Out and proud or in the closet?

Hi guys, apologies if this has been done before, but a couple of comments from Crimey and JamesLincs have got me wondering...
How many of you guys are open about your love of wrestling?Do any of you have mates that you can share the experience with?Or are you firmly in that closet?if so,why?

For me I'm a proud fan,love dealing with the stick and banter I get for it,but I would love a proper discussion with people,rather than just a DDT or two on my pals on a night out.
Would love to hear from everyone else...

I'm not fully out. Some of my close friends and family know, but other than that I have to keep it secret. Even if someone's phone goes off with a WWE theme I have to act non-descript. It's hard living a lie, but I get through it one day at a time.

But everyone knows i'm gay, so that's alright.

I don't think I've ever been in the closet. Always been open about it. If people don't like it, they generally don't say anything. Being 6'5" and 20 stone has its uses

I don't even know whether I have a love of wrestling but I keep the fact I watch raw quiet to all but a few mates

Don't think this is intentional though, just doesn't come up in conversation so there's no need to speak of it

Well i had a eugene shirt so couldn't really hide that

Most my friends like it anyway

A guy at my work regularly starts feed me more chants including the arm movement, as loud as he can. My boss put someone in a figure four the other week to counter a sharpshooter, apart from that I don't shout about it from the roof tops.

I'm not only in the closet but I'm behind a curtain, in a box on the top shelf with the light off

If I do make any sort of reference I'll make sure I call it WWF and mention something like "is Rock still Summerslamming DX"

I get infurated when I hear someone talk about Wrestling though and they're so wide of the mark it's untrue, my paranoia tells me its a test though and everyone is waiting for me to crack, I just go into my happy place and try and block it out

I do exactly the same thing... I always refer to it as wwf when in open conversation and say things like 'hulk hogan was the man' i die a little inside every time!

Back in my part time job in a well know high street catalogue shop (no free advertising by me) me and a few of the other guys (ages between 18 and 21) used to be open and proud about it all, spoke freely, wore the shirts underneath the uniform and even had impromptu wrestling matches in the stockroom which one time resulted in me rock bottomed onto a bike still in its box!

Since I'm in full time work now I have had to be abit more careful about it. There is one other guy in the office that watches it now and then so I can't really have a full blown conversation with him about this weeks raw etc. if somebody asked me about wrestling I'd admit to watching it, as I have done in the past, but that's about it.

The parents know I watch it as I use their sky+ to record raw etc as I don't have the sports channels round my house.

I do miss chatting to somebody in work about it all but this just allows me to use wrestling chants to my advantage without anybody knowing

Feed me more being the most used one at the moment while I'm on my way to lunch

Most people I know are aware I'm into wrestling. I always think that it's best to be really open and self-deprecating about it. It's much harder for people to take the pee when you're already laughing at yourself.

The problem is that, quite understandably, most of them don't really get what it is about wrestling that interests me. I try to explain that I'm really interested in the industry as a whole, that I watch it with more of a critical eye, etc, but I think that just comes across like I'm making excuses!

I actually find it more awkward when wrestling fans try to talk to me about wrestling in front of non-fans. It makes me feel really self conscious about what I'm saying, as I can't imagine what they must think about the conversation.

The thing with me is I really like the psychology of Wrestling, I like the way characters go about making us like or dislike them and how they garner reactions from the audiance, the thought of trying to explain that to either a non-wrestling fan or someone who just watches it for fun strikes me with dread

I'm not totally secretive as I used to be, my girlfriend rumbled my Powerslam's pretty quickly after we started going out and she now tells people I'm a fan every now and again, I also have a pal at uni who's massivley into wrestling, loud and proud, so it's been teased out of me gradually at uni amongst my closer friends, I hid a lot of how seriously I took things for a wee while until my pal proclaimed Chris Jericho as the greatest ever and I snapped.

Crips, one thing that's always interested me, you're a school teacher right? Does it ever worry you that one of your pupils could stumble over the V2 podcast and discover that Mr Duenas talks about wrestling on the internet, I know how cruel kids can be about these things.

Ha, no I'm not a teacher. I work in a school but I just do admin stuff.

I know teachers who are into wrestling though. As far as I know they're open about it and it helps them get some of the kids onside! (although I have known kids to look at me funny when it's mentioned that I'm a wrestling fan, as if to say 'but you're a grown up'...)

Fair enough, people who work with kids, particuarly teenagers, always interest me as I was bullied at school and how they keep themselves gaurded and in control is something I find terrifying.

Makes much more sense now, you've never struck me as bright enough to be a teacher :p

Closeted.

Gf thinks I liked it/watch it occassionally and rips the urine. Turned down a Miami and my trip cos wed have to go to Mania for one of the nights.

