How did you get into wrestling?

[JWLJN]

I was a casual fan as far back as I can remember, even have audiotape of a very young me talking about JYD and Bundy. We had family friends over for my birthday in 1987 and their son was a fan so we rented WrestleMania III. My dad and I would occasionally watch SNME, too.

In '91 I was sucked in by the Hasbro WWF figures. I started renting tapes and reading the Apter mags which I dreamt of writing for someday (a dream that I fulfilled). My dad bought me the Ric Flair Galoob WCW figure telling me that I'd want it because he was coming to the WWF and one Saturday night my mom flipped on WCW and in a very uncharacteristic (for her) moment declared "Look at those mudflaps!" as Abdullah and Cactus brawled. That was my proper introduction to WCW which made me realize that it wasn't an "off brand" wrestling.

That's when I became a lifer and never looked back.

-J\/\/

[Daddy-O]

I wasn't allowed to watch wrestling until sixth grade (2002) and I could only stay up to 10pm so I got into it watching the Smackdown Six. I enjoyed the characters and the excitement. I'll always remember getting to stay up late to see TLC IV, which seemed insane to me at the time. Edge/Mysterio-Angle/Benoit 2/3 Falls, Smackdown Halloween and Show-Lesnar's superplex are forever etched in my mind. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were my favorites, I ended up stopping keeping up with it in 2008, the fun was gone. Got back into it in 2013 when I saw something about Punk-Taker and Lesnar-HHH.

I also got to stay up to 11 in 2003 (study hard!) and saved up all my allowance to see Bad Blood 2003's He'll in a Cell match. I got to watched No Way Out 2003 as a midwinter treat, my dad rooting for Hogan and I for Rock. I think that was the only time I ever got one over on him. Man that HHH-Steiner match sucked.

[Justin877]

My Dad would let me stay up til 12 on Saturday night to watch the first 30mminutes or so of JCP Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.  I have been hooked ever since.

[E.J.]

My friends would always play "wrestling" and recess and called dibs on being certain wrestlers. Everyone wanted to be Stone Cold or Rikishi or Undertaker, I was always The Rock because I guess I looked most like him at the time. But I still felt a little lost so I decided to check it out and have and understanding and probably just to fit in. Being that there was only one TV in the house dominated by my mom, I only got to watch WWF Metal or Jakked. Watching the Hardy Boys and Scotty 2 Hotty was like the best thing ever to a 10 year old. I've been hooked ever since.

[JAxlMorrison]

I distinctly remember the build to Hulk vs Andre drawing me in, in early 1987. I was 5 years old.

 

I lost interest in the beginning of 1993, and stayed away until Hogan's heel turn in summer 1996. From there I slowly got back into the WWF as well, and discovered a late hour show called ECW. I was hooked on all three of the "Big 3" during the apex of the Monday Night Wars.

 

I started to lose interest again sometime after Benoit won the title at Mania 20, and my interest was totally gone with the death of Eddie Guerrero.

 

CM Punk's pipebomb promo brought me back.

[Charro!]

I think there was like a buzz about wrestling at school around the time which is when I first started to know about it. I first started watching wrestling around the time of the 1991 Royal Rumble. I think I may have got like the sticker book and one of the magazines to find out more about the wrestlers either before or shortly after to get into it. I also recall seeing a match on a tape with a coal miners glove match on, I think it might have been WCCW or GWF? as one of the other satellite channels aired it. In some ways I think preferred the WCW product at the time as it was more 'realistic' compared to the WWF which was abit more 'cartoony' and WCW was more readily available to watch as I didn't have Sky so what I saw of the WWF was from friends tapes etc. I remember seeing WrestleMania 7 & 8 on vhs which was cool and collecting some of the VHS from Silvervision along with the Hasbro figures, magazines, trading cards and such. I stopped watching abit in around 1994 til about 96 when we got cable and I could watch WCW Nitro and the WWF recap shows. I also started to watch some ECW on Bravo. Also at like sixth form Wrestling was huge again and one of my friends there taped the PPVs and brought them the next day which was cool. When I was at uni I was probably the only wrestling fan in my classes so I bought DVDs of old ECW & WWF to keep up to date. Also got Sky Sports in 2001 and from then could see most of the big WWE events until they went to PPV. The Wrestling Channel on sky was cool whilst it lasted and liked watching the classic NJPW and TNA on there along with World of Sport~!. Nowadays I still watch WWE & TNA, although if the WWE Network was available here I'd mostly watch that for the old WCW, WWF, ECW etc. The 84-92 and Monday Night Wars era with WWF, WCW & also ECW too are my favorite eras of wrestling. 

[pgi86]

An 11-year-old me saw the nWo and Goldberg and thought they were the coolest thing I had ever seen. That sealed the deal for me. I had watched some WWF prior to that, on and off for a couple of years, but wasn't really into it that much. It was just something that I'd watch every once in a while if I happened to stumble upon it and there was nothing else to watch. Then I stumbled upon WCW in early 1998 and I've been hooked eversince.

[Petey]

An 11-year-old me saw the nWo and Goldberg and thought they were the coolest thing I had ever seen. That sealed the deal for me. I had watched some WWF prior to that, on and off for a couple of years, but wasn't really into it that much. It was just something that I'd watch every once in a while if I happened to stumble upon it and there was nothing else to watch. Then I stumbled upon WCW in early 1998 and I've been hooked eversince.

Well Bubba, I don't know what year you're currently living in, but cherish WCW while you can because it won't be around forever.

[Hagan]

I was 6 years old in '88 and I distinctly remember Andre beating Hogan. I'm sure I watched it before because I remember at least watching the VHS version of WM 2.

 

My brother and his friend were huge fans so it was just something we did. I discovered WCW in '89 (with I believe the Clash of Flair/Steamboat). Once I discovered the Apter bags I was pretty hooked. Was so fascinated that there was so much shit from all over the world.

[Super Weak Machine]

In 1987, my dad took me to a UWF show at the North Side Coliseum in Ft. Worth.  I was 4 years old and wasn't entirely sure what I was watching at first, but by the end I was hooked.  It didn't take long to discover TBS after that, and the rest, as they say, is history.