Analysis...The Strange Tale of a Wrestlers’ Symposium Gone All Emotional

I’m not about to pretend I found this video, or even that this video is anything new. I realize it’s been played on numerous morning radio shows around the country (I heard it first on Opie & Anthony) and it has been mined almost dry of its humor.

Notice I say almost.

Because, I believe there is something that we’ve all overlooked in this video, and I want to quickly point out it’s brilliance, and possibly redirect some of the humiliation that has fallen on professional wrestling’s number 1 fan.

Take a look at the video, and analysis, after the jump…

Ok, for those of you who haven’t seen this yet, please take a moment and watch this clip.



Now, I wasn’t in that high-school gym to hear this symposium on professional wrestling. (Had I been able to make it, you can bet I would have been hanging out with that guy lounging on the bleachers behind the wrestlers. Sure, I wouldn’t be able to see their fronts, but I’d have a lot more leg room.) So it’s possible that the man’s response was due to a particularly serious plea from Terry Funk (the man that gave barbed wire manufacturers a reason to stay in business in the late 90s) to regulate wrestling.

Or, the guy could be a little unbalanced.

But enough humiliation has been wrought upon the crying man. I’d like you all to turn your attention to the 13 second mark of the clip, right as the tearful response is getting revved up. Before the cascade of tears fall, an arm from the left side of the screen comes over, reassuringly to pat the man on the back.

Seriously?

In these modern times, it is not crazy to think it is the man’s boyfriend. In fact, if that were the case, it would render the subtle move entirely un-creepy. However, I don’t believe that to be the case, as if they were a couple, wouldn’t they be sitting closer together?

No, I contend that this was a stranger, simply reacting to a spontaneous moment, and in a charitable act, reached out to give this man a the only thing he felt he could, which was a pat on the back.

With all that said, I now ask you, which action is worse? The emotional, passionate outburst of a man who REALLY enjoys professional wrestling, or the pat on the back from an anonymous person sitting next to you in a high school gym listening to wrestlers’ tales of woe on the circuit?