Which Wrestler(s) Turned You Into A WWE Fan?

[Peregrine FalKon]

I thought that I should dedicate a more positive thread & spice up the WWE Forum section by simply asking which wrestler made you take the switch into the unescapable world of wrestling, specifically a fan of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment. For myself, I have two:

Mickie James - [Such a suprise coming from me!] Probably the best acquisition that the WWE ever made considering the women's division. She is the only reason that I still tune into WWE programming to this day because of just how much of a great female wrestler she is. There isn't anybody like the James. She is good-looking, has excellent wrestling ability in many specialist areas, can compete with the men if need be, a veteran of the ring, can carry any match, suberb ring psychology, great charisma/promo/mic skills & she was Alexis Laree.

Kurt Angle - [Didn't see that coming did you?] This man, I believe, is the greatest professional wrestler to step into the squared [or hexagoned] circle ever. He is the only Olympic Gold Medalist to switch from amateur to professional & has put on some great classics. The first time I tuned into wrestling was the debut of Kurt Angle. From that moment on, I watched whatever company he was with just for him. Everything about this man just equaled perfection [not taking away from Mr. Perfect or Dolph Ziggler] & he was the man to make me have an undying passion for pro wrestling, even getting myself to consider taking a career as a wrestler.

So, there are mine. What's yours?

[Paradox]

The Rock is the man that made me love the wwe. The guy was amazing. He could cut the best promos every night and then go out and have some of the best matches each night. As a kid I loved all of his corny names he had for everyone, and the way he mocked each of his opponents. Whether it was the Big show, as 500 pound piece of monkey crap. Or Undertaker and his 33 pound head and his mickey mouse tattoos. i love the guy and he really made me love Wwe

[Dyslexic Wheelbarrow]

Stone Cold Steve Austin - I grew up in the Attitude Era and my first experiences with wrestling was watching Stone Cold. He's just so damn entertaining I have never gotten tired of watching anything he's done.

The Rock - Just like Stone Cold, he's just so damn entertaining. He was funny and had great matches.

Kurt Angle - He was the reason I kept watching wrestling after the departure of The Rock and Stone Cold. He was funny in his work with The Rock and Stone Cold. The "you suck" chants were a plus as well.

Honorable Mention:

Big Boss Man - I have no idea why I liked him, but I did. Maybe I just liked the fact that he brought that night stick to the ring or maybe it was I thought he was cool because he wore a cop outfit. I'm not entirely sure.

[Felderino]

The Ultimate Warrior was the man that got me hooked on wrestling, the first match I ever saw was the steel cage match from summerslam 1990 with Ravishing Rick Rude.
Looking back he stank as a wrestler but as a 7 year old I loved the energy and rawness he brought to the ring and his entrance was awesome!!

[Klown_Karnage]

Frankly, there were two wrestlers that really got my attention and kept me coming back for more and more.

Rey Mysterio: I'm a major Rey-fan, not just because I'm a big fan of underdog stories, but because of the fact that he knows now and always knew how to keep a match interesting. You never knew where he was going to jump from or where he was going to land...or what acrobatic feat he was going to do once he did. He's been consistently interesting throughout his long and storied career, which ain't over yet, and he's also (to my knowledge) the last masked wrestler in the WWE. (Do correct me if I'm wrong about that.)

The Undertaker: Yes, I know this one is soon to be overused, but there's a reason. This guy has it all, showmanship, power, versatility, and staying power. He can go to the air and to the mat, use both power and speed, be both martial artist and grappler, do both face and heel, play it straight or silly, win and lose effectively. I'm sorry for going on and on singing this guy's praises, but I truly believe that he's the best all-around wrestler of all time. That's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it.

[Lee]

It's weird as I can remember watching wrestling pretty young round my grandma's house. I can remember Hogan . Savage, Slaughter and Warrior. I remember Undertakers debut...but they didn't make me into WWE fans. That would be one man...the British Bulldog, here you had a guy from my country over there 'in America' and doing us proud. He was a true international star and to this day most of the Brits know who he is.

[CJ The Pirate]

That's a great question.

I'd have to say The Undertaker.

