Do any Dopers follow pro wrestling?

Cafe Society
1

Yeah yeah, I know pro wrestling is staged, the matches are predetermined and scripted and practiced beforehand. Wrestling is an athletic exhibition rather than a competition. But I like it anyway. I’d much rather watch a good World Wrestling Entertainment program than a baseball or basketball game. So don’t bother coming to this thread and telling me I’m an idiot because wrestling is “fake,” or that it’s entertainment for the uneducated (I’ve got a doctorate) or “rednecks” (I’m from Miami).

But please come to this thread if you like to watch wrestling and want to weigh in with your thoughts on the current state of the WWE, or your favorite wrestlers and matches and angles, or if you prefer the glory days of WCW or ECW or WWF in the '80s, or if you prefer lucha libre or Japanese puroresu or NWA-TNA or Ring of Honor, or even Kaiju Big Battel.

I got into wrestling in 1998, right around the “boom.” Goldberg was the hugest star in WCW, and WWF was pushing Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and Mick Foley for the first time. It was an exciting time to be a fan, with the two rival promotions trying to be bigger and better and outdo each other every week. After WCW folded in 2001, I think the industry has been in decline, but it has always been a cyclical business. That said, there are still some amazing talents in the WWE that keep me interested, even though the general quality of WWE shows has been mediocre-to-bad for the last few years. Thoughts?

2

So you’re kinda new to the wrestling world.

I was a fan during the “boom” you mentioned. But I was a fan when I was a young child during the BigJohn Stud, King Kong Bundy days. Those days it was mostly big name versus jobber on TV. I think the program was called WWF Superstars and can be seen on Saturday afternoon. These days it’s all about the stories and angles and feuds. I haven’t been keeping up on a hardcore basis but I can catch on quite quick on who is battling who in the next pay-per-view. All they do is hype a big battle on a p-p-v. All that jabbering is okay if the wrestler is good on the mic but man when they get like Goldberg on the mic it’s time to tune out.

I was and still am not a fan of luche libre high flying bs wrestling. I like a bit of flair but grappling and holds is good. I miss Bret the hitman Hart. He was probably one of my favorites. He was good back in his early years in the Hart foundation. I liked the older wrestling (like when I was a kid) but today’s product seems to be more focused on keeping my generation interested with all that racy stuff. I don’t know how kids could be allowed to watch this stuff.

Oh well, I haven’t been keeping up with wrestling for the past two to three years. But I know that there are many stars that are coming up like that rapping dude John Cena, Chris Jericho seems to be getting pushed and Chris Benoit.

Just wanted to chime in that Dopers do watch wrestling, but only the few will admit to it… like us hehe.

Remember, all us wrestling fans are uneducated, trailer park trash red necks that think this world of sports is real. I’m from Toronto, Canadian born but of Korean descent, have a bachelor’s degree in Applied Science (civil engineering) and in my mid twenties and a man. You’d be surprised at the number of people I know including women who watch wrestling as a form of entertainment. It’s the male-oriented soap opera i guess.

3

I don’t watch anymore but I was raised on a steady diet of JCP as a child growing up in the Eighties. Sting, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, the Steiner Brothers, and Nikita Kolloff were my heroes, not Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or Bo Jackson.

I got disinterested in it when I hit puberty around 1995 and thus missed most of the nWo “heyday” and thankfully also missed its greatest popularity and fad appeal. I got back into it around 1998 right when both Austin and Goldberg were at their peaks and the dual nWos (I was a Wolfpac backer) ran WCW while DX battled whomever… I was never a WWF fan.

Fast forward six years later and I’m now disinterested again. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I was always an NWA / WCW / JCP fan more than I was a pro-wrestling as a whole fan. Sure, I watched some WWF/E programming and always knew who was who but the cartoonish 80s WWF and the sex oriented Attitude era WWF/E has never clicked with me that much.

Plus, I’ve always hated Hogan.

Give me another half a decade or so and I’ll probably be back into the sport. Hopefully, by the time I watch another full show of RAW (or whatever it will have morphed into by that time), people other than Triple H, his backstage friends, the McMahons, and 'roided out giants will be on my screen.

Or perhaps I’ll just get order some lucharesu. I can’t understand a word of what the announcers are saying but you can’t go wrong with Japanese juniors.

4

It never fails to surprise people that I’m a pro wrestling fan, but I am.

“It’s fake!” Of course it’s fake. Star Trek is fake as well, but I like that too. I look at wrestling as basically a soap opera with slightly simpler plot lines and the massive bonus of watching lots of stage combat.

I got into wrestling a few years back after my brother watched a couple of episodes of Smackdown and started talking about it. I watched an episode with him with every intent of mocking it, but despite myself I quite enjoyed it. A similar reaction has occurred with the friends I’ve talked into watching with me, including my civil engineer roommate, who nearly always joins me in cheering, booing, and critiquing the stage combat during Smackdown and RAW. The writing is, of course, not what it used to be, but I still get to watch people throw each other around.

I’m a huge fan of The Rock. The man is charisma incarnate. I miss watching him wrestle, but then again I’m also anxiously awaiting the DVD release of The Rundown.

