Reactions to Corey Graves and Booker T’s ‘feud’ are pro wrestling fandom in a nutshell

In case you missed it, over the weekend Corey Graves went on Booker T’s radio show/podcast to address the past week’s worth of speculation about heat between the two former Raw announcing partners. You can hear what they said and get caught up on the whole kerfuffle here.

There’s a few things which struck me about the reaction to the reveal that the two men were just “working the marks” with no goal beyond popping each other (and maybe getting themselves some free publicity).

One is that almost every comment thread or Twitter conversation about the matter has included remarks like these, from beneath a video with the title “Booker and Corey worked EVERYBODY” posted on our Facebook page:

Person 1: “They don’t like each other and I don’t buy the fact they ‘worked’ anyone for a minute. It’s a nice alibi to say they worked everyone but the horrible commentary by Booker was being chastised ad nauseum. I don’t accept this at all.”

Person 2: “Ummm not really. Any real wrestling fan knew it was a work”

So... some of us believe it was never real, and others believe the story that it was never real is a cover for it being real. Got it.

Then there are debates like the one which occurred in our own Cageside offices. Even among a team of people whose job it is to pay attention to and analyze pro wrestling, there were some who felt it was not only pointless in a kayfabe sense since there could be no payoff between two retired wrestlers, but also obnoxious for two pros to yuck it up in public and pat themselves on the back for fooling us “rubes”. Others found it to be a harmless, even entertaining, diversion... more a practical joke than a lie or trick... which succeeded it getting Corey and Booker’s names in the conversation for a while when they wouldn’t have been otherwise.

It’s almost like these supposedly monolithic entities like the internet wrestling community or a “dirt screen” publication are made up of individuals with their own takes on things, who react to the same storylines or news items from their unique perspectives!

Not sure about you, but I like being reminded that’s the case (except when you disagree with me).

There’s one thing I’m pretty sure about, though - whether you think what went on between Graves and Book was a work or a shoot, fun or condescending - you’ll be back for more.

The one thing even the wild, wide world of wrestling fans can’t get enough of is pro wrestling.