What MADE you become a wrestling fan?

[thebromm]

I'm a bit of a nostalgic guy at times. I love when things happen in the industry that make me travel back in time, in my mind at least, to when I was a kid. The feelings inside you can not describe. I know a lot of us are "too smart" for our own good. Which is part of the problem in the business today. We all "know it all" and we hate everything right? Well, for most of us net fans it is true in a lot of ways.

What I'm asking today is for everyone to put their differences aside. Not only with the current product, but also with each other. I want you to disconnect yourself from all the insider knowledge you have about the business. I want you to get inside your own head and think back as far as you can as far as wrestling is concerned. Whether it was a year ago, or 60 years ago when you got hooked. Think about these particular questions:

Roughly, what year did you start watching?
It doesn't have to be exact.

What made you start watching?
A match? A family member? What was it?

What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?

What are some of your favorite matches?

What are some of your favorite moments?

Really, say whatever you want. This evening I'll be back after I'm done working to read your posts and then I'll give you mine. Have fun with it.

 

[PlayTheGame]

Honestly, it was Vince McMahon. Weird, right? Here's the story.

I remember I thought wrestling was kinda weird and I never got into in the 90's (big mistake looking back, since it was at a peak, but I didn't know that and wasn't interested). But in (I think) 2002, I was flipping through the channels one Monday night, and I found WWE Raw, and so I kept it on for a few minutes. It was going into the main event, and I was pretty shocked at what I saw. This was the time of the Flair/McMahon feud, and that night they were going to have their hardcore match for "control of the company". Keep in mind, I was young and this was before I knew wrestling was fake (or, at least, I still had some reservations, aka not knowing what was real and what was fake). So with that mindset, I watched a crazy mainevent where both guys were beating the shit out of each other with all sorts of weapons, over the control of the company no less! And then they got busted open, and were bleeding all over. I remember thinking, "woah, this is the legitimate owner of the company, and he's fighting for control of it on live tv, and is bleeding all over the place. what other company's boss is on tv fighting/bleeding? this is... different, intriguing." So I kept it on, and Vince (weirdly enough) drew me in. I started taking a liking to the characters, the storylines, the brutality, etc., and so I started to tune in more and more until it became a regular thing (a good thing to watch on a monday/thursday, but I mainly watched Raw). Then, right around the time I began watching, the Brand Extension was really setting in, and Triple H was "the guy" of Raw (and pretty much WWE at the time as well), and I found him extremely entertaining. So, that's how I became a HHH fan. Some fans grew up in the Hogan era and became his loyal fans, some grew up in the austin/rock era and became fans of those guys, same for the cena era, but I grew up in the Triple H era, and that's why he is and always will be my favorite.

So Vince lured me in, and Triple H made me stick.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

I've started watching wrestling when i was three. The year was 1996 and I was at my uncle's house, he had Nitro on. I saw Randy Savage for the first time, since then i became hooked to him and wrestling.

I stopped watching it from '08-'11 because I was sick of John Cena and the cartoonish storylines. C.M Punk got me watching it again last year by his promo's and shoots on wrestlers like cena, HHH, Nash.

 

[Death Before Disco]

When did you start watching?


Waaaaay back in 1984, when I was 4 years old.


What made you start watching?


My paternal grandfather. I used to have to go to my grandparents house on the weekend because my mom and dad had to work. My grandpa would always have Superstars and Wrestling Challenge on Saturday and Sunday mornings, right after Jimmy Swaggert, lol. He's 94 years old now, and he still watches Raw, TNA, and Smackdown. My grandpa rocks.


What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?


Hulk Hogan. I was a huge Hulkamaniac when I was a kid. I wish I could say I was a more sophisticated fan and liked people like Flair or Steamboat, but I wasn't, Hogan was my guy. I remember watching Saturday Night's main event when Andre beat Hulk in a fluke victory because of the dual Hebner referee incident and then gave the belt to The Million Dollar Man. I balled my eyes out. When Hulk was "injured" by Earthquake, I wrote him a letter and then jumped for joy when I got my printed, mass-produced reply postcard in the mail.


