MAJOR SMACKDOWN SPOILER

I know I get accused of having a "holier than thou" attitude around here, so I'll say this and be done with it. But I've met a lot of wrestlers, and I don't mean 20 seconds at an autograph signing either, I mean sitting down and chatting with them in-depth.

One thing I noticed very quickly is that the fans know more about the TV show , and take the TV show way more seriously, than the wrestlers themselves.

I asked one guy about being bumped from the Wrestlemania card to the pre-show, and his response was a laugh followed by "Hey, I still got that Wrestlemania payday and only had to work 25% as hard." On the other hand, the internet was in a blaze of complaints about disrespect, insult to the wrestler, blah blah blah. And ironically, the guy himself didn't care.

I've had countless wrestlers who can't remember when they won a world title, or when a supposedly "huge" feud took place in their careers, while fans burn those dates into their brains.

There's an in-joke called "That was a good one" because fans will often say to wrestlers "I saw you in New Hampshire the night you won the title!" or "Remember when you pinned Rick Martel and became number one contender?!". The wrestler usually has no memory of it at all. It was just another night, just another payday, but so that they don't hurt the fans feelings, they'll say "That was a good one." Listen out for it.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't care or be passionate about wrestling. I'm simply saying that when I read posts that say stuff like "I had tears in my eyes when I heard Christian's dream had been destroyed by that MF McMahon" and "F you Orton, I'll never watch you again!!" it just makes me laugh because I know the odds are that Jay Reso is perfectly happy and healthy, he got his payday and his moment, and he'll probably have it again someday.

So no, I'm not sneering at fans or mocking their emotion, but I am smiling a little because it really isn't the catastrophe that everyone is making it out to be. It's all storyline.