Your Viewing History....

[sungod2020]

So a running gag with the IWC is they shit on the current WWE product(maybe even other promotions) but continue to watch every week. I don't know how true that is with the IWC as a whole, but there's definitely some sections of them that do it for this stereotype to exist. When I first joined the IWC in the mid 2000s I couldn't understand why and I even did a thread titled "Don't like it, don't watch it."

This is when I was pretty pro-WWE even after my same age friends and peers tuned out. Some even called me the anti-smark because I went against the grain of traditional IWC opinion. However, I eventually realized how shit the product has become(to me) years later, and I started to tune out, only to watch it sporadically, coming back just for Royal Rumbles and Wrestlemanias while most of my knowledge of the current product was within the IWC and glances on WWE.com by viewing it out of habit(just like today). Here's a timeline of my viewing history....

Birth to Wrestlemania 25:Watched it religiously(WWF/E that is, though I did watch some WCW as a time kill). Went to every event that came to town. I even been to two Wrestlemanias(XX and XIV). My peak probably came during the Attitude Era where I could enjoy it with my same age classmates. Once it was over, those same people I use to talk about weekly with made fun of me for continuing to watch it because of how "fake and stupid" it was. Given what was going on post-Attitude(such as Katie Vick), I could see why they moved on, though I didn't realize it at the time. 

While still watching regularly, my interest kinda waned during 2006/7, and those Hornswoggle skits really tested my patience, and this is someone who's stuck with them during that awful New Generation period(Dink says "hi"). The straw that broke the camels back for me was how bad Wrestlemania 25 was, when I stopped watching completely. Up until then I was half-watching it, basically just having the TV on in the background while I was doing other things.

When my brother got me free tickets to Wrestlemania XXVIII, I was won over again and even went to RAW the next night with a friend(famous for the return of Brock Lesnar) and that kept my interest going for awhile. I then half watched it throughout the rest of the decade before tuning out completely before the 2010s came to a close. I was just too burned out over their tiresome booking, not pushing my favorites, while pushing the ones THEY wanted, fan response be damned. It also didn't help that the returning legends owned the current talent at every turn(physically even).

Eventually I became so out of tune with the product, my brother(who still kinda sorta watches himself) one time asked me who the current WWE Universal champion was, I had to think for a minute, and I got the wrong guy(Seth Rollins), when it was actually Braun Strowman. 

I still do watch wrestling documentaries such as Dark Side of The Ring and A&E biographies to get my wrestling fix and learn new things, but the current WWE landscape dosen't do it for me.

How about you?

[salz4life]

I've only been watching AEW on a weekly basis and even that is starting to wane a little (mainly because I have so many other shows I watch). I keep up with what's going on in WWE by reading threads on here. I still watch the pay-per..... premium live events, but the weekly shows I just can't do.

[Bo Rida]

Watched WWE most my life. Over time I dropped in and out, maybe watched just one brand or wm season. Once the litdown era finished I watched less and less and Kofi Vs Brock was the last straw creatively. It's impossible in my mind to separate the sports washing and their pandemic actions from the onscreen product now, sadly can't imagine I'll be back.

Wcw/ecw - Occasionally looked to see what Sting was doing but bever liked Hogan, nwo or Goldberg so only appreciated wcw in retrospect. Similar with ECW but more due to miminal acces.

The wrestling channel - Ah the golden period. Xdivison at its peak was my favourite plus some good RoH stuff, bit of Noah, czw and other promotions. Gave up on TNA once Hogan came in. Annoyingly it seems to finally be good and it's gone from free UK TV. Maybe TK will get me back to RoH.

NJPW - Tried, not big on it. Mostly just G1 and wk if the line up appeals. Hope post pandemic it'll get back on form and I'll watch more.

Aew - Perfect timing. Watch every Dynamite and Rampage and rarely skip anything (mostly just Lambert). Reinvigorated my love for wrestling and led me to...

Wrestle universe - TJPW is my favourite and I'll watch the bigger/quirkier Noah and ddt cards. Plus some other stuff on there like gcw. Doesn't always appeal, could do without ddts ass obsession or Noah's WWE booking but £6 a month is such good value.

