Anyone feel really disconnected with WWE now?

[HMARK Center]

I admit it's always hard for me to relate when people talk about a wrestling promotion being part of their life for literally decades; I absolutely grew up on Hulkamania era WWF, watched religiously from ages 5-9 back circa 1991-1994, rented Coliseum Home Videos of older shows from the local VHS place like there was no tomorrow, and still very much enjoy revisiting that era when I get the chance, but since then? Outside of a couple of years watching the Attitude Era ('98-'99), then a break, and then one year watching around the time of Ruthless Aggression ('04), I've really had no desire to watch it much. I was forced to come to a conclusion years ago that "this product isn't aimed at me or my tastes in wrestling", and combined with my overall distaste for Vince it's kept me away outside of very rarely watching a show because a friend would invite me over to check it out now and then, usually a Rumble or Wrestlemania.

But I've done the same with other promotions, too, namely WCW (I tried, I really did, but by late '99 I just couldn't really do it anymore) and TNA (loooong cycle of giving them chances then taking a break). The fact I've stuck so close to NJPW since 2015 is kind of an anomaly for me; even at the height of my ROH fandom I got from about late 2004 through 2010 before I had to tap out for awhile.

Point is, I guess that disconnect with WWE has been there for most of my wrestling life, but I also haven't really shown a ton of "brand loyalty" over the years; if something starts feeling empty or unenjoyable or boring for me, I usually stop watching it. Note, though, I recognize it's easier to say that since I've been lucky enough to have access to other promotions over the years at times when it wasn't always easy to follow them (e.g. ordering a bunch of ROH DVDs was a hell of a money investment back in the day)...but at least today that's a hell of a lot easier with reasonably cheap streaming services around for different promotions and the indies.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I see very little chance I'll even bother watching the Rumble this year, for the first time since like 2006, just because... Don't care. I don't want to support the company, I don't especially want to give them three to four hours of my time, and there's nobody I care about enough to actually want them to win, meanwhile every main roster title is locked down by someone I'm completely sick of. And I do mean every title.

[asuka007]

It just feels so dull and stale right now. It’s the same people at the top endlessly, the same feuds, the same nonsense on TV endlessly, etc.

Even their best feud right now, Brock vs. Roman, is still something we’ve seen A LOT of over the years.

[Deleted]

Every single thing about WWE is stale and sterline they refuse to try anything new and on the very small occasion they do it is beyond half assed.

Their inept stories and characters already dissapoint me enough but it is their production that always just has me shaking my head.

That is a multi billion dollar company there IMO is no f***ing excuse.




Meanwhile over in boyle heights the coolest f***ing shit by comparison.

[TheMediocreWarrior]

Since Kofi got squashed by Lesnar, I've been really back and forth on following WWE. If it wasn't for NJPW and AEW, I would have probably stopped watching wrestling altogether.

It seems like in the last couple of years, the overall quality of WWE has been at an all time low. Reigns as Universal Champion and getting Charlotte to 16 title reigns seem to be the only real long term plans. The entire midcard is subject to Vince McMahon's whims. Technically that's always been the case, but he seems ridiculously impatient now and cools on pushing people at the drop of a hat.

I'll watch the Rumble this year because I think the Royal Rumble is the PPV...I mean PLE equivalent of pizza (I think 1999 is the only one that was total crap), but I doubt WWE will keep my interest after that.

[agent817]

That all depends. It seems that a portion of the 2010s I had watched WWE less, but it was because of scheduling with work and school that I didn't follow it much. When Smackdown moved to Fox, I got back into it that I was watching it on a weekly basis. I still followed it even in the Performance Center era.

With all of the mass releases and poor booking, I have little care in what's going on. I could watch the PPVs, excuse me, Premium Live Events, but the weekly shows, eh.

[Blindkarevik]

I watched WWE for as long as I can remember.... of course, being in the 80s and in the Midwest.. AWA was also big, and NWA/WCW was in regular rotation. But as those companies fell off, WWE always stuck around.

I started to explore outside companies after WCW folded... checked out some ROH, CZW, TNA, and the like. Around the Chris Benoit tragedy, something about WWE really lost me... it wasn't just due to Benoit, a lot of the show just felt like a chore to get through and that incident just motivated me to check out wrestling elsewhere. It was at that point when I got REALLY into the indy scene... eventually, with the signings of Punk, Cesaro, Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, Zayn, etc,... I was led back to WWE. Mainly because, at this point... indies weren't exactly accessible and I just didn't have the funds to keep buying DVDs. Fortunately, NXT filled the void. Then when Omega/Okada tore the house down at WrestleKingdom I started checking out New Japan, got really invested in Bullet Club, re-discovered PWG and this new generation of indy talent that had either, just started, or was just making their name when I stepped away from it a few years earlier.

