Sin Cara... Breathe.

If Sin Cara was standing in front of me right now, I would say one thing to the young man: "Breathe." ...err, "Respirar."

I just watched his match from this past Monday, and hot damn, he is a textbook case of someone who is completely overwhelmed in his first few weeks in the "Big Leagues".

He's botched his entrance twice already, and whether that's his fault or the guys who put the trampoline in place, HE is the one who comes out looking bad.

But his biggest problem right now is he is going 150 km/h in his matches. You can tell by his body language that from the moment he comes through the curtain until the time he leaves, he takes one, maybe two breaths. He's not hitting his signature moves cleanly since he's rushing into all of them, and that's a real good way to bury yourself. That moonsault at the end of his match last Monday was downright embarrassing. He was a solid three or four feet off his mark.

So, Sin Cara, Mistico, my dear Mexican friend, PLEASE... Breathe. You're a young guy, and have plenty of time to make your mark in the WWE. You're not helping anyone by trying to force yourself to be phenomenal. All you need to do is remember that it comes naturally, and you'll be just fine.

- WrestleWriter

Montage

Well, here it is. The almighty montage.

As far as the actual project is concerned, I believe my montage is quite a bit different from most everyone else's. The primary reason being that while most people CREATED a concept, planned it exactly how they wanted and then filmed it, I was completely at the whim of whatever these performers allowed me to capture on camera. I also only had opportunity to get a shot, with no option for a re-do, so it was definitely a frightening risk for me to take to try this, considering it was my very first outing with the ENG camera.

Overall I had a great time at the show, and it was awesome to get some of the shots that I ended up getting. Lots of talent in that company, and I am happy to announce that I will officially be working with Steeltown Pro Wrestling over the next year to create a video documentary on independent pro wrestling in Winnipeg (and area). Stay glued to the blog for any and all updates concerning this next project, and I'll also post more footage.

Hope everyone enjoys the montage.

Thank you, Edge.

13-year veteran.
11-time World Champion.
31 Championships in the WWE.
Mr. Money in the Bank.
Royal Rumble winner.
Tag-Team legend.

To WWE Superstar Edge (Adam Copeland), not a single one of these things means more to him than the fact that he can still walk. And that is the way it should be. In the midst of his eleventh reign as a World Champion in the WWE, Edge has decided to walk away from the business that made him a legend, but is now threatening to make him a cripple.

In 2003, Edge suffered a severe neck injury that put him on the shelf for close to year. There is no such thing as a permanent fix for a broken neck, and while I'm sure he knew that at the time, he is being painfully reminded today. After beginning to lose feeling in his arms, and living with daily chronic pain, Edge has decided to take the advice of his doctors and say goodbye to professional wrestling, and for that, I applaud him louder than ever.

Had Eddie Guerrero or Chris Benoit been able to make this brave decision years ago, they would still be here with us today. Had Edge not been able to, perhaps it would be him that we buried next.

So to my fellow Canadian, I say I have never had more respect for you. The memories that you are leaving us with will more than suffice, the sacrifices you've made can never be repaid to you, and the legacy you have forged will live forever in the hearts and minds of the millions of Edgeheads around the world. It's time for you to enjoy your life, and nobody is more deserving of that privelege than you. Thank you, Edge.

Montage Teaser!

Finally got a look at some of the footage I shot at the Steeltown Pro Wrestling show over the weekend, and am very pleased. One shot in particular stuck out in my mind, so I checked up on it to see if I captured it the way I wanted to; I did. Yeah this one's makin' the final cut, that's for sure. So here's a VERY brief teaser shot of the type of content you can expect to see in my final montage, which will be up in about a week. Big thanks once again to SPW and all the talent at that show. Enjoy!

As Promised...

A WWW-exclusive (unless WWE shuts me down)... Here is the video package played for The Miz at WrestleMania 27. Awesome, awesome video. If you don't know much about The Miz, I suggest you check out my post on him before watching the video, to fully understand the story it's telling.