Dabbled or caught up retrospectively on others, might try Stardom and IWTV this year.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Started watching some of my friends' tapes in '98

Started watching WCW Worldwide in late 99

Starred watching WWF on Channel 4 in early 2000

Got Sky. Watched Smackdown on Saturday morning, taped Nitro and ECW late night plus 4 PPVs a year on 4

WCW and ECW closed, 4 ended its deal so I only had heavily edited Saturday morning Smackdown so I stopped watching until 06

In 2006 I bought Summerslam because of Foley on Sky Box Office, and started mixing pirate streams of WWE and indie stuff like CZW with buying DVDs and PPVs when I could, plus TNA

Swapped to the Network when it came to the UK, stopped watching TNA when I no longer had a TV licence

Started going to indie shows after the Mae Young Classic, stopped watching WWE in 2019 when I finally couldn't justify supporting a promotion so antithetical to my beliefs, watched a lot of indies online

Supported AEW at every step of the way when I could afford it and buy indie shows periodically like GCW and EVE

[Mozenrath]

For me, I started watching wrestling sporadically as a child. I had an Ultimate Warrior night light despite only being dimly aware of who he was. Light pun.

Anyway, what got me watching consistently was around 1998. The games got good, the Monday Night Wars were interesting, and though I watched both, I found Mankind and Kane pulling me more towards WWF. Only one of those would I look back on and wince a bit.

I watched WWE consistently and fairly religiously, watching Raw, Smackdown, and Heat, and whatever side shows they had when I could. I'd also look for Japanese pro wrestling when I could, out of interest in part inspired by Foley's Japanese career. This interest largely lasted until Eddie Guerrero's passing, which shocked me out of watching wrestling for months. I came back refreshed, though, and then endured Benoit's passing. By this time, this forum was a big part of why I kept up with wrestling, since it made it more engaging.

I had been dismissive, unfairly at times, of TNA, but watched at times when my interest was piqued, like by Dr. Stevie and Daffney, and I followed ROH from afar with some curiosity. Still, WWE was by far what I watched most often

There was not one event that made me lose interest in WWE. Punk's exit hurt. Bryan's retirement hurt. AJ Lee's retirement. A lot of things hurt, really, especially as more and more revelations really damaged any capacity many fans had to have any benefit of the doubt in Vince. He'd always been known to be a weirdo, or have potentially screwed up actions in his past like accusations by Rita Chatterton, or (dubious) calls of his personal involvement in Snuka evading murder charges, but there was a bizarre integrity, like insisting wrestlers be allowed to say what they wanted to about him in their books, or his burying the hatchet with Bret, or just other things that helped people see something in him. The combination of the Saudi shows, the pandemic firings,

Anyway, also a factor was hearing about this "Kenny Omega" guy. Going to be honest, at first, my thoughts were similar to how I felt about Jay White for a time: trying a bit too hard to sell what a wild and crazy guy he was. I was more immediately impressed with Kenny's skill than I would be with Jay, but yeah, I'm sure I made the same jokes everyone does about the tons of V-Triggers per match, etc. But, I warmed up to him. I initially found the Young Bucks obnoxious, but again, I warmed up to them. I already liked Cody, so that helped matters, and his involvement in the Elite did a good bit to legitimatize them. They started looking like stars more and more. NJPW got more available to me.

Then, AEW debuted, and since then, it's been what I follow first and foremost. Everything else has largely been "do I have the free time/am I in the mood?" WWE, I mostly follow just since it remains a huge force in wrestling and the directions it goes often have far-reaching consequences. NJPW, I follow when I can, especially for Suzuki-Gun guys. Joshi, I want to follow more, as it's almost challenging to come away from a joshi show bored. I'm curious from afar towards AAA, since I do have a lot of fondness for some of them, but it's also kind of a pain in the ass to keep up with and is almost never a priority to me. I am more of a browser than dedicated follower to anything non-AEW, picking and choosing what interests me.

[Big BosskMan]

Started in the early 80s with my Dad on Saturday afternoons. First real memory of this was watching Rocky Johnson/Tony Atlas win the WWWF tag titles.

Then as Hogan's rise began, started watching WWF.

In the mid 80s, discovered the NWA and UWF, which we both got channels for on over-the-air TV.

Kind of tuned out in the early 90s for a while, but interest sparked again with ECW.

Followed ECW and tuned back into the WWF as Attitude Era started, same with WCW and nWo.

Tailed off again after the Ruthless Aggression Era in WWE.

Discovered ROH in the mall's FYE store DVD section. Got interested in ROH and went through major DVD run of their product in 2005-2006.

Interest lagged from about 2008-2018, coinciding with my getting married and starting a family. Picked back up again when NJPW was on AXStv.

