PDA

View Full Version : When will you stop watching?



Jacknife
July 10th, 2013, 2:59 PM
When will you stop watching WWE? Will you ever stop? I've been watching almost 24 years, seen almost every show put on. Every RAW, every PPV. Smackdown I'd watch every now and then. But that's because I always read the spoilers. Now I find myself not ordering PPVs, and not even watching RAW, just catching clips on Youtube the next day.

I think eventually wrestling will just be phased out for me. It certainly has lost something, maybe it was just being a kid. It's like watching old kids movies you grow up with. As an adult they suck.

I do think I will no longer be a fan someday. I'll guess in the next five years.

Cewsh
July 10th, 2013, 3:14 PM
A lot of people phase out of being really invested wrestling fans around 30 or so. The more you're into it in your 20s, the more acute the burnout seems to get, and a lot of former forum members here just don't watch wrestling at all anymore.

But I don't think there will ever be a time when I'm not going to enjoy professional wrestling, and WWE specifically. Even during the "dark times" it has always been a pleasant diversion for me. In the end, even if I weren't passionate about talking about it anymore, its still a television show that I've been watching for years and years. I understand the characters, I enjoy the way the stories are presented, and there's enough changeover that the entirety of the product never gets stale.

Mills
July 10th, 2013, 3:22 PM
1. You're crazy, my favorite kids movies have always been awesome.

2. I've started to fall out a bit. I haven't watched a smack down since DB was champ or raw in the last 2 months

Judas Iscariot
July 10th, 2013, 3:31 PM
I phased out for years. I've phased out for years before, but read news out of habit.

The only reason I got back into watching it the past couple of years is because my sister started dating a friend of mine from grammar school who I'd fallen out of touch with over the years and he's massively into wrestling and it gave me someone in real life to talk about it with, and I rediscovered how entertaining it is.

But my interest has been waning aside from the newcomers who seem to hearken back to a different age (The Shield, Daniel Bryan, Punk, Bray Wyatt).

Most of the shows are boring as shit to me, but when they strike the right chord it's awesome.

Hero!
July 10th, 2013, 3:32 PM
I started in late 98 and have only stopped watching once in late 03. The lack of an interesting product (triple ruling RAW) and all my favorites being gone (Austin, Foley, Pac, Hardys) caused me to lose interest. Randomly watched an episode of RAW some years later and then checked out this new WIKIPEDIA thing to catch up on what I'd missed. I ended up finding out about CM Punk and independent wrestling and my interest was renewed. Haven't looked back since. The roster is a hundred times better than back in those days and the future superstars look great, so even if my top guys left, I'd still have plenty to look forward to.

Kneeneighbor
July 10th, 2013, 3:54 PM
I missed 2002-2005 while I was in college. We didnt get the USA network or the Nashville Network or what ever RaW was airing on in those days and Thursdays and Fridays were for drinking so I missed Smackdowns. I still went on line and read a lot here. Ironically enough I didnt join as a member on the boards here until after I wasnt watching.

Then about 3 Manias ago I started watching a few weeks before to so I knew what was up for Mania. I would usually watch the month before mania then backslide after. Eventually it was not appointment TV for me again and the cycle would start again the next year... then Punk dropped his pipe bomb and everything changed.

I still dont watch smackdown though.

Judas Iscariot
July 10th, 2013, 4:11 PM
It's a shame because Smackdown can be great and have awesome matches, but the fact that its tapes spoilers leak causes folks not to watch it (myself included unless I'm waiting for the Mrs to fucking get ready already). The spoilers make the show look boring but the actual show can be quite good.

Also it's in FRIDAY. The death slot. I understand they get their ad revenue for being the most watched show on Friday nights, but no one with a life is basing their Friday nights around a TV show.

Judas Iscariot
July 10th, 2013, 4:12 PM
I'm not editing my phone posting grammar mistakes up there, much as they pain me.

Atty
July 10th, 2013, 4:18 PM
I'm in constant fade. Something will peak my interest (Bryan and Punk) and get me to come back to watch them. They get all these things into position, but then I fade out again.