I can remember getting the Survivor Series on VHS taped by one of my brother's school friends and watching the Undertaker/Yokozuna casket match. The one where he lost and then ascended out. That was amazing! My brother says he can still remember the sheer amazement on my face from that day. I truely believed what happened had happened! It was brilliant!

If you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doDoT9f5Vlc

After that, my viewing was very limited. Occasional videos. Occasional best of's. A sticker collection. But nothing like that.

I began watching regularly shortly before the 1998 Royal Rumble. I can remember that PPV. It was my second PPV ever.
I remember watching Kane destroy Vader.
I remember seeing the New Age Outlaws for the first time and thinking "These guys have no chance against the LOD." After that match, I was an Outlaw fan. In a huge way.
Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Rumble. Wow! It is Stone Cold that I give the credit of making the Rumble match one of my most looked forward to events of the year. This was the match. (2002's was even better) that did that.

And then... OH AND THEN... magic struck twice for me. The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in ANOTHER CASKET MATCH. Taker lost. And I knew something else had to happen. It happened last time. Why could he ressurect that time but not this time. Kane clearly had the same idea and SET THE UNDERTAKER'S CASKET ON FIRE WHILST HE WAS STILL INSIDE! OH... MY... GOD!

That set off the whole Toll the bell ten times thing which I loved. It was like one of those old childhood dares (Say Michael Jackson three times in a mirror) It worked! And back he came! Wow! And then the match at Wrestlemania... followed by an Inferno match.

Undertaker means a great deal to me. The whole Kane storyline was My Storyline.

I've been hooked ever since.

[Auxygen]

Jeff Hardy, for sure. Just remembering how much of a daredevil he was made me want to watch WWE again.

[Thunder]

For me it was one man and one man only:

The Game: Triple H

When I was younger, the only access to wrestling I had was Sunday Night Heat. I remember seeing him on one occasion and he was practically bitching Mosh and Thrasher around (I hope that was there names). Point is, that was what encapsulated me into the WWE and the reason that I am still watching today. Triple H has been one of very few wrestlers I will ecer mark out and my favourite wrestlers period. He has accomplished everything and I think he gets an undeserved bad rep from people.

Before that point though, I used to watch WCW because it was on the normal TV and not cable. I remember watching Hogan on it and thinking "Wow, look at that". I think that was when I really started to enjoy wrestling.

[bfprimetime]

Mine would have to be HBK! I wasn't a big wrestling fan, even would said I didn't like at all. Until I saw Wrestlemania 12 ,and it was his Iron Man match that turned me into the wrestling fan that I am today.

[Deadman4ever34]

Well being a older wrestling fan, I have to say THE UNDERTAKER! I first watched the 1990 Survivor Series on BETA, and I loved how different he was. and as I saw him, I thought the same. You always had Hogan, Warrior, Austin, Rock, but when talking about Andre the Giant and Undertaker, your in two WAY different classes! Personally I like something that is different, and back in the day Undertaker was it, hands down!!

[theBusiness]

Shawn Michaels and Diesel...

I started watching wrestling when these guys were the biggest faces in the company. I was only 6 years old but I vividly remember watching these two as the final 2 in the 1996 Royal Rumble (the first ppv i ever watched live) and I was so excited. I drifted away from wrestling once HBK started getting off the scene (1997). Stone Cold is another one. He brought me back into wrestling when the Attitude Era began to peak.

[Dexter]

DX. I'm just a total freakin mark for them and always have been. They're not necessarily the greatest wrestlers who ever lived, and they're often more side-show than actual wrestling content, but dammit, they're just fun to watch.

I just get burnout after a while watching an endless stream of guys that take themselves too seriously, but then here comes DX pretty much making a mockery of the entire sport, and it WORKS. They remind us that when it comes right down to it, it's not about the technical ability and all these things we talk about in the IWC. Ultimately, it's just about having fun and being entertained, and no one does that better than DX.

[tomcat2k2]

Bret Hart (esp his matches with Mr. Perfect) definitely got me hooked on WWE. I used to watch occasionally in the "glory days" of Hulk Hogan but I did not like the cartoony feel of the product in the early 90's. Bret made it seem almost "real" in a time I was beginning persuing amateur wrestling. While he may not have been the most charismatic guy around, any fued he was involved in felt like a must see and I wasn't disappointed (Feud w/ HBK, Stone cold @ WM13.)