Enjoy.


01 by DGenerate

WrestleMania 27 Review

Alright, let's get right into this. I'm sure a lot of folks aren't going to like what I have to say about this disaster of a PPV, but that's what they make a comment box for.

So we open with the World Heavyweight Championship match, whose brilliant idea was that? That was my first thought; then I saw the match, saw a Royal Rumble winner's momentum get thrown in the trash, and the cheap, childish antics that followed, and my thought changed to "Ok, I'm actually glad they got that out of the way, I probably would have been more disappointed if I saw that as the second-last match..."

Rhodes and Mysterio was alright. The match was alright, but don't think I'm praising it. It was a Smackdown-caliber match, not something I would have expected to see on a WrestleMania stage. Sorry Rey and young talent like Cody Rhodes, but in a completely separate but equally idiotic move, the WWE decided to scrap the Money in the Bank match from WrestleMania. That means you guys need to step up and fill the "spot-void" that we are now accustomed to seeing at Mania. Anything less just feels like the bar has been lowered.

Four minutes of Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus probably would have been the best match on the card, it infuriates me to no end that I have to watch eight time-fillers come out and wrestle a four-minute pointless, piece-of-shit match that is literally a slap in the face of everyone who paid their hard-earned money to tune in. Yeah, I'm not writing out everyone's name, hopefully you know which match I'm talking about.

Punk and Orton wasn't bad, but pretty much same issue as with Mysterio/Rhodes. I shouldn't have my ass firmly planted in my seat for an entire WrestleMania match. Shouldn't happen.

Cole and Lawler... Whatever, I didn't really have high expectations for this one, though I still managed to be surprised at just how atrociously abysmal Cole is at wrestling. Like I said, Stunners and a beer party is what the people paid for, and that's what they got.

Triple H and Taker. Sigh... Here's where I get my heat. Hated it. Hot garbage. Opened with the three biggest spots of the entire night and then spammed their finishers for, what, 15 minutes? And people are saying "It told a great story", yeah, well my Grandpa tells some pretty good stories too, but that doesn't mean I'd pay $70 to hear one. Next.

Nice flippies Snooki. Next.

Best part of the entire night came next, and that was The Miz's video package. I'm going to try and post it here later tonight. Absolutely epic. Cena's gospel choir was so random and confusing, I'm glad they got booed. Cena and Miz was good. Too short. Thought Miz was dead after smacking his head, God that was ugly looking. But anyways, it was pretty obvious that the entire show was basically designed around the final five minutes. It was cool, but couldn't save the entire show unfortunately.

Safe to say this is the most disappointed I've been with a show. Not the worst show ever, but I think it had the most hype and most potential to be good, for how bad it turned out to be. Danielson and Sheamus could have put on a clinic too, but they decided to have those garbage tag matches instead.

As a lot of people are saying, and I tend to agree with, WrestleMania 28 already looks better than 27. Very, very interesting development to have that match made a year in advance. I'll be very interested to see what Rock chooses to do between now and then.

Also, REALLY enjoyed seeing Austin wrestle as much as he did last night, damn, he's still got it. Lou Thesz and the Elbow were flawless, granted far from a whole match, but I was surprised at just how well he delivered. He looked match-ready to me.

Sorry this post has been a little random, lots to say, very little time to do it. I may post again tonight, with the Miz video package and maybe some more well-composed thoughts or anything I forgot to say. Anyways, flame away!

Will The Rock Walk His Talk?

With Monday Night RAW fast approaching, and a guaranteed appearance of The Great One looming, three big questions are plaguing the minds of Professional Wrestling fans everywhere.

The first question is the obvious one: Will The Rock actually deliver on his promises-a-plenty? Saying "I am never, ever going away" is not only a huge promise to make, but it's actually as crystal clear as a freshly Windex'd window. There's no reading between lines in a statement like that, The Rock has simply stated that from here on out he will always be a part of the WWE.

