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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: How did you become a wrestling fan? | ||||
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| Sir Okonkwo | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 9:51 AM |    | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01  | *** This is a column I wrote in January, 2001. If you hate WORDS, skip it. If you like WORDS, read on. But I would like to hear your opinions. *** I remember it as if it were yesterday. My father was watching something on television, something I had never seen before, or I had never paid any attention to before. There were two men, in the center of an arena filled with screaming fans, engaged in fierce man-on-man competition. I was eight years old, I had no clue as to who these men were or why they seemingly hated each other so much. I didn't care, either, because all I saw was something beautiful, something which moved me emotionally like nothing I'd ever seen before. Before this moment, the only sport I knew was baseball. My favorite team was the New York Mets, and I was loyal, because my parents were loyal. Two of the Mets' starters were Rafael Santana and Keith Hernandez, both of whom, as far as I could tell, were near infallable. Sure, Santana hit for low average, but he was an amazing fielder. And certainly, I would later learn of Hernandez' extracurricular activities. However, as far as I knew at that point in my life, The Mets hated The Cardinals, and The Cardinals were their bitches. I was proud of that. So that aforementioned night, while watching these two men dueling unarmed on a rope-enclosed platform, I asked my father who the smaller guy was. "Tito Santana" was his response. So I asked, "Like Rafael Santana?" He explained to me that they weren't related, but they were similar. With both being the underdog, both lacking respect from the fans, but both having enormous heart, it was hard to root against either one. "So who's the other, really big guy he's fighting?" was my next question. "That's Hercules Hernandez." My next question should be obvious, given my young mind and love of the Mets' superstar first-baseman. I asked. "He's like Keith Hernandez, in that he dominates every situation he's in," explained my father. The explaination was short, simple, and to the point. I watched the match, engaged in every action of each participant. I don't remember who won, nor do I care, but I remember that upon my first viewing of wrestling, I was hooked. Here were two athletes who I could identify with in the same way I could identify with my baseball heros. I wanted to see more of these wrestlers, so I continued watching the show. By the end, I was a fan for life. There was something engaging about the struggle these men went through in order to attain victory, something which my beloved Mets didn't seem to have to go through. If baseball players are athletes, I thought, then these guys are greater than athletes. Of course, throughout the following years, wrestling changed, as did I. I soon learned that wrestling was fake, and if I didn't learn that fact on my own, I certainly had it pounded into my head by everyone else who seemed to think this knowledge proved their superiority as a human. Still, I was unfazed. Even as the only federation I even knew existed, the WWF, paraded loser after loser to the ring, dressed to a tee in circus gear and devoid of any of the magic that those first two competitors I'd ever seen had, I still watched. I was always hoping for that moment where I could forget what I knew about it being fake, and just watch them compete for a belt, or for a better position to fight for that belt. It happened every once in a while, like when Steamboat fought Savage at Wrestlemania III, or every time The Hart Foundation fought The British Bulldogs. For whatever reason, I never seemed to care for Hulk Hogan, even while every other wrestling fan I knew seemed to worship him the same way I worshipped Gary Carter. I always knew he wasn't a deserving champion, I always knew he wasn't really a great wrestler, but who was to say I was right? I would soon find out the answer. One day, I found something on the television that would change my wrestling fandom. It was Superstation TBS, the channel that showed all the Huckleberry Hound and Grape Ape cartoons. The difference was, at this time, on this night, they were showing wrestling. I had never seen most of these guys before, and the select few I had seen, were losers driven out of the WWF. I watched this minor league, copycat promotion, expecting second-rate performances from these WWF outcasts and otherwise unknowns. What I got was Ric Flair. He not only talked a good game, but he backed it up as well. Every time he came out and declared himself the man, he would back it up by defeating his opponent, thus proving that his opponent in fact wasn't the man, but a mere pretender. At least on that specific night. Flair always had an army at his side, just in case he was ever the victim of a cowardly attack by his always