Embarrassed by wrestling

[clintthecrippler]

Some years back had a new roommate. We had hung out a few times in live music circles before but we weren't necessarily best friends. He didn't watch wrestling but knew I did. Very first episode of Raw he walks in from running errands to see me watching happened to be airing the infamous 3 Minute Warning/HLA segment.

 

THAT was probably the most I have been embarrassed to be "watching this shit."

 

He never tried to sit down with me again to watch wrestling after that, and I never bothered to ask.

[Sonny Mustang]

I never had an embarrassing specific moment, but imagine you're a mad teenage wrestling fan, who would happily spend all your free time watching WWF- then imagine you go to an all-girls school. 

I was literally the only one at the school. 

 

Fortunately, I had a brother I could blame any wrestling paraphernalia (Powerslam! VHS tapes!)  which I hadn't hidden well enough if spotted.

 

I actually met a guy through Powerslam when I was 17 though, who was totally sound and it was amazing having another wresting fan to talk to.  We're still friends on Facebook.

 

Nowadays, I don't hide it and post on FB when I'm watching/attending a show in the hope of coaxing out any shy fans amongst my friends, but no luck so far! 

Friends generally chuckle as they don't have me pegged as a wrestling fan, but I just take it on the chin when the inevitable 'you know its fake, right?' comes out.

[SpursRiot2012]

It's interesting when people talk about their experiences with others knowing they like wrestling. I suppose it really depends on your age. I was in primary and then secondary school at the height of the Monday Night Wars and almost everybody was a big fan of both Nitro and Raw. I suppose if you were in school post-80s boom but pre-Attitude boom, you'd have had a different experience.

[Guest]

Shit stopped being cool quick. In primary school it was pedigree this, chokeslam that, suck this, candy ass that. I wasn't watching or anything but I never needed any introduction when it came to the top attitude era guys. I knew what they were about.

When I actually got to start watching regularly it was 2004 and only spods liked it by that point. Probably would've got tired with the WWE product at some point as it wasn't all that hot looking back, but then I discovered TWC and saw guys like Joe, AJ and Low Ki, and the obsession went on from there

 

The source of my embarrassment was normally whatever the lasses were doing. You buy a DVD or a magazine and there'd be a massive poster of Torrie or Stacy chillin on da beach, that me mum would tease me about and I'd be all red-faced cos I don't wanna admit I think ladies are hot.

Never really thought about it with a feminist mindset at the time being like 12, I never really liked it though. Thought it was a bit odd these Americans apparently need regular breaks to ogle women in. I just wanted to see some rasslers

There's plenty of stuff I'm so, so glad I watched alone. Imagine how uncomfortable it would be to watch like, Muhammad Hassan's bit in the 05 Rumble with company. Or fucking anything with Kane. Christ, Everybody's Favourite Rapist 2004 babyface Kane was the WORST

 

I suppose the break I took from wrestling some embarrassment factored in. It wouldn't have been long at all after Benoit went mental. Everything I'd read about the business, and the way those young deaths were being churned out, I convinced myself I don't really want to associate with this stuff. Eddie's death genuinely shocked me in how much it fucked me up at the time, and now I'm reading Benoit's fucking dead and reading the unbelievable news as it rolled in. Fuck wrestling, that's me off for a bit

 

Obviously I'm mad back into it now and that's not going away any time soon. I sneered at it for a few years or so, I'd say I grew out of it if asked.

Chose a pretty good time to get back into it, I think. The business seems a lot safer to be in, thanks Benoit. First PPV I watched after my break was my boy American Dragon in the main event of fucking Wrestlemania SOMEHOW (seriously, when I realised who that Daniel Bryan guy I kept reading about was I nearly shat myself out of shock!), get to see this very fucking interesting change in WWE talent hiring policy, get to see AJ and Joe make their mark in the company. Something I'd have screamed at anybody who'd have listened to my dem wannery back in 05 also plz make Paul London world champion

Will their new policy work out for them? Fuck knows, but I'm invested again that's for sure.