Cewsh
July 10th, 2013, 4:31 PM
I've hated Smackdown ever since that whole period started in 2004 where it became all about long undercard matches and JBL. I get why other people like it, but I watch wrestling for the stories more than the wrestling itself. So just watching undercard matches which have no real meaning go on for 20 minutes turns me right off.

Pipkin
July 10th, 2013, 4:34 PM
For the past several years I've been watching mostly out of habit, and honestly, if it wasn't for the forums, I probably would have stopped watching regularly already.

I imagine I'll always enjoy wrestling as I grew up on it, but I don't have the passion for it that I used to.

Beefy
July 10th, 2013, 4:35 PM
I stopped when Kurt Angle left WWE. Came back when The Rock came back in 2011 and whilst I didn't intend to stop watching when he left I haven't seen a show since Wrestlemania. There's not a single person on the roster who holds my interests and John Cena actively offends me.

I've got friends over to watch Summerslam in the pub so maybe that'll get me back but yeah I'm done.

Atty
July 10th, 2013, 4:37 PM
I've hated Smackdown ever since that whole period started in 2004 where it became all about long undercard matches and JBL. I get why other people like it, but I watch wrestling for the stories more than the wrestling itself. So just watching undercard matches which have no real meaning go on for 20 minutes turns me right off.
I hate regularly having long matches on free tv. That's what we buy PPV (or used to) for. TV is where you build to the fight people will want to pay for.

Having a tv match go long once and a while, with a feud behind it, is great. The wonderful Jericho/Rey match on SD at the end of their feud a couple years back comes to mind, but when it's just Guy A vs. Guy B without a feud, it means less. Bryan/Sheamus went around 20 on RAW and while they've feuded in the past, they're not now and it felt forced, like it was only there because they had to fill time. Match was fine, but not nearly as good as the same thing would be if they were feuding.

Pipkin
July 10th, 2013, 4:44 PM
DVR has also kept me watching. I won't go out of my way to watch wrestling anymore, but if it's just there on my TV every week, I'm likely to watch it. And skipping commercials, video packages, recaps of other shows, entrances, and segment I don't care about keeps the shows much shorter and more manageable.

Matty C
July 10th, 2013, 4:56 PM
About a year and a half ago I think. I would estimate that puts my time as a regular wrestling fan at a little over 25 years. I watched a bit of NWA, WCW, ECW and TNA but by and large I was a WWF/E guy.

Like you I’m torn between blaming the product and the natural evolution of my likes and dislikes as I age. It’s a bit of both in the end I think. There are still things that I’ve loved over the same time period and continue to enjoy: sports, Godzilla, auto racing, video games, bad B horror movies to name a few. But there many others that no longer interest me as well, stuff I almost totally forget until someone brings it up and I go “hey yeah, I used to be pretty into that back in the day”. Wrestling tops the list though. I honestly thought I would watch forever whereas a lot of other stuff had an obvious shelf life. Hard rock music for example. I kind of new I would grow old and mellow on that front. I figured wrestling would stick around though, I honestly did, so it’s not just a natural progression and loss of childhood interests.

I was watching the Rise and Fall of WCW the other day on Netflix and a wave of nostalgia hit me. It really reminded me of how much I enjoyed the old school NWA/WCW/WWF style. I enjoyed the Attitude Era even more but, and not that this is an original thought, I think it kind of killed wrestling to an extent. Perhaps it would have died even faster without it, passed by in today’s entertainment environment, but things just seemed to unfold so much slower back then and mean so much more as a result. It seemed literally impossible to me to try and keep up with how much TV WWE was putting out for a while there, including PPVs. It’s overkill for me. Cena takes a ton of crap, and believe me I fling tons of it myself, but he’s just a product of that overkill. His act probably wouldn’t be so stale if he didn’t have to drag it out there constantly. In another era he could have changed territories, he could have gone away for a while, he would have been supplanted by the next big thing but today WWE is too big to take that chance so they stick with the norm and run out Mr. Reliable non-stop. John just does what he’s told. The Attitude Era and the success it brought WWE was start of that over-saturation and second half of my eventual loss in interest. Everything seems recycled and over-done as a result. Maybe it will seem fresh again in a few years and I can come back. :dunno:

