Thought of the Day: Appreciating vs. Liking

This is one of those things that wrestling fans will never seem to understand but I’ll keep trying to explain it.

Something that fans don’t seem to understand is you can appreciate something while not caring about it. Yesterday it was announced that New Japan will continue to have its TV show airing on AXS TV. I saw the headline about it and didn’t react. Why didn’t I react? Because I don’t care about New Japan. I’m well aware and completely agree with the fact that it’s some of if not the best in ring action in the world today, but I don’t have a connection to it. I’ll watch a New Japan show a year or two at most, but I have no desire to watch any more than that.

Now, does that mean I don’t know or get wrestling? I certainly wouldn’t think so. All it means is that I don’t care about New Japan. To put it into mainstream sports terms, at the moment, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of if not the best teams in Major League Baseball. However, I don’t care about that team. Instead, I care about the Cleveland Indians, who really aren’t that good. However, I care about the Indians because they’re my team.

I care about WWE more than New Japan because I’ve watched WWE since before I can remember. They’re my team. I’m well aware that New Japan does things better than WWE, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch them all the time. I’ll watch them occasionally if I’m in the mood to, but it’s not like WWE where I want to see every thing they do. Me not wanting to watch New Japan doesn’t mean I don’t understand or love wrestling. It means I have different taste than other fans and that’s ok.