I don't know if you covered this at some point; I've been BODer for years and don't remember if it was:
How did you get into professional wrestling?
Me, at age 9, a friend of family watched it and I happened to be awake at midnight on a Saturday night to watch Championship Wrestling. The 1979 WWF TV Ted DiBiase/Hussian Arab (Iron Shiek) match got me interested and Larry Zbyszko turning on Bruno Sammartino won me over (Yes, I'm exposing my age here). Magazine subscriptions, fuzzy UHF shows from Los Angeles and Florida and live events at MSG followed. And through various degrees of interest, I've been into it.
Keep up your great work on the blog and I hope all the BODers have a great New Year.
I've definitely covered it before, but once again for posterity. My dad would watch Stampede and Al Tomko's crappy Vancouver promotion all the time and it had very little interest for me. Then my mom rented Wrestlemania 2 for my 12th birthday party and I started getting interested on my own. I happened to see the Orndorff-Hogan angle, and then Savage crushed Steamboat's throat with the ringbell and there was no turning back from there.
No specific "hooked" moment here, watching wrestling on the weekends was as much a habit as Three Stooges and Danny's fried chicken after Mass on Sunday, Looney Tunes and other cartoons on Saturday mornings, and ABC's Friday Night shows before they generally went off the cliff.
ReplyDeleteOh, and game shows during the summer days, before my best friend moved in next door to me.
Whooooooooooooooooooooooo...
ReplyDeleteNuff said
OK also *holds up 4 fingers*
ReplyDeleteYeah the fact that the WWF came on Saturday am right after cartoons and the fact that the mutaship came on at a convenient time to plop me in front of a TV for awhile helped me develop a habit of watching wrestling
ReplyDeleteBut HOW did you get to know about Ric Flair?
ReplyDeleteIn hindsight it sounds funny, but what hooked little officerfarva was fantasy earthquake killing Hulk hogan by sitting in him numerous times. Definitely paid (begged my parents to pay) to see Hogan fuck hin up in the payoff
ReplyDeleteWatching wcwsn in the late 80's while I was a really little kid. Then his jump to the WWF happened while I was in 4th/5th grade and that trio was the greatest thing I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteWe only got wrestling via satellite from the UK here in Sweden, and far from every household had it. Shortly after Wrestlemania 3 a family friend had that event on when I was over, and I saw the Harts & Davis take on the Bulldogs & Santana, and there was a certain excitement in that match that drew me in. And Bret instantly became my favourite and has stayed that to this very day. The first year or so was me begging friends and acquaintances to record all the wrestling (WWF) they could for me, and then we finally got Sky Channel on cable ourselves and I was so insanely happy. Good times, good times indeed.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what I says about me that I remember the date so vividly but it was March 29, 1987. The day of my brothers bar mitzvah and the day of Wrestlemania 3. I was 9 years old (just like the emailer) and my parents took us to our much older cousins house that evening. Hogan/Andre, Savage/Steamboat, Pipers "retirement" match. I was instantly hooked! I started every promotion I could find on TV: WWF, NWA, AWA, UWF, WCCW. Loved everything about it. I also hi my first wrestling magazine (August 1987 issue of PWI) that summer. Can still remember it. Having been watching religiously ever since (even through the shitty/boring days)...
ReplyDeleteI retroactively watched almost all of the wwfs 1984 TV and I just want to add that Paul orndorff was the fucking man
ReplyDeleteHis later face turn seemed so hollow because he was such a prick but then that turn on hogan was glorious. One of the most underrated great heels of all time.
Excuse the typos posting from my phone
ReplyDeleteHey, somebody older than me! Either that or he started watching when he was 5 or 6. With me, the whole Rock N Wrestling cartoon got me. I watched the cartoon before I even laid eyes on a wrestling show. Then my first SNME was when Bundy squashed Hogan to set up WM 2. The only lapse I had was from 2005 - 2007.
ReplyDeleteIn the Carolinas you were just born into it. The muthaship every Saturday night. It was hard to catch the WWF syndicated shows around here. Had to catch up with everything through SNME.
ReplyDeleteUsually the answer to this question is "splitting an eight ball with a few friends"
ReplyDeleteI guess I got into wrestling going back to Challenge and Superstars. I didn't have cable until 1991. My Dad would tape Worldwide for me as it ran at like 2 or 3 in the morning on one of the local networks. Once I got introduced to The Nature Boy it was over, hooked for life. I was also smartened up way before the internet. There was a radio show that I think was called "The Wrestling Insiders". Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting was the theme song. I don't recall if it was Meltzer's show or someone else. I would appreciate if anyone had any info on what radio show this was. This was like 1992-93.
ReplyDeleteWWF Magazine. The ad for Survivor Series 1990 looked so badass. Adding in the final survivor match really pumped me up too. My parents didn't order that PPV though. Who knows would could have been if I had been exposed to what was in the big egg.
ReplyDeleteI think the WWF also had a show that came on here right after Three Stooges on Sundays... yeah, the weekends were a mix of outside tomfoolery and TV. Add in video games once I got a NES for Easter 87/88 (forget which)
ReplyDeleteAt five years old I dictated a get well, hulk letter to my mom. I was so torn up over the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteHa. Nice. Say what you will about Hogan but that "fat monster kills hogan, Hogan doubts himself, triumphs in the end" formula fucking sold.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2004 when Eddie Guerrero won the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar. I was nine years old and had only started watching it. I thought this little guy called Eddie had no chance against a beast like Lesnar. It was when Eddie pinned Brock 1-2-3 that I knew that anything could happen in this crazy sport, and I've been a fan ever since. RIP Eddie
ReplyDeleteI had a few friends who liked it back when I was in Grade 4 and that summer I just started watching Superstars ("WWF Wrestling" in Canada) and Challenge ("WWF Cavalcade.") The Warrior-Savage-Flair angle was probably the one that hooked me, but for the most part I loved everything. In my obsessive youth, I would watch Superstars, Challenge and WCW Worldwide whenever it was on during the weekend. I'm talking multiple viewings.
ReplyDeleteMy story is weird because I started late. When I was young, I saw one match back when they were still pretending it was real where someone sold a punch that missed by about a foot and I stopped watching for years. Then in 1998 a friend of mine ordered Road Wild (the Leno PPV) and I went and watched it. I didn't particularly like it (shocker, the PPV sucked) but wasn't so incredibly turned off that I would never watch again. The next month he got Fall Brawl, also an awful PPV, but that PPV had one strong match on it (Raven VS Saturn) and THAT match got me into wrestling. It was the first example of what wrestling could be beyond just a "good match"...there was a story with a hot crowd, a face turn from Kidman, and the good guy triumphing. Watching that, I GOT wrestling. I also liked DDP so even though the main event was awful, I was happy he won, and I started watching WCW after. As it got worse and worse, I started watching the WWF as well, and I've pretty much been watching ever since (minus a break in 2006 and 2007).
