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Tough to really say:
I became a hardcore fan slightly before Wrestlemania 13 when the Austin-Bret feud started to gain traction. I remained a hardcore fan up until around Summerslam 2005 which I believe was the infamous HBK-Hogan match. I became a part-time fan after that, not because of anything specific, but because I was becoming busy with life. I remained a part-time fan for about another ten years. I can’t remember the exact moment in which the WWE “lost me,” but I seem to recall me thinking the following: What is there left for me to see? Bret came back, The Rock came back and fought Cena, Lesnar came back, Undertaker lost at mania, HBK and Flair retired, Hunter is gone, Kane is done, most of the guys from the Attitude era are gone. What’s really.......left?
I think a part of me also hung around as a fan longer than I should have because I was waiting for one more Wrestling boom......no matter how brief. “Show me one last time why I fell in love with this product” was my prevailing thought. I feel like I was able to experience this briefly from 2011-2014. The Rock returned, had his feud with Cena, and we also saw the emergence of CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, and Cesaro (who I think the WWE really missed the boat on since he was getting way over organically), and Ryback (another guy that the WWE screwed the pooch on by making him job to Mark Henry at mania and then turning him heel). The last PPV I watched was the Wrestlemania where Rollins cashed in during the Lesnar/Reigns main-event.
Again, the WWE didn’t really “lose” me with anything specific, but I just feel like I had seen everything that had been needed to see. Today, I only follow the WWE via YouTube clips and shoot interviews online. Bray Wyatt’s “Fiend” character, Matt Riddle, and R-Truth are the only characters that entertain me these days. Broken Matt Hardy was good a few years back but the WWE screwed that up it seems.
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