Honorable mention for Kurt Angle. Around the time of Angle's debut my love affair with pro wrestling was waning but Kurt brought that "real" aspect that I fellin love with with Bret Hart. The man knows how to tell a story in the ring, enough said.

[Fruits Punch Samurai]

Rapper Cena
Eddie Guerrero
Chris Benoit
Wrestlemania 20.

I had been watching wrestling for a few months before WM20. I ordered WM20 because I wanted to see who this "Undertaker" character was. I also ordered it to see Goldberg vs Lesnar (Though I knew both were leaving before hand like everyone else). I loved the Cena match and was wow'ed when he fu'ed the Big Show.
I enjoyed the matches up until the Lesnar v Goldberg. That was a shit fest. I didn't even know the Eddie vs Kurt match was on the card. I laughed so hard when Eddie pulled the boot off. Taker vs Kane bored me, Taker took to long to get to the ring :). Then Benoit vs HHH vs HBK. After Benoit Won and celebrated with Eddie i was hooked.

[flaboy]

i think for me it was kidman and the old school rey back in wcw then after the wars ended there waqs nothin really to watch but wwe and i remember the first match i saw of wwe was val venus vs old scholl goldust but what really got me in it was the hardyz jeff particually and the dudleys but also old school booker non of that king crap

[Tino571]

HULK HOGAN!! I started when I was young and always loved Hulk and whatever he did, and when he started the NWO I loved him even more.

I've always been a big fan of Undertaker as well, ever since his debut.

For some reason I was a big Mountie fan also, don't ask why I just digged the guy tazering people.

[BernacK6]

Guaranteed to be the only time this man gets mentioned on this thread: YOKOZUNA. Could anyone bodyslam him on the deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid? If this guy could bury the Undertaker (with help, of course), who could stop him?

Yoko had so much intrigue surrounding him and watching the WWE Superstars of the New Generation attempt to stop this man was very entertaining.

[Matt Fox]

Hulk Hogan. He was the man when I started watching. I started watching young, real young and can remember it, the whole eat you vitamins and says your prayers speeches really got to me at a young, tender age when I still believed wrestling was real and if you followed the Hulkster's advice you would be a good person. How could that not hook anyone.

Randy Savage. OHHH YEAHHHHHH! The flamboyance, the intensity, the mic dazzling mic work and the over the top outfit, made for a flashy, brash, but tough and calculating wrestler who could hold you in the palm of his hand. I loved the Macho Man and even had his sunglasses. Everytime I heard his music, my little ass would be bouncing up and down on the edge of the couch.

Big Boss Man. Back in the day he was the man, I mean you couldn't help but mark out to a russian leg sweep pulled off courtesy of a police baton to the throat.

What can I say, when I was younger I was a gimmick mark and those men, plus a few more made me a fan. Man I miss those days.

[Taker316]

Well quite obviously Taker got me right into the WWE. Just when your a lil kid watchin it, it was just so believable! Haha like wayyy too cool the stuff he'd do!! :P

Also, gotta say HBK was one of my favorites of all time growing up, i remember the *sexy boy* song was just so damn catchy, i'd sing it when i was a lil fella and my parents would be like ''WHAT??? thats innapropriate!!!!''

[jmt225]

I became a fan around Wrestlemania 4, so the answer is definitely Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and I'd even have to give Miss Elizabeth some credit as well. I loved all three. Savage was my favorite until he turned, but he was still someone I loved to hate after that. Savage was just so damn unique and entertaining, and then he had the most beautiful woman ever by his side. Miss Elizabeth, like I said, was just gorgeous and genuinely seemed like one of the sweetest people who ever existed. How could anyone not love her? And of course there was Hulk Hogan, who was Hulk Hogan. The dude was just larger than life and you knew you were watching something special whenever he entered the ring.

[Sasori]

BRET HART!

