No Swayze

I consider professional wrestling to be an art form and even though I’m not very at all well-read on aesthetics, I think many people would agree that a piece of art is supposed to evoke some kind of emotion from its audience.

With everything available to wrestling fans on the internet — such as online dirthsheets, wrestling forums/chat rooms, podcasts, etc. — it’s pretty hard not to be jaded with anything that the WWE, TNA, or any other wrestling promotion throws at us. I can’t speak for everyone else, but as an internet wrestling fan (or smart mark), it’s second-nature for me to analyze and critique a match or a show from a “technical” stand-point the moment it’s over instead of just dwelling on how it made me feel.

Rarely do I ever post my thoughts and opinions on pro wrestling on my tumblr. I usually do that elsewhere on the internet. Regardless, tonight I’m going to abstain from scrutinizing WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view event, because it’s impossible for me to be impartial about it. It’s been an hour since it ended and I’m just coming down from an emotional high that resulted from the in-ring return of The Rock.

I genuinely got excited when The Rock’s theme music hit and he started to walk down to the ring wearing wrestling boots and trunks. I audibly cheered when The Rock started to execute moves on The Miz and R-Truth with the same agility and grace as he did in his prime.

When I was 9 years old I was banned from watching wrestling after my mom and sister watched a Dateline report on the vulgar direction that the WWF had taken at the time. After a year of not watching any wrestling, I decided to rebel a bit and watch Monday Night Raw or Smackdown alone in my room with the remote in my hand. Whenever someone entered the room I’d switch the channel right away so they think I’m watching something else. At that time The Rock was the #1 guy for the company, holding the fort down as Stone Cold was taking time off to rehabilitate his neck injury, so naturally he became my favorite pro wrestler.

Any wrestling fan can give me detailed, point-by-point reasons as to why tonight’s pay-per-view or tonight’s main event was disappointing, and I really can’t argue with any of them. All I know is that I had a smile on my face and was audibly cheering any time The Rock was in that ring in Madison Square Garden tonight. The man who made me fall in love with this crazy thing called professional wrestling visited home tonight, and I’m grateful he did no matter how short his stay was.