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan basically my entire life, but my first memories are of 1990 when I was four/five. I have vague memories of seeing Hogan/Warrior/Andre/etc... at house shows in the Cow Palace. The first angle I remember clearly was Hogan vs Warrior. I remember clearly my grandma watching me for the night once and renting the VHS of mania vi right after it came out. I was the hugest Hogan fan and was crushed when Warrior won (even though I loved Warrior.) I wonder how many lifelong fans got hooked by Warrior/Hogan.
ReplyDeleteI think the first time I really got a feel for it was during that big outdoor 'slam yoko' event where Luger arrived via helicopter (I think. Memory is foggy). My Grandma was big into it so I think she technically showed it to me first - i have a possibly fabricated memory of my Grandma and me watching a guy in blue tights and a guy in yellow tights - probably hogan.
ReplyDeleteBut regarding like when hardcore fandom started I can't really pinpoint when persey, probably with the videogames WCW World Tour and WWF Warzone.
2006/2007 really was awful TV. During that time period I went from buying every ppv and watching every show religiously to watching raw about once a month if at all.
ReplyDeleteSuperbrawl 1
ReplyDeleteOMG yes. My dad used to sarcastically refer to the cartoon as 'Hogan's Heroes'.
ReplyDeleteWe've totally done this before.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad was a lifelong fan. He'd grown up near Whipper Watson and through him got involved in the Maple Leaf circuit setting up rings and wrestling job matches under a mask.
Mom never liked it and so prevented me from watching much of it until WM3 was rented, and by then I was of an age (7) that she couldn't outright prevent me from watching it without a battle that she wasn't prepared to fight.
I've been watching ever since with 3 short hiatuses - 1 from a little prior to WM 11 until Bret's return in 96 because I didn't like Nash and Michaels and couldn't stand them at the top - 2 for about a year in 2001-02 because I was living off the grid - 3 right now as I've only watched RAW once since WM. During my first, and my current break I've always more or less kept up online.
Those four THQ games are still the undisputed "Fun Wrestling Games" Champions. And while No Mercy was quite different than WCW/NWO World Tour, I really don't care to compare them. They're all 10s.
ReplyDelete(World Tour, Revenge [WCW/NWO], Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy [WWF], for the newer fans. THQ + N64 = Good times.)
Those four THQ N64 games (WCW/NWO World Tour and Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy) still hold the "Most Fun Wrestling Videogame" title, and I don't see anything on the horizon coming close.
ReplyDeleteI was a late bloomer. I didn't get fully into wrestling until Raw became a thing.
ReplyDeleteThe Rock and Wrestling cartoon, and the buildup to Wrestlemania 3. We also had Mid-South/UWF, World Class, and the AWA available here in syndication.
ReplyDeleteThe alternate university question is "at what point was your wrestling fandom at its lowest?"
ReplyDeleteBorn in 1983. Got into it through tape rentals at first: the first 5 Wrestlemanias, early Survivor Series, and what not. Don't remember the specific moment, but I definitely was a fan by age 4 ('87). In a general sense, it was Hulkamania, like most everyone else. I was crushed when Warrior beat him clean at WM6. Started getting bored of Hogan by '92 and was pretty apathetic about his WM8 match with Sid. Even at age 10, I thought the WM9 title win was stupid. Got bored completely by '93 and didn't come back til late '97/early '98.
ReplyDeleteGood one. For me: 1993 when they abandoned the new wave of stars and did the Hogan/Yokozuna stuff. Lost me til '97.
ReplyDeleteThe second phase of my fandom ended with the Invasion. Other life-related things at play for sure, but by WM18 I was really only following through Scott's rants and such. Joined the Marines in 2003 and kept only a passing interest through the Brock Lesnar experiment. I wasn't even paying attention by 2004 and was pretty shocked to read a Wrestlemania 20 rant with Eddie & Benoit as champs.
Dig diggity dog.
ReplyDeleteNow. Even though I didn't have cable for several years in the mid-nineties, and there wasn't the internet backup there is today, I was still into it. Nowadays I just don't care anymore. I'm Cena'd and Orton'd out. I even watched RAW and Smackdown this week after several weeks off and I was, meh, I've seen all this before. I like Kane's role, and like Reigns going over Henry, but everything else in five hours was just meh.
ReplyDeleteMdickie's Booking Revolution would like a word with you.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100%. I can still see that ad. Those Survivor Series team pictures were awesome for a young mark
ReplyDeleteKatie Vick was my first "vacation", lasted about a year on and off... then after Guerrero and Benoit I almost walked away for good. Only followed on the "shallowest" level for a while, until TNA seemed to catch fire with Aries/Roode, and the early Aces.
ReplyDeleteRemember when he "killed" Damien by sitting on him? I will never forget Sean Mooney's face when they would cut away from it. lmao. Classic
ReplyDeleteGet the fuck out of here. The N64 games are sadly still the best. You felt like you were actually working a match. I've been playing the new WWE 2k14 game and it actually feels slow and plodding compared to the N64 games. I play the No Mercy mods to this very day.
ReplyDeleteCan you play that one with four people at once?
ReplyDeleteI missed a lot of 94-95. Raw was appointment TV for me until the night after Summerslam 05', I'm still butthurt that HBK didn't stay heel after the Hogan match. I stopped watching almost completely after the Benoit stuff. Came back around for Summer of Punk. Raw is still not appointment TV and it is unusual for me to watch a full episode straight through.
ReplyDeleteBeing a teenager during the late 90's was just perfect. That was my favorite time as a fan.
Now.
ReplyDeleteThe titles mean nothing, characters on the whole are lame, HHH and Steph on TV, the forced corporate approved lingo (WM moment™, Legacy™, Championship™, etc..) and (although I am very much aware that I'm in the extreme minority around here) I just can't STAND Punk. He's a really good wrestler and I could watch his matches all day, but the moment that he speaks I change the channel.
That was fantastic. Even as a kid I saw humor in that. The tugboat heel turn on Hogan to side with earthquake was another story arch that just killed little me
ReplyDeleteEarly Smackdown (Pre SD vs Raw) was solid... but not quite up to the N64 stuff. And most of the rest is shovelware-level... or worse.
ReplyDeleteI don't worship Punk either. He is a huge dickhead and is missing the intangible that make next level guys like Austin, Rock, Cena, etc. His refusal to play politics will mar his legacy. Great worker though, he;s got 2 or 3 of the match of the year candidates. I just don't think he's perfect. I also think he should have worked to keep a bulkier physic (not Scott Steiner) during his World Title run.
