I am not afraid to admit that I love Pro Wrestling or what they call today Sports Entertainment. I have for as long as I can remember. Back when I was a child I would watch the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, and a slew of others battle it out in the squared circle for supremacy and titles. As I aged, my love of this unique form of entertainment that blends athletics and story-telling only grew. I lived through the WWF/WCW Monday Night Wars, I welcomed the Attitude Era and moved on into the more modern version of wrestling as it is today. Now I have not followed all wrestling companies throughout all my years. I did watch WCW when that was on television. I dabbed in TNA and ROH as well. When life got busy, I would stop watching for a while, but I would always end up coming back to it, being just as excited as before.

I now owe a subscription to NBC’s Peacock streaming service just so I can watch all the WWE live events, I record Raw on Mondays, Smackdown on Fridays, and I subscribe to several wrestling-related podcasts. It’s in my blood at this point. Looking back, had I been bold enough to follow my dreams when I was young, I may have just decided to pursue wrestling as a career. However, I was not that bold. I have spent a good portion of my life playing it safe. So, that meant no wrestling for me. I spent a lot of time in my youth, allowing my imagination to live out my excessive dreams for me. I remember “playing” wrestling with my brothers. We would practice moves, put on matches, and break furniture, much to our parent’s dismay.

At 48 years old, I still have a passion for wrestling. When people ask me why I like it, my standard answer is that it’s a soap opera for guys. While this is not entirely true, as many women love wrestling as well, the point I am trying to make is that I do not love wrestling because it’s a bunch of guys (and ladies, too) clobbering each other in what looks like a boxing ring. I love wrestling because the best part about wrestling, and often the worst part about it, are the stories told that get you to the matches. There is drama, friendship, betrayal, competition, teamwork, conflict, love, and hate, all woven together where the outcome is determined by who can beat who in that ring (or in the occasional boiler room brawl).

So, while I can look back and say that I wanted to be a Pro Wrestler, I should have been a Pro Wrestler, the truth is that I loved it for the story-telling, and my imagination was good at creating its own stories. While I could say I should have been a Pro Wrestler, what I really should be saying is I should have been a storyteller. Right, a writer is a storyteller, and I am writing again - daily. Oh, how things can come full circle without you even knowing it. Every previous moment can be seen as preparation for the next. All that wrestling I have watched and continue to watch might just be worth something yet. It might help me be a better writer.