What Are We Doing Here, Raj? Fun, Engagement Bait, and the Lost Art of Enjoying Wrestling

Raj Giri, normally an intelligent, diplomatic voice in online wrestling discourse, recently took to X to make a rather bizarre declaration: anyone who defends the scene where Tommaso Ciampa pins Andrade’s empty pants, only for the pants to kick out, is instantly an “AEW Sicko.”

To call this claim absurd would be an understatement. It’s delusional.

Take a quick glance through the replies and quote tweets. You will see dozens of neutral wrestling fans patiently explaining a basic truth: goofy, absurd comedy has been a core part of pro wrestling culture for over 40 years across every major promotion.

Wrestling has always asked fans to suspend reality:

• The Ultimate Warrior appeared to Hulk Hogan through a mirror.
• D-Generation X invaded “Small Claims Court.”
• The Undertaker was a literal undead mortician who controlled lightning.
• Danhausen puts hexes and curses on opponents.

While the Vince McMahon era undoubtedly produced plenty of comedic stinkers, WWE also produced gold. Why? Because professional wrestling isn’t just an athletic competition, it is an escape from reality. It’s meant to be fun, and absurd theatricality is woven into the very DNA of the business across every spectrum.

So what is happening here? Has Raj genuinely forgotten the fundamental nature of wrestling, or is he just farming engagement?

A Dark Path for Wrestling Fans

If Raj is serious, he seems to have developed an odd complex about this scene, obsessing over it to the point of forgetting how to enjoy the product. It’s a dark, cynical path to go down.

We’ve seen this type of fan since the dawn of the internet era: the crowd member who sits at live shows with their arms crossed, analyzing workrate like a tax auditor rather than reacting as a spectator, only to go home and write a dissertation on whether they were “satisfied.”

If he’s leveling the “AEW Sicko” label at anyone who defends a moment of levity, count me out. I regularly critique AEW. Tony Khan’s inability to run a strict brand split to fix his bloated roster is a massive wasted opportunity. There is a strong business argument, one Eric Bischoff has often pointed out, for how AEW could elevate its product. Converting ROH, Dark, or Rampage into focused YouTube pre-shows would go a long way in giving younger talent dedicated screen time.

So no, I am not an “AEW Sicko.” But being told that enjoying a silly wrestling trope makes me one raises a simple question: What are we doing here, Raj?

Engagement Bait over Dialogue

Ultimately, this feels like a play for clicks and impressions.

Countless level-headed fans called him out, proving they were far from tribalist AEW diehards, yet Raj ignored every single one of them. The volume of reasonable pushback was far too large to miss, but addressing it would ruin the narrative.

One reply brilliantly compared his take to Val Venis’s habit of labeling everyone online a “cultist leftist”, completely ignoring the fact that half the people calling Val an idiot are right-wing Republicans.

Is Raj losing his grip on what makes wrestling enjoyable, or is he just chasing outrage metrics? Either way, it’s a shame. Wrestling will always have goofy moments, and the day we stop enjoying the ridiculousness is the day we stop enjoying wrestling altogether.