A couple months ago, I purchased two tickets to Wrestlemania 23. I was rather excited because it would be my third time attending a Wrestlemania event. Not only that, but these would be the best seats I have ever had. I was able to get front row rafter seats. My column is named "Back of the Rafters" because I always ended up there at Wrestlemania. In my opinion, however, front row rafter seats are the best.
Then why did I sell my tickets a couple weeks ago? In fact, I made no money off them. I actually lost about eighty dollars on the transaction. And when I sold them, I told a friend of mine to pick up tickets for TNA's Lockdown event in St. Louis. He managed to get fourth row, which I have already mentioned would not be preferable in my mind to the front row rafters.
When I was growing up, I began watching wrestling as a WWF fan. This is probably how the majority of fans begin. I even liked Hulk Hogan and cheered for him over anyone. As I matured, however, the allure of the WWF wore off and it became very redundant. Although I continued to watch it, I found myself wanting more.
Now, one thing to keep in mind is that I am a "wrestling" fan. What I mean by that is that I will watch any form of wrestling. I love indie promotions, I love TNA, I tolerate WWE, I watch amateur, et cetera. Even when I was a huge WWF fan in my youth, I continued to watch the AWA and the NWA. However, these promotions never held me the same way. That is, until the WWF lost its appeal.
The NWA and Ric Flair started to grab me. It had previously just been another world. I would watch it because it was wrestling, but believed it was inferior and that the wrestlers would never be able to compete against the WWF wrestlers of the time. However, as I began to become disillusioned with Vince McMahon's product, the NWA/WCW became more than just another world. It became a sanctuary.
There are tons of indie promotions in the Chicago area, however, unless you live in the city, you rarely see them on television. When I was a teenager, there was Windy City Wrestling and that was not on TV all the time. So it was not really an option to lose myself in one of them. NWA/WCW was less popular than the WWF, and that was in fact one of the things I liked about it. I felt that I was enjoying something that belonged to me just a little bit more.
As time went by, WCW became the dominant promotion in my mind. My friends and I stopped getting WWF pay-per-views. Ric Flair showed me why he is truly the greatest wrestler to ever live and I enjoyed watching the beginnings of great men like Brian Pillman and Steve Austin.
Then, as he has been known to do, Hulk Hogan came in and changed it all. He came in and tore apart what had previously been my sanctuary from the ridiculous atmosphere that he has been able to bring with him wherever he goes. Slowly, the WCW grew, the WWF shrunk and things were bad.
I stopped watching wrestling in 1998. I get a lot of grief for this because it was the beginning of the "Attitude Era." However, there was no longer a sanctuary for me. It would be five years before I watched it again.
When I came back to wrestling, I was shocked to realize that the WCW no longer existed. It was surprising and I am still amazed that I did not give up on wrestling right away. However, I was interested in what was going on, so I stuck with the WWE for a while. Although not overwhelmed with the product, it was fun catching up on what I missed.
Then TNA came along. I was not able to watch much of it, because I found the weekly PPV schedule very odd. But as soon as the show moved to FSN, I watched it and have been hooked.
Now, this isn't a story about how TNA is superior to WWE. Many people write that and I don't think either is superior. The product is different and not comparable.
What I am doing is sticking with wrestling because I have found my sanctuary again. TNA isn't nearly as popular as WWE is. When I watch it, I almost feel like I am less insignificant of a fan. That was sort of what I felt when I first became the big NWA fan that I had been.
And it occurred to me why I sold those Wrestlemania tickets and am going to Lockdown instead. TNA has become something that keeps me watching both styles of wrestling: traditional and Sports Entertainment. If I had gone to Wrestlemania, I would have felt like someone unimportant. At TNA, I feel like I matter and I feel like I am somewhere that, at least for now, is providing a safe place for wrestling fans.
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