WWE has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. 13 years at least, but probably more than that. It's my first, my oldest and my most enduring passion. The relationship I have with it is like any other marriage: sometimes it's great and sometimes I want a divorce. But wrestling has never abandoned me, and for whatever reason – even when everyone I know jumped off the wrestling bandwagon and I reached the age where admitting to watching wrestling got me funny looks – I never abandoned it, either.
But as I've gotten older and my interests have broadened, the amount of time I dedicate to wrestling has decreased. It's certainly true that wrestling hasn't been my “go-to” for escapism in a long while. It used to be, and this week it was again. I retreated back into this silly genre with everything I had this week; from watching the TV shows, to dusting off old DVDs, and even using WWE as a soundtrack to my night's sleep – something I truly haven't done since childhood.
And then, last Friday night, I went to see WWE Live at The O2 Arena in London. Considering that WWE was already providing me the comfort of escape, it was a fitting week to see them live. It's fun to get the 4D experience of wrestling, and it's nice to strip away the constant chatter of the announcers' and the ADHD cutting between camera angles you get with the TV show. I always come away from live wrestling with a sense of rekindled love for the art.
The card was fun and the show was great, but in retrospect, it wouldn't have mattered if it was the worst show WWE had ever put on. The fact was that last Friday all I needed was a distraction from real life. To watch me at the show you'd think I was bored stiff. I rarely reacted to anything or got animated about much, but the truth is that I wasn't apathetic in the least – I was just escaping. All I needed was distraction, and as I sat in that chair, in that arena, at that show, I soaked in all the distraction I could find.
WWE provided me with something which can't be valued in the price of a ticket. They put on a show like they do every night of the year. But in so-doing, they helped me forget about all of the shit I was dealing with this week. And without getting too sentimental, I don't think anyone but WWE could have done it as well as WWE did. Not because it was the greatest wrestling show on Earth, but because it was WWE. It was wrestling. It was the thing which has been part of my life, part of me, for as long as I can remember, for better or worse. It's my oldest friend. It knows how to cheer me up, even when it's not trying to.
If I'm honest, sometimes I do question how strongly I still care for pro-wrestling. But it's week's like this week, and night's like last Friday, which make me appreciate the value wrestling having a place in my life still. What I realised this week is that pro-wrestling is still my best friend. And now, I'm more in love with it than I ever have been.
Written by Matt Saye of The Wrestling Journal
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