Simon Gotch has no problem with wrestling fans having opinions. He does have a problem with people who spend every waking hour online trying to make wrestlers miserable.
During his appearance on Jasmine St. Claire’s Krazy Train Podcast, Gotch discussed the increased access fans now have to professional wrestlers through social media. While some use that access to support performers, others appear to exist solely to pick fights and throw insults.
“It can be stressful because the audience has a lot more access to us than they ever have before, and they don’t always use it because they’re friendly fans. There are some people who are intentionally antagonistic.”
Gotch recalled coming across one particular Twitter user whose posting habits were so extreme that he decided to sit down and calculate how often the person was using the platform. The numbers were insane.
“There was one guy—I remember I did some math on it because I randomly decided I needed to figure this out. I think it broke down to this guy being on Twitter for 15 years, and he tweeted an average of once every eight minutes for 15 years.”
Gotch said that calculation was actually generous because he allowed the user nine hours of sleep every day. Even with that adjustment, the person had still spent a massive chunk of his life posting online.
“That was being generous and saying he was only awake for 15 hours a day. Obviously, it wasn’t literally every eight minutes, but I thought about it.”
Gotch then questioned how anyone could maintain that pace for 15 years while also having a family, job or any kind of life away from a computer screen.
“In 15 years, you don’t have a wife or kids or a job or anything that takes you away from this? You feel like you’re wasting time on Twitter.”
He pointed out that being active online is at least connected to his work as a professional wrestler. The fan he was talking about was doing it for free, without a business, media outlet or paycheck attached.
“At least it’s part of my job. You’re doing this for free, for fun. It wasn’t even like a verified page getting paid for engagement or anything like that.”
Gotch said he eventually stopped allowing those people to determine how he viewed himself. Praise from respected wrestlers such as Josh Barnett and Japanese legend Yuji Nagata carried far more weight than insults from strangers online. Gotch recalled learning that Nagata had seen one of his matches and believed it deserved to take place in a larger building.
“After I got told that, I was like, ‘You know what? Nobody’s opinion of me matters now. Yuji Nagata thinks I’m cool. That’s all I need.’”
That moment gave Gotch a different way to look at the abuse he receives from fans who build their entire online identity around attacking wrestlers.
“When I started thinking about it, I was like, if Josh Barnett likes me, if Nagata likes me, if all the guys in NOAH like me, that to me is more important than if some random fan who makes their entire personality being mean to wrestlers on the internet doesn’t like me.”
Gotch knows criticism comes with being a public figure, but he is not giving the loudest trolls more power than the wrestlers he respects. Anyone tweeting once every eight minutes for 15 years may have plenty to say, but Gotch is no longer interested in listening.
Why do you think some wrestling fans spend so much time attacking performers online? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