Tainted Eclipse
July 10th, 2013, 5:03 PM
at this point i can only assume never. i've gone through periods of many months or so where i might not watch a single match and eventually come back to being invested in a contemporary product for a period of time and getting into kicks of watching lots of matches from various promotions. even when im not watching wrestling, browsing wrestling forums is so much part of my 'online routine' that i cant imagine that habit breaking unless every forum i frequent vanishes without a similar replacement.

at the minimum i'll probably always have some level of interest in the wrestlemania season, keep up with who's the champion/rising stars etc, and be interested in checking out the best matches each year from around the world.

Chris
July 10th, 2013, 5:21 PM
I think I continue to watch mainly out of habit by this point, but I've definitely become more selective. I'll read up on an episode of Raw before watching, and hold off on paying for a PPV until I read some reviews. I decided several years ago that watching Raw live simply wasn't worth it, and I've been burned too many times by sub-standard PPVs which just recycle the same matches and barely advance any of the storylines. Now we have 3 hour Raws and most of the time they feel like a chore to sit through. I think the biggest thing which has sustained my interest is that my girlfriend watched wrestling a few years back and we decide to go to a live show together. I showed her some recent stuff to get her up to speed with all the characters and storylines, and it sort of reinvigorated my interest in the better aspects of the product.

Ringo
July 10th, 2013, 5:36 PM
I imagine I'll continue to watch on and off as I always have done. I saw nothing between 2002 and 2005, watched avidly from January of '05 to like the Summer of '06 and have been watching in stretches ever since (generally getting back into things at the end of the year for the lead up to Mania and continuing until my interest wanes). I'm leaving the UK for a good while next month and don't expect to see much while I'm gone so I might be out of the loop until the 2014 Rumble once again.

StoneColdWWE316
July 10th, 2013, 6:27 PM
I don't think I will ever stop watching because I enjoy it and its really the only thing on TV still worth watching these days. Ive been watching since the early 90's and have never gone through stretches of falling out of it. I watch RAW,Smackdown,Main Event,and get most of the PPVs when I can afford them like the Big 4. I respect what those guys/girls do putting their bodies on the line every week to give people a good Show.

On a side note are people here really complaining about Matches on Free TV being longer than 3-4 minutes?

Andy
July 10th, 2013, 6:28 PM
My interest in wrestling has been so up and down it's crazy. I watched pretty religiously from early 1998 to early 2003. I stopped watching Raw for about two years at that point, continued with SD for a while cos I loved Lesnar and Angle. I watched again for a couple of years from around WM23 before I went off it completely. I still watched every Rumble and Mania but not a single Raw in that time. Then it wasn't until early 2011 that I started watching and I'm now the most into it I've been in probably 11 years or so.

I think Summerslam will really have a big impact on whether I stick with it long term or not. I hope they do good things with Bryan, Ziggler, The Shield, Cesaro, Henry and Orton or I'll be struggling.

Cewsh
July 10th, 2013, 6:30 PM
On a side note are people here really complaining about Matches on Free TV being longer than 3-4 minutes?

No, I don't believe anyone said that.

What interests me the most hearing you guys, is that it seems like most people's interest is fairly dependent on what is going on on the shows, and whether the people you started watching for are still around doing meaningful things. I haven't watched a WWE show for one particular wrestler since Jericho got me back in. I haven't even liked him much in years.

StoneColdWWE316
July 10th, 2013, 6:31 PM
Thats what it sounded like.

Cewsh
July 10th, 2013, 6:35 PM
Thats what it sounded like.

No, Atty and I both said that we don't like long television matches in and of themselves. We didn't say they couldn't be longer than 3 or 4 minutes, nor did we imply it.

