Why do/did you watch wrestling?

[thaKEAF]

I’m sure all of us have gotten hit with this before. Mostly people saying it’s fake or that it hasn’t been good since the Attitude era.

For me, I inherited it from my grandfather. He would watch Memphis wrestling every Saturday so I started watching it with him. We finally got cable so then we would switch between the Monday night stuff. The wrestlers of the new generation/attitude era soon became my favorite superhero’s over the marvel and dc stuff I was watching before. The characters were over the top and as a young kid a lot of the raunchy stuff you’d see was mind blowing. The stories, the drama, the moves, the music, the entrances, the taunts, the catch phrases..it all just came together.

I eventually fell off around 2002/2003ish but came back full time in 2011. The product is definitely not as good as it had been in the past, I’ve went back to kinda part time status, but when wrestling is done right I don’t think I’d pick any other legit sport over it. Like if I had to choose wrestle mania against the super bowl or finals I’d pick mania every time.

The only drawback to being a fan is if you’re black and you realize how the industry has been and still is. There have been some gains especially the past two years but still far behind considering two international Japanese wrestlers just won title shots at mania and an Indian champ was crowned a few months ago.

 

[jackswstd]

My godfather got me into it. Been hooked since about as far back as I can remember, my older brothers would say it's fake and I would defend it to death. I don't think there will ever be a time where I don't watch it in some form or fashion. I've never taken a break.

 

[Nintendough]

My cousin's watched it. I got obsessed from day one

 

[AKM-95]

My cousin got me into it. He wouldn't miss a show and by proxy got me and my siblings into it. But I think I was predisposition.to like wrestling because my grandmother once told me a story of watching wrestling on Dumont Network in her youth. Then my mom watched CWA (Memphis) as a kid and my dad watched big-time wrestling (The Sheik/NWA Detroit) as a kid so I think I was destined to be a fan.

 

[Still Got Tears]

My uncle use to it watch it when I was younger. I remember going to blockbuster and renting the WWF ppvs 87-92 but when my uncle moved in it was a Monday ritual in 94.

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

I wrestled my way out of the womb.

So 4 life.

 

[Tj Bronson]

My parents and great grandmother got me into in the 80s, Wrestlemania 4. Hooked from the moment Hogan & Savage shook hands at the end.

Fell off between 2010 and 2014, came back when the network premiered. Now I got my kids on it, my son loves Aj and Sasha, and laughs every time he hears a Ric Flair WOOOOOOOO

 

[puppetmaster]

From a family of it.

There was always some form of wrestling on tv when I was a kid.

 

[Silkk]

The way some people use religion to have something to believe in & get them through the worst of times, Pro Wrestling has always done that for me. No matter what i'm going through or if i'm feeling down I can always find moments to cheer me up or help me take my mind off things. Show me another sport or genre where you gonna see something like this:



Man I will NEVER EVER forget being there live for this and the emotions that were running through that building.

 

[Lost His Smile]

I watched Saturday morning programming and played Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat so I obviously gravitated towards anything with violence or combat.

I remember a summarized weekly show would air on the weekends during the 90s.

 

[Kidd Dibiase]

I'm sure it was my cousins that got me into it, they grew up during the rock n roll era...when i finally to to an age to wrestle with them i did with that with them.

Been watching it ever since i was at least 5...been watching the shows/playing the games since SNES.

Any time i took a break from watching wrestling on a regular basis it was because of circumstance [no cable for Raw/Nitro or in 07 joining the navy] I always made sure to know what was going on at least.

 

[September]

My dad is a huge wrestling fan in denial. He tries to play off like it’s just entertainment but he’s a mark. He calls me every PPV Sunday to make sure I’m watching. It’s fun to watch him get giddy over it.

He watched every promotion that would play on TV before and he still does now. My earliest memories are of me and my dad watching the MNW. TNA should send him a t shirt or something tbh since he’s like one of their 20 remaining viewers.

I pay for the Network for him more than me. I always ate well off illegal streams.

 

[The Rainmaker]

My family used to watch a lot of Santo movies. There wasn't a lot of wrestling on TV but since I was conscious they always put in whatever we could get, be lucha or WWF.

Now I'm the only one who watches. My grandma was the only one who keep with it until she passed away. She loved King Bookah.

I admit it was more fun when I was a little mark and didn't know about dirtsheets, but it's still fun.

 

[StarClout]

The way some people use religion to have something to believe in & get them through the worst of times, Pro Wrestling has always done that for me. No matter what i'm going through or if i'm feeling down I can always find moments to cheer me up or help me take my mind off things. Show me another sport or genre where you gonna see something like this:



Man I will NEVER EVER forget being there live for this and the emotions that were running through that building.

This right here. It sounds marky as hell, but wrestling has been one of the constants in my life. Even in tough times I could throw on say, Rey vs Eddie Halloween Havoc 97 and forget about shyt while I watch more shyt.

How I became a fan:

Moms left the TV on USA one random day and I happened to see this zombie looking dude (Taker), this dude with the dopest shades ever (Bret), and this dude who was so hype and kept talking about prayers, vitamins, etc with this move where he dropped his leg on you (Hogan). First 3 wrestlers I ever saw and have rocked with for some time (until I saw the Hogan racist tapes)

My cousins watched as well and put me on to the other wrestlers such as Razor Ramon, HBK, Mr. Perfect, Macho Man, etc. One in particular also put me onto WCW and I eventually ended up watching them until the ship sank in 2001. When Razor jumped the guardrail on Nitro I was like . Finally when Hogan dropped the leg at BATB I really wasn’t sad, but was hype him and Razor were running together (my cousin had to break me of calling Hall Razor )

While all this was happening, then came ECW when my cousin had the bootleg DirecTV. I was literally at this type of stuff was on tv. I deadass thought it was a shoot

Then came the Attitude Era. I had almost every Stone Cold and The Rock toy known to man. Foley as Mankind became one of my favorites around this time. Dude was legit scary in the brown outfit. I still shed a few thug tears when watching Austin beat HBK at WM XIV on the Network, cause I vividly remember seeing that shyt and all of us kids going crazy when it happened.

Me and this cousin still watch to this day and share a Network account and link up during Big 4 PPVs

I owe my wresting fandom to him

Edit: I forgot all of us going crazy when Jericho debuted. Everyone looked at me cause I was one of the biggest Jerichoholics from WCW cause when we’d play wrestling I would be Jericho to put everyone in the liontamer, plus I just thought he was a cool ass dude when he was a “bad guy” beating up the cruiserweights. I legit had the face he was in the WWF)

 

[WaveMolecules]

My older cousin was a big wrestling fan and got me to watch around 89' so we were big Hogan and warrior fans. He was my hero and I loved to hang out with him and watch. Been hooked ever since, with the occasional 5 year gap