Why I Love Wrestling (Part I)

Being 20 years old and still watching wrestling, usually when I talk about it I get a funny look or (ironically) a raised eyebrow but the fact is it's never really bothered me in the slightest. I don't know what the cultural views on wrestling is like in America or anywhere else but over here in England it's very taboo and even during the Attitude Era when the target audience was men aged between 18 and 40 it was still seen as a "kids show". Obviously now it's totally different because the target audience is much younger, but when you see guys like CM Punk and The Rock and Chris Jericho cutting the promos they do, using phrases like "stick it straight up your candy ass" and "your father's an alcoholic and your sister is a drug addict" (Jericho to CM Punk) it's clear that, while it's not as edgy as it used to be, it's still not a "kids show". But wrestling when I started watching it was probably at the lowest point of it's popularity, the high point of the 80's had past and the whole Rock N' Wrestling connection had faded when Hulk Hogan jumped ship to WCW in 1995. 

1995 was around the time I started watching WWF, as a matter of fact the first angle I ever remember was Bret Hart vs Diesel for the WWF Championship going into Royal Rumble '95. The Hitman was the first wrestler I ever really loved, he was like the John Cena of those days, he was the face of the company, wrestled every main event...difference was people actually cheered for him and liked him. But I remember this feud mostly because of how attracted I was to the Diesel character, he was so cool and cocky, and in the ring he wasn't bad either, but I was a Hitman fan and remained so up until the same point as everyone else; during the Stone Cold feud. Stone Cold was, and still is, one of the greatest heels of all time (during his original heel run), that went on to become the greatest babyface and most popular WWF/E superstar of all time. At the time of the feud I was around 2-3 years old and it was very strange not only for me but for most people then when you stopped liking the Hitman, goodest good guy there is, and started liking Steve Austin, the most vile human being in the WWF. 

Austin remains my all-time favourite, ever since that run with the Hitman that shoved him right up to the main event in a matter of months. Of course most people remember Austin for his best moments during the Attitude Era, that may be so but there's no denying that Austin's best matches came during his feud with Bret. Obviously the one that speaks volumes is the match at WrestleMania 13 which many consider to be one of the best matches of all time, where Bret walked in the biggest good guy, Steve walked in the biggest bad guy, and in some amazing way during the match they managed to switch roles and in the end Hart was booed out of the arena, and Austin was applauded for his valiant effort. While it took him a whole extra year to get has hands on his first WWF title Austin remained to be on of the top billed stars in the company, and by this time the Monday Night Wars were in full flow. Clearly Steve Austin was the catalyst in the Attitude Era (I guess some would say) no matter how much people want it to be The Rock, or how many people believe that he was the major draw between '97-'01...there's just no way. But the one's that don't get the credit they deserve in the starting of WWF's Attitude Era was D-Generation X, in my eyes and most peoples eyes they were the real catalysts behind the Attitude Era, they started everything with all the dick jokes, booby references, "suck it"s and basically putting the 'Attitude' in Attitude Era, and it was HBK's feud again with Bret Hart that turned the volume up on WWF's edge-o-meter. 

While I do love a good dick joke and booby reference nowadays, at the age of 4 it wasn't that fun. Not because it was vulgar and crude but for the simple reason I just didn't understand it, which is why I'll always prefer the '06 incarnation of DX, of course people will argue that there acts were majorly toned down and the crude humour didn't even come close to what it was in '97 but the simple fact was that I understood the humour in '06, so then it was funny to me...at 4 year old watching men dress up as women in thongs and telling their bosses to "suck it" and such was just disgusting, now I find it funny. Of course regardless of which incarnation of DX is better, I still prefer Triple H and Shawn Michaels on their own. I loved The Game around 2002 during the McMahon/Helmsley era, I thought he was a badass then, but I still much prefer him between his Evolution tenure and his King of Kings championship pursuit against John Cena. I loved how sadistic he was, I loved how he would get jealous of Batista and Randy Orton when they took "his" title...believe me, the WHC was "his" title! The sledgehammer just made it that much cooler. 

Of course I could on for days about how I love wrestling...but not today. I plan to continue this post soon but there are a few other things I need to talk about first, tomorrow I'll be bringing you a part II on the Divas Destruction post, and soon a bigger look at the Face, Heel or "Tweener" argument.

As for now, don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Glipho,

Thanks again,
Andrew.