Only comes out when I'm blitzed and usually in the form if cutting famous promos to voicemail or having pretend bouts with mates.

At the end of the day it's fake fighting aimed at children so no wonder there's so many closet fans.

Kay Fabe wrote:I'm not only in the closet but I'm behind a curtain, in a box on the top shelf with the light off

If I do make any sort of reference I'll make sure I call it WWF and mention something like "is Rock still Summerslamming DX"

I get infurated when I hear someone talk about Wrestling though and they're so wide of the mark it's untrue, my paranoia tells me its a test though and everyone is waiting for me to crack, I just go into my happy place and try and block it out

i do love it when people say that, but generally its because theyre trying to disguise the fact they blatantly know its called wwe now and they know john cena is the man.

i have 2 groups of friends, one group dont have an interest in it where as my closer group of friends love it. itll always get a mention at football on monday nights and once weve had a few in town the chokeslams and rock bottoms will come out.

I worked in a school for 3 years that was just for kids who had been expelled from every school going. We had 'naughty' kids from all over the country, some of the violence would make a Cactus Jack match look tame.
Many of the kids used my love of wrestling as a bit of banter, but many of them actually became fans due to my impromptu IT lessons involving several hours of YouTube, and my favourite matches.

I preferred the insults to the reenactments of the ECW chair throwing incident...

I have friends who use to be into it who understand it and dont really mock me, theres other who think its ridiculous though. They use it as a comeback to any criticism I give of anything they like.

The 6 I'm going to New York with consist of Me as the biggest fan, another who used to watch it and got back into it with me, and another who is casual. Two of the other three hate it, one vociferously so. Gets really angry about it, thinks theyre all wusses and is just moronic. The other mainly hates referees as he just cant understand how that becomes someones job. But even they enjoy it when we're all drunk, the Rumble last year was really good. Three of us are going to Mania and Axxess, the other three are possibly gonna get the cheapest seats way at the top of the stadium.

Its a hobby I dont really talk about unless asked to. And with most people I never really make a valid point, its always an excuse as to why I like it. The only updates I ever give to my father, who got me into it as a kid, are on Undertaker as he was his favourite back then.

This board has been great for expanding my knowledge. The Ask the Tart thread and things like Tooze's stat packs and even Kay Fabe's list there of who he'd have booked, all brilliant ways to provoke me into looking at stuff and making me remember the years I watched as a nipper that I rarely think of nowadays.

I am a teaching assistant in a primary school, i kept the wrestling fan in be locked in the pe cuboard for along time but last year when I had 2 listen 2 so many Lil Jimmy's say how great Cena is and how the Rock sucks I had come out and enlighten the lil jimmys about how wrong they were. It was either this or go on Kane/Big show path of destruction as funnily enough im bigger than primary school kids.

I know one person (apart from my son) who is still a fan! Our mates must dredd ever getting stuck with after a few pints esp after PPV!

I'm out and proud (about wrestling before anyone quips otherwise)

The wife knew early on in our relationship and my workplace cottoned on a few years back, no one really rips me over it as Im similar to Crips in that Im usually the first to mock myself as a defensive mechanism to then take the sting out of others jibes. All my work knew yesterday I was going along to the TNA taping and I didn't get any grief, they don't know why I'll be bleary eyed on Monday though from staying up for the Rumble.

Im pretty much out

Im not sure anyone really cares that much to be honest.

I'm very much in the closet, the mrs knows and sometimes try's to embarrass me in front of others by bringing it up but I skirt over it and move the topic on straight away!

As I said earlier if anyone mentions it in open conversation I'll always refer to it as wwf.

My dad takes the mick big time but he watches soaps so I just laugh it off saying its no worse than watching eastenders!

No one at work has a clue and I'd prefer to keep it that way!

My mates would crucify me if they knew, I play a lot of football and the banter is pretty high as it is so if they new about my secret second life it would be unbearable! Lol

Pretty much the same, I'm quite vocal in making sure I expose all my mates weaknesses in the banter stakes especially at football or the Gym, giving them ammunition isn't for me


By the way mate, next week's booking, anychance you can give me the subject today? I've got a 4 hour round train journy to do starting tonight so I need something to amuse myself with

KF I'll PM you shortly mate

I'm genuinely quite open about it. Most of my work mates know about it, even though some use the line of "It's two greased up guys fighting...pretty gay to be honest".
Then they'll ask me something like "Oh yeah, I remember that guy...what's his name...Rock Lesnar or something?"

I'm out.
There are 2 other guys at work who watch it and we have openly discussed it in the canteen in front of lots of other work colleagues.

Sometimes when i talk to people i use wrestling references and catchphrases and they have no idea so it's a nice inside joke.