Why do you like pro-wrestling?

[Johnny Sorrow]

I like Pro Wrestling because it's fun. And it's a totally unique form of theatre.

[Karl]

Its the combination of sport and theatre...but mostly the theatre for me. I love the drama, the stories, the fact that x number of people can have an issue which builds and builds until it ultimately has to be resolved in combat. This is why I love 'southern' wrestling so much, because at its best, no one could do this better than Memphis, or MACW etc.....and this is why GWE is a struggle for me, as I cannot separate what happens in the ring to what happens outside the ring when it comes to determining what makes a truly great wrestler.

 

I love Japanese wrestling, which at its best can be equally as dramatic, they just tell their stories in a different way, which to a degree is more impressive, because its so predominately non verbal.

[pantherwagner]

I am actually having a hard time answering this question.

 

Yeah, me too. Best I can come up with is "I was obsessed with it from ages 10 to 19 and it's a hobby from back then that I still keep", but I couldn't tell you what made me keep this hobby and not my other obsessions like computers/videogames, cycling or football (soccer).

[MikeCampbell]

I am actually having a hard time answering this question.

 

 

 

Yeah, me too.

 

That's makes three of us. I watched it as a little tyke, because my father, grandfather, and uncles were all big wrestling fans. They all eventually moved away from it, but, I never did, and, and here I am at almost thirty three years old, and i'm still watching it.

[mprice]

The reasons I like pro wrestling:

 

1. Much like JDW said, it's simply entertaining. Where can you find a variety of storylines permeating through 1-3 hours of television at a time and NOT get completely confused because each one has its own road to take. Each character has its own flaws, strengths, weaknesses...makes things mostly easy to follow unless the last name of the writer was Russo.

 

2. Most of the matches can be taken in within a 30 minute span, unless you are looking at a draw or iron man match of some sort. It is very easy just to sit down when you have a short bit of time and engorge yourself with a match or 2.

 

3. It is actually easier to get someone watching wrestling than most other sports because it has its own...niche, I guess one would call it? It always has a stigma of "this is extremely fake." Then someone watches it and latches onto it like a child on Christmas. But as I said in my second point, someone can sit down for 20-30 minutes and take in a match and the crowd, the announcing, and the overall atmosphere portrayed (whether it is in front of 30 people or 30,000).

 

At least, I know that was me back in 99.

[Ready_Willing_Gable]

I could kind of sum up what got me into wrestling as a kid and it'd be pretty similar to a lot of the answers here.

I think I remained a fan into adulthood (which nearly didn't happen because at one point I felt like I outgrew it, before deciding that attitude was probably a pretentious attitude to have and I got myself to check a WrestleMania and was hooked again) because I simply know so much, took so much information in. It's like how you can never forget to swim or ride a bike once you've learned, you can stop watching wrestling for a bit, return, and the scene has changed so much that it's become even more intriguing than it used to be. I try to explain my new old passion to the uninitiated but it just comes out "Well, they're all these characters fighting. They've got all these moves... And they talk a lot too. Which is important. Look, those two are dressed up like old-time gentlemen. Yes, I take this very seriously"

 

It's difficult to explain why I care, I'd put it down to the sheer variety of people it displays. You still need to be athletic but Ilike you'll have your Spike Dudleys, your Big Shows. I like analysing (or at least trying to) their ability in different areas, and was always fascinated by the crazy real-life element of it too. When you're not tuning into a show like Raw, it's tantalizingly interesting to read how things played out behind the scenes. Like I remember the 2005 Royal Rumble, with the Cena/Batista debacle and Vince's two torn quads. Somehow watching at the time i thought it was supposed to play out like that, only when I read up on it did it become the funniest thing in ages. I'm always fascinated by how close a wrestling match/show tows the line of having one small fuck-up that could pretty much ruin the whole thing.

[S.L.L.]

I think - as I've tried to apply thought to my wrestling watching over the years - that wrestling, at it's best, is storytelling in perhaps it's most simplistic, primal, and fun forms. Broadly-defined characters with simple motivations having straightforward conflicts settled with that most basic of negotiating tools: violence. That's entertainment.