What are some of your favorite matches?


I'll just list a couple. My favorite match of all time is Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3. Yeah, not a big surprise, but that is probably the most perfectly paced and executed match that I've ever seen. Steamboat and Savage were perfectionists in the ring, and they were at the top of their game that night.

Another of my favorite matches is Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect at Summerslam. I became a huge Bret Hart fan after the previous year's Survivor Series, when Bret was on "The Dream Team" and he almost defeated Ted Dibiase to become the sole survivor for his team.
I was so psyched for his title match with Perfect because I loved the wrestling ability of both men and I wanted Bret to win the IC title more than anything. When Bret locked on the Sharpshooter and Perfect quickly tapped out, I ran around my house screaming at the top of my lungs.


What are some of your favorite moments?


One of my favorite moments from the past is when Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan on Monday Nitro to capture the World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg's popularity was at a fever pitch and I couldn't believe WCW was going to show this match on Nitro and not at a PPV. Everyone knew Goldberg was going to win, but it was sooo satisfying to see him destroy Hogan and hit him with the jackhammer. I was a senior in high school at the time and I remember thinking "Man, I haven't been this pumped up about wrestling in years!"

A favorite recent wrestling memory was Punk's shoot promo from last summer. The whole promo was golden, just pure lightning in a bottle. I must have watched that promo a dozen times. It was one of those rare times when the line between fantasy and reality became blurred. I love those moments.

 

[Lowdown]

I got into wrestling thanks to my older cousin back in '85. My first exposure was through his wrestling figures. he would let me watch it with him on weekends, and I was captivated by Hulk Hogan, Andre, and JYD. As I started getting older I followed Demolition, Jake the Snake, Curt Hennig, and others. Even got my feet wet with NWA in 88/89, but was a hardcore WWF fan. I pretty much followed wrestling until I couldn't watch for a two year period in high school (didn't have cable). Got back into it with Shotgun Saturday Night and WCW Worldwide.

I kinda started slipping in watching around 05-06. Wasn't really feeling what the E had to offer, yet I started again when I got cable a couple years ago, and followed Raw and Impact (I gave up on Smackdown permanently in 05). So now I strictly just follow TNA and occasionally ROH. And soon enough NWA Hollywood.

 

[asiatic7]

I became a fan in 1984. My dad was a "Wrasslin'" fan. By wrasslin', I mean he would watch the old AWA, NWA southern influenced shows.( I'm a New Yorker). He would also watch WWF and those characters were more captivating to me, so I gravitated to WWF progamming a bit more. My dad and my Godfather also had a ton of old Coliseum Home Videos featuring Lord Alfred Hayes. Those tapes had old Bruno Sammartino matches. Andre The Giant Vs. Killer Kahn and all these great matches from MSG. I remember being real passionate about wrestling as a kid. I was four going on five and thought wrestling was real. When Hulk Hogan (who was bigger than Jesus at one point in his life...or at least to me an millions of other kids in the 80's) got squashed by King Kong Bundy (who was bigger than everybody...physically) an put in an ambulance in 86', I cried my 6 year old heart out. I remember my dad saying, "Cut that crying out! That shit ain't real!" But here we are in 2012 and I can say to my deceased dad and the IWC...IT'S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMITT! I'm still a big fan to this day. God bless dad, Jesus....and Mr. McMahon.

 

[SSJPhenom]

For me, it was 1991 and my Dad had always been the biggest Pro-Wrestling fan boy. He was watching wrestling and I remember being upset because I wanted to watch cartoons.(We only had one tv in the house at the time) I hear the announcers talking and one of them say, "It's the gravest challenge that Hogan has ever faced".

Long story short, that was the night that 'Taker defeated Hogan for the WWF Title. I remember being horribly scared of, but at the same time in awe of this man they called The Undertaker. Ever since then, I've been the biggest 'Taker fan boy around. It's because of The Undertaker that I got into wrestling and when he retires, I'll cry.

