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I know that around these parts, some commenters seem to think I’m a wrestling-hating PC policeman. Yes, because wanting to see women treated like human beings and gays not be shunned is worth being ridiculed for. Regardless, I’ve taken criticism asking me why I watch if I have problems with WWE.

Honestly, I shouldn’t have to answer that question because if I like something, I want it to be the best it can be. I wouldn’t criticize WWE if I didn’t want them to get it right. I also wouldn’t watch them if they weren’t giving me something positive to latch onto. If they weren’t, I’d cut them out. I’ve already done it before in the middle of the last decade, when the show was basically all Triple H, all the time. So why don’t I just jump off board now?

It’s not because of what the company itself is doing in its booking direction. Then again, isn’t wrestling more than just the booking? More than any other thing that it’s compared to, wrestling can be dissected and enjoyed compartmentally while parts of it end up stinking at times.

To ask then why I continue to watch WWE is to ask what I think is going right within the company. First thing’s first, the action in the ring has been at an all-time high ever since I can remember watching it. There’s quality up and down the card in all shapes and sizes. Fantastic wrestlers from the indies like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are in the main event. Current main eventers like John Cena and Randy Orton are having the best matches of their career. Old veterans like Christian provide ring savvy for younger guys like Kofi Kingston and Zack Ryder to learn from. Even the big hosses are putting on awesome matches. Mark Henry is finally getting the recognition he deserves as a beast in the ring, and he’s joined by Big Show, Sheamus, Wade Barrett and even Brodus Clay to an extent in terms of huge wrestlers who can actually wrestle.

Every pay-per-view event at least has one match that could end getting end of the year consideration for Match of the Year. Whether that was the case or not in any other time period in WWE is irrelevant, because it feels like that match could come from almost anywhere nowadays, not just the main event standbys. It’s what makes WWE PPVs worth purchasing even if the build is nowhere near good enough to cajole people into buying beforehand.

It’s not just the in-ring stuff either that makes it must watch. Even if the material given to them by the writers is subpar, the men and women delivering it each week are great at executing. Every show, there is a standout performance by someone on the microphone. From Punk’s pipe bombs to Bryan’s smug maltreatment of his girlfriend AJ, the WWE has some guys right now who just deliver on their characters. It’s like watching a movie with great performances but a terrible script. Sometimes, those films aren’t watchable, but again, wrestling doesn’t always need a great script to be awesome. It just needs magnetic personalities.

So that’s why I continue to watch WWE. It’s not for the name on the marquee, but it’s for the players who are in the cast. Really, those are the people who deserve my support, so I’ll give it to them. And I’ll continue to call WWE, the company, out for not giving those people enough tools to succeed within the framework of their shows. I don’t think I should have my fandom questioned because I dare not shut up and take whatever it is they’re doing that doesn’t pass my smell test.

Tom Holzerman is a lifelong wrestling fan and connoisseur of all things Chikara Pro, among other feds. When he’s not writing for the Camel Clutch Blog, you can find him on his own blog, The Wrestling Blog.

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