Why I Love Pro-Wrestling
I love a lot of things in this world
and you all know that I love Video Games, Cartoons/Animation, Comic
Books, Movies, and Music, but there’s another thing that I love
that many of you won’t guess even if you known me very well and
that’s Pro-Wrestling. Some of you guys are wondering why I’m
making this confession/announcement of this hidden love of mine and
to tell you the truth, you’ll know why I’m posting this blog
entry. I know some of you guys are booing at the fact that I love a
“fake-sport,” but that’s the whole point why I like it because
it’s all [staged] soap opera for people who love action. The
greatest comparison I can give to Pro-Wrestling is actually comic
books. The major comparisons both of them have are that they both
have heroes and villains, they create drama to add conflict with each
side, and the end result is that they resolve it with endless battles
and fights. And that’s the reason why I tune in and out of
wrestling almost every week because of how both wrestling is
entertainingly good and (very often) entertainingly bad.
I’ve been a huge wrestling fan since
I was 4 years old when my family allowed me to watch Bret “The
Hitman” Hart enter the ring and be the hero that he always is. You
see, my family were wrestling fans for many generations and my
parents before they got married, they watched wrestling every week
during the Hulk Hogan era. When I started watching, it was in the New
Generation Era where it was the PG-era in the 90’s and it was very
suitable for me when I was very young. Every week I always see my
heroes like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel,
Undertaker, Goldust, and Big Van Vader coming in the ring and they
just entertain the hell out of me. I just love seeing the slams,
unpredictable moves, and stunning results at the end of many of the
matches. And when I got older during my Elementary School Year,
Wrestling really got darker and more mature that I really more into
watching it weekly just seeing the Rock, Mankind, Triple H, Sting,
Diamond Dallas Page, Kurt Angle and the rest in much better in ring
action that we never have seen ever again. This was called the
Attitude Era and Monday Night Wars that I cherish to this very day.
Around 3rd Grade through 5th Grade in my Elementary School years 5 of
the biggest obsession growing up was Pokémon, Cartoon, The Simpsons,
My Playstation 1 Games, and of course Pro-Wrestling which became a
routine for me every week to bounce back and forth for those 5
obsessions. If you think it’s odd to hear me say that I’m a BIG
wrestling fan, well if you even played Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, you
can tell that he too is a Pro-Wrestling fan parodying and referencing
Wrestling itself.
Today, I’m a MUCH different wrestling
fan because of all the “entreatingly” bad aspect that we keep
getting that really lost it’s edge of all seriousness. Now I like
wrestling for a different reason; over examining what’s going on
on-stage & back-stage and even see wrestling related shows on the
internet like Botchamania, Offtheropesshow, and so many more.
Whenever I’m not in the mood for cartoons, comic books, or video
games, I always have some time for Pro-Wrestling. Hell, I became so
much of a wrestling fan that I even study the history, know all the
moves, listen to the interviews posted online, get in touch with the
news, and so much more.
But the real reason why I kept hiding
from the topic of wrestling for so long is because, as much as I love
just watching wrestling, I just simply despise wrestling fans. Yes, I
know it sounds ironic that I’m a huge wrestling fan but I hate
other wrestling fans, but ever since the internet was created,
wrestling fans exposed their opinions so greatly that they’ve
became marks (or fanboys) just fighting each other of what sucks an
what’s awesome. I really hate to be in debates with wrestling fans
let alone just hear them wine. Wrestling fans can sometimes be the
most arrogant fanbase you’ll ever encounter which turns off many
people because of their lack of maturity and respecting other
people’s opinion. I mean go ahead and type “Wrestling” and
“Sucks” on any search engine and you can see that many are
arrogant that you can’t socialize or reason with them. I mean, if I
say that I don’t really like Shamus, one little opposite opinion
can turn this person’s face like this…
…and then endless trolling start to
happen. You see, the wrestling community is not a decent place. And
another reason why I hid my love with wrestling for so long is
because I hate to see people who hate wrestling that comes out like a
douchebag with comments like “wrestling’s fake.” Of course we
all know it’s fake but we just want to see this comic-book-like
story happen in real life and these haters have no business
whatsoever to ruin it for us. These guys are to me like the people
who say that video games will never be art…
… because they’re attacking
something that they don’t understand at all. I know that many of my
audience aren’t pro-wrestling fans, but that’s okay because we
all like different things, but somehow we just like the same video
games; which is why we’re all here. I was even surprised to see
that many of my audience are as well cartoon and animation fans which
is why we started the Legit Animation Podcast to expand the cartoon
community on itstailtime.net. But I’m not expecting everyone to be
pro-wrestling fans know that I’m saying this, but here are the
reasons why I am a fan (even though I hate many aspects of wrestling)
that makes want to watch more and more of wrestling.
