Saturday 26 May 2018

#3 - My Love/Hate Relationship with Pro Wrestling (Part 1 - Love) 05/26/18

Just to be clear, I don't hate anything about the art of pro wrestling.

I love it. I have for most of my life. I missed the 80's, the "Hulk Hogan" era, thankfully. (I could do an entire blog on my issues with Hulk Hogan.) But I've caught up on it. I liked it from the first time I watched it, but I really caught the bug hard around WrestleMania 13. The Undertaker won the WWF Championship, Stone Cold Steve Austin became the hero we all needed, Shawn Michaels was on his way to becoming the GOAT (shut up). It was awesome.

I love the showmanship of it. The athleticism, the charisma some of those guys had. I love the idea of making an entire arena "pop" with one move. It's just awesome. People that shit on pro wrestling just don't get it. And people that say "It's fake, y'know" are idiots. There isn't actually a guy in red underwear shooting webs all over New York, and people aren't up in space right now fighting with swords made of light (or whatever they do in Star Wars. I don't know?). Everything is fake. Just shut up and let us have our fun.

I was always drawn to the bad guys (heels). Something about going out in front of thousands of people and doing everything you can to make them hate you just does it for me. Growing up I dreamed of being a wrestler like a million other kids, but I always wanted to be the heel. I wanted to be the guy that you hated so much, you paid money to tell me you hate me. If I could somehow transition into a "heel" stand up comedian, I would in a heartbeat.

So as a kid, and in particular a teenager, I loved wrestling. I had the toys, the video games, posters....my friends and I started a backyard wrestling federation, Cold Lake Championship Wrestling. (For the record, I am STILL the reigning, defending, undisputed CLCW Canadian Heavyweight Champion. 16 years and counting!). Those days in high school, backyard wrestling with my friends are still some of the absolute best memories I have. I think about it to this day, and just how much fun it was. Day in and day out, watch wrestling, talk wrestling, and then wrestle (kinda). We never missed Raw or SmackDown. Monday Night was my favourite night of the week....

Fast forward 21 years, and it's still in my blood. But I don't watch every week anymore. There was a time where I wouldn't miss Monday Night RAW for the world. Those days have long passed. Partially because I just don't have time to watch anymore, and partially because the product just isn't nearly as good as it used to be. The WWE product, to be specific. Pro wrestling as a whole is still awesome. I don't get to go to as many indy (local) shows as I would like to, they usually run at the same time as comedy shows. But I still watch video on YouTube all the time, read results, talk wrestling with anyone that will talk it with me. It's just the best.

I often think about starting a second podcast to just talk pro wrestling as a passion project. The world really doesn't need another wrestling podcast, but it wouldn't be for downloads. It would just be for fun. I did an episode of my regular podcast, 'Adam Wastes Time' (available on iTunes, Podbean, and YouTube!), with my buddy Henry Sir, where we reviewed WrestleMania, and it was one of the funnest episodes I've recorded so far. Hmmm......

Seriously, I don't think a day goes by that I don't watch at least one wrestling video on YouTube. My phone is full of wrestling theme songs, that I listen to way too much. I just fucking love it. It's the perfect form of entertainment. Unless Triple H is in charge of it....

I'll save that for the "hate" side of my relationship with pro wrestling.

Thanks for reading. Below, I've listed my 5 favourite wrestlers of all time. If you read this, and you're a wrestling nerd like me, leave a comment, and let me know who yours are. Then we can fight and argue like people on the internet do.

Adam

My 5 favourite wrestlers of all time (or at least today):
5 - The Undertaker
4 - CM Punk
3 - Ric Flair
2 - Shawn Michaels
1 - Chris Jericho (HE JUST MADE THE LIST!!)

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