How the internet ruined the fan inside me

[abhilash81]

24th April 2002
India

Me, my brother and a friend were just flipping through the channels on a hot summer afternoon when suddenly we stopped on channel no.8. -Ten Sports. In a blue themed arena complete with a huge fist on the entrance top, a wrestling match was going on. We're hooked at 1st sight!! In a few moments, we saw a backstage visual with Paul Heyman walking with a fierce looking beast of a human- Brock Lesnar. He'd recently debuted in the WWE the night after Wrestlemania 18. The friend kept visiting us all summer and the memories of those hot afternoons watching my favourite tv show are forever etched in my mind. This kept on going for a cool 3 years.
But then something happened.
One of my neighbours took us kids to an Internet cafe just days before Wrestlemania 21 was going to be telecast in our country( During those times, we were 2 weeks behind. Now Ten Sports telecasts the event within 10 hours of the live telecast). He told us that the event takes place in the US 2 weeks before and we can actually read what happened on the internet. This excited us in some way and we were anxious to learn the results even before we watched the PPV, just to seem cool in front of other friends. When we finally watched the PPV on tv, it just didn't feel right. We knew everything in advance and the shock factor was gone. But the internet was a new and hip thing among us children during those times and I never missed another Raw, Smackdown or a PPV result for the next few years.
Since last year's Summerslam, what I do is that keep the Net off until I've seen the actual event, and after seeing the PPV, open the internet to read kB reviews and wrestlezone news. I'm really enjoying the PPVs this way. But something went wrong one day- just after Wrestlemania 30 came to an end. I was browsing FB carefully so as not to stumble upon any photo or update posted by WWE page ( The event was to be telecast just in a few hours in India). But I accidentally saw the photo with the 21-1 sign with the Deadman in the middleand the shocked faces of the fans. The biggest mark out moment of my WWE fandom history was ruined.
Even today I wonderwhat would have been my reaction if I hadn't accidentally seen that photo on FB.
Scumbag Internet struck at the exact right moment when the biggest shock in WWE history was about to hit me, but I have to blame myself too for not being able to resist the internet for just a few hours.
Spoiler or no spoiler, I'll always be an ardent fan of this business and never stop caring.

 

[BuriedByCena]

It's a tough lesson to learn. I also learned the hard way by having movies and tv shows like the walking dead spoiled for me. It upsets me very much but that's the internet for you.

So anytime I am excited for wrestling, tv, movies or video games, I go on a complete internet blackout until I finish watching/playing it. People will also post spoilers on sites that should not even have them. They do it purposely just to anger people. Even this very website I had the walking dead spoiled for me. People are cruel.

Goodluck in the future and remember to avoid the internet like the plague.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I lived in India for a good spell and found the net the opposite while there, a great way to keep in touch with what was happening and as Youtube stuff was not really being taken down then I still got to watch a lot...although most of my viewing took place in the Bike and Barrell in Chennai over several Kingfishers... It helped me keep my column on WZ going while there too.

When I first grasped that the net could be used that way was around 1997, I went to a local net place and was into a wrestling sim called TNM, so was downloading it and all the mods etc... when I stumbled on Wrestlezone and first heard the "rumors" that Bret was leaving for WCW and he'd be dropping the belt at Survivor Series and leaving. I was a little sheepish that I'd missed all this but glad and decided to not look again.. but found I had to and the next time was on the way home from work the Sunday before Bad Blood on one of the first "pay kiosks" in the pub and what I saw chilled me... "Brian Pillman Dead!" I watched the PPV with a very different mindset to what I would have done otherwise, finding out Pillman had died live during the show would have been awful, knowing before at least meant I could decide to watch or not as he was basically my favourite of the time.

After that I did leave it alone for a bit, till after Survivor Series, which became the last time I didn't "use the net" regularly over wrestling. The aftermath of Montreal was such it fuelled my interest, even to the point I told my dad I would pay for my own net bill if required but I was having access from then on. It led to being on forums and the WZ Wannabe contest, where I earned my column on the main page.

Today, I have mixed feelings. While I dislike knowing EVERYTHING almost in advance I don't feel the net is to blame, I feel WWE in particular have made it so it is SO predictable that it doesn't make much difference. The odd time you are genuinely shocked, like a Jericho in the Rumble in 13 or Cena's return month's early feel the exception now but it's their job to keep things secret.

I don't do the "blackout" thing often and give no credence to those who are all over FB with "no spoilers etc"... It's your responsibility to look or not look, not mine to not talk about what I've seen for a period to accommodate you. Likewise it's my responsibility to avoid spoilers.

I have found the behaviour creeping into other media now though, for example playing a game... if I get stuck I quickly go for the IGN guide, but that's probably due to endless years of not being able to complete games cos of one puzzle that you then look back and feel stupid over. Likewise if a film isn't gripping me, I have developed an annoying habit of wiki'ing the plot mid way, so I can decide if I want to continue watching. With wrestling it's more that as I rarely can watch live now due to work commitments, the results/spoilers act as a guide to what I Must See, Should See, Ought To See and can Not See. It is helpful but it's not "true fandom" in that I digest every show, as intended, in it's entirety.

Avoiding the internet isn't always the best thing but knowing what to avoid is better. As an experiment me and some friends all watched Survivor Series last year "net free" and it didn't add that much to the experience, the only real "tension" was it Cena or Orton taking the title. WWE isn't really serving stuff up to make you want to not know in advance... that's kind of the problem.

