So I didn't grow up with WWE (or WWF as the kids called it back in the 90s). For one, my mom probably forbid me from watching it anyway. But she really didn't need to. Cause I learned at an early age:
"Hey, you know this isn't actual fighting, right? Like it's all scripted and they're not really smashing each other with chairs and stuff."
And with that in mind, it always seemed incredibly lame. I felt stupid watching muscular actors pretend to fight and it made me roll my eyes from the start. So this wasn't one of those instances where I rebelled against a parental ban (of which there were many, I pushed back when my folks tried to ban Ed, Edd n Eddy, Goosebumps, and Power Rangers). But with WWF, I was perfectly content to go right along with my protective parents.
Well... maybe I shouldn't have?
I'm starting to question that childhood decision, now, because, well, WWF/WWE stuff still comes up semi-regularly. By that I mean I often find myself in social atmospheres where all the adults (even women) grew up on that stuff. And the most surprising thing is that the people who grew up watching WWF/WWE don't seem to regret it. Maturity hasn't changed their mind.
That's the part that astonishes me the most, I think.
As a kid, I was JUST SO SURE that WWF was Idiotic, childish nonsense and that all my friends who watched it at the time would one day grow up, snap out of it, and think to themselves:
"Geez... I used to watch dumb jock actors pretend to fight as a kid. Man was I foolish. Unlike that guy who was so wise and ahead of the curve by rejecting such nonsense from the start. What I'd give to be so smart and perceptive as that guy."
Welp, that didn't happen.
Though I'm in my 30s, each day I grow a bit more suspicious that, perhaps, the joke was on me all along? Maybe I should have given it a chance? Maybe the kids who watched WWF in the 90s weren't as brainless as I assumed and, possibly, they were onto something?
Because over the years, nearly every time it comes up and people start talking about their favorite childhood WWF fighters and ask me who mine was and I reply, "oh, I never watched silly fake wrestling as a kid" almost every time, they shrug and say, "your loss." 🤷♂️
They really don't regret it. I don't think I've ever heard anything like "Yea, WWF was really stupid. I don't know why I was into that as a kid. I'm low-key embarrassed that I ever fell for it."
That. Never. Happens.
It blows my mind. But, most of all, if they don't regret it as adults... that means that maybe I was wrong as a kid?
However, I'm not ready to concede defeat YET. Because, well... I've spent so many years convinced WWF/WWE is dumb that it's difficult to even open my mind to the slim chance that my way of thinking MIGHT be misguided. Like... really? REALLY!?? It's still so hard to believe you folks 1. took that stuff seriously 2. are not ashamed of that reality as adults.
Yet here we are.
So, with that in mind, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I invite you to (gulp 🤢) sell me on pro wrestling.
What made it cool to you as a kid? Who were your favorite wrestlers? What made them appealing? How do you feel about it now? Any regrets or do you validate your childhood self for being into it?
Again, I'm pretty entrenched in the "all this is incredibly silly" camp. But, after 30 years, I'm going to try and keep an open mind and, at the very least, understand the appeal of this pro wrestling thing.
And I legitimately know almost nothing about it, by the way. I mean, I've heard names like Hulk Hogan, and Andre the Giant. As a 90s kid, in particular, it seemed like classmates admired Stone Cold Steve Austin and some Frankenstein's Monster lookin' Undertaker dude. I know Dwayne Johnson used to be a wrestler, but I saw the Rock's movies long before I knew he picked up that epithet in WWF.