ReplyDeleteOn an ouya, I believe you can. It rates your matches!
ReplyDeleteI think Day of Reckoning on the Gamecube was pretty great too, best HIAC ever imo.
ReplyDeleteHow about the black ooze on Warrior? Even as a young kid I knew that had to be fake, but Shango still creeped the fuck out of me. Teenage me was like "What if I told you. . .Papa Shango was The Godfather?" Mind BLOWN
ReplyDeleteProbably when HHH beat booker at Wrestlemania up until WM20, then I was really into it again, then Benoit went nuts, and then I kind of slid into my passive fandom I enjoy now - more excited to hear people talk about how it works, than actually watch it happen.
ReplyDeleteThat and WM18/19 on the GC were sneaky good wrestling games. Nothing great, but damn solid.
ReplyDeleteBring the Pain was cool, I played it through with Benoit, not a bad game at all.
ReplyDeleteWrestlefest and Tecmo Wrestling are my other favorites.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was during the rise of Ultimate Warrior back in '89 and then I kinda stopped watching in 1993 like much of the fanbase, but then I watched the '94 Royal Rumble and the whole Bret/Owen angle got me hooked so I started religiously watching again and then became a casual viewer after WM14.
ReplyDeleteFor me wrestling sort of died when Shawn Michaels first retired in '98 as I was a big mark for him back in his Rockers days and I felt emotionally invested in a guy that I saw grew up from a low midcard tag guy to a main event star.
Not much arcade experience here, so I don't rate those.
ReplyDeleteThat one falls into the pre-SDvRAW era.
ReplyDeleteUniverse mode on 2k14 and wwe '13 is really special if you have a wrestling fan friend to play with. By yourself it blows.
ReplyDeleteCharles Wright: sneaky fun guy, even in a bad role.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
ReplyDeleteHogan wrestling Dusty Wolfe on Superstars pulled me in, Championship Wrestling made me stay.But I guess my defining moment was Hogan getting revenge on Bundy at Wrestlemania 2.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny. This is the 2nd least favorite stretch for me but punk is the 1 guy i look forward to seeing every week? We're you ever a fan of his?
ReplyDeleteThreadjack: Anderson Silva had successful surgery:
ReplyDeletehttp://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/10209321/ufc-168-anderson-silva-remains-hospitalized-leg-surgery
Yea. That was a juts moment also. I was so into the warrior/sshango stuff at the time. It was so bad looking back on it but fuck, it entertained the shit outta my as a kid
ReplyDeleteGood to hear.
ReplyDeleteI was about six, I had watched some wrestling at my older cousins house (not only him but his grandmother were into it. I've come across two old women relatives into wrestling. My step great aunt was a riot, this sweet 80 something year old women yelling at the wrestlers on Nitro and RAW) but I hadn't gotten hooked yet. Then one night I was over there and The Main Event was on (the SNME after Mania 3) and after that show I was hooked. Loved the twin referee angle, although at the time I believed Hogan and thought Dibiase had paid for somebody's plastic surgery.
ReplyDeleteSaturday mornings/days/nights became awesome, not only cartoons but hours of wrestling with WWF, WCW, GLOW and other smaller Feds on UHF channels.
After the Invasion angle bombed - so disappointed I stopped watching for near 10 years.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of the Straight Edge tools, yeah I felt the same way in high school. There was a group of them in high school, never had a problem with them. I even was friends with one of them, we had a couple of classes together. He was a nice guy. One Friday I told him about a party my friends were having the next day and he asked if he could come along. I said sure.
ReplyDeleteSo the next night he comes to the party and there's alcohol there and some weed. We're talking and he's asking me a bunch of questions about weed and what it feels like. Finally he asks if he can have some so I light up a joint and we share it. He also had a beer or two. Nothing crazy.
Anyway word got back to his straight edge friends and Monday morning they kicked him out of their little group and stopped talking to him. I thought that was so cruel and such a douchebag thing to do.
most memorable was when I was 7 and Hogan beat Yoko at wm IX to win the strap. Of course I watcheed here and there before that, but thats the moment that stuck out in my head the most.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could remember the exact match (lot of memory loss in later years), but I remember being at a friend's house and seeing the Legion of Doom cut a promo and make their entrance to the ring. Hooked.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's quite popular, of that i am aware.
ReplyDeleteI was never much of a fan. As I say, I do agree that he's a fantastic wrestler and he's had tonnes of great matches, but his whole smarmy, sarcastic attitude just rubs me the wrong way. He's a guy that I would have no time for in real life.
That whole punk / hardcore scene is suppose to be about not judging others and counterculture. Instead they are the most judgmental people I ever had the displeasure of meeting. As well they are obsessed with their shitty fashion.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The HHH run was a low point for me because there were really no other options for wrestling for me.
ReplyDeleteThis is what pisses me off about TNA. They could be that alternative but they choose not to.
ReplyDeleteI wish I hit the Powerball so I could start my own wrestling organization and buy a block of TV time.
WWF reeled me in as a child with the Rock N' Wrestling cartoon. I wanted to see the human versions of these characters from the cartoon I liked, so I would watch the Sunday morning show, and every week I'd get to see a couple more guys in jobber matches: Tito Santana, who I was delighted to learn was a champion!; Hillbilly Jim coming out to "Don't Go Messing with a Country Boy"; Iron Sheik doing the Camel Clutch, etc... Hogan was the holy grail though. I'd seen him in Rocky III and on the A-Team and Saturday Night Live, but he almost never wrestled on TV, so that really kept me watching every week, hoping he would at least do an interview. By the time he finally came on and did a non-title match against Moondog Spot, I was familiar with the entire roster--even the non-cartoon guys like Corporal Kirchner and Randy Savage--and I was invested in the story-lines.
ReplyDeleteI got into WCW a few years later when I saw a Pro Wrestling Illustrated which featured Ricky Steamboat wearing their heavyweight title on the cover. I loved Steamboat in WWF and was disappointed with how he never won matches anymore after he won the IC title (I was in that weird phase where I knew it was scripted but also completely bought into every match as I watched it), so that made me want to watch the company where he did win big matches. So I turned on their Saturday Morning program and saw the recap of Terry Funk piledriving Flair on the table after Flair got the title back. 'Wait, that branding iron guy is also a main-eventer in this company?!?!' On the same program I saw Sting, Muta, Sid Vicious's powerbomb, and Scott Steiner's Frankensteiner (still un-named at that point), and immediately decided NWA:WCW was way cooler than WWF (I'd turned on Hogan by that point and was desperately hoping for Mr. Perfect to take the title off him).
Fair enough. Like others, I've always been partial to him since the pipe bomb got me back into wrestling and he's been in some really good stuff the past few years
ReplyDeleteYea. If you want to be straight edge, great. I concede it's probably a little healthier life style buy don't be a condescending pick to those who make different personal choices then you. That's what I hate. If you are straight edge and proud of it, that's cool. Just don't be a dick to everyone who isn't .
