What did they say to you? How did you respond? Do you think that was the best option?

I was from a family that watched wrestling and quite a few of the kids at my school did as well. There were small things that happened every here and there but I tended to ignore it. 

In St Louis however, which has a weird split between those that really like wrestling, and those that hate it. I was surprised by the fact that a lot of kids in my school were constantly making fun of me for liking wrestling. They continued to do so for weeks on end, and it wasn't until I gave them some tickets to MMWA to see me fight did they stop. 

It tends to be the same argument all the time though. "It's fake." "It's not real." Things like that. So, sometimes you have to show them that even though it isn't real, it fucking hurts, and since it fucking hurts, it's real enough to enjoy. Most of those people are my friends now interestingly.

I got the famous opinion "it's fake" but I always laughed. I never really cared about peoples opinions because they really don't get why I like it. When I got into high school I heard it a lot more often but I always looked at them and said when they were working at McDonalds hating their jobs, I loved mine in the ring. I have always loved wrestling and it is a passion of mine, no one could ever take that from me.

The only kids who knew I liked wrestling were kids who talked to me about wrestling first. Besides, I'm a pretty big black guy and I don't start shit, I've never been "ridiculed" in my life.

No one ridiculed me to my face, but I'm sure it was behind my back, like everything else. By the 6th grade I had developed the reputation of the kid in school who doesn't give a fuck and will argue with anyone and cross any line, so most people didn't get into it with me. Not because I'm an intimidating figure, but I've made more kids cry with words than I ever could with violence.

Not really as a kid.  It was pretty hot in the late 80's/early 90's despite it being 'outed' and steroids being the topic of discussion.  In the late 90's, no one really talked about it other than church, which tried to condemn Austin to hell for "Austin 3:16".  I get it more now in adulthood,to which I usually calmly ask how Game of Thrones or their fantasy football team is doing in response.  I had a girl I dug in the mid-to-late 2000's try to come at me with the whole ridicule angle, but I shut her down for being a Harry Potter fan.  About a week later, for my birthday, she gave me the WWE Championship (yes, the shitty spinner one) and I considered that a victory, along with another reason to rag on her because she didn't realize it spun or how silly it was.  We dated not too long after that.  Other than that, I've had dudes come up to me and be like 'you know it's fake, right?' to which I respond 'duh-doy.  You think I'm some kind of idiot?"  My advice is just shut down people when they start smack talking your leisure activities.  Usually they respect you for it.  Sometimes they date you.

Also, my dad and I have an ongoing battle over what's more ridiculous, Westerns or Wrestling.  He'll rag on me if he sees an impossible move, to which I reply "Boy, John Wayne's 6 shooter sure does hold a lot of bullets, don't it?"

Sometimes, often I get the same argument every one of us gets, "it's not real" to which I say, "Breaking Bad isn't real, The Walking Dead isn't real, and Hatsune Miku is most certainly not real. But you don't hear me saying that when you bring that stuff up do ya?"

I've always wondered why people feel the need to emphasize what's already accepted. I mean, if every time someone I knew was about to eat McDonald's, I said "you know that's bad for you right?" I think it would get old extremely fast. I don't need to be reminded that wrestling is fake.

Not really ridiculed, but I definitely had a lot of people raise their eyebrows at me, once upon a time. Back in middle school, I got hit with "Girls watch wrestling?" a lot, which sucked. So I never really told anyone, aside from my close friends, that I followed wrestling. By the time I got to high school, I never cared what anyone thought, so I wore my love of wrestling on my sleeve. Everyone knew about it, and if they thought it was ridiculous, they didn't say it to my face. In high school, some people literally referred to me as "the cheerleader that liked wrestling"; it was basically part of my identity by that point. I'm pretty lucky to A.) be part of a family where a lot of people are wrestling fans, and B.) to have non-wrestling fan friends who are pretty understanding of my obsession.

I only ever got the "You know wrestling is fake, right?" comment every other day from a few idiots. Other than that, I had plenty of friends who enjoyed watching wrestling.

yeah. but i dont give a shit because i'm a god damn man.

Its hard trying to remember getting ridiculed for it when I look back... So I guess not.

TLA wrote:

J Dynasty wrote:

I'm a pretty big black guy and I don't start shit, I've never been "ridiculed" in my life.

? I legit can't remember any point in time in my life I was a laughing stock or had people come down on me for what I like. Minus efeds. This isn't to brag or anything, I'm not saying I was a jock or some super popular leader getting pussy thrown at him, but I was never the type to be targeted and peer pressure wise I would be the type to at times bully others with my friends.

When you're big people are weird, when your black people are weird, combine that and they can even be weirder. People can start calling you sir and shit even as a teen. To be honest, at times it was uncomfortable how short people would act uncomfortable around me like I was some bad guy.

TLA wrote:

J Dynasty wrote:

TLA wrote:

J Dynasty wrote:

I'm a pretty big black guy and I don't start shit, I've never been "ridiculed" in my life.

? I legit can't remember any point in time in my life I was a laughing stock or had people come down on me for what I like. Minus efeds. This isn't to brag or anything, I'm not saying I was a jock or some super popular leader getting pussy thrown at him, but I was never the type to be targeted and peer pressure wise I would be the type to at times bully others with my friends.

When you're big people are weird, when your black people are weird, combine that and they can even be weirder. People can start calling you sir and shit even as a teen. To be honest, at times it was uncomfortable how short people would act uncomfortable around me like I was some bad guy.

Yeah. 

We would watch it in my dorm and occasionally some skinny punk would say something like "Heh, wrestling."....We proceeded to launch heckling at him until he walked off like a little bitch. Helped that we had these guys who were offensive lineman in high school and huge watching. No one fucked with us and we controlled the television 

I would get the same stereotypical comment of "you know wrestling is fake right?" but other than that other people liked wrestling so that was pretty rad

Kendra Shamez wrote:

I would get the same stereotypical comment of "you know wrestling is fake right?" but other than that other people liked wrestling so that was pretty rad

Everytime I got this, I would act shocked. Like totally shocked. "WHAT!? WRESTLING IS FAKE!? I HAD NO IDEA!!!!"

Carlos Rosso wrote:

Kendra Shamez wrote:

I would get the same stereotypical comment of "you know wrestling is fake right?" but other than that other people liked wrestling so that was pretty rad

Everytime I got this, I would act shocked. Like totally shocked. "WHAT!? WRESTLING IS FAKE!? I HAD NO IDEA!!!!"

I would do that but I live around too many stupid people that they wouldn't get the sarcasm.

I generally kept it to myself. The two/three people that know I have an interest in pro wrestling give me shit from time to time but nothing major; we all have our own interests and we respect that.

I never really made it known, but basically got the standard "you know it's fake?" stuff that's commonplace.

Now I don't follow wrestling anymore and just laugh at those that still do.

Never. Although I think in college once some dude was making fun of my Daniel Bryan shirt. I didn't really give a shit tho.

Aren Mstislav wrote:

Carlos Rosso wrote:

Kendra Shamez wrote:

I would get the same stereotypical comment of "you know wrestling is fake right?" but other than that other people liked wrestling so that was pretty rad

Everytime I got this, I would act shocked. Like totally shocked. "WHAT!? WRESTLING IS FAKE!? I HAD NO IDEA!!!!"

I would do that but I live around too many stupid people that they wouldn't get the sarcasm.

I'm starting to do this...

Yep. By my real father and my cousin. They keep telling me that Wrestling is fake. It's not fake at all. My step-dad was the one that got me into Wrestling. And to be honest, I never looked back.