I always wanted to be a wrestler. I have the size for it--6'1" & 240 lbs.--and the athleticism. And I had my chance once upon a time. My high school started a team when I was in the 10th grade, but that kind of wrestling didn't interest me. Besides, I don't have the required threshold for pain or the required aggression.

Pro wrestling of the 1960s and 1970s--that's what already had me by then. I spent my Saturday mornings (late mornings, just before noon) watching local wrestling on one of the four channels our antenna could pick up. Same thing on Saturday nights after the eleven o'clock news. Most people who like this kind of wrestling like it for its good vs. evil aspects. The cleancut American wrestles the evil Russian or Iranian. The fair and friendly by-the-rules wrestler has to try to overcome the rule breaker. These fans watch wrestling for the same reason that many fans watch NASCAR (to see the wrecks) or hockey (to see the fights). They enjoy the story that each wrestling match tells of the feud between the fair and the unfair, the struggle between good and evil. Like good theatre, pro wrestling offers us a chance to live vicariously through its good or evil characters, to experience a sense of catharsis as its tensions are resolved.

But, unfortunately, I'm not like most fans.