What made you go from hating to liking a wrestler?

[Kaneanite]

Definitely the Hardy Boyz. I loved the Hardy's back in the early 2000s with Lita and everything. They were exciting, worked well together, Lita's hot, the tag division was great, and everything just seemed good with them. But then TNA and the internet happened and these idiots make nonstop videos and comments about shit that either doesn't concern them or that they just seem to not understand. No Jeff, you did not make CM Punk. And no Matt, WWE didn't mistreat you, you mistreated yourself and have absolutely no charisma.

These guys are definitely the right answer to your question for me.

 

[JohnOldSnake4]

CM Punk I think is unquestionably one of the best in-ring performers in the entire world. Today I'd tell you unequivocally that he's my favourite active superstar. A few years ago however I really disliked Punk. His face character was very bland and didn't effectively showcase either his immense in-ring skills or his tremendous mic abilities. I think both have been amplified since his Summer-2009 heel turn and through his feud with Jeff Hardy to the Straight-Edge Society, all the way to his current position as the leader of the New Nexus, my opinion of Punk has sky-rocketed to the point that he's gone from being a wrestler I didn't like watching at all to my favourite in the world in under two years. I was myself surprised by how into his SES character I got in such a short time.

 

[Disaster Master]

Well ill go opposite of this and say what makes me hate a wrestler after liking them is usually if they change from a heel to face or face to heel and dont do a good job about it, for example, I liked Big Show as a heel but when he turned face it just pissed me off cause i just couldnt accept his persona as a face character. He did a better job as a heel IMO. Now that being said this doesnt make me hate everytime someone switches, so long as they are doing a goodjob at being a face/heel then theres no need to change but i know sometimes there are exceptions with wrestlers that are good with both.

 

[nbkush]

what is with people that can't comprehend this topic?...wrestler you USE TO HATE, but NOW LIKE...not vice versa
Mine would have to be Bret Hart. as a kid I was into more of the showmanship of wrestling and had little apreciation for actual athleticism. As the new face of WWF Bret Hart could hardly fill the void of Hulk Hogan in this department. He was so bland that I stopped watching wrestling for a few years. I started watching again in late '96. When Bret aligned himself with Owen and then the Bulldog and began to form the Hart Foundation stable I had matured and so had the content of the WWF. Hart's anti-American heel was perfect for the more realistic attitude movement the company was headed in. That coupled with the fact that I couldnt stand HBK had me marking out to Hart.

 

[yur_momma]

off the top of my head, id have to say the Miz...absolutely hated the idea of him actually wrestling REAL wrestlers in anything but some goofy gimmick thing. he was like a walking pop up ad for mtv and just reminded me of wwe's blatant cross promoting and merchandising. to me, he wasnt in wwe to be a wrestler, he was there to lure mtv and other 'hip' companies into making deals, appearances, etc for wwe.

he was the SD host for a while which i hated...i refused to watch that wwecw mess of a tv show so i missed his whole growth period there...so really around 2009 draft time is when i started noticing Miz on RAW. i watched his Mizline (the clothesline thing in the corner where he lands sitting on the ropes). i watched him do some funky twisty neckbreaker thing. as weeks went by i grew impressed and actually started enjoying him. he made a cool US champ/mitb holder...but he still wasnt "over" with me yet...he just wasnt hated anymore either.

but then he won the wwe title. i knew the next night on RAW would be a make or break night for him and man did he shine. that promo he cut was fantastic, egotistical, selfish and taunting. after talking about his long struggle and journey to the wwe title, he said something like "so if you ever meet someone that says you cant reach your goals, your dreams or achieve anything you put your mind to...believe them. because your not me."

Awesome.

he is now among my top 5 favs.

 

[Jtrivera]

Like the guy above me I'd say the miz but I'd also like to point out another wrestler. Dolph ziggler. Both guys are extremely talented but in two seperate areas miz has the mic skill and dolph has the ring skill. Which was clearly showcased at royal rumble 2011. Miz went fro
A nothing wrestler who was a self proclaimed chick magnet who got the stink face from big dick Johnson. To the go to guy of the company. And the night that he debuted his new theme song was when I started to like him cause I knew he was the future. As. For dolph the guy went from sprit squad member to the world champ even if it was for a good 5 mins. He gained my respect when he wrestled edge At the royal rumble. A true wrestling clinic.

