Somewhere in Youtube: The Invisible Wrestler

Gotta love the Japanese people and their imagination. This wrestler is the rightful owner of the catchphrase “You Can’t See Me!” usually uttered by John Cena.

My First Internet Adventure… because internet is.. SERIOUS BUSINESS

I am a big wrestling fan, a really big wrestling fan. I have been watching wrestling since the 1980s, had a huge collection of wrestling figures, even a toy wrestling ring, and now I don’t know where the heck are them. Fast forward in 1998, this is the year when World Wrestling Federation or WWF is at its peak of the current era, called The Attitude Era and I love every single of it. Then I was introduced to the internet, here I first encountered the wrestling community in the other parts of the world and actually interacting with them through message boards and chat rooms. I explored different wrestling sites like TPWW.net and rajahwwf.com (both sites are still alive up to this day) and participating in their own message boards. There were chaotic back then because having a board account was non-existent. You can just enter a board, use a random name, and post whatever you want, even not related to the topic thread, and leave. Of course there were still serious and lengthy discussions which I actively participated.

One day, I surfed to a different wrestling website called Deadman’s Wrestling Site or something, and they have an opening for an online columnist. I, a big wrestling fan, with a background of writing over the top discussions in numerous message boards, immediately emailed the webmaster for the position. The guy replied and he said that I will not get paid since the site doesn’t generate revenue and just a hobby. I accepted his terms and starts posting columns to his site. I was referred as Webstah Paradise, why I did I created that lame name? aside from being in the middle of “Young and Stupid” stage back then, I got the name when the radio nearby starts playing Gangstas Paradise and the first thing I see beside my old computer was a Webster Dictionary. Webster turns into Webstah and we got Webstah Paradise. I write 2 columns per week, usually after watching WWF Raw or big wrestling news currently wreaking havoc in numerous discussion boards. A month later, the webmaster told me that instead of sending him the column through email before he posts it in the site itself, why not create a webpage wherein I can write my own columns and he will just link it back to his website. With that I immediately studied basic HTML codes. Good thing I had friends who knows a lot of HTML codes and starts teaching me the basics. A week later, I created a simple page layout at Angelfire.com and the Deadman guy links my column back to his site.

Mid 1999, Deadman decided to stop the website because he is now heading for college. The website officially stops, and yet, I can’t let go of my wrestling column, I just can’t let go, it’s like having a withdrawal symptoms of some sort. Since I have an existing Angelfire.com website and what a hardcore wrestling fan will do? Why not have the single page turned into a full functional wrestling columns site and have my own writers, which I also don’t pay since I consider this as a hobby. So I start advertising the site in various message boards, looking for potential writers. Then someone responded to my ads, 5 of them, all Americans, Jessica Bates, Deepak Sahota, Shawn Thompson and those other 2 guys that I forgot the names. They start sending me their columns and starts posting them to my angelfire account. The website is now called The Paradise Wrestling Columns Site or TPWCS. We had a message board, with admin, and there were a lot of people visiting the site, a lot of them. I installed a page counter and in just 24 hours, we already have more than 800 visitors already. Weeks later, someone in the board posted that the site, the TPWCS, actually surpassed the number of page hits from another very successful wrestling columns site called 2dope.com. Some of the 2dope forum regulars start switching to the TPWCS boards as well. The site was a success, and the whole website ran in a free Angelfire server and not as a legit dot com website. Few weeks later, disaster strikes.

It was a Saturday, I woke up late, connect to the internet and browse the TPWCS website and I noticed that the main banner was different; the logo and the text was different. Instead of TPWCS, it reads as The Big Shot Columns Site, with a little text at the bottom that says “Rest in Peace, Webstah P”. My god, my site was actually hacked and I knew immediately who the culprit was. It was Shawn Thompson, who had the Big Shot moniker, one of the original five writers that I have. Shawn removed all of my columns as well the writings of Deepak and Jessica. Only Shawn Thompson, the other 2 originals remained in the site. They also removed the administration functions of the board and before I know it, the boards were chaotic. Jessica and Deepak immediately emailed me with the incident. Apparently, Shawn wanted to have the whole site from the start for a reason that he just, um, wants to have the whole site. He tries to recruit Deepak and Jessica but they refused. Shawn continued to run the site with his 2 cohorts that I still cannot remember their names. What would the original webmaster do? Hmmm, should I notify angelfire.com regarding the hacking incident? Or being still midway “Young and Stupid” stage, with a little of angst here, create another column site and actually compete Big Shot’s site? What should I choose? And you know what I did? I chose the young and stupid option.

Immediately I talked to Jessica and Deepak through IRC, I think MSN and Yahoo messenger weren’t around at that time yet. We all agreed to create another site, so we made a new one through Geocities and called it as Paradise 2. Surprisingly, even if we were only 3 guys writing wrestling columns, our site managed to pull Thompson’s traffic. We had a sane message board and more professionally looking website. Thompson hired more writers, and I also hired 3 more, Great One, The Flesh and that other guy. Naturally, after experiencing the “prime” stage, it all comes down. I started to get tired of writing wrestling columns and in few months, I am about to enter college. Thompson also stops updating his site and I talked to Deepak, Jessica and the other guys about moving on. The 5 agreed and we all go to our separate ways.

Around 2002, I managed to locate and talked to Deepak and Jessica through the old MSN Messenger. Deepak is now a full pledged musician and Jessica works in a dotcom business, while I am still in the middle of my junior year college. After that we stopped communicating each other and moved on with our lives.

12 years ago, when the internet community was still in the early stage, I was young, stupid, excited and want to explore a new world. Finding people in the different parts of the world, with the same interests enticed me. Along the way, I slowly learned that the internet can be a cruel place, from weird fetish porn to hilarious online arguments consists of bad writing and 1337 speak. Good thing I am not the type of emotional guy who immediately hangs himself after absorbing an insult. Well that’s the internet for you, no matter what kind of interests you are into, just be careful and I hope you enjoy your stay.