#I need to start an official tally of the victims I've lured into wrestling

[blacktofade]

hi hello! i’m trying to get into wrestling, thanks in part to your excellent fics, & im not sure where to start—do you have any advice? should i just watch the next match & catch context where i can?? i’ve seen the hookhausen primer, but beyond that i don’t know much of the Lore…what do you think?

Thank you again for your patience while I was out of town and couldn't answer this! I'm now ready to settle down and show my whole ass and admit I don't really have any good advice, but what I'm about to talk about will be specific to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which is trying (and succeeding imo) to be WWE's younger, more hip sibling.

I'm gonna stick this under a cut because this is a stupidly long reply to your question. And I'm also gonna refer to a generic "you" as I'm hoping this will help other people who are thinking about hopping onboard.

The first trick to enjoying wrestling is by following your pussy (or pussy equivalent). The second trick to enjoying wrestling is finding one or two people to scream at. I don't speak for everyone (obviously), but I've randomly messaged so many people in fandom and they've all been happy to yell about our favorite clowns at the circus.

(For anyone reading this, my messages are always open, or you can find me on discord @ blacktofade#2949. Just know that I have every notification turned off and I will see things when I see things lmfao)

For me, getting into wrestling (again, specifically AEW) went: reading fic on AO3 -> watching some content of one specific wrestler on YouTube -> watching what I could of the AEW weekly schedule -> finding more wrestlers I liked and reading more fic on AO3 -> rinse and repeat.

There's too much lore (and often content) to feasibly digest it all as a new fan, so don't sweat it. Just have fun watching what you have time for and figure out who you enjoy most. Just remember that you're allowed to like anyone for whatever reason. We're all just here for a good time.

Also, most of the lore is hand-wavy at best. Most match promos are basically one person going "you did my man dirty by looking to the east on a wednesday at 5pm, therefore I have no choice but to fight you" and the other person says "yeah okay let's settle this in Ohio in a week like adults". Just go with it. Sometimes even with context, shit just doesn't make sense. Your job is to sit there going "yeah! kick their ass!" and to love every camp minute of it.

The great thing is that a lot of matches are on YouTube. Just search "[wrestler name] match" and you'll most likely find 10 years of content waiting for you. Pick at random. Don't try to go chronologically, or you'll drive yourself insane. See a thumbnail that interests you? Click it.

If you're lucky, you'll pick a wrestler who vlogs a lot (looking at you, Mr. Danhausen) and you'll be introduced to other wrestlers by association.

My favorite thing is watching two people wrestle on one of the AEW shows, and then looking them up later and finding out they had a major feud between 2010 and 2014 on three different continents and I'm very late to the party. This is part of the fun. Their history plays as big (or as little) a role as you want it to. You make the rules for your wrestling adventure. Anyone who says differently is a huge fucking nerd and you can tell them I'll meet them in the parking lot after school.

Now, for actual helpful info on how to literally watch wrestling:

When/Where to Watch?

Wrestling nights are every night Mon, Tues, Wed, and Fri with the following schedule:

Mon – Dark Elevation on YouTube @ 7pm EST (midnight UTC) Tues – Elevation on YouTube @ 7pm EST (midnight UTC) Wed – Dynamite on TBS @ 8pm EST (1am UTC) Fri – Rampage on TNT @ 10pm EST (3am UTC)

The Mon and Tues shows are the easiest to watch since they're on YouTube and you can watch them whenever you want after they air. They usually save the meatier matches for Wed and Fri and there are plenty of ways to watch those while sailing the seven seas 🏴‍☠ and I definitely won't share info about these if you message me...

It took me the longest time to figure this out, but they film the YouTube matches on the same days as Dynamite/Rampage (which are live shows). For example, an episode of Dark might be filmed on Friday, but won't air until the following Tues. Which is why you might see the same outfits or people in the crowds, and also why you might see spoilers on socials from people who were there in-person for Dynamite/Rampage.

Live shows have a post show for people there in-person, too. It's typically along the lines of "let's bring out this wrestler and you can clap and they will tell you they love you". Sometimes, it's a lil extra kayfabe beef between wrestlers. And sometimes, very kind people record these and put them online for us to gobble down. Would definitely recommend searching YouTube or Twitter on weekends after shows.

Throughout the year, they also have Pay Per View (PPV) events, which are additional-cost shows typically on weekends and they're like 5 hour of pure nonstop wrestling for $50. They're a blast. Highly recommend if the brainrot is eating you alive.

Independent Wrestling?

I have dabbled only slightly outside of AEW, but for $10/month, you can get a subscription to IWTV (Independent Wrestling TV, not to be confused with Anne Rice's masterpiece lmfao), which has an insane amount of matches, an excellent search engine, and a video player that isn't pure trash.

This is a particularly fun investment once you've started to get to know the general AEW roster, because familiar faces pop up EVERYWHERE.

Finding Matches?

One of the hardest things is trying to figure out where to begin with finding matches for a specific wrestler or team.

CAGEMATCH is the single most important wrestling resource on the internet. Hands down.

You can search for any wrestler and it will compile a neat little list of every single match they've ever participated in. It will also tell you who won, how long the match was, where/when the match took place, and usually where you can (pay) to watch it. This can be extremely helpful for 1) writing fic and 2) finding lore between wrestling characters.

WTF is Kayfabe?

This also took me way too long to figure out, but kayfabe is the act of pretending what happens in the ring is real (real fights, real beef, real characters, etc). They're not doing fancy stunt work, they're actually kicking the shit out of each other. Most interviews are kayfabe compliant as they sit there and go "yes, on wednesday I will be murdering my enemy live on stage". It's very fun.

The "not kayfabe compliant" tag on AO3 is typically used when the fic uses shoot names (aka real names). For example, Donovan vs. Danhausen, Jim vs. Orange Cassidy, etc.

Fandom Etiquette?

Wrestlers are often easy to interact with, whether it's here, or Twitter, or Twitch. Don't. Don't even look in their direction if you're posting about ship-related content. Don't send them links. Don't @ them. If you want to keep your space safe, block them and stop them from seeing your content.

On AO3 you can lock your fic to give an extra layer of protection (and sometimes some cunt will send an ask to a wrestler here on tumblr telling them specifically how to get around it lmfao). Do what makes you feel comfy. I leave mine open because if anyone finds it, that's between them and god. I also haven't felt shame since the 90s.

ANYWAY. TL;DR: there are many ways to get into wrestling, but I hope you have fun on your wrestling adventure because that's the important thing.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

PS: For anyone who wants the Hookhausen Primer, you can find it HERE.