So This Is What It Feels Like to Be 12 Years Old Again

Thank you, Miz
Photo Credit: WWE.com

When I was writing the Instant Feedback post last night, I felt different. No, it wasn't because I had a RAW that was praiseworthy and I was used to writing bash posts about it. That's far from the case, actually. RAW has been uneven this year, but there have been a lot of good episodes this year. I mean, just go back to the first RAW of the year, and you have one of the best televised wrestling programs in recent memory, or at the very least, one with one of the most chilling and satisfying moments ever (the public reconciliation between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels). But I didn't feel the way I did then that I did last night. I felt like I was a mark kid again.

Under other circumstances, I might be compelled to start criticizing the angle and big title win along with praising it. Yeah, I'd have preferred it if Miz won his first title in the main event of a PPV after a big build. But you know what? In today's WWE, that's rare anymore. It's also rare that they strap a guy that I totally am a fawning fan for at the height of when they should strap him. I marked out when Miz won Money in the Bank. I was scared shitless that he was going to be the first one to fail, so when he won... that was just, for lack of a better term, AWESOME.

But it wasn't awesome like Daniel Bryan winning the United States Championship, or Evan Bourne getting a clean pinfall win over Sheamus, or CM Punk doing the things that make CM Punk great. It was awesome like watching Hulk Hogan pin Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania VII, or seeing Randy Savage embrace Elizabeth at that same event, or Bret Hart finally slaying the giant Yokozuna and reclaiming his WWF World Championship. Yes, I felt like a mark, and it was great.

I didn't care about what it meant for business. I didn't care about how he was built. I didn't care about anything but sitting there, in my glory, watching a personally satisfying title win like I was a pre-teen rather than a guy pushing 30 who watches for a whole other set of reasons than he did 20 years ago. How long's the feeling going to last? I don't know, probably until Miz loses his first non-title match to Randy Orton in clean fashion, or whenever. But it's a feeling that I wish everyone reading this blog or who watches wrestling and has become as jaded as jaded can be can feel.

Wrestling is best when it makes you forget that it's staged, even if it's just for a moment. Last night, when Miz countered the RKO into the Skull-Crushing Finale, pinned Randy Orton and held the WWE Championship high above his head? Yeah, it was still real to me at that point, dammit. People ask why I still like pro wrestling. It's for moments like that.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!