Nia Jax had to pretend she hurt her butt and created art instead

I have an unabashed, undying love for professional wrestling. I’d call it my guilty pleasure, but there’s nothing guilty about it. I know exactly what wrestling is, and what it isn’t — and often it’s difficult to say wrestling is “art,” without sounding completely pretentious. What Nia Jax did on WWE Raw last night was art.

Working a match against Lana, Jax went for a leg drop on the ring apron, which she whiffed. This was definitely a called spot, something the wrestlers worked out ahead of time — and Jax needed to sell (pretend) that it hurt extremely badly. She went above and beyond the call of duty, and turned into a meme.

My acting teachers always told me to “show, not tell.” Inherently we get the idea of what happened from the physicality. Jax dropped on her butt, it hurt, she rolled off the apron and made it seem painful. Then, it happened ...

“My butt!” she screamed, echoing through the empty arena. Taking a few steps she made it iconic, “MY HOLE!” Jax yelled, further giving insight to the audience. This was no simple butt bruise she was dealing with, which would make sitting painful for a few days — this was the kind of wrestling injury that directly damaged the hole. Unbelievable.

I saw this clip live, and laughed so hard I started crying. I watched it again in the middle of the night and laughed again, this time so hard I woke up my wife — who did not find my hole-based laughter amusing at 4 a.m.

I will not apologize.

Nia Jax was trending all night. #MYHOLE is still trending as we speak. This was a transcendent moment for lovers of wrestling, fans of goofy crap, those who have experienced the exquisite pain of falling and hurting their hole.

Thank you, Nia Jax, for making my day brighter.