Thus far, his presence has been felt primarily via satellite, through which The Most Electrifying Man In All Of Entertainment loses about 10,000 volts. Fans have taken to the rooftops crying "Fraud!" among other things, but the bottom line is that The People's Champ will be live on RAW this Monday, WrestleMania on Sunday, and Monday Night RAW after that. Two weeks, three electrifying appearances that I think will answer all of the pending questions and uncertainties surrounding The Rock.

At this point in time, I can't realistically see The Rock not laying a hand on John Cena. And if The Rock ends up laying the Smackdown on Cena, how could that not lead to at LEAST one match? Which brings me to my next question:

Can The Rock still go? Seven years is a long time to be away from the ring, and I would imagine Rocky's got a few inches of rust on him right now. He obviously won't be wrestling any dark matches, house shows or anything like that before jumping right into his first headlining match. So you've got to think: If The Rock is not intending on wrestling more than one match, will he wrestle at all?

Shawn Michaels was gone for four years, and when he returned to fight Triple H at SummerSlam 2002, he intended it to be a one-time-only match. He details in his book how he specifically requested a Street Fight, since that is one of the easiest and least technical matches to wrestle, since he had so much ring rust. Just to put in to perspective what four years away from the ring can do to a legend like HBK.

Would The Rock really want to risk wrestling one single match with seven years of ring-rust on him, and having his final WWE match be a shit show? There's only one way to get, and keep, the ring rust off and that's to wrestle on a regular basis. So at this point, I'd say it's either ten matches or none for Rocky. I think we all share the same preference.

While questions and controversy continue to swirl around The Rock, the only thing we can do is wait and see. We may never get answers to these questions at all. The Rock may just disappear one day, and leave us forever wondering when he'll be back. And it may be seven days, seven years, or... never. But I'm confident that the next two weeks will be very telling of The Rock's intentions, what we can realistically expect from him, and will answer perhaps the Greatest question of all: Are we truly entering into The People's Era?

Love Him Or Hate Him.

There's a lot to be said about John Cena. Good and bad. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the guy, so let's dissect this a little bit.

On the one hand, he has very limited ability in the ring. Unlike most of the big names in the WWE, Cena actually got into the business rather late in his life, and didn't come up on the independents at all. He was trained by one of the WWE's training schools, and broke out from there, although The Miz was much of the same story. I simply don't care for Cena's wrestling style whatsoever; you will never see anything unpredictable from him, and that's a good way to lose the intelligent wrestling fans quickly.

At the end of the day, all big decisions come down from the man himself, Vince McMahon, and I know that Cena's gimmick of 'Hustle. Loyalty. Respect. Never back down, never quit.' is the product of Vince and the WWE Creative Team, but unfortunately Cena is the messenger and I absolutely detest the creature that he has turned in to. The Doctor of Thuganomics was great TV. It was edgy, it was entertaining, and it was a lot more of Cena's actual personality than his current gimmick. Again, it may appeal to the little kiddies of the WWE Universe, who love seeing Superman save the day again, but the older and smarter fans like seeing Superman come up short every now and again.

On the other hand, though, there is no denying that John Cena may possibly be the hardest working man in the entertainment business. Not only that, but he manages to somehow remain one of the nicest as well, and this I can personally attest to.

I met Cena on September 18, 2006. I was down in Montreal, with my parents, to see the WWE Supershow that was rolling through town. The show was amazing, and is probably my second favourite of all that I have attended, and we were also staying at the hotel that a large portion of the WWE roster happened to be checked in to.

We were waiting down in the lobby, watching the WWE Superstars roll in to the hotel, and my mother was somehow lucky enough to find herself enjoying some friendly conversation with the one and only Ric Flair (Wooooh!). Stars like Carlito, Jerry Lawler, and a couple of Divas walked through the lobby, signing an autograph here and there, but suddenly, and without warning, a buzz began to make its way through the crowd, and before I knew it, everyone was outside; Cena had arrived.

