Skip to main content

Question about Wrestling in Personal Lives

Hey Scott,
Wanted to share a story and generate discussion for the blog. How many people are shamed/embarrassed about watching wrestling?
I work in a professional workplace and we were on a conference call with a client. The client put us on hold, and the song on his line was Real American. One of the bosses at my job got excited, "I love this song! Hulk Hogan! Anyone remember this?" I looked around the room and everyone was pretending to have no idea what he was talking about. And rather than man up and admit my love for wrestling, I did nothing and kept it to myself.

I'm just too ashamed to admit that I like wrestling and have been a fan my whole life. My close family and friends know, but I'll never admit that I watch it to an acquaintance, much less my co-workers. Is this common amongst wrestling fans? I'm tired of defending myself and dealing with the looks of disgust/pity when I tell someone I'm a wrestling fan. People openly talk about Jersey Shore and other shows that should be embarrassing, so why can't I admit to it?

Scott, I'd imagine that you're not ashamed considering you've written books and generated a healthy amount of income from it. But for us non-blogging/ranting entrepreneurs, are you mostly closet fans? Or do you not care what others think?

People in my real life know I watch wrestling and that I've written books, and it's not like anyone has been like "Man, don't you know wrestling is fake?"  Although generally people at work are more likely to talk UFC with me than WWE, but I'm always happy to talk about either one if someone wants to.  That being said, there's always been much less of a stigma associated with wrestling in Canada, so it might be different for people in the US, I dunno.  

Comments

  1. I know I shouldn't give a damn about people knowing I watch and follow wrestling.

    But I do. So I hide it like an STD. 

    ReplyDelete
  2. i try to keep it on the low around broads, but otherwise i dont give a fuck if ppl know i like wrestling. my friend did call me a booger eater the other day though lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In terms of someone getting excited to hear "Real American", I  think it's 'more acceptable' to say "Man, I loved watching Hulk Hogan as a child!" than it would be as an adult to say "I watched Royal Rumble yesterday!".  Wrestling, like some of the other favorite topics on this board (such as comic books and video games) is considered to be something that might be ok to watch as a child, but something that should be outgrown.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've never been ashamed. Me and my boss are both wrestling fans and we talk about it at work and don't give a fuck that everyone else wishes we'd shut up about it.

    I just don't see the point in being ashamed by it. I'm not into kiddie porn or snuff films, I'm into something that's been an extremely popular form of entertainment throughout much of the world for more than a century, the stars of which have gotten mainstream attention in this country my entire life.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's not something I'm going to volunteer if I meet a girl at a bar or something like that, but if it comes up I'm not gonna lie either. If it comes up, there's an easy go-to: throw it right back at her if she makes fun of you by saying, "I'm willing to bet you watch at least one show you know is ridiculous."

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm with you. I'm a normal person with a successful job and a good marriage. I don't give a shit if someone wants to tease me about watching wrestling. I don't wear DX t-shirts around the supermarket or anything like that, but I would never deny being a fan. People who know me know that I'm not an idiot, so they've never treated me like one when they find out I like wrestling. I'm a Service Manager a bank and recently someone found out that I was in the crowd when Eddie Guerrero won the world title. When he jumps in the crowd, it's right onto me. The video got passed around and everyone got a kick out of it and started sharing their memories of being fans as a kid. It was actually fun to reminisce with some of them. So yeah, I've never had an issue with being a fan.

    I can only remember getting shit from one person about being a fan and it was when I was a senior in high school. There was a coworker of mine who was kind of a bitch and when she found out my buddies and I had requested off a weekend to go to Wrestlemania, she gave me a "aren't you a little old for that?" I responded by asking if she was a little old to be wearing a Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirt (yeah, she was that kind of person) and she shut up about it after that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Exactly, and grown-ass adults with professional jobs regularly talk about their video game addictions without any qualms. So why should we hide that we like wrestling? Fuck, I bring it up at work half the time just to fuck with my co-workers. Our GM hates it when me and my sales manager bring it up, so we do it all the time to get under his skin. Cracks me up.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My first reaction has always been to hide the fandom, though as I've gotten older (just turned 31!) and further removed from caring about "seeming cool", I find myself not hiding it nearly as much.