ReplyDeleteRight now.
ReplyDeleteNow.
ReplyDeleteI think you ment to put an r in between the p and the I
ReplyDeleteGood catch
ReplyDeleteYeah the old video tape rentals as a kid was the best!
ReplyDeleteNothing says youre a maverick that marches to the beat of your own drum more than joining up with a ready made sub culture that does all your thinking for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't let me ever see you eating a cheeseburger or a piece of pie.
ReplyDeleteI'm relatively young (21 years old) and I first got into it in 1999. My older brother was already a big fan and the first Raw I ever saw was the Skydome Raw back in February '99. That and the combination of the video games like Attitude and WrestleMania 2000 sucked me in. So I don't think I really had a specific moment that hooked me.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was 2003-2004. I was only 11/12 at the time but the magic was just kinda gone to me and I moved on to other things. By 2004 I'd pretty much stopped watching until I just stumbled upon a PWI issue and realized how far behind I'd fallen on the wrestling scene and decided to start watching again.
ReplyDeleteA year later I was going through Books-a-Million's wrestling section and found Scott's book, Tonight! In This Very Ring, and that was the beginning of my smarkdom.
Late 2006-2007 was another low-point for me. It was extremely discouraging because Late 2005-June 2006 was the best TV WWE had put on since the Attitude era but then Cenamania kicked into high gear and the watered down DX had gotten so stale. Plus, ECW was a complete disaster. And that was when Raw switched to that godawful Papa Roach song. It's a miracle that I even kept watching.
I watched it as as a 10 year old kid with a bit more than a passing fancy (my dad and some family friends dutifully reminded me that it was all "fake") -- I'd have to say that the British Bulldogs vs. the Dream Team on syndicated TV completely hooked me -- The way the announcers sold the Bulldogs as an unstoppable machine against the hapless champions was awesome -- Beefcake and Valentine held onto the belts but you just knew the Bulldogs would have their day -- This was before I knew all of the backstage bullshit -- I loved that time :-)
ReplyDeleteNo offense, but that's terrible. You're dissing on Punk for not playing politics or taking steroids. He's basically gotten where he is by not doing all the asshole things we hate about guys. I'm so confused by this.
ReplyDeleteI got a Sid Justice figure and decided to start watching. This was around late '92, early '93. The first PPV I distinctly remember is WrestleMania IX. There wasn't a whole lot of great stuff that happened in either promotion in 1993, but when you're 7 you're a lot more forgiving.
ReplyDeleteTo this day, I think the Steamboat-Douglas "masked" angle was one of the best things I've ever seen.
Hogan/Andre on The Main Event. The original screwjob. Nuff said
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying take steroids but I recall seeing on his little DVD that he stopped eating meat. Eating chicken breast may be a sacrifice you have to make if you play a wrestling heavyweight champion on TV. As far as politics, he talks a lot of shit about change and ice cream bars and shit like that. The dude still comes out and does the same scripted bull shit everyone else does. Since he lost the belt he has laid down for everyone and hasn't done anything to rock the boat. I find him very hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteKPLR TV's Wrestling at the Chase. Harley Race! King Kong Brody! The Von Erichs!
ReplyDeleteThe big boxes that were made of soft material. Classic
ReplyDeleteThere were plenty of screwjobs before that -- Read up, youngster :-)
ReplyDeleteBack then they were called doublecrosses -- Which I think is a much more apt term...
ReplyDeleteAfter Benoit in '07, I didn't think I'd ever be able to watch wrestling again, and for a while I didn't. Jericho's return at the end of the year pulled me back in to watching again.
ReplyDeleteHey dude, howzabout Alex Smith????
ReplyDeleteBorn in '80. Grew up in East TN and used to watch NWA/WCW/Whatever it was growing up. I got hooked because little 8 or 9 year old me HATED, and I mean HATED, Ric Flair and the Horseman. Therefore, the Flair/Steamboat feud was basically programmed right at me and I ate it up with a spoon. My dad took me to the Flair/Steamboat match in Nashville(the one with Funk and the piledriver) and still maintains it's the saddest he's ever seen me. My memory of it is fuzzy outside, but according to him we left right after the match and I didn't say more than 3 or 4 words for the next couple of hours.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get into WWF/E until the Austin-era.
Wow yeah he's gotten the job done big time. I'm surprised. However kc arguably has the best D and running back. Smith is a guy who won't kill you by mistakes and can run the coaches game plan. However he won't be able to make any big plays and I won't be surprised if they lose in the wildcard. Kapernick is already light years ahead of him though so 49ers were 100% right to dump him.
ReplyDeleteCM Punk is awesome from what I've seen -- And so is Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson --- The problem with both both of them is thsat neither id Steve Austin/The Rock/Hulk Hogan -- They are Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels --Able Placeholders until the Next Big Thing comes along...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you to a certain extent --- Smith is the fuckable wife you don't think you love anymore so you cast her off for the hot bitch (Kap) that you think is better --- We'll see how it works out...
ReplyDeleteWhoa, Scott- those two angles, along with the Hogan-Andre build, hooked me seemingly for life, though I only watch sparingly today. But I probably wouldn't be as into MMA either if not for my early pro wrestling love.
ReplyDelete"How Did _You_ Get _You_ Hooked?"
ReplyDeleteProbably when Owen kicked Bret's leg out from under his leg.
They kicked him out of the Straight Edge group because he wasn't being straight edge? Perish the thought. I don't really feel bad for the guy. I'm not a part of that scene, though I barely drink and never smoke pot.
ReplyDeleteI can't possible care about anything Kane or Big Show do at this point. They are quite possibly the most overexposed characters in wrestling history. This is where the lack of other viable promotions really hurts wrestling, and us as fans.
ReplyDeleteNiners are coming on soon -- We will win -- Falcons didn't do their job -- Fuck the Panthers! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe poster for WM6.
ReplyDeleteAll the other kids were into it, but I could never figure out when it was on (my mom didn't want me watching anyways). I recall watching the Twin Towers/Mega Powers match at the resulting detonation of the Mega Powers in rapt fascination, however- I was the only kid at school who was still a Savage supporter (the other kids would joke that he had "fake muscles" that he took off when he got home, which falls right along with "they all wear wires to help them jump around" in Retarded Fan Theories). It wasn't until the Flair Royal Rumble win when I finally started watching for real (the press conference post-Rumble was my introduction to Flair PERIOD- I'd at least HEARD of most of the other guys. Flair came across like some Johnny-Come-Lately Nobody to a WWF fan like me).
ReplyDeleteSame. I rarely watched during that period.