Security cleared the fans to either side of the doorway, so Cena could get through, and when the limo door opened, all hell broke loose. Cheers, boos, taunts, and expletives flew at Cena from all angles, and the tension was almost unbearable. I couldn't believe some of the things people were saying to him, inches from his face. "Fuck you, Cena!" "You fuckin' suck!" It's never been put into clearer perspective for me what these guys go through on a day-to-day basis, and Cena did not look happy. After a PPV and RAW back-to-back, he was clearly beat up, and tired.

It was at this moment in time that a particularly idiotic fan decided it would be a good idea to reach out and grab Cena's shoulder. Cena turned on a dime, and went nose to nose with the man who violated his personal space. It took about five seconds of inaudible words out of Cena's mouth to put a sheepish look on the man's face, and also silence the entire crowd of people. Very tense moment.

Cena went inside the hotel, and waited in line with everyone else to check in to his room. Somehow (and I'll never really understand how) security managed to make every single Cena hater disappear, and by the time he had checked in to his room, he came over to the group of about 50 of us who were actually happy to see him. The guy had just been through a hellacious Tables, Ladders & Chairs match, and RAW the next night and had visible battle wounds.

No doubt the only thing he wanted to do was go to bed, but he came over and spent about an hour signing autographs and taking pictures with every single person who was there. And for that, as much as I can't stand him on my television, I have the utmost amount of respect for him. From his physical state, to the fact that he'd just been harassed and disrespected, I was totally impressed with how much he gave back to his fans.

So Cena, I'll almost always be cheering every time you get put on your back for the 1-2-3, but as a person your class and hard work goes a long way, and I'll always have a lot of respect for how much you give back to the business and to your fans.

(Now goddamnit Jericho, include Winnipeg on your book tours, because I need a picture with you next!)

It's Official: I'm Psyched.

While watching Monday Night RAW last week, I received a truly shocking and truly wonderful surprise. There, on my television screen, was an advertisement for a RAW house show on May 27 in... WINNIPEG! I couldn't believe it, I don't think it's even been a year since they were here last, and typically it's every two years or even more than that... Tickets are on sale this Saturday, but wait, there's more!

A penciled card has been released for the show, and it looks so delicious I can barely contain my excitement:

---
WWE Championship Match
John Cena vs. The Miz

Fan’s Choice Match – Submission Match or Falls Count Anywhere
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk

Fatal Four Way Match for the United States Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus vs. John Morrison vs. ?

Unified Diva Championship Match
Eve vs. The Bellas

R-Truth vs. Alex Riley

Special Raw Tag Team Match
Sin Cara & Evan Bourne vs. The NEXUS

Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd

The Great Khali vs. Ted DiBiase (w/Maryse)

Percy Watson vs. Zack Ryder
---

Yeah, ok, there's really only four matches on there that I really want to see, but they are great matchups.

I can't even articulate how over the moon I am about seeing Sin Cara team with Evan Bourne (seems the WWE was thinking along the same lines as me with wanting to get Sin Cara and Evan Bourne together... Though I'd still rather see them against one another). That match is going to blow the roof off the place. I've also never seen Bourne live, or Mistico obviously, so those will be awesome firsts for me.

Nikki will finally get to see John Cena in the flesh, which reminds me, I've never posted the picture of me and Cena on here, and I should. I will put it up within the next couple days, and also share the wild story behind that one...

So, if there's any non-fans out there reading this (there usually is), I highly recommend buying a ticket and checking out this show, even non-fans will get enjoyment out of this action, it promises to be a great night of wrestling. Tickets on sale this Saturday. See you there!

Click here for information and tickets!

Finally.

Finally. Finally...

Sorry, Hollywood, but he's ours again. For those of you who live under a proverbial "Professional Wrestling rock" (*cringe*), last night on Monday Night RAW, 'The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment' made a triumphant return to the WWE last night, after being gone for seven long years. 'The Great One', The Rock, shocked the world last night after showing up to Monday Night RAW, announced as the official host of WrestleMania XXVII.