 

[smizzy]

Growing up in the 90s, my parents felt compelled to shelter me from anything they saw unfit for a young boy to watch. But in my earliest memories, I remember watching various Raws and one PPV with my cousin in the late 90s (without my parents knowledge of course). But I'd got a sample of wrestling from this. I saw Taker, I saw Kane, I saw Rock, I Foley, and I saw Austin. As a five, six year old, my imagination ran wild at the thought of them and always wanted to see more of them. It wasn't until 01 that my parents finally gave in and I begin watching Smackdown, Raw and Heat. I fell in love with the Hardyz immediatley. I was blown away by the high risk moves and the unique looks, with Jeff's sleeves and Matt's shirts.

So, I credit my small glimpses of Taker and Austin making me desire to watch it, and once I was able, the Hardyz gave me the passion.

 

[TheNickster]

I started watching during the 2010 King of the Ring Tournament. I saw Drew McIntyre vs MVP and I was just drawn, because I hadn't seen a wrestling match prior to that. I got interested in wrestling, so I continued watching. I looked some stuff up and liked it. Now I watch RAW, Impact, and Smackdown every week. I'm glad I learned about wrestling because it's a pretty cool thing.

 

[GrandSword]

I think this thread has been done before but the OP hasn't gone inot too much detail and I think this is great. I love the fact that we are talking about times that we love and what made us fans and not complaining which sadly what these forums seem to lean towards.. of course only because we want it to be better not because we hate wrestling.

As for me it's hard to really pin down when I became a huge fan. Living in Australia, Wrestling wasn't broadcast very well until our version of cable tv came in in the late 90s.

Before then though WCW was shown on free to air television sporadically, but of course there was always ppvs on tape at the local video store. I think what drew many kids in Australia in was the Hulk Hogan Saturday morning cartoon show, Rock N Roll Wrestling. ThrOugh that show as a 4 or 5 year old kid at the time it came out on Australian tvs it explained that Hogan was the good guy and Piper was the bad guy. So from there I went about finding out about the real wrestling by when we went to the video store, I would always get a WWF or WCW ppv video tape for the weekend.

Alot of it at the time was right over my head of course and I wasn't at the point where I grabbed them in chronological order. And something like Steamboat/Savage for a young kid seemed to go too long and so I ended up not appreciating it the way I do now, but wrestling i guess has always been my own private thing as no one really introduced it to me, I discovered it myself.

So as I was a kid and didn't have access to it I liked it but I was never a non-stop fan as I am tody. that came about when Dad hooked up cable and we got Raw, Nitro and then later on TNA. The internet came about in this time and I discovered old school wrestling, ECW and my favourite Japanese wrestling which I could buy tapes and later dvds to watch all these great stuff I had heard about but never seen.

I think during the period where we didn't have any of the shows available to watch in Australia, I still was facinated by Sting and the Great Muta. Sting was this great hero and his feud with Muta always ensured I loved wrestling and if I ever found out it was on tv, I would watch it. Sting to this day is still my favourite wrestler.

Some of my favourite matches are All Japan Matches, which are absolutely brutal and amazing to watch. Kobashi is my "smark" favourite wrestler as after watching him he just drew me in to the amazing stuff Japan has been doing.

As far as favourite moments, I just love the fact that wrestling always creates these amazing moments in time no matter what "era" we happen to be in. The blood streaming down Austin's face while in the sharp shooter. Sting standing in the rafters freaking Hogan out. Goldberg jackhammers the Giant, Undertaker throws Mankind off the Cell, Champions past and present holding up the title for the first time, Eddie and Beniot in the ring together, Lesnar standing atop the cell after besting Taker, the Unbreakable Triple Threat match, Hogan slamming Andre, Michaels diving off the ladder, Diesel sending Bret hart into the announce table off the apron, Kobashi being thrown off the apron to the floor by Misawa... there are so many but they all just conjure up images in your minds that amaze you and want to watch so you see the next great moment.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

Roughly, what year did you start watching?
mid to late 90's? all i know was i was in 1st grade.