Quite simply, the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be. Than I'd say 'nuff said, but that might count as spam. Bret Hart was in the first match I had ever seen, I had no teeth, barely any hair, and was shitting in diapers. I was barely one years old. Plus he had like the best grappling and mat skills EVER!

[tLight]

I love wrestling when I was a kid, younger than like 7.

But the NWO and WCW is what brought me back to the sport

[ECDublegend]

I'm sad to say Chris benoit.. I loved his character and his in ring abilities were nasty. He was really edgy in my opinion and he seemed like he was an underdog kind of guy which made me like him more.

[Skrilla]

My had to be KANE. I believe it was 97 or 98. The first time I watched WWF by choice. I used to think it was really boring. I was in 5th grade and tuned into RAW and saw Kane hit Vader with a wrench. At that moment, I was hooked. I thought Kane was the coolest guy in the world. Though I am still a Kane fan, I can honestly say I am not a huge a mark as I used to be.

[Kliq]

I've said it before, but this seems like the appropriate venue to repeat myself. Shawn Michaels is the man who turned me into a television zombie on Monday nights. In all honesty I haven't been a WWE fan very long, about 7 years this year. It was all due to HBK's 2002 return. I was channel surfing and I caught a promo of his and thought "Oh yea, pro wrestling, no thanks." But he seemed older, more mature, not like the young children running around the ring these days. Okay an older man fighting against his former best friend in a street fight, this might be interesting. Needless to say I thought it would be fun to get the PPV, and after having seen HBK and HHH put on a great show, I was hooked. I didn't get into Pro Wrestling as early as most viewers, and I still get ridiculed for it to this day, but Shawn Michaels is the sole reason why I began watching Pro Wrestling.

[Louie Lips]

For me there are 2 men that were tag team partners at the time. Sometimes during either late January or early February 2003 I was really bored and there was nothing on TV so I turned on wrestling and saw RVD and Kane cut a promo and then saw their match and from then on I was hooked. The moves RVD did I thought were phenomonal, especially since I was only 11.

[dxparza]

This is an easy one for me, HBK made me the fan I am today, I remember watching the rockers totally revelutionize tag team wrestling. Than the whole barborshop incident happened and I thought shawn michales was the best thing going in professional wrestling. From that moment on he was and will always be my favorite wrestler. The fact that he was gone for 4 and a half years didn't change that fact and I'm glad I got to sit down with him at a restaurant at the airport in 2001 and just talk wrestling. I told him that I'm sorry he had to retire but I understood. He said he did miss it and " you'll never know, maybe I got one more in me.". As you all know he came back in 2002 and has had a great run over the last 7 years. There will never be another Shawn Michaels. Sorry I kinda rambled.

[Amazing Blue]

I started Watchin just after Wrestlemania 19-20, so i would have to say the following

Triple H:
This guy was so cocky and arrogant and i hated him (consider the fact i was about 7 or 8) and i would tune in to TNN just to see if he would get what he had coming to him. But deep down i secretly loved every minute of evolution domonating the RAW scene. And when they they won every belt on raw, man i went nuts!


Rob Van Dam:
The first match i can recall was Rob Van Dam vs. Someoen i cant remember.
He was so full of energy and made it look like so much fun. I broke my moms coffe table when i was ten doing the 5 star frog splash on a teddybear from the couch trough the table. good times, good times!

Biker Undertaker:
This Man was so Badass and cool. I had his whole "you're gonna pay" theme song memorized [I think i still do]. When he and Brock Lesner were on tv i was glued to the floor. I never new about the darkside undertaker, but i do like it. But to me, nothing can top the Biker Undertaker. He is the reason im a fan today

[Sargonian]

The end of WCW made me watch WWE. I became more interested with the whole "Invasion" But after 2003 I stopped watching it religiously until CM Punk came into the picture :worship:

[Jason]

One man comes to mind for me and that man is...

Stone Cold Steve Austin.

I watched a little bit of wrestling back in the early 90's when I really young, but I don't remember much from it and just forgot about it one day. Then back in late 1997 my neighbor told me to watch WCW Monday Night Nitro that night, so I did and thought it was pretty cool but I wasn't completely hooked.

