As a wrestling fan, I have always been going back and forward to my favorites in wrestling. Whether booing the hell out of Triple H and the heels, tearing for the Benoit win at WrestleMania XX, or laughing for the comedy of Rosey training to be a super hero in training with the Hurricane, wrestling has always given me different emotions, but the one thing that remains constant for me is my love and respect for the little guys. While some think of supporting mid-carders more than the main eventers, I mean other promotions like past greats WCW, ECW, and USWA and current underdogs like TNA, ROH, Japan, Mexico and the various indy shows around the USA.

During the mid-90s, I watched the WWF and saw Shawn Michaels, Austin, Mankind, The Rock, The Hart Foundation, DX and all the great wrestlers of that time and loved it. I watched every day and I wanted to buy all the merchandise I could get and watched early RAW during the Attitude era. I heard rumors among my friends about another company called WCW. I watched it a little bit, seeing a few people that I thought were interesting. Around 1995-96, I started watching WCW, but my attention was still more on the WWF. In 1999, I saw Owen Hart die on my TV, which was very hard for me to understand. After that, I kept wondering about wrestling and turned more to WCW which ended up working for a while until it went to hell. The WWF was still my focus in the late 90s, but I soon got interested in an established company called ECW. I was horrified by all the chances a man called Rob Van Dam would take and how menacing the champion called Taz looked, and looking at all the sick twisted characters at the time. I liked it, but sadly I didn't see it in its prime, and I only saw a few of the TNN shows. I loved the stories and everything, but it was ending. It was around this time that WCW was also closing. I watched the last Nitro and even though I didn't watch the previous episodes of Nitro, I watched the last one and was very interested. I even saw people that I liked and thought I would never see them again. This set in the fact that wrestling will never be the same.

My wrestling choices were so limited that I just stopped watching it. When I went to see it again later, it wasn't on TV anymore. It was on TNN, which I didn't have. So I spent no time watching wrestling. After a year, around 2002, I got TNN on my cable and was watching wrestling again. However, the realization that Monday and Thursday were the only times to watch wrestling. The best thing that happened to me happened during 2003 and that was TNA. On Wednesday, I saw new faces and familiar friends while watching, and was obsessed with it. AJ Styles and Americas Most Wanted and Triple X and Chris Sabin were the best people I've seen wrestling. I saw the return of my favorite ECW/WCW/WWF wrestler, Raven and some of the most sickening matches I've ever seen. I found a new alternative!

While watching, I heard about ROH and was watching some of the DVDs and the best of tapes from a new thing called the Internet Wrestling Community. I watched some of the highlights when they came over to Elizabeth, NJ, the closest they can be to see them. I saw CM Punk from TNA and Spanky and Samoa Joe. I left pretty happy and was entertained by the whole thing.

Another interest that happened was the Jersey wrestling scene that was around my town. I went to the independents around town and was impressed with what I saw. Not to ramble too much, but I was interested in knowing if anyone would become pro in the indys. You never know.

I write this because I was always interested in other options to what other people give me. Some don't like the WWE and are more on TNA or ROH, while others think those 2 are dying and nothing can outlast the WWE. I for one don't feel like WWE is giving me all that I want. That is why I like TNA. That's why I like ROH. It's different and special than the mainstream product. I believe that that is the future of wrestling, especially in the age of T&A in the WWE.You never know that the next mainstream product will bring, so expect it to show you what it can.

by Michael Coello ..