Have begun watching AEW and NXT mostly. Cannot endure Raw or Smackdown.

[Kalmia]

I started watching WWF as a young kid, around WM8 time. Watched it consistently and then dropped out around 1994 to only watching sporadically. Like many, the Attitude era brought me back and I watched consistently again until the latter years of the Ruthless Aggression era. In 2010 I moved to Japan and didn't have as easy access to the shows so I watched only the Rumble and WM for several years, and kept up via message boards and stuff. When I came back to the UK in 2018 I watched the PPVs and the occasional Raw or Smackdown. Now, I only watch the occasional PPV and even that's declining. I think this year's Wrestlemania will be the first I'll miss since 8.

I got into ROH and TNA pretty early on, mainly through not entirely legal means. I had quite the collection of (official) DVDs from ROH's first three or four years and went to the tours TNA did in the UK. TNA lost me when Hogan joined, and ROH became too time-consuming to keep up with.

I watched a little NJPW when I was in Japan, partly because that was where AJ Styles ended up, and having someone I knew there made it easier to get into. That introduced me to guys like Omega and the Bucks.

AEW I've basically been with since the start, partly due to the Elite starting it, and partly due to wanting a good US-based alternative to WWE. AEW is pretty much all I watch these days.

[Cyno]

Sorta watched WWF during the tail end of the Hogan era through right at the beginning of New Generation. It was on the TV a bunch of times at the dojo I took martial arts lessons in. I never really got invested in it, but it was good background noise changing in and out of my gi.

First time I really got invested in pro wrestling was WCW in 1997 and stuck with them until mid-1999 when the product started getting unwatchably bad, only to tune in a few times during 2000 for the trainwreck factor. Then I got into WWF in the summer of 1998 and watched it near-exclusively from 1999 til 2001. I thought the WCW/ECW Alliance vs. WWF invasion angle was really dumb, though and stopped watching wrestling altogether around the time of the creation of the brand split and the name change from WWF to WWE.

Got back into WWE in 2005 thanks to college friends, and also got into TNA and ROH around that time, too. ROH was hard to catch regularly, so I mostly kept up with WWE and TNA while keeping tabs on what was happening in ROH. TNA I'd hate watch at times but I generally liked it more often then not. WWE I liked a lot at the time even if there were things I had issue with.

Gave up on regularly watching TNA when Hogan and Bischoff forced their way into things and the product transformed overnight. Then Immortal started and holy shit that was bad. Stopped watching altogether.

Kept up with WWE pretty regularly until 2018. There were things I still liked about the product though more and more it felt like it was a habit instead of something to look forward to. Gave up being a regular watcher once the Saudi Blood Money shows started up as I think they're morally repugnant and the product had gotten so damn stale by that point. I tuned in once every so often when "event" episodes were happening like the debut of Smackdown on Fox or the first pandemic episode, but the last time I watched a full episode of any WWE programming was the Smackdown after Brodie Lee died. I wanted to see if anyone was paying tribute to him (and they did like Cesaro, Big E, Danielson, etc). By then, my WWE fandom was effectively dead and buried and I can't see it ever coming back unless Vince McMahon retires or dies, and his successors have a fundamental shift in creative and business philosophy.

If not for finding out NJPW was showing stuff on AXS TV in late 2018, that probably would've been the end of my wrestling fandom altogether. But NJPW's product really engaged me in a way that no other wrestling product had done in years. The guy who stood out to me the most was Kenny Omega and then I started watching a bunch of BTE's with him, the Bucks, Cody, and the other regulars. And then a lot of the gaijin who I really liked in NJPW were going to this new company called AEW. And I've been a fan of theirs since Day 1. Thanks to its crossover with Impact last year, I got back into that company, too, enjoying it for what it is without the baggage of "lolTNA" holding them down anymore.

So while I haven't watched a full WWE show in over a year, my wrestling fandom is stronger than ever. I regularly follow more promotions than I ever had (AEW, NJPW, Impact), and hopefully Tony Khan acquiring ROH means they can bounce back, too.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

I watched WWF and some ECW during the 90s but, was WCW loyalist until the bitter end. Didn't watch a ton of wrestling after that outside of Smackdown. I always enjoyed that much more than Raw. Was a big fan of the Smackdown Six, and John Cena. As TNA started gaining prominence, I decided to throw my hat with them as a way to support ending WWE's monopoly. I was with them until 2011 when I just got sick to death of Immortal. Clearly, I'm quite the masochist.


