There is an awful lot about professional wrestling I love. I’m sure you would all agree it’s even difficult to find a place to start. Is it the raw (no pun intended) athleticism? The story telling or psychology? The electric buzz you can only feel from attending a live event? We love all these things. But a couple of aspects of pro wrestling fandom I want to talk bring are ones not discussed often; Community and pride.
Over the past year or so I’ve had the privilege of road tripping all over the Eastern (and Mid Western) United States for wrestling. Philadelphia, Chicago, NYC, all around my own state, and NOLA for WrestleMania XXX. Without question every show was spectacular and amazing in its own way, but the coolest aspect by far was getting to meet and talk to every one of you. As much as the wrestling from all those shows will stick with me, I took something far more important away. I learned and was constantly reminded of who wrestling fans are. We are everyone.
Between all those cities with events from all sizes of companies I was able to talk with, discuss, argue, befriend and overhear a lot of wrestling fans. Seeing complete strangers talk with one another like they were relatives is an amazing thing to see. Smiling and laughing with each other, having (we’ll call them “spirited”) debates on the finer points of booking. Over all, enjoying being around each other. And why was this happening? Why were people who by appearances would NEVER engage in conversation doing so?
Professional Wrestling. We all love it. There’s the word So the question remains, who are “we”? Like I said, everyone. All walks of life. I met a guy in NOLA who is college professor. He uses wrestling in philosophy lectures to explain good and evil. I ran into a nurse who wears scrubs with John Cena on them because she knows kids look up to Cena (and she likes him). Doctors, loan trainers, Vets (of war and animal doctors), comedians, firemen, cops, bartenders, students. In everyday life we’re hidden everywhere, only to come out at shows and events. Because lets be honest, when there’s wrestling on TV or another device or you’re at a show, the naysayers don’t matter. They don’t exist. All that matters is us and the athletes in the ring. We’re all united.
Funny thing is I don’t see you guys in the regular world. There are a lot of negative stereotypes about wrestling fans. Stereotypes that would never contain any of the words I listed before. Most people like to describe us as ignorant (cause why would anyone enjoy something “fake” right?) or hickish (hee-haw turn on the wrasslin’ ma) or basement dwelling. We know this isn’t who we are. So why does the stereotype perpetuate? I have a theory. Generally we don’t tell people who we are. We hide our fandom in fear of having those awful stereotypes placed on our shoulders. We shouldn’t though. I don’t have to tell you (yet we all need to reminded sometimes) there is no shame in loving professional wrestling.
Look I’m not saying you need to run across your desk and spear a coworker or ask your patients “What they’re gonna do when antibiotics on run wild on them”. I’m not suggesting you wear a wrestling shirt everyday or constantly discuss it on social media (though it IS fun). But what I am suggesting is if you overhear someone talking wrestling or see someone in a wrestling shirt somewhere, acknowledge it. Throw the Kliq hand symbol at them. Something. Let them know you’re there. More importantly let the people around you know what a wrestling fan is. A person. And if you do start to find the random folks around you that enjoy this sport, for the love of Giant Gonzalez do not berate them if they don’t like the same style of wrestling or the same wrestlers you do. Remember, from the largest stadiums to the smallest bingo hall it’s all professional wrestling and we are its fans. Deep down we love wrestling for the same reasons.
Drew Galloway, after his Evolve title defence said “I’m not asking you to let me lead you. I’m asking you to walk by my side for professional wrestling!” I think there’s a lot to that and I agree with him. We all love this, no different than fans of football (American or European) baseball, hockey or anything else. I can’t walk around my city without hearing about college football because that’s considered normal and the mainstream accept it. We need to start behaving the same way. Because we are normal (for the most part heh) and wrestling is awesome.
Now on a daily basis you should look at yourself and ask the question; Have you Too Sweet’d someone today?
