I Love Wrestling But I Can't Stop Complaining... And I'm Not The Only One!

So, this week, we as a world celebrate one of the most important days of the year: Star Wars Day. Yes I love Star Wars, but I might love horrible puns even more, which is why “May The 4^th Be With You” is one of the funniest terrible lines I’ve ever heard. As is the case with just about anything else in the world, this made me think about wrestling, and that is where we’re going this week. In a wrestling column. By a wrestling writer. On a wrestling website. Some of you might be less surprised by this than others.

Back in 2013, a fascinating book was released by Chris Taylor, called “How Star Wars Conquered The Universe”. It is an excellent look back at the franchise up to that point, covering just about everything you could want on the topic. This includes a look at Star Wars fans and how they can be more than a little critical. That is where we are picking things up today.

There is one line in particular that stands out to me (unfortunately I no longer have the book so I can’t remember the exact wording or even who it is credited to, but the gist of it is the same) and it sums up a good portion of what can be annoying about fans of the franchise in general (paraphrased):

Star Wars fans hate everything about Star Wars.

That’s a line about Star Wars fans, but my goodness how true is that about wrestling fans as well? 

Wrestling Fans Often Complain About The Product

You’ll meet all kinds of wrestling fans who talk about how much they love wrestling and all that good stuff, but how many of them act like they love wrestling when they watch or talk about it? How many times have you heard a huge wrestling fan say something similar to this:

“This guy sucks!”

“Man the booking is SO BAD!”

“Geez remember when this used to be good?”

“Everything in wrestling needs to change.”

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???”

Now of course they don’t mean literally EVERYTHING is terrible, but how many fans have you seen with this kind of attitude? Wrestling is one of the few forms of entertainment where it seems that the more you get into it, the more you can’t stand what you’re watching and go on one rant after another about how much you dislike this thing you love.Heck I’ve made a career out of doing it and I’m absolutely not alone in doing just that week after week.

So what is it about wrestling that makes fans like this?

"Fantasy Booking" Is Often Why WWE Fans Get Frustrated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie9ay2QGyN8

Why do they have so many complains about it and yet still come flocking back to it and praising this thing that they can’t stand all of five minutes after it ends? That’s where things get interesting, but also show you the power and influence that such a sport has on its audience, who just keep coming back for more.

Well first and foremost, there is the simple fact that there is so much going on with any given edition of a weekly wrestling show. If you have a two hour wrestling show, you’re probably going to get eight to ten different stories which have nothing connecting them. Those stories all have different wrestlers, characters and motivations.

That is a lot to take in and practically no one is going to see everything exactly the same way. Fans are going to want to see different things and have the stories go in different directions. With so many fans wanting to play fantasy booker and have the stories they want told (including wanting Wrestler X to do this and Wrestler Y to do that), you are going to see something go very differently than you might expect, or much more often, than you want.

This is where a good deal of the issues come from, as fans are often going to figure out what they think is a perfect idea in their minds and they see the big glorious ending to the whole story. Unfortunately that is not what is going to happen most of the time and since the fan knows better than the promotion (and sometimes they might indeed have better ideas), it can be rather frustrating to see something else happen. It makes for some interesting arguments, but unfortunately there is only room for one story taking place and it is rarely what the fans design in their heads.

Hardcore Wrestling Fans Sometimes Forget WWE Doesn't Book Just For Them

The other thing that a lot of fans might forget is that they often aren’t the audience for what the promotion is offering. While there are fans who think quite a bit about what they are seeing on any given wrestling show (a spot I certainly know about all too well), they probably aren’t the majority of the people watching. A lot of fans are going to watch a show, turn it off, and then not think about it until they watch it again (whenever that takes place). Those are certainly two different points of view, which can lead to some different forms of booking. The thing is, the promotions know this and book shows accordingly.

At the end of the day, wrestling promotions are tasked with putting together the show that will maximize their audience (and as a result, their income). What makes the most money might not always be what the more hardcore fans want to see. Take John Cena and Hulk Hogan for example. They were phenomenons who created a legion of fans who followed them for a long time. That being said, they might not have been the most popular with some fans who had already been around for years and remembered the days of say Bruno Sammartino and Steve Austin. They’ve been around that long, so why cater to them?

Why Wrestling Fans Keep Watching Despite Their Frustrations

That’s the final piece to the whole thing: if a fan is that hooked on wrestling, it would suggest that they are going to be around almost no matter what is presented to them. Take me for instance. I’ve been a wrestling fan since before I could walk and the next edition of Monday Night Raw that I miss will be the first. In short, WWE has me hooked and I can’t really fathom them doing something that would drive me away. In short, why would WWE want to center its offerings to try to make me stick around? They’ve won me over, so it’s time to move on to another flock of fans.

Wrestling fans are some of the most passionate fans of any form of pop culture that you will find anywhere. With so much content available, there can be quite a bit of it that does not suit their tastes. At the same time, a lot of them stick around with the hope that they are going to see what they want sooner than later. It worked before and it could work again, with so many fresh stars coming in to give them that one more chance. It’s what made them such big fans in the first place and it has kept them coming around since a long time ago, in a reference far far away.