 

[Sadistic Steve Strong]

I have to say The Miz...i really hated seeing him in a WWE ring,in my eyes he just didn't deserved the spot he was just a mere clown....but then i saw miz & Morrison webcast show and he earned a little bit more of respect...still i thought morrison was way ahead of him...and yet miz kept surprising me and this past year i became a huge huge follower of him...he has really worked hard and stepped up his game.

 

[The HEEL JuiceLee]

I have 2.The 1st is The Celtic Warrior Sheamus.When they gave him the belt so quick i was so mad for multiple reasons.i was mad for the guy's on the roster like Kofi or Jack Swagger they he just sky rocketed past.Mad at the WWE for putting him straight in the main event instead of the US title or something.But the night he got the title back for the 2nd time,instead of getting mad for giving him the belt again so fast i had began to see what a great heavy-weight heel & i started to agree with the desicion to pass people like kofi,swagger,and others on the roster with more senority.Now i am anxiously waiting for a 3rd title reighn after mania.Hopefully on the smackdown brand

2nd is Cody Rhodes-I was 1 of the many that thought after the legacy split it would be Ted Jr. who would have the brighter future.(whitch still could happen)but right now Cody made him self a personality instead of just a wrestler.i am loving the promos,espicially the 1 where he had his back to the camera the whole time.Now mysterio hand picked him for a WRESTLEMANIA match.Personaly i think Rey has achieved so much i hope he puts Cody over at Mania.

!!just my opinion!!

 

[The Tombstone]

I have to go with (believe it or not) Drew McIntyre. Now, I'm not saying that I love the guy, I'm just saying he went from that annoying punk with no respect for anyone, to a annoying punk with SOME respect for some people (i.e Kelly Kelly). But still, that little bit of respect to them, earned him respect from me.

 

[King of Kings 1985]

I'd have to say Triple H, in the 90's with D-Generation X he was OK, and he was slightly bearable in The Corporation (remember them?). But after that no!! I thought he was God-awful during the who "McMahon-Helmsley Era", and the even worse "McMahon-Helmsley Faction", it wasn't until Evolution that I actually sat back and realised that, he was that damn good and I started to respect him, and then began to like him. So yeah, the King of Kings for me.

 

[Zangash]

Randy Orton. I seriously hated the guy back when he was the Legend Killer, simply because of how he was booked as a heel. Then, when he came back and started talking to the then Tag Team champions (Rhodes and DiBiase) I became intrigued. After that, he stepped up his game to a whole 'nother level and I became a fan.

 

[Boondocks]

Mine would be John Cena. I never liked him. I thought he was so stale and boring, and just worked to please the kids. Then, after his feud with Batista, I don't remember at which point exactly, I thought, "Hey, maybe he does work for the kids, but maybe that's what it takes in this era. Maybe being the bright, funny, superman type guy is what you need to be the big, number one guy in this pg era. Sure, people may not like the pg era, but frankly, a pg wwe is 100000000 times better than no wwe. So I accept it. And I accept and like the face of this company. He does exactly what he needs to to be the SCSA of the pg era. So I like him. He has earned his way to being where he is, at the right time.

 

[sfury2005]

Mine would be a long time ago. When I was kid in the 70's. I lived in the Central States Territory which was ran by Bob Giegle and pretty much home to Harley Race. Had wrestlers like Bruiser Brody, Ted Dibiase and Terry Taylor in here when they were just starting out.

Anyway the guy I am speaking of is a guy named Bulldog Bob Brown and he was a great heel wrestler. He would walk in and people would spit on him and throw drinks and stuff at him and he loved it because he would spit right back at them. Of course he looked nothing like the wrestlers of today but he was a natural heel and everyone hated him. My mother would take me to the arena often on Thursday night in Kansas City Kansas Memorial Hall.

One night my best friend and I were about 12 or 13 at the time and we went to the concession stand to get a coke and while there my friend decided he wanted a candy bar too. The worker said sorry but you don't have enough money for it but suddenly some one from behind tossed a dollar bill down and said let the kid have it. We turned around to see Bulldog Bob Brown standing there smiling at us. It was cool I started liking him from then on and what was an even bigger plus was a few weeks later he became a face and quit being a heel.

A tie in to WWE is after he turned face he a new kid showed up a few years later in town and was partnered with him and his name was Marty Jannetty. They worked together for awhile until Shawn Michaels showed up and was partnered with them. It was said at the time Bulldog told the promoter he was going to step aside and let the two work as a tag team. So during a match Bulldog attacked Jannetty if I remember correctly and went back to being a heel and feuded with them for a little while.

