What era would you have liked to have been at your peak of fandom in?

[Porkchopcash]

Luckily enough i'm old enough to have watched the later stages of WOS as it happened, WWF when it was first broadcast over here, WCW as soon as it was shown here. But the main content i try to veiw on You Tube is Memphis and Dallas wrestling in the early-mid 80s. I would have loved to have been a young chap living in the area watching that stuff. To me that is wrestling at it's best. So if you could have been in your most enthusiastic wrestling fan mode, what era/territory etc would it be?

[Kaz Hayashi]

Early Smokey, Deep South, Portland to name a few. You have hit the nail on the head really.

 

I suppose it's still the time frame that hasn't been forced on us. There's enough on the network, enough discussion with the likes of Cornys shoots etc, but it hasn't been rinsed and somewhat ruined like the attitude era has.

 

It still has a wonderful mystique about it, it's where our attitude hero's and prior donned their trade, it featured a time where the characters completely sapped you in and it was all done beautifully.

 

Send me back to the early - mid 80's please, make me 21 year old with a driver's license and I'll be happy.

[Porkchopcash]

Imagine being about 15 or so, discovering liquor and living in Memphis in the early 80s and going to the wrestling. Life would be grand!

[tiger_rick]

I think I was at the right times already. I was wrestling bonkers and while not oblivious to it being a work, still definitely a mark in the cartoon glory days of 90-92.

 

Then I was a young man of 17-18 for the absolute blast that was the WWF through 1997 and into 1998. Ithe was everywhere again and I ate it up. Actually had friends again who watched after being last man standing for the previous 5 years.

 

In a different life, being accessible to MSG in the early-mid 80s or somewhere like Greensboro, NC for the rest of the decade and imagining the shows and the talents you'd have seen passing through would have been incredible.

[KingofSports]

I go further back with WoS, though football commitments somewhat limited how much of it I saw. Watched NWA/WCW from 1990 onwards, but not religiously. Started viewing WWF in '91 (when we got Cable). Caught virtually every PPV from late '91 to 2003, taking days or ½ days off work to watch them 'live' + 99% of all RAW & Smackdown episodes between 1993 & 2002 (S/down from '99). The only time I felt I was missing out was around '98 when NJPW on Eurosport & ECW on Bravo were broadcast. I desparately wanted to see & know more about them, but as I didn't have internet access, that wasn't possible. So basically, I wish I'd had the Web in 1997. Eventually got it 4 years later. The territories & pre-1990 WWF have never really had any appeal for me. Nice to see bits 'n' pieces, but that's someonelse's history and I'm happy to have been able to watch the British equivalent, when it was relevant.

[Linus]

Mark me down as another one to have been around for Mid-Atlantic, Georgia, Dallas and the rest in the late 70s, early 80s. To see the careers of Flair, Rhodes, Brody, the Freebirds, Piper, Lawler, and so many others, kick off live would have been incredible.

 

On the flip side, I'm incredibly grateful to be witnessing the current British scene, and it has so much more to give. I didn't do much with own "career" but I'd kill to be in the FYC again in 2016.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I'm more than happy with my era of fandom. 1990 onwards was a great time to be a fan. You fall in love with the era that go you into it. I wouldnt want to swap it for anything else, because I have so many great memories.

[Kaz Hayashi]

I think I was at the right times already. I was wrestling bonkers and while not oblivious to it being a work, still definitely a mark in the cartoon glory days of 90-92.

 

Then I was a young man of 17-18 for the absolute blast that was the WWF through 1997 and into 1998. Ithe was everywhere again and I ate it up. Actually had friends again who watched after being last man standing for the previous 5 years.

 

In a different life, being accessible to MSG in the early-mid 80s or somewhere like Greensboro, NC for the rest of the decade and imagining the shows and the talents you'd have seen passing through would have been incredible.

Ohh 100% agree. Wish I'd have said as much in my initial post. I wouldn't swap 1990 to 2002 for anything.

[The Reverend]

I would've loved to have been 21 in about 1985, plenty of spare cash swooshing around through working and being able to jump on a plane and go to Wrestlemania, Summerslams etc. throughout the glory days of the 80's. But then again I was 12 in 1992 - the best age to be at in that glorious year that was the biggest and best year (and likely ever to be) for wrestling in this country.

[DraxSpago]

I'm more than happy with my era of fandom. 1990 onwards was a great time to be a fan. You fall in love with the era that go you into it. I wouldnt want to swap it for anything else, because I have so many great memories.

Yeah I'm the same, me seeing the toy catalogue when I was 5/6 made me a fan, nowt to do with angles or feuds

[stevieg1980]

WCW May 96-Mid 98. Just for the longest time the best stuff to watch with your mates after a Friday night drinking at 16-18. I was one of the winners of the Cartoon Network comp when it was on teletext too. The 7 PPV VHS' are still pride of place on my shelves.

[Sergio Mendacious]

I wouldn't trade being the age I was during the 1996-2001 era, but if I had to, I'd love to be a fan in Florida in the late 70s to mid 80s

I wouldn't trade being the age I was during the 1996-2001 era, but if I had to, I'd love to be a fan in Florida in the late 70s to mid 80s

[Arch Stanton]

I'm sure most of us wouldn't want to swap our experience for another and trade in all those fond memories we have, but if I was to choose another time and place to experience being a fan I think it would have been great to have grown up in the late seventies or early eighties in one of those territories where wrestling was just the big thing in town and people would pack into arenas every single week for the shows. Places like Tampa, Dallas, Charlotte or Memphis. I guess I'd go for Florida if pushed to pick one. When you hear wrestlers talking about those days, having been there as either fans or workers, it just paints such a happy picture, pure Americana.

 

Edit: Ha, looks like I'm sharing a time machine with Billy D!

[NEWM]

As with Ian, Rick and others in the 1990 WWF club, it's hard not to feel like yours is the best of the lot, in the way the product aged and evolved with you. But if could choose another, I think I'd have wanted to live in or near New York City for Hogan winning the title in 1984, and have MSG as my regular show as the company took off.

 

Imagine even just by say, the end of 1997, all the amazing matches and moments you would have seen if you were a Garden regular. Proper golden age arena for the company at the time, which seems to have fizzled in recent years.

[Love-Wilcox]

The easy answer is "I wouldn't change a thing" but I'll play along.

 

I typically struggle to go back and watch wrestling that is "before my time" as a fan because generally I'm just not emotionally invested enough to really care. With that being said I'm still pretty enthralled with almost everything that came out of Japan in the 90's. All Japan, All Japan Women's, New Japan, FMW etc. So many guys and girls at their peak: Misawa, Kobashi, Toyota, Hokuto, Liger, Muta, Onita, Hayabusa and that's just a small fraction of the talent doing the rounds back then.

To see that all unfold in real time and REALLY get emotionally invested would be magic.