A question for the old school fans. (Newer fans, I want your input as well)

[#1-norm-fan]

Do you ever have moments where you wish you could JUST NOW become a wrestling fan? Or maybe just a few years ago, before WM X-7 possibly when things were really good?

I can't imagine ever having a moment in my life without wrestling as I literally was a fan since I was physiclly able to watch television but I was just thinking it would be pretty awesome to have experienced being a new wrestling fan just before X-7 or even now.

It's tough to explain but it would just be a fun thing to just be flipping channels and see wrestling and experience Raw for the first time ever, not knowing anything about any of the guys on the show. Then to go through the entire progression of being a wrestling fan. In a way it's a little depressing to have never been able to go through that. :-\

As for the newer fans, discuss what it was like. I want to live vicariously through you and your experiences. :D

[John la Rock]

ya I started watching wrestling right when the Austin/McMahon started. The first Raw I watched turned out to be the first Stunner Austin gave Vince. Also I loved the Taker/Kane rivalry. But what impressed me the most was when I saw this young wrestler cut an unbelievable monologue about how people don't like him because of his race. I said to myself...wow I really love this guy cause he speaks the truth his name was Rocky Maivia better known today as THE ROCK!!!

[Kane Knight]

In a sense, I'd love to capture the votality of that "new" experience.

The novelty, the discovery, the fun. Plus, Without the Attitude era to compare to, wrestling today might look a lot better.

[AareDub]

If I hadn't been a fan when I was younger I don't think I would've become a fan. I don't think the attitude era would've even been that interesting to me if I didn't have the pre-existing habit of watching. I"m not sure what that says about me, the business, or anything else for that matter.

I think people wish the opposite actually. I don't think any of the newer fans can see clips of those great moments in the past and think "man, I'm glad I missed that stuff." Just like when I see those "history of the Super Bowl" shows I really wish I could've been alive and a fan of football during those days

[diothoir]

Yeah, I'd love to see what it's like now. Maybe stated watching when evoulution started so you could follow the rise of Batista for example.

Then again, I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed Benoits rise as much if I hadn't been watching him through WCW etc. :$

[Gone Mad]

Yea, I've been a fan since the late 80s so I've been very spoiled on many great wrestlers and storylines. I would love to have that feeling of something new and great like when I started because it was honestly a match with Tito Santana that started it all and lead to Owen and then Bret because I was in awe. I loved it and I wanted to be it. Monday nights became my night.

I just introduced my 5 year old nephew to wrestling. We watched Smackdown last week and he wanted to be Eddie Guerrero and Paul London and he wanted to fight the Big Show. He had that same feeling I had and yet, this stuff now is not as good as it was many years ago and it still works.

So in either case, I am happy I got to witness much of the best years of wrestling and upset that I watched alot of the crap, I wouldn't change it all but that feeling of this new experience is a great one. Also, if you never went to a live show, you have to go, because you'll get that feeling like you did the first time, I did.

[RGWhat316]

I didn't start watching until 1998. I had a cousin that was big into it, and I watched RAW with him when Austin and Mike Tyson were head to head, and I was hooked onto it. I was shocked at this bald-headed guy trash talking to Tyson. I was just thinking, "Who is this guy and what is he doing to Mike Tyson? He must be insane." So I had to turn on the next week just to see what Austin would do next, and it went from there.

But I'm glad I started watching it then, so I could see people like Stone Cold and The Rock. New fans may not know why these guys were so revolutionary, just like I didn't realize how people like Hulk Hogan were revolutionary at the time.

[Kane Knight]

Yea, I've been a fan since the late 80s so I've been very spoiled on many great wrestlers and storylines.
You know, with @ 20 years of wrestling fandom (Some eras more haredcore than others), I've got (And I bet a lot of you do too) a lot of time to selectively pick and choose from memories. It's easy to remember the "best" moments of the WWE in nostalgia. When you compare that to any given storyline, it's going to end up looking bad. It's competing with years and years of history.

[Nervous Ferret]

I became a wrestling fan right after 2004 Royal Rumble...the sub-Rumble, that Eddie won, was the first time I ever waatched wrestling...I didnt start watching RAW till like June.

[Nervous Ferret]

I thought it was real until the Undertaker/Booker T fued

[Stickman]

If I didn't start watching wrestling when I was a young kid I probably never would have. I can't see myself with my personality flipping through the channels one day and stopping on wrestling and being entertained by it. I'd probably think it looked corny and stupid like Rollerjam and Slamball.

I think this is a good thing as I believe I am one of the people that will always watch wrestling no matter how bad or predictable it gets. Had I started watching wrestling around a certain event or storyline, the habit would probably die off when that storyline ends. Alot of the people I know, who started watching wrestling around the DX/NWO days no longer watch. All the people I know that watched since they were 3 are still watching. I can't explain why, I'm sure a phsycologist could.

