For many years I watched WWE PPVs and the occasional TNA PPV all by my lonesome self. I was content, but something was missing, I never had anyone to enjoy the fun with. If something stunning happened, I'd have to wait to discuss it on here, or if I was at home, I could notify my parents or sister, but they couldn't really sympathize with my excitement. That all changed last Summer when I was invited to join the fabled New Jersey Triad to watch a PPV at D-Man's apartment.
I was pretty sure I was not going to walk out of that encounter unscathed. I figured that, if I wasn't getting kidnapped by a bunch of internet psychopaths (what do you think happened to Papa Shango?), NorCal would surely put me into a choke hold while D-Man and IC laughed at my misery. Well, that night did change things for ol' JGlass. I instantly bonded with the trio, and became part of the team. Yeah, I called us a team; we even have t-shirts to prove it.
What changed is that I now had a group of people to watch PPVs with. I watched Extreme Rules and Capitol Punishment with them, and had a blast both times. However, the Summer of NJexus came to an end in July when I had to go back up to Boston for a Summer semester, and I was forced to watch PPVs all by myself.
But I couldn't go back to the way it was before, I needed someone to enjoy it with! So I recruited my new roommate, Ron, who turned out to be an ex-wrestling fan, and a HUGE Rock mark. I sucked him back in with the aid of Smackdown vs. Raw, and soon we were watching Raw together.
Then, Charlie came into the equation when we decided to go to Raw together, and I've gone to two more shows with him and watched two PPVs at his house since.
Watching a show with each one of these people/groups is a different experience, but before I get into that, let's give a brief overview of each one of the players, shall we?
JGlass- I like to make jokes. Not all of them are good. I'm 22, easy going, and I enjoy Italian food. My ideal date is November 17th, because that's my birthday. I also like the Summer, because it's warm. If I had to describe myself as a wrestling companion, I would use the phrase "child-like enthusiasm," as I have a tendency to jump around and cheer for faces, even if I like the heels better deep down.
IrishCanadian- He's not Canadian. He's also not very tall, but makes up for it with an impressive barrel chest, a Stallone jaw, and a striking resemblance to Chris Jericho. IC is pretty much EXACTLY as you'd imagine him on here, but with long spurts of niceness. He likes to push buttons, and he's usually the instigator of most of the arguments. He also drives conversation the most with some pretty interesting questions. He likes when his wrestling makes sense.
D-Man- D-Man is also not very tall, but he makes up for it by being a good sport (shocking, right?) and one of the friendliest guys I've ever met. He was easily the most welcoming of the three when I first met the Triad, possibly because he immediately called me "bro," and he's got one of those faces that makes you feel like you are a bro. He has a tendency to start to clean when the wrestling happens. He likes wrestling best when the people he likes wins, but finds anything that he doesn't like to be unreasonable. He usually comes around on it fairly quickly, unless we're talking about Alberto Del Rio.
NorCal- I've already praised the bajeezus out of NorCal, so I'll stick to the facts, not opinions. NorCal fits the NJexus bill of not being very tall, but he makes up for it in being fucking terrifying. That is before he starts talking and you realize that this man means you no harm, unless you are a threat to his country. Then again, if you are a threat to the country, by the time you're able to reach the conclusion that NorCal will kill you, you'll already be dead. He drinks a lot of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. He is like me, childlike enthusiasm about wrestling, but since he's been watching longer he's more stern with his opinions, where I can be easily convinced by a face saying something simple to get the fans popping.
My roommate Ron- He is tall, and black. In fact, he might be my first black friend. Don't blame me, I come from a very white town, and I never really got to be friends with too many black people in college. He's an Attitude Era fanboy, and thinks the PG Era is shit. If you ask him why, he'll give you the most typical answers ever. He hates John Cena for being phoney, but loves The Rock, which I find amusing considering John Cena seems to play himself, where Dwayne Johnson plays a ridiculous character. But I digress.
