Wrestlemania 29 is upon us at last and now ol' Y2Jant is now looking back at watching wrestling for over 13 years. Hard to believe that I've been watching WWE for that long and seen so much that has happened. I recall Stone Cold turning his back to the fans and winning the championship with the help of Mr. McMahon at X-7. Or what about the great match between Hulk Hogan and The Rock from 18? XIX was good and XX was something to look upon with great words.
My favorite match comes from Wrestlemania 21 when Eddie Guerrero faced Rey Mysterio. Over the years, I loved, hated and wondered the many things in wrestling and with a great group of friends over at the TWRNetwork, talking wrestling is always interesting. I lived through the InVasion angle, Kurt Angle winning his first WWE Championship, Brock Lesnar debuting and so much more memories that things tend to go unnoticed. But I decided to write this up not only to reflect but to hope for many more great years ahead of me as a fan.
Now, I'm going to get this out of the way but I love and respect Zeus for liking what he currently likes. Since around 06, he's been watching wrestling and his favorite wrestler is of course, Jeff Hardy. At that point, I've been watching wrestling for 6 years and was still reeling from a death that changed my view on wrestling forever.
October of 2005, I was behind many wrestlers but one that stands out is of course, Eddie Guerrero. When I heard the news of his death a month later, I was devastated. A month before, I shook his hand at a television taping of Smackdown right here in Reno. And then just like that, Eddie is now in the heavens with some of the other greats in the business. To me, that was a life changer for me as a fan because I realized that I needed to look at the past to really love the present. That's when I lost steam in watching wrestling and now watch and not cheer till my heart's content.
But now, 13 years of watching wrestling and now I feel like I'm the median of wrestling in a sense. While I didn't grew up on WCW (which I wish I did watch it, InVasion didn't help me like WCW) and watching how wrestling was back in the day, I look towards the younger fans who watched for just a few years and also see how the two can clash. Zeus is on that hand because his love for Jeff Hardy but nothing against him really. Zeus is to Jeff like I was to Eddie. We saw something that stood out against everyone else at that time and said, "You see that? I'm a fan and I don't care what anyone says." This is why I respect Zeus regardless on what he says. We are just fans of something great. Does that mean I like Jeff? Yes and no, I respect Jeff for what he has done for the business for the 13 years I've been watching. Zeus is the kind of friend I would have when it comes to wrestling, someone to think differently that you don't see. Remember, it wasn't until Eddie's death did I realize how important wrestling was before the Attitude Era. How WCW had great wrestling, how WWE was before changing to what we see today and how the indies can produce even better action then before.
All in all, Wrestlemania 29 is going to be one hell of a show and this was a chance to see something great and hope for a better Mania then last. This will be my 13th Wrestlemania, my 5th year knowing Double A, Lex and everyone back when Double A hosted the Wrestlemania 24 show and my 2nd year listening with the network. They say that 13 is a bad number, I think it's a great number for me as a fan of wrestling.
