Times you came back and were LOST

[Greer]

I remember not watching the WWF at the beginning of 1997.

I would tune in very rarely, just enough to sorta keep up with the action. Nitro was just too good at the time.

By the time I came back to watching around late 1997 I was so lost.

Bret Hart was leaving/gone

Terry Funk was walking around with a chainsaw

Cactus Jack was back

HBK and HHH (2 polar opposites when I was watching) were a team

The Rock was a heel

Jesse James and Billy Gunn were over

Goldust was Marilyn Manson

Ever take a break and come back to just utter confusion? This was the first time. The second break I took was around 2004 until maybe 2007. Confusion ensued again.

[The Tank]

I stopped watching wrestling after the Fingerpoke of Doom. And I only watched WCW up until then.

I end up watching a random episode of Smackdown at my grandma's in 2002, and the first thing I see is Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Jericho in a WWF ring.

Then later The Undertaker's on a motorcycle and acting normal.

It was confusing at first.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

After Locke's suicide and I realized I couldn't deny my destiny on the Island any longer.

[Greer]

Dec 25, 2011 22:53:08 GMT -5 Cry Me a Wiggle said:

After Locke's suicide and I realized I couldn't deny my destiny on the Island any longer.

Christian sees what you did there

[Lila]

I stop watching Raw in 2004 around WM20. I didn't start watching Raw againt until about late 2005.

- Trish was suddently a face again with this new Mickie James girl
- Edge and Lita was always together on TV with a damn suitcase
- Bischoff was fired
- Stephanie McMahon is a blonde
- Shawn Michaels, in general, is still on my TV wrestling (Remember, up until sometime in 2006 I hated the guy)
- Evolution is pretty much gone and Tubby Lemmy Stache is feuding with Flair

As for SD, I stop watching in 2004 and didn't watch again until 2006.

- Undertaker is no longer riding around on a motorcycle and is the deadman again
- Teddy Long as GM and Kurt is wrestling again
- King Booker in general with his wife
- Batista not on TV
- Random divas (McCool, Melina, Jillian, etc)

[BigWill]

I remember I stopped watching sometime in late 2003. Then I started up again about a year or so later, and was wondering how the hell Bradshaw from the APA became WWE champion.

Also I had stopped watching Raw sometime in the middle of a HHH/HBK feud, and when I started watching again they had reformed DX together. Still to this day, I have no idea how that happened.

[stealthamo]

I stopped watching right before the Invasion PPV, and came back to watching in late 2003.

- HHH was leading this group with Ric Flair, who returned sometime I left, and two new guys.

- One of the new guys was the IC champ and was feuding with Mick Foley, who retired a year before I stopped watching.

- Kane didn't have a mask, and was psychotic.

- Goldberg was wrestling in a WWE ring, as was Shawn Michaels, who hadn't wrestled in years.

- On Smackdown, there was huge guy named Brock Lesnar who was a gigantic asshole who was WWE champion.

- There was some white rapper named John Cena who everybody seemed to like.

- Hardcore Holly was wrestling for the WWE title.

- Stone Cold wasn't wrestling, and was a "sheriff"


All in all, it took me a while to figure out who everybody was, and what the hell happened in the two and a half years I wasn't watching.

[Hammer Smashed Ball]

Stopped watching around 2001, came back in 2006

For me it was two things. JBL‘s transformation has already been mentioned.

However...two world championship belts? Big WTF moment for me.

[Slingshot Suplay]

I stopped watching in January 2004 and came back in mid 2007, so alot of things changed. Gone were the Rock, Brock Lesnar, Goldberg,RVD, Benoit & Guerrero(sadly), while Kurt Angle was in TNA with Sting, Steiner, Christian, Booker T and Nash, while Randy Orton, Cena, Batista and Edge were the big fish in the WWE. Taker was still there, as was Triple H. Big Show was bald, Rey Mysterio was a former World Champion, ECW was back with CM Punk and Morrison fighting for the title, I had no idea who Kennedy and MVP were, The Hurricane was known as Gregory Helms, no Lita.

