I’m going to put myself out there and say that I’m a lifelong fan of pro wrestling.
Anyone else out there with me?
When I say pro wrestling, I mean I grew up watching the spectacle most weekends on TV, and once in a great while, on pay-per-view. Mostly WWF, some NWA/WCW, USWA and GWF, and later on, ECW and SMW.
Do those acronyms mean anything to anyone?
If not, it’s probably because none of those promotions exist any longer. Well, the WWF became the WWE, but that’s about it.
I used to live for watching these larger-than-life wrestlers and going out and spending my paper route money on the many magazines and VHS tape rentals. These wrestlers were so believable, and I had a habit of writing down match results in a spiral notebook. Heck, my brother even called me at the bowling alley one Saturday morning to let me know of a title change.
Yeah, we were hardcore.
These days, not so much.
I still follow the WWE and some of the smaller companies out there, but the game has changed so much that wrestling isn’t a priority for me.
That’s what happens when you marry the love of your life and have three wonderful kids!
I’ve taken our two boys to live WWE events and they enjoyed themselves. My joy is now in watching them laugh, smile, cheer, boo, scream, you name it. Our daughter likes all the female wrestlers, too.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that as much as we want things to stay the same and never change, inevitably, they do. It’s life. We no longer have the Monday Night Wars, the Attitude Era, or Hulkamania running wild. We’ll always have the memories, and if we’re lucky, we can see those same memories created in the eyes of our younger loved ones.
I used to laugh and roll my eyes when someone would say, “Well, back in my day, we did this…”
These days, that’s me telling our kids how things were in the ‘90s, and them responding about how “cringy” or “disturbing” those times were.
Thanks, kids, make me feel older than the 40 I already am. Thanks!