10 Wrestling Matches To Entice New Fans
New to the world of professional wrestling? You lucky sod. Time to get to know some of the classics.
Despite the general state of the world, it remains a wonderful time to be a fan of professional wrestling. The abundance of online avenues to watch wrestling new and old means fans have a seemingly endless chance to enjoy this most magnificent of art forms, along with countless opportunities to discover new stars and delight in matches they may have missed.
Still, it would be nice to be entirely new to it all, wouldn't it? Being a longtime fan comes with its drawbacks (albatross-heavy cynicism and toxic nostalgia, to name two) but those burdens don't exist in the eyes of the new fan, eyes that are open to one of the world's most diverse and delightful forms of entertainment. New fans don't know how lucky they are.
In order to flesh out those early moments of education, new fans must take it upon themselves to become acquainted with the classics, those signpost landmarks that open doors and make sense of common tropes, matches that showcase a style at its finest or simply two tough bastards seeing who can hit the hardest for the longest.
Truth be told, this list could be 10 times longer (and there's a pretty good book available on this subject), but time is money and all that jazz. Availability was also a key criteria; expecting new fans to scour the internet in search of a five-star Spanish showstopper is asking a lot. All of these matches are readily available in some form or another.
10. Royal Rumble 1992
The length of a Royal Rumble match might be an obstacle, but the annual 30-man over-the-top-rope extravaganza rarely fails on the interest front. The match often works as an easy introduction to the majority of the roster members that matter, as wrestlers enter and hit a couple of signature spots before either getting thrown out or resting in the corner. The constant changes in focus stop new viewers from losing interest, another important thing to avoid.
Fans go back and forth debating the best Royal Rumble match, but the 1992 edition seems to get more upvotes than most. The match covers a lot of ground that could be considered integral to pro wrestling fandom: the establishment of Ric Flair as one of the greats, a conveyor belt of famous names from the past from number one to number 30 and more. The commentary is great, the story is great, the match itself is great.
Arguments could be made for other Rumbles (1990 and 2020 in particular) but Ric Flair's headlining show and the all-star cast are a great starting point. Besides, many fans wish they could watch it again for the first time. With a tear in my eye...