The magic is finally gone for me.

[vampyur]

I sat down last night to go through some old Attitude Era matches and after about 30 mins or so, realized I just didn't care any more. I followed pro-wrestling since 1989 up until 2002, took a break from being a hardcore follower and came back in around 2005.

It seems by and large the past four years don't show signs of the sport ever eliciting the same magic it did a decade ago and it's useless to fight it, things are the way they're gonna be from now on and it's just not my thing anymore.

What shocks even myself, is how the old matches just fall flat now. I guess trying to relieve that "edge of your seat" week-by-week magic that was consistent in my youth is purely futile. I've tried the indy feds too, but while I can appreciate the craft, the magic isn't there either for me.

So, I've boxed up my small DVD set and game collection to sell and am saying so long to pro-wrestling once and for all.

Anyone else feeling like it's come to this point or am I alone in this? Regardless, it's been fun for the majority of the 20 years being a fan and this board has been fun to, so best of luck to everyone out there who is still able to sit back and have fun with pro-wrestling.

[Deleted]

I've been in the same boat for a long time now.
I still like these boards though - they are my connection to wrestling now, as I haven't watched a show in several years.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

Frankly, if I hadn't discovered Chikara back in 06, and gotten really hardcore into that, I'd probably be where you are right about now. TNA has it's moments, and WWE rarely does, but by and large, the amazing feel it had for me as a kid just isn't there anymore, except when I'm watching the indies.

[Krimzon]

I fully believe that I'll need a stint in rehab to get over pro wrestling. I'm just too fargone and in too deep. There's no escape for me. No matter how badly I want to stop watching (RAW - 2003), I just can't.

[AriadosMan]

You used the word "sport".
There's your problem.
Mainstream US Wrestling (be it WWE or TNA) does not even pretend to be a "sport" anymore.
You have completely grown out of wrestling in the way alot of older fans have. I can still be entertained by what I consider "good" matches but have come to realize I am in the minority when it comes to people of my age group who still watch this stuff. If anything, I wish this generation of wrestling would stop trying to be so nostalgic and forge ahead with a more innovative concept like Rock 'n Wrestling and Monday Night Wars were in there time.
Who knows? Maybe wrestling is something people naturally grow out of and get bored with, and the large older audience during the Monday Night Wars was a historical anomaly.
Because I wish that wrestling would innovate and evolve instead of trying to recreate earlier periods of success, I have little patience for so-called "legends" who keep coming back for cheap pops when their careers should, by any rational measure, be over. I enjoyed Attitude and the Monday Night Wars alot but that was partly because I was younger and more naive. No wrestling now will be as good as those days were, because my own perception made them great. Make new stars and a new destiny-the old world is already dead and can never be revived outside our own memories.

[Deleted]

Nov 23, 2009 16:30:22 GMT -5 Krimzon said:

I fully believe that I'll need a stint in rehab to get over pro wrestling. I'm just too fargone and in too deep. There's no escape for me. No matter how badly I want to stop watching (RAW - 2003), I just can't.

[Reptar]

I was a huge wrestling fan from late 99-eary 2000 to around 2007, since then, I've watched every week, but it wasn't as fun as it had been. Now, I watch RAW like once every two weeks and that's it.

I remember when I used to be so excited for every show, now, the only times I feel the need to watch are Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. I still like the boards, and it's probably the only thing that keeps me barely interested in wrestling like I am now, but for right now, I'm extremely bored with it.

Hopefully this is just temporary and I start to like it again, even if that means to competely stop watching it for a while. And I think the only reason is because I've seen it all before, so very few things can impress me now. It's like what my grandpa would say to me when I was younger. He was a big wrestling fan, and I would always want to watch it when he didn't, so he'd try to convince me saying "It's the same thing every week." But it didn't matter, and we'd watch it anyway. Now, I'm starting to realize he's right.

[deltarich]

I actually just recently got back into watching...or trying to watch it on a weekly basis again. I was a hardcore fan since 95-2002/2003. At that point, I was doing other things since I was in high school and ended up seeing myself often missing RAW or SD and eventually it just faded away and I stopped watching completely. After about a 4 year hiatus, I would flip through the channels and see RAW on and would watch it a bit but since I was so far removed from it, it was hard to get into because I didn't know or care about who these new wrestlers were. The sporadic viewings continued from 07-08. Wasn't until about 4 months ago(yes that recent) that I've gotten back into watching on a week to week basis. I miss the occasional SD since I usually go out on Friday nights to bars or to hang out with friends, but I usually just dvr it or catch it on youtube on a saturday. Finally starting to get interested in some of these guys, mostly the younger talent/midcarders.

[hbk4ever09]

Mehh a break is probably good for you then. Like others in this thread i was a hardcore fan from the early 90s to the attitude era and basically just gave up in 2004. I don't know why exactly, I guess it got boring. I remember the boringness of Batista dominating and main events like a Kane/Lita wedding and i just lost all interest.

However, right before the 2009 royal rumble (like the week before) i figured i'd give it a shot and have been back ever since. It's basically just been a great segway from being a fan of the horrible mets/jets/knicks, but to say i haven't been entertained is a lie, i've enjoyed every second of it or i would stop today. So, give it time. I must say it's NEVER better than right when you get back (if you do). I really enjoyed learning all the new characters and watching big time matches i missed.

