What Made You?

[Just Dave]

I wrote this post once but my shitass laptop timed out because it sucks. Fuck this laptop. Anyway, it occurs to me that I’ve done a real shitty job talking about why I like the things I like and don’t like the things that suck… I mean, the things I don’t. 

Sean Waltman was my first favorite wrestler. His ability to credibly work as a threat to bigger opponents without compromising the suspension of disbelief of the match or the credibility of his opponents is probably why I’m so hard on guys today who don’t know how to do that. I also think I value promo ability over in-ring work so much because as a kid I got USWA and Smoky Mountain on our local cable access station. I was in awe of guys like Tony Anthony, Buddy Landell, Dutch Mantell, Robert Fuller, and of course, Arn Anderson. Guys who could have me on the edge of my seat with their brilliant interviews. Landell, in particular, was must see tv for me. He was the redneck with an edge that every kid my age from that part of the world wanted to be. He was like if the Georgia Satellites’ music was a person. Michael Hayes, Dusty Rhodes, and Ron Simmons were other guys I loved, but it almost felt like too much of a stretch to aspire to that level. 

So, tell me; what were you exposed to that formed what you like and don’t like in the wrestling business? Not a favorite match, per se, but shit you saw and heard on your screen? I’d love to hear from y’all…

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

We used to go to my grandparents' house for Sunday dinner, and my uncle would tape WCW's cable shows for my grandfather. I wasn't all that interested until one day, this match shows up.

I had no idea women's wrestling existed - I was still eight years old, after all - so this was completely new information to me! Madusa showed up more and more, albeit with the Dangerous Alliance and she didn't wrestle anymore, but forget it, I was hooked by that point. Full on Madusa fangirl. My family would make fun of me, the typical "aww, [deadname] has a crush" stuff, but nope, here's this woman who kicked a whole bunch of butt and that was cool. They didn't notice I had similar feelings about Steffi Graf either.

Then Madusa gradually vanished and I was sad, but 2 Cold Scorpio had debuted and he did amazing stuff I had never seen before, so I stuck around until I heard that Madusa was back in the WWF. Then via Madusa, I got to see Bull Nakano, and I also got to see Aja Kong. A couple of years later, when I first started getting into tape trading, I remembered Aja Kong, found out she had her own promotion in Arsion, got their first show, got hooked, and there you go.

But yeah. The root is Madusa.

[Jenalysis]

For me, it was being miserable in middle school (I didn't learn why a lot of it until later), but I got to go home, and I got to watch ESPN at 4PM after coming home and getting tea.

ESPN showed old World Class eps during that time, I got to watch about 5-6 years of WCCW TV, beginning with the very early Von Erich stuff vs King Kong Bundy (With hair), then the Freebird Feud and Flair, then the Dynamic Duo, then it started going downhill, but by that point I had found what I liked.  I enjoyed the athletic big men like Andre or Ernie Ladd, then Vader.

So for me, it was World Class.  I enjoyed the athleticism, the fact that the bouts looked like fights (WCCW and UWF were the best at that, those were the promotions I enjoyed the most as a kid), the heels weren't total cowards all the time.  WWF style really grated on me as a kid, I liked Perfect, Kerry (of course), Savage- because I could tell those folks could go, but the rest of it was unfun to watch.

@SparklefaceMadusa did things to me as a kid as well, but I thought everyone secretly wanted to be as cool and attractive as Medusa, but it just wasn't something you said, so I figured most folks kept it to themselves. ^_^

 

@just drew I though Waltman was the shit when I first saw him on those ESPN broadcasts.  Then I saw him on Job DUty in WWF, and I was upset, then I heard about the upset of Razor, and that actually made me gain interest in WWF for a bit, with Bret keeping me around

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Jenalysis

[BobbyWhioux]

I would sit through any match, no matter how bad the action, no matter how forgone a conclusion the outcome was.  Match after match, hour after hour.

If Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby The Brain Heenan were calling the action.

I got a big long post I could make, and almost did make, about how fundamental to cementing my fandom it was to watch Bret Hart start his rise just as I started regularly watching, to watch my guy come all the way up to the top.  And maybe I'll still make it because as far as strictly limiting myself to watching wrestlers wrestle wrestling matches Bret is always going to be more responsible than anyone else for convincing me to stick around as a fan.

