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A wrestling fan's manifesto

If you look to the right of this text you would see that my name is Vaughn Johnson and this is my new blog about professional wrestling titled, The Squared Circle.

Notice I said professional wrestling and not just World Wrestling Entertainment. That's because I intend on covering the business at large, not just WWE.

I am a Philadelphia native and a wrestling fan for as long as I can remember. Despite the fact that I am a lifelong fan of pro wrestling, I never anticipated having this available to me.

When I enrolled in the journalism school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Go Crimson Hawks!) back in 2007, I never envisioned my career would bring me to a blog about pro wrestling.

I figured I would cover football or basketball or any of the other sport that most mainstream media outlets tend to cover.

Fortunately for me, I work for a mainstream outlet that sees the potential a professional wrestling blog has.

So, here we are.

Most people don't come to Philly.com for pro wrestling news and when they see some of it on the site, it is usually met with some raised eyebrows.

If you're not a fan of professional wrestling, this blog may still interest you.

What people can expect from this blog is the latest wrestling news from around the web. What else can expect are interviews with wrestlers from WWE, TNA and Ring of Honor.

People can also expect is to see a segment of the city uncovered. It is a segment of the city that goes largely unnoticed by mainstream media outlets in this city. That segment includes wrestlers, promoters and fans that make up the wrestling scene in and round Philadelphia.

Believe it or not, Philadelphia is a bit of a hub for pro wrestling in the northeastern United States.

There are a number of companies that once called this city home (namely Extreme Championship Wrestling) and a couple that still consider the city home turf until this day.

Since Philadelphia has a couple of wrestling promotions that run in this city (Ring of Honor and Combat Zone Wrestling to name a couple) there a lot of wrestlers and promoters that live in and around the city.

Everyone knows and loves the WWE and I'm one of those many people. I never miss an episode of Raw and was floating on air when I got to cover WrestleMania this year.

But right here in Philly, there are people looking to make it to that level. They are normal people. They walk amongst us.

They are people who work normal, everyday jobs during the week, but go out on weekends and get slammed for a couple of bucks in a high school gym.

There isn't much glamour in that, but it's apart of what makes the Philadelphia pro wrestling scene.

I love professional wrestling. I love it enough to dedicate a good portion of my career to it.

I can still remember the time I cried because I didn't get to watch WrestleMania XV. (Don't laugh. I was 10 years old.)

What I also love is the stories that surround it. I love the people behind the characters. I love the sacrifices, the love for the business.

Most importantly, I love the business.

While the performers tell a story in the ring, I want to give you, the readers, the story in and out of the ring.