    Except around women, of course.

    It took me almost a year before admitting I was a fan to my girlfriend, even with several opportunities. (Her parents live in CT and she said how she was at a store once and ran into that "Double H wrestler guy." I didn't correct her.)
    It finally came out last November when she met my parents and my dad blurted out how psyched we were to be going to MSG for the Survivor Series in a few weeks. Well, she now knows I'm a fan— though afterwards I probably didn't mention how I nearly lost my voice screaming "Tap! Taaaaaap!" when Punk had Del Rio in the Vice. (By the way, I know SS '11 is viewed as a disappointment, but good God was it a fun show in person.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Agree 100%. I've had 80s (and even 90s) wrestling come up in conversation from time to time, and a lot of people who I usually wouldn't peg as fans have no qualms with discussing it in a level of detail that suggest they were really into it. Talking about Hogan is one thing, but referencing the Bossman or Mr. Perfect is another.

    Damned if any of us are gonna admit we watched Raw last week, though. Even MMA is beginning to carry that stigma nowadays, I find. That is, unless you train in it, which is beneficial as exercise/self-betterment.. which is where things get interesting for me.

    Playing off jdg's comment, the western mindset seems to suggest that things which aren't inherently productive are acceptable in childhood, but are unacceptable in large doses in adulthood, when the priority becomes productivity. Comic books, video games, wrestling.. go nuts with them as a kid, but stop once you're an adult and get a job/pop out kids/whatever. Music and visual art gets a pass to a degree because it's considered, well, art. And that's ok. But all of the other categories have traditionally been shunned as lowbrow for various reasons, and, as such, get pigeonholed as activities for the weak-minded, like the one-dimensional narrative of a kid's tv show or some pointless playground game.

    So, it kinda makes me wonder: is it just a perception thing? Like self-loathing, almost? Is it a self-perpetuating deal, where most people DO like wrestling, and won't admit it, and then it brings down/quiets down those that do, so that it remains unpopular? And then, when it DOES get a little more popular, everyone's more free to admit they liked it all along? Is this where the whole "cyclical" argument and the waves of popularity come into play? There's some interesting sociological shit going down there.

    ...but hey, not telling you anything you don't already know

    ReplyDelete
  10. The question is an interesting one. I'm not embarrassed to watch wrestling but I am embarrassed by other wrestling fans. They make me look bad. Most adults that still like wrestling aren't like the people you talk to here, they are like people you might meet if you went to jail. The mouth breathers ruin it for all of us.

    A show like Jersey shore as a much larger and diverse audience and females also watch it. It might be worse than wrestling but its fans aren't quite as low down of losers.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm never ashamed to admit I'm a wrestling fan, but there's always a fear I'll compel some non-fan to tune into RAW one night, and they'll see something really awful like the Cena-Kane-Ryder storyline. Then you have to explain: "Yes, I love wrestling, but not THAT!".

    It reminds me of a story Paul Bearer once told about becoming friends with country singer George Jones and giving his family tickets to a RAW... which turned out to be the Katie Vick episode! Needless to say, Bearer apologized profusely and was never more embarrassed to be associated with the wrestling business.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow could you imagine how awesome it would be to have scott Keith as a coworker. Like you could just shoot the shit with him about raw or a movie that just came out. I wonder if the people he works with know just who he is?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'll agree with you on that one. I'm not afraid to admit I'm a fan, but the stigma associated with being a fan has to do with the freaks that typically watch wrestling. If 90% of wrestling fans weren't people who were ripped straight from the pages of "people of walmart" most of us probably wouldn't feel ashamed of being fans. I usually get pretty embarrassed whenever I go to a live event and there are grown men there wearing four replica belts and looking like they weigh 400 pounds.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Exactly. Ask them if they watch the Bachelor, the worst damn show on tv and then have them to explain why that is better than wrestling.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The only person in my life who is really aware that I'm a wrestling fan is my gf and she never misses a chance to trash it. When 7-11 had cups with wrestlers faces on it she was like "oh man don't you need to get them all" or won't even come in the room if I'm watching raw. I bought two tickets to summerslam and when I asked her to go you would have thought I suggested we have a threeway with her mom. However despite pro wrestling being so embarrassing she seriously doesn't know if obama is a democrat or Republican and likes to watch something called the bad girl club so I don't feel bad.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think wrestling fans are no more or less diverse than the fandom for football, Jersey Shore or anything else. I've known a few cute, intelligent women who liked wrestling over the years. I don't know where you live or the kind of people you encounter, but I don't find the stereotype of wrestling fans to be any more or less true for any other form of entertainment. Shit, I don't think it's nearly as bad as the mouth-breathing jerkoffs you'll encounter if you go to a bar for a UFC PPV.
     
