sebulba
Team Rocket
Glass ceiling?!! What glass ceiling?
Posts: 940
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Post by sebulba on Jan 12, 2022 8:45:18 GMT -5
Beautifully put. I just don't care anymore. In the past, even at my most apathetic towards the product, I ALWAYS made sure I watched the Rumble, Summerslam and Mania. Now, if i catch it, fine. If not, no bother. I've even stopped watching highlights on YouTube. Every day I hear of yet another departure or another braindead angle - and I only get the full news of it here on the forum. I just can't see it changing at the moment. NXT used to be my last 'go to' for WWE content. A few releases and a look at NXT 2.0 and I was done. Then Regal got canned and I knew I was finally out. Haven't quite defected to AEW yet, but the night is young... R.I.P. WWE......
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Jan 12, 2022 9:22:33 GMT -5
My Fan Timeline:
1991 - Born
Late 90s - Started watching various VHS tapes of it given to me by family
2000-2003 - Die Hard fandom.
2003-2005 - Fan dom slows down as interest wanes
2005 - 2007 - Full throttle interested again.
2007-2009 - Interest wanes wants more.
2009-2015 - Longest stretch of fandom. Watched regularly.
2015-2018 - Declined interest
2018-2021 - Tried rejuvenating interest again but never lasted more than a minute
Currently I am not watching but I'll read up in case something intrigues me. Its sad I've missed a lot in the business the last 7 years but its been hard to want to keep back up.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
O Superman....O judge....O Mom and Dad....
Posts: 5,725
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Post by nisidhe on Jan 12, 2022 9:57:20 GMT -5
Raw is becoming a losing proposition for me. I watched with one hope and that was dashed. Not wasting another Monday night if that's how it's gonna play out.
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thecrusherwi
El Dandy
the Financially Responsible Man
Brawl For All
Posts: 7,657
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Post by thecrusherwi on Jan 12, 2022 10:50:04 GMT -5
I've had this feeling for damn near a decade now. Basically since 2012-ish when they made it clear that nothing outside the Road to Wrestlemania matters. And in the last five years or so, the Road to Wrestlemania barely matters either. I have been getting back in to AEW lately though. It is far from a perfect company and it has lots of the characteristics of modern wrestling that I'm not a huge fan of, but they at least make you feel rewarded for paying attention all the time. There isn't a fixed calendar where you know when all the big moments are going to happen.
I think I'll always keep an eye on WWE, but I wouldn't even consider myself a fan of the company anymore. I doubt I'll even watch the Royal Rumble.
Thankfully, we live in a era where you can find as much old wrestling as you want. If you want to pretend it's 1987 forever, you can do it. I haven't watched a complete WWE show of any kind in probably two years now. But I'm still watching old Raws and Prime Time Wrestling episodes weekly and love them just as much as I always have.
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r.
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Bye
Posts: 16,478
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Post by r. on Jan 12, 2022 11:46:29 GMT -5
Now?
With the exception of NXT (Pre 2.0) I have been keeping up with WWE solely through written recaps and youtube. I have not seen a full show since 2011.
My interest in WWE is mostly morbid curiosity, It's like if you lived near a mall that only had 3 stores still operating. You might be tempted to check in every so often to see where it goes.
I remain stupefied how a company with such a long history of treating its fan base like trash and doing everything they can to make them miserable not only still has fans but is apparently gaining fans and making record profits.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Jan 12, 2022 11:48:41 GMT -5
I have it on as background noise. Occasionally they'll do something that interests me but everything seems fo be just going through the motions right now.
Much more entertained by AEW, MLW, and Impact
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 23,580
Member is Online
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Post by Bo Rida on Jan 12, 2022 12:36:44 GMT -5
The recent NXT purge feels like they've snuffed out the last lingering bit of hope that things will ever get significantly better. The whole company is rotten to the core.
I've said before that even in previous on-screen lows certain things remained constant and/or meaningful, almost a throughline. Since then even more has been rendered meaningless or at least diminished. Off screen their business practices are morally bankrupt and no longer possible to overlook. Even relatively recent litdown era (2016) barely feels like the same company.
I see a handful of top talent as echos of what once was and read recaps/watch gifs to see how they're going but I don't see the conditions existing for them to be replaced (other than one chosen top guy). Once they're gone that's it. Some things will still look the same but they'll essentially be a new company wearing the hollow shell of WWE to produce souless content for the highest bidder.
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Zen411
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 3,746
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Post by Zen411 on Jan 14, 2022 10:39:38 GMT -5
I remember when you absolutely had to watch raw and if you missed it you couldn't wait to get your eyes on results to see what you missed. Nowadays, meh. Who cares. I used to text friends and get so excited about ppvs. Now who cares.
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clifford
King Koopa
Shingo Takagi stan
Posts: 10,683
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Post by clifford on Jan 14, 2022 11:13:24 GMT -5
Then.
Now.
Forever.
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Post by nihilismizhawt on Jan 14, 2022 11:23:33 GMT -5
I think the reasons are twofold.
