A Letter from a Fan

Last night I was mysteriously transported to another time. It was a time way before the internet and before when everybody had personal computers of any sort. I can even see mainframes and the punch cards. It was late 60's early 70's and the world was quite different then. Wrestling was quite different then. To a few wrestling was "real". In those days being "smart" meant that you knew that it wasn't. In those days a wrestler was either a "bad" guy or a "good" guy. No "tweeners" in that era. The fans cheered the "good" guys and booed the "bad" guys. Yes there were a few misfits like myself who always cheered the "bad" guys, but we were a definite small minority. In those days going to a wrestling match was an ephemoral pleasure. You lived for the moment and it was all about having fun. There weren't all these heavy discussions on the fine points of this wrestling style, that wrestler, this move, that promoter, this booker, that storyline etc. etc. Whether you viewed the matches on the tube or had the actual pleasure of attending a live show it was all about watching, cheering, booing and enjoying yourself and smiling. Any everybody at the matches had fun - the fat beer-belly working stiff, the grandmother with a pin which she used to stick the villains and of course the shrill voices of the kids - screaming, jumping up and down and hollering at the "bad" guys and cheering and adoring the "good guys. The wrestlers also did their jobs knowing how to evoke the simplest of emotions from the patrons and they interacted with the crowd and fanned the flames and played their parts well. Yes that world was naive and innocent, but it was fun!

Last night in Inverness, Florida in a land of pastures and open land there was a return to the past. The show was held on a enclosed field where the rodeo takes place and the crowd - "Oh what a crowd". The crowd is mostly locals and the majority are women and children. They sell popcorn for a buck and thick hot dogs for two bucks. And almost everybody is there to frolic and have fun. The wrestlers know this and play their parts well. Bryan Danielson plays the part of an old fashion heel. He does everything that he can all night long to piss off the crowd. He hollers and screams at them. He challenges them. One fan almost made the mistake of jumping in the ring with him. Dragon cheats! He is cowardly and he insults women and he yells at little kids. He is so wonderfully "bad" and the crowd loves it by hating his guts. And all the other "bad" guys on the card - Aries, Rave, Pearce and the rest follow his example. The Heartbreak Express are the ultimate villain tag team. The "good" guys play their parts well also. Roderick is the heroic "good" guy here as is Tony Mamaluke, Sal Rhinauro and others before the appearance of the ultimate "good" guy of the night - the Lightning kid himself - Sean Waltman who main events against the dastardly Aries. The forces of bad and good square off all night long with run ins and the rest and in the end the hero of this evening X-Pac stands in glory to the adulation of the crowd after vanquishing his foe. And everybody goes home happy.

So one night I found myself living in the past and for this very brief moment the nostalgia of a seemingly lost experience was mused and satisfied and it was just great!

- Greg H.