Mania's last week, have you stopped watching WWE again?

["Cane Dewey" Johnson]

I was inspired by this thread. I gave weekly WWE watching a chance starting with the Wrestlemania press conference on February 8th. I wanted to see how WWE would climb out of the hole it dug for itself the SmackDown prior on February 2nd because of the infamous "not at Wrestlemania" Cody Rhodes promo. Which sounded very dumb at the time. It still sounds dumb now in retrospect. I watched every episode of SmackDown from February 9th to April 5th. This was my first time watching weekly WWE TV in 7 years? 8 years? Maybe 10 years?

SmackDown... wasn't very good. Lots and lots of talking and drawn-out segments that could have been anywhere between 5-and-15 minutes shorter. If I never have to see Randy Orton and Kevin Owens team up again it will be too soon. And I like Kevin Owens! The Escobar vs. Mysterio and Kross vs. Lashley feuds felt like they would never end. And the sound of an emergency broadcast system test would have been preferable to Corey Graves' commentary.

But I stuck with it because I wanted to give WWE a real chance to win me back as a regular viewer. If SmackDown was representative of modern-day WWE, I shudder to think what Raw was like at the time. I remember hating watching Raw near the end of my tenure, and what I read of Raw in the years I wasn't watching didn't sound any better. I stopped paying attention to what I wasn't watching when the pandemic happened.

I thought Wrestlemania 40 was okay enough, but I felt like it could have been a home run show the way I think of Wrestlemanias 14, 21, and 30 in terms of signalling a new direction for the company. To me, Wrestlemania 40 was more like hitting a double than a home run. And I decided that it's worth tapping out of watching WWE TV as a regular viewer. If a really good PPV happens, maybe I'll pop back in. Otherwise, I don't understand how this product, as a whole, not just the Cody stuff but top to bottom, is what's getting people so excited again about WWE.

There's a saying in comics fandom that "every jump-on point for somebody is also a jump-off point for somebody else," and I think this saying also applies to wrestling. So if Wrestlemania 40 was a good jump-on point as shown in the thread I linked, I'm curious to know whether anybody decided to pause or stop watching WWE after Wrestlemania 40? If so, what made you make that decision?

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

I always knew I would inspire people one day.

Obviously I'm sticking around.

[polarbearpete]

Raw’s been better than Smackdown for a while, especially if you like in-ring action primarily.

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

SD has the higher highs but damn are some weeks just the most who cares show wrestling show of the week. i usually enjoy LVL UP more and that isn't ironic

[froggyfrog]

I haven’t watched in years. Prob since early 2020. I’ve checked in at the Rumble, but I’m all in now. Watch NXT every week. Watch what I can of Raw and SD. I’m even watching all 3 AEW shows. I’m back baby

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

Apr 11, 2024 22:44:56 GMT -5 froggyfrog said:

I haven’t watched in years. Prob since early 2020. I’ve checked in at the Rumble, but I’m all in now. Watch NXT every week. Watch what I can of Raw and SD. I’m even watching all 3 AEW shows. I’m back baby

OMG Twinsies

[Zone Was Wrong]

I can get through about 2 hours of Raw before I tap out. I watch NXT most weeks. Smackdown is on during my D&D nights, so no chance of even trying to watch it.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

I haven't actually watched properly in over 10 years, and didn't actually watch Wrestlemania XL.. but the buzz and wondering what was going to happen.. that's the most I've been into the product for a long time. I was watching a lot of highlights, following threads on here a lot more. I think that will continue on for a while.

[ChitownKnight]

I cut Hulu tv because I’m not paying 75 dollars a month just to watch wrestling and the occasional sports game that I can watch at a bar. But I do follow clips and will watch the PLEs

[OGBoardPoster2005]

If the PLE has the right card I'll watch and catch up on the rest over YouTube.

I don't see the days of me returning full time and watching Raw, Smackdown and PLEs like I did in the 2000s or watching AEW along with like I did with TNA and WCW.

I started watching in 2000 and my context of wrestling prior to that was having a VHS of Survivor Series 1989 and Wrestlemania VI along with a Wrestlemania XIV watch party my Dad hosted in 1998.

I recall Booker T getting the WCW Title in an era where a black World Champion was still a stigma and watching his feud with Steiner, Jarrett, Nash and Russo with The Cat, Sting and Stevie Ray fighting by Booker's side before I started switching to Raw when Stone Cold came back to fight Rikishi and Triple H.

Even though I was born in 1991, my fandom early on was shaped by Hulkamania and this company called, "The World Wrestling Federation".

Since I started in 2000, I've had jump off and back on points. I stopped in 2003 because Raw got boring and Smackdown wasnt much better in my eyes. I started again in 2005 but jumped off again in 2007. I was back in 2009 and my 09 run til I completely stopped in 2018 was a five year rise and re-discovery of my love of wrestling with a five year decline that took me out completely.

During Covid I got intrigued and started tuning in to PLEs when they enticed me. The last 2 years I've been watching has helped rebuilt that fandom and I can say that I enjoyed wrestling the most since 2011-14 the last two years.

That said....Wrestlemania 40 left me with mixed emotions.

The fan in me loved Night 2 and the Main Event of Night 1. Cody's win at the end was reminiscent of Savage beating DiBiase, Warrior beating Hogan, Bret beating Yoko, Shawn beating Bret, Austin beating Shawn, Austin beating Rock, Batista beating Triple H, Daniel Bryan beating Batista and Orton, and Seth cashing in on the Main Event, which is the last example I can think of where a title change at Wrestlemania brought a sort of optimism in the product and direction of the company.

