Your first impressions of wrestling.

[NeanderCarl]

Do you remember when you first began watching wrestling? When you were naive, took everything at face value, possibly even believed it was legit if we're going back a good few years?

The first WWF show I ever saw was the Saturday Night's Main Event before WrestleMania VIII in 1992, when I was 9 yrs old. I can't remember exactly when I realised it wasn't exactly for real, but 1992 to around 1994 were magical years for me as a fan, fully falling for kayfabe, catching up on the back catalogue of PPVs I'd missed since the Hogan era started.

Seeing as Hogan was history just after I started watching, the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage were the BIG babyfaces to me. However, Mr Perfect's face turn in late 1992 cemented him, to this day, as my all-time favourite wrestler. Even as a naive mark, I still loved Hennig even when he was a heel... the face turn was just the cherry on the cake.

My first impressions of watching WWF in 1992:

I thought Ric Flair was a fruity old man who had no business in a wrestling ring. Mind boggling, then, that he is still going SIXTEEN years later.

I thought Ted DiBiase was the biggest jobber going, just one step above the likes of Barry Horowitz. He never seemed to win a match, and IRS must surely have carried him to the World Tag Team championship. I remember when I watched Wrestlemania IV and realised that DiBiase was in the main event for the title against Randy Savage, I laughed so hard at the thought DiBiase stood a chance. Having missed his glory days as a main eventer, as a new fan, he was just a squash boy to me. Crazy, and sad.

The Natural Disasters were bad ass.

Nailz was a scary ass motherfucker. That beating he gave the Big Bossman was sick.

Virgil was a waste of space, with offensive tights.

Being from the UK, "The British Bulldog" was a God.

The Nasty Boys were the shit. They pulled a Dusty finish against Money Inc at a house show in Earl's Court II, London in early 1993, that made me believe the Nasties were the new tag champs. I went apeshit :lol:

[NeanderCarl]

Tatanka was unbeatable.

The Model Rick Martel was extremely boring.

Shawn Michaels was another one-step-above-jobber guy who should never have left The Rockers, because he was carried by Jannetty.

The Undertaker was impervious to pain.

I'd heard of and seen Demolition and wished they were still around today to kick Money Inc's ass.

Max Moon is going nowhere.

Doink is such a prick, and Crush is gonna kill him when he comes back.

[NeanderCarl]

Faces were "goodies", heels were "baddies", Hasbro WWF action figures for Christmas were the highlight of my year, things that occured on WWF Coliseum video specials mattered (even though they didn't), Sgt Slaughter and Gorilla Monsoon were the most powerful men next to Jack Tunney who could make things happen, Bobby Heenan was a weasel, the Ultimate Maniacs were going to be the next WWF World Tag Team champions, who could stop the Giant Gonzalez, Lex Luger was impressive but he wasn't "perfect", Bret Hart was the fightingest champion of all-time and missing the next PPV was NOT an option.

[Kane Knight]

I don't remember my first impressions. My first memory related to wrestling is playing with a couple of wrestling figures. One was Ric Flair, I remember explicitly. I don't remember who the other was, either.

[NeanderCarl]

Were they the static WCW action figures? They were really annoying, especially guys like El Gigante... unplayable, his hands were constantly raised above his head.

On the other hand, the WWF Hasbro version of the Ric Flair action figure was worse... they took the body of the old Rick Rude action figure and put Flair's head on it. Imagine Ric Flair with Ravishing Rick Rude's body, and a wafer thin waist. Terrible.

[Kane Knight]

Nah. They were about the size of the old He-Man figures, and articulated at the arms, legs, and head. They were still pretty cheaply made, but they weren't the static ones.

It may have evev been from the Hasbro line. I had them when I was like, five or six, so I don't really remember all that well.

[The Naitch]

First thing I watched was Ted Dibiase calling Earthquake out who was sitting in the stands. And when he popped the kids' basketball

I remember playing witht he figures and that blue steelcage

I never followed it, it would be on TV at a friends' house. We played the Royal Rumble game on Super Nintendo, the one with Taker, Razor, Bret Hart in it

Then I got into it heavily shortly after the whole Austin 3:16 craze, when The Rock was blowing up around late 1999

[FourFifty]

Savage was awesome. There was no one else who could fly half way across the ring.
Hulkamania wasn't a fad, it was a fucking religion.
The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad, no fuzzy area.