    As far as being embarassed by other fans....the comments on IlliniHQ.com make me embarassed to be an Illini fan sometimes. The callers on 670 The Score make me embarassed to be a White Sox/Bulls/Bears fan more than sometimes. The point? People in general are stupid and that's not a good enough reason to be embarassed by something I like. Those people don't represent me and I don't represent them.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've always felt confident that I present myself in a manner that doesn't lend itself to me being lumped in with that crowd. If someone wants to think of me that way just because I like wrestling, they're probably a fucking idiot anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm thinking the did you knows and the twitter shit look bad to non fans also. Dude fwiw a few of my friends showed up at my house to have a few drinks and I was watching raw when they came in and as soon as everyone noticed what I had the eve ryder kane flat tire thing came on. I was pretty embarrassed.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Well said about "seeming cool." I just turned 29 and I can't recall the last time I gave a shit about whether or not I seemed cool. I'm not sure if I ever really did, but I definitely don't now.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm a card-carrying WFA member (Wrestling Fans Anonymous). My name's RSG and I am an addict.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Maybe but I'm leary of being too involved with the "it's still real to me" guy

    ReplyDelete
  22. "and they'll see something really awful like the Cena-Kane-Ryder storyline. Then you have to explain: "Yes, I love wrestling, but not THAT!"."

    I know what you mean here. I've had to say things like "I like WRESTLING, not that "sports entertainment" PG crap that's on Monday nights these days"

    As for the original e-mail, I would have at least done the ear-cupping thing real quick, or thrown up the nWo/clique hand signal. And if people are talking about watching Jersey Shore, you don't need to worry about their feelings on what you watch. I mean, you don't need to worry about people's feelings on what you watch on TV at all, but especially people that watch garbage like that.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Scott, I've been asked "You know that shit's fake, right?" more times than most questions in my life. It used to anger me, now it just makes me laugh and roll my eyes. Sometimes I even play along with it. "WHAT?!"

    But for real, I've never hidden my love of wrestling and never will. It's incredibly stupid to look down on people for their interests, and anyone who does it to me isn't worth my time.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I had to look that clip up, that's awesome. Which one were you?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Very true. The thing with a show like Jersey Shore is that a good portion of their audience is watching it "ironically." So there's that "out" for a mainstream person to say how they watch Snooki because they're laughing at her— not like they're really invested in the show. Not the same for wrestling fans.

    Speaking of the 400-pound wrestling fans with four replica belts that dirtyearsbill mentions: I went to Summerslam '07 in Jersey, and took a special express bus from Manhattan that ran straight to the Meadowlands Arena. (Or whatever it's called now.) So basically, this was the wrestling superfan bus and boy did it live up to expectations. Though I do have to say, it was heartwarming to see the 400-pounder with all the replica belts holding court because he had a subscription to the WON and was giving us the dirt on behind-the-scenes newz. I think his big prediction was a Samoa Joe run-in during the Cena-Orton match, if I remember correctly.
    Oh, and also on that bus on my way home? Kieran and Macauley Culkin, which is odd because they have to be fairly rich, right? But they were on the wrestling bus back to Port Authority. Hmmm...maybe that's why Macauley Culkin doesn't get movie roles anymore!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Fuck, most of them will admit it. My best friend's wife and her best friend (my ex-girlfriend) have a "trashy TV night." Know why I put it in quotes? Because that's what THEY call it. I ran into my ex at the grocery store the night of Raw 1000, picking up some beer and burgers becaue I had a couple friends coming over. She made fun of me for that, to which I laughed and said, "Oh, you aren't getting that wine for 'trashy TV night?' Yeah, you forgot I knew about that, didn't you?" She had nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  27. So just make fun of it right along with non-fans. That shit's funny.

