Wrestling, the Internet, and You

A couple of weekends ago, I watched WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view on an awful Internet stream provided by the son of a bitch who got me into wrestling in the first place. It was the first time I had paid attention to a wrestling show since the death of Chris Benoit. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t something that immediately made me want to catch up on all that I missed either. But that’s not what this is about.

In the middle of the show, an Undertaker-esque video came on the Titantron, asking us if we had “broken the code.” Being completely in the dark on the latest wrestling dope, I asked my friend what it meant. He replied, “Jericho’s coming back.” I thought, oh, that’s pretty cool. He came back with “Yeah, the bastards on the Internet spoiled the whole thing.” And a debate began between us about whether or not the Internet had, in fact, ruined wrestling.

In theory I agree with him. In fact, back when I attempted a wrestling column, I toyed with the idea of titling my first piece “The Internet has Ruined Wrestling.” I never did it because of both the irony (which is actually kind of funny) and because I would’ve been flamed right off the message bored. Most columnists preach to the choir. I was coming straight out and insulting them.

The argument itself ended in a stalemate, which is a rare occurrence. My side of the story is what follows.

SPOILING THE FUN

My friend contended that part of the reason that wrestling is ruined in this new age is because of spoilers. After all, isn’t the magic of wrestling in the surprises? Isn’t that what a lot of the IWC wants from the WWE – unpredictability? Yet here they are spewing forth every nugget of information – rumor or not – because that’s quite frankly why a wrestling news site exists to begin with. Hell, people have been clamoring for Chris Jericho to come back since he left the show what seems like years ago. But there it was for everyone to see if you went to any site but WWE.com: JERICHO TO RETURN!

Back when I watched WWE on a regular basis, I visited the dirt sheets on a daily basis. When I tuned in to watch the show, it was quite hard to turn my mind off to the point where I didn’t think about who was getting the latest push or who was going to make a “surprise” appearance. Granted, I’m a wrestling idiot and could still be surprised by many things. But watching it with inside information and watching those first few precious shows when I was a newcomer were two completely different experiences.

The thing that’s wrong with what I just wrote is that no one is forcing anyone to go to a wrestling web site. If you do go, and you do spoil the fun for yourself, you get what you deserve. And even with that said, last time I checked anything that was a spoiler was clearly marked as such. So if Jericho’s return was spoiled for my friend, it was more than likely his own fault.
My friend argued that maybe they just shouldn’t do spoilers then. I countered that that wasn’t going to happen. If that were the case, wrestling sites would just be regurgitating kayfabe news from WWE.com, and that would clearly be no fun. The truth of the matter is that it’s not going away. Everyone knows that the Internet exists for two sole reasons: the free flow of information and pornography. IWC sites would simply not exist if not for their inside news.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INSIDE INFORMATION

One thing that my friend and I agree on is that wrestling thrives on the unpredictable. Yes, it’s great that professional wresting features massively talented athletes. It’s also great that the female wrestlers and managers are incredibly hot. But all of that is not enough to keep coming back to watch week after week. It’s the fact that anything can happen at any moment that kept us captivated as kids (or, in my case, my mid-twenties).

But as we all know, that is not the case today. Despite the fact that people want unpredictability from their play-fighting, those same people are the ones that flock to wrestling sites – filled with inside information, spoilers, and general negativity – to bitch about the lack of surprises in wrestling. It boggles my mind.

I thought about this for a while – why in God’s name would someone do this to themselves? – and could only come up with one reason. Inside wrestling information, like any other inside info, is as addicting as a narcotic. I was guilty of it at one time as well. There’s nothing like watching a wrestling show and knowing that a certain performer is in the midst of a push and therefore he will win his match. The high of knowing that a certain wrestler is coming back while watching with some buddies – and being the only one who knows this – is unbelievable.

I think I may know why this feeling is so great. I would imagine that a large amount of people that read wrestling news have been watching wrestling for a long time. They’ve seen it all. There really is nothing left for them to be captivated by. So they turn to wrestling news at the very least to have an upper hand and those not in the know. It’s a smug superiority that’s nice to have. (And one that reaches far beyond the reaches of professional wrestling. See: Atheists, far-left-leaning liberals, tech geeks, etc.)

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SAVE YOURSELF?

Perhaps you’re the type of person that likes having the information yet still enjoys wrestling week in and week out. That’s great. To say that you’re any less or any more of a wrestling fan is absurd. But if you’re like my good friend here that is becoming disillusioned with the Internet wrestling scene, there is a solution.

Stop it.

Just stop going to wrestling sites. It’s that simple. The wrestling sites and their inside information will never go away because there is an obvious market for it. The fact that you can read about stuff no is supposed to know and then discuss it ad nasueum is something that’s very appealing to people. But no one’s putting a gun to your head forcing you to read it, so make the choice for yourself. I have a feeling that wrestling will become 100 percent more enjoyable for you. You can still get information about what wrestlers were being released or who are coming up from the developmental territories on WWE.com. You can still discuss wrestling on forums, though you’ll have to be wary of people trying to spoil the fun. And sure, there will always be things in wrestling that you just know are coming, like when Ric Flair goes to the top rope. As far as I’m concerned those things are also part of the fun.

At the end of the day only you can make wrestling an enjoyable experience.

(Now, if WWE chooses to pit Great Khali against Hornswaggle for all eternity that’s a different story, but you see what I mean, right?)