You know wrestling is fake, right?

Growing up I was very much a fan of professional wrestling. I was born near the very tail end of WWE's "Attitude era" and I vividly remember the "ruthless aggression era". Sadly I never got to see the original ECW but I did catch the rebooted WWE version of ECW. However I did unfortunately lose all my interest in wrestling at the start of the dreaded "PG era". I haven't intently watched wrestling for a very, very long time.

However recently I've oddly rediscovered my kinship for professional wrestling. So much so I'd love to have at least one match, granted I'm pretty stupid so I'm going straight into the "hardcore death match" for my first ever match. Now I'm not saying full blown, I wanna fight Nick Gage and Jon Moxley at the same time, but I wouldn't mind doing something really crazy for my match.

Wrestling is scripted and predetermined, but it's certainly not fake. Once kayfabe was broken for me and I understood just how punishing wrestling can be on the human body. Wrestlers forever earned my respect. This is heavily documented both in real life like Vice's "Dark Side Of The Ring", and the award winning Mickey Rourke film 2008 "The Wrestler". From unintentional injuries, to the grueling work schedule and traveling, and even the intentional punishment taking in the ring. Seriously, being a professional wrestler is no joke.

So why do I like wrestling?

Storytelling

At it's most simple level, wrestling is just good vs bad. The "hero" vs the "villain", in the industry they're called "heel(s)" or "face(s)". The heel being the villain and the face being the hero. Something I've always appreciated about wrestling is literally everyone can play a role; of course the wrestlers themselves, their managers, the announcers, the "GM" or even the referee. Just about everyone has a role to play and a story their involved in no matter how big or how small. I also love just how long stories can arc, in the WWE's prime they were able to keep storylines going on for months while still finding a way to stay fresh and interesting, even though the show is weekly. You have rivalries, friendships, brother/sister hood created and destroyed. Romances are created and destroyed. Wrestling is loaded with drama, which when done right is absolutely amazing. And something I love about storytelling in WWE, sometimes the real world bleeds into the wrestling world. Just think of the rivalry of Shawn Michaels and Brett Hart, especially during the Montreal Screw job.

Incredible characters

The Undertaker last year, just finished his 30 year career in the WWE. Just think about that for a second, this man gave us 30 years of incredible performances. That's just absolutely insane, every single week we watched Undertaker give us his all week in and week out. And that's not even talking about when he'd kick it into another gear for the Pay-Per-View events, especially WrestleMania.

I also love how many archetypes there are in wrestling. You have your high flyers, hardcore death match wrestlers, technical wrestlers, and even comedic wrestlers. I love how diverse wrestling characters can be, yet somehow mix so well. A perfect example of this is Tommy Dreamer, his nickname was literally the innovator of violence. Tommy is of the most hardcore, homebred, original ECW wrestlers. He made an appearance on AEW against Orange Cassidy. A man whose gimmick is that he's literally the laziest and most relaxed wrestlers in all of history. He literally couldn't even be bothered to take his hands out of his pockets to wrestle. Yet they both get over insanely well during their matches, and together they were absolutely hilarious despite how little screen time they got together.

Constant evolutions of said character(s)

Two words; Chris Jericho. This man is the master of evolution and keeping his character fresh. He's wrestled in WCW, WWE, AEW, and of course overseas and yet he somehow can still stay fresh. Then you have characters like: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Finn Balor, Kane, and Randy Orton who constantly change yet find a way to get over every single time.

Incredible stunts

Just do me a favor, watch any match involving the Hardy brothers, especially during their primes. How they didn't just literally break their bodies in half is beyond me. They've put their bodies through hell just for our entertainment. Then you get wrestlers like; Mick Foley, Darby Allin, Sabu, hell even Shane McMahon just taking these absurd falls and bumps. Just insane respect to these athletes.

In Closing

I'm not expecting anyone to all of a sudden become a wrestling fan after reading this article. But still, you'd be surprised just how good wrestling can be when you're watching it. Go back and watch some wrestling, you'd be surprised how interesting it can be especially at it's best.

Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoyed what you have read today. I have plenty of different articles on many different topics. Feel free to give those other articles a read or two. Also if you'd be so kind, I'd greatly appreciate a heart and if you really feel so inclined tips are always appreciated but by no means required.