I remember back in the 1980's I was a big watcher of Saturday morning cartoons. WWF had a cartoon, "Hulk Hogan's Rock N Wrestling." I used to watch it and absolutely loved it. I lived with my aunt Barbie and while I was there, we were watching the event where King Kong Bundy attacked Hulk Hogan. I got so curious about what wrestling was like beyond the cartoon. That's when I first started catching WWF Superstars on at night around midnight. My dad hated wrestling so it was the easiest time to watch it; when he was in bed and pretty much everyone else was. Then, we didn't always have cable but I was always ecstatic when Saturday Night's Main Event came on at 11:30 PM.
The reason I mention that is that besides when my sister watched it, wrestling became my thing to watch at night and a lot of the time I was watching by myself. It just felt like it was something that belonged to me.
When I was a teenager, I'd take the train to Chicago, but PWI, the Wrestler or Inside Wrestling, and read them on the train back. Usually I took these trips by myself. So my relationship with wrestling has always been that it is something that is mine. That means a lot to me.
Through all that time (over 30 years now), watching wrestling, reading about it, finding any information about it, I've built up quite a knowledge base on wrestling. I think that actually helps to make it more enjoyable. I watch shows and matches and I am constantly comparing them to things that happened in the past. Having that familiarity with a subject makes it all the more entertaining.
But mostly, I like the fact that's it's violent without really being violent. It's probably related to why I have always been fascinated with magic too. You're watching something but seeing something different than what is really happening. And I find that rather fascinating.