One Monday night I decided to tune in to Raw and see what the other wrestling show was like, what I saw was this bald guy not taking any crap from his boss and all of a sudden he kicks him in the gut and gives him the Stunner and from then on I was hooked.

Each week I tuned in to see what Austin would do to Vince next, I just loved the attitude Austin had and just loved watching him raise hell each week.

In my opinion I think he's one of the greatest wrestlers ever.

[jericho983]

carlito john cena and paul london. the first match i ever saw was when john cena beat carlito for the U.S title. and i remmeber on the same show paul london was the most excititng guy i ever saw!

[Doctor Awesome]

solid thread. i would have to say that through 25 years of watching wrestling i have always been a favorite of ring workers as opposed to characters. through 3 decades my tastes and hobbies changed as i got older, so there were periods where the product was weak and i became more interested in other things. as the business goes, wrestlers would come along that elevated my interest and breath new life back into the sport for me. my picks are broken down by the last 3 decades.

80's
1. Ric Flair
2. Randy Savage
3. Ricky Steamboat
4. The British Bulldogs
5. Tully n' Arn

90's
1. Taz
2. Shane Douglas
3. The Great Muta
4. Dean Malenko
5. Chris Benoit

00's
1. Kurt Angle
2. Edge and Christian
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Undertaker (2002-present)
5. ROH (2002-present)

[Hacksaw Highway]

No one man for me, as I started watching literally before I can remember with my dad. Hulk Hogan would be a big one, as like all little kids I thought he was just the greatest. After he left, Bret Hart was the big one, being the top face as well as a Canadian hero. After those 2 guys, i was hooked for sure.

[unique.enigma.666]

I've been watching since I was 13, now 19, and one of the earliest memories I have is the Kurt Angle/Brock Lesnar Iron Man Match, so Lesnar and Angle are mine, that match was great and its amazing how hooked I got after watching just one thing, mean before that I dabbled with wrestling, was never something I hated or thought of as fake and useless, still to this day don't think that lol though, but was something I only saw here there, also the Angle/Lesnar steel cage match where Vince turned on Angle. Back then I had Sky1 which showed full episodes of SD in the morning so it was pretty good but only the Bottom Line was shown for Raw but still didnt mind a bit. Also remember seeing parts of Survivor Series that year, the opening 5-5 Team Lesnar v Team Angle match and the buried alive match, so theres quite a lot of wrestlers that turned me into a fan, was pretty aware of The Undertaker at that point so I was stoked whenever I saw him aswell

[RKOking]

Me I would have to say it would be
The Undertaker-I started watching wrestling during the height of his feud with Kane and then when he became The "American Badass" I thought wow omfg how could someone be this damn good.
The Hardy Boyz and Edge&Christian-The just Blew me away with the way they did all these moves which could have been classed as stunts all the Hardcore things they did just made the WWE even more intense.

[cyborg2040]

When I was a kid I used to love Sting and Hulk Hogan. I remember that every time my parents had wrestling on I would come running into the room as soon as I heard that Hogan or Sting was on the TV. I was a fan of theirs for sure, but far from hooked on wrestling much less the WW(F)E. I continued to watch here and there over the years, but I didn't get hooked until Wrestle-Mania XII when I saw Bret Hart take on Shawn Michaels in the 60 min Iron Man Match.

I became a fan of both men, and really enjoyed their matches from that point on (even the ones with Sid). To this day one of the biggest reasons I tune into RAW is to watch Shawn Michaels deliver the goods in the ring.

[Chill]

I was intitially a WCW fan and I would have taken it over WWE any day and Sting was my favourite. However, my friend began to watch WWE as well at the time and so naturally I tuned in to see what it was all about. At that time, Kane had only really made his debut and from the moment I saw Kane I became a big WWE fan. I just loved the character, his dominating ways, the cool look, the pyro and the way he brutalized people in the ring.

[J-Dogg]

I started watching WWE in 2002 but got into it more by 2004 and it was John Cena, HHH, Undertaker and Edge that got me watching, because at the time i'd gotten more into it

My first glimpse was Stone Cold back in the mid 90s and a small amount of WCW but i can't remember that far back.

Simply put Cena and HHH were the ones that had me hooked but theres many others that i could name but i won't.