What made you start watching?
the fact my dad,my grandparents and my uncle were all watching i rember going to my grandparents house as a kid to watch every ppv.

What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?
basically shawn michaels as a kid i worshiped HBK i walked my house singing "im just a sexy boy!" and did the crotch chop when the original DX showed up from my first match ive been hooked ever sense so you can image the sadness i had when the first wrestler i ever saw (HBK) retired.

What are some of your favorite matches?
TLC 1 & 2,HBK vs razor ramon ladder match,shawn michaels vs chris jericho from wrestlemania,chris jericho vs chris benoit 2 out of 3 falls match (dont rember when it happened its been so long but its 1 of the first PPV matches i saw) and many more.

What are some of your favorite moments?
the original DX,when HBK returned to attack randy orton (mainly was just happy my child hood hero was back on tv),all the edge and christian great moments during the attitude era (in fact speaking of them i still have a paper tag team championship i made 1 year at summer camp me and my friend decided we were edge and christian i was edge,he was christian its in a box in my closet),when DX dressed up as shane-o and vince back in 06 god damn that was funny! and the outsiders debut in WCW. of course many others as well.

 

[HBsam31]

I started watch just shortly after Wrestlemania 3. I was about 4 years old, and my dad brought home a vhs copy someone made for him. He said check this out, and I loved it. Hogan is the one that kept me watching and got me hook. I was a full fledged Hulkamaniac. I have so many favorite matches. Hulk/Warrior, Hulk/Andre. HBK/Hart. The list goes on and on. The favorite moment that comes to mind is Mania 7 when Liz and Randy Savage found each other again. Great thread. I often like to think back to when I first found wrestling.

 

[Rockyfolifebo!!!]

I love threads like this. I get all nostalgic and it brings back awesome memories of my childhood.

I started roughly around 98-99. I wanna lean more towards the summer of 1999. I just remember my parents and grands used to buy me all of these cool action figures (Bone Crunching Action series and Titantron Live Series, and the WCW figures), and they all came with cool weapons and accessories. I would go to daycare (I was about 4) and play with my friends with them. I remember the first couple I had were Jeff Jarrett (with his guitar), The Rock, Goldberg, and Road Dogg. I used to make them beat the hell out of each other. I still had no idea that they were wrestlers, but naturally, kids make action figures fight each other. Then one day, momma dukes was flipping through the channels, and it landed on TNT where Nitro was showing. I told my mom to stop flipping, because I saw Mr. Bald Man on there (that's what I called Goldberg). Then I noticed that I saw more and more of my toys on t.v as real people! And they were actually kicking each other's asses! Cool!! I also remember asking my dad questions like if he could beat Goldberg in a match and if The Undertaker was going to kill me. Good times!

It was a great time! 90% of my childhood went to wrestling. I had every figure, ringset, poster, magazine, went to the shows. And I'm very proud to declare that a few simple action figures made me the wrestling geek that I am today!

 

[IHW]

Roughly, what year did you start watching?
2005.
My very first RAW was RAW Homecoming. It was the WWE's return to the USA Network. I remember Steve Austin stunning the whole McMahon family. And this was the night I began my obsession with Shawn Micheals.

What made you start watching?
My Dad. He loved wresting.

What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?
The Homecoming Show got me interested. It wasn't until Unforgiven 2006 that I started watching weekly. The Edge and Cena feud was a real memorable feud that I enjoyed.

What are some of your favorite matches?
Edge vs. Cena at Unforgiven '06
DX vs. Shane, Vince, and Big Show at Unforgiven '06
Edge vs. Foley at Wrestlemania
Cena vs. HBK classic on Raw
HBK vs. Shelton Benjamin on Raw
HBK vs. Undertaker WM25 and WM26

What are some of your favorite moments?
Stone Cold Stunning the entire McMahon family.
Edge revealing the Rated-R Spinner
Edge and Lita live sex celebration
Age of Orton
All of the more recent DX moments, many from the feud with Vince
Jeff Hardy's Return to WWE
Shawn Micheals last match
Summer Of Punk

Great thread. Brought back many memories.

