Do you reckon you'll ever stop being a fan?

[King Pitcos]

Half of us on here hate wrestling now, but we're all still drawn to watching it. Or at least looking up results, and following the gossip online and discussing it. Most of us are adults as well, so we've no excuse. Do you reckon you'll ever grow out of wrestling completely? I can't see myself ever fully losing interest in it. It's going the other way, I seem to have been getting more and more into it over the last few years. My girlfriend's given me a warning not five minutes ago about not buying any more wrestling figures this month. I told her I won't, unless Elite Collection Series 11 comes out.

 

And if it weren't for forums like this and wrestling news websites, do you reckon you'd be more of a fan (because you wouldn't have been jaded by years of "wrestling's shit nowadays and everyone ever involved in it is scum" reports) or you'd have made a clean break by now?

[The Cum Doctor]

There's still so much for me to love in wrestling. Even if it's not WWE, I can watch the US indys, and if it's not there I can watch the UK stuff and if it's not there I can watch the Japanese stuff. And I still enjoy wrestling now as much as I always have thanks to watching such a variety.

 

I suppose when I find ALL of that to be shit, then I might stop being a fan. I can't see that happening though so I can't see myself ever not being a fan.

[Lawz]

No, I doubt it. I've severly cut down how much wrestling I used to watch, I'd never miss a raw, smackdown or any PPV for about six years back from 97-2003/4 but now I don't really care, I can't stop myself not tuning into Raw if I'm awake at 2am, because theres bugger all else on (unless NFL is on, which its coming back tonight) but if Raw was 10pm Fridays there would be no chance I'd be watching these days.

 

I doubt I'll ever completely stop watching but I'm so fed up of it these days, and it sucks that something you liked so much throughout your life turns to absolute garbage.

[mdh85]

I'll always follow WWE casually, at the very least. I have done since I was about 5 years old. You don't invest twenty years in something and then lose interest entirely.

 

If WWE ever went under or ceased trading for any reason, there's a chance I wouldn't follow whatever organisation(s) took its place. But otherwise I'm probably a fan for life now, though that fandom has its inevitable peaks and troughs.

 

To answer the second question: If I didn't come here and read spoilers, and you lot moaning about trivialities, I'd enjoy the actual shows a hell of a lot more. But I get a lot of enjoyment out of debating various aspects of wrestling, and reading about the ridiculous backstage antics of our favourite musclebound loons.

[LariatTom]

I did stop being a fan for about 3 or 4 years. I completely stopped watching wrestling altogether, didn't buy any of the games or look at what was going on. Admittedly, this was from the ages of 11-15, but I did stop caring about wrestling. Then one day I was in my nan's house and my older cousin (who was living there at the time) asked if I still watched wrestling then put on TWC and showed me this little company who were using a six sided ring and had loads of high flying stuff. After that, I think he watched one of the WWE shows from that week, I liked what I saw and slowly started to gain an interest in it again.

 

These days, I doubt I'd stop becoming a fan. There's so much wrestling out there that I can always find something I like, whether in WWE, TNA, ROH, any other independent company in the USA, Japan, Mexico or the UK. Plus, going to British shows is something I really enjoy doing with friends so even if I stopped watching a lot of stuff on TV, I'd still go to shows because it's something fun and a bit different to do instead of going out and watching my friends get really drunk or playing COD with flatmates.

 

For the second question, I think this place has certainly helped keep my interest at the level it's at. I dip in and out of the product, but I pretty much always know what's going on because of this place. Helps me keep up with wrestling chat when we're down the pub.

[air_raid]

I've tried, lord I've tried. I barely watch WWE on telly any more because I just forget to record Raw and SmackDown never holds my attention, I havent watched TNA regularly for ages, and I'm thinking of selling a load of my still-sealed ROH DVDs because I need the pennies I'll probably never get round to watching them - although at least I've broken the cycle of buying a load when I've nowhere near watched everything I have.

 

HOWEVER - I just had a really expensive holiday where the main reason was to go see wrestling, I'm going to the Dragon Gate UK shows, and will take in the TNA house show in Manchester in January. I'll always read the results, and when someone tells me a great match happened, I'll watch it. I can't imagine ever being completely "cured."

[kralcdxela]

Wrestling fan for always and eternity.

[ShortOrderCook]

Nope.

 

When it's done right, it's the greatest thing in the world and nothing else has the same affect on me, grabs me, compells like wrestling does when it's on the ball. The being adults thing doesn't change that. I don't ever want to lose my childhood spirit and wrestling is my connection to that, it's the first thing I ever really enjoyed or loved or was fascinated by. No matter how much I'm required to grow up with every other aspect of my life, I'd like to remain young at heart and not lose that love for 'our great sport' that takes me back to my youth. It'll always hold that escapism for me I think.