[2TheMax]

I first got into wrestling around '97. Around the time when Stone Cold was raising hell and The Rock was in the Nation Of Domination. D-X and the nWo got me into wrestling too.

But Stone Cold was definetely the person that got me into wrestling. Back in my 4th Grade days, me and my friends always had a debate as to who was better between Austin and The Rock. Those moments will always stand out to me as to how I got into wrestling.

[DaNewGuy]

This is going to sound odd, but Vince McMahon.

I was hooked during the Attitude Era and remember that more often than not Austin would come out on top. I didn't want to see that, I wanted to see Vince win out. Austin attacking a wheelchair bound McMahon made me want to see Undertaker beat him even more. Undertaker and Kane double pinning Austin with McMahon taking the title contented me.

Of course, over time I grew to see McMahon as a heel, and so reacted appropriately. Thenn I watched to see McMahon get beaten. McMahon being revealed as the Higher Power just to be foiled by his wife and daughter had me excited when I watched Raw that friday (in the UK), and I watched King of the Ring to see McMahon get his ass kicked in a ladder match.

Similarly, the face who I marked out for most was X-Pac. He was really exciting to a mark in 1999, with his 'educated feet' and the broncho buster. X-Pac was awesome back in the day.

[Blade]

Bret Hart made me into a wrestling fan the first time I started. Everything from his music to his connection with the crowd to his wrestling style hooked me immediately. There were other stars who I could've been a big fan of instead, Hogan, Savage, Ric Flair. But none of them appealed to me, they didn't seem to just love wrestling as much as Bret Hart, and his love of wrestling made me respect the hell out of him too.

After Bret Hart left and the WWE was going into the attitude era, Kane became the reason I kept watching. He was insane, brutal and merciless. Sure there had been seemingly unstoppable big men, but Kane put them all to shame. He ripped the door off the Hell in a Cell and he not only was he not intimidated by Undertaker, but some of us started to believe he actually intimidated the Undertaker. And he put on some really great matches in his day.

After my hiatus from wrestling, I started watching again at Wrestlemania 24. And the two wrestlers that got me back into it were CM Punk and Randy Orton. Both guys were just new and exciting and made me really want to watch again. That's why I'm so happy to have them both the top heels on their respective shows.

[BIGGSHOW]

piper did it for me, when he hit snuka with the coconut i wanted him to get his ass kicked so bad, just for the fact of how are going to hit someone with a coconut, i was maybe 6 when that happen, so i remember the war to settle the score, pre wrestlemania then that is when i became a hogan fan, because he was with mr t huge fan of his from the a team days, but once savage came on the scene i became a big fan of his, because it was a big man's sport and savage came in and took the sport by the horns, then of course the steamboat vs savage match is my fave match of all time. then around the same time there was a name by the name of mean mark that came out managed by paul e dangerously, and he had a move called the heat seeking missle, where he would put you by the ropes, go to the opposite side of the mat climb the corner, run the ropes and drop the elbow, think of it as savage on the top ropes, but the opponent is on the other side of the ring, and then running the ropes and dropping an elbow, and of course the heart punch that was awesome, was a bully

[angry_panda]

When I was really young I used to play wrestling in my mates back garden I was always the Ultimate Warrior, he was always Hulk Hogan, but I didn’t have sky so I can’t say I was a massive wwe fan.

When I finally started to tune in regularly, it was DX in its army set up that made me a long time fan. HHH china X-pac and the outlaws, I loved umm. I like DX in general, and am glad they have re-formed, it might make raw a bit more fun to watch. But they will never be as good as when they where feuding with the Nation and the Corporation.

[King Patrick]

Hulk Hogan first got me to watch wrestling back in the early 80s, but the man that got me to hooked on McMahonism was The Macho Man, Randy Savage. At first, of course, I wanted to watch him get beat, night in and night out, but after a while, I started to enjoy his matches and his promos. This and maybe the fact that I was getting sick of seeing Hogan win, night in and night out.

I think the second place prize here goes to the Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude. Their feud, to me, at the time, was great. We have a guy with the word Ultimate in his name, yet he was beatable with the help of the Brain.

