The Wrestling Matt

Yeah, it’s a fantastic title for a blog post. Unfortunately, I can’t take the credit. Cody Rhodes tweeted it after returning to WWE after six long years at WrestleMania 38. It’s been stuck in my head since then because it couldn’t be more accurate.

Bad wrestling can be hard to watch, but great wrestling has the potential to be excellent. The payoff of waiting months to see how a story ends. Two athletes giving it their all to put on a show like never before simply because they love what they do. The passion is contagious, and I have never seen another fanbase quite like it.

I started watching wrestling on June 7th, 2010 (very specific, I know), the night the Nexus debuted. A group of eight new wrestlers showed up and attacked John Cena, instantly making him my favorite. I needed to know what would happen next. I was hooked.

Over The next few years, my love for wrestling would continue to grow. Every week I would tune into Raw and Smackdown. They were always something I could look forward to, along with the PPVs.

In 5th grade, I came to face the dramatic truth every fan must go through, wrestling is “fake”. This did not kill it for me immediately, but I developed new interests and slowly stopped watching.

It would be strange for me to have a wrestling blog if I never watched it again after that.

A few years went by, and I started getting clips from Raw and Smackdown recommended to me on YouTube. I ended up getting invested and bought the WWE Network. The PPVs that used to cost 50 dollars were now 10 dollars, and this was a win!

With a renewed passion, I became more invested than ever. This time around I started paying attention to the real-life drama of the pro-wrestlers. It has confusing politics and rules.

1. If you accidentally hit your opponent, they are entitled to a “receipt,” and they can use it at any point to legitimately hit or kick you.
2. Some wrestlers would “no sell” moves of wrestlers they don’t like, making them look weak.
3. People who have been in the industry for a long time can influence booking.

I started attending more shows and autograph signings, meeting Jim Ross, Christian Cage, Mick Foley, and John Cena.

For me, it became one of those things you need to learn every little detail about. YouTube Channels like WhatCulture Wresrtling and Solomoster Sounds Off were extremely influential. They gave me a community in a time when I really needed it.

In life, we need something to distract us sometimes, and for a few hours each week, that’s what wrestling became. At times, it could be incredibly goofy, poorly produced, and make absolutely no sense, and it still draws me in. Makes us forget about that paper due in a few hours or the other 20000 things we must do.

I appreciate it more now that I’m a sleep-deprived college student working a job, but wrestling was crucial to my character growing up. John Cena used to be heavily criticized by the fanbase. A character with the motto “Never Give Up” that would win the most unwinnable situations.

It is cheesy, corny, and everything in between, but it inspired me. As a kid, I struggled with a learning disability that led to me being held back. I was always frustrated by how much harder it was to learn things. Cena changed that and gave me a new mentality: I would work harder than everyone and be better.

While Cena did his best to fight off eight people alone, I did my best to learn ten spelling words. Basically, the same thing, right?

In all seriousness, pro-wrestling shaped my life, and if you are reading this, it likely shaped yours. It gives us something to look forward to every week. It is a distraction from work and brings out the kid in us, if even for a moment. A reminder that sometimes it’s alright to fail, and sometimes your dreams come true.

Anyways, look at this cool picture of me when I graduated high school.