Anybody else growing weary...

[cameron chaos 0]

I stopped watching regularly a couple of years ago, I stopped watching at all during the run up to Batista vs HHH's Hell In A Cell. I like watching wrestling, what I don't enjoy are uninteresting overly long storylines, illogical angles done in poor taste and having my intelligence insulted. WWE doesn't even attempt to recognise recent history at times (Edge beat the shit out of Christian then 2 weeks later they are tag partners and all is forgotten). I still get matches if I have heard good about them but it's clear WWE are half arsing it so why should I watch a show that doesn't even attempt to maintain quality or continuity?

[bobobrazil1984 0]

yup to everything you described. Although with me it happened about a year ago instead of now. All this was very obvious at the time. At most, i'll watch a 10 minute snippet every couple of weeks.

[cameron chaos 0]

As I said, I stopped watching regularly a while ago however the monotony of hearing week in week out "Batista can't beat me" when he had twice in a row... for fucks sake, the facts speak for themselves, at least go the "I used the first two matches to test his limits... now I know what he can do and while Batista has the brawn, I have the brains and have a gameplan through experience to beat him" or something a little different. It was hard to figure out who he was actually try to convince that the angle had life left in it.

 

Metr0man, I often note your posts since they are often stick out amongst a sea of drones, much like Rudo or HTQ's posts. However you seem more on the level and appear to put less weight into your internet opinion, although 90% of the time I find myself agreeing with what you have said and as a result actually post less since you say what I want to most of the time. Feel free to drop by either board I mod at, you won't be banned but may be baffled at times.

 

Nice avatar, by the way. Warren Ellis's Metropolis was black comedy gold.

[Guest Black Widow]

People who started watching wrestling in 1998 or so aren't real wrestling fans in my view.  Those are the bandwagon types who just enjoyed the shock sports entertainment stuff, like seeing the McMahons on TV, etc. 

 

Wanna be a real wrestling fan?  Try watching Mabel get a main event push sometime and come back for more.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So, all people under the age of 19-20 can't be wrestling fans? Heh.

[MrRant 0]

Neither can chicks.

[SuperJerk 0]

It hasn't been mentioned but I think the move back to USA will pick things up a bit.  I recall hearing that USA had network people who aided in Raw's overall product whereas I've never heard of anyone mentioning a TNN/Spike exec overseeing Raw.  I honestly think this is needed again.  TNN originally was just so glad to get the WWF on the network that they let them do whatever.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I can't help but wonder if USA executives might be able to slap Vince back to reality.

 

Right now though, Smackdown needs help worse than Raw. Its like the two shows take turns sucking.

 

It's been 5 years already, if the plug hasn't been pulled on the Stephanie Experiment, it will never be.

 

Has it really been that long?

[Guest news_gimmick]

I love these regular WWE ANGST threads. Just never gets old just how people "tire" of WWEs stupidity like it is something new.

 

 

Tom

[SuperJerk 0]

Except we really mean it this time.

 

 

Really.

[David Blazenwing 0]

I never watched any wrestling until March 2002, the night after WM 18... my friend called me and made me tune in to see Hogan and Rock in a staredown.., and I never turned it off. ;P

[David Blazenwing 0]

Right now though, Smackdown needs help worse than Raw.  Its like the two shows take turns sucking.

 

They can't keep one show good without making the other bad. It's your basic yin yang or feug shui or something else Japanese that sounds cool.

[Jericholic82 0]

Yea, my interest is starting to get away from the WWE right now too, which I hate to admit.  I got into the WWE around 1995 and I think that here, ten years later, we are in worse shape.  I know 1995 had the terrible KOTR tournament, the Diesel push as champion, Jeff Jarrett doing a HTM job as the IC Champion, etc. BUT compared to what we see today I'd still take it.  At least back then we had HBK and Bret Hart busting out some decent matches on the undercard, Owen Hart & Yokozuna doing a decent job as tag team champions, and a good Survivor Series pay-per-view that year (well at least I think so).

 

Plus, back in 1995 we didn't have any of this "sports entertainment" garbage with long interviews on RAW or the stupid Diva Search.  I just felt back then, even though I was more of a mark than a smark, that the product as better compared to today.