    ReplyDelete
  28. The ear cup is an all time classic. Don't be afraid to flex and pose either. Also the mr. Perfect gum swat is perfectly acceptable in any situation.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I don't think there's another form of entertainment that has a worse stigma attached to it. My buddies and I will discuss porno, actual fighting, even stupid youtube videos, but wrestling is seen as even lower. Wrestling is really only viewed a step above something like dog fighting in our culture.

    ReplyDelete
  30. "I'm just a member, i'm also the founder-" Vincent Kennedy McMahon

    ReplyDelete
  31. I would never reveal the extent of my fandom, the fact I'll go to bed at 4am (UK time) to catch a PPV and things like that. But on the rare occasion people have brought it up I have gauged their interest in it before I reveal mine. Most people mention things like Stone Cold and DX but I dont really meet anyone who watches the current product, at my age anyway (27).

    ReplyDelete
  32. God bless that fatso with the replica belt and his WON newsletter.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Exactly on the sports fans point. Compared to the average Mike & the Maddog "the Yankees should trade a minor leaguer for Felix Hernandez baaahhhhhh guuuh fuck Patrick Ewing!" caller, I bet the average wrestling fan would seem quite debonair.

    ReplyDelete
  34. This guy...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTNyKIGXiI

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hahaha totally. He was king for a day, that's for sure. Too bad he wasn't right about Samoa Joe.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I hid my fandom as a kid, was only open about it during the Attitude era when everyone loved it, and went back to hiding it. Most people ask me, "you haven't grown out of liking it yet" My fiancee finds it pretty ridiculous, but she did find some of the AJ/Punk/Bryan/Kane stuff interesting.

    Its just one of those things that has negative connotations to it, and a lot of wrestling fans are pretty stupid and live up to the stereotype of dumb fan.

    ReplyDelete
  37. WWE wrestlers are talked about on Entertainment Tonight, have been at the Teen Choice Awards, been on Dancing With the Stars, been in major motion pictures time and time again, are often on Conan or Kimmel, etc. I think too many wrestling fans have a persecution complex and view the perception of our psuedo-sport as worse than non-fans sometimes do. "Viewed a step above something like dog fighting?" C'mon, dude. That's beyond hyperbolic.

    ReplyDelete
  38. As soon as I got my wife hooked on it, I haven't tried to hide it since (not that I hid all that much anyway).  Then, when I started to teach junior high, I wore my fandom like a badge.  I think the kids liked knowing they had a teacher that was well-versed in books, art, music, sports, and... ... pro wrestling. One of my students gave me a Cena spinner belt for Christmas, and I proceeded to use that to reward people who won review games (the winner got to parade around the room with the belt and wear it the rest of the day if they wanted to...and most of them did).

    ReplyDelete
  39. Name one sport or form of entertainment on television that is looked at as being lower than wrestling? I can't think of one dude

    ReplyDelete
  40.  One more thing to add:  If I had one of the bosses talking about wrestling, I would never leave him hanging.  It's a perfect opportunity to kiss butt while others have no friggin clue what you're talking about.

    ReplyDelete
  41. The NBC sitcom "Whitney". Now that shit's embarrassing.

    ReplyDelete
  42.  Gotta love him.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I would advise anyone to deny it or drop it in that situation. Don't think bringing up cm punks recent promo work is going to get you laid.

    ReplyDelete
  44. yeah,i know how you feel,here in brazil a lot of people make fun of me because i like wrestling,i only have one friend that likes wrestling(wrestling isn't that popular around here)the rest don't even know about it or never heard wwe and as usual i get sometimes that question "don't you know it's fake" yeah it's sucks

    ReplyDelete
  45. A dirty secret in the workplace for sure. 

    ReplyDelete
  46. Perhaps it's because I've reached an age where I don't give a shit what people think (Mr. Tough Guy, I know), but I rarely hide the fact that I am a fan - with exceptions, of course. If' I'm on, say, a first date I won't go into details about how I know so much about the industry or own some merchandise or anything, but I will say something like I grew up a fan. If it comes up, in most causal conversations I have no reservations admitting I like wrestling. This is primarily because I know I'm not out to impress anybody, least of all people who I'll probably never see again or a few times a month at best.

