Any time I mention professional wrestling to a stranger or in a large group the first comment I inevitably receive is, “You watch that stuff” quickly followed by “You know it’s fake”. Each comment is laced with disgust and full of condescension. Upon reading the words “professional wrestling” some of you undoubtedly had the exact same response.

What I find more interesting is the next segment of the conversation. The party who was so offended by the mere mention of professional wrestling casually asks a follow up question. The follow up question comes in three different varieties. First, the hey remember that time question; “Hey remember that time Stone Cold Steve Austin drove the beer truck to the ring and sprayed beer on everyone?” Second, is he questions; “Is the Undertaker still around?”, or “Is Shawn Michaels still wrestling?”. Finally, there is my favorite follow up question, the current event; “Did you see Brock Lesnar F5 everyone last night on Raw?” Apparently not everyone has the courage to admit to their wrestling fandom right off the bat.

The consistency of this conversation is more than comical, it shows how many people have actually had a relationship with professional wrestling at some time in their lives. To clarify, when I say professional wrestling I’m talking about the entire timeline of the WWF/WWE and the WCW in the late 90s and early 2000s (Those are the only years that matter). Exposure to the wrestling world can happen at any time in life; as a child when the athletes in the ring seem like real life superheroes and villains, it can happen in college when friends gather each week to drink beer and watch grown men hit each other with chairs, or it can even happen later in life when watching a wrestling show is bonding time with your child and the memories of absurd stories and goofy plots are only a bonus.

Why is the wrestling nostalgia bubbling to the surface right now? If you don’t know, you better ask somebody, Wrestlemania is this weekend. Whether your last wrestling show was Monday’s episode of Raw or some obscure house show in 1994 Wrestlemania will always have a soft spot in your heart.

The WWF/WWE always pulls out all the stops for it’s biggest show of the year. Each year movie stars and athletes are ringside, while all of the most popular wrestlers are performing in some way or the other. Hulk Hogan can wrestle Andre the Giant while Bob Uecker announces and Mary Hart keeps time. Wrestlemania is a spectacle in the grandest sense of the word. Even the name is perfect. Say it again Wrestlemania.

If the foregoing trip down memory lane has failed to get you properly hyped for this year’s show, just look at the image below.

Yes, that’s Hulk Hogan and Snoop Dogg hulking out in the ring.

Enjoy the show this weekend if you ordered it, and if you are not watching, don’t be that person the next time someone brings professional wrestling, we both know you have fond memories of the show, we all do.