[The Portable Stove]

An odd one on my part, when I was younger I had a ton of wrestling tapes from the 80s and early 90s and started watching a little in about '95, not that I remember. Four years of no wrestling later, I was confused as to why Bret Hart and Lex Luger were in WCW and all of the great WWF wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were there too.

Other than that, I remember not having cable for a while after Wrestlemania X-8, then coming back later to see that Kane had switched to enjoying the fact that Hurricane was a "freak" just like him and that Shawn Michaels was back while Ric Flair feuded with Chris Jericho. I was baffled.

[Hit Girl]

Happens all the time.

[Slanted and Enchanted]

I stopped watching wrestling altogether in 1995. I didn't tune in again until 1999. Great timing on my part, eh? Needless to say, I had a LOT of catching up to do.....

[Large Father Frigid]

I quit watching in early 2002 and didn't start watching again until late 2004. Evolution was a mystery, but the biggest WTF was JBL as Champion

[Madagascar Fred]

Dec 25, 2011 22:45:34 GMT -5 Greer said:

Jesse James and Billy Gunn were over

in late 1997? LOLWUT? they didn't get over til Wrestlemania 14 or a bit afterwards...they got great SILENCE until that

[may19th]

One point I would like to make is these days, it's almost impossible to be lost.

WWE are very good at talking to the viewers like it was the first time they've seen the show. Something you can argue TNA doesn't do at all. If I watch TNA I have no idea what's going on because they don't give backstory, or even show that many replays.

[B'Cup x]

I had to take 4 months away from wwe as I was travelling. The last thing I saw was vinny mac being fired and the week after punk coming back (popping huge for cult of personality) I get back to the UK and watch first time two weeks back, and legit, despite being told I missed quite a bit, nothing seems different bar the upsetting fact of JOMO being released the week before my return x

[FUNK_US/BRODUS]

My parents cancelled the cable when I moved from Coventry to Stoke in Late 1996/early 1997, so after Survivor Series 1996, I lost touch of everything. I randomly tuned in during mid 1998, and wondered who the hell The Rock was.

[Snaptastic]

Stopped watching in 2003, and came back in 2009.

Yeah I was confused.

[The Beast Disincarnate]

I stopped watching right after Survivor Series 96 when Sid hit HBK with the camera and then after a break i checked the WWE website around Survivor Series 1998...It took me quite some time to understand that this electrifying Rock guy they were talking about and that goof Rocky Maivia i saw once were the same person...

[Deleted]

Dec 25, 2011 22:45:34 GMT -5 Greer said:

I remember not watching the WWF at the beginning of 1997.

I would tune in very rarely, just enough to sorta keep up with the action. Nitro was just too good at the time.

By the time I came back to watching around late 1997 I was so lost.

Bret Hart was leaving/gone

Terry Funk was walking around with a chainsaw

Cactus Jack was back

HBK and HHH (2 polar opposites when I was watching) were a team

The Rock was a heel

Jesse James and Billy Gunn were over

Goldust was Marilyn Manson

Ever take a break and come back to just utter confusion? This was the first time. The second break I took was around 2004 until maybe 2007. Confusion ensued again.

That was around the same time period I missed: late-April to early-October. I also missed late-December 1997 to WrestleMania XIV, so I had to do some research...the only thing keeping me abreast of any wrestling was Raw Magazine.

Hunter becoming Triple H was quite a turnaround for me.

"What the heck is a Dumpster match?"
"Okay Cactus Jack I know. Who is Chainsaw Charlie? Terry Funk? (Head in hands.)"
"Sable in the ring against Luna Vachon? Sable's gonna get killed."
"What is Goldust wearing? Why is Marc Mero teaming with him?"
"Who the heck is the Rock? Rocky Maivia? That guy with the Chia-hair who smiled all the time? He sucks, Ken Shamrock will have his ball-sack in a sling."
"Jeff Jarrett's back? With Robert Fuller? Oh crap, he's still a country singer."
"Hey, this Undertaker vs. Kane match montage is really cool. Hey whoa! They can shoot fire and lightning bolts? When did they have this power? Why couldn't Undertaker just zap Shawn and get it over with?"
"Mike Tyson?!?"