But Monsoon and Heenan got my eyeballs and earholes fixated on the show long enough for that to even be possible, first.

[Just Dave]

I remember where I was going with the promo thing. I think that's why I like guys like Ricky Starks, Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley so much. Miro too. The ability to make me believe in spite of my knowledge that wrestling is a work. I think about that Big E sound byte a lot; "You want your five star matches? You want your thirty minute classics? Not me..." I think that's why I don't have much use for that nXt era so many folks seem to be so fond of, or the Young Bucks sprinting from spot to spot with no regard for their opponent's credibility. Kickouts at 2 and 99/100's do not a great match make. In my opinion, anyway. 

I like weird shit, too. Arcade Anarchy. Stadium Stampedes. Parking Lot fights. Multi-man gang fights. Money in the Bank matches that run through office buildings. (Dana Brooke is fantastic in that. Seriously. Go watch. I don’t even care if I get more dm’s from my Little Friend telling me to touch myself thinking about her. She has a knack for physical comedy that I hope she gets the chance to explore. Impact, maybe?)I think that's why Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance in WarGames might be my favorite match of all time. Lots of interweaving storylines coming to a head. It always bothered me that Steve Austin would never accept help. From the time I was 11, I've believed that the only thing more fun than kicking ass was kicking ass with your friends. That 10 man tag from Smackdown with The Rock, Mick Foley, and Too Cool & Rikishi vs. DX and the Radicals. That's peak storytelling to me. People with shit to settle settling shit. I'm sure I'll have more to say later.

Edited September 25, 2023 by just drew

[Octopus]

Love me some @just drew. Good idea for a thread. I’ve rambled before on my journey through pro wrestling fandom before but I think this setting and as a concept of establishing taste will be fun.

It all started with the Rock and the colorful characters of the WWF Attitude Era. Catchphrases, one of a kind personalities, a self contained Ed universe that was completely wild. I loved it all. As a 7-8 year old, I wanted to see The Rock make fun of Al Snow, DLo Brown to wiggle his head before a Frog Splash, Mankind sticking it to HHH, Shamrock break Jarrett’s leg. I loved it all. That bombastic charisma that oozes out of someone who IS their character, not just playing a role. I’m one of the few Penta lovers here, because when he’s spamming taunts, I believe he’d do that. Just like a WR dancing before getting to the inzone or me playing the video games against my friend and taunting like crazy. The People’s Elbow is so stupid but so great because of that. It’s fun and silly and as much of wrestling as an armbar. 

I failed to do a backflip while watching gymnastics in my basement, but my parents assumed I was watching wrestling. Wrestling is banned from the house. We snuck watched it for a few years, but it slowly faded. I was still heavily playing the video games at my friends house. Faded out to miss most of the Invasion angle. Once I hit middle school I had a few friends that watched and we’d talk about how cool the team  of RVD and Kane was. My neighborhood friend had Here Comes the Pain which we played nearly daily. We actually had a group of neighbor kids that would watch WWE. Around 03-06ish until the group fizzled out. 

I learned of wrestling forums around this time. Which helped my pretentious and probably bad takes. I was “Sledge.” on Wrestling Forums. TNA became a fun alternative. Through the internet I discovered the Indy’s. ROH and specifically Low Ki vs Kenta changed my perception of what wrestling can be. It felt real with the strikes and the struggle of the hard grapples. I watched that match a hundred times. It opened up a wormhole to NOAH and Super Dragon and CHIKARA and so much more. 

CHIKARA had such fun characters and storylines. The build up and reveal of the BDK group was so wild. So many secret hints and small things to look back on. I remember digging through CHIKARAFans for all the hidden websites and messages that lead to the Eye of Tyr. I enjoy a good blood feud that puts two great workers against each other, but I also love and find lacking the elaborate tales in wrestling storytelling. When done right, it can be magic. I absolutely loved the Hangman Saga. Just feuds in general are great. I used to watch fan-made feud mv’s on YouTube. Kingston vs Hero had a good one that was broken up into episodes. I wish I could find that.