- Slams, Moves, and Finishers
This is the core reason why I like
wrestling, suspending my disbelief at the point that every hit each
wrestler is giving to one another is actually telling it’s own
story. When you look at sports, whenever there’s a call by the
referee, a disqualification move, or any action partake in a game
it’s always a big deal for the sports news and the sports
community. Now put that in wrestling, they go over the top that it’s
so amusing. I mean do you see athletes causing interference, hit each
other with a foreign object, or even have a finishing maneuver? The
truth is it [rarely] happens in sports, but it so often happens in
wrestling that it just brings a smile to my face with excitement. I
love just hearing the commentators and the crowd jumping off of their
seats and going wild as I am because something stunning just happen.
With the exception of Hockey and Basketball, almost every sport in
exsistance makes me fall asleep because it takes forever to see
anything amazing but wrestling is so staged that it is a requirement
to have tables turn every 10 or so minutes that always pulls me back
to see it. I don’t give a damn if it’s fake, so are comic book
superheroes and villains and action movies. I like that there are
more things to do besides just trying to pin or make submission on
your opponent like using body slams, closelines, flying moves, and
even drops. That’s the one thing I like to see in wrestling, these
muscular guys that you don’t see everyday just falling and selling
moves applied to them. Heck, some of them they actually feel the pain
but they allow their opponent to apply it to them just so they can
make it like they are getting hurt. But so every often when you see
the end of a wrestling match, a wrestler has to give off their
finisher, or wrestling maneuver that simply knocks out their
opponent. Every wrestler has their own finisher to create such
diversity and variety to every match we see and in the end result it
is their victory, or unpredictably the opponent kick out the pin and
gives the fans more. Finishers are like the memorable riffs and solo
in a song, without it there is nothing to be excited about. Whenever
anyone see a finisher, everyone roars and cheers with great disbelief
that such a iconic thing has been witnessed. That’s something I
don’t see in any other medium. That’s right, I call Pro-Wrestling
it’s own medium!
- The Comic Book-like Storytelling
I love, love, love, love comic books. I
like that there’s a good guy and a bad guy and their whole purpose
is to fight each other and see who wins a fight. We seen Batman
versus Joker, Superman vs. Lex Luthor, Spider-Man vs. Venom, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Shredder, and SO much more. I love them so
much that I really wish that it could happen in real life and the
only real-life thing that come closest to that comic book
storytelling aspect is pro-wrestling. In the wrestling world we have
heels (villain) and babyfaces (protagonist) and all they do is battle
each other and talk shit about each other. The sport world today is
playing it “professionally” by not saying shit to each other
(except for Red Sox and Yankees) but when everyone sees Mike Tyson
and Muhammad Ali speak so charismatically it just creates drama
before the their fight. And that’s what wrestling often does; I
want to see how charismatic and passionate the wrestlers are in
beating his opponent that it gets even more exciting to see their
upcoming match. That’s why there are so many backstage interviews
in wrestling because they want the people to know more about the
wrestler’s character and even revisit their catchphrase that makes
the crowd say it as well. Very often it ends in a Pay-Per-View where
we all see who is actually better and the rest writes history. But
what’s even more exciting is where is the wrestling going to go
from there after his or her match because I want to see who’s his
or her next opponent is and see what else they can do to develop
their character. Character development is VERY important in any
medium that tells a story; you want to see a great climax and hit you
with a satisfying result towards the end. Yes, wrestlers are
characters, but you don’t see athletes trying to entertain their
audience on what they do nor do they have personality. In wrestling
you got powerhouses, technical wrestlers, luchadorez high-flyers,
cruiser weights, hardcore brawlers, and so much more that always
makes watching a wrestling match feel different. Not to mention that
you got different variety of matches like Ladder Matches, Cage
Matches, Battle Royale, Tag Team, and so much more that makes
watching a whole wrestling even feel special and different in every
30 or so minutes, unlike in a real sports every game/match has the
same damn rules that just feels like variety is not there.