inferior challengers. He never really seemed to need it, because as champion, and as the torchbearer, his challengers always came up one straw short. Flair was the man for a reason, and for no reason other than the fact that he was the best. Nobody could or would doubt it, and if they did, a 1-2-3 count or painful submission would prove them otherwise. He could make himself out to be God, and if anyone ever challenged the fact, he'd be quickly pinned and discarded. Flair was untouchable, like the sun was untouchable by the moon. So I was an NWA fan. I watched real men wrestle real matches, as opposed to the charactures portrayed in the other federation I used to watch. Whenever someone told me that wrestling was fake and that I should grow up, I would say with pride that the WWF shit was fake, but the NWA was as real as it gets. Sure, by that time, I knew the NWA was just as fake as WWF, but I kept the suspension of disbelief so strong in my mind, that it rubbed off on others. Soon, I had made a beliver of many friends who had written wrestling off as fake. Soon, we were all bowing to Ric Flair, and his hour-long contests with the exiled-from-WWF Ricky Steamboat, as well as new-to-us wrestlers like Sting, Ricky Morton, Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson. Now, fast forward to 2001. There's nothing for a young fan to believe in, and there's nothing that captures them and tells them that there's magic happening in the ring. The announcers continue to hype, the wrestlers continue to talk, but there's something missing. Unseen and unknown is the sense of competition, for there is no reason to root for one man over the other. It is all too contrived, too phony, too dependent on the frills and fascination, with no focus on the heart of the product. Every persona fits a corporate need, every wrestler forced into the same niche as the next, with few of them actually exhibiting even a hint of their own struggle and determination to achieve the status of greatest in the world, World Champion. The wrestling equivalent of World Series Champion is now often reduced to poor time filler, in the eyes of the fan, until the real champion returns from injury. And why bother to care, is the question I ask? Everyone wrestling today seems to be some sort of champion these days, with the most meaningless of titles being nearly indescernable from the most grand of championships. Why care about the actual men in the ring, when it's so much easier to cheerlead the overall product and the family promoting it, and turn your brain off for two hours twice a week, not thinking about or mentally absorbing that which is seen. After all, that which is forgotten, never mattered to begin with. I've never considered myself to be a snobby wrestling fan, but maybe I am. I long for the days when matches were fought over championship titles and positioning for shots at titles, and not over who the booker likes best this week, or who's dating the boss. I long for the days when undercard matches were fought through bitter rivalries, to determine who climbs the ladder to those prestigious title belts. I have no concern for throwaway title belts held by poor gimmick actors and failed bodybuilders, valets who do little to help competitors reach their supposed goals, or which owner or commissioner has the power to book said meaningless matches on any given night. I am a wrestling fan, all I want is good wrestling. All I want is to see who's best in the ring, not who can do the prettiest flip from the top rope. All I want is a struggle for respect and the ultimate prize, which should and will always be the World Title Belt. I want my champion to earn it through their ability and natural talents, like every other athlete. I don't want it associated with who they know and who they blow, who they're smoking buddies with, who's daughter they're dating, or who they may have put over backstage. Right now, I have to look elsewhere for what I want, because the WWF surely isn't giving that to me or any of the other fans who have been watching longer than Hogan fought Bundy at Wrestlemania II. However, I still feel that magic can be regained within the rings of the WWF, or if not, within the rings of some other mainstream American promotion. It's either that, or I submit to the fact that wrestling is dead in our country. And like Tito Santana that beautiful night, I will never submit  "My political opinions lean more towards anarchy....The most improper job of any man, even saints, is bossing other men."-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1981 "Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits"-George Carlin "Now you listen here to me, you horrible little creature"-William Regal to X-Pac | ||||