Charlie- His real name isn't Charlie. He's also pretty tall, I think just a bit taller than I am. He might be the only dude I know that has a more effeminate laugh than I do, which makes me like hanging around with him. He loves the lol's in real life as much as he does online. He is very strongly opinionated, and doesn't let me get away with anything in terms of wrestling conversations, like pronouncing Jim Duggan's last name as Doogan, or saying WCW sucked, when I really only meant the dying days of WCW.
Now... for the differences.
Food we order
Ron- Pizza and fries
Charlie- Pizza and mozz sticks
Triad- I get a few slices of pizza and maybe some mozz sticks, NorCal eats an entire pizza and some chicken wings, IC orders some big fancy sandwich and soup, D-Man orders a pasta and vegetable dish, and IC and D-Man talk about how fancy they are.
Pre-show discussion
Ron- Me explaining what all these feuds are about.
Charlie- Laughing about something stupidly awesome, or awesomely stupid. Sometimes we play videogames.
Triad- Usually a comparison of modern wrestlers/angles to those of the past. IC and D-Man sometimes talk about their adult lives. One time NorCal and I snuck away to talk about how young we are, but were ambushed by old people and this one dumb drunk chick who was trying to pole dance on a lamp post. Dumbass.
The Show starts and...
Ron- We quiet down and the anticipation for a PPV we're illegally streaming builds.
Charlie- Dude, it's been on for like five minutes... No I don't want to skip the open, I want to see the package and the pyro and shit... NO YOU WENT TOO FAR! Shit, now we have to start over!
Triad- Someone, if not everyone, is talking over the TV. Someone will eventually raise the volume on the TV, and we'll all just get louder to talk over it.
After match discussion
Ron- I try to explain to him what ring psychology is and why the rest holds and working a limb is important to a match.
Charlie- We discuss what we thought of that match. We generally agree.
Triad- Whoever was paying attention tries to discuss the match, but are eventually derailed by another conversation, or someone insulting someone else.
Kofi comes out and I clap along to his entrance
Ron- He laughs at my childlike enthusiasm, admiring my lack of inhibition to express myself.
Charlie- He looks at me like he wants to kill me. Maybe he does.
Triad- It doesn't matter. NorCal is eventually going to mimic Jack Swagger, and probably CM Punk. IC and D-Man might mimic someone too.
Fun story: During Swagger's entrance during Survivor Series NorCal and IC ran into the aisle and started doing pushups on the concrete steps in MSG.
A surprise happens!
Ron- Why the fuck is JGlass jumping and running around our apartment like an idiot?
Charlie- I'm jumping and running around his basement, and he's marking out in his chair.
Triad- Anywhere between 50-100% of the room is jumping around and yelling. Then the house's owner realizes he might be annoying his neighbors, and tells everyone to settle down.
Main event time
Ron- I've spent the past two hours talking this up, it better be good.
Charlie- Thank fucking god the main event is on, we've been waiting all night for this shit!
Triad- Everyone is paying attention for once. Unless D-Man is cleaning.
Show's over
Ron- He and I will spend the next 30 minutes debating why that show was good or bad, why John Cena is a great wrestler, who the main star of the Attitude Era was (he is CONVINCED that The Rock is a bigger wrestling star than Austin, and there's no telling him otherwise), and then we'll probably play some SVR before we go to bed.
Charlie- One time we watch Louis CK after the show. The other time I had work in the morning, so we said a quick good bye and I left.
Triad- There's some left over conversation, but once that's out of the way everyone gathers their stuff, some hugs are had at the door, and everyone goes their separate ways. It's super bromantic.
And that's all I could think of for now. I've also met Theo, who I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with, but he's a riot. He snaps off jokes very quickly, and he doesn't hold back. If he has something to say, he's going to say it, even if it awakens the wrath of NorCal. I'm meeting X in a month or so, and I'll report to you on what he's like as well.