You have to keep in mind, I started watching wrestling before a lot of your parents even met, 1989, and Hogan / Savage and Warrior / Rude was the World and Intercontinental Title feuds respectively at that very moment. I don’t think I would have mind a Savage / Rude WM VI Main Event or at least for the Intercontinental Title, but this is 89 – 90 and Hogan / Warrior did just fine.

[The Notorious Big.Pad.Dee]

Kane got me into Wrestling. My first expierience with the WWE was when I was given Smackdown 2 for the ps1 at christmas one year, and Kane was the first guy I used. The supernatural part of the gimmick blew my 7-year old mind back then. I remember taking a year long hiatus from WWE in 2003, and when I started watching again, and Kane didn't have the mask, it took a lot away from the character. Never the same...

[SuperCrazy]

Stone Cold and the Rock . When started watching, it was around Wrestlemania 15, when their feud was just beginning. And then over the years, just watching it grow and evolve and get better. My favorite moment over the years had to be when the Rock and Stone Cold sang to each other before Survivor Series 01 during the invasion/alliance angle. I loved watching these two go at it, it's probably one of the greatest rivalries to ever happen in the WWE.

[Dagger Dias]

John Cena.

Growing up I knew who Hogan was etc but I wasn't a hardcore fan of wrestling. I liked Bret hart too. Was a WWF fan during the attitude era cuz of stone cold and the rock, but even then I was a casual fan. Then after WWF won the monday night wars I quit watching and did not care for WWE from 2002 until around 2005 when Cena became a big name. My roommate during my first semester of college convinced me to watch raw and smackdown for batista and cena respectively. I then caught raw more during that summer when Cena was there after the draft. I started watching just for Cena because he became my new hero since stone cold and the rock were gone. Right around fall of 2006 when Cena was feuding with Edge, was when I became a hardcore fan that never missed a raw or a smackdown. Cena got me to come back when I hated the product, so it was definately John Cena for me.
_

[RVDgurl]

I've been watching WWE wrestling since 1984, so there have been a handful of wrestlers that made me want to tune in. Of course, the migration of any former ECW or ROH wrestler to the WWE will guarantee that I watch. In the beginning, Brutus Beefcake was the man. He was my very first "favorite" wrestler. I wanted to watch all of his matches and I remember feeling disappointed if he was featured in a match in any given show.

Recently, Jack Swagger has become the WWE talent that I tune in to see. Many, many months ago when the core group of ECW originals (RVD, Sandman, Sabu, etc) left, I swore I would never watch WWECW ever again. Swagger changed that. He made me watch for the sole purpose of seeing him wrestle.

[I Am Phenom]

When I was just a lad, I can remember the first PPV I ever watched. It was a little thing called Survivor Series and we had Bret Hart's team vs Ted Dibiase's team, but we didn't know who the final member of Ted's team was. Then, he walked out. This mountain of a man wearing black and great with a trench coat and a top hat on. I said, "Wow he's big and scary."

Of course, little did I know at the time, he would go on to beat Hulk Hogan a year later and become WWF Champion. Then he continued his path of destruction through out the WWF/E. If I can remember correctly, there wasn't a top named star in the company that he hadn't beat. So they started calling him The Phenom, because he was just that, phenominal.

I don't think I need to tell you all what his name is, do I?

[Kid A]

i was a big fan in the late 80s and early 90s so firstly HBK

after that Diesel, razor ramon, bret hart, owen, steve austin, ahmed johnson, undertaker, kane

[tripolie atche]

it was hogan & savage who first introduced me to wrestling when i was like 2-3 yrs old (born in 88) but i would only watch it sporadically, then when i was around 5-6 i would watch superstars because of the hitman & HBK (when he was a mid-carder) & that too was sporadically but in 1998 is when i really became a fan because i had a wrestlemania 5 vhs tape that i found in my attic & just began to watch it it over & over again, then i would go rent past PPV tapes from video stores & watch em a few times, & fortunately people in my school were watching & talking about wrestling & i thought to myself i should watch the WWF & WCW on Monday Nights & then i just got hooked to it
(i didnt have cable back then so i had to go watch it at some family members, people i barely knew, apartment for all of 98)

i liked WCW more cuz i knew most of the wrestlers names (hogan, savage, hitman, mr. perfect, nash, hall, etc. from the WWF)

