Earn This is happy to introduce a new column: Mole’s Main Event (tentatively). In it, Robert will show us why wrestling deserves a thoughtful look as he breaks down matches past and present.

Hello everyone. I know I’m new to this, but welcome to my new column, tentatively titled Mole’s Main Event or Robert Rambles on ‘Rasslin’. Which one do you like better? Let me know.

I’ve been a wrestling fan ever since I saw the Giant join the nWo on WCW Monday Nitro on August 26th, 1996 from my grandparent’s guest room in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Sixteen years later, I’m living and working in DC. However, at heart, I’m still a 9 year old kid who loves watching The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin whoop some ass.

For those of you who are still very in the dark about pro wrestling, and most of what you know is, “Dude, wrestling’s fake, bro”, allow me to shed some light on the subject. Think of it as sort of a disclaimer. Wrestling is not fake. I repeat, WRESTLING IS NOT FAKE, it’s choreographed. Would you tell a dancer that his/her performance number is fake? Thought not. What about the storylines? Well, they’re about as real as any show featuring the Kardashians. It’s essentially reality television.

Are the outcomes and many of the signature moments of the match thought out beforehand? Yes. Are they wrestling on trampolines? No, loose sheets of plywood set on top of 4 large springs covered by canvas. Wrestling is entertainment, but the wrestlers still take very hard bumps (see ladder matches, which I’ll discuss in a later article). I know that seems kind of harsh, but I want to be very clear from the outset on what professional wrestling entails. I just hate it when guys like Edge, forced to retire from a spinal injury, who have given their lives and bodies to this industry, are seen by the less informed as professional “fake artists”.

I’ll be coming at you guys with some updates on my views of the pro wrestling world, primarily WWE, since it’s the biggest and the one that people care about. Not to say I won’t talk about Impact Wrestling, or Ring of Honor, because I will. Sometimes it will be profiles on certain wrestlers, sometimes it will be history lessons, whatever I feel like writing or what you, the readers, feel I should write about.

Any suggestions, questions, comments, deep thoughts or jaded opinions, please let me know, and I’ll properly respond. Looking forward to bangin’ on some keys for y’all.

-Robert