Dangerous rise of wrestling obsessives in the digital age?

[Maikeru]

When I started watching as a kid in 1991, you had Prime Time, squash-filled Superstars and Challenge and WCW Worldwide each week with the occasional PPV/SNME every couple of months. Oh and out-of-date New Japan on Eurosport and WCW PPVs on the German channel. You were looking at 7 hours a week tops to keep on top of absolutely everything, and the occasional tape on your birthday/Christmas to keep you going for months. 

 

I feel sorry for today's hardcore fan. 

 

 

Let's take the most ardent WWE fan who wants to keep up with everything:

 

- Raw, SD, NXT, Superstars and Main Event (6 hours a week without ads)

- There's probably some sort of PPV/NXT takeover/special live event on (3 hours a week)

- All the other random fresh network content; pre shows, podcasts, round tables, ride alongs etc (5 hours a week maybe)

 

So that's 14 hours a week, or a couple of hours every single day, just to cover all of the current WWE product - and then such a hardcore fan is likely to want to watch a few classic PPVs/Raws/documentaries on top of that out of the 6000 hours of archived content. 

 

 

Then of course there's the no. 2 promotion in the world. Being an avid New Japan World viewer (about 100 shows a year aired live with other wrap-around content like WWE network) as well will add another 7 hours a week or so. 

 

 

TNA isn't too much of a time-consumer anymore but still demands maybe 2.5 hours a week to watch all Impacts, Xplosions and occasional PPVs. 

 

 

ROH even less - 1.5 hours a week maybe?

 

 

Then there's the bigger name BritWres promotions (ICW, Progress, RPW, PCW etc) you might want to go watch live every few weeks and stream some of their stuff online, plus go to your local indie every couple of months (there'll definitely be one near you, there's over 120 across the UK now) - 2 hours a week on average let's say. 

 

 

Then there's Lucha Underground, WWN, PWG, CMLL, AAA, Dragon Gate, DDT, Stardom............ most of which can be followed online through streaming subs and/or iPPV.

 

There's at least a further 20 decent Japanese, US, Mexican and European indies on top of all this that can be followed online.

 

 

Meltzer recently wrote about the apparent rise in the number of super fans in recent years for whom wrestling is a huge part of their lives, coupled with the fall in casual fan numbers who just stop watching as they find it impossible to keep up.

 

Personally I'm not sure it's healthy for any hobby (especially an idle one) to demand more than maybe 10 hours a week of one's time at an absolute max; it makes me question whether it's even a good idea to have my son watch when he's old enough in case he gets obsessed! 

 

One could argue this is a wider issue as availability of entertainment in general has spiked so much in recent years with Sky/Netflix/Amazon Prime, not to mention Youtube; however:

 

a) Most of it's rubbish

b) People generally like only specific genres of film and tv shows

c) These are considerably more expensive and difficult to produce than wrestling which limits the amount of product they can offer

 

Sports fans arguably have endless amounts of content to get their teeth into, but most only watch the matches that feature their favourite team. 

 

I feel wrestling really is quite unique in the sense of having as much content as any sport, but without the loyalties that limit what real sport fans will spend their time watching or the variety of TV and film that causes only certain genres to appeal to certain audiences. 

 

I know some on this board will argue that wrestling DOES have different styles/genres (in-ring focused NJPW/ROH, entertainment-focused WWE/TNA, lucha heavy Dragon Gate/LU/CMLL/AAA, hardcore Big Japan/CZW, humour-focused DDT etc) that appeal to different types of fans. However, this just isn't true to anywhere near the same extent as more conventional forms of entertainment - wrestling is wrestling at the end of the day and an avid fan who finds ANY promotion beyond WWE (and maybe TNA) to be entertaining will almost certainly find several others they enjoy as well. 

 

I'm just curious to hear if this has been an issue on the minds of anyone else here (particularly those with young kids, given my situation that I mentioned above). Not really sure if there's any solution to it (bar WWE doing running a 'Don't try this at home'-esque 'Don't watch too much wrestling' campaign, which I don't see happening on WWE programming any time soon :-0 ), but interested to hear any thoughts. 

 

[Kaz Hayashi]

In all honesty, I find it difficult to feel sorry for anyone who can access and afford to access the sheer volume of wrestling on offer. I had limited options to watch it as a nipper, now i can watch as much or as little as i want so i'm very happy to chuck on a couple of hours on most nights.

 

I'm never up to date with Raw, nor Smackdown, I probably watch one, possibly two full episodes of each a month. I make sure I watch a 1 hour round up show before a PPV and it gives me everything i need to know. I eventually catch up with NXT, CWC and the likes, but if i don't... never mind.

 

I still class myself as a big wrestling fan, but i'm not obsessed with watching it every week without fail like people watch soaps. I'm not really a huge TV watcher either though. I have 1 or 2 series i'll record, but don't always get around to watching them. Its so bloody easy to source a roundup show for WWE too.

 

To get to what i think might be the underlying point.

 

We're a fucking crazy generation, not particularly a bad thing mind you. For those with addictive (must complete collection/watch all in order) it will be tricky. Its like trying to complete never ending WWF, Merlin Footy and Street Fighter sticker books at the same time... knowing they won't end.

 

The need to own 'all' of the content/collection is possibly at break point. There used to be a supply and demand methodology, there still is and always will be, however it's possible that products/services are being developed quicker than we can want them. 10 years ago we creamed silly at the prospect of something like the network, even at the prospect of someone uploading a near full set to YouTube. But I think we have had our fix. Whilst we enjoy it, we arnt demanding it... it's simply there. We don't go Fucking mental at new network uploads, but we happily accept it, watch it, have a bit chat and move on.

It's not dangerous, but it is similar to the consumer market of a new iPhone or Gillette razor being knocked out every 3 months.