[NeanderCarl]

The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad, no fuzzy area.

Except for Mr Perfect.

[NeanderCarl]

Koko B. Ware could execute a top rope dropkick, and LAND ON HIS FUCKING FEET!

[FourFifty]

Except for Mr Perfect.

Woah, Mr. Perfect was neither good nor bad... He was Perfect!

But I was ashamed when I was rooting for Earthquake to beat Hogan... Earthquake was a bad guy, and no one cheers for bad guys! But there was something about the big man, god rest his soul, that I've always liked. Hell, I keep a small Earthquake action figure in my car for good luck.

[NeanderCarl]

I liked the way Earthquake would bounce from side to side during his interviews, and the way he'd always get nose bleeds.

And also, the way his original ringname was The Canadian Earthquake, as if that would have really made a difference.

[Xerzes]

I had vague awareness of wrestling before I watched regularly. Found some sort of finger puppet toys when I was very young. Piper, Hillbilly Jim, and who I assume is Nickolai Volkoff. Still have them, actually. When I was a little older I somehow heard of Undertaker, and since I was some sort of proto-goth kid at the time I got behind him. Had to see him take on monsters. Or, as more often happened, fat guys. But I was hooked anyway.

Started watching regularly in summer 1994. WCW Saturday Night was important, Raw's announce team was Vince McMahon and Randy Savage for some reason. I very quickly learned the names of everyone on both rosters, star or jobber or whatever.

I thought Kenny Kendall was underrated. I wondered why the Armstrong brothers didn't win more often. And I wondered why the damn Brian, a skinny white guy, had dreadlocks.

[NeanderCarl]

Cause he was the Roooooooooooooad Doggy Dawg

[NeanderCarl]

No Gimmick Needed

[NeanderCarl]

The Red Rooster believed he was a chicken, The Gobbeldy Gooker was a turkey (in more ways than one)... both were... ahem... COCK ups, and both left a... heehee... FOWL taste in my mouth!

YES!

[Fox]

(Me, circa 1998)

Kimberly Page is the hottest woman I have ever seen.

DDP is the man because he's banging her. Plus he's the US Champ, and wears those bad ass ripped jeans and has that sick ass Diamond Cutter.

Giant is HUGE.

Hulk Hogan and the nWo are boring mother fuckers.

That Mysterious guy in the mask is pretty fucking amazing.

GOLDBERG!!!!

[NeanderCarl]

Goldberg was the stereoptypical lightning-in-a-bottle. It just doesn't happen very often at all, and when it does, it should just be stretched out for as long as possible. You cannot buy it, you cannot book it, you cannot control it... no amount of creativity or genius booking or individual talent can create a Goldberg, it just happens... it's a shame WCW couldn't capitalise on it and drag it out over 5 years, rather than kill the phenom in 18 months.

[JT]

First memory was with my older cousin watching Mean Gene telling me to buy a Hulk Hogan t-shirt one saturday morning. Didn't care much.

Next memory was Monday Night Raw with Shawn Michaels defending the World Championship against Golddust. Though it was a bit gay (though Golddust was in it).

When I started watching, it was the last Nitro of 97, and Sting coming down to attack Hogan. My friends were into it, so I decided to catch more next week and fell in love with it. I wasn't yet use to clique or corny storylines, so I loved stuff like the Powerbomb being illegal after breaking Big Show's neck, but Nash would do it anyway. Or Savage being a badguy, but was always fighting against the same badguys he was teaming with. Raven facing off against DDP was one of my favorite feuds, and I don't know what it was about the bitchy guy with blonde hair...but liked that guy named Chris Jericho.

I think at that point I knew it was fake, but I enjoyed it till it became predictable. I started watching WWF in May when Nitro didn't come on, and the first thing I saw was a group of wrestlers come out and told the crowd to "Suck it", then a promo for a porn star wrestler ready to premiere. I don't know even remember my impression, but it was enough to get me watching Raw to this day.

[JT]

Oh, and how much did I like DDP...

When I started watching, it was my dream more to be the US Champion one day, rather than the World Champion.

