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A decade ago (dear god, a DECADE ago), WWE Raw and Smackdown were just shows that I watched along with Vince (who was quite hesitant to admit to me that he was a wrestling fan when we started going out). He described it as a live action anime. He would give me a brief run down on who the wrestlers were, what feud they were in, and what storylines that's ongoing or what they're involved in. He and his friend, Dan, would always talk about old matches and make wrestling references that I could never follow. I would passively watched the episodes and not give it another thought after it was over because there wasn't a wrestler that stood out to me. Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin were household names but I didn't know their history and I felt I didn't have the time or patience to get to know any of the new wrestlers I was seeing. That is until I saw one wrestler; Batista.
Batista looked so different to me. He was this hulking and intimidating looking character and yet, everyone was rooting for him. The fact that he was half-Filipino somehow resonated with me since I perceived WWE wrestlers to be dominantly white or black. I didn't become a wrestling fan that instant but it made me think that maybe I should try to give wrestling a chance.
Flash forward a few years, I was watching Raw and Smackdown a bit more frequently. I was also watching ECW, which was a graphic alternative that I grew to enjoy and that I couldn't believe would be on television. The wrestlers from ECW that stood out to me at the time were Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, and Sabu. It was a different aspect of wrestling I liked; where there was very little storytelling and more hardcore looking matches.
After Batista, there wasn't any wrestlers that captivated me. I liked Randy Orton, Jericho, Edge, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy, just to name a few. I rooted for them when they were faces and hated them when they were heels. Eventually, I was back to just passively watching the shows and growing frustrated with the storylines - namely John Cena winning at everything. I didn't have an incentive to keep watching as I used to before and Vince would read off the episode spoilers from wrestling websites. We did buy a few major PPV events to watch and we even attended a few of the Monday Night RAW events that took place at the Thomas & Mack Center, but otherwise, we were back to being casual fans. That is, until CM Punk, came into the picture.
I didn't really pay attention to CM Punk during his ECW days but when he got drafted to RAW, I got interested. Again, he looked so different from the other wrestlers; he had tattoos and piercings, his wrestling style was brutal and technical, and god damn, he was great on the mic. I actually got to like him more when he had to do commentary as he recovered from surgery. I didn't like him when was in Straight Edge Society (I didn't have the patience back then to listen to any heels give long-winded and scathing promos) but I did enjoy him being the leader of The Nexus. And then, the Pipe Bomb of 2011 happened.
Vince and I watched, stunned, as CM Punk broke the fourth wall and talked about leaving WWE for ROH or NJPW once his contract was up. He hated Cena and the Rock for being kiss asses. He hated how WWE was being run by Vince McMahon and his doofus son-in-law. Was it a shoot or work? Wait, I don't know what those terms mean! Was it real or scripted?? We couldn't stop talking about it for days! And you know what sucks? This iconic Monday Night RAW moment happened right here at the Thomas & Mack Center, a live show we decided not to go to and would rather just watch at home.
CM Punk was so enjoyable to watch, especially when he became a Paul Heyman guy. His promos were visceral and it blurred the lines between being scripted and being his honest opinion. He made outrageous demands, like bringing back WWE ice cream bars, and declared himself the best in the world. And yet, despite this attitude, Punk would never shy away from giving other guys the spotlight, especially former rival, Daniel Bryan.
Daniel Bryan was part of The Nexus, who got fired for choking Justin Roberts, and then surprisingly rehired. He was The Miz's Rookie, AJ Lee's dickish boyfriend, and one half of Team Hell No with the demon Kane. Bryan looked like an everyman; he wasn't tall or musclebound like the top wrestlers but what he lacked, he made up for it with his technical wrestling skills. He was great to watch because with other wrestlers, you see them doing the same limited move sets (like John Cena's infamous 5 Moves of Doom) but with Bryan, you get an engaging and different match each time.
Bryan took part in the most organic storytelling we've ever seen in WWE; the Authority was keeping Bryan down because they didn't see him as the face of WWE. Also, this was around the time that CM Punk quit WWE and Batista returning at the absolute worst time for a title match. Us fans were not having it. We wanted Bryan to overcome those obstacles and to be more than just the "B+ Player" that the Authority labeled him as. When he won the World Heavyweight Champsionship at Wrestlemania XXX, we all cheered for him. What made the win more satisfying for Bryan was that he turned around the "You Deserve It" chants from the and said that you - the fans - deserved it. But that high would not last long due to a personal tragedy in Bryan's life and a major injury that would put him out for a few months. He would later return and win the IC title belt from Wrestlemania Play Button (31), making him a Grand Slam champion, and relinquish his title due to another major injury.
The 3 wrestlers that got me invested in wrestling over the years have moved on. Batista is now acting in major Hollywood movies. CM Punk is training to be an MMA Fighter and writing for Marvel comics. And Daniel Bryan, despite not knowing how long he'll take to recover and wrestle again, continues to be a presence in WWE, this time as a judge on Tough Enough. So, who's left for me to follow on RAW? That spot would go to a former Shield member. Not Roman Reigns. Not Seth Rollins. It would be Dean Ambrose.
When The Shield first made their debut, I didn't know what how to react to them. They were a mysterious 3-man team that was against "injustice" but wrecked havoc. Reigns was the silent powerhouse, Rollins was the high flying "architect", and Ambrose was the mouthpiece. When he spoke, he sounded eerily calm, sinister, and villainous. However, he can also smile and have fun amidst the chaos. That's probably what I found the most fascinating about him; he's an unhinged and unpredictable character and he enjoys what he does.
After The Shield disbanded, Ambrose was in a long-running feud with the traitorous Rollins for months, while Reigns was out of the picture due to recovering from surgery. When Reigns returned, he was pushed very quickly to the top as he won the Royal Rumble and main evented Wrestlemania Play Button (31) in a World Heavyweight Championship match against Brock Lesnar (a match that should've been against the ultimate underdog, Daniel Bryan). Rollins, the Authority's golden boy, cashed in his MITB contract to win said title and defeat Reigns and Lesnar single-handedly. What about Ambrose? After his feud fizzled with Rollins, Ambrose was in midcard territory for several months. He was involved in pointless feuds, shenaningan endings, and basically lost a majority of his matches. Despite this booking, Ambrose was still being featured consistently on every Raw and Smackdown episodes, house shows, and PPVs. He just wasn't getting the star treatment as Rollins and Reigns, which Ambrose seemed to be content with. And yet whenever his theme song hits, the crowd always cheers the loudest for him.
The May 4, 2015 episode of Monday Night Raw marked Ambrose's sudden push as he defeated Rollins and was added to the main event Payback, turning the Triple Threat match with Reigns, Rollins, and Orton into a Fatal 4-Way match. It felt like a satisfying payoff for staying loyal to Ambrose. Even though he lost in Payback, he granted Rollins a rematch for the title, and is once again headlining another PPV event in Elimination Chamber. Whether he wins or loses doesn't matter; Ambrose is getting a push again.
Side note: I liked Dean Ambrose but I became a total fan girl after Vince and I did a photo with him at Wizard World Comic Con. Meeting someone you admire in person really changes everything O_O
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This is what I've come to appreciate about wrestling. It's the characters and the stories told in a different medium. Sure, the writing can get pretty cheesy, some wrestlers can be gimmicky, and the outcomes are predetermined. You can even read the spoilers online before watching the matches or PPVs on TV. Regardless, good or bad, wrestling is still entertaining to watch.
