The parasocial rot of modern wrestling

WrestleMania 41 just wrapped up in Las Vegas. We saw John Cena wrestle his farewell match at Allegiant Stadium. We saw Cody Rhodes successfully defend the WWE Championship against the Bloodline. It was a massive weekend for professional wrestling, with over 100,000 fans buying tickets across both nights.

It is honestly pathetic. We just witnessed John Cena leave his boots in the ring after a legendary career. We watched Cody Rhodes bleed to keep his title out of the hands of the Bloodline. There were a dozen incredible storylines to dissect, analyze, and argue about. Instead, the discourse has been entirely hijacked by a hotel lobby scuffle that belongs on a messy gossip blog, not on the front page of every wrestling forum.

If you log onto Twitter or open up Reddit this week, nobody is talking about the actual matches. Instead, the entire community is having a total meltdown over a grainy video shot in the lobby of the MGM Grand.

We have officially reached peak parasocial brain rot. A fan decided it was a brilliant idea to secretly film CM Punk's wife, AJ Lee, sharing a private goodbye hug with Bayley on Monday morning.

What happened next? Punk did exactly what you would expect him to do. He walked over and swatted the phone straight out of the guy's hands. Now, the internet is split into two warring factions, and honestly, both sides are making me lose my mind.

The audacity of demanding an apology

As PWTorch reported on Tuesday, the fan who got his phone slapped into orbit has publicly stated that he

wants an apology.
Yes, you read that right. The guy who was creeping on two women in a hotel lobby feels he is the victim here.

He apparently thinks buying a ticket to a wrestling show grants him permanent surveillance rights over the performers and their families. To make matters even more absurd, this same fan is now claiming he was fired from his job after the video of his impromptu meeting with the floor tiles went viral.

I am sorry, but if your employer fires you because you got caught acting like a stalker on camera, that is a you problem. The entitlement required to demand an apology from a man defending his wife's privacy is staggering.

Team Punk vs. Team Fan

Unsurprisingly, the wrestling community immediately took sides. On one hand, you have the CM Punk defenders storming the comments, typing out angry essays about how the guy deserved exactly what he got.

The pro-Punk crowd is arguing that wrestlers have every right to defend their personal space. They point out that hotel lobbies are not meet-and-greets. The wrestlers are just trying to get to their flights at Harry Reid International Airport without being treated like zoo animals.

I completely agree with them on the core issue. Filming people without their consent in private moments is gross. But let’s not pretend Punk handled this with the grace of a diplomat.

The massive security failure

This is where the anti-Punk crowd steps in, and they actually have a valid point. Then you have the vocal critics hitting back in the replies, arguing that a millionaire throwing a tantrum over an iPhone is a massive liability.

The critics correctly point out that you cannot just go around slapping property out of people's hands. If that fan had decided to press charges for assault or destruction of property, this would be a massive headache for WWE PR.

This brings me to my biggest criticism of the whole ordeal. Where on earth was WWE security? Why are high-profile talent like Punk, AJ Lee, and Bayley left to fend off weirdos in the MGM Grand by themselves?

WWE management needs to take a long, hard look at how they handle logistics for these mega-events moving forward. You cannot have your top merchandise sellers casually strolling through public lobbies alongside thousands of drunk, sleep-deprived fans who have been gambling for three days straight.

It is a powder keg waiting to blow. If they do not start securing private entrances and dedicated hotel wings for the roster, the next incident might involve a lot more than just a broken screen. Leaving talent exposed forces them to act as their own bouncers, which inevitably leads to PR disasters like this.

The internet remains undefeated

The reaction to the fan's demand for an apology has been swift and merciless. A parody video has already surfaced online mocking the absolute delusion of the guy.

Fans on social media are ripping the guy to shreds. The parody video basically reenacts the scenario with exaggerated crying, perfectly capturing the ridiculousness of expecting a written apology for being caught acting like a creep.

The best part about the parody video is how perfectly it nails the faux-victimhood of the modern internet troll. The creator of the video is seen dramatically clutching his hands, fake sobbing about his right to document private hugs, and acting like a human rights violation just occurred.

It is the exact kind of merciless mockery this situation deserves, because sometimes public shaming is the only effective teacher. But wait, it gets weirder. Because wrestling is a circus that never stops, we have a bizarre parallel storyline happening over at WrestleCon.

BJ Ray catches strays

While Punk was slapping phones at the MGM Grand, BJ Ray was dealing with his own nightmare. BJ Ray was literally kissed without his consent by a fan at the convention.

Just think about that for a second. A fan thought it was perfectly acceptable to physically grab a wrestler at a signing. The absolute lack of boundaries in this community is terrifying.

And let’s be brutally honest about the WrestleCon incident. A fan crossing the line and planting an unwanted kiss on a performer isn’t just weird fan behavior. It is assault.

The fact that BJ Ray had to even issue a statement clarifying that you cannot just grab and kiss wrestlers you paid to take a photo with shows how degraded the social contract has become at these conventions.

BJ Ray rightfully called out the behavior. He didn’t physically attack anyone, but he made it very clear that this type of boundary-crossing is unacceptable. But because wrestlers are carnies at heart, he couldn’t resist taking a shot at the Punk situation.

He followed up his initial statement by appearing to mock the entire MGM Grand controversy. BJ Ray posted a message saying I will not assault you, which is a clear jab at Punk's reaction.

It is hilarious, it is petty, and it perfectly encapsulates the high school drama that fuels this industry.

The verdict

So, who has the stronger argument here? The fans saying Punk committed assault, or the fans saying the guy deserved it?

I am firmly on the side that the fan deserved exactly what he got. We need to stop coddling people who refuse to act like normal functioning members of society.

If you see Bayley and AJ Lee hugging in a lobby, you keep walking. You do not pull out your phone and start recording them like you are shooting a documentary for National Geographic.

That being said, Punk needs to realize that he is always one bad reaction away from a lawsuit. He let his temper win, again. He gave a troll exactly what they wanted: attention and a viral video.

If you want to survive WrestleMania week without ending up as a trending topic for all the wrong reasons, you have to follow a few basic rules.

Here is a quick guide for anyone planning to attend future events:

  • If a wrestler is eating food, leave them alone.
  • If a wrestler is with their family, leave them alone.
  • If you are in a hotel lobby at ungodly hours of the morning, go to your room and sleep.

It really isn't that complicated. But as long as fans feel entitled to the personal lives of these performers, we are going to keep seeing these incidents.

The guy who lost his job over this should serve as a cautionary tale. Instead, he will probably start a crowdfunding campaign and end up being interviewed by some bottom-tier wrestling podcast.

The reality of the modern wrestling fandom is that a vocal minority has completely lost touch with reality. The performers are just people doing a job. They are not your friends. They do not owe you a single moment of their time outside of the arena. Until that sinks in, expect more phones to be broken.