a. something that I have screwed up the proper WWE/WWF history while writing
b. something that I have misspelled or misrepresented or been misinformed about (or any other mis)
c. something in general I do not know about professional wrestling
... I want them to understand my background, so they don't hate on me. I am still a Padawan in the ways of the WWE, so bear with me, hardcore fans. I'm learning.
Yeah, that's me. I had to hand-paint this Hot Rod shirt
because I couldn't find one in my size. I'm THAT cool!
I grew up during the "Hulk Hogan's Rockin' Wrestlin'" cartoon era of the 80's, with a limited TV viewing scope of three whole channels. (ABC, CBS, NBC, and sometimes PBS if the wind was right and the antennae picked it up.) If it wasn't on these channels in the 80's, I didn't see it. (Occasionally we'd visit Grandmas' houses two hours north who both had cable, and there I got to see MTV and Nickelodeon, so that was a treat for us.) I remember watching the Hogan cartoon, and I remember watching some of the wrestling shows that came on our channels. I was very familiar with Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Junkyard Dog, Captain Lou Albano, Iron Sheik, and Nikolai Volkov from the cartoon and from my cousin, Brian. He had every one of those bend-em wrestler action figures, and an awesome to-scale ring that my grandpa built for him. When we'd go hang out at my cousins' house, we'd always bust out the wrestlers and have matches. It was so cool!
Then I turned 12 and New Kids On The Block came on the scene. Wrestling suddenly wasn't my thing.
Now we come to the geekiest part of the story: How I got into watching WWE as an adult.
Years passed, and we fast-forward to the year 2001. I was living in Los Angeles, a couple years post-college. Flipping through channels one Monday night, I came across "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in syndication on what is now Spike TV. I LOVED that show when I was in college and it ran in syndication on FOX. (When it was in its first run, it wasn't on the three channels we got at my parents' house, so I had never seen it.) I found out that ST:TNG was on Spike at 8:00 and then another episode again at 11:00. Giddy with glee, I would watch the first Star Trek, then leave the TV on and do things around the apartment or talk on the phone until the next episode at 11:00.
You're like, "Lady, WTF does Star Trek have to do with WWE?!"
And I'm like, "Um, what is on Monday nights between 9 and 11 PM?"
Monday Night Raw.
While waiting for my next dose of Trek, I inadvertently got sucked into watching Monday Night Raw, which aired on the same channel, betwixt the Treks. I was, at first, uninterested. I'd go fold laundry or do dishes or something else while it droned on in the background. But now and again I'd catch bits of dialogue, pick up on a storyline, or see some incredible feat of in-ring mayhem and sit down and watch.
Now, you may not know this, but I love all things campy, funny, and buttkickin'. One of my favorite series of all time is "Xena, Warrior Princess" - I could go into the many reasons beyond the camp/humor/buttkickin that I love "Xena," but it would be a whole other blog post. The WWE has all of those elements in it, and it's ridiculously fun to watch. Ultimately, though, it was Edge that kept me hooked. He was dreamy, hilarious, and kicked some serious butt. *sigh* He also inadvertently introduced me to my husband, but that's another story. Thanks, Edge!
And that, my friends, began my slow reintroduction to WWE. I watch pretty regularly now, though there were a few years past that we didn't have cable and couldn't watch Monday Night Raw. Smackdown was still on our basic channels those years, though, so I did get a fix. Now we are back to full cable, with all WWE shows accounted for, and I'm starting to devour it all up again. And thanks to Netflix, I'm able to watch documentaries, behind-the-scenes, and pay-per-views past on DVD or download.
So ... yeah. That's the story of the WWE and Me in a nutshell. Keep that in mind as I blog future posts.
Onward!
4 people said things about this post:
I'm so glad someone else had the intensely embarrassing experience of having to go to your grandma's to watch MTV because she got it and you didn't.
Haha - yeah, sadly we lived too far out of town to get cable. My parents did get DirectTV when I was in college, though, so that was nice! Now that they've moved away from WNY, they STILL live too far out to get any kind of cable, and they are forced to use dial-up internet. Maybe someday technology will catch up with their locale!
That's the greatest photo you've ever taken.
Thanks, Sherm! You know me - any excuse to dress up in some kind of costume - I'm so there!
Post a Comment