From Shawn Michaels Wiki-pedia: He also worked for Central States Wrestling.[14] There, he and tag team partner Marty Jannetty defeated The Batten Twins for the Central States Tag Team Championship, later losing it back to the Battens.

From Marty Jannetty's Wiki-pedia: Jannetty began his wrestling career in April 1984, wrestling in the National Wrestling Alliance's Central States division. He wrestled in singles and tag team competition with various partners, including "Bulldog" Bob Brown and Dave Peterson and with Tommy Rogers as the Uptown Boys, until joining forces with fellow rookie Shawn Michaels in late 1985. The two teamed as The Midnight Rockers and quickly won the Central States Tag Team Championship from The Batten Twins.

So I literally got to see the Rockers formed when they forst met.

 

[Alastor]

Sadly, it is when WWE keep pushing the same guy down my throat that I will then start to appreciate the little things about the guy that I do not hate. Then these minor details will slowly manifest itself into things that I begin to like the wrestler for. Example, I hated the Miz as champion but like his dedication to the business, making his dream come true. This detail will soon make me realize how hard he worked to break into the industry and I have to admire his perseverance and liked him for that. Another would be when the IWC shit too much on someone that bothers on the ridiculous. Take Cena for example, people shit on him too much until I begin to realize he is actually one of the best in the business. Without the volume of hate I would never be a fan of Cena's work.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

When I was younger, I used to hate a wrestler simply due to the persona they played on screen. If they were a bad guy, I booed them and hated them. If they were a face and a good guy I would cheer for them and they were my favourites.

I remember REALLY hating Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit at this point do to the character they played

But now, I choose the wrestlers I like due to how entertaining I find them, and how good they are in the ring. Other than Raven, Kurt Angle is my favoruite wrestler now, and has been for the last few years. I enjoy everything he does in the ring, whether it is as a heel or a face

While I may still dislike the persona of a wrestler on screen and hope they get their ass kicked, I still can LIKE that wrestler, and appriciate what they do in the ring and how good they are at playing their role. For example, I really didn't like Edge's character during his "La Familia" phase, where he was snogging the face off Vickie Guerrero and screwing over Undertaker, and was desperate to see The Deadman get his revenge, but I still liked Edge overall and really rated him as a performer.

Quite hard to explain really. I like/dislike a wrestler on how they entertain me, not for their on-screen personas. I do not like The Miz right now, as he just doesnt entertain me at all

 

[Davi323]

If I can only list one guy, its Randy Orton. When he first debuted in the WWE, I couldn't give two fucks about him. He was just another primadonna multi-generational wrestler who was going to have his career given to him rather than earning it, based on his last name. He was a young punk who was going to coast on his father and grandfather's reputations. Couldn't stand him. And then he had his match with Mick Foley at Backlash in 2004. The one where he ended up with hundreds of thumbtacks in his back. At that point, I saw that he was willing to do what it took, that he wasn't just a young punk, but was willing to sacrifice himself. I grew respect for him beginning with that match.

 

[RJJ]

1- Randy Orton

I really hated the guy when he joined the evolution and start going after legends(As a legend killer), but when I saw the match he had with foley at backlash 2004, he not only earned my respect, he also turned me into a fan. What I also like about him is putting people over Unlike cough*SuperCena*cough. I mean his refusal to break taker's streak was a very respectful thing, not to mention jobing to that 90's years old past prime hulk hogan(No disrespect, just telling it like it is).


2-Shane McMahon

I really thought the guy was a pussy(some of you remember the "shane's a pussy" chant), but turned out to be the most fearless superstar on the roster..hell, he wasn't even a wrestler. Getting chokslammed by taker from the 3rd TB all the way to the announce table(KOTR2000), falling 40 feet of the stage(Summerslam2000), His match with vince (WM X7), jumping from 50ft on big show(backlash2001), his classic street fight with kurt(KOTR2001), all those things made me a big fan of shane'o mac.

 

[CJschad22]

I'd have to say that my moment where I went from hating to liking a wrestler happened last night on RAW with John Cena. I haven't liked Cena's PG-era gimmick since I first got into wrestling a couple of years ago. His corny jokes and similar match moves made me into a giant Cena-hater. However, that all changed last night for me.