Outside of that, My Dad used to be a friends with a lot of guys who wrestled for Mid-South and he'd used to show me tapes from there and Memphis. That had a big influence in how I see wrestling.


As I got more into Mixed Martial Arts, and especially PRIDE. I learned about the history of MMA and it's historical affiliation to pro wrestling. That got me into UWF, UWFI, and, of course, New Japan Pro Wrestling. I ended up getting into ROH not long after their first PPV, and from there, I found Pro Wrestling NOAH. Which then led me to All Japan and it's history. Though I have soft spot for the "Pro Wrestling Love" era.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Started watching WWF around late 1991 or so. Bret, Flair, Macho and Liz, Boss Man and Taker were my guys.. I’ve kept up with pro wrestling in some fashion ever since. I have other personal interests I’m more into, so they’ll overtake wrestling periodically, but there’s never been a period where I was just “totally done” with the biz.

I never had a “home promotion”, WWF was my first but I was pretty into both Superstars and WCW Saturday Night and then Raw/Nitro. As a teenager I had a ton of fun during WWF Attitude even though I look back on much of it and it doesn’t hold up as well, at least with some of the undercard nonsense because the main events with Austin, Hunter, Rock and Angle were top tier. Then I’d check out a bit of WCW 2000 and get pissed wondering why the New Blood were heels when the fans wanted to root for the young stars.

Didn’t get too much into ECW but I’ve seen impressive stuff from it.

I haven’t gone as deep into classic ROH as others, I was too into Ruthless Aggression and the Cena/Punk era in WWE while I was simultaneously rooting for and also laughing at TNA’s slipups. YouTube got me hooked on classic AJPW back in the late 2000s/2010s (and some classic Noah).

I’ll admit I’m one of the NJPW newbies who got into it through what Omega and the foreign imports were doing, but I stayed for the home talent like Okada and Naito, Ishii, Tanahashi, etc. One of the most exciting runs for a wrestling company I’ve seen in my lifetime. Hunter era NXT had some nice wrestling too, Bayley was killing it there.

These days I follow NJPW, AEW and MLW, and I’ll casually watch classic material like All Japan Women, 80s Rock n Wrestling, Georgia Championship and old school NWA, etc. Sometimes I think AEW tries too hard to appeal to inside fans, but I think they’ve got a strong product otherwise and I like how they still believe in the art of the jobber.

I don’t follow WWE as much lately, not because “they’re not rasslin’ enough”, it’s mostly how they don’t seem to value their championships as much. I got fed up with the bland feeling, stop start pushes and champs jobbing, because wins and losses should always matter in wrestling IMO. Otherwise, why should we care? That’s why I got hooked on that New Japan run, everyone wanted those titles and they were treated like holy grails. And I say that as someone who normally *likes* a lot of the crazy, sports entertainment and soap stuff- when it’s done competently, of course (Santino, peak Kurt Angle, the broken Hardyz to a degree, etc).

[Ultimo Gallos]

Started watching every week in about 78 or 79. We got Memphis,What became Mid South and GCCW on tv back then. By 83 we started getting the WWF syndicated shows. and by 86/87 between 2 or 3 channels,there was no cable out where i lived until late 1990,I could watch up to 11 hours of wrestling every Saturday.

Then Mid South/UWF died. And over the next 2 years all the wrestling disappeared off tv. Besides COntinental and Memphis. Once Continental died and we lost Memphis I quit watching.

In 92 or so started watching Memphis again,had moved and got it again. Moved in 94 and until 97 the only wrestling I watched was whatever I got in from a buddy with a connection in Japan.

Early 97 I moved again. Started watching Nitro and Raw each week. Gave up on WCW after Starrcade 97,but around that time discovered that Galavision aired AAA and CMLL. And from then until fall 2003 I watched Raw,Velocity,Heat and AAA and CMLL. Quit watching again for about a year.

Then got back into watching WWE in 2005,and from then until June 2007 I watched pretty much every show they had. Quit in June 2007.

Skip ahead to 2010 I had moved a few years before,saw a local indie was having a show in town so went. And since they I havent stopped watching. Sure now instead of WWE I watch MLW,ROH,CWFH,Impact and NJPW. But with WWE i try at least once a year to watch Raw and rarely do I make it to the first ad break before I turn the channel.