I kept getting more and more frustrated with the WWE main roster.... there are plenty of angry rants on my Facebook about how NXT consistently blew the main roster out of the water when they had big shows on the same weekend. I think it was 2018 when I completely checked out from WWE.... I'm not positive, I could be wrong in the year, but it was when Ricochet won a Gauntlet match to face Brock Lesnar at Saudi. I don't know why, but when Lesnar squashed him, something clicked in my brain. I had seen this booking tons of times in the past, and they still do it. But for some reason, that's the moment where I realized "This isn't going to change... this isn't what I want to watch... so I just won't anymore."

Feeling almost like a jilted lover, I had a LOT of anti-WWE hate built up and would talk shit all the time. But, over the past couple years of AEW.... after watching Impact, MLW, NWA.. not on a consistent basis, but enough to be familiar with them... I finally came to the conclusion that it's not that I dislike WWE. It's not that I feel like WWE has failed me after all these years. I just plain prefer the indy style of wrestling and booking. I always have, at least since the early 2000s.

So I got rid of all that stupid hate I had for WWE. It's just no longer for me, and I can accept that. Sure, I keep up with what's happening through Twitter and what's said here... but the last show I watched was Summerslam and that was due to a friend REALLY wanting me to watch it with her. And I'm glad I did, because it re-affirmed every reason I stopped watching. The product they put out is no longer my taste, and that's fine. Others can really love WWE, always have, always will, and that's cool. It's the chocolate vs. vanilla debate.

[Allie Kitsune]

I disconnected not long after NXT moved to USA, and it's all just been a neverending avalanche of misery booking and stale boringness from there.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Jan 9, 2022 14:09:51 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I admit it's always hard for me to relate when people talk about a wrestling promotion being part of their life for literally decades; I absolutely grew up on Hulkamania era WWF, watched religiously from ages 5-9 back circa 1991-1994, rented Coliseum Home Videos of older shows from the local VHS place like there was no tomorrow, and still very much enjoy revisiting that era when I get the chance, but since then? Outside of a couple of years watching the Attitude Era ('98-'99), then a break, and then one year watching around the time of Ruthless Aggression ('04), I've really had no desire to watch it much. I was forced to come to a conclusion years ago that "this product isn't aimed at me or my tastes in wrestling", and combined with my overall distaste for Vince it's kept me away outside of very rarely watching a show because a friend would invite me over to check it out now and then, usually a Rumble or Wrestlemania.

But I've done the same with other promotions, too, namely WCW (I tried, I really did, but by late '99 I just couldn't really do it anymore) and TNA (loooong cycle of giving them chances then taking a break). The fact I've stuck so close to NJPW since 2015 is kind of an anomaly for me; even at the height of my ROH fandom I got from about late 2004 through 2010 before I had to tap out for awhile.

Point is, I guess that disconnect with WWE has been there for most of my wrestling life, but I also haven't really shown a ton of "brand loyalty" over the years; if something starts feeling empty or unenjoyable or boring for me, I usually stop watching it. Note, though, I recognize it's easier to say that since I've been lucky enough to have access to other promotions over the years at times when it wasn't always easy to follow them (e.g. ordering a bunch of ROH DVDs was a hell of a money investment back in the day)...but at least today that's a hell of a lot easier with reasonably cheap streaming services around for different promotions and the indies.

Pretty much since 2004ish I havent kept up with WWE much. But from when Mid South/UWF died in 87 until early 90 I watched all the weekly WWF syndicated shows. Stopped for years and came back around 96 and lasted until summer of 2004.

But even when I was watching all their shows WWF/WWE was never my favorite fed,it was rarely for me the best fed on tv.87 thru 90 I enjoyed Memphis and Continental more. then 97 thru 2004 CMLL/AAA on Galavision was my favorite.

So I've always had a disconnect with WWE. Day 1 was the first full WWE event I had watched and not FFed thru parts since I would guess 2011. It had some decent matches. But nothing on it made me watch to get back into the weekly grind that is WWE.

Hell currently my favorite wrestling show is NWA Wildside,what??? how can I hate a show sponsored by a strip club. A strip club that in the ad says "We got 15 beautiful dances and 1 FAT UGLY ONE!"

[sportatorium]

They’ve erased their audience’s ability to trust them and invest in the wrestlers. Why am I going to get excited about someone that they either are going to release or bury? People are saying that Bron Breaker is a future top guy, they could cut the cord on him as easily as any of the others who have come before him.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Yeah. The only reason I’m kinda keeping tabs on things is for my points rankings, and I’ve been doing those for so long that I’ve almost forgotten how to try and watch these shows as a fan and not a glorified data analyst… I don’t know. Maybe it helps. Being a fan means getting attached emotionally to talents, so if I’m not a big fan of anybody, then if they get released or lose a whole bunch, then I can’t be sad or preemptively angry.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

If you feel disconnected, the best thing you can do is sever the tie and just laugh at them from afar.

