Pro Wrestling Is Scripted But It's Real

Pro Wrestling Is Scripted But It’s Real

By Tevin Dix

I always like to have fun outside the political world.

I fell in love with wrestling when I was in middle school and I’ve been following ever since. I remember like it was yesterday watching an entire episode of Monday night Raw in May 2009 and I’ve been following it since. Jeff Hardy was my favorite wrestler at the time. Now it’s The Miz.

MEETING WRESTLERS: Over the years I’ve met guys like Rey Mysterio, Rhea Ripley, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Natalya, Joe Hendry, Hulk Hogan, The Miz, Alundra Blayze, Tiffany Stratton, Bayley, King Kong Bundy, Bob Backlund, Indy wrestlers and many more.

Meeting professional wrestlers means so much because they’ve entertained me so much. The wrestlers that I really want to meet are John Cena, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Cody Rhodes, Asuka, Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, The Undertaker, Ric Flair. But mostly Jeff Hardy because he was favorite WWE Superstar when I got into wrestling.

WHAT IS PRO WRESTLING: Professional wrestling is combat sports, intense choreography, stunt work, comedy, storytelling and its true performance art.

The risk and sacrifice that these wrestlers take to entertain millions and make fans happy. They put their lives on the line every week for this sport. It is scripted, but people who claim it’s fake are wrong. I’ve seen many injuries, marks, and bruises. That ring is not a trampoline there is plywood under the mat, the same plywood where you can get from Lowe’s or Home Depot. The weapons that they use like a kendo stick or a steel chair are not props as in a movie but real steel and wood.

GOING TO A WRESTLING SHOW: I’ll never forget when I attended my first wrestling show. It was a WWE non-televised event on February 14, 2010 at the Wells Fargo Center. It was the coolest experience ever. But later that same year, I attended my first televised event of Monday Night Raw on June 28th. Just being there on TV and hearing the loud Pyro was insane. I’ve been to 31 WWE events and a few Indie wrestling shows. So I think I’ve been to 40 Wrestling shows total.

Raws, Smackdowns, NXTs, WWE premium live event events, NWA, Monster factory pro wrestling. What makes it better is that I attended my first Wrestlemania last year. I have photos of all the events I’ve been to over the years.

MY WRESTLEMANIA EXPERIENCE: I’ll never forget when I found out that Wrestlemania was coming to Philadelphia. It was July 28, 2022 and I was scrolling through Facebook and when I saw it. I immediately lost it and shared it with so many people. I had to double check and it was legit. Never in a million years I thought this would happen so soon.

Wrestlemania is the Super Bowl of WWE. It doesn’t matter what city they’re in. They take over and fans from all over the world come to get their Wrestlemania experience. I’ve met people from the UK, Europe, Australia, and Bangladesh.

I attended WWE World at the Pennsylvania convention center. The experience was so fun seeing all the memorabilia from WWE’s archive and what made it better was The Rock showed up.

WRESTLING IS POPULAR: For years I’ve heard that pro wrestling is for kids, a redneck sport, a man’s soap opera. That IS NOT true. It’s popular all over the world places like Japan, the UK, Europe, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Women love it just as much as the men. There’s people older than me that have been fans since the old school era.

What I don’t understand is the ones who say it’s for kids still get excited for Disney movies. Like if the new Toy Story 5 came out all the adults would shove the kids out the way.

WRESTLING COMPANIES: If you never watched wrestling a day in your life the first company that comes to your mind is WWE. In reality, there’s so many other companies out there and you don’t have to watch WWE to be a wrestling fan. There’s TNA, AEW, ROH, New Japan Pro Wrestling, WOW Women of Wrestling, MLW, NWA and many indy wrestling companies.

I think it’s good for fans to watch these shows besides the WWE because you’ll learn how other companies do things and you’ll learn new talent. There were some wrestlers I knew about before they came to the WWE you’ll feel a true fan.

I was bullied a lot growing up for my love for professional wrestling, but that negativity didn’t stop me at all. It just made me love it even more and I’m still a fan to this day. It’s a part of me. It’s helped me during bad days, it’s something that’s always put a smile on my face. I’m happy that I was able to tell my story.