| rageparty 123...Not so bare anymore since I got a number underneath my name again I also have an imaginary girlfriend. | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 1:26 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 01 | holy shit Sir Oko, that was some of the best writing i have ever seen, that was an amazing story, and just like u, i think theres something missing these days also, but getting back to the topic, the way i became a wrestling fan was when i was 9, i just flipped through channels and i found Raw Is War, i didnt know shit bout wrestling, i learned there names, the belts and everything, i loved watching the hart foundation, and ever since then i watched wrestling, it eventually influenced me and i became a kind of badd-ass in elementary and jr. high and i got in some fights obviously using wrestling moves, and now at my age, i try to pull myself away from wrestling, but i cant cuz im still waiting for the wwf to return to its original wrestling kind of style This message was edited by rageparty on 10-6-01 @ 1:31 PM | ||||
| Cluster F | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 1:54 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | Honestly, the start of Hulkamania got me. I started watching i guess around Wrestlemania 3, when i was only 5 years old. Hogan vs Andre was the great matchup. I was totally hooked when Wrestlemania 6 happened, i rememeber because i had my birthday party that day (my birthday is April 6, so Wrestlemania happened around that time every year). I guess ive been hooked ever since, and yes, i sat through the WWF during the Doink days, probably cause i didnt know any better cause i was still a young kid. Thats how it all started for me. I caught onto sports at a really early age...while other kids got GI Joes and stuff, i got baseball cards and wrestling figures. Instead of bedtime stories, i wanted sports scores and wanted to watch the Mets on WWOR every night as i was going to bed. | ||||
| prototype | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 2:02 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01 | I got started when Hulk and Andre the Giant had there fist match I was at my cousin house and he had it on after that I was hooked. Free Northern Ireland | ||||
| Sir Okonkwo | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 2:06 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | yambag This message was edited by Sir Okonkwo on 10-6-01 @ 2:48 PM | ||||
| jap bike jim | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 8:27 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | My girl at the time got me hooked on it. She was screaming at the tv for HHH to kick out of a pin. At that point I asked her why do you watch this mind less bullshit. That was about 2 and a half years ago. And now I catch almost every raw or smackdown. Buy american you fuckers! | ||||
| Officer Joe Friday | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 11:10 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: May. 01 | My father had been a wrestling fan for a long time and it was only a matter of time before it rubbed off on me. My father and brother used to go the matches without me since I was too young and one day my brother came home with an autographed picture of Bob Backlund holding something which to me at the time looked like some sort of fish (the old WWF title). Then a short time after I remember watching one of the Saturday morning shows and seeing Backlund getting his ass beat by the dastardly Samoans until Backlund went into the back and got the returning Hulk Hogan to help out. It was awesome. Then about a month later watching the monthly MSG show I saw Hogan beat the Iron Sheik for the title. That just made me even more of a fan. The one I really liked though was the Superfly Jimmy Snuka. I imitated his flying leap numerous times off of my parents bed. Tito Santana also became a favorite of mine and when he beat Greg Valentine for the IC title in a steel cage I was excited for weeks (imagine my surprise when about 8 years later, Tito almost ran me over at McDonalds). And in tag teams, it had to be the British Bulldogs. Their series of non-title matches against the Dream Team were something to behold. And I agree, as time changed so did I. I don't know what happened but I think I am conditioned now to get bored at any match over 15 minutes or so. And watching some of my older tapes I wonder how I could watch with such vigor matches that stretched on and on with about 10 restholds between them. It would be nice to say that all matches were like Steamboat/Savage and Steamboat/Flair but that wasn't the case. We were left with much more stinkers back then as well. No matter what happens though I think I'll be a wrestling fan for life. ------------------- But there's also this: there are over 5,000 men in this city, who know that being a policeman is an endless, glamourless, thankless job that's gotta be done. I know it, too, and I'm damn glad to be one of them." | ||||
| Rob Van Dam FN Moron is an indian giver!! I had my cool status for about 10 min. then it was gone. GONE! G.O.O.F.B.A.H.G.S. Agent WD40 Licensed to Kill My spoon is TOO BIG. (finally) Hanger-on to the JYDs for LIFE I INVENTED ORANGE MOTHERFUCKER This status is sponsored by: P®oJë©T M@¥hέm | posted on 10-06-2001 @ 11:29 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Sep. 01 | my dad was always a wrestling fan. me and my dad would just sit there together and watch everything. i think ive seen every ppv since wrestlemania 5 the night it was on, and the ones ive missed i rent. as much as i try to pull myself away i cant, i feel like im missing something. i was definitely a hulkamaniac and a warrior. "The Whole F'n Show" (Thanks to Austin for the pic) | ||||