 

[One to Remember]

i dont know when i got into wrestling but it was circa 1992 or so. My uncle loved wrestling then and my mom knew some of the wrestlers too and i found alot of wrestling action figures in my granny's house. Where I lived we only got TBS and TNT so i was real big on WCW and remember early clash of the champions. I have actually tried to think back for years when i started and could never get the date down but i know i was four or five..

Favorite Matches:Goldberg beatin Hogan clean for the WCW title felt like something else. Some people said it should had been on a PPV but im grateful it wasn't. I loved Razor Ramon vs HBK at WrestleMania X.

Greatest moments: Typical high light reel moments: Hogan leg dropping Savage and forming the NWO, Hall jumping over the berracade in all that denim for the first time. The beer trunk incident, any of Savage's elbow drops, and of course the celebrations when Angle is hoisted above and the post match congrats received by Simmons as all his peers ran into the ring after he made history.

 

[lowandmighty]

Hulk Hogan made me a wrestling fan. I was but a young boy and it was around the 80's. I didn't really have a superhero to idolise like most kids my age did.

I saw Wrestlemania 1 probably a few years after it happened when it first came out on VHS cause my older brother was home sick that day and hired it from the store. When I came home he was all excited to show it to me. When I saw Hogan being cheated against in the main event I felt is wasn't fair and when he sabotaged the bad guys trick of double teaming him by jumping out of the way causing them to hit themselves and allowing Hogan to win gave me a kind of superhero like respect for him and I kept watching wrestling ever since most of the time content that he wasn't on the show that day. As I got older I realised wrestling wasn't real and when he turned heel I loved it and thought it was genius. I never liked another wrestler like Hulk Hogan. My hero's as I grew into my teenage years were real sports people. I've never had another favourite wrestler.

 

[icopro]

My bruddah used to watch Georgia Championship. I was a little kid, b-o-r-i-n-g. Then probably late 84 or early 85 for wrestlemania build I got hooked. It was all because of Hulk Hogan.

 

[Iversen]

Roughly, what year did you start watching?
Around 2001/2 I liked wrestling before that but this was when I started watching regularly. I would have been about 10/11 I guess

What made you start watching?
Friends mainly, they all liked it so I started watching it to.

What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?
Smackdown. I didn't have Sky which is what wrestling is shown on in the UK so I couldn't watch it at home. My entire wrestling fix in a week was going round to my friends house on a Saturday morning and watching SD on Sky One. It was the time period when Heyman's super six of Benoit, Angle, the Guerreros, Edge and Mysterio were all the staple of SD and I just fell in love with the technical fast paced high flying wrestling. I missed things like Hulkamania and never really understood them as I essentially grew up watching these guys.

What are some of your favorite matches?
HBK Taker I and II. HBK Jericho pretty much any of them. Any of the Tag team TLC matches. I could go on and on. As a younger kid who didn't watch PPVs etc the Jeff Hardy Undertaker ladder match on Raw which I got to watch because we were on holiday and I had a room with my own TV and Sky so I stayed up to watch it and to me it was just incredible. Jeff was this plucky daredevil who just took it to this unstoppable force of a man.

What are some of your favorite moments?
As a younger kid who didn't watch PPVs etc the Jeff Hardy Undertaker ladder match on Raw which I got to watch because we were on holiday and I had a room with my own TV and Sky so I stayed up to watch it and to me it was just incredible. Jeff was this plucky daredevil who just took it to this unstoppable force of a man. I must have acted out Undertaker raising Jeff's hand at the end countless times.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Roughly, what year did you start watching?

I was watching before I was walking. My dad was a huge fan of wrestling, watched it every week so as a baby I would sit there with my dad and watch wrestling. I got taken to see Wrestlemania 2 in closed circuit and I wasn't even 4 months old yet, apparently I was a huge fan of King Kong Bundy back then.


