I like professional wrestling. There, I said it. For some reason, there is a stigma associated with actually admitting that. I'm not some toothless redneck living in a trailer park. I do consider myself a reasonably intelligent and well educated person, and believe most are inclined to think the same. I do admit it isn't the most sophisticated of entertainment choices, but at least it's better than reality television.
Yes, it's "fake." How do I know...well that comes later.
Professional wrestling has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has been around just as long as comic books, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters. How can I be sure? My favorite toys when I was a kid were my old eight-inch LJN WWF figures and G.I. Joes.
I went from there, to watching World Class Championship Wrestling and the Global Wrestling Federation out of Texas, along with the National Wrestling Alliance, which eventually became World Championship Wrestling.
I took a break from watching as my teenage years began, but picked it up years later when the upstart Extreme Championship Wrestling offered a violent, adult-oriented alternative to the completely ridiculous characters the big federations were pumping out at the time.
ECW and WCW also featured a great deal of international talent, which coupled with the emerging World Wide Web, move my interest overseas to Japan, where matches were based on athletic merit instead of story lines.
Somewhere in there, I became friends with a pro wrestler, who opened me up to the oddly addictive world behind the scenes of the wrestling organizations.
Those days sadly passed, but so much was gained from them. I learned how to run a business, as well as began experimenting in webpage design. It isn't a stretch to say that my journalism career started in professional wrestling, as I often wrote columns and covered events for the webpages I created.
Eventually, it was time for another break, which brings us up to the present time.
I caught the occasional show on TV, and followed Ring of Honor for a little while when it was televised on HDNet. It was simply amazing, as they adopted the aforementioned Japanese wrestling style, which was unheard of in the United States.
However, several months ago I returned to the WWF (which is now called the WWE). WCW and ECW were both bought out by the WWE, which left one big federation.
Do I like what I see? Yes and no. There are definite bright spots in the WWE, but the product itself seems a bit stale. At some times I can watch a match between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan (new main eventers) and be astounded with their talent. Other times I see a lot of the same old thing in "bad guy management" angle.
Will I continue watching? Who knows. Will I offer my opinion while I do? Absolutely.
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