10 Things I Love About About Pro Wrestling: A Casual Fans' Guide

A friend of mine asked me to go somewhere with him this Monday night, and I told him that I couldn't because I wanted to watch Monday Night Raw.

He gave me an extremely confused look and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot it's Monday. Why do you love that crap so much?"

I gave him an equally confused look and said, "You only assume it's crap because you've never understood it."

Ultimately, this would lead to me explaining why I loved pro wrestling so much.

Wanna know what I told him?

Here are 10 things that I love about pro wrestling, and for you casual fans out there, 10 reasons why you could grow to love it as well.

It's a Battle of Good vs. Evil

At the very core of pro wrestling is a battle of good vs. evil.

It's the good guy (the baby face) taking on the bad guy (the heel), and when you really look at it, it's no different than other forms of sports or entertainment.

Why do you read comic books or watch movies? To see Batman or Spider-Man triumph over evil.

Why do you watch the Miami Heat vs. the New York Knicks in the NBA Playoffs? Because, unless you're a Miami fan, you want to see the "evil" Heat lose.

Why do you read books? To see if the protagonist can overcome the antagonist.

The battle of good vs. evil in pro wrestling is no different than those other forms. You're just getting it through a different medium.

It's Like Having a Fantasy Draft Every Week of the Year

One of my favorite things to do is play Fantasy Football.

I love trying to predict who's going to have a great season or who isn't, and I love betting my friends that I will be right and have a loaded fantasy team

I feel the same way about pro wrestling.

It changes so much that it's like having a Fantasy Football draft every week. I pick a guy or a storyline and make predictions about what will or won't happen, and more often than not, I'm wrong.

But so what? It's still fun.

There's just something I really enjoy about the "what ifs" of pro wrestling—the fact that you never really know exactly what's going to happen and can change your mind each and every week.

If you're a sports fan and love fantasy sports, that should translate to pro wrestling, with your wild predictions that you can come up with every single week.

It Makes Me Feel Like a Kid Again

I have a lot of responsibilities.

Whether its work or school or just normal daily activities, I can get pretty stressed out from having so much to do in so little time.

Yet, pretty much no matter what, I set aside two hours on Monday night and two hours on Friday night for something that brings me back to my childhood—pro wrestling.

I have watched wrestling for as long as I can remember, and even have pictures of me as a four-year-old kid wearing tights, the World Heavyweight Title belt (well, a replica at least) and sunglasses, cutting a promo" on the microphone.

I also have videos of me wrestling in a "ring" where the mat is a mattress and the ring ropes are actually jump ropes.

So, when I watch Raw or Smackdown, I'm reminded just how awesome wrestling was as a kid and how I can still enjoy it today almost 20 years after I started watching it.

It May Be Scripted, but It's Still Unpredictable

I've heard this about 1,000 times before: "Why watch wrestling if you already know what's going to happen?"

Well, the only way you really know what's going to happen is if you're booking the show, because if not, you're usually way off.

Wrestling may be scripted, but just like any other sport, it's incredibly unpredictable.

Things will happen that you leave you in awe, and just because those things were planned, it doesn't make them any less special.

One of the main reasons why I watch wrestling is because no matter how much I think I know what will or should happen, I love to see what actually does.

If you love watching sports or any other form of entertainment because of its unpredictability, you should love pro wrestling.

It Is the Most Fan-Centric Sport Around

Go to a WWE show—or better yet, an indy show—and you'll try feel like you're a part of the action.

Everything that goes on in that ring is meant to generate a reaction from you, the fan. It's meant to entertain you, make you happy or make you angry, so on and so forth.

But go to an NBA or MLB game, and you're kidding yourself if you think that's the case.

There are fans at pro sports game, sure, but they are not nearly as involved in those games as wrestling fans are at pro wrestling events.

As you can see by the rise of Daniel Bryan, fans can literally directly affect pro wrestling and the career of a particular superstar.

I just don't think that's the case with pro sports.

It's Storytelling at Its Finest

What does a good novel, TV show or movie do? It tells a story, right?

That's exactly what pro wrestling does.

Wrestling tells beautiful stories, whether it's in the confines of a match (the in-ring psychology part) or through a feud, the concept of which is generally just as simple as good vs. evil.

A lot of more casual wrestling fans don't understand this. They think that wrestling is just move after move with no general flow.

And yet, there is a very specific formula to wrestling matches, and this is all done to tell a story just like the plot line of a good book.

Wrestling is, believe it or not, an art form, and the ring is a wrestler's canvas.

Wrestlers Don't Wrestle for the Love of Money

Why do I watch wrestling? Because I respect the hell out of anyone who has the gonads to enter the business.

Pro wrestling is an incredibly unstable business, and unlike most pro sports, becoming a pro wrestler doesn't ensure a life of luxury. It doesn't guarantee that you will make millions or see your name on billboards.

What is does guarantee is that you will travel across the United States and wrestle for $20 or no money at all just to get your name out there and have a shot at one day making it to the WWE.

That's one of the biggest reasons why I watch pro wrestling and attend indy shows—because it's awesome to see guys pursuing their dream, even if they know that the chances of them making it to the top are slim to none.

Pro athletes in the NBA and NFL are there making millions, while pro wrestlers often have to spend money just to get booked for a show and travel to it.

It Takes as Much, If Not More, Athleticism Than Most Sports

One of the common criticisms I hear about pro wrestling is that it's "a male soap opera."

Really? Because I'd argue that it takes as much, if not more, athleticism to be a pro wrestler than it does for most sports.

Wrestlers do all kinds of crazy flips and acrobatics that professional golfers or baseball players couldn't do if they spent three years practicing them.

You have to show a casual wrestling fan that this is the case.

Show him Evan Bourne nailing a Shooting Star Press or Justin Gabriel leveling someone with a 450 splash, and then look at him and say, "Think Derek Jeter could do that?"

It's NOT Fake

If anyone ever says that "wrestling is fake," let them watch a video like this or any other YouTube video that proves that their notion that wrestling is "fake" is, in fact, false.

Better yet, try to get them in an actual wrestling ring, let them take a move and see just how "fake" it is.

As hard as it is to believe, a lot of guys who aren't wrestling fans or only watch it occasionally honestly and truly think that wrestling is fake and that taking a move on the ring feels like falling into a cloud.

It obviously doesn't, and once they see that, I guarantee you that they will gain more respect for WWE stars and wrestlers across the world who put their bodies on the line night in and night out.

It's taken a lot for me to explain exactly how wrestling isn't fake, but if someone is willing to hear your point of view, you can definitely show them how real it is.

Wrestling Has a Little Bit of Everything

There's a little bit of everything in pro wrestling.

You have drama, you have comedy, you have athleticism, you have feuds—the list goes on and on and on.

There is something for everyone in pro wrestling. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, black or white, or young or poor.

Pro wrestling will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you go "WTF?" etc.

There aren't very many other forms of entertainment that can all those things and do them on a consistent basis.

But pro wrestling does.