Kings of Leon's bassist learnt the hard way not to slag off wrestling online
Don't go after WWE, because it'll come back at you much harder
Deriding wrestling on Twitter in view of its passionate legion of fans is the internet equivalent of walking up to a wasps next and whacking it with a big old stick.
Just ask Kings of Leon bassist Jared Followill, who posted what he presumably thought was a fairly innocuous tweet on Sunday night, only to be hit with a jet ski wave of fury and memes.
Pro wrestling gets a lot of stick – unfairly, if you’re asking me. To focus on the fact that matches generally have scripted, predetermined outcomes – therefore making them “fake” – is to entirely miss the point. The ridiculous athleticism is real. The injuries – however accidental – are often real. The physical risks associated with being on the wrong end of a suplex are real. Mankind getting chucked from the top of a steel cage? Real. REAL. And the entertainment is very, very real. But the fact that millions of people continue to enjoy watching it as adults seems to irritate the detractors. By their logic, they presumably hate all movie fight scenes and James Bond car chases, too. Imagination is bad.
Anyway, to Followill’s tweet.
Uh oh. You’ve probably already guessed how this one went down.
Yeah, wrestling Twitter was not amused.
And it wasn’t just the fans. Wrestlers quickly caught wind of what was going on.
This being a social media dispute, a large chunk of the replies were Gif or meme-based.
This guy probably spoke for everyone when he asked:
And then began the great climbdown.
Not having any of it.
Olive branch further extended.
Still not having it.
Time for the classic “it wasn’t me”.
But still nope.
The following morning, and wrestling-gate was still ongoing.
Fair play to the musician, though. This has been pinned to the top of his profile ever since.