It's basically a nightmare if your someone who simply must own/see/collect everything in order. Generally speaking, it's Fucking mint.

 

Edit - but as the lads below have said, it's not how many hours it's watched which worse than it has been. The need for needing to be 100% up to date is however tricky.

[tiger_rick]

Sorry pal but I think the thread title is bollocks. If watching hours of wrestling a week from thousands of hours of content is obsessive, I dread to think what you'd call us as kids. We'd watch wrestling 50 hours a week when we only had one tape!

[Guest]

Not really sure if there's any solution to it (bar WWE doing running a 'Don't try this at home'-esque 'Don't watch too much wrestling' campaign, which I don't see happening on WWE programming any time soon :-0 )

 

Perhaps they could follow Nintendo's lead with timed reminders: "You've been sat in front of the telly for six hours now. Maybe you should put down the Pringles and step outside for ten minutes, you greasy sack of shit. Press |> to resume."

[Your Fight Site]

 

 

Not really sure if there's any solution to it (bar WWE doing running a 'Don't try this at home'-esque 'Don't watch too much wrestling' campaign, which I don't see happening on WWE programming any time soon :-0 )

Perhaps they could follow Nintendo's lead with timed reminders: "You've been sat in front of the telly for six hours now. Maybe you should put down the Pringles and step outside for ten minutes, you greasy sack of shit. Press |> to resume."

I remember a similar spiel from MGS2 I think it was. Sat playing it in the dark and then the colonel's telling me I've been playing too long and whatnot.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

We'd watch wrestling 50 hours a week when we only had one tape!

And the rest of the time, we'd be talking about it, playing with the toys or flicking through the magazine.

 

There's still the same amount of hours in the day as their was when we were kids. I found a way to fill my days with my interests whatever access I had of it.

[Guest]

My week has started off seriously shit and I'm chuffed I get to disengage a shitload this week. Don't really get content amount complaints on the whole. It's easy to keep up in shorter time on social media and Youtube if you're a long-termer. Casuals are casuals and will come and go.

[DavidB6937]

I think it's great that there's so much content out there.

 

People can pick and choose what they want. It's not like every WWE fan HAS to watch Raw and Smackdown and NXT and CWC and all the pre-shows and post-shows and PPVs and Takeovers and documentaries in order to keep up, but they're there if they want to watch them.

 

As others have said, it's all down to personal choice. You can watch as much or as little as you want, via the TV shows or Youtube or whatever. 

 

I don't really understand what the danger is in having passionate fans that enjoy content.

[Guest]

I spend more time browsing on here than I watch wrestling in a week

[Egg Shen]

being a fan of anything in the digital era is amazing.

 

I do dread to think how my childhood/teen years may have been if id have the content available to me though. I think im very lucky to have experienced a traditional type childhood socially and in terms of being a fan of something, then reaping the benefits of the digital shit at the age i am now.

[Really Big Shoe]

I think it being the digital age you can easily pick and choose what you want to watch. In some ways the amount of programming is over saturation coverage. I mean if your a football fan you just usually watch the games of the club you support, internationals and some talking heads stuff like on Sky Sports news. Plus you get a break in the off season. But for wrestling its continuous, non stop 24/7. WWE is difficult to keep up with on its own but factor in its historic content you could watch it 24 hours a day for a number of years. In 2014 they had 40,000 hours so I'd imagine it's even more now. That roughly equates to 1666 days, about 4 and a half years if you sat going thru the 40k hours. Plus on top of that you have all the other promotions. Again it's pick and choose but somebody big into wrestling could have their life consumed by it. Which is why casual fans are going down because there's too much to keep up with and there's no break so you can't really stop and catch up at a later date. Well you can but you'd have to sit thru hours upon hours and even the most dedicated fans would find it tough watching today's programming. Attitude Era stuff would be a breeze because it's fast paced and something is always happening. Now it drags along and is very formulaic. Someone should do a WWE stress test how much can you watch in one sitting without tapping out.

[The Gaffer]

Why would you feel sorry for today's hardcore fan? They either actually genuinly want to prescribe to the insane amount of content you have outlined in your post, they don't or they fall somewhere in between. Either way it's personal choice based on dormant content available to either consume or ignore.

 

I don't get where sympathy comes into it. If people do nothing but watch wrestling all day, every day and get diabetes or bedsores or wankers cramp by proxy then it's up to them. If it wasn't wrestling it would have happened with something else.

 

I skim Raw, skim Smackdown and have the podcasts and UKFF going when I'm in work. I feel fully immersed in wrestling but I don't actually watch it that much because I need those hours for other stuff. I think my worse habit on hangover weekends was to watch one of the same 24-30 Attitude Era PPVs over and over and over and over again because they were my tapes as a kid but that was a genuine bad habit that offered no new wrestling so I cut it out.

[Sphinx]

 

 

 

Not really sure if there's any solution to it (bar WWE doing running a 'Don't try this at home'-esque 'Don't watch too much wrestling' campaign, which I don't see happening on WWE programming any time soon :-0 )

Perhaps they could follow Nintendo's lead with timed reminders: "You've been sat in front of the telly for six hours now. Maybe you should put down the Pringles and step outside for ten minutes, you greasy sack of shit. Press |> to resume."

I remember a similar spiel from MGS2 I think it was. Sat playing it in the dark and then the colonel's telling me I've been playing too long and whatnot.

That scared me shitless at the time, but I'm not familiar with the Nintendo one.

[Guest]

That scared me shitless at the time, but I'm not familiar with the Nintendo one.

[Tamura]

The OP neglects to mention that in addition to all the hours watching wrestling, the obsessive fan will spend an equally large amount of time arguing about what he or she has watched on the internet with other obsessives.