ReplyDeletei've always wondered how anyone who only was exposed to stampede wrestling in the 70's could become a wrestling fan. boring matches, horrible tv production, and just an all around flat product. haven't seen any 80's stuff, but the stuff they play on 24/7 from the late 70's is often drivel. poor poor canadians who only had stampede at the time :(
ReplyDelete'Al Tomko's crappy Vancouver promotion'
ReplyDeletei wonder if anyone ever asked him for a beat
started with rumble '99 at a friend's house, saw every ppv from that point on and slowly started working raw into my watching schedule. wcw soon followed in the middle of the summer '99, b/c whenever i saw ads on tv for it i thought sting was a awesome, and i wanted to check him out.
ReplyDeleteNo.
ReplyDeleteIt had HEAT, which McMahon only wishes he could get today.
ReplyDeleteYou play to your audience, and that's what sold up there.
"passing fancy" is a phrase that deserves more of a push
ReplyDeleteI was channel surfing in 1999 and I bumped into Raw. It was a match between the Road Dogg and the Rock just before Wrestlemania XV. I liked Road Dogg's prematch thingy and then the Rock came out and I thought he was the coolest motherfucker ever.
ReplyDeleteDon't actually remember too much of 1999 though, I remember Mankind winning at Summerslam, Jericho's Debut, Raw is Owen, the Undertaker vs Stone Cold title match on Raw and watching WCW for the first time (here in NZ it was a very long time behind on free to air TV). It was a 1998 Nitro and I remember loving the cruiserweight match.
I really start remembering WWF programming in early 2000, with early McMahon-Helmsley stuff. That storyline is when I became a lifetime fan, plus my favourites from WCW moved over to the WWF around the same time (Benoit, Malenko etc...). Probably my favourite Raw ever (that I watched at the time) is the one where the Rock has just lost the belt and is fucking mad and goes through the McMahons one by one throughout the night.
I stopped caring about wrestling intermittently after 2002, completely lost interest by 2006, came back for the Summer of Punk, but I've never fully recommitted to watching it every week again.
I'd always watched wrestling sporadically with a friend from the next block over (I vividly remember one Undertaker VHS he'd always watch), but never got interested for real until I was channel surfing one day when I was 12 & saw Jaqueline ripping Sable's shirt off. Boobs were enough to get 12 year old me to pay attention, and the main event of whatever show it was (Sunday Night Heat I believe) was some configuration of Mankind, X-Pac, D'Lo Brown and Ken Shamrock in a tag match. Mankind I guess is what got me interested the most, because he was so unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Then my first PPV was Survivor Series '98, which although the matches pretty much all sucked I couldn't tell at the time. Tournament for a vacant World title was the perfect jumping on point, & I've been hooked since (even though I can't even remember the last time I watched Raw... I think it was on one of the many TVs when I went to Applebee's recently).
ReplyDeleteMy younger brother became a fan in early 1992 and got caught up in the WM 8 hype (Hogan's "retirement," Sid killing jobbers, Flair & Liz etc.) I had always watched on and off but got hooked for real during the SummerSlam "who sold out to Mr. Perfect" angle.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was hilariously obvious that Flair and Perfect were playing the dumb faces Warrior and Savage against each other, making me a huge heel fan. It was weird discovering years later that (apparently) Warrior was supposed to sell out.
I was flipping through the channels when I happened upon an enormous man crying because he was in financial trouble and was now embroiled in a feud with upper management involving lawsuits. Riveted, I never looked back.
ReplyDelete"I'm not saying take steroids but I recall seeing on his little DVD that
ReplyDeletehe stopped eating meat. Eating chicken breast may be a sacrifice you
have to make if you play a wrestling heavyweight champion on TV."
Little DVD?
Having to eat chicken to play a heavyweight wrestling champion? (which he has done 4 - 5 times now)
Who is the tool bag now?
HBK/JBL?
ReplyDeleteThat would be backwards, and no lawsuit was involved... I think.
ReplyDeleteOh, and since when is Shawn Michaels "enormous"? Ego, yeah. Body, no.
;)
Yeah, now I know which feud he is referring to.
ReplyDeleteWho says it isn't about judging others?
ReplyDeleteFrankly if you don't drink/do drugs you are better than people that do and you have a moral obligation to try and improve them as people... I should probably just get out of this conversation now... I know how testy people get about their imperfections.
You constantly pass judgement on adults who choose to drink or do drugs or whatever. I've personally had poor experiences with straight edge individuals. I neither find them intriguing or enriched as human beings. I'm sorry but if you can't handle a glass of champagne at a wedding you are an extremely immature individual.
ReplyDeleteWhat did any of that have to do with what I said to you in that response?
ReplyDeleteOh and also you are wrong... and yes I constantly pass judgement on people who drink or do drugs. Not drinking or doing drugs is a better choice, so it becomes my prerogative to pass judgement on those that make inferior choices.
ReplyDeleteI started watching WWF and WCW around the same time... Summer of '90. So Warrior and Sting were the champs. My first PPV was Royal Rumble '91... so seeing Slaughter beat Warrior for the title with all that help from Macho Man hooked me. I needed Warrior to beat Savage... I needed it to happen. WM7 happened, and in my opinion, the Savage/Warrior segment was the greatest booked half hour of wrestling programming ever.
ReplyDeleteI question if Hunter S. Thompson would have been a successful author if not for the drugs and booze he did. That is a very narrow minded opinion that not doing drugs or alcohol is a better choice. I love CM Punk the wrestler. He is fantastic, as a person I think he kind of sucks and he does things differently than a lot my historical favorites. I think he masks a lot of what he does in his "ideals". He stance on life rings hollow for me. I'm not someone who regularly uses drugs by the way.
ReplyDeletequit downvoting me, christian
ReplyDeleteSo should i constantly pass judgment on those who eat pizza or dessert? I eat extremely healthy but I realize it's their personal choice. I'm not gonna go around and police them because they are adults. A person's character is more complex then questionable habits that they have in 1 area of life. Its unfair and wrong to say "this person has a vice that I don't have so I'm a better person then them."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wrestlezone.com/news/441121-chris-jericho-vince-mcmahon-behind-edge-before-first-wwe-championship-win
ReplyDeleteNow I really gotta listen to Jercho's podcast. They told Cena that Nexus should have gone over and that the DDT on the pavement then beating the Nexus single handedly was a stupid spot, yet he did it anyway.
I question if Hunter S. Thompson would have blown his brains out if not for the booze and drugs he did. It is not narrow minded at all, it is correct thinking. I know it is popular in America to pretend that, because everyone is entitled to an opinion, that everyone's opinion is equal. But the reality is that every opinion is not equal. On this issue there is a right (not willfully poisoning yourself) and a wrong (willfully poisoning yourself). They are not equivalent, and as I am of the right opinion I am not going to pretend like others are equal in their thinking when they are not.
