Professional wrestling has been a part of my life since as long as I can remember. Some of my childhood friends are related to some very well-known wrestlers. Our community was a wrestling hotbed.
I remember shortly after moving into a low-rise apartment building when I was 7 years young, a caretaker called me “Bobo Brazil”. He asked me if I knew who he was. I had no clue, but he went on to explain that Bobo was a famous professional wrestler.
When I was 11 years young, I received my very own television set for my bedroom. It was there that I discovered professional wrestling on Saturday mornings. It became tradition for me to watch wrestling in the morning and Toronto Maple Leafs hockey in the evening.
I was immensely entertained by the antics of the “Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant and became a fan. At that time, I believed that wrestling was the real deal and would get really upset whenever I watched Boogie Woogie Man get jumped by villains such as “Russian Bear” Ivan Kolof and others. I remember wanting to head downtown to Maple Leaf Gardens to help Boogie Woogie Man.
During this early period, I became a huge fan of not only Boogie Woogie Man, but also “Rowdy Roddy” Piper, Black Jack Mulligan, and the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. I was hooked and could never miss an episode.
I recall going shopping with Mom and in addition to my usual plea to go to the book store, I also wanted to go to a variety store in Towne & Country Square to buy wrestling magazines. This store had the best selection. I would get lost trying to decide which one to buy since I could not buy them all.
As children, we wrestled a lot in our apartment complex. There was this grassy patch next to the swimming pool which made a good wrestling ring. On one side were steel rails separating the grass from the sidewalk, and the other side was a high chain-link fence securing the swimming pool. We would toss each other into the fence and bounce back as if hitting the ropes in a wrestling ring.
Over the years I would learn that some of my friends are related to Whipper Billy Watson, and others were nephews to Rocky Johnson (late father to The Rock). As wrestling grew bigger in pop culture, so did the fan base on our block.
I remember watching the big pay-per-view events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, etc with groups of friends at different houses. Everyone on our block was into wrestling. The children, teenagers, adults, and grandparents. It truly entertained everybody and brought us all together.
I never stopped watching wrestling and watch it to this very day. In the year 2020, the world was afflicted by a serious pandemic which pretty much ruined most of our lives. Millions have been thrust into isolation due to various lock downs brought on by the raging virus pandemic.
Covid-19 has destroyed many lives. It has killed millions and wreaked havoc on millions more. One often-overlooked side-effect is the impact on mental health caused by isolation. People are simply losing their minds being unable to socialize as they would like to.
During the first wave of the pandemic, everything was locked down for our own safety and to avoid the hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. This also meant that nobody was allowed to attend professional wrestling events. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was forced to put on shows in an empty arena.
I found these shows to be quite awful. The Superstars were great as always, but not hearing fan noise really reinforced the feeling of isolation I was experiencing from being under lockdown.
WrestleMania 36 had to be pre-recorded as they could not have fans in attendance. For me, this was the most boring WrestleMania of all time. There were a few bright spots such as The UnderTaker vs AJ Styles in a cinematic match filmed at a graveyard and Sammy Zane vs Daniel Bryan in an empty arena. The chatter throughout the match was golden.
By summer, WWE had created the ThunderDome. This was an arena were large video monitors were set up in the stands in place of fans. These screens would broadcast fans who were at home watching while on webcam. Fan noise was piped in via pre-recorded sounds from past live events. For me, the programs became watchable once again.
Vaccines have finally been rolling out across the United States. Sports are beginning to accept fans in attendance once again. Our Toronto Blue Jays have been relocated to Florida due to travel restrictions. They have been playing in stadiums in Texas, New York, etc to live crowds. The Toronto Raptors are also based in Florida. The NBA, NHL, and MLB have been allowing fans to return in some jurisdictions meanwhile in Canada, everything remains off limits due to a slow vaccine roll-out.
For WrestleMania 37, WWE was allowed to have live fans in attendance for the first time in over a year. The show was to be held over two nights due to the limit in the number of fans that may attend. They were allowed 25,000 on each night.
The show started off with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon addressing the audience and the entire wrestling roster. It was greet to Mr. McMahon again. He has hardly been seen on television the past few years. The most recent prior to this event was for The Undertaker’s retirement several months back. He looked frail and elderly and it broke my heart. At WrestleMania, he look much better.
Seeing both a live audience and Vince McMahon nearly brought tears to my eyes. It was a sign of a return to normalcy. It was wonderful to sit at home with a pizza, some IPA beers, watching WrestleMania on my big screen TV.
The show was delayed 30 minutes due to rain, but in the end, they put on a fantastic show which made me forget all about the pandemic and isolation. I sat here cheering, laughing, and having a grand old time.
I would like to that the entire professional wrestling industry for putting their lives on the line to entertain us over all these years. The entire industry deserves a round of applause.
Make sure to visit the official website of the WWE by clicking the following link:
World Wrestling Entertainment
