Trigger Warning: This is about that picture
If you've ever spent five minutes on Twitter, you'll know that there are good things and bad things about Wrestling Twitter.
The good things are the live tweets during great shows like Beyond Wrestling's "UnchartedTerritory" series. Or any of the various other indy shows run by Game Changer Wrestling, AIW, etc.
But, there's an ugly side to Wrestling Twitter. The Toxic Fans and the Toxic Stans. Today I want to focus on the hubbub over a picture.
This is the picture in question.
This picture has triggered the WWE Stans and the AEW Haters to the point where it's possibly the most viewed picture in the history of all twitter of all time.
Looks like an innocent enough picture, right?
Some handsome men, some lovely ladies all dressed up and looking like a million bucks. Does it scream WRESTLING? No, not really. If you were a non fan of wrestling, you wouldn't know this was a wrestling company. However, there's more to the TV guide story than JUST THIS PICTURE. There are articles and videos and interviews. And most people who use the internet are pretty tech savvy, i.e know how to use Google. And I'm sure a few people searched AEW after seeing the picture (If they didn't read the articles.)
Now, is there validity in the hate of this photo? Not really. It's a fucking picture. A god damn JPG. And "rasslin' journalists" are picking it apart like they work for Jacob Taylor with their expert analysis of all things branding and marketing. Don't mind the fact that they run podcasts that get 100 listens and run patreons with 10 subscribers.
My take from the photo, and it's just my opinion - a drunken, uneducated opinion: It shows the other side of the wrestler. It shows the diversity and the equality of the company. It shows friendship and a family atmosphere.
If I were a non fan, I would see this picture and immediately wonder what type of reality show this is. And at the very base of "Being The Elite", was the idea that it was a reality show based on wrestling, with some wrestling storylines mixed in.
So the picture represents exactly what the show is. Plus, the only thing that triggers me in the wrestling world is when Nia Jax is in the ring.
- Dennis @thewrestleverse