The Royal Rumble is upon us and wrestling fans all over have been spotted practicing their countdowns to prepare.
The Royal Rumble happens once a year and features 30 superstars fighting to throw each other over the top rope until one is left standing. They enter the ring at 90-second intervals and what this means for fans is a lot of counting along. It’s imperative that they get their practice in to not seem like fake fans.
Fans across the globe have been seen vigorously practicing counting down from 10 to ensure they’re ready.
“I was walking my dog and saw a group of young men huddled together. They were counting down from 10. When they got to zero they screamed, then they did it a second time and booed,” said bystander Sally McDoogle. “At first I thought it was a cult thing, like Scientology but they seemed afraid of me so it couldn’t be that.”
Other fans like Ned Tyson are even taking work off to make sure they’re Royal Rumble ready.
“My baby works very hard part-time at the indoor mini-golf course but he’s taken the last 2 weeks off to practice for his little wrestling show,” said Tyson’s mother with whom the 46-year-old lives. “He met a few other wrestling fans recently and is having them over to watch and doesn’t want to embarrass himself with a subpar count along when people enter the ring. I’m just happy he’s trying to make friends. I do wish one of them was a girl though.”
Wrestling fan Hank Mardukas explained to us the ritual and its importance.
“What it comes down to is respecting tradition. Every 90 seconds in the Rumble a big countdown from 10 appears on the screen. Those of us both in the audience and watching at home count out loud to respect the reverence of what’s about to happen. You never know if a legend is gonna come out or a potential winner or one of the 27 midcarders. Most of the time no one recognizes the music of whose coming out so counting is the only thing we can get excited about. Us counting down out loud, even when we’re alone and which many of us are, ensures that we feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves, something important. We want to be real fans, not marks.”
At press time, some fans have already begun preparing for their Elimination Chamber countdowns in advance.