Some stuff now though I really don't want to see more on... Age of Ultron, I don't want to see another trailer or even read another thing about it... it pissed me off to see Idris Elba "spoiling" to seemingly try and get out of the MCU in time for Bond to roll around. So I am now on a lockdown for that film, avoiding all I can. You won't be able to avoid everything of course, but same for Star Wars Ep 7... I just want to watch it at the time. Normally I am pretty good at avoiding if I choose... but with wrestling it's so ingrained now that it's not as simple.

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Well, it's no secret that you can find spoilers pretty much everywhere now. As a guy who watches every major event like 3-4 hours after it is over, I have to say that I can be exposed to some spoilers and I have, up until 1 year ago. I unliked all my wrestling related FB pages etc, so that there will be no pictures on my main feed. Also, I don't have any friends who watch wrestling so I can't be spoiled that way either. Thankfully, wrestling isn't big here in Greece, so I also can't be spoiled somehow when I'm walking the street or whatever. I also don't go on any wrestling sites etc until I've seen the event I want, or if I do (to catch up to everything until before the event), I do it very carefully. Ever since that, I have never been spoiled anything. If you want my advice, avoid logging in any social media until you see your Wrestlemanias/Summerslams etc. Avoid any possible spoiler, otherwise, the internet canbe catastrophic this way.

Of course, we have the other side, where people bitch about being spoiled, when they themselves go on wrestling sites and read the results beforehand, with them knowing it. They bitch about how you can see Smackdown results before it airs, when they can just avoid reading them. But hey I digress.

Do what I did. Unlike anything wrestling related. Or you can buy the Network and see it live, for just.... yea you guessed it.... 9.99!

 

[L@RISANO]

Whilst I can totally understand your situation, you guys can call me odd, but I actually like to see spoilers as they kind of help make things better for viewing.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Happens to me all the time as I'm in the UK I can't always sit up untill 5am with time difference watching wrestling PPV's, I even purposely avoid facebook or any wrestling news websites but I still usually always find out especially the royal rumble I watch it every year and can't even remember the last time I watched it before knowing the winner it is annoying.

 

[MC_Live]

The internet has surely changed me as a fan. There was a while when I would read SmackDown spoilers. But I learned the lesson you did. I stopped reading spoilers because I know it will take some of the enjoyment out of the show for me. It happened to me with the first NXT live special, ArRIVAL. The Network had a lot of feed issues, so I wasn't able to watch the main event live. Before I could watch it on the replay, the WWE App alerted me that Adrian Neville had won. Made me quite upset. It's obviously not as bad in the US as elsewhere in the world. But if you're not able to watch the show live, you just need to avoid the internet. Spoilers never make anything better if you're a fan.

 

[closet_fan]

Of course, we have the other side, where people bitch about being spoiled, when they themselves go on wrestling sites and read the results beforehand, with them knowing it. They bitch about how you can see Smackdown results before it airs, when they can just avoid reading them. But hey I digress.

This has always bothered me to. While I have tried to avoid sites to be able to see everything first-hand, including guys coming back (Batista, Lesnar), I've never gotten upset with others or sites when they talk about the spoilers or even shows that they have watched and I haven't yet.

I never understood placing blame on someone else.

Before I could watch it on the replay, the WWE App alerted me that Adrian Neville had won.

You can change this so that the app doesn't "push notifications." I know I had a run in with a notification after SummerSlam, which I chose to watch the day after. I did my best to avoid it and delete it without seeing what it was saying.

But make sure you fix that, then you won't get those anymore.

When I was a kid, I never even knew all the WWF, WCW and AWA shows that were on tv were pretaped. I just assumed everything was live. In the mid-80s, it was great because you were ALWAYS surprised.

 

[AH28]

Yeah, those moments can scar you emotionally.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Hmmm it is often said that the internet ruined wrestling. Sometimes it may.

Bear with me here as I give you a background; I am 31, I became a fan aged 7 in 1989; when I saw Macho Man and Zeus take on Hogan and Beefcake at SummerSlam 1989 with Hogan hitting 3 leg drops on Zeus to take the win. I had never seen anything like that in my 7 years on earth haha. Keep in mind (my name gives it away) I am from the UK. I became a mega fan when Bret Hart became champion; we did not get any WWF on normal TV; it was only on cable. So when we finally got cable when I was 11; I could watch all the shows like WWF Challenge, Superstars, Mania and All American Wrestling. And it was watching stars like Bret, Razor, 123 kid, HBK, IRS, Million Dollar Man, Owen Hart, Crush, Yokozuna and the Undertaker and diesel; they were fun times as a kid.

But then I think about when I first started to read insider scoops like Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Superstars of Wrestling, and other one off specials that pulled the curtain back a bit. I then got PowerSlam Magazine issue one (Owen Hart on the cover) and that pushed me to really appreciate wrestling and the art form and the business models. I went on to get that magazine for 237 months. Almost 20 years.

In many ways; all the Internet does is bring us stories like these kinds of magazines did; like the wwf's own 0900 numbers did back in the day (the original Ross Report anyone?).

It is just the modern version of these. Nobody forces anyone to read the internet like nobody forced me to buy those magazines; I bought them cos I enjoyed them, as I enjoy wrestling.