Finally...

After painful deliberation and tension-building, "If ya smeeeeeelll!!" exploded into the arena, and the fans in attendance and everyone watching around the world went insane. It had been seven years since The Rock was last seen in a WWE ring, and he says that now, he's back and he's never leaving.

Finally...

WWE is must-see TV once again. The Rock is undeniably the greatest performer in the history of the business. From his untouchable mic skills and charisma, to his in-ring agility and endurance, The Rock is the total package when it comes to Pro Wrestling. It's still hard for me to get used to the idea that I not only want to watch Monday Night RAW every week, but I'm actually excited and looking forward to it. These are the moments that, when the product is at its lowest, remind you why you're a fan, and always will be. This is the payoff.

Finally...

We might possibly get rid of this PG crap. The censors could barely keep up with Rocky last night, and he's said before that if he ever comes back he is not abiding by any "family friendly" guidelines. A censored Rock is almost worse than no Rock at all. I think seeing the ratings from having him on on a regular basis will be enough to snap the big wigs out of their notion that PG was the right way to go.

Finally...

The business is in good hands. Before last night, the WWE was in a scary state. So much young talent, and only a smattering of break-out stars. The huge stars of the WWE are getting up there in age. They're burnt out mentally and physically and can't go the way that they used to. At this stage in the game, guys like Miz, MVP, Kennedy, Morrison; they should be main eventing. Two of those are gone, which is practically a damn tragedy. Miz broke through, but for the others, they're stuck in a sort of purgatory. The Rock creates superstars. I think he could really bring a couple of these young guys up HUGE, and really leave the business in a solid place before he leaves for good.

Finally...

The Rock is paying back the WWE and its fans. All these years, no one really knew if he was ever going to come back. And oh, the bitter taste in our mouths, to think that The Rock just used the fame he built in the WWE and used it to get his foot in Hollywood's door, abandoning his true home and his true fans. It just felt genuinely GOOD to see him saying (through his actions) "I didn't forget about you guys, I lived my dream in Hollywood, I loved it, but this is where I belong, and yes, I'm back."

Finally...

All the dream matches that we've been, well, dreaming about can become realities. The Rock vs. John Cena, vs. Bryan Danielson (now THAT one... has enormous potential, Rock vs. Chris Benoit were a couple of the greatest matches of all-time), vs. CM Punk, vs. John Morrison, vs. Randy Orton, vs. The Miz... I could go on forever. All matches that have never been done before, and all matches that could elevate those guys to levels they never even knew existed.

FINALLY...

The Rock has come BACK... home.

Remember When...

Remember 'Save Us Y2J'? And how ingenious of a return angle that was? Remember enjoying a nice Monday Night RAW on September 24th, 2007 and seeing this little guy?



At the time I remember thinking "what the hell was that??" They used to just sneak them into such random moments, someone would be cutting a promo in the ring and that little viral video would hit...

I remember the wrestling community going nuts and analyzing every one of them, frame by frame, to figure out what all the code meant. And the craziest part was that all the code did actually mean something. It was over three years ago, so I'll never be able to remember any of it, but I do remember one line of code ended up reference the second (guessing) track on a specific WWE CD, which was -- you guessed it -- Chris Jericho's theme music. Things like that.

Almost two months this went on! Until November 19, and I just remember losing my mind when I saw that torch-bearer get smacked down. I knew it was him for a good month already, but it was just one of those moments where, whether you knew it was going to happen or not, you knew you were watching something AWESOME.



Notice how he DIDN'T return at a Royal Rumble and get dumped out in two minutes?

Jericho has said in a recent interview that his next deal with WWE is 90% complete. I just hope he gets here in time to save us from Alberto Del Rio! :-(

Mysteries and Madness

Madness first. I can't believe Alberto Del Rio won the Rumble... Madness! I did pick CM Punk to win it, and he had a good thing goin' with Nexus for a while there, until that meddlesome John Cena came down to the ring... Oh well, perhaps I'll predict correctly next year. I'll make my guess right now! Daniel Bryan, winner of the 2012 Royal Rumble, you heard it here first!