Tim
July 10th, 2013, 6:54 PM
My interest has dropped a lot since I was a teenager. I will rarely sit through a match now unless it's Undertaker, or something intriguing like HIAC. JBL really messed me up, when he was dominating SD! for what seemed like 10 years I just completely lost interest in SD! and never had the urge to go back, and Cena did something similar with Raw but I'll still DVR Raw but I can get through the 3 hour show in under 15 minutes. Unlike SD! Raw has that feel like something shocking could still occur at anytime, and I don't wanna miss it so I'll record it for things like the "pipe bomb promo", Undertaker/HHH double return, Brock Lesnar's return and other things like that.

If the Undertaker suffered an injury that was career ending, I'd probably lose a lot of the little interest I have and quit for good.

Anaconda Sniper
July 10th, 2013, 7:09 PM
I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I've been watching regularly since mid 96. The only time I stopped was march 2002 til that survivor series 2002 when HBK won the title. Ever since then I was hooked again. I really don't remember why I stopped watching then..I remember the nwo coming into wwe and it just didn't interest me at all.

Kdestiny
July 10th, 2013, 7:25 PM
I'll stop when Cena kills everyone and crowns himself as supreme overlord of the WWE

DeepMo
July 10th, 2013, 8:42 PM
When Taker looks back at the "WWE Universe," and raises his arm for the last time.

Kev
July 10th, 2013, 9:13 PM
Don't know... thought I'd get out of it ages ago.

Instead I find that I'm drawing more and more people into it. My wife loves watching it me, some of my closest friends have resigned themselves to the fact that it'll be on in the background when they walk in. A lot remember the Attitude Era and talk about how it sucks... but if Daniel Bryan, Punk, Ryback, Cesaro or some flippy fellas are on, they're generally quite impressed. They go nuts when they see the odd Kane appearance too...

Version 6
July 10th, 2013, 9:36 PM
I found myself really hoping that interesting things would happen as opposed to actually enjoying the shows.

Over the years there were things which would keep that hope alive (birth of the Nexus, CM Punk's pipe bomb) but these things eventually petered out after the first few weeks and I was back to hoping for the next interesting thing to happen again.

Then in 2011, I went on holidays for 5 weeks so didn't watch a bit of wrestling. Got back and had just gotten out of the habit of watching, so didn't start back up again.

I keep tabs on it and check in from time to time if something catches my interest but that happens less and less these days. I ordered Wrestlemania this year and couldn't sit through it, so I think I'm pretty much done.

Jimmy Zero
July 10th, 2013, 9:50 PM
I stopped watching a good 4 or 5 months ago and haven't missed it, at all.

At this point, the only reason I'd consider watching again is for Bray Wyatt, but that's not enough for me to pick it back up. I'm sick of Cena and his shtick. Anytime something interesting seemed to be taking hold, Cena would invariably get involved and everything would be knocked back down to the same boring bullshit we've been seeing for almost a decade. I still check these threads and watch shit on youtube from time to time, but beyond that I don't see myself getting back into this regularly anytime soon.

mth
July 10th, 2013, 9:57 PM
I probably won't stop watching unless they really drop the ball in every department and don't have anyone on the roster I care about. But as it stands, there's so much good talent that are just in the beginnings of their careers and a lot of promise for the future with some of the changes Triple H seems to be bringing, etc., that I think I'll be on board for a good long time.

Bad Collin
July 11th, 2013, 4:36 AM
I stopped watching after Wrestlemania last year and I haven't watched a match since. This years Wrestlemania was the first I have missed since X7, I downloaded it ready to watch but I always seemed to have something better to do.

I'm not really sure why I have gone off the product so much, it might be that after the awesome Punk v Cena feud where he left with the belt nothing has been as good. It just seems to be a very safe show written for children and even Punk and DB can't save it.

