more than 2 mins discussing the results of Smackdown nowadays?
Do you remember when you went to a wrestling show to be
entertained, not to show the world how much you knew about the backstage
shenanigans? There was no chanting for long gone stars, no ‘What?’ chants. You didn’t boo the biggest babyface in the
world, just because you are a grow man and he doesn’t appeal to you, and you
sure as hell didn’t spend 5 years bitching about there being no new stars, then
shit all over them when they do emerge.
Reigns is the perfect example, young, talented, good
looking, successful, but booked badly.
Does this mean you, as a grown adult can’t just shrug and say, ‘nope,
not for me’? Not in today’s world. No, you have to be part of a crowd that is
more concerned with getting yourself over, than having fun. Eventually they will find out what works for
Reigns.
I blame the ‘knowledgeable crowds’ like Philadelphia or
Chicago for starting it. ECW died 15
years ago, just let it die. CM Punk is
not coming back anytime soon. Maybe, if
you don’t like what is being presented, don’t watch. Don’t spend $50 going to a house show; spend
it on an Indy show with some underused talent.
ECW brought us some great talents, Foley, Austin, Jericho, Eddie, Benoit
and more, but also brought us New Jack, cheese graters and staple guns. That is not wrestling. If that is what you want to see, fuck off and
watch CZW.
 |
| Meeting Jeff Hardy in Tampa, April 2000 |
I recently took an 8 year old to see Raw on tour. When the Diva match came on, he sat down and
took out a magazine, not because it wasn’t good, but because his Dad told him
the women can’t wrestle. I’m pretty sure
the Paige/Natalya match I saw was pretty damn good. When I was 8 I didn’t know that actually
Wrestlemania 4 was terrible, Savage aside.
I loved getting hyped up and enjoying it. I didn’t have some ‘smart’ fan tell me that
Hogan is and was a terrible in ring performer, he is, and he was, but he was
also the biggest star on the planet for a while.
What I’m saying is, I suppose, if there is something you don’t
like, don’t watch it. Don’t ruin your kids’
enjoyment by shitting all over John Cena.
When I was a kid I loved watching the Big Boss Man, I didn’t need to
know that logically he should have given back that prison guard nightstick, I
just naturally gravitated to the people I liked, who I’m lucky to say ended up
being the smaller, more technically sound Hart, Perfect, Savage and the like. As I grew up I was never about the main event
of the evening, I found my enjoyment in the lower card matches, and not the
pomp. During the Attitude era, I never
really cared for Austin; I preferred watching Angle, Jericho, and Edge &
Christian.
Enjoy what you like, and let others enjoy what they like; it’s
all just entertainment at the end of the day…
I’m looking forward to Wrestlemana, will it be perfect? No,
but will I enjoy it? Undoubtedly. I’m a wrestling fan, let me be a fan.