ReplyDeleteI haven't accused you of doing drugs... what I am accusing you of is never leaving the high school jocks v. nerds mentality behind. I am also accusing you of not having any principles of your own other than "Everyone should just do whatever they want" and finding it annoying that yes, some people do have values. You find that unsettling because it makes you examine your choices and you take it out on them (sXe people in this example) for not following your own hedonistic beliefs. You see yourself as the high school football player that fucks the prom queen and wins the big game, and people like Punk as the nerd that stays home playing D&D (or reading pointless comic books)with his other nerd friends on Saturday night. That is why you belittle his sXe lifestyle, his vegetarianism, his body, his products (would you refer to someone like the Road Warriors DVD as "little"?) you think of it as a sad lifestyle that makes someone a bad person... in reality it makes you pathetic for never having left the 11th grade mentally behind.
"So should i constantly pass judgment on those who eat pizza or dessert?
ReplyDeleteI eat extremely healthy but I realize it's their personal choice to
not. I exercise a ton, should I pass judgment on those that dont?"
Yes
I'm with you there brother!
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's immature for NOT wanting to drink alcohol.
ReplyDeleteWHAT THE FUCK!
I honestly don't remember a specific moment but it was somewhere between Wrestlemania 3 & Wrestlemania 4... by the time the "WHO PAID FOR THE PLASTIC SURGERY?!?!?!" SNME came along I was already a huge Hogan mark.
ReplyDeleteI also loved NWA and remember marking huge for Ronnie Garvin beating Ric Flair and HATING Windham for joining the Horsemen and found him terrifying once he started wearing the black glove.
You clearly don't realize that sitting around bragging about how much you can drink makes you manly and cool. DUH!
ReplyDeleteHow have they not been released on Xbox Live arcade or some other type of service?
ReplyDeleteAt least there's an attempt to make those style of games on the horizon:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92916857
Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteI have early memories of Hogan beating the Sheik for the title, Studd and Patera cutting Andre's hair, and bugging my parents to rent me the first Wrestlemania on VHS. But the Orndorff turn on Hogan is probably what hooked my for life. The Hogan/Andre and Piper/Adonis builds to WM3 cemented it.
ReplyDeleteNow I have a son that is the same age I was when I got hooked. And he thinks it's all dumb except for Cena.
Meh. I have this discussion often but my take is that it's my obligation to treat those I see and to help those ask me for it. Obviously if weight and diet is a medical issue, you absolutely have to get involved.
ReplyDeleteOther then that tho its kinda pointless in my
experiences. People don't make life changes like getting in shape, eating healthier, stop drinking, etc., until they are ready to, or have a reason to. Pushing change like this on people when they aernt ready is just an exercise in futility.
I was playing with my action figures in my room on a Saturday night. I was flipping through channels on my fabulous 13" color television that wasn't designed for cable so I only got the first 13 channels, and there was Saturday Night's Main Event. I remember Hogan and Earthquake specifically, but not much else. The action on screen complimented my action figure battles quite nicely, and at that moment I went from using punches and karate chops to scoop slams and clotheslines. It was also at that moment that Mahoney from the Police Academy cartoon series teamed with Peter Venkman from The Real Ghostbusters to combat the evil force of Robocop and Shredder. By the time The Big Bossman came out twirling his nightstick, the accessory Mahoney was already wielding, my passion was rapidly blooming.
ReplyDeleteI must have said something to my dad, or he saw me watching it, because I remember him coming to tell me that a Halloween-themed wrestling special was on. Turns out it was Prime Time Wrestling, the one with the crowd in the background. They had a Halloween party going on with various wrestlers and personalities doing stupid shit in the background while Vince and, I think Heenan, talked.
Both of those events probably happened within a month or two of each other. That makes sense when you look at the timeline of Hogan and Earthquake being featured on Saturday Night's Main Event.
If you tell them, then at least you are not being complicit... and when they do decide to stop making incorrect decisions then perhaps they will think back to something you told them. Just because you don't see the results right away doesn't mean it won't happen.
ReplyDeleteAnd the logic that people don't need to be pushed is also mistaken. Yes someone has to be willing to do the work themselves, but it often takes someone else motivating them. I would have never stopped making wrong decisions regarding my diet and drinking if someone in particular hadn't pushed/motivated me. Don't underestimate the influence you can have on people.
The exact moment: Wrestlemania 2, Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy cage match ("Bundymania!")
ReplyDelete(Elvira) "somebody stop it!"
(Jesse Ventura) "You can't stop it - it's a CAGE MATCH"
Looks like we got in around the same time. That SNME really caught my eye, but being a dumb kid I couldn't figure out how to watch more wrestling after that. Caught the SNME where Savage turned on Hogan and then found Superstars every Saturday. REALLY got into it when I discovered Prime Time Wrestling the summer where Hogan face Savage and Zeus (although even then I thought it was dumb that Zeus would hate Hogan since they acted in a film together).
ReplyDeleteRookie. That angle was ripped off from El Gigante's television interview with Oprah in 1994.
ReplyDeleteI was about eight when I got into wrestling. My brother watched it, but what got me into it once and for all was happening upon the Saturday night main event where Uncle Elmer got married. Became a weekly watcher right after that.
ReplyDeleteFlipping through channels one night in the late 80's. Come across this crazed man dropping a bell on another dudes throat. Could....not........look......away for 26 years.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of action figures, am I the only one that would do the following.
ReplyDeleteUse those smaller GI joes as wrestlers? (this was when I first got into wrestling and had no actual wrestling figures) I even remember using my moms laundry basket as a make shit steel cage (before I had an actual ring and cage obviously)?
Put on matches for friends with my figures and sometimes even record it?
I'm an Attitude-era kid. I still remember the first time I caught Raw as I was randomly flipping through channels. It was the last 20 minutes or so of an episode in '98 where Kane/Mankind were meant to wrestle Austin/Undertaker. I had no idea who these people were but Kane. Mankind and the Undertaker are pretty instantly memorable and exciting characters for a kid. I hated Stone Cold (and wouldn't end up liking him until his heel turn).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Undertaker didn't show up so the match was changed to Kane vs. Mankind with Austin on commentary. Mankind refused to fight back so Kane just beat the piss out of him and pinned him... and then took off his mask and revealed he was The Undertaker! Now, obviously, none of this makes sense but to an 11-year old kid this was the coolest thing that had ever happened. It took 'til the lead-up to Survivor Series: Deadly Game for me to find and watch the show consistently.