- Fan Chants
Go ahead and watch any wrestling match
and you can see everyone chanting for his or her favorite wrestler(s)
and even say their catchphrases. It’s the engagement that the fans
that really is appealing to watch wrestling. Even when we see
wrestlers on a microphone, either backstage or on the stage we all
are ready to say their catchphrase with them. If you don’t think
so, then take a look at how The Rock controls the entire arena. I
know I said that I hate many wrestling fans, but when they’re in
the crowd, behaving themselves and say whatever the chants yells,
then it becomes very fun. Heck, it has become my family tradition to
bring the whole family and invite friends to watch a special
wrestling event like Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania while we laugh,
cheer, and snack on as we watch. It’s even more entertaining to see
that the crowd even brings their own poster boards to send the
message out from television as their own way to rebel against the
world, make everyone laugh, and even practice freedom of speech. You
don’t see any other sport that allows their fans chant “You
suck!” or “Boots to Asses” like the wrestling crowd, instead
when you see boring shit like American Football all you hear is
“Defense!” or even in the World Cup you hear those damn annoying
horns…
Fans are so creative with the chants
that whatever a loud voice says something everyone else says it as
well. Hell they can all simultaneously laughs at a mistake or a joke
that a wrestler makes. Just hearing the crowds shout to whatever they
want in a wrestling even makes me feel at home and it excites me
more. And you don’t get reactions like wrestling chants in places
like movie theaters to make me comeback for more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s_ElmpshtE
- People Still Talk About It
You know what I hate about the video
game community? They come out with so many new games that they are
simply forgetful on the other games before it. I mean Nintendo has to
remind everyone about their franchises to remind the forgetful. Hell
I can’t believe people today for got about Gex and Oddworld when
back in the 90’s they were the most appealing thing the gaming
community had to offer. I hate the average/mainstream video game fan
because they only remember the modern games of today than the ones
the built it to what it is today…cough…cough… Nintendo
generation…But whenever you talk about wrestling, fans never forget
their matches and their wrestlers unless it was so bad that it’s
not worth mentioning or you never witness/heard of it yourself. I
mean people still talk about the Montréal Screwjob, Hulk Hogan body
slamming Andre the Giant, Austin 3:16, Bruno Sammartino, Piper’s
Pit, Finger Poke of Doom, and so much more that it’s worth
mentioning again and again. I like the pro-wrestling topic because it
is so memorable that it’s very cherishing. You have no idea how
many times wrestling changed my life because their storytelling and
conclusion was so memorable. These superheroes and villains battling
each other and somehow finish it up created such an experience that
is rarely comparable. I mean people will always forget that certain
baseball players hit a home run or a racer went first place. They may
have excited people during the time, but I don’t see them still
talking about it months or years after it happened, unlike wrestling
topics that always reminds us that it happened and it might just
happen again. Heck, they’re so engaged with the topic of wrestling
that they even debate on who’s better, what it the right decision,
and so much more.
You see those are the main reasons why
I love wrestling still to this day, no matter how bad or offensive
they can get. I can understand that if they're not your thing but at
we all human here. There are certain wrestling fans that I talk to on
the internet ever since I named myself Gexup. It’s always enjoyable
seeing a comeback or even seeing a familiar situation happening that
makes a sucker out of me to see it again and again. Now that I
announce that I’m a wrestling fan, I hope that now I’m growing a
wrestling community out of the itstailtime audience because I’ve
been thinking of doing a brand new podcast just talking about
wrestling for a very long time now…
Yep, I’m teaming up with our newest
itstailtime member, Retrokaiser, and we’re going with the “Gex &
Kaiser Connection Podcast” which is a reference to the Rock and
Sock Connection with Mankind and the Rock. This podcast is going to
be similar to the Boochow Radio Podcast and the Legit Animation
Podcast, except we talk about wrestling. Retrokaiser and I known each
other as wrestling fans for years now and we’re all excited to do
this upcoming Gex & Kaiser Connection Podcast. We’re aiming for
comedy than the seriousness of wrestling and we’re just trying to
have a good time. However this podcast is going to be a little
different than your average Boochow and Legit where we have various
segments.
- 1-2-3 Results! – This is the podcast were we go over the results of the last pay-per-view or major show
- The Stinkface – Talk about the awful moments in wrestling
- Death Match – We Retro and I, or any other special guest make a debate on who or what is better in pro-wrestling.
- Saturday Night’s Main Event – Our Pro-Wrestling Topic of the Day
- Holla, If You Hear Me – Our Mailbag.
If you all remember Retrokaiser from
the many episodes of the Boochow Radio Podcast and the last episode
of the Legit Animation Podcast, you should already know how funny
this guy is, which makes him very suitable to be my co-host for this
show. I like the idea of calling it the “Gex and Kaiser Connection
Podcast” because it’s a reference of one of my favorite tag teams
Rock n Sock Connection with The Rock and Mankind.
This was Retrokaiser’s idea and we’re
not trying to make up a word like “Boochow” & “Legit”
instead we say “Damn!,” reference to Ron Simmons. And when we
read you mail in the mailbag, we just pull out an already established
catchphrase. To get us boosted for this wrestling podcast, please
click on the link below and send us your wrestling questions and
we’ll read and answer it on the first episode of the Gex &
Kaiser Connection Podcast. Even if you’re not a wrestling fan, at
least we’ll do our best to entertain you and give you the basic
wrestling knowledge to understand what we’re talking about. Till
then, see you next week