No chance I could've gotten back into it when you had boring cunts like Kozlov (followed by a similarly boring cunt 6 months later on, and repeat) and all these bland pretty boy wrestlers with shitty alt-rock themes they were pushing big time in like 2011.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I was embarrassed by wrestling last night! A group of non fan friends had heard that Trump used to be involved and put his WrestleMania 23 clip on YouTube. If you thought the Vince head shaving was interminable as a wrestling fan, you have no idea how eternally it seems to last when you're there with a group of people who think that's what wrestling is all about.

[Grecian]

It's interesting when people talk about their experiences with others knowing they like wrestling. I suppose it really depends on your age. I was in primary and then secondary school at the height of the Monday Night Wars and almost everybody was a big fan of both Nitro and Raw. I suppose if you were in school post-80s boom but pre-Attitude boom, you'd have had a different experience.

 

This absolutely nails it. From being 12 or 13 with awesome guys like Warrior, LOD, and the British Bulldog to 2 years later and Shawn Michaels doing a striptease as part of his entrance, Undertaker levitating out of a coffin at the Rumble, Bastion Booger... the mid '90s were a low time, and a good time to keep very quiet about watching it.

[WyattSheepMask]

If you weren't watching as a regular, I reckon the last angle that everyone at school knew was Undertaker v Undertaker in 94 and then after that it won't have been until Austin won KOTR.

 

There are times when I just want the ground to swallow me when other wrestling fans are around. We all remember Dooper's 'Kevin Owens Slave Name Guy', but it when you venture into the bottom half of a webpage and you see things like "if AJ Styles gets buried st Wrestlemania, I'm done with wrestling" that just makes me not want to associated with them at all.

That's not me trying to sound like I'm above them or anything like that, but it just makes you look at yourself in a "fuck, is that what I'm like?" sort of way

[Jon-Carr_92]

I was open about it in school. One of the teachers was aware when we went on a school resi to the Bognor Butlins and they had wrestling on the last night there. Wanted to go and she was the group leader and actually made it so we all had the choice of wrestling or a pop covers show, but towards when I left and it's not real to you anymore dammit. I slowly went off it. Just wasn't the same. Aside from TNA, not a lot of alternatives. The last thing wrestling related I did in that time I recall was going to the cinema to see 12 Rounds to perk myself up after having a few issues in college. Which by the time, I was just about completely out of the loop. I just wound up putting college first and there was never anyone who was really into it who I liked. I replaced it with metal. Have a denim jacket with Iron Maiden's The Trooper cover on the back. Fixing it up and getting it redone for when I see them again in May. Even if I had to cut the sleeves off as i outgrew Larges. I was a late grower, you see. Should've thought to do it back then as I wore it in all weathers. But it's only good for summer if you do that and you'll need a jacket to under it. Anyway. Back to the point in question.

 

I got back into it seeing The Rock was returning to appear at WrestleMania. Told this story before. I know. Eventually, I was back just to count the days until WrestleMania XXVIII. Even if we did get Survivor Series in between. TNA arriving on Challenge would also be something I'd watch. Only ever missed 3 or 4 episodes in the time it was on there. By late 2012/early 2013. I reaffirmed I was back in love with it and eventually started attending live shows on a regular basis and I think I picked a good time to do so with the recent boom.

[unfitfinlay]

I started High School in 1992. When I left Primary school, wrestling was still the cool thing to be into. At some point during the summer it became "gay as fuck" as I mentioned it at the bus stop on the first day and got the piss ripped out of me.

 

I tried to keep my mouth shut about it after that, at least around the bigger kids. My only other embarrassing memory was when one of them asked what I'd got for my birthday and my mate, innocently enough, said I'd got the Rockers and the Nasty Boys hasbros, which lead to more slagging

 

That was 25 years ago (!!) and obviously I've grown up a bit since then. If I keep my fandom quiet nowadays it's mainly because (a) I honestly barely watch (b) Other wrestling fans can be kind of odd and I've met more than few who are like "Oh we both like wrestling. I guess that makes us best friends. Best friends who only ever talk about wrestling. All the time".