Can You Smell It?

Over the course of the past week, I've become a wrestling fan again. It's something that I thought would take some work, but it happened relatively easily. How can one reopen a chapter of his childhood so easily? ... IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW!

If ya smell la la la la la what #TheROCK... is cookin'!
— Tresha (TRISHA) (@shesILLIN) February 15, 2011

Growing up in the 90s, wrestling was a big part of my life. The family was into it (except Mom. She'll put up with Victor Newman, but never bought into Shawn Michaels) & it was always a source of schoolyard talk. Anytime you have something you can talk about with your friends & family, you have something special. Lord knows I can't talk about the lyricism of Lupe Fiasco with Mom any better than I can chat about my adventures in Scarborough with the Efe. There was a drama that everyone was familiar with. No celebrity gossip & no scandals. T'was merely fun with fiction. You can say what you want about wrestling but it was always entertaining at the end of the day. You can't complain that it's fake unless you're going to say the same thing about movies or plays... & if you walk into theatres just to say things aren't real, then may God help you.

We all had our favourite characters. I assume you picked the person you wanted to be like or saw the most of yourself in. My guy, obviously, was The Rock. I wanted to be him! Who didn't though? His character was the coolest guy ever. In my chubby, shy kid days, he was everything that I felt I couldn't be. I always wanted to someone who could walk into a room & command the attention of everyone. It wasn't about being able to "layeth the smacketh down" on anyone, I just admired the confidence he had. As a babyface, you wanted to be him & as a heel, you hated the fact that he was still breathing at the end of the show.

Last week, I encountered my hero again. Apparently it's been 7 years since I saw him last. A lot has changed since then. I'm not the chubby,  shy kid anymore. I can hold the attention of an audience now too (This is the part where I plug my YouTube channel). I like to think The Rock helped me get to where I am. He was an influence on me when I needed someone to show me how to overcome my fear of being myself. So, Mr. Johnson, I thank you. While I'm still not everywhere I want to be in life, I wouldn't have made it this far had I not smelled what you were cooking.