I was really fascinated with the King’s Road style of wrestling and psychology. The grapples and holds being caught for. The idea of moves and counters building off of previous matches. I remember the first time seeing 90’s All Japan it was just so different.  Compared to Steiner vs HHH, these guys looked human! They chopped each other and dropped each other on their head. It took a bit (just like watching non-flipping lucha) but once I got the pacing down, I felt like I could appreciate so much more. Just like how There Will Be Blood changed my view of cinema, 6/9/95 was a game changer for me. 

 

Now I’m just rambling…I made a post giving thanks to the posters that showed me the way of lucha. It makes me think of Satanico and Negro Casas. I think the dig to learn it more and my drive to do that with things I find fascinating. I love the wrestlers that I can watch and just keep my eye on them and find that even when they’re not the focal point of a multi-man match, they are still doing the little things right. There’s a match where Satanico is beat up and sitting in the corner and the ref or his partners is checking on him and you just notice he jerks his body angrily to be the tough guy not watching help. Just such a tiny thing but shows his character so well and it would be easy to miss. Or when they are the focal point and every movement and reaction makes sense and comes across so interesting or well done. Terry Funk is the best example of that. Examples being Nick Bockwinkel, Buddy Rose, Negro Casas, Akira Hokuto, and a handful of others. I just watch what they do the entire match. I guess I’d say this place (and a few others) introduced me to so many of my favorites. 

 

Now what I want to watch is a Super Event Penta taunting in one match, followed by sappy melodrama, then modern NOAH kicking or Kobashi chop off, then a passionate promo to either build to something or just fun buying time, maybe a neat tag match, throw in a comedy bit, then main eventing with an hour long sweaty grappling struggle between Daisuke Sekimoto and an equally muscular barrel chested man.

TL;DR 

- The Rock and friends

- Neighborhood friends (a community to enjoy wrestling with)

- Low Ki vs KENTA

- CHIKARA

- Four Pillars and friends

- This place (current community and discovering favorites) 

[Just Dave]

@Octopus appreciate the love, homie. 

One of the worst injuries I ever got was from doing the "Flair Flop" spot over the side corner of our couch. I hit the flip perfect, like Flair did into the turnbuckles, landed on my feet on the other side, like Flair did on the apron, but then my boy Marcus clotheslined the SHIT out of me. I called the spot, so I wasn't mad, but I couldn't chew right for like a week. Injuring yourself doing shit you saw on tv was a right of passage. 

I paid that motherfucker Marcus back, though. I hit him with a gnarly Cactus Jack elbow from the side of my porch. He was on the ground. Receipt sent.

[Curt McGirt]

The first time I remember watching wrestling was at my grandparents' house, as close to the TV as I could get, where the Ultimate Warrior got locked in a casket by the Undertaker and they were beating on it with sledgehammers because he was gonna die from asphyxiation. That was the worm. The hook was watching Bret Hart wrestle. And the reel was Mankind showing up and me finding out about Japanese garbage wrestling, and me finally watching WCW and seeing the cruisers. Reading the DVDVRs was part of that, too. 

[supremebve]

Randy Savage.  Flying Elbow Drop.

[Jenalysis]

11 hours ago, BobbyWhioux said:

I would sit through any match, no matter how bad the action, no matter how forgone a conclusion the outcome was.  Match after match, hour after hour.

If Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby The Brain Heenan were calling the action.

I got a big long post I could make, and almost did make, about how fundamental to cementing my fandom it was to watch Bret Hart start his rise just as I started regularly watching, to watch my guy come all the way up to the top.  And maybe I'll still make it because as far as strictly limiting myself to watching wrestlers wrestle wrestling matches Bret is always going to be more responsible than anyone else for convincing me to stick around as a fan.

But Monsoon and Heenan got my eyeballs and earholes fixated on the show long enough for that to even be possible, first.

 

One of the nice things about the pandemic- was all the Dark AEW was doing, and the dark hatching I was doing at the time, meant I got to go back to that place in my life, with Taz and Excalibur as my friends.  AEW Dark in particular got me through a lot during a really rough time.

 

I will forever be thankful to the AEW talent and a lesser extent TK for what they did for us during the pandemic.  They put their bodies and lives on the line, more than normal, and it helped to keep me whole.

[Zimbra]

It's 1989 and I'm spending the night at Michael Wilborn's house.  He insists we watch something called Saturday Night's Main Event.  I see Hulk Hogan suplex a giant cop off a steel cage and think there might be something to this wrestling thing.

