As a fan taking breaks

[Killercam]

Simple question....I know my stance on this but I'd like to know yalls.....is it good to take breaks from wrestling as a fan? For example in my case, growing up wrestling was all that mattered to me (my uncle was a wrestler/promoter in the 80s/early 90s in Alabama, Miss, TN, S.Car). He was one of Percy Pringles best friends (my uncle is from Mobile,AL) and even got the Undertaker to appear at a very small event in Mobile around 95/96'ish to promote a fed the two
attempted to start). I am 29, so from about 90-2002 I was as hardcore of a fan as ever. From 02-2011 I missed out on everything (my uncle was in town on the weekend of WM 27 and we watched WM 27). I was pretty underwhelmed as far as what I saw, plus I didn't know 90% of the wrestlers or anything about their careers. The only thing that kept me interested was the Rock because he is my all-time favorite. Either way, point is watching that event with my uncle kind of got me back into wrestling to the point where I would flip over for a few minutes on Monday night and watch 1 or 2 segments for a while. Then (even as bad as the product was) I started to gain interest in the characters, story lines, etc...then I started to do some research on the 10 years I missed and have somehow found my way back into WWE as much as ever. From what I read most of the fans feel like at least half of those 10 years I missed were pretty bad so I doubt I would have kept interest (especially during my college years). From what I see now though, it feels like there is a new era/generation of stars that are being born (shield, whyatts etc) so I feel like the WWE is about to go into a new direction that will be much more entertaining while I luckily got to miss most of the atrocious Cena/Orton era as it seems to be fading out. So I personally feel every hardcore fan may need a year or two or in my case 10 year break from wrestling in order to spark that fire that they used to have for the business (at least you get an off-season in every other sport).

 

[Stinger]

It definitely doesn't hurt to take a break from watching wrestling. Unlike other sports (I know wrestling is "fake," don't worry), there is no off-season and watching it every week, sometimes several times a week, for years can get old.

I was a diehard wrestling fan and watched pretty much every episode of WCW programming from 1998-2001, and then almost every episode of WWF/E from 2001-2004ish. I must have taken a break from 2004-2008 and watched it infrequently then because I have pretty much no recollection of anything that happened during that time.

I started watching TNA regularly in 2008, and I have to tell you that I really started to like it again. I took some "time off" from watching wrestling a little over a year ago and found that I really liked it again when I returned from my "sabbatical."

So yes, taking a break can be a good thing. If you want to watch, go ahead and watch. If you wanna change the channel, go ahead. If you don't want to watch at all, then by all means, don't watch.

 

[ocekit]

Taking breaks is absolutely a good idea. It's easy to get burned out on something, even something you love. This is especially true now, with how many hours of wrestling WWE and TNA produce every week.

If you watch just because you feel you have to, then it can become a chore and you can end up resenting what you're watching. That's been my experience, anyway.

I subscribe to the "If you don't like it, don't watch it" school of thinking. If I find myself analyzing the program a little too much or find myself looking more at the negative than the positive aspects, I take a break (although I still watch old-school stuff on Youtube). It's easier to focus on the good parts after getting a fresh start.

When I come back, it's usually because something's really caught my attention while channel surfing or a WZ thread has me curious. And thanks to the internet, if you miss anything, you can easily catch up on what you missed.

 

[Slash-LN]

I'm around the same age as you Killercam and started watching about a year and a half before you did.
I was completely obsessed with wrestling for a long long time. I had the toys, went to shows when I could and bought the magazines. When I changed schools in junior high I made friends with this kid (who today is still one of my best friends) that said he used to like wrestling and I got him back into it. His parents would order the WWE pay per views and invite me over to watch them and then they got into it. It was awesome. My friend and I became roommates and we would watch Raw and Smackdown at our apartment and his parents would still order the pay per views and invite us to come over and watch. Then life kind of got in the way and we both quit watching for a while. So both of us took a break. We would still go watch the pay per views sometimes but for the most part we were both done. He was the only friend I had to talk to about wrestling and I didn't come online at the time.

