WWE Helped Me Find Myself

For this and so much more, I’m forever grateful.

Have you ever heard anyone tell you:

“WWE is fake. It’s not a real sport.”

If you haven’t, then consider yourself lucky. If you have, it’s tough to respond to this.

But what should the response be?

“It’s sports entertainment.”

Meaning?

It’s a professional sport with real athletes competing in real matches, but it also has the theatrical and entertainment value which makes it special, so unique.

And that’s why it’s meaningful to me.

It’s different from the rest of the pack.

I Was Never Into Sports As a Kid

Sure, I played baseball and basketball through grade school. I dabbled in tennis, ping pong, pool, soccer and other physical activities.

I even umpired a season a little league softball. But none of it stuck with me.

I attended professional baseball games with family, but I felt bored. Ready to go home.

Sports were just not my thing.

Until WWE changed my life forever…

At the time, around fourth grade, I knew what WWE was. Big dudes would fight one another in a ring for a belt. Not too bad.

I knew of some wrestlers like John Cena and Shawn Michaels but that was the extent. My mom even bought me a shirt one time at Kohl’s with a bunch of wrestlers on it.

I distinctly remember the stoner cashier guy telling me: “I love him,” while he pointed to a wrestler with long hair.

“Who is it?” I ask.

“That’s CM Punk, dude,” he said. “How come you don’t know that? He rocks.”

Flash forward to February 2010 when my dad and I along with a buddy and his dad attended a WWE live event in Springfield, Illinois, near my hometown.

I was mesmerized.

I don’t know what it was about it I enjoyed:

• The action
• The pageantry
• The entertainment of it all

But I knew I wanted more.

I remember that night seeing the likes of Cena, The Undertaker, Edge, Randy Orton, Batista and so many others. That might changed me forever.

I began watching Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown all the time, almost religiously. I didn’t watch Wrestlemania 26 that year, but I remember much of what happened the week after.

• Cena and Batista began a feud.
• Edge was World Heavyweight Champion.
• The Big Show kept knocking out superstars with one punch.

I was hooked.

WWE Became My Life

All I wanted to do was watch WWE on TV whenever I could. I immediately ran to the wrestling aisle of the toy section at every store.

I soon later became so immersed into the sport, I had to do more. I learned everything I could about wrestlers then and now. I bought action figures and trading cards.

I was a fan.

Normally, I go through phases. Throughout my 21 years, I’ve been through a lot.

It’s when I get hooked on something snd that’s all I ever want to do. This included the likes of:

• Magic tricks
• Learning how to yo-yo
• Drawing cartoons
• Video games
• And many other things.

But wrestling always stuck with me. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but something just felt right.

It felt special.

My dad and I kept attending live events in the years to follow in both Springfield and Champaign. But what made it cool began in July 2011.

We waited outside of the convention center in Springfield many hours before the WWE live event. A giant tour bus pulled up and Cena sooner revealed himself in the passengers seat wearing a Tennessee volleyball shirt, all about ten feet away from us.

Soon later, I met:

• Dolph Zigglar
• Kofi Kingston
• Evan Bourne
• And the man himself: CM Punk.

From the moment on, I felt closer to the wrestlers more than ever. Between 2011 and 2015, I met a slew of wrestlers including:

• Jimmy and Jey Uso
• Brie Bella
• Byron Saxton
• Tyson Kidd
• Sheamus
• Big E
• And Zack Ryder

I bought the yearly programs. I played with my action figures. I kept up to date on all things WWE as much as I could.

In all, my dad and I attended 9 shows, including the best one and our favorite:

Survivor Series 2014

We Watched History in the Making

First and foremost, Vince McMahon himself opened the show, but at the end of the card, Cena and his team were battling Triple H, Stephanie and their team in a 5–on-5 elimination match.

Toward the end, Triple H pedigreed Ziggler so Seth Rollins could pick up the easy win.

Then the lights went out.

A white face appears on the Jumbotron.

Out comes the Vigilante…

“Sting.”

He was a legend in WCW and had never stepped inside WWE before. The rumor that night was that either Orton or Sting were going to be at the show.

I’m so glad it was the latter.

Sting came to the ring, beat up Triple H and pulled Ziggler on top of Rollins to win the match and defeat the Authority.

I couldn’t believe it. I cried that night as much as I did in the same arena watching Taylor Swift perform “Love Story.”

We just watched history being made at a pay-per-view. We knew that it was the greatest moment in our WWE lives.

WWE Lives On With Me

After 2015, I stopped attending shows but never grew out of it as a whole.

I kept coming back to watch Raw sometimes and Wrestlemania highlights. But something inside me didn’t want to let go.

Even recently, a buddy and I met Hall of Famer Jim Ross. I still watch wrestling videos when I can and keep up with it all

Now, I plan to collect the following:

• As many wrestler autographs as I can.
• And one ticket stub from each Wrestlemania

Today, I’ve realized why WWE rang so well with me.

It was different.

WWE was a sport and entertainment mixed so well, it made it much more exciting. It’s the underdog of pro sports.

Most importantly, it made me feel included.

As a fan, I felt like I was a part of something larger than myself. I felt I was with a family where we all shared the one common bond of wrestling.

Like at concerts, we are all different people yet all enjoy wrestling.

It allowed us to be individuals, like who we like and do what we want to do.

For me, it helped me realized I’m my own person just trying to do my own thing. Honestly, that should be everyone’s mentality.

As Dr. Seuss says:

“No one is more you-er than you!”

Thank you, WWE!

Because of you, this small town kid found a love for something that wasn’t just a phase.

It became a lifestyle.

The WWE has been nothing but great to me and my family, and for that, I am forever grateful.

It helped me find who I was through sports: my own individual and being happy who I was.

Even though I will never wrestle myself or have yet to attend a Wrestlemania, the WWE will always hold a special place inside my heart.

It’s become a huge part of my life and I will never let it go.

Thank you, WWE!

Noah Nelson is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in journalism with minors in political science and history. He serves as a senior columnist for The Daily Illini, a writer on Medium and the host of his blog called Nothing But Noah. “Life: A Collection of Short Stories” is his first book available now on Amazon.