| GonzoStyle | posted on 10-07-2001 @ 6:37 AM | | |||
| Hanger-On Registered: Jan. 70 | Well I remember the old WWF cartoon on channel 5 in new york before they became fox when the aired the wrestling shows on the weekend mornings. Back when they played kung fu flicks in the afternoon on weekends. Then Main Events on NBC late nights, i remember one match in particular was a steel cage (the old blue one) between then champ hulk hogan and a new upstart named Big Bossman. Also when Andre won the belt and gave it to dibease. I took a few years off in the early 90's till wrestlemania 12. I missed WM 9, 10,& 11, i saw them later on. And I have not taken anymore time off since then. "These dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth." -- Abraham Lincoln She-Mail Me Here | ||||
| matilda | posted on 10-07-2001 @ 6:39 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Apr. 01 | i've not been watching wrestling anywhere near as long as you guys... i started about 3 or 4 years ago (i think) watching WCW and i was really into Sting, Sid Vicious, Vampiro and Kevin Nash. but i dont remember much about what happened because i didnt follow the story lines (i was only 10 or 11) i just watched the big guys hit each other. Then in about April 2000 we went on holiday and the villa we stayed in had Sky Sports and i started watching WWF in the evenings with my sister and brother. then when we came home we got Sky and started watching it. i remember the first PPV i watched was Armeggedon 2000 (really not that long ago!) with the Hell In A Cell match. Then a few months ago my parents cancelled Sky so i hardly get to watch it anymore, my friend records PPVs and my other friend occasionally records Smacdown. I watch Heat but thats stopping at the end of the year, so i'm basically an internet fan. I have a few WCW videos and i've borrowed old PPVs off various friends. lol, my story is embarrasing compared to you guys. my website "WELL, IT'S ONE LOUDER, ISN'T IT? IT'S NOT TEN" (the artist formerly known as edge) **Official Good Will Embassador from England** | ||||
| King f-tard | posted on 10-08-2001 @ 3:29 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Feb. 01 | Actually not at all Matilda, it must be hard living in Britain and being a fan, and its cool that you keep up with it. My story is simple, I got into wrestling in the early 80's when I was younger, I loved watching Hogan and Andre and all the cool tag teams and what not, and then Eventually I tired of the sport, it wasnt fun for me anymore, when the body builders came in and the sport changed. I didnt watch it at all for about 10 years really, and then about 5 years ago I really got into WCW again, great matches, cool promos, and lots of faces I remembered. I then went to an ECW show and got hooked instantly. Naturally the WWF came around soon after and I was hooked there too, and I was a fan in full force again. I got turned off to wcw in their later days, becoming a WWF/ECW fan totally, until ECW stopped performing and was a WWF fan, as I am today.  | ||||
| Leaking Nipples | posted on 10-08-2001 @ 8:17 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | The Ultimate Warrior got me hooked. I know, today I laugh at how stupid I was, but I was 8 at the time of Wrestlemania 6, and that was what got me hooked for life. The rush I got when Warrior won went unmatched until the Devils won the cup. I can't adequately describe why I liked him so much, but I did, and I have been a fan ever since. | ||||
| GonzoStyle | posted on 10-09-2001 @ 2:12 AM | | |||
| Hanger-On Registered: Jan. 70 | Leaking WM with hogan and the warrioe was actually one of my most favorite ones at the time and I agree I have no idea why I loved the warrior so much, lol. "These dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth." -- Abraham Lincoln She-Mail Me Here | ||||
| Metalfan | posted on 10-12-2001 @ 7:49 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Sep. 00 | Damn, I feel old here. I also grew up watching wrestling. From the old WWF, and I do mean old to the WCCW from Texas where the VonErichs ruled the world. Some of the first matches I remember watching involved Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy Whitewolf I believe was his partner. Here was this almost 50 year old man at the time just constantly cleaning house...greatest shit I ever saw. I remember Baron Von Raschke, the early Bob Backlund, The Grand Wizard, Classy Freddie Blassie, Haystack Calhoun, Crusher Blackwell...shit, the list goes on. Oh, and back then, blood was real effin blood, not ketchup packets :-) E-Mail Me  09.11.01 - To those who we'll never see again - you'll be in our hearts forever | ||||
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