I admit it. I read and write wrestling fanfiction. The things I write are tame compared to the things I've read. I write mostly sweet romances, very sappy with non-explicit sex. I've read things where Kevin Nash wants to "screw" the guy who played the fake Diesel into a mattress simply because he is narcissistic enough to wish he could do that to himself. There is every sort of story both sweet and sex driven that you can think of out there involving wrestlers. Fanfiction.net has around 40,000.
In discussions with my friends about this, I've said that I believe that the collective sexual fantasy of women between the ages of 12 and 60 could be found on Fanfiction.net. I don't know what percentage of wrestling fans fall into this demographic. A good portion of the women who write these stories write something called "the mary sue" which, for those unfamiliar with fanfiction, is an original character the author creates to represent herself. Her wonderful character falls in love with whatever wrestler the author is crushing on at the time, and they generally have a lovely relationship. Some of these involve abusive ex-boyfriends or the guy's ex-girlfriend trying to ruin their lives. But generally Mary Sue wins the day and the heart of her wrestling hero.
A lot of other women write "slash" fiction which links their two favorite male wrestlers together in a romantic relationship. I don't typically read this type of story, but they are very popular. The ones I really don't get are the ones that have real life brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy involved with each other. Undertaker and Kane I can accept a little more readily because they aren't actually related in real life. I do wonder what the men involved in these stories would think of what female fans want to do to them. I wonder if they'd be flattered or creeped out. My guess is that it depends on the individual story.
If I have any issue with the genre, it is that even though these men often wrestle under fake names, they are living people. They exist in the real world with lives we know nothing about. Do we have the right to speculate about their personal life? Do we have the right to try to insert ourselves into that? If our favorite wrestler is married, does that make writing fanfictions about him doubly wrong. Most fanfiction writers in the wrestling genre write somewhere in between Kayfabe and real life. They often use the wrestler's real name, and they talk about life on the road to some extent. If an author links Mark Callaway, The Undertaker, to her original character and she speculates on his real life, she might use details about his actual family that she's found on the internet. It's up to her I guess to decide if her character is going to help him cheat on his wife, or if she's going to conveniently write about Michelle and Undertaker getting divorced.
Or better yet, what if the object of your desire's personal life goes tragically horribly wrong? I'll use the example of Chris Benoit only because I fixated on him pretty badly in college. I had a large collage of pictures of him that I printed off the internet on my dorm room wall, and if I'd written fanfiction back it would have been about him. There is a good chance that if my fantasies had come true, I'd be dead right now. I wanted nothing more at that time to be his girlfriend/wife and to have the happy domestic life. We all know how that played out in real life for him. This is not a criticism of Benoit. It is a criticism of myself for romanticizing him and trying to make him into a character for my whimsical amusement.
I guess since I'm meeting more wrestlers through local promotions I'm starting to feel even weirder about speculating about the details of more famous wrestler's personal lives. I've met a lot of great people who are really passionate about the business. Most of them are happily married. Perhaps it is because I've met them in real life I don't feel the need to speculate about them. But I feel I should give more famous men and women the same courtesy. At the same time I'm not sure what to do with all the rampant thoughts about Daniel Bryan or Austin Aries that go through my head. Anyway as always thanks for reading. Post any feedback or opinions.
In discussions with my friends about this, I've said that I believe that the collective sexual fantasy of women between the ages of 12 and 60 could be found on Fanfiction.net. I don't know what percentage of wrestling fans fall into this demographic. A good portion of the women who write these stories write something called "the mary sue" which, for those unfamiliar with fanfiction, is an original character the author creates to represent herself. Her wonderful character falls in love with whatever wrestler the author is crushing on at the time, and they generally have a lovely relationship. Some of these involve abusive ex-boyfriends or the guy's ex-girlfriend trying to ruin their lives. But generally Mary Sue wins the day and the heart of her wrestling hero.
A lot of other women write "slash" fiction which links their two favorite male wrestlers together in a romantic relationship. I don't typically read this type of story, but they are very popular. The ones I really don't get are the ones that have real life brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy involved with each other. Undertaker and Kane I can accept a little more readily because they aren't actually related in real life. I do wonder what the men involved in these stories would think of what female fans want to do to them. I wonder if they'd be flattered or creeped out. My guess is that it depends on the individual story.
If I have any issue with the genre, it is that even though these men often wrestle under fake names, they are living people. They exist in the real world with lives we know nothing about. Do we have the right to speculate about their personal life? Do we have the right to try to insert ourselves into that? If our favorite wrestler is married, does that make writing fanfictions about him doubly wrong. Most fanfiction writers in the wrestling genre write somewhere in between Kayfabe and real life. They often use the wrestler's real name, and they talk about life on the road to some extent. If an author links Mark Callaway, The Undertaker, to her original character and she speculates on his real life, she might use details about his actual family that she's found on the internet. It's up to her I guess to decide if her character is going to help him cheat on his wife, or if she's going to conveniently write about Michelle and Undertaker getting divorced.
Or better yet, what if the object of your desire's personal life goes tragically horribly wrong? I'll use the example of Chris Benoit only because I fixated on him pretty badly in college. I had a large collage of pictures of him that I printed off the internet on my dorm room wall, and if I'd written fanfiction back it would have been about him. There is a good chance that if my fantasies had come true, I'd be dead right now. I wanted nothing more at that time to be his girlfriend/wife and to have the happy domestic life. We all know how that played out in real life for him. This is not a criticism of Benoit. It is a criticism of myself for romanticizing him and trying to make him into a character for my whimsical amusement.
I guess since I'm meeting more wrestlers through local promotions I'm starting to feel even weirder about speculating about the details of more famous wrestler's personal lives. I've met a lot of great people who are really passionate about the business. Most of them are happily married. Perhaps it is because I've met them in real life I don't feel the need to speculate about them. But I feel I should give more famous men and women the same courtesy. At the same time I'm not sure what to do with all the rampant thoughts about Daniel Bryan or Austin Aries that go through my head. Anyway as always thanks for reading. Post any feedback or opinions.
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