TheHitMark-SirJoseOle
A Fan Of Wrestling Not Backstage BS
The following thread is merely to ask the question of what's essentially brought us to this and other forums like this in the first place, what makes us wrestling fans. After all us being wrestling fans is why we are discussing topics on this forum.
I guess the best way to begin this is to state why I'm a fan myself and what has made me a fan for quite some time. While I'll admit the last few years have not been as enjoyable for me, I still do my best to follow the product and look at what's going on and I still respect the effort these young men and women put in the ring every night. The art of professional wrestling or any other physical endeavor is something to give its practitioners credit for no matter what you might think of their personalities.
As a kid growing up in the eighties into the nineties, what drew me to wrestling was mostly the love my grandfather had for it to begin with, it was a way to bond for him and I. And living in the Northeast United States my whole childhood into my late teens, I was living in a region where wrestling was just ravenously followed, trips to the Boston Garden, the Nassau Coliseum, the Mass Mutual Center, Hartford Civic Center and even the smaller venues like High Schools and Rec Centers showed just how big of fans people in my area of the country were of professional wrestling at all levels.
Unlike a lot of what I read here on the forums today, amongst a lot of other wrestling fans there was never this need to hate one organization and like another. If you were a fan of wrestling you were a fan of wrestling plain and simple. Sure, there were styles and organizations I liked more than others, but to me wrestling was wrestling. I remember watching the WWF, Jim Crockett Promotions (What eventually became WCW) and AWA quite a lot when all the companies had syndicated and cable programming. Sergeant Slaughter, Hulk Hogan, The Hart Foundation, Jimmy Snuka, Nikita Koloff, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Sting, The Great Muta, Roddy Piper, Curt Hennig (before he became Mr. Perfect) were all constant presences on my TV screen.
To me I think I'll always be a fan of the older WWF first and foremost. Sure I appreciated seeing guys like Slaughter fending off the evil of Col. Debeers over in the AWA and Sting and Ric Flair's classic Clash Of The Champions draw was a career defining moment for both men, in the case of Sting it solidified him and in Flair's case it made him even more legendary. But for me it was all about the WWF, I was a Hulkamaniac, then there was Macho Man Randy Savage, The Hart Foundation were just exciting both as faces and heels. As a devoted WWF follower I got to see so much excitement and a top notch presentation that was second to none. The WWF gave me my favorite stars like The Undertaker, Bret Hart. Those are memories I'll always cherish. And for me I liked wrestlers of all kinds, for the powerhouse and superhero theatrics I could always count on Hogan to deliver something special. For a wrestler who was not the biggest or baddest (at least on the surface), I had someone like Bret Hart who I relished watching in the ring and exhibiting his psychology by using his skill to tear down the bigger and badder folks that were out there. It made his run as champion one of the most fun for me to watch. For the mythic and awe inspiring presence in wrestling I felt no one fit that bill better than the Undertaker, after all he's still around after 20 years and he's been through so many changes. Roddy Piper was just a powder keg of intensity and craziness with the heart of a champion when he fought that both as face and heel you couldn't deny his tenacity. There are so many legends in addition to that that I can go over, but I don't want to impede this thread from being opened so I'll just move on to closing here in the next couple paragraphs.
So with that said, the reason why I was so drawn to what the AWA, JCP and WWF offered with professional wrestling was the fact that even though it was predetermined and choreographed, it's such an amazing artform. When done right, you almost believe every hit you see actually lands and every move is supposed to destroy the competitor. While we do know that indeed the pain adds up, we know that it's not the mission of these athletes to truly harm each other. But just the fact that these people knew how to make me suspend belief for the duration of an entire TV show, live event or PPV is just amazing and I've always appreciated professional wrestlers at all levels for that, even the ones I was never fans of.
However, and this is not to create discontent and negativity on this forum, but I notice a lot of fans don't truly like to talk about this type of stuff on forums all the time. A lot of what I read here is just outright nastiness and Monday Morning Quarterbacking, so the purpose of my thread is to politely ask that we avoid any discussions like that. I know I can't stop anyone from saying well I liked wrestling for this reason or that reason but couldn't stand this. I don't mind people having opinions and not liking something, but please for the sake of what could be an engaging and positive thread, please offer a true argument and foundation for your opinion if there is something I said that you don't like or whatever someone else on this thread says that you may find issue with. I'd like to see any disagreements or dislikes remain tactful. I've done my best to do this and I only hope that can resonate throughout this thread. So without any further wait...let's get to it and find out what has made you my fellow wrestlezone posters fans of wrestling to begin with.