[celticjobber]

I pretty much hate alot of the current product, and I usually tape and fast forward through the bulk of WWE's programming these days. But I can still go back and enjoy the period of wrestling from when I was a kid (1988-1994) with alot of enjoyment. And most of Bret Hart's work into 1997 also holds up well to me (as do most old ECW tapes).

But I can't go back to Attitude era WWF or most of WCW, it just hasn't aged well or held up at all.

[hbk4ever09]

I agree, the attitude era and it's matches really don't hold up compared to say an old Flair/Sting match of even matches from 194-1996 (Bret/Owen, Taker/HBK, HBK/Bret etc.) Though the attitude era isnt exactly known for its incredible wrestling matches.

[BitterAF]

I took a break from 2001-2007 after watching it for 10 years. It was hard to get back into it because I had no clue who anyone was. I found these boards a couple of months before I got back into it, but only read threads that dealt with things when I watched it. It could be hard to stop watching but still be on these boards reading what you're missing which might make you to want to go watch it. But I'm sure there's people on here that did it.

I can still watch older matches, but it doesn't have that same excitement. So what I do is only watch two or three old matches at a time when I'm eating. Still fun to watch but doesn't get boring.

[AriadosMan]

Nov 23, 2009 17:16:34 GMT -5 hbk4ever09 said:

I agree, the attitude era and it's matches really don't hold up compared to say an old Flair/Sting match of even matches from 194-1996 (Bret/Owen, Taker/HBK, HBK/Bret etc.) Though the attitude era isnt exactly known for its incredible wrestling matches.

The problem with Attitude is that it was the start of the current overcommercialization. Only in Attitude did the companies become obsessed with shilling PPVs every single month and doing every feud in fast forward with scads of promos. The wrestling itself suffered a great deal.

[Dave the Dave]

I got back into in 2005 after not watching after the Invasion stuff.

I was hugely into it for a couple years. Found this place, discovered TNA, and ROH, which the latter got me back in a big way.

Again though I find I'm drifting away, I like Smackdown, but even when I'm home with nothing to do on Friday, I don't watch it. I miss Raw sometimes, which used to be a huge no-no for me. I have not watched ECW since Dreamer dropped the belt.

I have started watching TNA again after breaking from that for about 6 months, but it's barely keeping me into it. I haven't seen ROH in a while, from what I am hearing, I'm not missing much.

The Chikara Pod Cast can only go so far. We'll say, I might be falling out of it.

I'm sure though eventually I'll come running back, probably when those pesky friends and girlfriend that kind of dragged me from it will go away.
Even if I don't like it, you can damn sure know one day my kids are going to. I'm passing this obsession on.

[Jimmy]

Sometimes you just need to take a break from wrestling for a while. I didn't follow the current WWE product for about a year and half/two years and when I started watching it again it was like "Oh wrestling, why did I ever leave you?"

[Deleted]

Well there's nothing wrong with getting bored of something after watching it for many years.

Just take a break if you want. Of course if a few years from now you see wrestling is on and want to watch it again, that's good too.

[Allie Kitsune]

I've felt that way with Smackdown pretty much ever since they moved from Thursday to Friday, and even with RAW I don't mind if I miss part of it. I don't have the massive hate-on that a lot of people do now, and I don't really want wrestling to shift completely over towards trying to look like a "real" product a-la UFC (or even RoH), maybe a more late 80s-early 90s presentation style, if anything.

I mean, yeah, I could do without Hornswoggle, and I could do without most of the divas, but other than that...

[Deleted]

The Thrill is gone:

[Irish Nightmare]

The earliest wrestling I remember was around Wrestlemania V. I can remember watching segment with Randy Savage attacking Hulk Hogan and my father renting the PPV from our local video store. I've went through different stages. I was a Hulkamaniac in my earliest years, chuckled at the horrible gimmicks of the mid 90s, and became fascinated by the hardcore and edgy concepts of FMW, IWA, and ECW. This of course made my interest in WWF during the attitude era peak, as it was taking pages from each of these companies. I was an NWO and DX fan, and I had the T-shirts to support Austin and all the rest. Currently though, I'm in a stage where I appreciate the old school aspect of wrestling. The days when the thing that mattered was the title. Despite being chopped and edited forwards and backwards, I still enjoy watching matches from my WWE DVDs, and as of late I'm growing a strong appreciation of ROH, Chikara, Dragon Gate, and Shimmer. As far as WWE goes, though. I started to lose my interest when ECW and WCW died out, and the only people I was guaranteed to see in the main event matches were Triple H, Michaels, Undertaker, Batista, Cena, Orton, and Edge...

[The Possum]

To me there's still magic. There's still hope. Heck, even a stale feud like Triple H vs. Randy Orton can be magic for me. The way it was booked leading up to WM had me on the edge of my seat waiting for every single Raw and SmackDown. Too bad it had such a weak climax. But regardless, the product does often suck, but what I've realized is that I love wrestling and I consistently want to see a new product. Bad new wrestling is still better than no new wrestling for me.