What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?

For me it was the awesome characters that the WWF had at the time. Everything about the WWF and all the wrestlers always seemed so larger than life that it immediately grabbed my attention. My earliest memories in life were Saturday afternoons. 11 AM is Stampede Wrestling, 12 is WWF Superstars and 1 is WWF Maple Leaf Wrestling. When I hit about 5 or 6 WCW got added into the mix so on that same Saturday 7-8 was WCW Power Hour and at 4:05 was WCW Saturday Night. So every Saturday as a kid I was watching 3-5 hours of wrestling EVERY weekend. That's not including any time Saturday Night's main Event and The Main Event was on either.

My first lasting memory of wrestling though was definitely The Undertakers debut at Survivor Series 1990. I remember seeing that when I was 4 years old and it's been tattooed on my brain ever since. Just seeing him walk down the ring I was immediately in awe of the guy. Then watching him dominate Koko B Ware and Dusty Rhodes he immediately grabbed my attention and he never let go. Probably why I like Undertaker so much and even have a bit of a bias towards the guy.

What are some of your favorite matches?


I have a lot of favorite matches but I will talk about my personal favorite and that was hands down WM18 The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan. Was it a technical masterpiece? No, but never there was a match I looked more forward to and was more into than that match. Every single thing they did whether it was looking at the crowd or Hogan winning a test of strength was 100% awesome. They told a great story in the ring and I was literally on the edge of my seat the entire match. Just like the Skydome I was rooting for Hogan but the ending of that match and watching Hogan become reborn as a face I grew up loving was something I'll never forget. I saw that match when I was 16 but it made me feel like that little kid who started watching wrestling when I was a baby to toddler.

What are some of your favorite moments?

For me its "insert Austin vs. McMahon skit here". Whether it was Austin riding the Red Wings Zamboni into Joe Louis Arena, Austin beating the shit out of McMahon in the hospital, the infamous beer bath or when he made McMahon piss himself it was all golden. Also some of the Undertaker moments like his hand coming out of the grave or him levitating out of Providence Rhode Island. That may seem cheesy now but imagine just turning 8 years old, being a huge Undertaker fan and seeing that, truly a moment I won't forget.

Other moments I loved was Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler feud, Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (in particular watching Owen beat Bret clean at WMX) and lets not forget Savage and Miss Elizabeth being reunited after his retirement match at WM7. These are some of my favorites but if I start sitting here and listing moments I loved I would be hear all night.

 

[Alastor]

Roughly, what year did you start watching?
sometime during the 90s.

What made you start watching?
It was just on TV and squash matches looked cool when I was a kid to see real people fly like cartoons.

What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?
The pure awesomeness of seeing real people doing video game moves and the absurdness of some of the promos. Also the antics of DX/HHH/Stephanie made me a fan. I lost interest regularly but Wrestlemania season or return of HHH on screen would get me hooked again.

What are some of your favorite matches?
HBK vs Razor Ramon ladder match
Taker wrestlemania matches vs HBK and HHH
Hardys, E&C, Dudleyz triple threat matches TLCs
Rock vs Hogan
Cena vs Punk MiTB

What are some of your favorite moments?
HHH return from injury on Raw 02 or 03?
Nexus invasion
Batista giving HHH the thumbs down
The promos for wrestlemania when they went hollywood

 

[roeleke25]

Roughly, what year did you start watching?
90's

What made you start watching?
WCW Nitro back in the 90's aired on a dutch channel named 'RTL 5'

What got you hooked and didn't let you leave?
The awesomeness of it all, and the insanity, the moves what people do, they fly around the ring like it's nothing.

What are some of your favorite matches?
Taker vs HBK (Wrestlemania 28, HIAC)
HBK vs HHH (Summerslam 2002)
Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels vs AJ Styles (Destination X 2005)

What are some of your favorite moments?
Promos from WM goes to Hollywood.
Goldberg debut on RAW, spears the Rock.