BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) SLOGANS
The characters and charizations of professional wrestling has always been over the top. Like any super hero or action star, there are one liners that just become super famous. Hogan had “Whatchya’ Gonna Do…”, Macho Man had “Oh Yeah!”, Austin has “The bottom line”, DX has “Suck it!”, Bret Hart had his, The Rock has his, Undertaker has his, Flair has his, Foley, etc etc etc. These slogans are fun to repeat and mimic. It’s also like a wrestling fan mating call. If you’re in a random place and hear someone drop a wrestling slogan you can almost automatically feel safer. Thanks writers!
(THREE) CONSISTENT PROGRAMING
On Monday nights, you have RAW. On Friday nights, you have Smackdown. There are other shows like TNA or the other shows WWE puts online these days. There is the rare preemption, but 95% of the time you’re going to get your preferred dose of wrestling on a weekly basis. Other sports and other television shows will take vacations or stick to specific seasons. Not wrestling. It’s on all year long. It’s the unhealthiest of comfort foods, but dammit… it’s ALWAYS there when you need it.
(TWO) THE FAN COMMUNITY
Wrestling fans on the internet are crazy. There is a whole world out there of wrestling fans who are snobbish, stuck up, know it all dweebs who get really into it. They’ll go at it in chat rooms, message boards, and comment sections. Everyone’s opinion is the only opinion that matters. It’s easy to just look at the horrible wastes of life involved in these actions, but it’s just like anything else. Any group that is passionate about a topic will be overbearing and annoying. Look at music fans, politics, movie fans, etc etc etc… You take the bad with the little bit of good. The fact that professional wrestling has such a solid following and community is a great thing. Even if it sucks.
(ONE) GETTING “WORKED”
There are plenty of “insider” terms in the business. When someone doesn’t see past the obvious and is sold on what’s happening then they’re getting “worked”. Sometimes they’ll use injury storylines where they’ll take someone out on a stretcher and sell it like it’s really serious. If you think it’s real… you’re getting worked. I’m sure there are cold and sterile human beings who insist they never get so caught up they dispend belief just long enough for the moment to pass. I love this stuff. It’s that moment when you want to jump out of your seat, scream at the TV, or have no idea what’s going on. For younger fans and dumber fans, this is an everyday thing. For people who use the internet, have watched for more than five minutes, or that has time in the business this is a rare occasion. When it happens, it’s awesome.
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