I, like many other wrestling fans I'm sure, were hoping for a Rock vs. Cena match at Wrestlemania. I waited in anticipation for Cena's response to The Rock's promo after his return to the WWE where he bashed Cena. I didn't think that there was anyway that Cena could answer back without making himself look like a fool, but I was wrong. I was wrong. By the end of Cena's rap on The Rock, I had become a Cena fan. I thought it was the highlight of RAW and an amazing promo. I even thought it was better than The Rock's initial promo.

That is my moment where I went from hating a wrestler to liking a wrestler.

 

[NattieLover]

Shawn Michael's return feud against HHH changed my view of him, whereas previous he had some excellent matches, prior to that I hated his as a character and as a person mainly due to his feud with Bret Hart and refusal to return the job from Wrestlemania 12, and the screw-job. But the fact that he could produce such quality matches after over 4 years out made me appreciate his wrestling ability

 

[kapone21]

Scott Steiner

On the first episode of Monday Night RAW i realized that i hated the Stiners...Scott in particular. Rich kid jocks who got everything they wanted from Michigan no less. I was a lower middle class kid from Wisconsin! When Big Pappa Pump Pump came out in WCW, My hatred for him increased ten fold! he stole "Superstar" Billy Graham's gimick. After he paid homage to the TRUE "Superstar" Billy Graham, i forgave him for that part but now he was a rich big dude on steroids...so i hated him even more. All that hatred turned to respect Feb 7th of 2000. i was at Nitro in Tulsa Oklahoma, i was there visiting family and my uncle was a cop and told us what hotel the wrestlers were at. me and my cousin went there and got lots of autographs including Steiner's . when we asked flair he told us to, and i quote "PISS OFF!" That Night Steiner shot on flair and told everyone at home watching and the people in the audience just how it was. I loved the fact he called him, Nature Boy #2 and told him he did not have any of Buddy Rogers class...instantly i was a Steiner fan.

 

[Ghost 99]

I didn't like Sting originally. The surfer look wasn't doing it for me. Then he had a match with Ric Flair on the first Clash of the Champions. I've been a fan ever since.

 

[Evan Snow-Wolf]

John Cena.

For a long time I hated John Cena. I felt that his Thuganomics character was awesome, and then he went and threw it all away the moment his "My Time Is Now" theme debuted at Wrestlemania. I knew a great thing had died and he became the penultimate stale loaf of bread for years.

As time went on, even though he remained as dull as a knife left to rust in a drainage ditch, I realized I could not possibly continue to hate him after everything he has done. His work ethic is completely unbefuckinglievable. He is there, night after night, week after week, year after year. Cena is the guy that just keeps coming. Granted, I don't think WWE is as intense as it was before, with the absence of blading, hardcore matches, etc. But his relentless work schedule reminds me of Bret Hart in a lot of ways. Even if he is still the dude with the Five Moves of Doom, you gotta give him credit for that.

 

[TJWWE]

Well she's not a wrestler but Vickie Guerrero.

When she first became the top heel in the company, i didn't really catch onto her and had a real dislike for her but since she came back to Smackdown last year, I'd admit, i'm a real fan of hers.

I find her hilarious, take example, on this week's Smackdown when she begging for her job from booker, cole and the camera man, i found that so funny, i had to re watch it a few times.

She will obviously return, and when she does, she will be back on top. However, I had a thought, I think the WWE don't actually know who they are having as the RAW GM; so my thought was to have Vickie as it. She will get tremendous amounts of heat and it won't be a big dissapointment like everyone was when Eve was the 4th diva announced at the RR-F4 (DAM YOU WWE! should have been Kong).

 

[DMac84]

For me, its when Rocky Miava Joined the Nation and became The Rock. It was an epic change and awesome ever since. The Rock is my all time favorite superstar.

However, this past week on Raw... I went from Hating Cena with a passion, to moderately liking him. His promo was better than The Rock's which does not happen often. If they let Cena keep going in this direction... I think I will start to finally like him more.

 

[TheMainMan32]

I hated John Morrison for the longest. I too found him boring, and cheesy. Then, almost as if he read my post, he improved the very next week. Seriously. I was moved to post about it, because really, can you ask for anything else from a wrestler but than to improve? Not reasonably. Then, he started hitting crazy spots while in the ring and entertaining me that way. And just like that (snaps fingers), I went from a hater, to a fan.

Now, if only Jack Swagger could do the same thing....