There are always heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys, people you love and people you loathe. Whether you are watching a movie, your favorite TV show, a soap opera, or a cartoon, opposing forces are always present. Professional wrestling is no different. Sure, there's spandex, referees, and title belts, but that's part of the appeal. It takes you out of reality and into a perfectly orchestrated performance. But when I tell people that I love pro wrestling, the reactions are usually “Wrestling's fake” or “Why?” My responses: “No, it isn't” and “Because I can.”

“Wrestling's fake.” I challenge that statement the most. Wrestling isn't any more fake than a movie, and pro wrestlers, unlike your ­action-movie actors, do their own stunts. I've seen first-hand the strain – both mental and physical – that professional wrestlers endure.

I often try to keep the fact that I'm a wrestling fan to myself, because I usually get one of two reactions. Either the person will try to talk wrestling with me (and not succeed because they think that the WWE is the only wrestling organization) or they will say something sexist like, “Girls should stick to cooking and laundry, not pro wrestling.” But I can watch whatever I want and don't need anyone's permission. No, I am not a feminist, but I believe in gender equality.

Like many wrestling fans, I've been to numerous live events. One match in particular stands out for me: Alex Shelley versus Sonjay Dutt, Sept. 29, 2006, in Richmond, Virginia. I was 14 and standing in the front row. “Shelley Sucks” and “Sonjay Dutt” chants filled the arena. Shelley was the heel, the bad guy, and Sonjay was the babyface, the good guy.

At any wrestling event there will usually be a heckler. On that crisp fall night, there were three, directly across from me. The stadium was not full, so the hecklers were louder than usual, trying to steal the spotlight from the wrestlers. Now I'm a loud fan – I chant, cheer, and scream at the top of my lungs – but I do it for fun, not to ­belittle others.

So the hecklers were giving me a hard time for enjoying the match. Shelley and Dutt are two of the rawest, most technical wrestlers in the sport, and to not enjoy a match of theirs is virtually impossible – or so I thought.

Hecklers are usually funny, can get the crowd laughing, and aim their jokes at the wrestlers. These Three Amigos, however, weren't funny, made the crowd mad, and aimed their jokes at one person: me.

“Go home and do my laundry!” “Shouldn't you be doing your algebra homework?” “Bring me a beer!” and “What's for dinner?” were some of the comments they yelled at me, and not because I was 14, not because I was an easy target, not because I was a girl, but because I was actually enjoying the match.

When it comes down to it, you can hate wrestling and you can hate me for loving wrestling, but keep it to yourself. You may be against wrestling, but I am pro wrestling.