I guess the best way to begin this is to state why I'm a fan myself and what has made me a fan for quite some time. While I'll admit the last few years have not been as enjoyable for me, I still do my best to follow the product and look at what's going on and I still respect the effort these young men and women put in the ring every night. The art of professional wrestling or any other physical endeavor is something to give its practitioners credit for no matter what you might think of their personalities.
As a kid growing up in the eighties into the nineties, what drew me to wrestling was mostly the love my grandfather had for it to begin with, it was a way to bond for him and I. And living in the Northeast United States my whole childhood into my late teens, I was living in a region where wrestling was just ravenously followed, trips to the Boston Garden, the Nassau Coliseum, the Mass Mutual Center, Hartford Civic Center and even the smaller venues like High Schools and Rec Centers showed just how big of fans people in my area of the country were of professional wrestling at all levels.
Unlike a lot of what I read here on the forums today, amongst a lot of other wrestling fans there was never this need to hate one organization and like another. If you were a fan of wrestling you were a fan of wrestling plain and simple. Sure, there were styles and organizations I liked more than others, but to me wrestling was wrestling. I remember watching the WWF, Jim Crockett Promotions (What eventually became WCW) and AWA quite a lot when all the companies had syndicated and cable programming. Sergeant Slaughter, Hulk Hogan, The Hart Foundation, Jimmy Snuka, Nikita Koloff, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Sting, The Great Muta, Roddy Piper, Curt Hennig (before he became Mr. Perfect) were all constant presences on my TV screen.
To me I think I'll always be a fan of the older WWF first and foremost. Sure I appreciated seeing guys like Slaughter fending off the evil of Col. Debeers over in the AWA and Sting and Ric Flair's classic Clash Of The Champions draw was a career defining moment for both men, in the case of Sting it solidified him and in Flair's case it made him even more legendary. But for me it was all about the WWF, I was a Hulkamaniac, then there was Macho Man Randy Savage, The Hart Foundation were just exciting both as faces and heels. As a devoted WWF follower I got to see so much excitement and a top notch presentation that was second to none. The WWF gave me my favorite stars like The Undertaker, Bret Hart. Those are memories I'll always cherish. And for me I liked wrestlers of all kinds, for the powerhouse and superhero theatrics I could always count on Hogan to deliver something special. For a wrestler who was not the biggest or baddest (at least on the surface), I had someone like Bret Hart who I relished watching in the ring and exhibiting his psychology by using his skill to tear down the bigger and badder folks that were out there. It made his run as champion one of the most fun for me to watch. For the mythic and awe inspiring presence in wrestling I felt no one fit that bill better than the Undertaker, after all he's still around after 20 years and he's been through so many changes. Roddy Piper was just a powder keg of intensity and craziness with the heart of a champion when he fought that both as face and heel you couldn't deny his tenacity. There are so many legends in addition to that that I can go over, but I don't want to impede this thread from being opened so I'll just move on to closing here in the next couple paragraphs.
So with that said, the reason why I was so drawn to what the AWA, JCP and WWF offered with professional wrestling was the fact that even though it was predetermined and choreographed, it's such an amazing artform. When done right, you almost believe every hit you see actually lands and every move is supposed to destroy the competitor. While we do know that indeed the pain adds up, we know that it's not the mission of these athletes to truly harm each other. But just the fact that these people knew how to make me suspend belief for the duration of an entire TV show, live event or PPV is just amazing and I've always appreciated professional wrestlers at all levels for that, even the ones I was never fans of.
However, and this is not to create discontent and negativity on this forum, but I notice a lot of fans don't truly like to talk about this type of stuff on forums all the time. A lot of what I read here is just outright nastiness and Monday Morning Quarterbacking, so the purpose of my thread is to politely ask that we avoid any discussions like that. I know I can't stop anyone from saying well I liked wrestling for this reason or that reason but couldn't stand this. I don't mind people having opinions and not liking something, but please for the sake of what could be an engaging and positive thread, please offer a true argument and foundation for your opinion if there is something I said that you don't like or whatever someone else on this thread says that you may find issue with. I'd like to see any disagreements or dislikes remain tactful. I've done my best to do this and I only hope that can resonate throughout this thread. So without any further wait...let's get to it and find out what has made you my fellow wrestlezone posters fans of wrestling to begin with.