My Newest Hobby: WWE

While Connor McGregor has decided that he wants to beat down Nate Diaz and the WWE universe, I have a confession: I’ve taken up watching WWE. It’s a sad tale but it has been an interesting observation. I don’t really watch Main Event or Smackdown but I do watch RAW which is a combination of a variety of fighters from all their franchises and that can be rather entertaining. Keep in mind, this franchise once had Donald Trump (current presidential candidate) on in the late 90s to have some billionaire fun. I think they can include practically anyone in the circus that is the WWE.

The WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment is what now passes for retail fighting and wrestling. There are tons of signature moves and holds that the rather interesting commentators will always comment on. The fighting itself isn’t really that exciting. Punches aren’t really that damaging and they shake the camera to make them look worse than they are in real life. Afterall, how serious can something be when people take children of 8, 9, and 10 to see it? I do enjoy the body slams and the high flying danger from the ropes. In the Pay-per-view fights the events in the large cages with the exotic weapons can also be quite interesting.  What I like to watch is the stories and fake-bake drama that they create around their WWE Superstars. There are some writers who deserve some pulitzers for writing for people who can’t act or deliver lines and manage to keep a story (and business) going from contrived moment to contrived moment. However, it is easy to get sucked into the terribly delivered story. Will AJ Styles annoy his team mates? How is the Roman Reigns doping thing going? Why is Ambrose so crazy? The story is awful but I’ll admit to be pretty well sucked in. I also find it interesting who they decided to raise up as the next big name. You can always tell who is next up by who goes up against the big player already in the ring. I find that all fairly interesting and a bit compelling, probably more than I want to admit. The Superstars also have social media accounts, the drama of which sometimes ends up on TV. The fans can keep up on their every move, every title belt change, and every match.

I think the most impressive thing is how popular the WWE and how much money they generate from pay-per-view. The PPV business is not new for that kind of sport. Cable has been charging for those events for decades at this point. The fights travel from city to city and every time they arrive the areas are full and the sponsors clearly target a lower class demographic. I now understand why the John Cena merchandise seems to be everywhere and the t-shirts seem to abound in certain places. Now that I’ve invested in the phenomena I get how people can get attached to the characters, the lights, the drama, and the sheer exhibition of it. The WWE is also a feel-good moment. Our society has little use for the muscles, sheer brawn, and the male strut that many men wish would be more useful in general society. For white working-class men the WWE feels like a dream. At some level, most guys want to be Chris Jericho standing in the middle of the ring with thousands cheering and booing hold his arms out giving everyone the gift of his presence. I feel it too. Who wouldn’t want that kind of attention to be so good, attractive, and strong that masses adore you and others quake in fear?