5

My son watches for the sheer entertainment (“soap opera for guys” is his term) value of it, as, now, do his two young sons. When we lived in the same area, I used to watch it with him for much the same reasons.

A well-crafted story line can indeed be captivating, and the sheer artistry of these men executing some remarkable athletic maneuvers to a script (and occasionally improvising when something doesn’t come off as intended) is often intriguing to watch.

The boys know “it’s only partly real” and enjoy it in much the same way they enjoy a good movie or cartoons – it’s entertaining.

6

That’s a good way to describe it. When I watched it, it was more for the storylines and the what’s-gonna-happen-next aspect. My favorite type of match was always the Royal Rumble. Who was gonna come out next? :slight_smile:

7

Glad to see others stepping up and admitting they watch wrestling! Sorry, Madawc, but my favorites are the high-flying cruiserweights and luchadores who bring lots of acrobatics and martial arts training into the ring. Because they’re smaller guys, they’ll never get the pushes they deserve in WWE (for those who don’t know, Vince McMahon likes to push big steroid-freak men, regardless of talent, over smaller, faster, better-conditioned wrestlers.) But I “mark out” for good matches with Rey Mysterio, Hurricane Helms, Ultimo Dragon, Tajiri, Chavo Guerrero, Billy Kidman, Jamie Noble, Shannon Moore, Funaki, Paul London, and Brian “Spanky” Kendrick, who sadly just left the WWE (although it’s not like they ever used him anyway). Mysterio and Hurricane are probably my favorite wrestlers on the roster, although I think Spanky has all the potential in the world and I wish him well.

I also really like Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, and John Cena, four of the rare guys who are amazing wrestlers AND solid gold on the mic. And Chris Benoit might be the best technical wrestler in the company, so I’m always happy to see him in action.

I think WWE has a LOT of dead weight right now, but backstage politics keep the tired old stars, the huge talentless oafs, and the guys who know how to grease the right wheels on top. While I’m glad to see Cena getting a well-deserved push, it kills me to see Rob Van Dam, Matt Hardy V.1, Hurricane, and Lance Storm just floundering in the mid-card (when they’re used at all). I follow the off-screen wrestling business on the Internet, which is often more interesting than the in-ring action. And as a fan, I just get really frustrated with everything going on.

8

I agree with you Big Bad.

I have been a wrestling my since I was 6. Ric Flair was and is my favorite all-time wrestler. I highly recommend the Best of Flair DVD. The two matches with Ricky Steamboat are considered by many to be the best matches of all time. The great thing about the Flair, Stemboat fued is either guy had a ego. It was all about making each other look good and putting on the best show. They beat the living hell out of each other for nearly an hour and the ebb and flow of the match is something I have seen since.

I agree with your assessment of the current state of the WWE. I have had enough of HHH, A-Train and The Big Show. And please get some writers that know about wrestling! I am tired of stupid writing by guys that want to be sit-com writers.

9

Not only have I followed it for years, I write about it at times.

Did you know that the head writer for Raw (well under the supervision of the McMahons of course) used to write comics? Works for the Hurricane but he’s also the one who made Chris Jericho chase around Stephanie’s dog.

A huge part of the problem is that performers are getting too much input into the booking - part of what killed WCW, IMO. No one wants to look bad and when you’re booked as unbeatable (looking right at you, Trips), not only does the audience get bored but the people who deserve to move upward are held down.

10

Since I can’t be bothered to read the previous posts, I’ll go on my own little diatribe here.

Personally, I happen to prefer women’s wrestling from Japan (Joshi-puro), over most of the world’s product. The effort these women put into even the lowest-tiered match could put most American men to shame.

I also prefer the Japanese male wrestlers (Puroresu) over the americans, but I have to turn my head during some of the FMW matches (most of these matches put the best of ECW to shame!)

Now, I don’t hate WWE, but I would prefer it if they put more time and emphasis on the in-ring product and less on the storyline.

11

As a kid, I always ridiculed Wrestling as being fake and stupid. Then, in roughly 1980, I had two younger foster brothers who got into it. I started watching it, but didn’t really get into it until I took them to a couple of shows. Those were the AWA days of the up-and-coming Hogan, pre-WWF.

Been watching ever since, though I’ve run hot and cold at times.

Big Bad Voodoo Lou is right about Vince and his homoerotic fixation on large men over skill and entertainment. That’s why we have people like A-Train and Test on TV when people like Spanky and Ultimo Dragon languish on Velocity, if they’re even used.

Hell, just look at Vince. The guy isn’t a wrestler, he’s a 60 year old Executive. But it’s blatantly obvious that he’s a 'roid freak. If I had gotten into the Dead Pool, I would take him as my first pick. One day he’s going to have a stroke on national TV. Or at the mic behind the scenes.

I agree with the comments on Micheal-Paul Leveque-McMahon (Triple H) as well. I personally want the guy off my TV. Unfortunately, he’s just arranged for Chris Benoit to be transfered over to RAW so that he has a fresh face to discredit and dominate.

I’m also dead tired of Steve Austin. The guy can’t walk without knee braces and can’t wrestle because of his neck, but he can come out week after week, have everyone cower before him, and destroy them all with one stunner. F’ing Bullshit. I’d love to see someone get pissed at their treatment by the company and take this clown out at the knees on live TV.