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The Average Wrestling Fan - Is The Stereotype Warranted?


David

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ideally if you're a girl at a britwres show you should at least have those 'jeff hardy' lacey glove things on.

Also, be really fat and wear vest tops which simultaneously show off your cleavage and allow your gut to spill out onto the seat.

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I have seen some absolutely monsters at Britwres shows - the guys I used to attend with are generally pretty normal, if possessing varying shades of nerdiness, but some of the other characters I ran into over the years were just embarassing. I had a friend who refused to attend a show ever again when she encountered the Assassin.

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Its-Still-Real-to-Me-Dammit.jpg

 

Apart from "Its still real to me dammit" guy, I guess my enduring image of a stereotypical wrestling fan is the kind of gimp that walks about carrying replica belts at/around shows. There have been a few observations that hit the mark in this thread but to be honest, the only thing I find objectionable is when people think that strutting about with a belt over their shoulder(s!) is a good look. They just come across like a total spenk.

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The fat, bearded gimp who wears a shit faded t shirt with tattered jeans and a look of semi-downs about him is the stereotype I imagine. As a matter of fact, Id say about 2 thirds of this board are people Id never associate myself with. I would never forcibly get myself involved in "the business" (if you can call it that in the UK) just so I could brag about my insider's knowledge, I would never buy a kids toy of my favourite wrestler, a Ric Flair robe and I wouldnt be caught dead wearing a fucking replica belt for the fact I don't waste my time and money on kids toys and playing dress up. Maybe if it was halloween, 1996 or somones birthday I suppose.

 

I don 't talk about wrestling with my friends because none of them like it, and the few that do occasionally watch I won't expect them to high five me for making Miz references, or sit and have in depth discussions about about how we would book wrestlemania, because its all geeky as fuck things to do. I'd rather not have anyone to talk about it with than be associated with any of the number of disgusting greasy emo-fags/metal heads who go about wearing DX t shirts.

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No don't think I've come across (m)any like that. In fairness, I haven't been to a show in almost a decade and haven't had any close friends who were fans for at least fifteen years so it is possible it has changed in that time. That's not to say I haven't met any wrestling fans since then - I have. But then again, none of the people I met through sports teams, family functions, academic conferences, etc. who it turned out are (or were) fans have fit any of the descriptions in here either.

 

So if David means in terms of limited personal experience I'd have to answer "no, they don't exist". At least until I meet one.

 

I've only ever gone to one wrestling show in my time. It was a Smackdown house show in Dublin back in 2005. Was fun, but I did find myself repeatedly distracted by an awful lot of strange looking people. Why do people bring replica belts to shows? I've never been able to figure that one out.

 

As for the thread title, what defines an average fan? Personally speaking I have a bigger problem with the Shimmer brigade, especially the likes of SBA. "Creepy" doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

I'd like to know that as well?

 

I honestly don't think I'd even have heard the stereotype in this thread if I hadn't started reading the internet in the late 90s. As I say I have met plenty of people who dislike wrestling and even one who vehemently hated it. That's not to say wrestling was highly regarded in the eighties and nineties and lots of people are always going to hate it because it's fake, it's unapologetically politically incorrect, it appeals to a mostly working class audience, it "promotes violence to children" and it's well, "a bit gay". There are a truckload of reasons I have known for people not liking it but I've never heard the fans cited as one of them in real life. And on top of that there is definitely a stereotype that it is something you should "outgrow" once you reach a certain age. But I've honestly never heard such a specific stereotype right down to such minutiae as the brand of deodorant "they" wear until I started reading here and I'm certain I would have never come across it to begin with if I hadn't started reading forums like these.

 

I think Seven's question is a relevant one. I'm not sure I've seen any fans who fit the stereotype but that might be because I'm not 100% sure on what the stereotype itself is.

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^ I wouldn't have thought that such people truly existed had I not read this topic and searched Google for images. If anything, I think that we're more stereotyping nerds in general, be it what you'd think of as being a Star Trek fan or card-collecting geek. I've only ever been to one live show in my life, and that was an All-Star show. The majority of the audience were kids who were there along with their parents, so a child would probably be what I'd describe as being your stereotypical wrestling fan.

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ideally if you're a girl at a britwres show you should at least have those 'jeff hardy' lacey glove things on. You're just not trying otherwise.

 

In that case, I'm not trying :laugh: I have never nor do I intend to ever buy/wear any Jeff Hardy merchandise - I do however own a few wrestling T-shirts (a very old RVD one from his WWE days, an old MCMG one and an old Jeff Jarrett one).

 

As for fitting the stereotype, judge for yourself - I attend one regular wrestling show, I wear my wrestling T-shirts to that show and I own one wrestling figure. However, I don't own a replica belt or anything along those lines.

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The fat, bearded gimp who wears a shit faded t shirt with tattered jeans and a look of semi-downs about him is the stereotype I imagine. As a matter of fact, Id say about 2 thirds of this board are people Id never associate myself with. I would never forcibly get myself involved in "the business" (if you can call it that in the UK) just so I could brag about my insider's knowledge, I would never buy a kids toy of my favourite wrestler, a Ric Flair robe and I wouldnt be caught dead wearing a fucking replica belt for the fact I don't waste my time and money on kids toys and playing dress up. Maybe if it was halloween, 1996 or somones birthday I suppose.

 

I don 't talk about wrestling with my friends because none of them like it, and the few that do occasionally watch I won't expect them to high five me for making Miz references, or sit and have in depth discussions about about how we would book wrestlemania, because its all geeky as fuck things to do. I'd rather not have anyone to talk about it with than be associated with any of the number of disgusting greasy emo-fags/metal heads who go about wearing DX t shirts.

 

Quite. Like it or not, wrestling is a really geeky thing to be in to, and if you don't want to get funny looks from your mates, mention it as little as possible. Wrestling is my dirty secret, and I completely get why.

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mark.jpg

 

Yeah, like there's a single person on this board who, if they owned that, would ever take it off.

 

If I did own that I wouldn't ware it once.

 

Has any one got a link to Jim Corrnett showing you around his collection of stuff from over his carer? I recall catching a bit of it on some shoot a while back.

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I dont get why people are saying wrestling is there dirty secret. It a programme like another has people that like it from all walks of life and the shows are just the same as any other turn/act you get in clubs arenas you get followers, hangers on, smelly people. In general people aint even bothered if you watch wrestling, have t shirts, replica belts, toys or the such. Everyone does something laughable and collects something that another person would think is shite. If its that big of a problem to people why even watch wrestling or follow it.

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