The 40-man Royal Rumble wasn't AS bad as I thought it would be. There was a couple of moments where the ring was definitely over-crowded, but on the whole it turned out pretty well.

God do I feel bad for Booker T... Who the hell booked (no pun intended) that match, seriously.

"Oh, wow, look Chavo's back!"

*Chavo gets eliminated*

"Holy cow, Booker T is back!?"

*Booker T gets eliminated*

"Oh my god, DIESEL!!!!"

*Diesel gets eliminated*

Three returns in one night, none of them went over, and WWE puts the main focus on Diesel's return... Jesus... Like I said when Booker T got dumped over the top rope minutes after he came in, "Aaaaand now he remembers why he left..."

Now mysteries. This mysterious video aired on WWE RAW last night, and has caused a bit of buzzin'. So, who is it??

Remember When...

Yeah I realize I'm a day late here, but we'll just pretend I posted this yesterday.

Remember when Joey Mercury got his face destroyed by a steel ladder?



I remember watching this PPV live, and being completely stunned. Part of the reason I chose to feature this is because I can't believe it slipped my mind when I wrote my post on injuries in the ring. This is one of the only times someone has actually been removed from a match due to an injury. Immediately following this, Joey Mercury (Adam Birch) was rushed to the hospital. Part of the reason was probably because his eye would have fallen out had he stayed in the ring, and the other was because it was an 8-man match. So he was able to leave without compromising the entire match.

You can see in the video that right before Jeff jumps on to the ladder, Matt Hardy smacks Mercury and Nitro's heads together, before putting both their heads in position for the spot. Seems to me that with Mercury's gaze being straight down, he had no idea that Jeff had already leaped off the turnbuckle, and couldn't get his hands up in time. He took the full force of a steel ladder leg right to his nose and left eye.

The impact shattered his nose and orbital bone, and he received twenty stitches; five on the outside and "fifteen on the inside", which makes me shudder just hearing it.

Mercury said that at the time that it happened, he was certain he had lost his eye. You can see in the video that the first thing he does after the impact is clutch frantically at his left eye, to see if it was still there. The after-effect?



Try telling that guy that professional wrestling is fake.

WWE's Royal Fumble?

Ladies and gentleman, mark your calendar! January 30, 2010, feast your eyes on the unprecedented 40-man Royal Rumble! Or the 40-man "What The F*ck Is Going On In There??" or the 40-man "Oh My God, ANOTHER One??" or the 40-man "We'll Be Taking a 10-Minute Commercial Break While We Rebuild The Ring".

If you couldn't tell, I'm not in love with the WWE's idea of having a 40-man Royal Rumble this year instead of the regular (like, 20 years regular) 30.

First of all, even 30 was too many at certain points. Sometimes there'd be 10 guys in the ring sluggin' it out, and the poor director backstage must just be crappin' his pants, because he can't keep it on a wide shot for five minutes straight, but as soon as he grabs a zoomed-in camera angle, he misses a big spot on the other side of the damn ring. It just doesn't work well. But 40?? I can only imagine...

Second, and this is a true story, a day before WWE announced the 40-man change, I literally thought to myself, "When we remove about six to ten Superstars who will be having regular matches at the PPV, are they even left with 30 wrestlers who could credibly be in the Rumble?" And now they have 40 spots to fill! All I'll say is I think it's a pretty safe bet that Hacksaw got a friendly phone call from Vince a few days ago...

I'm so sick of this company constantly trying to fix things that ain't broke. You know what were good Pay-Per-View names? No Way Out and Judgment Day. You know what are possibly the worst Pay-Per-View names ever created? "WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs" and "WWE Hell-in-a-Cell"!!!! What is WRONG with you!?

You know who one of the greatest wrestlers in this era is? Bryan Danielson! You know what's just mean and brainless? Changing his damn name to Daniel Bryan!!!!