1) They make a lot of money from their TV deals and Saudi Arabia. They dont need to really worry about maintaining their fanbase, because those contracts are long term, and don't depend on people ordering PPVs. When their tv deals come up, they may try to book differently, trying to bump up ratings. Its just content.
2) A lot of their fanbase is driven by their 50 years of history. If WWE were a new company, they would get ratings like NXT does. Raw has people who will watch no matter what. They know that, and its just about putting something out week to week.
I will say for me, personally, the dismantling of NXT, the firings of everyone who worked there, its awful. I cant imagine ever investing in something like those mid-10's Takeovers. A shame.
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Post by Confused Mark Wahlberg on Jan 14, 2022 11:27:41 GMT -5
I'm bored with wrestling in general right now. I haven't watched Raw in months, but it's not like I'm watching any other show either.
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asuka007
Fry's dog Seymour
Posts: 20,748
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Post by asuka007 on Jan 14, 2022 12:31:36 GMT -5
I feel like the fact that can already get a pretty solid idea of what the big feuds going into Mania are likely to be, and NONE of them are all that exciting to me. And most of her rest of the roster feels like WWE could care less about them. Kind of says it all.
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Post by Germansuplex on Jan 15, 2022 7:45:36 GMT -5
I dunno if it's been mentioned before, but the artificial crowd noises make it impossible for me to watch this shit. It's so blatantly obvious, even worse than the Seagull Pop back in the day. Absolutely atrocious production choice.
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Post by prowresblog on Jan 15, 2022 9:49:16 GMT -5
I gave up a long time ago. The first time I stopped watching was during JBL's title reign. The second time was Daniel Bryan vs The Authority.
I really don't know how anyone can sit through WWE weekly. The booking doesn't make sense and they are going to push what they want regardless of whether you like it or not. The same people have the same matches on TV every week and you just never know when your favorite wrestler is going to do the job to budget cuts. Raw also being 3 hours is a major turnoff and even if it's good, I don't really want to sit through it.
NXT is really the only show I watch regularly and while I like the new direction, the show still has a bland feeling to it like the old NXT did. They need to remove the rest of the older NXT guys.
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Post by Ryushinku on Jan 15, 2022 19:26:06 GMT -5
I mean, I've kinda been disconnected since my peak years of 1997-2002.
But got to admit, the last three years or so particularly, 95% of the time I'm reading reports and comments rather than actually watching stuff. I used to watch everything during the Monday Night Wars.
This isn't a WWE only thing, either. I just don't have the time or inclination to watch as much as I used to. It's often just the biggest shows or matches, which in WWE's case, often means just the Rumble, WM and usually SummerSlam each year.
Still love a good match or something ludicrous, but I'm definitely not as emotionally invested in every detail as I was in my twenties.
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Strotha
Hank Scorpio
In heaven, everything is fine
Posts: 6,384
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Post by Strotha on Jan 16, 2022 19:00:54 GMT -5
Between WWE's general shittiness and life in general the past few years I've really struggled to get into wrestling much at all, which is sad because I've been a fan since I was like 6 and it's always been a passion and escape for me. WWE at this point is borderline dead to me and I love AEW but just can't build up the passion for it I know I should have. I'll always be a wrestling fan, that'll never change, but right now I just can't get into it much.
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Post by corndog on Jan 17, 2022 12:40:26 GMT -5
I think the reasons are twofold. 1) They make a lot of money from their TV deals and Saudi Arabia. They dont need to really worry about maintaining their fanbase, because those contracts are long term, and don't depend on people ordering PPVs. When their tv deals come up, they may try to book differently, trying to bump up ratings. Its just content. 2) A lot of their fanbase is driven by their 50 years of history. If WWE were a new company, they would get ratings like NXT does. Raw has people who will watch no matter what. They know that, and its just about putting something out week to week. I will say for me, personally, the dismantling of NXT, the firings of everyone who worked there, its awful. I cant imagine ever investing in something like those mid-10's Takeovers. A shame. The tv deals and Saudi blood money are all they need. I quit watching completely in 2016 and haven't looked back. Got into New Japan and the indies, now with AEW there really is no reason to watch at all. Anyone disconnected with the product just needs to look elsewhere, there really isn't an excuse with all of the alternatives, especially now that North America has multiple alternatives for any type of fan. The WWE/Vince doesn't give a crap about us and hasn't catered to us for a long time. For a while, they at least had something to offer, whether it was a few of Jericho's character changes, the rise of Daniel Bryan, CM Punk's pipebomb, some fun midcarders like Heath Slater and Zack Ryder, some damn good wrestling in NXT, but that is all in the past. Also just look where all of those things ended, the fans loved them and eventually Vince cut their legs off. He doesn't want the fans to have any power in the product, he needs to be in control. All because fan favorites like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and the Ultimate Warrior burned him. He wouldn't even fully commit to Bret Hart and always preferred Shawn Michaels, despite being a drug addict, all because Bret wasn't his first choice.
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