    Hell, a few years ago I kept a Million Dollar Man figurine at my cubicle at a past job. I got some kudos from a few passers-by on that alone.

    ReplyDelete
  47. See, now THAT is how we fix the education problem in this country. Championship belts! Well done sir.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Oh I agree that are shows that are far far far far worse than wrestling. Keep in mind i'm a huge wrestling fan. And that show whitney looked a pile of steaming garbage. But it would get more respect than say smackdown or raw.

    ReplyDelete
  49. It may be weird to acknowledge being a wrestling fan at some points, but I will never ever deny the awesomeness of Ric Flair...whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    ReplyDelete
  50. it's good not hide as you said,we should not be ashamed to be wrestling fans

    ReplyDelete
  51. Another quick anecdote about fandom. A few weeks ago I was working out of the office, and took an intern with me for the day to help out. So we're waiting forever for a cab, one finally pulls up and I just reactively start doing "Yes! Yes! Yes!" to myself. The intern looks to say something, and I can tell he was being really cautious. Finally he says "Hey, is that the Daniel Bryan thing?"
    I give him a confused look just to eff with him for a second, and then start shouting "No! No! No!"

    Anyway, we shot the shit about our Summerslam predictions, and I gave him an awesome recommendation for a fulltime job somewhere else at the company. Gotta look out for our own!

    ReplyDelete
  52. Yea, I met up with a friend a while back wearing my DB "YES! YES! YES!" shirt. He reciprocated. Daniel Bryan transcends all!

    ReplyDelete
  53. There's a difference between discussing the finer points of the business and simply not lying about being a fan, dude.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Yeah, I don't try to hide it, I mean, I'm wearing Punk's t-shirt on Splash Mountain in my profile pic here. I honestly don't care, but at the same time, I do know some people who do follow it as much I do, including this hot (yet engaged) co-worker who now watches RAW/SD more frequently than I do!

    I usually self-deprecate it a lot though, so if I rag on someone watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, I usually follow it up with, "Then again, I watch wrestling, so who am I to judge?"

    ReplyDelete
  55. I like Whitney, which might be more embarrassing to admit than liking wrestling.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I proudly tell people i watch wrestling and follow wrestling.

    And i KAYFABE everybody.

    its my personal joke. Until you show me your smart to THE BUSINESS, ill kayfabe you to death and laugh the whole time.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Lets say the attitude towards the entertainment by both the mainstream media and the public in general. The only thing I can think of that comes close is porn. And frankly I think there is less of a stigma attached to porn

    ReplyDelete
  58. next time ur GM gets mad. challenge him to a match with one hand tied behind ur back.

    ReplyDelete
  59.  I'm pretty much the same way. All of my friends and co-workers know I like wrestling. Like you said, not something I'd bring up on a first date or anything but it's not something I try to hide.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Man at splash mountain you don't have to be ashamed of anything with someone of the fucking weirdos that crawl out of the rocks to go to that place

    ReplyDelete
  61. Brazil is like the official home of mma now so i'm not too suprised to hear that.

    ReplyDelete
  62. If you tell me the king for a day line in your comment is a Faith No More reference I will give you a billion likes.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Yeah with girls you want to lay pipe not drop pipe bombs....

    Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the fish.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Wow, fair enough.

    ReplyDelete
  65. That didn't answer my question. All you have is unsubstantiated vagueries.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Try wearing an Austin 3:16 shirt in the airport in the late 90s. People in the Bible Belt just shook their heads.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Wrestling is about the lowest and least respected form of entertainment in this country. If it makes you feel better about yourself to pretend its something its not don't let me stop you.

    ReplyDelete
  68. The Scott Hall two-armed pointing thing works too.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Ok, now I have to convince Mr. Princess to make "Jive Soul Bro" his hold music at work. 

    ReplyDelete
  70. That's hilarious. 

    ReplyDelete
  71. No kidding, if my boss was talking about wrestling I'd be all over that shit.

    ReplyDelete
  72. I have to wonder why the e-mailer didn't use this as an opportunity to suck up to his boss.  Are you kidding?