I'll use my dad as an example. When he was younger he used to watch Rowdy Roddy Piper and Gene Keniski and Eric Bischoff on Channel 4 wrestling here in Vancouver. He watched, albeit not religiously when Hulkamania started running wild. Then he just stopped. I came around, he never really watched with me or anything but he didn't stop me from watching. I was young in the Brutis Beefcake day, the Warlord, Bushwackers, LOD, Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, The Ultimate Warrior, The Macho Man ect ect, I'm no history buff but I guess that's Wrestlemania 4ish. My dad didn't watch during that time. He'd casually flip through the channels and whatnot but never got into it. Then one day he watched Wrestling With Shadows. The documentary on Bret Hart. He was hooked. Along came the DX days and the Rock and his favorite, Mick (foley). Then those all died down and are no more. Steve Austin came back, so my dad started watching again, then he left, so did my dad. Now he watches when nothign else is on but he doesn't even remember that Raw is on at 6pm like he used to.

My point is, my dad got hooked on storylines and certain events in wrestling history. When those storylines ended, so did his attention span. I thin kthis is very common. The people who watched wrestling since they day they were born will always have a place for it, everybody else, just stumbles apon it when the time is convienent.

[PullMyFinger]

In a sense, I'd love to capture the votality of that "new" experience.

The novelty, the discovery, the fun. Plus, Without the Attitude era to compare to, wrestling today might look a lot better.
Ditto. I always kinda think that all the time, how it would be if I were a new fan all over again. When I got into it really hardcore during the Attitude Era it was so great coming into it...such a cool feeling and finding out about the history behind stuff. I had been watching wrestling in the past..like 89, and early 90s...as for mid 90s---barely...maybe once a few 8 months.

Honestly, I think any fan that comes in now missed a whole lot of wrestling history. Last monday I was just thinking to myself how crap it must be for a new fan to have never experienced the late 90s competitive mode, watching the first hour of Nitro, and the constant channel surfing between Nitro and Raw from 9-11. Those days were the best, and I hope one day it comes back. I have a feeling when another company comes around (if it does), wrestling will go back to its big cycle again.

[Boondock Saint]

I started watching in early 99. I remember the first RAW I saw had Rock vs Mankind in a ladder match for the WWF title. Everybody in my high school was watching then, it was the "cool" thing. The whole Corporation/Ministry of Darkness/burning teddy bear thing really hooked me into it. When Vince "left" The Corporation, I was naive enough to think that Shane had really begun to run things. That's how into it I was. I only wish Vince (as much as I love his character and always will) was not the higher power. I jsut really loved the stables.


But those days are over, I wish that feeling would come back. Nobody who watched it during that time has continued to. But I have and I have also researched the past and stuff. When I first started watching I wouldn't have bought the Flair DVD, thinking all his matches were "boring". But I did buy it when it came out because I am more educated in what a good match is and how entertaining it can be, etc. I envy some of you who talk about LOD, the Bulldogs, Hart Foundation,Demolition, NWO forming, Savage, early WCW etc. I wish I watched during all those times. :'(

I also only watched the first hour of Nitro and just couldn't really get into WCW (well, late WCW) that much.

[PullMyFinger]

You know, with @ 20 years of wrestling fandom (Some eras more haredcore than others), I've got (And I bet a lot of you do too) a lot of time to selectively pick and choose from memories. It's easy to remember the "best" moments of the WWE in nostalgia. When you compare that to any given storyline, it's going to end up looking bad. It's competing with years and years of history.
That's true.

[PullMyFinger]

I started watching in early 99. I remember the first RAW I saw had Rock vs Mankind in a ladder match for the WWF title. Everybody in my high school was watching then, it was the "cool" thing. The whole Corporation/Ministry of Darkness/burning teddy bear thing really hooked me into it. When Vince "left" The Corporation, I was naive enough to think that Shane had really begun to run things. That's how into it I was. I only wish Vince (as much as I love his character and always will) was not the higher power. I jsut really loved the stables.


But those days are over, I wish that feeling would come back. Nobody who watched it during that time has continued to. But I have and I have also researched the past and stuff. When I first started watching I wouldn't have bought the Flair DVD, thinking all his matches were "boring". But I did buy it when it came out because I am more educated in what a good match is and how entertaining it can be, etc. I envy some of you who talk about LOD, the Bulldogs, Hart Foundation,Demolition, NWO forming, Savage, early WCW etc. I wish I watched during all those times. :'(

I also only watched the first hour of Nitro and just couldn't really get into WCW (well, late WCW) that much.
That's the worst part of it all, I feel. I'm the only one out of my group of friends that watches WWE. No one seems to care about it anymore.