My sister still watches and we are going to a house show in November so maybe I will get back into it then. At the moment wrestling plays no part in my life and I don't miss it at all.

turdpower
July 11th, 2013, 5:25 AM
I don't really consider what I do as watching it. I haven't watched Smackdown since about 2002, I don't watch Raw in full I just fast forward it, I've probably seen an hour at most of an episode of Raw in the past 10 years unless it's a show packed with people I have any interest in. If I didn't have Sky I wouldn't bother at all. I think I had about 2 or 3 years of not even keeping up with it when I was at Uni.

I've never bought a PPV. And apart from RR and WM, I don't bother to try and watch any apart from the ones we get for free in the UK, but even then I don't watch the whole card.

Kimura Kid
July 11th, 2013, 9:33 AM
I honestly will prolly never stop watching wrestling ever again. Every time I stop watching I miss something that I wish I could of been a part of. And it's one thing to go back and review old footage but it's something completely different experiencing it "In the Moment". I realize now that I really only stopped watching it due to circumstances in my life that prevented me from maintaining constant viewing. Drug Addiction, Work life, Dating, Meeting my wife, Falling deeply in love with MMA.....all things that for some reason or another took priority of being home to watch WWE. But I have reached a place in my life and settled down.

Making time to watch wrestling has a place in my life again and it's wonderful. These past 7 or 8 Months since I started watching regularly again have been amazing. I feel blessed to have found my childhood passion again. And all the reserved feelings I had as a child about being a fan of Pro Wrestling are gone. I can truly appreciate and enjoy the product the way I always wanted too. Being able to attend Payback last month with my Wife after falling back in love with WWE was special and a moment that I will cherish forever!!


So yeah, I'll never stop watching again!! My appreciation and love for the product is deeper than it has ever been before and I truly feel that the future is going to be fantastic for the WWE and I am thankful that I will be witnessing it "In the Moment"

mth
July 11th, 2013, 10:19 AM
I should probably have mentioned I stopped watching SmackDown a few months ago. For a few reasons: RAW's so damn long, for one thing. As much as I love wrestling, I don't want to drown in it. Secondly, nothing particularly significant happens on it but if it does, they'll usually recap it on RAW. And finally, for the most part, there's only one or two guys that show up on it that I really care about. So, on occasion, I'll punch up a segment/match on youtube but otherwise, I find it pretty skippable.

MMH
July 11th, 2013, 10:35 AM
Never, I have watched wrestling since I was about 3. Odd thing is im not a massive "wrestling" fan as in the in ring stuff. I just love the whole culture surrounding it.

MMH
July 11th, 2013, 10:36 AM
I should probably have mentioned I stopped watching SmackDown a few months ago. For a few reasons: RAW's so damn long, for one thing. As much as I love wrestling, I don't want to drown in it. Secondly, nothing particularly significant happens on it but if it does, they'll usually recap it on RAW. And finally, for the most part, there's only one or two guys that show up on it that I really care about. So, on occasion, I'll punch up a segment/match on youtube but otherwise, I find it pretty skippable.

Yeah I stopped a few weeks back with Smackdown. My main reason was it was half raw recaps.

Atty
July 11th, 2013, 10:55 AM
I should probably have mentioned I stopped watching SmackDown a few months ago. For a few reasons: RAW's so damn long, for one thing. As much as I love wrestling, I don't want to drown in it. Secondly, nothing particularly significant happens on it but if it does, they'll usually recap it on RAW. And finally, for the most part, there's only one or two guys that show up on it that I really care about. So, on occasion, I'll punch up a segment/match on youtube but otherwise, I find it pretty skippable.

This is another reason that three hour RAW is an awful thing—it leads to us watching LESS wrestling. I used to watch the secondary shows, but never do now. All I'll watch comes from RAW and that's so long that I feel I'm drowning on that alone.

Used to watch so much more wrestling. Hell, I was an avid ECW viewer...

Cewsh
July 11th, 2013, 11:29 AM
Never, I have watched wrestling since I was about 3. Odd thing is im not a massive "wrestling" fan as in the in ring stuff. I just love the whole culture surrounding it.