 

A perfect example of my wanning interest occurred towards the beginning of 2003 when I stopped my subscription to the WWE Magazine.  I figured that when they decided to give each brand it's own magazine that that would be all for me and didn't renew the subscription as a financial form of protest.  Besides, I felt that WWE Magazine went TOTALLY downhill when Vince Russo stopped writing for it, but that's just me.  Think about it:  the old WWE Magazine in 1995 had the KOTR special (which while silly was a fun read), the Scoop cartoons (which I thought were funny too), the 'Informer' bit, and great play-by-play results by Keith Elliot Greenberg for the pay-per-view events.  By 1999, though, those play-by-play things got pushed to the side to make way for "better pictures."  Whatever.

 

Sorry for the mini-rant, but all in all my interest is wanning.  Three terrible Raws and a bad house show I saw in Lexington have me questioning why I still watch.  However, I'm a hardcore fan and I'm going to stick through the product even though the WWE is sorely in need of competition.  I was happier than anyone when WWE beat WCW b/c all my friends were big WCW people, but after it died I realized how much I missed flipping to it if the WWE product got bad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I should stop my subscription to the mags. Im finally tempted to do so after 13 years as a wwf/wwe/sd magazine subscriber. When they split the mags I then had to subscribe to raw too. But now the mags suck, with boring kayfabe stories, lots of ads and pics, the same posters of the divas every months and lame ppv results (now in a few page article with some pics on the page as opposed to sections for every match)

 

Plus the fact that recently, my mags have been arriviing all torn up. Ive called the customer relations and they said it must be a problem in the mail sorting, so theyve actrually stepped up and sent replacement copies in a sealed envelope to make up for it. when it comes in plastic packaging (when it comes with a poster) it has little problems, so I asked why not do that all the time> they said it would cost extra (hell I got a renewel notice for raw and they want me to pay 26 bucks for 1 year!) BS. The funny part thats also relvenat to this thread is once I ordered a replacement copy for a messed up sd mag (the one that had ecna with the new wwe belt on the cover) it was on a thursday morning and the guy actually had the balls to say to me "ok thanks for calling and uh watch smackdown tonight" I guess they are falling a bit when they have customer relations people begging fans to watch their product.

 

edit: I just got the new raw in the mail as we speak and im pissed, cuz its folded by the right side (i guess from either being put in the box or somehow thru the mail system but it does have a sweet cover shot of Micahels kicking hogan's mustache off his face.

[notJames 0]

What if you watched wrestling in the late 80's, early 90's quit watching it from 1992 through 1996 and then began watching it in May of 97 (WCW to be exact) without hearing much about wrestling at the time?

 

Would that count me as a bandwagoner?

 

EDIT - Oh and not to mention I have went back and seen pretty much seen every high profile match that I missed, and even a few PPVs of note. Keep that in mind before you answer my question.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's my story to a tee, although it was the WWF that brought me back and not wCw. I too started renting PPV tapes from the blackout period just to get up to speed. The Internet also helped in that capacity.

 

I daresay I might be returning if things don't get better. And that UFC stuff is really starting to grow on me, though I wish there was more submission stuff.

[SuperJerk 0]

I never watched any wrestling until March 2002, the night after WM 18... my friend called me and made me tune in to see Hogan and Rock in a staredown.., and I never turned it off.  ;P

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow...there's someone who've I've actually been watching longer than.

[zyn081 0]

Oh, fuck off. So you had to deal with Mabel in the main event for a few months? At least he has the "500 pound monster" appeal. We've had fucking BRADSHAW as the WWE Champion for TEN MONTHS! It doesn't get worse than that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Can you please, shut the hell up!

 

I became a fan of wrestling because of the in-ring aspect. I loved Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, Dynamite Kid and a lot others who could actually wrestle. I could do without the "entertainment" but every match needs a reason for it to exist, so the ideal way for me to enjoy the product are simplified storylines leading to great matches. WCW fans agrees, apparently according to Matt Williams and his survey that Vince Russo disagreed with and threw out the survey so he could continue his crap.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd love to see WWE go with a more in-ring orientated product like Porter said. Less of the "entertainment" aspect of the show by dumping crap like the diva search, battles of bands, and endless, pointless backstage vingettes. In fact the fact that cameras seem to be everywhere really need to be done away with. Sure, have a camera guy catch a moment every now and then but don't have them, seemingly invisibly, in locker rooms. Hell, if I had my way it be more like 80's NWA, which I'm loving as I thanks to DVD as I didn't get to see the stuff back then.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The way forward is so simple its saddening how they cant grasp the freaking concept.

