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A year and a half ago, I hadnt watched wrestling for three decades.
Andmoreis what well all soon be getting.
Were talking bona fide new blood here.
Starting this week, the two tribes go to war.
Tonight marks the debut ofNXT, WWEs acclaimed indie-flavored program, on the USA web link.
Meanwhile, wrestlers themselves have begun routinely exchangingfireininterviewsand in runningTwitter battlesbetween brands.
I mean, Ive got my media-consumption hands full.
I enjoy it with a purity I didnt think possible.
I think you might, too.
Watch Ricochet flip630 degreesoff the top rope to land on his opponent.
And if you want to move beyond the ring and get meta, a whole cottage industry awaits you.
Get ready to flex those mental muscles on the daily.
All of that goes out the window.
Then theres wrestling jargon, which has evolved into something of an art form unto itself.
Faces, or babyfaces, are the good guys.
Heels, their opposite, are the bad guys.
Face turns and heel turns happen when one becomes the other.
When youre really popular, or really hated if thats what your job is, youre over.
A story beat is an angle.
When something looks real but isnt, thats a work.
When something looks real and is, thats a shoot.
When somethings supposed to look like a shoot but its actually a work, thats a worked shoot.
Rabid fans are marks.
Even xenophobic foreign menace heels are a thing of the past.
Obviously billionaire-backed companies never have clean hands, and some of thosehandsaredirtierthan others.
In that regard, wrestling is no longer stuck in the past.
The difference between then and now is that the artifice is okay to talk about.
No, the combatants in a wrestling match arent really trying to hurt each other.
Itsexactlylike watching actors or dancers operate at peak condition.
Its moving, sumptuous, often very silly, and just as often, absolutely glorious.