Hell I hate it when someone I enjoy watching gets signed to WWE,but also realize that they gotta make money. And I will see them in a few years when odds are good WWE cuts them. Like Keith Lee. Huge fan,met him back when outside of TX he was pretty unknown. Saw all his pre WWE work. Then he signs and I saw maybe 2 of his NXT matches.

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

Grew up watching my older brother’s wrestling tapes. The live PPV broadcasts of Survivor Series 1990 and WrestleMania VII were on constant loop in my household as a toddler alongside my Disney and Dr. Seuss ones.

My parents would buy WrestleMania on PPV for me as a birthday gift (Mania always falls around my birthday). Sometimes I’d get Royal Rumble or Survivor Series as well. There was also a local video store which had a ton of ‘80s and ‘90s PPVs and I rented those a lot.

As I got older, I could stay up a bit later and watch Raw/Smackdown weekly. One of the perks of summer break was getting to watch the full shows without worrying about my parents telling me to get to bed for school the next day.

I stopped watching Raw/Smackdown weekly when I went to college and haven’t gone back since. Now I’ll watch NXT and Dynamite, whether it be live or on DVR, and then watch whatever on the Network. I’ll tune in for the occasional PPV.

[Super Nintenjoe KBD]

Circa 1991: Started on WWF tapes around then, which were only available from a rental place near my Mam's best friend's house on other side of the city so when she was going there she'd bring me, rent some videos like some Wrestlemanias and Survivor Series on the way, plus get me a McDonald's to bring back to the house and I'd sit in the TV room watching wrestling and eating my McDs in heaven while the adults would talk in the other room. Warrior was my favourite. Don't know what spurred me to want the tapes in the first place, I'm guessing I had somehow seen something on TV before then.

Circa 1992: I remember seeing SOME WWF on TV like Papa Shango and Warrior stuff, and Undertaker-Beserker, but a WCW show was on Saturday's which I watched although don't remember much of that time. Sting was my favourite. Not sure how long that lasted but don't think into the Hogan WCW era or anything.

1996: When I was 9/10 I finally realised exactly when and where WWF was on TV that I could access, Superstars, Blast-Off and Action Zone I think, and from that point on WWF was unmissable every single week until 2001.

Late 01 and early 02: I somehow missed a few months, don't remember why, but was watching again in 02 and 03, then dropped off for years.

2007: We got broadband internet that year and I got back into WWE, also went to Canada that Summer and was watching live Raws weekly for the first time. Was also into TNA and watching that too regularly. for a few years.

2011: Gave up WWE for good after the way the Summer of Punk went really soured me and I realised it was never again going to be again what it was to me, and only get worse and worse.

2016: Somewhere around then started paying more attention to NJPW.

2019: Discovered NWA Powerrr and loved it! Was watching every week until it went on hold.

2021: Had always been wanting AEW to succeed but wasn't interested in watching any wrestling really during the pandemic with no fans there. When they came back and when I saw Punk and Bryan were coming I knew the time was now to jump on board and have been enjoying wrestling as much as the 90s again since then watching everything they put out.

[tafkaga]

Started in about '86. I knew who Hulk Hogan was. I owned a Hogan LJN figure. Then I saw Hogan on TV wrestling Beefcake and became a big fan.

During the 80's my wrestling viewing was mostly renting the VHS tapes when mom would let me, and catching SNME whenever mom turned it on.

My aunt was a big fan and gave me a giant collection of Apter mags, and I probably learned more from those than I did from watching wrestling.

Was probably '91 when I became a regular weekly viewer. WCW Saturday Night almost every week and Prime Time on Monday nights.

I was never the type that would wait for wrestling to come on and park myself in front of the TV. I would mostly watch it when I was doing something else, playing with my wrestling figures, baseball cards, drawing comics, etc.

It wasn't until Nitro that I became a devout weekly viewer, and I started watching Raw religiously to protest Ted Turner trying to put the WWF out of business! But, honestly I loved WWF and WCW in '96-'97 and consider those the prime years of my wrestling fandom.

Was a spotty WCW viewer from '98-'99, didn't watch any WWF at all.

Tried to get back into WCW again in 2000 but didn't stick with it long.

Lost interest completely until 2005 and got into TNA, but then Russo killed that.

Got into WWE for a while in 2009 and watched Smackdown and WWECW every week.

Had a few stints with WWE Network where I would just watch the monthly PPV's and I enjoyed that, but as of now I haven't watched a live wrestling show since 2019.

I also really got into 90's All Japan a few years ago and watched a few years worth of shows that I found on DVD.