I started watching WCW (which my best friend preferred, as he found it independently around the same time I found WWF) around the build-up to Goldberg/Nash at Starrcade. Again, in hindsight the show was crap, but it formed part of an awesome Friday night block of TV for me at the time: Batman (1960s version), Monty Python's Flying Circus, WCW Nitro, Mr. Show with Bob and Dave. I never had to leave the couch!
I still don't see a heel warrior ever working.
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a blast. "Prerogative to pass judgment on those that make inferior choices" - I'm not even coming from the tact of defending drinking and drug use, just seeing that attitude is fucking repulsive. You may as well go to a clinic and harrass people terminating pregnancies, or go knock on doors and shove bibles in everyones face, or take to Twitter proclaiming how atheism is true and religious people are teh studidest!!11!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, what a holier than thou, immature, joyless thing to say.
Watching randomly the 1990 Royal Rumble as a kid and seeing a mysterious crazy painted dude with tassels all over him go face to face with some overly tanned orange balding guy in yellow and the crowd going berserk... The moment the Warrior got eliminated I wanted him to kick Hogan's ass, I got my wish at WM6... hooked ever since.
ReplyDeleteDamn dude take a pill, oh wait nevermind.
ReplyDelete1992. seeing Randy Savage and immediatly get hooked. greatest worker ever.
ReplyDeleteSorry. I know reality makes you uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteI was into pro wrestling as a kid, but Savage-Steamboat locked it up for me.
ReplyDeleteIt is holier than thou because I am right, and people that disagree are wrong. It is not immaturity. Everyone thinks like this on one issue or another, but they hide behind the infectious thinking that everyone should be able to make up their own mind on everything no matter how damaging it is... I on the other hand am not willing to stand idly by and be permissive of people's behavior. I am sorry that it makes you uncomfortable, but whether you realize it or not, you are better off because of people like me.
ReplyDeleteI would say probably 1993-96 (New Generation garbage in the WWF, a lot of cartoonish crap in WCW like the Dungeon of Doom); 2003-2005 (Smackdown got really shitty after the "Smackdown Six" ended and Lesnar left) and then from 2009-2010 (I hated the seemingly endless Cena/Orton feud in '09). It's been great seeing the influx of talent like Punk, Bryan, Shield, Ziggler, Cesaro, Cody Rhodes, Usos, etc. the past few years.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't make me uncomfortable - I just think it's self-deluding egotistic nonsense. The mark of someone's character can't be guaged by their alcohol intake and to pass judgment on someone because they make a choice that is unhealthy for them but has no negative impact on you personally is the height of invasive nannying hysteria.
ReplyDeleteI mean, by your logic, the majority of history's great musicians and the music they created are wrong while you're right. You'll excuse me if I choose to side with those who are creative and open-minded rather than someone who deems it his prerogative to judge others.
Big Sting fan, huh?
ReplyDeleteI don't pass judgement on every aspect of the person, but yes if you make poor decisions you are less of a person than those that don't and it is my responsibility to highlight your flaws so that you have the opportunity to correct them and become a better person like me... and people drinking/doing drugs have plenty of negative impact on more than just the person doing it... go ask anyone that has had a drunk driver kill a family member.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what point you are trying to make about musicians so I will ignore it until you elaborate... but I will not excuse you. Your thinking is incorrect, and it is my responsibility as someone with superior thinking to rid the world of the type of thinking you have... again I know it bothers you having someone that is better than you sit in judgement of your poor decisions, but it is for your own good, so accept the gift I am giving you and alter your thinking.
Katie Vick. My boner never went down.
ReplyDeleteSick, but glad that was the one to reel you in.
ReplyDeleteI got into wrestling via MTV. I used to watch MTV religiously in the early 80's and when they showed The Brawl To End It All, I gave it a chance. I got hooked and started watching All American Wrestling on Sundays, Primetime Wrestling and the rest is history.
ReplyDeleteMy first live event was watching Savage vs Hogan at MSG in December '85. Crappy seats, but I'll always remember the excitement.
Oh, you're trolling. Nevermind then.
ReplyDeleteI remember the cartoons in 85 and the wrestlemania hype everywhere with my hero hulk hogan but the orndoff heel turn in 86 is the first holy shit angle and moment I remember. It was during Saturday superstars of wrestling at 5pm on channel 5 and I was watching while eating dinner. The whole room popped.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan when I was really young and I can remember being really into it in the 1988-91 period, but I gradually stopped watching after 1992. Then, 1996 rolled around. My brother buying Wrestlemania 12 got my attention. The Outsiders showing up on Nitro got me interested. Still, it wasn't until a long free preview show for Summerslam 96 that I got sucked back in for good. They promoted the Taker-Mankind feud relentlessly for a good couple hours. For once, the Undertaker wasn't fighting a useless, big slug in an emotionless feud. Seeing Taker raise his game against Foley (and Foley being such a complicated character for 1996) made me start watching Raw thereafter. It didn't hurt that HBK was an automatic 4 stars in every main event, either.
ReplyDeleteNot at all an interesting inclusion, but that's my story.
Hulk Hogan's Rock'n'Wrestling!
ReplyDeleteI started off HATING wrestling because my brother loved watching Superstars and it
directly interfered with my watching of Saturday morning cartoons. Along came the cartoon and suddenly I was a lot more interested in watching. Superstars, Challenge, and All-American became staples in my house. It certainly didn't hurt to have all the wrestling figures I could get my hands on.
It's why, despite some of my frustrations with the product these days, I can't get too down on them. Cena is Hogan and that's amazing for young kids. I'm shocked that so many of you seem to have been into Savage because every kid I knew was a Hulkamaniac and rooted firmly along the babyface/heel lines.
Aren't you the guy that brags about sleeping with married women? You've been divorced how many times? I've been with the same women for over 12 years. Clearly you've made poor decisions, and frankly I find someone who would not only sleep with but brag about fucking someone else's wife to be a huge piece of shit. You can take your holier than thou straight edge shit and stick it you know where, clearly you are not a perfect person. I just got point out your flaw so you can work to improve.
ReplyDelete*takes sip of Sierra Nevada*
I think that's the first time I heard someone get into wrestling during the attitude era and actually hating Austin. Without seeing his badassery from 1996 to Wrestlemania 14, it was probably a little bit tougher to get into his act when everyone by then was giving him verbal bj's.
ReplyDeleteI think it was more that I was given four characters to look at on that first watch: Kane - a monster in a mask. Mankind - A weirdo in a mask. Undertaker - A supernatural monster. And then there's the bald redneck guy doing commentary running them all down. As a first look, all those other characters were just far cooler. Perhaps throw in a little adolescent racism and elitism too, as I'd always thought loud American rednecks were to be mocked and scorned, not idolised.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I later came to appreciate Austin's work and I loved his heel stuff but the character he got huge with never really worked for me. As a kid I'd just get annoyed when he'd Stun someone I liked (Mankind, for example) for no particular reason, haha.