Anyway we both started getting into it again and it was fun. Then we both went our own ways and I kind of lost interest again. Then I started living with my brother and his kids and my nephews were into it so I started watching again and coming on forums and talking about it and stuff. Then they moved away and I quit watching because I became bored with what I saw. This year I watched very few shows for several months and honestly the only reason I started watching again was because I started coming back on the forums and talking to people on here. I think without people to talk to about the shows I probably wouldn't watch very much. There is very little that appeals to me anymore (Though Raw and Impact have both been pretty solid the past few weeks).

I'm totally in favor of taking breaks. I have the same mindset of ocekit. If you don't like it then don't watch it. I certainly wouldn't think badly of anyone who steps away for a period of time because they don't like what they see. It's better than coming online and complaining week after week.

Wrestling is less of a priority for me now. It goes NFL>NHL>Wrestling.

 

[Klinz]

Gotta agree with the breaks. I started watching wrestling in 1998 or 1999 and watched pretty consistantly up until 2006. Then I went to University and like a lot of things wrestling fell by the way side. I still read spoilers and caught a Raw now and then, but overall I lost a lot of interest.

I started watching again a bit more in 2009, one of my favourite moments from Uni was having a group of around 8 people at my house, most of them non-wrestling fans, just going crazy for the HBK v Undertaker match at WM25.

I then resumed watching it again regularly in 2010 at around the time of the Nexus angle in WWE and just fell in love with it again. I think it helps that I don't really have time to watch anything outside of WWE, I always watch Raw and the PPVs, but I don't care too much for watching SmackDown or NXT, otherwise I think I would burn out because 7-9 hours of wrestling a week is alot.

 

[Matty~!]

I've been watching wrestling since the early 90's when WCW was first shown on Saturday's in the UK, even as a kid I took breaks from it sometimes through choice, sometimes through not being able to watch it because of not having the stations that carried WWF.

Despite this if I had the chance to talk about it, I loved to talk about it. I'm a real die-hard fan and have somewhat nostalgic values. I chose not to watch large parts of the attitude era / nwo era simply because of lack of attention on what happens in the ring. People can talk about star value to various individuals but my favourites 9 times out of 10 were guys who could go in the ring.

In the past decade or so I was really high in to watching independent wrestling from about 2002 - 2005 and also followed WWE and TNA during that time. Due to lack of funds I slowly stopped following indies so closely.. TNA was never something I liked to watch I felt the need to watch it though because of the fanboy-ism that surrounded it at the time. As for WWE I kind of stopped watching in 2006 and just read results and if something caught my eye would go watch it.

What drew me back to watching regularly for the past couple of years was the CM Punk promo and they haven't quite killed me off from watching it. Having said that there are definitely some weeks I struggle to get in the mood for watching, as well as thinking why the hell did I just watch that after bad shows.

Deep down though I know I want it to feel as cool, exciting and fresh as it was when I first watched it over 20 years ago. That's why I still try and lay my hands on stuff I remember loving back then. It is also the reason I still watch now because when things are done right, despite knowing on some level how things work, it's absolutely gripping television.

 

[MCMG]

I've personally never taken a break from the WWE. I suppose I stopped watching TNA for a few months but I would hardly call that a sustained break.

The thing is that, through addiction or routine, I have watched wrestling all my life. It used to be massive within my family and I grew up with that. I have never thought of taking a break from wrestling because I have always enjoyed it. If I ever stopped liking the product I would stop watching; its as simple as that.

It is interesting to see if people who take breaks enjoy it us much when the start watching. For example, I had a cousin who used to watching wresting in the 90's but he stopped around the invasion, maybe just after. He watched some Rock/Cena segments at the start of 2012 and watched WM28. He didn't have a clue about the majority of the wrestlers; thought the Hell in a Cell was incredible and enjoyed The Rock beating Cena. That was effectively it. It wasn't enough to get him gripped (although Brock Lesnar returning ensured he kept some interest) It was never going to be as good as it was when he was following in the 90's when there were some incredible names/feuds.

 

[Slash-LN]

It is interesting to see if people who take breaks enjoy it us much when the start watching.

In my case I totally do enjoy it as much as I did before I took breaks at various times.
During my most recent break I wasn't watching but I was coming to the site and reading the news to see if anything major happened. I wasn't reading results though so when I started watching WWE & TNA again I had to kind of catch up on some of the stuff but that didn't really affect my interest. A factor that plays into that though is having people to talk to about it though. I think if I didn't have people to talk to about it I would probably still watch but my interest level may not be as high.