[The Naitch]

I'm a newer fan. Started watching religiously around end of 99 onward

[Mr. Nerfect]

I actually come from the period #1-wwf-fan's talking about. I started watching religiously early 2001. It might have even been late 2000. I'm clueless, but I can tell you it was after Armageddon and before the Royal Rumble in that period.

What got me to watch was the curiosity in the characters to be honest. I has heard so much about Kane, The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Rikishi. To be honest that was all I knew. I had never even head of The Rock, which some may consider strange.

I have memories of Edge & Christian coming down in their yellow t-shirts and make fun of the primative army-camo wearing Dudleyz. I always picture Edge & Christian's colourful E&C days as the primes of their career.

The first PPV I ever saw was the Royal Rumble 2001. It was phenominal. To be honest I never actually watched the event, I just turned on Main Event and listened to it, with a blurry picture being put over the top so we couldn't seen.

I heard The Dudleyz 3D Edge to become the new Tag Team Champions, which seemed like a big deal at that time to be, because Edge & Christian had been Champions since the start. I heard Jericho climb the ladder and become the new IC Champion. Another huge match for me, although watchin git made it at least 10x better. I heard Chyna injure her neck and remember thinking "WTF? Can't they scoop her up and get on with the show?" and I remember, most importantly, my favourite wrestler at the time, Kane, kicking ass in the Royal Rumble.

That was a sign for me. Right form the start I felt the cards were stacked against Kane. The Undertaker, Rikishi, The Rock and Stone Cold were all in this to win. Thinking about it, I didn't seen Kane in it to win. I saw him going on a wing and a prayer, and to see him do as well as he did, even setting a new record in the Rumble, that will always to me be the greatest performance in a Rumble ever.

If I could grant one guy in the WWE a free pass into the main event as a constant contender, it would be Kane.

[#1-norm-fan]

Alienoid's post brought up a couple other things that would probably be pretty cool if I could experience being a new wrestling fan.

None of the titles have any history for you so they are all basically starting from scratch. That first title change would probably seem incredible. Like a huge deal no matter what title.

Also, witnessing a PPV for the first time. DAMN, I really wanna know what that's like. I couldn't imagine having just started watching wrestling and then decide to order WrestleMania, not knowing what to expect. Not knowing that the atmosphere would be any different than a typical Raw. I would go INSANE.

[Volchok]

I started watching December of 98' the week right before the Taker/Austin Buried Alive match at Rock Bottom and i've been watching ever since..

[Hired Hitman]

September 1997 is when i started watching, I'd like to start watching from the first WCW nitro show so I could watch the entire monday night war.

[addy2hotty]

I honestly don't think if I wasn't already a WWE/F fan for 15 odd years that I would now. It's a very very poor product at the moment, with none of the emotion of previous years.

I first started watching around Survivor Series 91. The main event was Hogan vs Undertaker, and the first match was Flair/Warlord/Mountie/Dibiase vs Piper/Hart/Bulldog/Virgil. This still stands as one of my favourite matches of all-time. Every member of the teams had a problem with the other, and I'll always picture the beating DiBiase got by Piper's team, and Piper so desperately wanting to get in against Flair.

Moving on, during the slump years after Flairs departure, I was only really interested in Bret Hart's reign, and then a wrestler called The Ringmaster made his debut. I was interested because he was with DiBiase, who I was a huge fan of throughout his whole career (has there ever been a better heel?), and I will always remember JR's commentary after his debut - 'look at his eyes, a stone cold look, he's like a machine'.

Austin vs McMahon started, and I was hooked again. I was very into everything around this feud, and ashamed as I am to say it, I am a Vince mark. The Corporation vs DX feud was up there with my favourites of all time, I was a big a DX fan as you could probably get I think, including teaching a bunch of kids at my school in my later years the crotch chop.

The Corporate Ministry, I totally enjoyed. The dominance they had, the story behind it. Who was the Higher Power? Like others have said, as soon as it turned out to be Vince, the idea died.

In recent years, I've mainly rooted for individuals. Jericho is probably my favourite of all time, and I can say honestly that in the last 5 years, I've marked out probably 10 times, and both of 2001's were at Vengeance.

I marked out at Benoits win, at Eddie G's win, at the Radicals entrance. At Jericho's entrance, at Jericho beating Chyna (mainly as my girlfriend was rooting for her), at Hogans rockbottom on the Rock (being there was incredible) and at Edge's spear off the ladder at WM17 (i was there too). I can't say I have recently, I thought the Rockers Reunion was incredible. Like I've said, I would if Y2J, Eddie or Benoit won the title again, but thats a pipedream I think.

Talking of that, living in England, I went all the way to WM17 & 18. I couldn't honestly say I've been 'into' enough these days to warrant going across the pond again. I went to the Raw and SD! recordings in Manchester when they were here, but it just didn't feel the same.

