I won't wait for the Hi Christina. I'll just get to my story.
I'm going to tell you why I am a professional wrestling
fan. I love it, always have. I love watching the over the top histrionics.
I love the sometimes base level one caricatures of common tropes. I love the
bluster. I also admire the athletics, the form, and the ability to really go
out there and pull me as a viewer into the match. I love the crowd engagement no matter how
ridiculous. I love the way it never apologizes for what it is and the
performers really pour all of who they are into what they are doing. I love
that its one of the few things that is filmed and broadcasted live weekly and
monthly. I love that for all the
admonishment about being fake it is literally the realest thing I can watch on
television when you consider the competition is scripted 'reality' TV shows,
propaganda news and recycled sitcoms that won’t trust a live audience anymore. I cut my teeth over 2 decades ago from the promotion that most modern wrestling tropes have tried to turn into a science.
What I dislike about wrestling ironically enough is a part of
what makes it so unique. Some of the pervasive fan base. I
hate the ones that need to go online and try and show their 'in the know'
smarts by commenting foolishly on something they cannot even begin to understand
based on a low tier observation from the comfort of their couch. The ones that
feel the need to judge talent by standards that no talent can even understand
what to pursue because that fan has literally just made up a justification for
why this talent is beneath the standard. The fan that criticizes what they
can't do to gain their 15 minutes of fame among a self-hating contingent that
uses sarcasm and cynicism to justify what they love to a what they assume is an unreceptive
general public.
It seems like every week this is becoming the more popular fan type. But I have to beg of you to consider what you want to be to wrestling. One of those detractors or a fan. I can't keep track of the online rants about dumb booking, dumb
finishes and who is burying who. And I remain mystified at how
some can't manage being a fan who loves something
enough to actually see it beyond themselves and their personal preferences. How one can watch what these people are doing and not see them. They are artists and they have bled
literally into their art. It’s difficult for me to look at the pains, the
challenges, the sacrifices and not appreciate the single minded determination
and focus it takes to be good at the job they do. Being good is subjective but
we can all agree being good is the only thing really that gets you to the top
or even close enough to see it no matter your business. If you're a fraud
everyone sees it. When its broadcast live to millions it’s even more apparent. There are many talents that family name, connections and interest just didn't make up for what they lacked as a performer. So the idea that being good is not a quantifier is already a lost lot.
I believe experience is a great teacher. In certain professions is the only valid
teacher. I couldn't tell you what to do if you botched a move in a big match on
a PPV. I can't tell you what that it
factor is that makes someone marketable.
I can't tell you how to pace a match between two differing styles just
right. I can just tell you if it looked good to me, the average 20 plus year
fan that has seen almost every major promotion and every major performer for
the last 2 decades. And unless you've done the gig that's all any of us can do.
So I'm not going to go over the ins and outs of booking or
in-ring performance, what the next rivalry is and how it should be built. That is for a very good reason. None of those
are my expertise. What I have over 2
decades of experience in is being a fan. What pains me most days when I'm
trying to enjoy something that I have been a fan of for over two thirds of my
life is the not so knowledgeable ramblings of people who have appointed themselves,
COO, Master Booker and In-Ring Architect when they haven't even figured out how to
do the very first job of watching professional wrestling. Which is just being a
fan.