 

[HBsam31]

I have been watching since 1985 or 86 and I never really took any break from it. When I turned 21 at the end of 2001 I would take a week or two off once in a while, but that was mostly to do with being in bars on Monday night. When the novelty of that wore off I was right back to watching religiously. It is just something that is part of my life now and just never felt a break was needed for me.

 

[DarksideEric]

I took a long and lengthy break, regulated to only catching a Raw on Youtube now and then for quite some time I think between 2008-2011 or so. I didn't really "come back" but grew a bit more interested around the time of Punk's "Pipe Bomb." It wasn't until really a couple months ago where I started keeping up at WWE.com and on here. I still don't watch full shows all that much, but at least I keep up with it for the most part.

I was a giant fan during the 90s and early 00s though.

 

[Matty~!]

I'm feeling like taking a three month break until the rumble after what happened at Battleground last night... I've been running on fumes since MITB, although the summerslam main event almost jump started it, with the exception of Goldust returning I've really struggled since Summerslam.

 

[Tomahawk]

I just got back into wrestling at the Royal Rumble this year. The last time I'd watched was the SummerSlam where MVP challenged Matt Hardy to a beer drinking challenge, then SCSA showed up. That was awesome, but overall one of the worst shows I'd watched. Now that my kids are the age I was when I started watching wrestling, we haven't missed a show this year. I even took my son to his first live Raw show.

I appreciate it more now that I am older because I pay attention to more than just the matches themselves (understanding the storylines, heel/face, etc). Plus it's real fun watching my kids watch

 

[InThisVeryRing]

I am a 100% advocate of taking breaks.

I was a HARDCORE wrestling fan through out the 90's as after my dad passed away I thought I would carry on the tradition. Around 2002 I heard some scraping coming from the graveyard and, I would imagine, it was my dad spinning in his grave like the front plate of John Cena's title. Needless to say, I decided to take a break from wrestling. (at this point though, I had stated my desire to leave the squared circle viewing area forever)

Around 2008 I moved in with my current girlfriend and when we got cable, I thought I would be funny and make her watch a Monday Night Raw. It was a one-off situation as she said she was confused. Over the course of the next several months I acquired TONS of old school (1996-1999) Raw/Nitro episodes off of the internet, and took off teaching her about the 'Attitude Era' (She's a cheerleading coach and dragged me into her world, so it was my assumption she could handle a little wrestling lol)

To my surprise she REALLY got into it, and started to cheer and get into it, and ultimately got upset that I knew all of the outcomes and wanted to be on a level playing field. So off to Monday nights we went. Together we were blowing it up again, on the boards, checking rumor websites and it was a whir of excitement as my lady and I were wrestling fans.. then 2012 hit

I remember the day it happened, we were watching a DVR'd version as I had to work late that monday, so FFWRD'ing through commercials was awesome.. but then IT happened. I found myself skipping through most of the dry and cracking promo's (some of which, SHE pointed out were dusty knock off's of wrestling past) and half of the lackluster matches.

It was time to take a break, so I did. It wasn't until recently my friend lost his job and moved in with us that I've started watching again, and like an old bike you pull out of the garage, it's rusty and still squeaks a bit. I'm going to stick with it until I can't stand it, at which time i'll break again. I can't say my girlfriend is back on it, but I catch her peeking up from her cell phone when Randy Orton comes out, so maybe there is hope for the future.

 

[YourAverageGuy]

There is no problem with doing that.

I took a break from watching WWE from mid 2010 to early 2012. I stopped watching around that time because that was during the whole guest host thing for RAW which bored the hell out of me after a while. I started again in early 2012 when Y2J came back. WM28 was another big reason why I started watching again.

 

[Bro. Paul]

There have been some days for me that I've chosen not to watch wrestling because I was missing out on a social life or was really tired. I don't think I could take a break for a long period of time. There is not anything on television for me that interest me like wrestling. If I don't watch RAW or the tons of other wrestling shows, I try to at least go online and find out the summary of what happened. If someone else wanted to take a break from wrestling, I would completely understand. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm always entertained by wrestling.