We all gather here or on various wrestling sites to complain and debate. We are constantly complaining about the current product and debating about who’s right and who’s wrong, who needs to be pushed and who is overrated, What match is good and what match is overrated or underrated. We call each other names and claim one another are virgins that live in our parents basement, but whether you are a WWE, WCW, TNA, ROH, NJPW or Indy fan we all have something in common, We love Prowrestling. If you didn’t love prowrestling then you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now. We all love it for different reasons and right now this 33 year old single father of two boys will give you the reasons why ” I love Prowrestling” and why it means so much to me.
I was 4 years old, I never knew wrestling existed when my Uncle who was very ill with cancer asked me and my brother to watch wrestling on TV with him. The match was Paul Orndorff vs Hulk Hogan in a steel cage and the event was Saturday Nights Main Event, to keep us interested our uncle made a bet with us on who was going to win Hogan or Orndorff, The bet was $5. My uncle and his wife being such huge Paul Orndorff fans chose Orndorff and me and my brother put our money on the big guy with the yellow shiny boots (Hulk Hogan). Well it is safe to say we won the bet but ever since that day I never stopped watching, That was almost 30 years ago… My uncle died of cancer 2 years later at 32 years old, I continued to watch, in a small way because it reminded of my uncle and I was very young and I really didn’t know how to deal with death. I never knew anyone who has died before and wrestling was a small way for me to deal with it.
In the last 30 years I was engaged 3 times, Married twice, became a father twice, Divorced twice, Fought two custody battles and won both of them, Had friendships that I thought would last me a lifetime but simply lost touch or I just lost interest and I have seen many people I loved pass away. In 30 years a lot of people and things I loved have come and gone. Wives, Fiances, Friends, Family members, Fades, Hobbies and things from my childhood, they have all come and gone but there has been one constant in my life and that has been Prowrestling…… Prowrestling has always been in my life, When it was cool to like it (when I was a kid), When it wasn’t cool to like it (Teenage years) and When it was just pathetic and sad to like it ( A adult), It has always been there…… As I got older my Love for prowrestling matured, I started to appreciate it differently than I did when I was younger.
When I was a kid I never wanted to be a fireman, a lawyer, a Astronaut, a rock star, a policeman, a sport star, a celebratory or anything else, all I ever wanted to be was a Wrestler, Thats all I ever wanted to be, and all through the years that has never changed …..My childhood was Rock and Wrestling and New Generation, My Teenage years were Monday Night Wars and Attitude era. Wrestling has influenced every aspect of me, Wrestling has influenced the way I act, Think and speak. Wrestling has been embedded in me, Wrestling has helped shape who Iam.
Wrestling is so unique, there is nothing like it anywhere in this world. When its done right, their is no Sport or any form of entertainment that can Evoke emotion like prowrestling. Emotions like a Chris Benoit Winning the World title at WM 20, hugging and crying in the ring with Eddie Guerrero……… In1995 I seen Chris Benoit Wrestle Eddie Guerrero on WCW Saturday Night and was Blown away, I got behind Chris Benoit that day and I watched him work his way from lower midcard WCW talent and make a slow rise to the top and Win the biggest prize in wrestling, in the number one company at the biggest event (WM 20). Chris Benoit was my guy, He was the guy I picked and against all odds he made it. I was teased by WCW and WWF for 10 years and Finally Chris Benoit was The World Champion and it couldn’t get any bigger than the way he won it. The match, The moment, The event, Everything was just perfect and then When Eddie Guerrero and him were standing in the ring, Hugging, Crying and celebrating, Its the most real prowrestling or any TV show is going to get..
Moments like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, Survivor series 1997. For years you heard how these men hated each other, I watched countless shoot interviews and Documentaries talking about these mens bitter rivalry. Then You see them Stand in the Ring 12 years later and bury the hatchet and embrace on live TV. It was a incredible and surreal moment that you cant see anywhere else…..There are countless other moments like me and my brothers not being allowed to order Wrestlemania 13 and watching it scrambled on PPV. We Could just hear the commentary and hearing that Austin refused to Quit to the Sharpshooter and a Bloody Austin just passed out……. Eras like The WWF vs WCW war, The atmosphere was incredible around that time, They were debates after debates. WWF and WCW fans rubbing failures in each others faces and gloating about successes. It made a wrestling fan feel like they were apart of the company, Like its was us against them. You were either a WCW guy, a WWF guy or a few very vocal ones were ECW guys. It made live events so much better, It made TV better, It made everything better cause you wanted your federation to win. Its just something that cant be matched anywhere else.
I will go back to 2003, I rarely use to buy Indy shows on DVD, but back in 2003 I bought this DVD that was ROH’s first Event, I bought it cause Eddie Guerrero was on the show and it was just sitting there at Best Buy. I didn’t think too much of it but I figured $10 dollars, No biggie… The Main event was The Fallen Angel Chris Daniels (who I was familiar with cause of his showings as a WWF jobber and TNAs weekly PPVs), Low Ki (who I was impressed with cause of his TNA work) and some “No One” from my home town named Bryan Danielson. I thought to my self “Whos this loser, He don’t look like a Wrestler”, and then I watched a incredible 45 min Triple Threat and That “No One” that didn’t look like a wrestler, Impressed the hell out of me and I followed his career some what through the indys, Just watched a few things with him here and there and was a fan of his and was always wishing one day I see him the WWE. Then the Day came when he arrived in the WWE and I was so impressed with him, Then to see him evolve to the wrestler he is now and to see him stand in the ring at Wrestlemania 30 in such a incredible moment gave me goosebumps….. Where else can you see something like that? Only in prowrestling can you get a story like that played out over years. The Daniel Bryan story is just one in many.
There is no sport or any form of entertainment that can excite me or make me fight back tears like prowrestling. There is no other form of entertainment that can make me wanna punch the wall in frustration or jump for joy like prowrestling. There is nothing on TV that can make me keep coming back for 30 years no matter how disappointed I was the day or week before. and you ask Why? I will tell you why, Because this is Prowrestling, Its a Amazing, Stupid, Beautiful F#%*ed up World that I absolutely Love. A World I know way too much about but then again really know nothing about, a World where the disappointments far outweigh the good, Where your intelligence gets insulted, Where you get robbed of your hard earn money and where your childhood memories get F#%ked up, but I wouldn’t change a thing or have it any other way.
