Confessions of a Wrestling Geek

I LOVE professional wrestling.

I love the hokiness of it; the costumes, the bodies, and the most of the time the trash talk the wrestlers dole out to one another (the times I don't I just hit mute or switch the channel really quick). Hubby thinks I'm a little cracked, but he puts up with it because he loves his wife.

This love hasn't been a recent development, it has been on-going since I was young, as in back in the 70's when wrestling was really good and geeky and the lines were firmly drawn between good guy and bad guy. Today those lines are still drawn, just not as well defined as they once were - but I have a theory.

We all know wrestling is a business and the wrestlers are performers, they are physical performers who really do push their bodies to the limit. The blood shed these days is real and the wrestlers' own. They learn lines and they choreograph much of what happens in the ring, but not all. Even though the out-come of many of the matches is known ahead of time, these men and women do give it their all. No sport is so wracked with injuries as professional wrestling. Still, these people give their performance and, shall I say, their sport, their very all.

In times of economic hardship and when the populace is looking for entertainment, pro wrestling hits its peak. Recently it has been down on its luck, but slowly is building up steam again. Look at what we're faced with as a country and people: war, a possible draft; despite the numbers, not many people have wonderfully paying jobs out there and money is tight. Enter the wrestlers who fight against their opponents, who face their enemies with their fists, not guns. They spout words and the good guys back up their words. The good guys aren't perfectly good and the bad guys are, well, they're really bad.

The schticks and gimmicks help make wrestling what it is and help keep it un-real and wonderful to watch. We need that, I think. We need the good guy vs. bad guy ideal and we need to see it played out before us, hopefully week to week (but not quite so long as it happens on RAW, SmackDown! is the show to watch).

Slowly wrestling is returning to being GOOD, probably because the guy running it sees what the people need. We need the Old School of wrestling back with gimmicks and schticks and story lines. We need the good guys and the bad guys. We need something to take our minds off of all our troubles.

Once, I was really ashamed to like professional wrestling. It was more than just a "guilty" pleasure. Now I will stand up and say, "Yes, I like pro wrestling!" My favorite? Oh, there are many!

Let's see, there is The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, (ok, John Cena is gaining on me, but he's still not a favorite), the Dudley Boyz, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, and I could go old school and pull out a lot of names for you, but I won't; and for a bad guy I'm looking to Mordacai and Paul Heyman currently. I simply cannot wait for Undertaker to wipe the floor with him!

Ok, what does being a wrestling fan (geek) say about me?

... I'm honest.