So let me ask you this then. Why watch wrestling or hockey if you aren't a fan of the genre? Why watch TNA if you aren't a wrestling fan? Certainly there are shows on TV better than professional wrestling that you could watch rather than sitting through 2 hours of Impact Wrestling.
You're getting really hung up on this, and it's not that complicated.
Yes, I like professional wrestling. I watched WCW before I watched TNA, I watched WWE on and off over various spans, and I even watched ROH for about a year back when Styles, Joe, Aries, etc. were all still with the company. But I'm a TNA fan. When it comes to pro wrestling, it's the only game in town for me. I gave the others a shot, didn't like them, and have come to the conclusion that it's TNA or bust for me. Why is that so hard to understand?
Based on the logic being presented in a number of posts in this thread, I am not a "true" wrestling fan. I don't go out of my way to watch as much of it as possible. I don't go scour YouTube and torrent sites to download independent productions, buy or download backyard wrestling DVD's or anything of the sort. The two hours a week of TNA suit me just fine in meeting my pro wrestling needs. I could even go for more, were TNA to get additional broadcasting that didn't require me to go out and download it after the fact (like Xplosion), because again, TNA is my brand (thanks, Sting).
The same logic applies to hockey. I love the NHL. I'm a New York Rangers fan, which means the Rangers are my brand. I'll watch their games first and foremost, but I'll also watch various other games within the NHL year, and as many games as I possibly can during the playoffs. But using the logic in this thread put forth by a few users, I'm not a "true" hockey fan, in that I don't go out of my way to watch as much of it as is humanly possible. I don't care about the CHL or the AHL and only follow what I need to as it pertains directly to up and coming stars there, or as they affect the draft. And fact is, in most drafts, I haven't a clue who half the players are. I let TSN educate me on that during the first round broadcast, which does a great job of explaining to me who each player is and what they are expected to be.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm mocking the idea of "true" wrestling fan. As if you (the proverbial you) are a better wrestling fan than I because you watch more of it than me. You (again, proverbial) might be a more
dedicated fan, but you are not "better" than me. What exactly is the criteria to define "better" anyway? Do you cheer louder? Do you buy more t-shirts and DVD's? Do you pay for more PPV's, or stream fewer?
Long story short, the point I'm trying to make is that this "true" fan stuff is common place in sports as a means to belittle the opinions of others and make them feel inferior for not liking what you like. Sorry, but I don't subscribe to it. If you like WWE, good for you. I don't. Why do I have to be treated like I'm second class because I don't like the things you like? Get my point?
To me, you ARE a fan of wrestling but you're also a fan of the underdog. You're in the majority who don't go and watch Japanese or Mexican wrestling or even go to an indy show, but you like wrestling enough to want to watch it on TV. However, you liked a promotion that died and you kept the underdog mentality to watch the up and coming show rather than "sell out" and watch the show that won. I get that, but you're a wrestling fan otherwise you wouldn't watch TNA, you'd watch something else at that time on Thursdays (then again you often do anyway but that's not the point).
Yes, I'm a fan of wrestling. I'm not sure how we got to this point, but I'm pretty sure it's impossible to be a TNA fan if I don't enjoy wrestling. Like being a Rangers fan who hates hockey. It makes no sense.
As to the underdog thing and the sellout stuff, you're playing the conjecture game. I actually did "sell out" and watch WWE for a while in my last two years of college (2004-2006). Consistently, in fact. I watched RAW with friends of mine who were WWE fans every week for a good two years, if not longer. I was also watching years before then when The Hart Foundation heel stuff was going on with the debuting DX, which was some of the best stuff I'd seen. Hell, I even tried to come back to it at some point a few years back when Punk was doing that whole I'm leaving with the WWE title thing. I thought that was great. Problem was, I couldn't make it through more than about 20 minutes of anything else on the broadcast, because it's just not my brand. I don't have the dates recorded in my KB Time Keeper Book log, but my point is that I actually did give other brands a shot. I didn't like them. They just didn't do it for me.
There's certainly merit behind you using some of the things I've said about WWE to assume that it means I watch TNA because they are the underdog, but it's not entirely true. In a sense, sure, because they are actually the underdog, but I watch them because I can identify better with them. I have no stigmas and scars with them the way I do WWE, who put the company I loved more than any other out to pasture. That was another reason I found it so difficult to ever really attach myself to their product. I have little respect for VKM, and frankly, their fans don't exactly make it easy either — at least not the ones I tend to deal with (like the ones in this thread that probably never even took a breath in a year when anything but WWE was an option). They also put out a more serious product with more likeable characters (at least the types I like), and the familiarity with ex-WCW guys certainly greases the wheels. Even Mike Tenay is like a welcome home sign to me, having heard his voice every Monday night for years back when WCW was around.