Exactly.

chatty
July 11th, 2013, 11:46 AM
Its hard to say. I've watched Wrestling since I was about 5 and then pretty much became an avid fan at Wrestlemania VII - (I watched before but my memory is very shaky from that period) and watched it through till around Wrestlemania 9 before school got in the way (and back then it was a lot harder to watch - had to rely on Shogun and Superstars (I think that was the highlight shows back then) and got back into it for the Attitude era (well 96 onwards).

Theres been times in my 20s when I thought I wouldn't watch again, I stopped watching for about a year around 2005 and then for 2-3 year around 2007-10 before getting back into it for some reason or another. I stopped watching for six weeks this year and was convinced that was the end of the road - my mate text me and said that Bray was gonna turn up soon so I started watching again (basically because of NXT really) and liked the build up to Jericho-Punk and have been quite enjoying it since.

So for all the times I've thought I've been done with it I ended up getting drawn back in so I'm quite happy to bounce in and out. I think I could be in my 90s and as long as it entertained me I would watch.

Melly
July 11th, 2013, 12:16 PM
I would stop watching if there was no one left that I was interested in seeing. Right now there are a lot of wrestlers I really like and the storylines are fun and keep me watching. Another reason to stop I guess would be if they bumped Raw up another hour, I already find 3 hours (and that is with skipping ads, recaps) too long most of the time.
I don't watch SD at all.

Jacknife
July 11th, 2013, 4:38 PM
I suppose I would watch it more if I had cable and a DVR, but to spend that money just for wrestling doesn't seem worth it to me. Streaming is sometimes unbearable due to freezes, ads, etc.

Brian M.
July 11th, 2013, 6:34 PM
My interest wanes in and out, but the only time I ever stopped watching regularly was about 2003 when Triple H was taking over things on Raw. I would still check in on occasion but I never ordered any PPVs and nothing really drew me in at the time. I stayed that way until about Wrestlemania 21. The Batista storyline and rise of Cena really drew me back in and I've been watching every week since. I figured I'd be done with it at this point in my life, but given that I watch Raw and Smackdown weekly while still maintaining a pretty active social life and full time job, I can't see anything making me stop following. It helps that Rock coming back got one of my friends back into watching Raw regularly and I now have someone to talk to about things. I think it says a lot for the current product that he came back for The Rock and has been drawn in by guys like Daniel Bryan and Punk.

Version 6
July 11th, 2013, 6:39 PM
Since I've stopped watching, I've discovered and had time for shows like Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men and Parks and Recreation, so I feel like I'm considerably ahead.

Simmo Fortyone
July 11th, 2013, 7:09 PM
I stop watching regularly each year about two weeks after Mania. I'll catch bits here and there for a few months, and then I'll start again about two weeks before the Royal Rumble.

Hero!
July 11th, 2013, 7:15 PM
I've also given up on SD. SD just has no energy to it and FEELS like the C show. Yes, C show...Main Event is pretty damn great. Hell, it's practically the D show as NXT wipes the floor with Smackdown at this point.

Simmo Fortyone
July 11th, 2013, 7:29 PM
Oh yeah, Smackdown. I remember watching that about 10 years ago.

I watch Vintage Collection pretty regularly.

The Rosk
July 11th, 2013, 7:59 PM
Never, I have watched wrestling since I was about 3. Odd thing is im not a massive "wrestling" fan as in the in ring stuff. I just love the whole culture surrounding it.

I know what you mean about the culture. It is a weird one for me. My taste and focus of interest has obviously changed massively since I was the 8 year old renting VHS after VHS of wrestling from Video Vision down the road and dreaming about British Bulldog coming round my house and showing me his bloody IC belt. I read the news, sport, Facebook and then rajah.com/base as a weird order of priority every day pretty much. Which is odd because I really only watch Raw speeded up on Tuesday morning before work, half of the PPVs and the rest I just read as spoilers and then watch later if the feedback is incredible. I feel like I am waiting for a big buzz to break and make wrestling unmissable again. The Punk thing in 2011 was ridiculously good because it was so unpredictable at the time, and that's been the only thing I can say that hasn't been shamefully predictable about the last ten years. I like that Bryan is being pushed and long may that continue as I find him extremely engaging as a performer, but I genuinely feel the only time that I will watch religiously again will be when Cena either dies in a fire or changes his character, which isn't coming any time soon, but is the only thing that will change the style of the business. It has got to 1993 again in the WWF. Some strong performers, but aimed at kids and unless they stick with the performers that work, 1995 will come along and you're fucked.