Perhaps it's just me getting older, I don't know.

[MVP]

I've watched wrestling on and off since I was about 5 (1992). I used to mark out heavily for Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Undertaker, and the Road Warriors. I watched WWF whenever I had the chance, but I wasn't a huge fan til around 1997 when I started watching WCW AND WWF. I watched WCW to see Sting and WWF to see the Hart Foundation. Then 1998 rolled around and the Attitude Era began, and I started watching WWF vigorously to see Austin, DX, The Rock, Taker, Kane, etc. I kept watching WCW til like 2000 when I gave up on it, but I haven't stopped watching WWE since I was a kid.

Sometimes I think about when I was still a mark and how excited and shocked I would get when something happened. Like at Uncensored 97 when Sting came down from the rafters and took out the whole NWO, I marked the fuck out for that. Or when Mankind beat The Rock on RAW for the WWF title. Those are the times I feel like I could've become a wrestling fan in an instant. The only time I think I'd ever feel that today is when Batista put HHH through the table. I marked out like a little kid for that.

[Hitman84]

My being a wrestling fan started slowly, but after Summerslam 1992, revolved almost solely around the wrestlers who would eventually re-form the Hart Foundation (obviously, given my nick and avatar).

I started watching WWF in 1992 (I was about 8). Two friends of mine were talking about LOD, Hulk Hogan, British Bulldog and it just seemed too good to miss. I had been raving about wrestling at home and, as we didn't have cable, my mother bought me the British Bulldog compilation video (where he fights Warlord, Rick Martel, Shawn Michaels, Earthquake and IRS). I was hooked! The following Christmas was fantastic as I got a Hasbro WWF ring and eight action figures (Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake, LOD, Bushwhackers and Natural Disasters - weren't these toys cool??). I didn't get the chance to watch wrestling on TV so I had to rely on my friends telling me what was happening. Summerslam 92 was just the best - I marked out (but then, all 8 year old fans are marks aren't they? :?: ) when British Bulldog beat Bret Hart and then they shook hands and hugged.

We finally got cable when I was about 12 and I stared avidly watching WWF, I said in another post that I refused to watch WCW at this point, up until just after Survivor Series 1997. I was nearly 14 at this point and I stopped watching WWF after the screwjob and subsequent DX humiliation of Bret Hart with that little midget fellow and the humiliation of Jim Neidhart by painting WCW on his back. I must admit though I marked out when Owen Hart came back and attacked DX as I thought he had also joined WCW.

I caught the odd episode of WCW Nitro and Thunder, hoping to be able to watch Bret Hart - I even bought WCW/nWo Revenge for N64 as I knew Bret Hart was in the game - but didn't watch religiously. I also bought Wrestling with Shadows on VHS.

Channel 4 in the UK started showing WWF PPVs in 2000, so I watched a few but, again not religiously, and have caught a few episodes of the newer Raw and SmackDown!. I dunno, even though the Attitude era was good, I guess I'll always love the older stuff (pre 1997).

[GODSON]

I've been watching since 89 and you missed alot.

89-92- Hulkamania last years, Hitman/HBK was starting to be push. Warrior had some of his best matches with Rude/Savage/Hogan. Flair only time in the WWF. Mr.Perfect was probably the coolest wrestler. All the Mania main events was memorable. Hogan/Warrior, Hogan/Savage, Hogan/Slaughter,Flair/Savage(not the main event but special for the WWE title).

93-95- Boring most of the time but the real talent shine like Hitman/HBK/Razor/Diesel/Yoko/Owen. Raw debuted and all I can say the best thing to come out this period was WM 10. Vince made a huge mistake by making Macho Man an announcer. This was the steroid era, Vince was in trouble. Hogan actually save Vince during the trials.I started to watch WCW in 95.

96-97- MONDAY NIGHT WARS at it best. WCW vs.NWO was great. Guys like Eddie/Benoit/Jericho really started to break out during this period. In the WWF, new guys like Austin/Mankind/Rock/Goldust/Ahmed/HHH really started to shine. HBK was on fire these two years and carry WWF on his back in 96. Taker/Owen/Hitman/Bulldog re-invented themselves and put on many great matches. Raw became two hours and the current look debuted.Greatest time to be a wrestling fan. Raw writing was at an all time high. Go to johnmcadam.com to buy some old Raw/Nitro stuff from 96-97,it's worth the money.

98-2001 was the Attitude era,you already know this story.

[Karlsberg]

I first started watching in 91 the first ppv i saw was survivor series with hogan and undertaker and have been hooked ever since. Even during the massive slump i was a fan though that might have been because i was young and naive.

I wish i could re live the times of the monday night wars they gave me great memories. Although they were never were made a big deal of in the UK as raw beat nitro every week of the wars.