5 Reasons I Love Professional Wrestling

I've been a pro wrestling fan ever since I can remember. The earliest match that I can remember watching on TV was a tag match between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice vs. Ric Flair and the Undertaker, from a 1992 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event.

Here it is if you're interested.

My first WWE live event was WWF SmackDown in Chicago on December 4, 2001, and my most recent WWE live event was the WWE Money in the Bank 2011 PPV in Chicago on July 17, 2011. Money in the Bank 2011 was so great live that if I had any chance at becoming a pro wrestler, I would've started training to become one immediately after the show.

Now that I've gotten introductions out of the way, I'd like to invite you to look at five of the biggest reasons I love pro wrestling.

Guaranteed Entertainment

In a September 2011 interview with AOL Moviefone, Triple H said, 

"

I don't see us needing to evolve to what UFC does because quite frankly sometimes the fights are long and boring, guys lying around and sometimes the fights are fast and over in five seconds. I've always thought one of the things about us, if you look at us solely from a sports standpoint, is that we always give you a good show. We're never going to give you a crap game.  

"

I sometimes complain about certain things that the WWE does, such as having Daniel Bryan lose the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds at WrestleMania XXVIII, but the WWE product consistently entertains me, and I never wonder if I'll be let down the way that a non-Bulls blowout basketball game does.

No Bandwagon Fans

I'm not only a lifelong pro-wrestling fan, I'm also a lifelong Chicago Bulls fan. I've been a Bulls fan since the first time I watched a Bulls game (Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals between the Bulls and Portland Trailblazers), and I've supported the Bulls through both the bad times and the good times.

From Jordan, Pippen and Rodman to Eddy Curry, Ron Mercer and Eddie Robinson to Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and Derrick Rose, I continued to watch the Bulls, talk about the Bulls and stay loyal to the Bulls.

Perhaps nothing sports-related irritates me more than bandwagon fans: people who only support or show interest in a team when that team is winning, usually during the playoffs. 

Wrestling fans are different from NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB fans. There are no teams to be a fan of and no playoffs. There are only individual wrestlers whose job is to get over with the fans.

Monday Night Raw Makes Mondays Much Better

Monday is one of the most dreaded days of the week. For most people, it means heading back to work or school for the start of another long week.

For wrestling fans like myself, however, it means WWE Monday Night Raw: the best thing on cable TV. There's nothing like coming home after a long Monday to watch two hours of live, consistently entertaining WWE television. 

Pro Wrestling Is Scripted

I didn't truly understand why I love wrestling until I read the following quote by Bret Hart, which can be found in his book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling:

"

To me, there is something beautiful about a brotherhood of big, tough men who only pretend to hurt one another for a living instead of actually doing it.

"

Sure, pro-wrestling is scripted. So what? Anyone can fight for real. The Bloods and Crips fight for real, as did two lions I saw on the National Geographic channel two weeks ago.

Again, so what if pro wrestling is scripted? That's part of the beauty of it all. It's an art. Isn't there enough violence in the world already? Besides, I'm sure that it takes just as much (or even more) skill to be a good wrestler as it does to be a good fighter. 

No Bull

Some people don't like professional wrestling because they think it's "fake." Whenever someone tells me that, I respond with something similar to what I wrote on the last slide, and that it isn't "fake." 

I go on to tell them that the definition of "fake" is "a thing that is not genuine; a forgery or sham." Yes, the outcomes of WWE matches are definitely scripted, but they're supposed to be scripted. That makes WWE real. WWE is real because it is what it says it is: entertainment. There is no forgery or sham here. American politics and last year's Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls playoff series, on the other hand...

Thanks very much for reading!