19/04/2025
It’s WrestleMania weekend.
Tonight kicks off Night 1, and man… this is it. I’m not really big on the holidays—never have been. But this? This is my Christmas. Always has been. Ever since 1993. That’s when it really hit me, when it really became something more than just a show on TV. Since that moment, in the 32 years that followed, I’ve only missed watching one WrestleMania live. Just one. That’s how much this weekend means to me. It’s not just nostalgia. It still feels just as huge, just as electric now in 2025, as it did when I was just four years old, eyes wide, glued to the screen watching my two favorites—Bret and Owen Hart—absolutely tear it up in the opening match of WrestleMania X.
That was the spark. That was when the wrestling bug got in me and buried itself so deep, I don’t think it ever left. Truth is, I don’t go a single day without thinking about wrestling in some form—whether it’s a memory, a promo, a match, or just the feeling. It’s always there.
This weekend isn’t just about the show. It’s about us. It’s about the millions of fans around the world—different walks of life, different colors, different stories—but for this one weekend, none of that matters. We are all just one thing: Wrestling Fans.
And yeah, we’ve always been the odd ones. We’ve been laughed at, ridiculed. “You know it’s fake, right?” “Only dumb people watch wrestling.” You know the lines. We’ve all heard ’em. From friends, family, co-workers—doesn’t matter. Being a wrestling fan has always come with a little side of shame, at least in the eyes of others.
But let me say this to every fellow fan out there right now: We’re different. We’re passionate in a way nobody else understands. We’ll drop thousands of dollars just to sit in the nosebleeds at WrestleMania. And then the next week? We’re front row at an indie show in a gym, spending five bucks and cheering just as loud. We’ll fly across the globe just to see one match, one wrestler, one moment. That’s how deep this runs.
And the most beautiful part of it? Unlike so much of the world right now—so divided, so cold—we, as wrestling fans, come together. We come together in one city, for one weekend, and it’s like we’re all part of this big, weird, passionate family. That right there… that gives me hope. That makes me proud. In 2025, when so much seems to pull people apart, we’re still coming together for wrestling.
So yeah, this is my Christmas. My favorite time of year. The biggest celebration of the thing that’s been with me my whole life.
To all my fellow fans out there: enjoy WrestleMania weekend. Soak it in. Cheer. Cry. Lose your voice. Be proud of who you are and what we are.
We are Wrestling Fans. And nobody does it like us.
~Jesse Lawson~