    ReplyDelete
  73. I wouldn't say that, I've never heard of anyone hiding their wrestling tapes under the mattress or whatever like people do with porno. And I'm sure most women would react a lot better to seeing a few wrestling DVDs on a guy's shelf than they would if they saw his porn.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Speaking of MMA, I just saw that UFC 151 has been cancelled. 

    ReplyDelete
  75. Damn that's nuts. I don't blame jones for not wanting to fight sonnen on 8 days notice.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Me either, and I can't say I'm shocked that Dana White is being a douchebag about it.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Wrestling as it is nowadays I'm sometimes embarrassed that I bother watching, but classic wrestling like the Hogan era or the Attitude era I have no problem admitting to watching. When wrestling is great it's a fantastic thing to watch.

    ReplyDelete
  78. JohnPetuka, you are my hero! I have started wearing my "YES! YES! YES!" with pride and was just mentioning a while back that I planned to make pop cultury t-shirts part of my gimmick as a teacher (and polo shirts...god, I love polo shirts!). It's inspirational to know that it can be done...But, damnit, all belts given to me must be vintage pre-2002.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I'm definitely not ashamed, and if it comes up I'll certainly cop to watching it.  I'll usually qualify it that I'm not as interested as I used to be, which is entirely true.
     
    I'm married, and the wife tolerates it, so women aren't really an issue.  She used to be more into it but the current crop of guys aren't much to her liking.
     
    My boss watches with her son, who loves Cena, except when Cena is fighting Rock, and then he loves Rock.  A couple of other co-workers watch pretty much with their kids, so it will come up the odd time.
     
    But I also don't wear wrestling gear (never did), or debate details, or issue corrections for the most part.  If someone thinks that there were 2 Ultimate Warriors, or that HBK and HHH are actually brothers or something, I will generally let them keep thinking that.
     
    I'm not too worried about people who might smirk at me.  I'm 32 years old, with a wife, and a kid, and a mortgage, and a decent, professional job, and more money in the bank than most other people that I know at a similar stage, so obviously I’m not doing TOO bad with this “life” thing.  Not that any of those things are THE measure of success, but they are all SOME measure of success.  Let them smirk, I’ll live.

    ReplyDelete
  80. ha come to think of it i got brain from this pot dealing chick while smackdown was on. thats def a first.

    ReplyDelete
  81. I don't hide it from my friends or family, but I don't talk to them about wrestling because it's not their thing and it's inconsiderate to bring up a topic that nobody but you gives a shit about (see, shop talk about hobbies and work).

    With people I don't know?  I won't talk about wrestling unless someone else brings it up, and if they do around me, I might throw in a "smart" line about the history or behind the scenes shit.

    ReplyDelete
  82.  Especially since he's on some supervisory-type level. I can only imagine all the little smartasses who make "Uh oh, don't make Scott put you in a HEADLOCK!" jokes behind his back. I'm sure he's a good boss but you just know that's how some slackers are.

    ReplyDelete
  83. On a particularity unproductive day... hot pokers up the ass!!!

    ReplyDelete
  84. My wife bought me that WWE Encyclopedia for Xmas a few years ago, and I recently brought it to work for some of my clients to thumb through during the day. What's funny is that I have it out on the tables, bring it between the classrooms, and everyone knows it belongs to me, and I've brought autographs from different wrestlers to hand out to the guys, but somehow that instinctive "don't admit to being a wrestling fan" gene kicked in and I covered up the book when I came in. I work with mostly all women so none of them ever talk about it but at the same time most of them wouldn't really care any more or less than when I talk about football or something.

    True that on the Canadian thing, though. I live close enough to the border and it seems like we have wrestling fans out the ass around here. I could actually safely say that most of my male friends are at least casual wrestling fans, even still, and some are more than casual. (And yet I still have that "don't admit" thing going on. We are a weird bunch.) This one guy who works for my company in a different building but is married to one of my supervisors, we were working together once and he was fairly knowledgeable, knew a lot of wrestlers real names and had seen ROH and CHIKARA shows and had been to 2CW shows and stuff. But then he was also the kind of meathead who gets excited talking about wrestling and imitates all the catchphrases & stuff. Some of my other friends are still marky enough to act like it's real, and some are smarky like me or in that brackish zone where they know it's not real and know a few insider terms but they don't actually follow any news sites or share the usual smark opinions.