What the fuck have I just written.

wardy
July 11th, 2013, 8:40 PM
That's basically the same as me except I only watch Raw occasionally. It's boring as fuck for the most part but you do still get the odd good moment like Mark Henry from the other week.

G-Fresh
July 11th, 2013, 8:53 PM
I reckon I'll never stop.

Murphy
July 13th, 2013, 1:46 PM
I have some very, very bad habits still when it comes to wrestling and, specifically, WWE. And I need to get a fucking grip, to be honest.

I still enjoy WWE in 2013, but nowhere near as much as I used to, naturally. I record the 2 hour Raw repeat and watch most of that. I record Smackdown! and watch some of it. I wouldn't agree with those who say nothing significant happens on it though, because the Shield's first 6 man loss was on Smackers a few weeks back. I was glad that I didn't miss it.

I've only heard good things about NXT, so started recording that. Currently, I have the last 8 weeks worth waiting to be watched on my Sky +.

I haven't ordered a PPV since WrestleMania, so I have improved there.

Where I'm really pathetic, is with the DVD's and Blu-rays. When SilverVision was around, you could get them so cheap if you were willing to wait. So much so that, a couple of years ago, having already accumalated a large collection, I decided to pick up ALL PPVs. So, from WrestleMania I, I have every PPV ever released on DVD or Blu-ray up until SummerSLam 2012. I even have December To Dismember, FFS. This is so unnecessary. Now that SilverVision is gone and the new distibutors are more expensive, I haven't bothered. However, as I never ordered TLC 2012, Extreme Rules 2013 and Payback on PPV, and I hear they were good, I do plan on picking these up next month.

I need to draw the line somewhere. I have a one year old son now and we need to move house. My collection is probably worth quite a bit of money now, as I have a load of compilations too. :chin:

Kyle_242
July 13th, 2013, 2:05 PM
I haven't watched for the past year or so. Like someone else said, I kept waiting for things to get better or become more interesting, and they just didn't. The move to a 3-hour RAW really killed it for me, as my time is pretty limited and I was pushing myself to stick it out for the 2 hours. Hard to believe I wrote a weekly review once upon a time.

I don't miss the product, but what I do miss is talking about the product, especially here. It's also why writing the review was so fun, it gave me a way to interact with the material, and it was fun whether the actual show was good or bad. Unfortunately, I just found that the show became neither good or bad, but just boring and predictable. That probably sounds like whiny smark bullshit, but....ok well yes, it pretty much is.

Speaking of whiny smark bullshit, here's some more. I'm not entirely sure how anyone can enjoy the show without being a fan of Cena. When I came back a few years ago (this isn't the first time I've divorced the WWE), I actually really liked Cena, but then everything that people kind of complained about with him sort of crept up on me, and I wasn't digging him anymore. But it's almost at the point where I can probably root for him again, so I may give it another try in the near future. It's waaaay more fun to root for him than against him.

What I've been really meaning to do is find some other promotions to get my wrestling fix. But again, there's that whole lack of time thing. Being an adult sucks.

The Law
July 13th, 2013, 3:17 PM
Honestly, Cena has taken a backseat on the show the last few months. Since Wrestlemania he's only wrestled on TV a few times and generally only been featured in one segment per show. And he's never on Smackdown. Even going into Wrestlemania, he was not really on that much because they were trying not to call attention to the fact that Rock wasn't around very often. They really seem to be making an effort to not overexpose him, which is a nice change from him being in 2-3 segments per show the last few years. Daniel Bryan and Shield have been the most prominent members of the roster since Wrestlemania.

