You Watch Wrestling?!

Yes, I’m addressing that accusation.

While the WWE are currently giving anti-wrestling peoples plenty of reasons to mock wrestling, I am of the belief that only an idiot should apologise for being a fan. These same naysayers, after all, are the very ones who will submit to X-Factor on a Saturday night, often at the behest of a dominant partner. Now tell me: which is worse? Yes, I thought so.

To state the blindingly obvious, the “Attitude” era was fucking great. No matter what age you were at the time, it was entertaining. Everything seemed to run so smoothly, you could be forgiven for marking out during pretty much any episode. The Pay-Per-Views were legendary. Not all of them, but the vast majority were unmissable. Had the internet been readily available in those days, who knows just how popular the Attitude era could have been?

So, by contrast, the PG-13 nature of modern-day WWE is not nearly as appealing in terms of ring action. This is to be expected. WWE are not likely to budge on this, given Linda’s political ventures and the general profitability of child-friendly WWE. This is fair enough. After all, it is markedly different to the product we were offered fifteen years ago, although the expectations of the audience remain largely the same. If anything, the increasing reliance on social media (Twitter, Tout) is giving the audience a greater feeling of importance.

The change over the past fifteen years deserves a dissertation of its own, so that’ll come later.

From its modest beginnings, wrestling has grown into a sport that thrives on storylines and hype. Some will voice dismay at this, and this is understandable. However, should be recognised that the sport would  not have become internationally successful without extensive sensationalism and shock value. It is these “qualities” that will make us proud, embarrassed, pleased and distressed to be wrestling fans. Part of being a fan is taking the bad with the good and the brilliant with the abysmal. Ultimately, it gets a reaction. The argument can be made that X-Factor offers a similar appeal, but then, WWE doesn’t tend to upset our ears by purchasing a Christmas #1 for some fat girl from Essex.