It's 1991, I'm not allowed to order PPVs but my birthday is coming up and it's only $10 since it's some weird show from Japan.  I see a face-painted man spraying poison mist and a guy in a red-and-white bodysuit with a horned mask doing things I could never have imagined and think there might be more to wrestling than I see on TV.

It's 1993 and a man dressed as Friar Tuck is wrestling on Raw and think maybe wrestling isn't all it's cracked up to be.

It's 1998 and I'm in Nick Borden's basement after work.  He breaks out the Nintendo 64 to play WCW/NWO Revenge.  I'm gobsmacked by the number of wrestlers and fascinated by the luchadors.  A week later a different coworker gives me an ECW tape for the first time.  I think maybe I've been missing out on some things.

It's 2000 and instead of going to class I'm reading wrestling recaps on the internet.  Scott Keith makes fun of a particular messageboard with a weird acronym for their opinions enough that I feel the need to check it out.  I think there are people out there the same kind of weird that I am.

[Curt McGirt]

Your Dr. Manhattan-esque delivery definitely beats my fishing analogy. 

I forgot to mention that I found out about this thing called ECW too and actually taped it off the Sunshine Network at my uncle's house in Florida on vacation at like 2 AM. It had clips from a Taz vs. Sabu match and a Shane Douglas promo with him yelling "MYYYYYYY BEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLTTTTTT" at the camera. And when Heat Wave aired on PPV I listened to the scrambled channel live and wondered what the hell they were hollering about when Taz and Bigelow went through the ring (the audio worked, obviously).

[southofheavy]

One of my earliest memories is being at my Aunt Judy's house and my cousin Steve had a WWF show on. This was in 1986, I think. I was five. Hoss Funk was applying a Boston Crab on some poor soul and Terry Funk came down with a knee onto his back. Later in the program, Hulk Hogan cut a promo. 

I've been hooked ever since. 

[ka-to]

Watching Lou Albano and The Grand Wizard of Wrestling talk every week got me hooked on wrestling.

Florida TV gave me a style of wrestling and TV program that I enjoyed. 

Finding the Japanese video rental stores in NJ/NY changed everything and led to 30+ trips to Japan.

Going to a few Goodheart shows led to going to tons of ECW from Cabrini college on. 

 

[Eivion]

Hogan's terrible movies (and I guess a good one in Rocky III), Madusa/Ripper (Bertha), & Savage's Slim Jim are my first memories of wrestling. None of them made me a regular viewer, but they got my foot in the door. Austin and the Attitude era is what got me to stay. The memory of Madusa/Faye is what oddly enough made me want to check out women's wrestling. It was never quite good until after the Attitude era, but it always made me hope for something worthwhile. The crush on Madusa and general interest in Hogan and Savage did lead to me watching WCW eventually. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Eivion

[The Comedian]

Honestly, who influenced me the most in expanding my horizons in wrestling? The Great Man of DVDVR...

Grew up on WWF in the 80's, found WCW through 90's cable, got back into things for the Monday Night Wars, and then found the IWC...Scoops, Micasa, etc...and then in '99 I found DVDVR, and a man so jubilant, so enthusiastic in his love of wrestling, you couldn't not pay attention...

Recently I watched former DVDVRer Kim Justice's excellent youtube video on Michinoku's "These Days", and when he got to the Battlarts match it brought tears to my eyes when he mentioned that that fed had been championed by "the late, great Dean Rasmussen"...that's how he should be remembered, as one of the the greatest writers ever on the subject of professional wrestling. He was our Great Man. I miss him terribly. 

[AxB]

Kim Justice is a she/they, not a he/him.

I didn't know she used to post here. I'm not surprised to hear it, though.

[BloodyChamp]

I’ve talked about what added up to have “made” me over time many times. It’s still making. It’s not cooking as fast as it did when I was obsessed with this stuff but it is still cooking. Hopefully 1 day we’ll have the whole meal made.

I can’t for sure remember what I very first watched. It goes to far back. What I do remember, I remember watching knowing what was going on already which means I had already been watching similar to how we watched cartoons for a long time before we started remembering what we watched.

