Learn to be a wrestling fan, not a mark

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

-Winston Churchill

Why did I lead off with that quote?

When the Monday Night Wars began on September 4, 1995, (30 years ago!!!). The landscape of professional wrestling changed. WCW was considered viable competition to the WWF. Five and a half years later an a 38 week run at the top of the ratings ladder, and WCW became a historical footnote after being purchased in March of 2001. ECW folded a month later, and for 18 solid years WWE never had any realistic competition. The worst thing that happened to WWE was the purchase of WCW and ECW. No competition. Made the product stale.

People might say TNA was competition. They were for a while, until Bischoff came back around. TNA ruined themselves…and WWE knew they weren’t real competition.

May 25, 2019 AEW ran its first show, Double or Nothing.

I was still a WWE fan of sorts. Watched it regularly until the end of Punk’s first run. I usually watched PLEs and nothing else because of how predictable it was. Could get a month’s worth of content just watching the PLE. Then TKO happened. Got worse…

Then I discovered AEW in year two of existence. Watched the first forbidden door and fell in love with wrestling again. Started watching stuff I never seen before. NJPW, NOAH, DDT, CMLL, AAA (pre-WWE), RevPRO, and countless other feds. And then I realized there was a whole other wrestling ecosystem other than WWE.

The Oxford dictionary defines tribalism as
the state or fact of being organized in a tribe or tribes. And lists it as derogatory.

Example:
the behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group.
“a society motivated by cultural tribalism”

I can’t watch WWE anymore, not because I hate it, but because I grew out of it. I keep trying to watch it, but the ESPN deal killed any love I have for it left. They are no longer the fed i grew up watching. They are nothing more than a WCW clone. The became the fed I despised because they only care about lining their pockets. TKO is billionaire Ted…And AEW is playing WWE’s role in the 90s of the industry underdog.

History is repeating itself…

However, tribalism in this time and age has become toxic. WWE fans call AEW fans sickos, AEW fans call WWE fans “E-drones”, and people who just love wrestling are called hypocrites. As I see it, the only hypocrites out there are the ones who constantly watch ratings, are hyper critical of attendance, seek attention posting pics of full or half empty arenas, and debate that a fed is dying or should be dead, are not true fans.

What is lost on most viewers are the fact that regardless if they work in WWE, AEW, TNA, in the indies, or overseas, this is their damn dream job.

Stop being tribal, and start being a fan. Learn to let the “other guys” have some space. If not, there might not be another fed to give any competition to for a very long time…