[El Fangel]

I remember seeing it on TV when I was young, and wondered why these guys weren't dead, I got into it, around I say 96, I remember seeing Alot of HHH, Austin, and The Rock at first.

[NeanderCarl]

Oh, and how much did I like DDP...

When I started watching, it was my dream more to be the US Champion one day, rather than the World Champion.

I get ya, I wanted to be Intercontinental champion as a kid.

[El Fangel]

I get ya, I wanted to be Intercontinental champion as a kid.
You know, so did I, I wanted alot of IC reigns, but maybe just 1-3 World title reigns, I felt I would make a far better IC Champ then World, as I would crack under the spotlight likely.

[NeanderCarl]

I just thought the IC title looked really cool back then.

[NeanderCarl]

http://membres.lycos.fr/baheu/hpbimg/champion%20intercontinental.jpg

[Sting Fan]

I remmeber the first match I actualy fully took notice of was The Giant squashing Renegade on a Nitro.

This led into some nWo shenanigans later in the show and that was me hooked.

I was (and am tbh) a massive WCW mark, Loved Sting, DDP, Raven, Benoit, Booker T and I marked hard for Piper fighting the nWo as well.

[NeanderCarl]

To me as a kid, WCW was always the budget "lesser" company. It wasn't until 1996 that I gave WCW a good look, because until that point it was more like a wrestler's graveyard.

Funnily enough, over here in the UK it was the only wrestling available on network TV, yet I'd seek out WWF on cable rather than the easily accessible WCW.

[Sting Fan]

Yeah same deal here in NZ, we didnt have Sky back then being a not so well off family and so it was WCW or nothing.

I really did prefer it though even after we got Sky and until the day WCW folded.

A sad enditment (sp?) on me perhaps.

[NeanderCarl]

I did watch WCW casually from 1992, to be fair, but as I say, never considered it on the WWF's level. I only watched occasionally out of curiosity for the ex-WWF guys doing the rounds, such as Jake Roberts, Jim Neidhart, Rick Rude and later of course, the UK fans' wrestling god, Davey Boy Smith.

Plus it was only on at like 3am on a weeknight.

[NeanderCarl]

Oh, and it's "endictment".

[Inadequacy]

I remember playing Smackdown 2 on my friend's playstation before ever watching wrestling. I never took it seriously though, my first CAW was called THE ZOOPINATOR!?$ (actually to this day the first thing I do in any smackdown game is make him). thanks to this game my first impressions were:

No one is cooler than Farooq, how could they be with a name like Farooq?

Christian has the coolest finisher ever

X-Pac jobs to everyone (except I didn't know the term "to job")

Chris Benoit's neck is too big

Dean Malenko's signature looks like "Quan Malek"

[Avenger]

My first wrestling memory is I think Owen Hart.

[NeanderCarl]

My most clear first wrestling memory is of Ric Flair being the sole survivor at Survivor Series 1991 when everyone else in the match was simultaneously disqualified. I'm not sure whether I somehow randomly saw this one match at the time, or whether they simply showed a replay of it on the aforementioned Saturday Nights Main Event that was the first show I saw.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Me, starting in 1998:

-Goldberg was my favorite wrestler...I was watching on TV during my vacation to Virginia Beach when he won the title on Nitro. I went nuts.

-I also marked huge for DDP, he nearly joined the Wolfpack, which would have had me ecstatic. Sadly, damn Hogan and Rodman (who I hated cause I was a Knicks fan and loathed the Bulls) attacked him before he could don the red and black. :(

-Scott Steiner is clearly afraid of confronting his brother.

-Buff Bagwell looks ridiculous with that hat.

-Jericho is an asshole and a crybaby, I laughed hysterically when he got lost walking to the ring at Fall Brawl 1998 (my first PPV) and I was pissed when he ended up wrestling a Goldberg midget instead of Goldberg himself.

-The Flock creeped me out, I marked when Saturn broke the group up at Fall Brawl '98. Then at Halloween Havoc Saturn demolished that sign-flashing faggot Lodi.

-Goldberg finally losing at Starrcade 1998 was the most depressing thing ever for me...and it blew my mind that seemingly the entire crowd was rooting for Nash.

-Then in 1999, the two nWo groups merging was like :eek: cause when I started watching there were already two sides...I thought it had always been like that</font>