In this very ring

I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of this, I’ve hid it from friends and family for many years. It in no way matches what I have accomplished in my life. But at the end of the day, I have to face the facts. I’m a pro wrestling fan.

(Hangs head in shame)

There’s really no way to explain it. Can’t really hide it, I mean in my DVD collection is a 3 disc compilation of Ric Flair’s greatest matches. I actually requested for Christmas one year, “Wrestling’s Bloodiest Cage Matches” and was noticeably upset when I didn’t receive it as a present. I’ve been watching since I was seven years old. Every once in a while I’ll take some time off and right now I’m only watching it occasionally but I can still tell you the top stars in a second. Which raises the ultimate question: Why?

There are a few reasons. First of all, it is the ultimate in brain dead entertainment. You know it’s fake, I know it’s fake but we can all agree to watch it as entertainment. When I watch it I don’t have to think about the state of the world or what is going on in my job. I can watch one guy beat up another guy and know that at the end of the day, odds are no one is going to be hurt. And there is a great visceral release to that act. Somewhere back in our history when we would watch each other kill wooly mammoths, this is what we did. Or harkens back to those more violent times in our history. It’s a release, plain and simple.

Plus, it is mythology in a time where no mythology exists. We have heroes and villains and anti-heroes. Those who overcome unbelievable odds and evildoers who end up being put in their place. Most of the storylines are pulled from classic myths: glory, revenge, greed, lust, they’re not stretching very far from the basics. But since we don’t have gods anymore we have to create them. And this is one way to do it.

Or maybe there is just that weird thrill you get when seeing a guy get hit in the head with a steel chair. Or thrown through a table that has been set on fire. Or hit with a barbed wire baseball bat. It’s an action movie come to life. How can you beat that?

Ok, so it’s not Shakespeare. But I can read Shakespeare tomorrow. Triple H is fighting for the title tonight.