If any of you have considered meeting up with forum buds, I strongly suggest it. There should be almost no awkwardness when you meet as you already have two shared interests: wrestling and an internet forum you both post on. I seriously recommend doing it, as I consider all four of my former internet friends to be great real life friends now, and I love spending time with all of them.
I was pretty sure I was not going to walk out of that encounter unscathed. I figured that, if I wasn't getting kidnapped by a bunch of internet psychopaths (what do you think happened to Papa Shango?), NorCal would surely put me into a choke hold while D-Man and IC laughed at my misery. Well, that night did change things for ol' JGlass. I instantly bonded with the trio, and became part of the team. Yeah, I called us a team; we even have t-shirts to prove it.
What changed is that I now had a group of people to watch PPVs with. I watched Extreme Rules and Capitol Punishment with them, and had a blast both times. However, the Summer of NJexus came to an end in July when I had to go back up to Boston for a Summer semester, and I was forced to watch PPVs all by myself.
But I couldn't go back to the way it was before, I needed someone to enjoy it with! So I recruited my new roommate, Ron, who turned out to be an ex-wrestling fan, and a HUGE Rock mark. I sucked him back in with the aid of Smackdown vs. Raw, and soon we were watching Raw together.
Then, Charlie came into the equation when we decided to go to Raw together, and I've gone to two more shows with him and watched two PPVs at his house since.
Watching a show with each one of these people/groups is a different experience, but before I get into that, let's give a brief overview of each one of the players, shall we?
JGlass- I like to make jokes. Not all of them are good. I'm 22, easy going, and I enjoy Italian food. My ideal date is November 17th, because that's my birthday. I also like the Summer, because it's warm. If I had to describe myself as a wrestling companion, I would use the phrase "child-like enthusiasm," as I have a tendency to jump around and cheer for faces, even if I like the heels better deep down.
IrishCanadian- He's not Canadian. He's also not very tall, but makes up for it with an impressive barrel chest, a Stallone jaw, and a striking resemblance to Chris Jericho. IC is pretty much EXACTLY as you'd imagine him on here, but with long spurts of niceness. He likes to push buttons, and he's usually the instigator of most of the arguments. He also drives conversation the most with some pretty interesting questions. He likes when his wrestling makes sense.
D-Man- D-Man is also not very tall, but he makes up for it by being a good sport (shocking, right?) and one of the friendliest guys I've ever met. He was easily the most welcoming of the three when I first met the Triad, possibly because he immediately called me "bro," and he's got one of those faces that makes you feel like you are a bro. He has a tendency to start to clean when the wrestling happens. He likes wrestling best when the people he likes wins, but finds anything that he doesn't like to be unreasonable. He usually comes around on it fairly quickly, unless we're talking about Alberto Del Rio.
NorCal- I've already praised the bajeezus out of NorCal, so I'll stick to the facts, not opinions. NorCal fits the NJexus bill of not being very tall, but he makes up for it in being fucking terrifying. That is before he starts talking and you realize that this man means you no harm, unless you are a threat to his country. Then again, if you are a threat to the country, by the time you're able to reach the conclusion that NorCal will kill you, you'll already be dead. He drinks a lot of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. He is like me, childlike enthusiasm about wrestling, but since he's been watching longer he's more stern with his opinions, where I can be easily convinced by a face saying something simple to get the fans popping.
My roommate Ron- He is tall, and black. In fact, he might be my first black friend. Don't blame me, I come from a very white town, and I never really got to be friends with too many black people in college. He's an Attitude Era fanboy, and thinks the PG Era is shit. If you ask him why, he'll give you the most typical answers ever. He hates John Cena for being phoney, but loves The Rock, which I find amusing considering John Cena seems to play himself, where Dwayne Johnson plays a ridiculous character. But I digress.
Charlie- His real name isn't Charlie. He's also pretty tall, I think just a bit taller than I am. He might be the only dude I know that has a more effeminate laugh than I do, which makes me like hanging around with him. He loves the lol's in real life as much as he does online. He is very strongly opinionated, and doesn't let me get away with anything in terms of wrestling conversations, like pronouncing Jim Duggan's last name as Doogan, or saying WCW sucked, when I really only meant the dying days of WCW.