No getting upset about booking decisions, it's just funny to watch them blow chance after chance.

And then you feel better too because you're not contributing to their evil behaviors.

[sunnytaker]

there's a few wrestlers on the roster i still care about but i generally fast forwards though everything except a couple of segments per show now. even nxt which was probably the one i watched the most of the three shows

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

I'd say more disconnected than usual, for sure. I probably will watch Rumble because I genuinely think it looks like a good card and the big PPVs usually end up being decent enough. But it's just not a product I'm super interested in right now.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

I know Ive disconnected a lot. I used to be the guy who can't wait to watch Raw and later Smackdown when added. I have watched it for a very long time. Now, I find myself just looking at the highlights from the TV shows since most of it is so same stuff as last week. Feuds go long which its fine but when the in results are the same, there is no point. PPVs I watch, not always live but I get around to it. But I watch enough to keep up with it. I found other companies just put on better product to my taste. But I still attend shows. I'll be at the Royal rumble. I just go to whatever wrestling is here in town. NWA did it Aug. AEW did that in Oct. So its just supporting wrestling for the favorites I have in each company.

[Deleted]

I used to give the WWE the benefit of the doubt, but after Nick Khan came in, I stopped.

Feels like they taking a page off Bob Chapek and nickel and dime everything. The wrestlers do matter and hold value, and they are not an interchangeable assembly line, despite what Nick Khan believes.

[koreycaskets]

I've been disconnected since 2002. I absolutely loved NXT from 2015 to 2020. But we can't have nice things. I pay attention out of habit I guess and just hope things will get better....

Still really enjoy Royal Rumble season.

[Beets by Schrute]

To me it’s a lot of things. Kind of phased out between 2017-18 during the Roman Reigns forced push. One notable event was Lashley beating him in the main event of Backlash, and the next night Roman gets put in #1 contenders match. Like, what was the point of the first match if that win did not lead to anything?

I really tuned out after I got married. Maybe I’m embarrassed if my wife sees me watching. Since then, haven’t really desired to watch it.

The firings of everyone during the pandemic really disgusted me that I cannot in good conscience support this company. For them to do that when their people were in dire circumstances showed their true colors. Add in the dismantling of NXT when they poorly booked the call ups and acted like they had no idea why it wasn’t working out.

[Deleted]

Basketball and pro wrestling have always been my two biggest loves outside of IT stuff (I have worked in IT for over a decade) and I find that I have a tendency to dive heavier into one or the other depending on how bad my team, The Pacers, and the industry is doing...I've personally been doing alot of reading haha...

With that said WWE is usually just on for me to listen to even though it is my wife's preference. I will share her take as well to show how even in one family things differ. She appreciates the fact that in her opinion the narratives have direction rather than the story potentially finishing on some random Wednesday 7 weeks from now. IE she approves of the monthly PPVs and things culminating like that.

She complains about finding people she enjoys that she may not see for a month when it comes to AEW...We have 3 children and with my career, we barely have time to watch RAW, Smackdown, Dynamite, and Rampage so she isn't out searching for BTE or the youtube shows...We talk about how the presentation is entirely different and she has come to the realization that it has to be amazing live but it feels more "basic" than what she has known when it comes to mainstream wrestling. I believe this is the lack of constant replays, vignettes, flashbacks...AEW doesn't pamper its audience. I won't say that her views vary widely different from my own regarding them but I have the benefit of having followed independent wrestling and knowing the talent.

I'm not trying to turn this into an AEW vs WWE situation as both excite me from time to time and both make me bitter for various reasons. I can certainly relate to a lot of the complacency mentioned here.

I have personally gotten to the point where it is just background noise and gauging reactions now...It's pretty sad.

[simplydurhamcalling]

I kept up with the product from 1997-approximately 2017 from week to week even if it was just reading results online. I went to Wrestlemania in 2016. I think I skipped Wrestlemanias 34, 35 and 36 apart from a couple of matches on each show. Until 34 the only two I had missed between 1998 and 2018 were 2005 and 2006 because I was far too busy having a good time (age 19-20)

The last PPV I watched was Royal Rumble 2020 and I think that was just for the rumble matches. At that point I'd still watch the Top 10 videos on YouTube but I've even given up on those. 90% of the random bits I do see are so bad they make me cringe inside and the commentary makes it even worse (I swear Graves was good on NXT!)

I can't even claim it's the outside of the ring stuff as awful as that is. The overall presentation of the main shows I just find to be unwatchable.