    ReplyDelete
  85.  I don't think we're the only teachers on this board, either.  It brings a smile to my face knowing so many teachers are similar to me in some way (there's so many Type A, 30-50 year old, female teachers who love to hear themselves talk and think their way is the only way at the schools I've taught at; makes me shake my head).  These days, I'm with a virtual/online school--so I'm always posting at weird hours here.

    ReplyDelete
  86. simple: never apologize for your taste.

    just about EVERY person like things (music, films, whatever) that others might consider embarassing. for me this results in the same kind of behavior as Ryan Latimer wrote: I am not beating everyone over the head with it (especially if I just got to know that person recently) but I don't hide it and have no problem to "admit" watching it.

    ReplyDelete
  87. I know quite a few women who would react better to the porn than a WWE DVD.

    ReplyDelete
  88. My younger sister, who's 20 now, was hanging with me one night while I watching some 1997 Raws. She was going nuts remembering when Mick Foley used to be scary as Mankind, The Nation, The Rock before he became awesome, Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation, Goldust, and Austin when he was still a hilariously awesome asshole. 

    Even SHE was saying this stuff was so much better than the crap we get fed to us now, even though she thinks guys like Orton and Cena are hot.Mind you, she was FIVE when the 1997 Raws were airing, and she remembered them vividly. 

    ReplyDelete
  89. My friend and I want to go to a bar, go to two different corners of the place, and see if we can get a YES! chant going.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Yeah, a whole group of us at my old job loved talking about wrestling, and even the boss chimed in the one night, after finally admitted he watched the older stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Reality television.

    Seriously, I watch Two and a Half Men, and even I won't touch that shit with a ten foot pole. 

    ReplyDelete
  92. I think Green Day when I read that.

    ReplyDelete
  93.  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/ssaall/meguerrero.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  94. I think of pro wrestling as a form of reality television.  Both have about the same amount of "reality" in them.

    ReplyDelete
  95. I need to put that on my bucket list

    ReplyDelete
  96. right before I sleep with a girl, I tell her, "I still watch pro wrestling."

    60% of the time it works every time.

    ReplyDelete
  97. I'll tell anyone that I like wrestling, should it come up somehow.  I'm not ashamed of being a fan.  Heck, it's usually one of the things I find FUN to talk about with girls I'm seeing as part of a "guilty pleasures" conversation.  They dig at me, I dig back at them, & it's not a big deal if they can tell you have more than half a brain, a personality and *other* interests.


    But I am ashamed to be associated with so many "mouth-breathers" (hilarious).  I always tell my friends who aren't a part of rassin' bandwagon that I'm "trying to break the stigma."

    ReplyDelete
  98. 30 years old.  Former/future mathematics schoolteacher.  Just taking a sabbatical.  

    ReplyDelete
  99. It also helps my cause that my youngest sister (21) is kind of a cutie and we gang up on people who say rassin' is "stupid."  She's my ace up the sleeve, because she's way cooler than I am.

    ReplyDelete
  100. I always used to hide it. If someone casually mentioned seeing a segment on Raw or Nitro or something, I would act like I was unaware of it. All the while, every Saturday afternoon, I was fidgeting with the antenna on the TV so I could get the local low power station that aired ECW. While the Attitude Era stuff brought in the "cool kids", I was waking up every Saturday Morning for the Power Hour on TBS religiously. Mind you, I was a teenager then but those were my formative years. So I just kind of stuck with that.

    Just over the past couple of years or so, I started being more open about being a wrestling fan and I can't tell you a single time I either a) didn't get a dirty look or b) some Hulk Hogan reference or something. Mostly dirty/weird looks. I'll never forget the time a boss asked me what I was doing on a Friday night and I responded "Driving to Russellville (a po-dunk town 90 minutes from Cincinnati) to see a wrestling show". I so wish I had a camera to capture the inexplicable expression of shock/disgust/confusion on her face.

    So, yeah..now I've gone back to be closeted about it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment