Fake Non-Geeks

Last night the gym had the TV set to wrestling. It was WWE: Raw, apparently. I imagine they call it "raw" because that's the only sound some of these wrestlers seem able to make (except for the one guy who just kept shouting "NO!" over and over for no reason).

I'd never actually seen it before, I realised. All I knew about it was what I'd picked up from others at school, back when it was the WWF.
What I learnt at school was that wrestling was what the cool kids talked about when they weren't laughing at us for liking comics. I learnt that it was what they watched on TV when we were watching cartoons. I learnt that it was incredibly manly and adult and mature, compared to the childish superheroes and stuff that we liked.

So when I saw Raw - watching a bunch of misproportioned musclemen with stupid names perform elaborately choreographed fights in personalised skin-tight costumes; listening to a commentary on their backstories, special techniques and skills; trying to follow a convoluted story which tied into years of tangled continuity - I smiled knowingly. They were even talking about the imminent return of The Rock, in an event I can only assume they're calling the Phoenix Saga.

It's nice to know we're all geeks at heart. Even if some of us don't know it.