The fan in me also doesn't like the direction of the product. I still hate multiple World Champions, I still hate multiple Tag Team Champions. I grew up with WWE but the culture and philosophy of the WWF/WCW/ECW and classic wrestling to me still is ingrained. Yeah those companies have their own set of champions too but aside from the NWA/WCW International Championship, there wasn't such a thing as the WWF Universal Champion, just the World Wrestling Federation Championship.

I hate corporate sponsorships and yeah I do watch other sports and realize theres a lot of those, but its ingrained in me to see it on a basketball court or football stadium, but American Home Lenders on the apron and a Prime bottle on the ring just doesn't look right to me or feel right.

I didn't watch Raw on Monday but a large part of me wants to keep going, but another thinks that if i never watched wrestling again after Sunday night, that I'd be perfectly ok with it.

I've been a wrestling fan since 1997, even though I didn't watch it live til 2000 because my bedtime was 8pm lol.

Maybe its my age though, I'm 33 soon but even though I cringe at the "eVeRyThInG wAs BeTtEr On My EaRtH" crowd, I couldn't help but agree that it doesn't have the same feel it had then.

But I also think the PG era and how we present wrestling today compared to then has a lot to do and if I was born 20 years later I'd feel differently and would probably have been hyped to tune in Monday for Raw, Wednesday for Dynamite and tonight for Smackdown.

Instead I haven't watched since Sunday and I'm on the fence about tonight.

Its a weird feeling but its just where I am and have been for a while.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

I haven't watched for years--ever since the build up to the Roman era pretty much.

'Mania and Cody and the Rock interested me enough to start keeping up to date with the Raw/Smackdown results and watching interesting segments/matches on the WWE YouTube channel.

But I am not watching again, I am still interested enough to follow the results though.

[schma]

I actually picked up the sportsnet online package to watch Wrestlemania, but I've also watched Smackdown, Raw and NXT. Dear god the commercials. I swear every match on Raw had at least 1 commercial break and it wasn't a short break either. Also so they could do a 45 minute Cody/Triple H/Rock promo that managed to get a "this is awkward" chant going. Even the main event of Raw had two commercial breaks. How the hell am I supposed to get into that? That's late WCW bs.

Unless things change in the next couple of weeks, I won't be renewing the subscription. There's some excellent content but even being able to fast forward through commercials, it's nuts.

[J is Justice]

No, because Cody won.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Haven't watched WWE in over a decade and don't see myself starting up again now. Just isn't the promotion for me anymore. They've definitely improved but there's still this icky feeling I get when I think about how Vince is still a major shareholder and they're ostensibly still putting on those sportswashing blood money shows for Saudi Arabia. I'm also just really turned off by all the punching down they've been wasting time on over a promotion with half their audience over the last week. Kinda feels like I'd be supporting the playground bully, personally.

[thecrusherwi]

It's been years since I attentively sat down and watched WWE on a weekly basis. But for the last 18 months or so, I have found myself almost always having WWE on in the background when it's on. It's perfect for that (especially Raw). I can just be checking in on what's going on while I do other things or read or whatever. You can still follow it pretty good.

I am as high on WWE as I have been in at least 15 years. Maybe even 20. It's not my absolute favorite presentation of wrestling, but it's still fun to watch live and I still love wrestling, and WWE is the highest profile wrestling that's on today. I have a huge collection of old wrestling that I've been collecting for 25+ years, but how many times can you really watch the old Prime Time Wrestling episodes or 1998 Raws before it gets boring? Sometimes, you have to give the new stuff a chance.

[Muskrat]

I am considerably more invested in WWE right now then I have been in years, usually I take a month or two off after Mania but I’m sticking with it this year. Im excited for SDL tonight, I’m excited for Raw Monday. I’m more invested in WWE than AEW right now and that’s the first time that’s happened in AEW’s existence.

[Desi]

I only pay attention to WWE from January to Wrestlemania at this point.

[polarbearpete]

Apr 12, 2024 8:52:38 GMT -5 schma said:

I actually picked up the sportsnet online package to watch Wrestlemania, but I've also watched Smackdown, Raw and NXT. Dear god the commercials. I swear every match on Raw had at least 1 commercial break and it wasn't a short break either. Also so they could do a 45 minute Cody/Triple H/Rock promo that managed to get a "this is awkward" chant going. Even the main event of Raw had two commercial breaks. How the hell am I supposed to get into that? That's late WCW bs.

Unless things change in the next couple of weeks, I won't be renewing the subscription. There's some excellent content but even being able to fast forward through commercials, it's nuts.

The extra commercials in that episode is really to make up for the “commercial-free” first hour. That won’t be the case week to week.

[polarbearpete]

Apr 12, 2024 8:57:49 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

Haven't watched WWE in over a decade and don't see myself starting up again now. Just isn't the promotion for me anymore. They've definitely improved but there's still this icky feeling I get when I think about how Vince is still a major shareholder and they're ostensibly still putting on those sportswashing blood money shows for Saudi Arabia. I'm also just really turned off by all the punching down they've been wasting time on over a promotion with half their audience over the last week. Kinda feels like I'd be supporting the playground bully, personally.

If it helps at all, Vince has almost sold all of his shares, he’s down to 4.7% of the company, and I believe the overwhelming majority of those shares are collateral for loans (7.2 million of his 8 million remaining shares are for that purpose).

[Chiral]

I tried Raw this week and found it kinda dull, gonna try SD and see if that's any better. IDK if I have time for WWE with my schedule so I might be just PPV and occasional Raw/SD if I watch regularly again.