It fascinates me how we, as a nation, love to be polarized. We are polarized in our politics, our late night talk shows, even our video game systems. And, of course, our wrestling.
I remember going on and on about the Monday Night Wars in college, and I was one of the few in my little group that simply stated: "I love it!" I made it a point to tape one show and watch the other live so I could make sure I saw both every single week. And, during that time, I clearly wasn't alone.
I miss the days of simple wrestling fandom. Of loving the whole product, not one company or another, not one territory or the other, simply professional wrestling as a massive entity.
Now let me make this clear: I do not wish to abolish having a critical eye. Every organization for as long as there have been men in tights pretending to destroy each other has had some weaknesses. By all means, continue to address them. But why does it have to be about "WWE marks" vs. "TNA marks" vs. "ROH marks"? Why can't we just be fans that wish the product could be better?
The divisiveness makes us weak and petty. We're arguing about one set of cartoon characters in tights versus another set of cartoon characters in tights, all dancing around, flying through the air, pretending to punch each other. It is possible to watch WWE and TNA and ROH without betraying the other! I know for a brief period of time (before my wife got to the TIVO) I had a weekly ritual of watching Impact on Thursdays and Smackdown on Fridays and enjoying the hell out of both shows.
Love the good product. Don't watch the bad product. Criticize what's going wrong. But for the love of pete, can the Monday Night Wars just be over? Can the wrestling war be over without one company standing tall over the rest?
Enjoy! Or change the channel.
I remember going on and on about the Monday Night Wars in college, and I was one of the few in my little group that simply stated: "I love it!" I made it a point to tape one show and watch the other live so I could make sure I saw both every single week. And, during that time, I clearly wasn't alone.
I miss the days of simple wrestling fandom. Of loving the whole product, not one company or another, not one territory or the other, simply professional wrestling as a massive entity.
Now let me make this clear: I do not wish to abolish having a critical eye. Every organization for as long as there have been men in tights pretending to destroy each other has had some weaknesses. By all means, continue to address them. But why does it have to be about "WWE marks" vs. "TNA marks" vs. "ROH marks"? Why can't we just be fans that wish the product could be better?
The divisiveness makes us weak and petty. We're arguing about one set of cartoon characters in tights versus another set of cartoon characters in tights, all dancing around, flying through the air, pretending to punch each other. It is possible to watch WWE and TNA and ROH without betraying the other! I know for a brief period of time (before my wife got to the TIVO) I had a weekly ritual of watching Impact on Thursdays and Smackdown on Fridays and enjoying the hell out of both shows.
Love the good product. Don't watch the bad product. Criticize what's going wrong. But for the love of pete, can the Monday Night Wars just be over? Can the wrestling war be over without one company standing tall over the rest?
Enjoy! Or change the channel.