WWF i only knew the undertaker & hbk (but by that time he already began his 4 yr hiatus) but thanks to stone cold, dx, vince, & the rock i quickly became a fan of theirs also

LOL so yea it took me a while to actually get hooked to it but im glad i got to watch wrestling at the height of it when both WWF & WCW were doing crazy & edgy things (a pretty strange journey i know)

so to answer your question i guess for me it would have to be hogan because he introduced it to me but the wrestlers that got me addicted to it were the nWo because the majority of the wrestlers that i heard of were in the group & stonecold & dx because of the profanity

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

This is a really hard question. When my brother first borrowed a copy of King of The Ring off his friend, me seeing all the different wrestlers, not being able to distiguish Bret or Owen, it's hard to tell who really drew me in.

But if we're talking about who seriously got me watching, I would say The Rock. Undeniable charisma, and being so young I'm not really entitled to say HBK, as good as he was, because I was only about 5 through his main title runs. I couldnt say Hulk hogan, because I didn't watch WCW that much. but I could just as easily say Stone Cold, or The Undertaker, because they were just as exciting.

But in terms of getting me logged onto a computer and debating the greatest superstars, and coming to this wonderful site, HHH easily. No Way Out 2001 was all the proof I needed to turn me into a HHH mark, regardless of whether I was a WWE fan before it or not.

[Mustang Sally]

Randy Savage & Elizabeth.

I loved the way the guy wrestled, and his quickness, agility and abhorrent personality were enough to make me tune in each week. But the dynamic he formed with Elizabeth made watching them irresistible.

We had a "heel" wrestler with a "face" manager, the first time I can ever recall that happening. (It's a formula that worked later for Edge and Lita, at least until they turned her heel.)

But no one did it as well as Randy & Liz, and their appearance in WWF is what made me a wrestling fan.

[Kingdoug]

First of all it is very disappointing to read most of these articles and no one says the best big man to ever step into a ring.............No not Taker, Kane, Andre, or even Big Show......
BIG SEXY KEVIN NASH.........EVERY MAN WANTED TO BE HIM AND EVERY WOMAN WANTED A NIGHT WITH HIM......
His promo skills were second to none.....i remember watching a episode of WCW and he had started a fued with Ric Flair and Flair had mentioned he paved the way for wrestlers today....
Nash came out and said yea you may have paved the way for the wrestlers today but you left alot of big ass pot holes in the road, that he and the NWO were trying to fill........
I didnt know then that you were even allowed to respond to someone like Ric Flair like that......
Everytime he came out you knew he was going to be gold on the mic....
Also lets not forget he had in my opinion the BEST POWERBOMB TO EVER HAPPEN IN WRESTLING............THE JACKKNIFE........

[darbare]

when i started watchin it was pre attitude era. i loved stone cold. i would sneak andwatch him on tv when my mom didnt like wrestling. i liked undertaker, kane, dx. that whole era jus defined wrestling, and then i was watching wcw at the same time, swithcing channels back and forth. aww good times.

[Clevelan Cena]

I will be 30 in November and I started watching wrestling when i was about 3 or 4 when my uncles would have it on. The first few years i don't remember much but the people who turned me into a fan that made me remember their names were (in no particular order) Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Ultimate Warrior, Million Dollar man, Big Bossman, Jake the Snake Roberts, Ravishing Rick Rude among many others. I love tag team wrestling so the Hart Foundation (Bret and the Anvil), Demolition (Ax, Smash and later Crush), Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barberian), Twin Towers (Bossman and Akeem), Rockers (Shawn and Marty), Money Inc (Dibiase and IRS) and a whole bunch others there as well. Also I've always been a huge fan of the announcing side so guys like Bobby Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura, even McMahon helped hook me. I've always been a fan and I always will be a fan. I love the product when everyone else does and I love the product when everyone hates it. I don't see the point in bashing something I care so much about because i can always find the good in what the storylines are, no matter how terrible some of the matches or booking may be.