Kyle_242
July 13th, 2013, 4:48 PM
I'm not saying you're wrong. But it feels like people have been saying that for awhile now.

Last I checked, he's still the champion. Everything still goes through him.

mobster57106
July 14th, 2013, 4:14 AM
I don't know when I actually started watching the WWE, but I remember watching Summerslam 93 which means I was 3 at the time. My family also has an old birthday video of me getting a Brutus the Barber Beefcake action figure and I knew exactly who he was without hesitation and I think that was my 4th birthday.

I haven't really had a period where I really stopped watching wrestling. There are times in the early 00s where a bunch of things just seem to run together in my head. Like a lot of people have said, I mostly watch out of habit now. However, there are many things that I still enjoy watching. With the young talent already working with the main roster, NXT, and the new performance center, the future seems pretty good for the WWE.

Plus, I own most of the box sets from Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series,and Summerslam which I watch on occasion. I usually go in spurts where I just watch loads of them at night for a few weeks. At this point, I've watched for 20+ years and don't really envision myself ever stop watching.

Punisher
July 14th, 2013, 2:41 PM
I started watching WWE in 1999 (and WCW as well). Watched it all the time, barely missed an episode until 2007. Then around 2007 I was going in and out...not minding missing an episode and by 2008 I was out of it completely.

I would hear things from time to time but never really put on another Raw for years. Then I decided for some reason to check out the Royal Rumble in 2011 (for nostalgia more than anything). I didn't watch the next Raw or two but I decided to watch to see who the special guest at WrestleMania will be. Would I have continued watching if it was someone other than The Rock? I don't know. But after that me and a buddy of mine (which probably helped out) got back into it. I was about to stop again before Punk dropped the "pipebomb" promo. Since then I've thought about stopping from time to time but I haven't.

Will I stop watching again at some point? Probably...wrestling is a weird form of entertainment where sometimes I feel like we as fans need a break. But at the same time most people find their way back one way or the other.

chotliwala
July 14th, 2013, 9:13 PM
I started watching around 96/97 and followed consistently through a few years ago. I have a few friends who would say "hey man you should totally check this out" and I'd head over to youtube, but the days of me watching Raw every week and hunting down things via the internet I think are gone. Pretty sure I'll always have a soft spot for wrestling and -- as happened recently -- if I run into someone who is into it then I'll start following a bit more.

Basically, Cewsh's original post in this thread sums up my feelings a lot. I discovered WCW and WWE first, then found out about indy promotions, TNA, puro and got really fucking into this shit -- essentially traveling the world to catch a show. Made great friends, but like now it's nice to turn on WWE or TNA just to see what's happening but I don't think I'll ever really be sucked in so much where I am constantly looking for results/spoilers/news. I mean, I think the last Mania I saw was 25.

LarryLuv
July 15th, 2013, 12:47 AM
I go through ebbs and flow with wrestling...the problem with the WWE these days, there is good in their product, its just buried under 9 hours of weekly episodic television (add another 2.5h for a monthly PPV)...so, I will watch the WWE, but I'll DVR everything and speed through everything in less time than a full RAW...so, I don't get too bored with the product, but I also get invested. I know the product isn't for me anymore and if I watched all of RAW, all of Main Event, all of Superstars, all of NXT (I do watch most of NXT every week, FWIW), all of Smackdown, all of Saturday Morning Slam, all of whatever else they got going on, I'd be burned the fuck out and hating life, for sure. As is, I either speed through it with DVR or I don't even watch it if I don't get tipped off of anything good on.

I'll always be around wrestling through, unfortunately. There is always something in the world of wrestling that I enjoy. If its not the E, its New Japan, DragonGate, or PWG. If not them, it'll be something else that keeps me interested in wrestling. The best of wrestling in any given year will always keep me around...it isn't 1992, its way too easy to watch the best wrestling has to offer and ignore everything else that would otherwise turn me off.