I hope you’re all enjoying this festive season—the wrestling season, that is. The holiday season has coincided with the wrestling season for me since I was five years old. That’s when my older brother, Ryan, took up the sport. From then on, I spent winters being hustled from one smelly gym to another to cheer my big brother on. Ryan excelled at wrestling. He was a state champion in high school and went on to wrestle in college. I was proud of my brother, but personally, I’m not a sporty person. I’ll admit I was rather relieved when I went off to college and pursued more creative interests, such as writing and music. Now winter weekends revolved around gigs with my band instead of wrestling tournaments. I felt, in a sense, that my brother had gone his way, and I had gone mine. No more wrestling for me, thank you very much.
But life is funny sometimes. Apparently the sport of wrestling wasn’t done with me. Wouldn’t you know I went and fell in love with a wrestler! My husband’s childhood mirrored mine except that HE was the big brother who wrestled. Soon after we married, my husband Dan found a position coaching wrestling in a nearby town. Once again, my winter weekends revolved around tournaments, and weeknights were ruled by wrestling practices and duel meets.
The irony stung. But at least I had Capstone! My wonderful sanctuary, where I could indulge my creative side. Working at Capstone I was assigned to work on such topics as UFOs, disgusting foods, bloody battles, and pro wrestling—WAIT, WHAT?!
That’s right. Apparently wrestling will find me wherever I go. Now any amateur wrestler or wrestling fan will tell you that pro wrestling is nothing like “real” wrestling, But Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle still make the topic hit a little too close to home for me. For better or worse, over the last few years I’ve developed into a resident expert on pro wrestling. I couldn’t even tell you how many pro wrestling books I’ve worked on at this point. Right now I’ve got two in the hopper. They’re an extension of a Velocity set I worked on last year called Pro Wrestling Stars. And as much as I wanted to hate it, I’ve actually enjoyed delving into the world of pro wrestling. I guess I’ve accepted my fate. Whether it’s pro or amateur, wrestling seems to be one of those sports that grabs hold of you and won’t let you go.
Take if from someone who knows.
-Mandy Robbins, Senior Editor
Capstone Nonfiction
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