Interactions with other wrestling fans

[CL Punk]

Yesterday, I walked past a fellow wrestling fan who was wearing a retro Shawn Michaels T-Shirt, briefly I did consider saying "hey man, nice shirt" but I decided against it and I just kept walking.

I think that is because we both knew who the better wrestler is...

 

 

Any stories of real life interactions with other wrestling fans?

[LaGoosh]

I avoid them like the fucking plague.

[Nick James]

You can usually smell the CM Punk shirt before you see it, so it's easy to change aisles in the supermarket. 

[SuperBacon]

2 hours ago, CL Punk said:

Yesterday, I walked past a fellow wrestling fan who was wearing a retro Shawn Michaels T-Shirt, briefly I did consider saying "hey man, nice shirt" but I decided against it and I just kept walking.

I think that is because we both knew who the better wrestler is...

 

 

Any stories of real life interactions with other wrestling fans?

I wouldn't ever ever do this but that's because I hate talking to people. Similarly, a few weeks ago I was jogging in one of my football shirt and some stranger shouted "nice shirt mate, where'd you get it?" like I was going to stop exercising just to speak to him. I shouted back "the internet" Lesson is, don't talk to anyone. Ever.

However I have made some very good friends through wrestling. One of my (now) best mates caught me reading Brets book on my lunch break and we realised each other loved wrestling, and were thrilled with this, as to be honest everyone else there was awful. 

But then I've always been open about liking it, apart from an awkward period in my teens, and when I worked at Waitrose I met an absolute superfan and a lovely bloke who even bought in his Summerslam 92 VHS with his ticket inside, to show me.

But I'd already gauged these people were nice, and you can't do that with a stranger. Plus like others have said, they're mostly very smelly.

[Yakashi]

I’ve seen exactly one wrestling fan outside of a wrestling show in the last 20 years (they were all over when wrestling was popular). He had a Seth Rollins shirt on which was already a red flag but, as we were stood in the queue for self checkout in Asda, I said hey. We chatted for about a minute before he started going on about how Cesaro should be world champion. Realising he was one of those, I said I’d forgot something and left. Never again.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Friends I’ve made outside of wrestling but who are wrestling fans, great.

People I’ve met just at wrestling shows, normally knobs.

[bAzTNM#1]

Never interacted with them but there's a guy with a "Hulkamania" vest on that runs down past the SECC to Glasgow Green all the time. I also see a guy in an "AEW" cap a lot in Sauchiehall Street, which is always a bit random.

[Michael_3165]

I've found those "insider" term users in queues to be the worst. Trying to make themselves sound knowledgeable to the casuals. Followed by that fucker who poses w replica belts for other fans. And then we've all seen THAT fan, black trench coat, a bit skinny, bad hygiene and non-ironic long hair. 

I saw a bloke literally in undertaker garb in town recently w no wrestling show in sight. Complete w black vest and gloves. 

I'm normally one of a handful of people dressed in normal, non-band/black/wrestling clothes when I go to shows. And I never cease to feel embarrassment when standing I'm queues w some of these people. 

That said most fans I've come across are rather nice people outside of an actual wrestling scenario. 

I'm really curious as to why so many people say they find fans to be knobs in the thread so far. What do they do ? 

[Egg Shen]

strange rather than being knobs is probably more accurate

[The Gaffer]

They're all nice around my neck of the woods to be honest. Same people who go to metal shows and ran the radio stations and cons back in university. Their attitude toward pushing relative nobodies etc can be a little overzealous, but then they're not actual bookers nor do they read the UKFF or decent wrestling social media so they're not privy to that hyper aware, realistic side of it we are. They're speaking with the excitement of fans, and I think with most interests that tends to go with getting a lot of things wrong. 

If I'm in a room full of them these days I generally get the sense I'm in some fairly right-on, compassionate company. Just personal experience, of course. If you're in bigger arenas in the U.S I'm sure the creep quota goes up significantly. 

[Daaaaaad!]

I was stupid enough to wear the CM Punk “Best in the World” ringer tee to the cinema once. After the same guy twice yelled “BEST IN THE WOOOORLD!” across the lobby at me, it wasn’t hard to make the decision never to wear it out in public again.

[Jesse]

2 hours ago, Michael_3165 said:

I've found those "insider" term users in queues to be the worst. Trying to make themselves sound knowledgeable to the casuals. Followed by that fucker who poses w replica belts for other fans. And then we've all seen THAT fan, black trench coat, a bit skinny, bad hygiene and non-ironic long hair. 

I saw a bloke literally in undertaker garb in town recently w no wrestling show in sight. Complete w black vest and gloves. 

I'm normally one of a handful of people dressed in normal, non-band/black/wrestling clothes when I go to shows. And I never cease to feel embarrassment when standing I'm queues w some of these people. 

That said most fans I've come across are rather nice people outside of an actual wrestling scenario. 

I'm really curious as to why so many people say they find fans to be knobs in the thread so far. What do they do ? 

I think it's a combination of bad interactions being more memorable than, say, a nice casual chat - and the people in the fandom most likely to start an interaction with a stranger are the ones who aren't solid on social cues/norms (as seen in a few of the examples above).

It's not limited to wrestling, having worked YouTuber/gaming/cosplay/TV events for quite a few years this type of fan is common in all fan spaces and for all the good experiences I had it's the bad ones that stick in my brain and make me internally cringe whenever an unprompted conversation starts up.

[WyattSheepMask]

For the most part it doesn’t go beyond saying “nice T-shirt” to someone. I had one of those recently when I asked a guy where he’d got his Hart Foundation shirt from and it was one of those exclusives that came in one of the loot crate subscriptions.

Other than that you’ll either meet someone whose a bit awkward and just wants to shuffle off, or you’ll meet the guy who wants you to know that they know the business

[CL Punk]

I just think it's strange that wrestling fans have the same kind of stigma that comic book fans have but at the same time, some of those fans can live up to the stereotype.

My interactions with other fans have been positive; the NXT house show I went to was fun, I found the fans I was sitting next to friendly and at the Mick Foley signing at Tyne Theatre where a fellow fan reckoned I looked like a young Ric Flair (the only thing I had in common with Ric was I had dyed blonde hair at the time) .

[Love-Wilcox]

I’ll never forget the first time I bumped into a fan out in the wild. He was wearing a ‘Raw is War’ baseball cap so the obvious ice-breaker was asking him who his favourite wrestlers were and I’ll never forget his response;

“I’m a fan of Mark Calaway and Glenn Jacobs”

then after a brief pause and in a condescending tone;

”but YOU might know them as The Undertaker and Kane”

fucking cringe!

So… which of you lot was it?