Thoughts From Ringside…

Fandangoing…and going…and going…and…

So…”Fandangoing” is a thing. It exists. And…I’m all for it.

“It takes a big man to admit that he was wrong…I am that big man.” A few weeks ago on “Thoughts From Ringside”, I officially retired the #WASTEdango tag for Johnny Curtis, because he was showing me something on camera with his personality and ability to get over in the ring. I had no idea that it would take just one weekend to get me on the Fandango train in full force.

You can give Curtis most of the credit for my change in thought. I thought he performed very well during his first WWE televised match, which just happened to be on the BIGGEST stage that the WWE has to offer, WrestleMania. It’s almost impossible to put on a bad match when Chris Jericho is your opponent, and sure, there were some hiccups during the finish of the match, but I thought Curtis and Jericho did an awesome job selling the story.

Fast-forward one night…and we land in the IZOD Center for Raw. If you aren’t a wrestling fan and did not watch this past Monday night, you missed out on one of the most entertaining shows I have ever seen. The New Jersey crowd, which was a collection of hardcore (dare I say “smart”) wrestling fans from ALL over the world, and they made an impact on the night with their emotional drive to cheer, boo, and chant during EVERY segment shown on live TV.

Before I go any further, let me say thank you to the fans that were present that night. NJ, you showed out more than any crowd has in the last 15 years. It was dynamic, hilarious, and just plain fun to watch. It made me jealous that I wasn’t there being a part of what will go down in history as one of the best nights ever for WWE entertainment. Thank you. I will be in Greenville, SC this coming Monday night (look for the @DougOMac signs on the hard camera all night), and I’m just praying that everyone in attendance will have watched last week, just so that they are prepared to bring it even as half as good as you did Monday night. But I digress…

If Curtis is credited for most of the change in my mindset on not only him, but the character, the rest of the cred HAS to go to the fans. Not only from Monday night, but everyone on Twitter and Facebook that has been pushing the #FandangoRevolution. “Fandangoing” swept the nation this week (or at least the sports world) like the Harlem Shake…or “YES!” I’m like everyone else, in that fan interaction MAKES sports programs and events SO much more enjoyable. In professional wrestling, the fans are EVERYTHING.

If the fans don’t put you over once you’ve hit the big time, you’ll be 2 years (maybe) away from catching a “good luck on your future endeavors” e-mail and heading back to the Indies. Fans are the ones that make or break wrestling “superstars,”  and it’s fans like the ones that were present in the IZOD center that make not only the superstars of the business, but also the business itself relevant.

Kudos to the WWE for pushing Curtis.

Kudos to Curtis selling his character so well, especially when it’s a cheesy, chesse-ball gimmick like this one.

And kudos to the fans of professional wrestling (especially last Monday night’s crowd). WWE programming went from being predictable and somewhat boring Sunday night to a ridiculous amount of fun Monday.

I’ll be at Raw this Monday…”Fandangoing” with what I hope to be a fun crowd. Here’s to having this much fun watching professional wrestling for the next 51 weeks!

Want to hear more of my thoughts? Follow me on Twitter @DougOMac