 

Besides, I've always loved physicality and athletiscm in sport/television and love amatuer freestyle wrestling. My profession lends itself to those things anyway, so I'm just a big kid anyway I think.

[Fox Piss]

I watched wrestling from since i can remember with my brother until i was 16/17 around 2006. Only got back into wrestling when my Dad was on Ebay and said that 200 wrestling vids were going for 70 quid so i bought them randomly in November last year. Started watching them thought I'd go back on the old TWCF which was quite so i remembered here (Only from people on TWCF mentioning here.). Don't no how i already had a account here in 08. So now I'm on here and discovering more about the backstage stuff that happened over the years and that season sets are available. Currently on Nitro 96 and RAW 98 which will keep me going and now i dip in and out of WWE.

 

Does current wrestling entertain me? NO but was following wrestling around the 95 to 2002 period great? YES. Not having Sky or whatever till 1998 but always checking Sky magazine to see when the PPV's on and to get my Aunt to tape them will always stay with me.

 

But if i could leave wrestling after watching it from more than 10 years solid. I guess i could see myself leaving it again.

[King Pitcos]

Is there anyone on here who became a fan after 2001? I don't know if it's down to my mental illness or what, but I find it so hard to fathom that there are loads of wrestling fans who first got into it after the brand split. I always imagine we've all been fans since the Hogan/Warrior days, and I can understand people getting into it during the attitude era, I can even just about handle the idea that there are people who got into it in the dark days of Hart and Michaels. But I have real trouble comprehending the notion of people becoming fans in the last nine years. It must just be down to me getting older and not relating to younger people, because if you were ten and you happened upon wrestling for the first time ever and saw John Cena beating JBL or whatever, you're not gonna go "this is shit compared to when Rock and Austin were in it." There's probably people my age collecting Pokemon cards who can't understand kids now loving Ben 10.

[Loligan]

Nope I'll always watch it. By watching it, I dont mean tune into to every second of every tv show. I generally see Raw every week usually live, I read smackdown but watch it if im not doing anything else. Never miss a WWE ppv. But my daily routine includes reading this forum or news sites or twitter which is about 90% wrestlers. I'm pretty much a WWE guy - I drift into TNA from time to time but couldnt care less about ROH, Indy's, japan etc they just dont interest me. Love the history of the business in the USA, Its fascinating!

[PowerButchi]

I honestly can't see it. I've been watching since 1989 at the age of 4, and puberty, social life, women and song haven't stopped me being one, so I really can't see what will stop me being a fan. Even if I don't like wrestling at any given time, I've still got 40 years of wrestling readily available from all around the world to watch and learn about.

[Arch Stanton]

I'm in it for the long haul, I reckon. It's got to the point where I even watch the fucking rubbish stuff, because even if it's laughably bad I'll still enjoy it for the wrestlecrap factor (I'm actually watching NXT as I type this). Over the past 12 years or so I've just conditioned myself to watching wrestling week-in week-out and putting up with it. That's not to say I don't still really enjoy it, because I do, but I don't get angry about it and start flicking channels when it's shite either. I'm realistic in my expectations of the product nowadays, so I have learned never to get too over-excited which, in turn, prevents me from ever getting too pissed off when good angles go to shit or a PPV that I've paid Sky fifteen quid for doesn't deliver and I still have to get up for work in three and a half hours.

 

This forum plays a massive part in my fandom though. There was a time when nearly all of my mates watched wrestling, but not not any more. Being a wrestling fan would be shit if you had nobody to chat about it with.

[Richie Freebird]

I was really scared earlier this year. Really, really scared. I simply found no excitement whatsoever in the art form that had captivated my interests since the earliest days of my memory. Every time I put wrestling on, I felt distracted, and felt that there were other, better uses of my time. I really thought my love affair with our beautiful sport was drawing to a close.

 

ENTER the Noah show in Wolverhampton. My love was replenished, and I

[The Reverend]

With the advent of DVD traders getting more and more stuff, my interest has been kept as I've built up a huge collection of hours and hours of matches from the 80s from the WWF, WCW and indys that I could only read about back in the day. I also get a fair few of the boxsets they put out of older stars or matches (Savage, Steamboat, SNME etc.) I rarely watch any new stuff and am now more of a 'retro fan' I'll make the effort to watch Wrestlemania and if I ever hear of a particular hot match or angle (which is rare these days!) I'll dig it out. I can't ever see me not being a fan but I prefer the history of the sport now instead of the present. But who knows - perhaps something will change and we'll go back to the good old days.