Even as a huge sports fan, I never thought I would find myself at the FedEx Forum last Monday night sporting a "Show Me Kofi" poster, booing wrestlers, and just generally screaming my head off along side die-hard fans.
Yes, I was at WWE Raw.
I'm not going to lie, Raw was my first real experience with professional wrestling apart from memories of boys in sixth grade pretending to body slam each other on the playground. And—that's kind of how I see it still.
While I know I am probably not alone in my possible misunderstanding of this organization, I also know that FedEx Forum was full of individuals that would likely challenge me to a cage match if they heard me say that WWE is nothing more than entertainment with athletic components—or would they?
Like me, many bash professional wrestling for its fake matches, bogus personalities, and contrived drama. However, those of us who automatically shun WWE because we don't see it as a sport forget that maybe others see it that way too. One of the announcers called WWE "the largest traveling entertaining juggernaut" in America.
What I saw Monday night was more than entertainment, it was a culture. Entire families were present, all walks of life, all ethnicities—it was amazing.
While I can't say that I am now a convert to professional wrestling, I can now take it for what it is—entertainment—and quit bashing it for not being something I think it should be.
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