 

edit: I just got the new raw in the mail as we speak and im pissed, cuz its folded by the right side (i guess from either being put in the box or somehow thru the mail system but it does have a sweet cover shot of Micahels kicking hogan's mustache off his face.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wait till Monday till you phone them, see if they tell you to watch RAW. And yes, the mags are shit.

 

On a personal note, ive been watching on and off since Macho Man won the WM tourney:headbang: and that includes WCW. Up till a few years ago I used to be mega pissed if I missed RAW or SD. Remember 1 year the only show I missed of all WWE programming was the Xmas show of RAW where they do the recaps and I remember being mega pissed off about that (lightening disrupted the satelitte feed and reset it). Yesterday, I was lying in bed unable to sleep cause of the heat, and remembered that I forgot to record RAW. I said, ahhh, forget, Ill catch Bottom Line. I eventually got up and recorded the 2nd hour. Feed went half way through but this time I was ahhh well, saved some time. Ill keep on watching, just cause I dont want to miss out when it picks-up. I couldnt stand coming back to watch WWF or WCW and seeing a huge angle, such as NWO or DGX.

[Rendclaw 0]

I guess I am the elder statesmen of this thread, because I have been watching since 1980, when I saw a Texas Death Match between Pat Patterson and Sgt. Slaughter at MSG.

 

It just may be nostalgia, but wrestling has never been the same since the golden age of the mid 80s, and aside from some spikes in interest here and there. We have been seeing the result of failed Hollywood writers and nepotism slowly eroding the E since WCW and ECW got bought out. ECW and WCW gave the business new life for awhile, but usually he who has the most money wins, and that was Vince. If he was smart, he would take the momentum that One Night Stand had (and btw, that was the best WWE pay per view I have seen since WM6, and that was just because of Hogan/Warrior) and parlay that into an ECW show, with as many ECW wrestlers as he can sign, with Paul Heyman at the head, and use that to revitalize both Raw and Smackdown. You all saw how Vengeance was a better PPV from a performance standpoint, because they did not want to be outdone by One Night Stand.

 

I was sick of Ric Flair losing the belt back in the day only to gain it back after a month. I have less interest in HHH that once a year.

 

Whoever said that he puts on Raw/Smackdown for background noise is right on the money because I do it too.

[JMFabiano524 0]

Already did, three years ago. Why? Pretty much for many of the reasons described here and before. Too much being governed by politics (yes, knowing about that makes a lot of that hurt possible, that much is true); good workers being neutered by stupid main event style, lack of push, or bad gimmicks; lack of variety because of said main event style limitations; workers being punished for simply being a star elsewhere (see: inVasion and beyond); an OD on sports entertainment Russo ripoff booking, which is a quite scary concept; not caring about good in-ring performances; pushing people or bad ideas that fans don't want to see; relying on lowest common denominator stuff (which is a widespread problem in all of entertainment, actually); and an all-around death of what I call the "classic element" of wrestling. Because of the end of kayfabe, the treating of the program like a TV show instead of a faux-athletic competition, etc, things just no longer feel the same. Which is why I prefer the WWE's DVD comps (the only thing I truly respect and give props to the company for), old tapes, indies, and better-known feds like TNA that offer alternatives to the many elements I named above.

[zyn081 0]

ECW and WCW gave the business new life for awhile, but usually he who has the most money wins, and that was Vince.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Turner had more money than Vince. Vince was cash-strapped in 1997 and by all reports, the company isnt do to well now.

 

Which is why I prefer the WWE's DVD comps (the only thing I truly respect and give props to the company for), old tapes, indies, and better-known feds like TNA that offer alternatives to the many elements I named above.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They do promo videos well too.

 

Why TNA dont go by as NWA is beyond me.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Because the NWA isn't owned by any one company, and TNA wants to differentiate themselves as their own brand. In my opinion, yes, they SHOULD just go by the name NWA, because that at least has some recognition to casual fans (that being that even casual fans that were around during WCW knew that WCW came from the NWA, and thanks to the release of the classic footage from WWE, the NWA name and 80's product was seen again).