I wasn't much of a wrestling fan until 1992. I was at a friends who's uncle used to tape pay per views and he'd get them a couple of days later. I watched Summerslam 1992 with him. I wasn't overly impressed until the main event. Once I saw Bret Hart I knew he was something special - I knew it wasn't real, so I could respect that he was obviously carrying the Bulldog through the match. By the time it was all over I was hooked for life. With tears in my eyes, I looked to my friend and said "that guy deserves to be WWF Champion."
ReplyDeleteNice try. Never claimed to be a perfect person... just enlightening you on things that actually matter. You can think that my approach to relationships and women is flawed or makes me whatever names you want to call me, but it serves a purpose... let me get near your wife sometime and I'll teach you what that purpose is.
ReplyDeleteSo yes I am going to continue to preach and improve those that are flawed like you.
Sip Sierra Nevada... way to set a good example for your kids.
Nope, not trolling, just providing a desperately needed public service.
ReplyDeleteSo tempted to downvote...
ReplyDeleteRuining marriages is cool but drugs and drinking are bad. Also you work in American politics? You sir are a pillar of society.
ReplyDeleteI have never ruined anyone's marriage.
ReplyDeleteAnd politics is one of the most noble professions anyone can work in. I know small minded people such as yourself don't understand it, but you will never meet people more committed to public service than people working in politics. They work far harder than you do, accomplish more in a day than most will in their life, get blamed for everything, and credit for nothing from people like you that haven't the faintest idea what they are talking about in regard to public policy and how important it is.
Work harder than me? dog you don't even know what I do. I would venture to guess even the most educated posters here don't have a favorable opinion of politicians.
ReplyDeleteAgain I'm done with this dick measuring contest.
Was there ever a better fit than Bobby Heenan with Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect?
ReplyDeleteI know that you aren't the kid of person that is capable of putting in the commitment that is required to do what they do, you also lack the values necessary to hold such a position (as we have already concluded over the course of this conversation) so yeah I know perfectly well that whatever it is you do is not as difficult or as important as what they do.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny the stupid things you think are great when you're a kid. I remember seeing Undertaker die at Rumble 1994 and thought it was the coolest thing ever.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny but as a kid I mostly went for the heels
ReplyDeleteI as randomly flipping some channels in December of 2001 and came across Stone Cold beating the crap out of Booker T in a grocery store and I was instantly hooked. "Price check on the jackass!!" Awesome
ReplyDeleteNot the only one... my general hawk though turned heel and joined cobra....
ReplyDeleteIn the most condascending manner possible, so that nobody could possibly take your message seriously. IE. trolling. It's okay, dude - own it! You're being a fun little trolly-toll. Probably the latest in a long line of them. Yer Mommy, maybe was a troll? Probably your Daddy too, even Grampappy Parallax was a full-blown, under the bridge, Billy Goats-Gruff hating trolly-troll, right? It's cool, dude. It's fun!
ReplyDeleteI am 29, life long wrestling fan. Why? Hulkamania
ReplyDeleteHis charisma and style worked for me in 86
ReplyDeleteI know it sucks having someone that is better than you point it out, I'm sorry that it is so hard for you to accept your flaws... someday you will come around to correct thinking, or you will die from your poor decisions (hopefully not taking anyone with you) either way you will no longer be able to infect people with the virus that is your point of view.
ReplyDeleteThe only heel I ever rooted for was HBK and that took awhile. I was a huge Rockers mark and was absolutely devastated when they broke up. My older brother became an immediate superfan of his after the turn and I eventually warmed up to him as well.
ReplyDeleteSept 1999 when I went to a RAW show that featured only one match over two minutes long. It was the one where the six pack challenge was announced. Too much damn talking and all the matches sucked. It was the last time my dad and I went to a show together. Despite being a fan his whole life he ceased that night (he kept saying it had gotten too fake). Thankfully things got better once Russo left, but wrestling to me was better before it became a soap opera
ReplyDeleteWiddle trolly-woll need a bib? Dawww, you're so cute! A grown man who condascends to try and get a rise out of others, just like a teenager, but he has more hair around his shoulders. I wuv you, Parry.
ReplyDeleteI sent this in to SLAM! Wrestling back in June 2009 when Billy Red Lyons passed away and they printed it. This would be my "origin story" as a fan, I guess:
ReplyDeleteThis one really hits home for me as Billy Red Lyons was
the first person I ever saw in wrestling. I was flipping channels one
Saturday afternoon in the late-summer of 1987 and came across Billy
talking about a great card they had lined up at Maple Leaf Gardens and
then he mentioned that the main event would feature this man--a man with
long blond hair, a deep tan, big muscles, and talking about what I was
going to do when Hulkamania ran wild all over me. Since I'd been reading
superhero comic books since I was a wee boy (I was 11 when I saw the
show), I thought Hulk Hogan was a superhero come to life. I kept
watching the rest of the show to see if Hogan would appear again but of
course, he never did. At the end of the show, Billy told us about next
week's show and delivered his classic line "Don'tcha dare miss it!" so
enthusiastically that I was hooked and tuned in the next week as he
instructed. Thus, my 22-year love affair with professional wrestling
began--all thanks to Billy Red Lyons!
Yours respectfully,
Darryl Stewart
Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada
Dammit. I always miss out on the arguments that jack up the thread post count. I'm just throwing this out there, but if you're overly sensitive to OPINIONS, you're on the wrong blog.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't care less if it gets a rise out of you or not. You are inferior, I am superior, it is my job to fix you.
ReplyDeleteNo other promotion out there really interests me right now either. I've stood by my BFG12 promise that I'd never watch TNA again (and from what I've read I wouldn't have any interest in it anyway right now), and ROH's roster is so small that they've pretty much done every conceivable matchup they can do. Plus having Jay Briscoe win the title only to vacate it (first time the ROH title was ever vacant, BTW) is something I consider an official shark-jumping moment. I still watch it, but I'm kind of only half paying attention. I've tried to get into puro multiple times and just can't do it, I've never been able to get into lucha, DGUSA/Evolve/FIP is basically ROH with shittier production values, PWG runs like 5 cards a year, CZW and IWA-MS both suck... There's just nothing out there for me right now.
ReplyDeleteI did that as well. I also used the He-Man guys until the AWA Remco guys came out. Then it became a mixture. I used a plastic milk crate for a cage though until my dad made me one. Fun times indeed.
ReplyDeleteBecame a fan in 81 after a friend told me there was a guy called the Incredible Hulk Hogan ( we were both into comics) on this wrestling show ( AWA) on Sunday mornings. Became hooked until 2004, now I'm just a casual fan and enjoy watching the older stuff when time permits.
ReplyDelete