That what I first remember was whatever was on broadcast TV in 1989. All of the NWA/WCW TV, some regional TV that I don’t remember and 1 WWF TV show that I thought was stupid. WCTV 6, Fox 31 and Fox 49 (I forgot the local names of the Fox stations) were the channels. Then every now and then my uncle would record stuff from cable. 

[Zimbra]

20 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Your Dr. Manhattan-esque delivery definitely beats my fishing analogy. 

I forgot to mention that I found out about this thing called ECW too and actually taped it off the Sunshine Network at my uncle's house in Florida on vacation at like 2 AM. It had clips from a Taz vs. Sabu match and a Shane Douglas promo with him yelling "MYYYYYYY BEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLTTTTTT" at the camera. And when Heat Wave aired on PPV I listened to the scrambled channel live and wondered what the hell they were hollering about when Taz and Bigelow went through the ring (the audio worked, obviously).

The tape my coworker gave me was Anarchy Rulz 99, so I got to see Tajiri/Super Crazy, RVD/Lynn, and Taz/Sabu all at once.

Same dude would later end up being my roommate and would show me shit like the Low Ki/Xavier ladder match and crazy CZW stuff so I owe a lot of my indy fandom to him.

Also the first time I watched AEW (for the Pac/Omega ironman match) I turned on the TV and there he was sitting right in the front row dressed like Orange Cassidy.

Shout out to James Good, that dude rules.

[BloodyChamp]

22 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Your Dr. Manhattan-esque delivery definitely beats my fishing analogy. 

I forgot to mention that I found out about this thing called ECW too and actually taped it off the Sunshine Network at my uncle's house in Florida on vacation at like 2 AM. It had clips from a Taz vs. Sabu match and a Shane Douglas promo with him yelling "MYYYYYYY BEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLTTTTTT" at the camera. And when Heat Wave aired on PPV I listened to the scrambled channel live and wondered what the hell they were hollering about when Taz and Bigelow went through the ring (the audio worked, obviously).

It was definitely the Sunshine Network at 2 AM. I used to try to stay up and watch it every weekend and I only made it once, for a recap show, but even it was better than the shit on Monday night at the time. It was 1999 I think, after WCW had finally ran me off for good and WWF was just the same old stuff. 

I was buying ppvs soon after and I went to the TV taping in Tallahassee. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by BloodyChamp

[zendragon]

Earliest wrestling memory is seeing I think Rick Rude v Jake Roberts in my grandmothers basement. Also someone planning to waffle Macho man with a chair before he came through the curtain but Liz was walking ahead of Macho, some how disaster was adverted. So even though I ralely think of WWF/WWE as the best in wrestling it will always be home to me in some sense 

[For Great Justice]

It’s really hard for me to pinpoint a singular big bang moment. I remember plenty of acute moments in time from my childhood: the first RAW (the idea of a live-live wrestling show blew my mind), the end of Rumble 94, Abby getting fried in the Chamber of Horrors, the Masked Scorpion, Lex coming out of the carriage to attack Sting), but I can’t remember a single entry point. It had to be sometime in 89 or 90. 

I do remember our neighborhood backyard fed circa 1991. My older brother was Warrior and our neighbors were Hogan and Flair, so I was “stuck” being Macho Man. Looking back I totally won that deal.

[Cobra Commander]

I got in just before it really started to heat up on the WWF side. Pretty confident the first Monday night wrestling I saw was the RAW the night after Badd Blood in October 1997. Which was also in my area so a person or two I know was actually there. But i'm pretty sure I saw some WWF segments before that because they put Superstars or some other show on WGN in 1997 so I remember the Hart Foundation formation angle.

Also one of my good friends was a big wrestling fan for much longer than I had been.

Around the same time, I had gotten into following boxing too. So two sports where the biggest stuff could be viewed by watching a scrambled channel 99.

[BloodyChamp]

As for the single moment I was hooked…hmmm…I guess the closest thing was Luger. I was 1 of those younguns who was obsessed with him immediately and turned him face.

That’s a stretch though. I didn’t stop and proclaim pieces of my heart until I grew up. You might even say I was an ungrateful child but that was part of it. 

[Cobra Commander]

among other events, I was able to see Havoc 97 a few weeks later at my cousin's apartment. He was from the generation of people who were into it in the 80s and then came back because he was hot again when they were in their 20s.

Also the existence of video rental stores helps a lot (Blockbuster, MovieGallery) and the internet