 

I think it's a legal thing, due to the NWA name not being owned by one person, and being more or less just a gathering of indy feds.

[bob_barron 0]

Turner had more money than Vince. Vince was cash-strapped in 1997 and by all reports, the company isnt do to well now.

 

They still make a profit and have tons of money.

[zyn081 0]

Turner had more money than Vince. Vince was cash-strapped in 1997 and by all reports, the company isnt do to well now.

 

They still make a profit and have tons of money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not as well they used to do though from the looks of things.

[Silence 0]

Not as well they used to do though from the looks of things.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah. Aren't the DVD sales the only thing that's helping WWE with their money right now?

[Boon 0]

First show I ever saw was Wrestlemania 14- Austin v. HBK w/ Tyson. I've really been hooked ever since.

 

However, I admit to myself on a daily basis that wrestling is retarded and that I shouldn't watch it. I just get amused by it all, on TV and behind the scenes. I watch more out of habit then anything else.

 

Excuse the over-used analogy, but it's like a bad car wreck- shouldn't be watching, but can't look away.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I haven't watched the product for nearly 3 years now. I do scour the boards, however, and catch an occasional PPV, and really hope they eventually pull their shit together because I do miss being a wrestling fan, but the stuff that the E churns out doesn't really make me feel that bad about it. Considering, the two major reasons I stopped watching Raw and SmackDown back in 2002 (Hogan running wild on the roster in his 50s, and then HHH getting the big gold belt for free) are still going on. As I said to my last friend who still watches wrestling: They will NEVER get me to care as long as they are pushing Hulk Hogan as a serious character in a major role, I'm sorry.

[Rendclaw 0]

ECW and WCW gave the business new life for awhile, but usually he who has the most money wins, and that was Vince.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Turner had more money than Vince. Vince was cash-strapped in 1997 and by all reports, the company isnt do to well now.

 

Turner signed the checks, nothing more. Vince did a lot better with what he had, and while he had some cash problems. I personally don;t think it was as bad as reported. Considering the shady way WCW went under, I wouldn;t be surprised if he hadn;t laying in the weeds, financially.

 

Which is why I prefer the WWE's DVD comps (the only thing I truly respect and give props to the company for), old tapes, indies, and better-known feds like TNA that offer alternatives to the many elements I named above.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They do promo videos well too.

 

Why TNA dont go by as NWA is beyond me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Prolly becuase TNA wanted to "go in a different direction".

 

I'm curious to see in TNA can in anyway provide a viable alternative to the E, because I thought that Vince made a horrible mistake in playing to his ego and acqurining WCW. I agree that the last year of WCW was atrocious, but as has been said in the years that have passed since: competiton breeds success. When WCW started putting out a show with decent wrestling and storyline amd people started switching over, Vince and Co. HAD to raise their game, and they did. The writing was on the wall when Vince started blatantly cherry-picking WCW's talent, and WCW started making some terrible decisions in regard to talent and storylines themselves. It was only a matter of time.

[King Cucaracha 0]

I'm beginning to wane a little, if only because I've got more access to TNA, to indie wrestling and to older stuff. Week to week it's getting more and more tiring to put up with though.

 

The only real hope of a sudden upswing is for people to give TNA a chance when it gets it's TV deal, without expecting 1997 WCW NWO era first show. If TNA get more popular, the WWE will have to up their game at the least and that's what the business needs.

 

As far as the arguement on here goes, it's not 'new fans' that aren't 'real fans'. People who stop wrestling as soon as the WWE gets bad aren't 'real fans'. There's plenty of better alternatives out there if people make the effort to look. And it's the real fans that make the effort to buy tapes or search websites or even visit local indy promotion for different sources. People who assume WWE is the be all and end all of wrestling are missing out.

[Guest jyns79]

the WWE is greatly talented, but as usual, 90% of its angles are boring

or insipid. Jillian Hall's alien make-up pastromi thingy and Dominic Mysterio/Guerroero's paternity suit are two of the dumbest angles since the Gobbledygooker.

At least the divas give us some "pupies" to watch!