Boy, someone over there needs a stern talking-to, I'll tell you that much. Stern as hell! ...I apologize, I hadn't realized there was so much anger in my heart. But seriously, I'll give the Royal Rumble a shot, it's my favorite staple match all year, but I'm not expecting greatness. I'm definitely not expecting it to be as good as it used to be, that's for sure.

Tribute to the Fans

I’ve been a Professional Wrestling fan for about seven years now. Over the course of these years, I’ve been privileged to attend about six or seven live WWE shows. The shows each varied in significance, from a non-televised house show to WrestleMania 23, but no matter the grandeur, there is one thing that seems to stay constant throughout: the fans. A quick scan around the arena can usually give me a pretty good idea of what kinds of fans are in attendance. It doesn’t take an in depth conversation with the individual to recognize which category they fall in to.

First there’s the ‘mark’. A mark is a wrestling term, used to define someone who cannot separate fiction from reality when it comes to Pro Wrestling. Marks are wrestling fans at heart, but for all the wrong reasons. They have absolutely no concept of the matches being pre-determined, or the characters and personalities being staged. Marks can most often be seen on YouTube, in self-shot videos, chastising Kane for burying The Undertaker alive, and tragically ending his life. Or standing from their seats, hand-over-mouth and wide-eyed after seeing John Cena dumped through a wooden table. Marks will forever be a source of laughter to more educated fans, and they will forever wonder why.

Next is the ‘smark’, which is simply a play off the previous term, to stand for ‘smart mark’. Smarks are just as big of fans as marks, only they have a firm understanding of the ins and outs of the business. Smarks understand that every match is pre-determined, and that there is a lot of acting involved in the personalities portrayed in the ring. Smarks will often have knowledge of backstage politics, or certain wrestlers’ personal lives. Smarks can often be seen cheering for the heels (bad guys) and booing the babyfaces (good guys), since they have grown weary of seeing the stereotypical ‘Superman saves the day’ win.

‘Dedicated fans’ are a rare breed but by far the easiest to spot. They are typically 35+ but not exclusively. Dedicated fans are dressed head to toe in WWE clothing and merchandise. They are usually wearing a WWE brand baseball cap, t-shirt, armbands, and jeans. But they’re not finished yet. Slung over their shoulder is a $250 replica championship belt, in one hand is the program for the evening and they could very well be carrying a WWE plush toy or other paraphernalia. Dedicated fans are usually seen walking the halls around the concession booths, and not in their seats, simply because they’ve been to so many events that seeing the show isn’t of high priority to them; they come for the atmosphere… and to show off their merchandise.

‘Clueless fans’ are also fairly easy to spot, and the majority tends to be comprised by one sub-category: girlfriends. Clueless fans typically have no desire to be in attendance, and don’t watch the programming regularly. They view Pro Wrestling as a bunch of rednecks throwing fake punches at one another, and can often be overheard saying, “who’s that?” and “what just happened?” Clueless fans can be seen blowing bubbles with their gum, twirling their hair, looking annoyed, and texting.

Last and least are ‘the crazies’. The scary thing about the crazies is that they cannot be easily identified at first; they fit no standard physical definition. But once the crazies reveal themselves, there is simply no mistaking them. They can be seen either in the arena, at a show, or just in a regular setting with a wrestler present. The crazies can be seen leaping out of their seats and rushing in to the ring to confront a wrestler, or verbally and physically assaulting a wrestler in an everyday setting. They can then immediately be seen being punched in the face by Eddie Guerrero or Chris Jericho, among others, and dragged off by security.

So whether or not you’ve ever been to a Pro Wrestling show in your life, chances are if you sat down in attendance at one, you would fall into one of these five categories. Together they make up the classic atmosphere of a Professional Wrestling event. Try to spot each one the next time you’re out at a show, like a twisted game of bingo. And if you don’t spot a crazy, then you may just have to suit up and fill that role yourself.