Now... for the differences.
Food we order
Ron- Pizza and fries
Charlie- Pizza and mozz sticks
Triad- I get a few slices of pizza and maybe some mozz sticks, NorCal eats an entire pizza and some chicken wings, IC orders some big fancy sandwich and soup, D-Man orders a pasta and vegetable dish, and IC and D-Man talk about how fancy they are.
Pre-show discussion
Ron- Me explaining what all these feuds are about.
Charlie- Laughing about something stupidly awesome, or awesomely stupid. Sometimes we play videogames.
Triad- Usually a comparison of modern wrestlers/angles to those of the past. IC and D-Man sometimes talk about their adult lives. One time NorCal and I snuck away to talk about how young we are, but were ambushed by old people and this one dumb drunk chick who was trying to pole dance on a lamp post. Dumbass.
The Show starts and...
Ron- We quiet down and the anticipation for a PPV we're illegally streaming builds.
Charlie- Dude, it's been on for like five minutes... No I don't want to skip the open, I want to see the package and the pyro and shit... NO YOU WENT TOO FAR! Shit, now we have to start over!
Triad- Someone, if not everyone, is talking over the TV. Someone will eventually raise the volume on the TV, and we'll all just get louder to talk over it.
After match discussion
Ron- I try to explain to him what ring psychology is and why the rest holds and working a limb is important to a match.
Charlie- We discuss what we thought of that match. We generally agree.
Triad- Whoever was paying attention tries to discuss the match, but are eventually derailed by another conversation, or someone insulting someone else.
Kofi comes out and I clap along to his entrance
Ron- He laughs at my childlike enthusiasm, admiring my lack of inhibition to express myself.
Charlie- He looks at me like he wants to kill me. Maybe he does.
Triad- It doesn't matter. NorCal is eventually going to mimic Jack Swagger, and probably CM Punk. IC and D-Man might mimic someone too.
Fun story: During Swagger's entrance during Survivor Series NorCal and IC ran into the aisle and started doing pushups on the concrete steps in MSG.
A surprise happens!
Ron- Why the fuck is JGlass jumping and running around our apartment like an idiot?
Charlie- I'm jumping and running around his basement, and he's marking out in his chair.
Triad- Anywhere between 50-100% of the room is jumping around and yelling. Then the house's owner realizes he might be annoying his neighbors, and tells everyone to settle down.
Main event time
Ron- I've spent the past two hours talking this up, it better be good.
Charlie- Thank fucking god the main event is on, we've been waiting all night for this shit!
Triad- Everyone is paying attention for once. Unless D-Man is cleaning.
Show's over
Ron- He and I will spend the next 30 minutes debating why that show was good or bad, why John Cena is a great wrestler, who the main star of the Attitude Era was (he is CONVINCED that The Rock is a bigger wrestling star than Austin, and there's no telling him otherwise), and then we'll probably play some SVR before we go to bed.
Charlie- One time we watch Louis CK after the show. The other time I had work in the morning, so we said a quick good bye and I left.
Triad- There's some left over conversation, but once that's out of the way everyone gathers their stuff, some hugs are had at the door, and everyone goes their separate ways. It's super bromantic.
And that's all I could think of for now. I've also met Theo, who I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with, but he's a riot. He snaps off jokes very quickly, and he doesn't hold back. If he has something to say, he's going to say it, even if it awakens the wrath of NorCal. I'm meeting X in a month or so, and I'll report to you on what he's like as well.
If any of you have considered meeting up with forum buds, I strongly suggest it. There should be almost no awkwardness when you meet as you already have two shared interests: wrestling and an internet forum you both post on. I seriously recommend doing it, as I consider all four of my former internet friends to be great real life friends now, and I love spending time with all of them.
