this blog is an attempt to answer the question everyone has been asking me for the past year: why professional wrestling? the short answer, of course, is why not—after all, life is short and only getting shorter—but the longer answer is very, very long. i didn’t grow up wanting to be a professional wrestler, or even understanding what it was. but when i was introduced to the “sport” and had it lovingly and patiently explained to me, something simply clicked. it was like there had been this other person living inside of me my whole life; this brash bold glittery & eternally sweaty muscle chick that i’d been trying to emulate but never really understood, and all of the sudden she was out in the world, gleefully smacking her muscles against anything that stood in her way.
i think everyone between 23-25, in that distinctly bitter spot after the fresh unbridled freeness of what one can reasonably call their early twenties, has a little crisis of faith or identity, particularly as a post-graduate (with a liberal arts degree, i might add… ugh, the ennui). but of course that little cold or whatever that’s been going around has made finding oneself even more difficult. add COVID-19 and post-grad discombobulation to a bunch of "personal” changes and a smattering of good-old fashioned impulsive tendencies and, well, i guess professional wrestling is what i came up with.
i came to this odd thing very late in my life, which seems to be quite common for female wrestlers and wrestling fans. i want people (my mom, my friends, talkative strangers on the bus) to understand that it’s not… stupid man stuff. like.. sometimes it is, in the best possible way, but it’s also an art form that’s been around for over a hundred years, a medium rather than a genre, with its own vast history and culture. it fascinates me, and the act of wrestling itself makes me feel so alive and so strong and so beautiful. nothing makes me feel more like myself right now than wiping my feet on the mat and stepping through the ropes, where a world of pain and delight wait each time.
so, why would a college-educated young feminist decide to spend most of her week grappling sweaty men (and the occasional woman or non-binary person), aching, and pushing? the simplest answer here is perhaps that i want to live a life where i continue to surprise myself and those around me. i want the ability to follow my whims and passions and to give everything a chance. i love that quality in myself and i hope that when i’m an old woman i’ll still be nosing into new communities and hobbies with the same dedication.
also, i would just really like to be able to explain it to my mom and dad. PS sorry about all the worry
ciao from the powerbomb princess 💋💪