What do you REALLY watch wrestling for?

Capone · 05-01-2009, 07:13 PM

It's a simple question and one I ended up asking myself after listening to Robin Williams awesome stand up. He brought up how he finds it funny that people say that they watched Boxing to watch the sport of boxing when really, they watch it to see someone get the ever loving shit beat out of them. We all like competitive fights and all but most of us would not mind someone getting their face punched in by a guy like Tyson in the first round. Hell, Im positive that's why most of us turn to UFC from time to time to see someone get their brain squashed from he outside. All what Mr. Williams had said had just lead to me asking myself.....What do I watch wrestling for?

I mean always love to see dramatic storytelling and great technical wrestling from time to time but what really draws me to a match is just a great ass whipping. Sometimes I often see matches featuring KENTA or a Roderick Strong in a awesome match with this guy and that guy but I often see the same with a match rated the same with a Marafuji or a Bryan Danielson yet it doesn't attract me as much. Why is it? It is simply because although I like seeing twisting and awesome counters and such, I love it more when I see a guy get his chest turned into hamburger, kicked around like a soccer ball, get pimp slapped around worst than Chris Brown on Rhianna, dropped on his head like a stubborn child, kissing a boot that is going a hundred miles per hour towards his face, get spit on so many times like he was a trash can, or seeing some guy get a straight up knee to his face. I watch pro-wrestling to see someone get the shit whipped out of him and the rest like story-telling as well as psychology is just a added bonus.

I think many of us were attracted by something in pro-wrestling to first attract us to it. When seeing a guy like Stone Cold go around and Stunnering everything that breathed immediately grabbed me into the sport but I can''t say the same for all of us. What do you watch wrestling for? The technical brilliance of some competitors, the high-flying, the mic work, the wacky characters, or did it just come down to a great ass beating? What got you into wrestling? Was it guys like Bret that could put on hold for hold classics? Was it guys like HBK who were some fancy ass wrestlers? Was it guys like The Rock who could entertain millions across the world by just his mic work? Maybe it was guys like Austin who was just the meaning of man and who put the beat down on anything that looked at him funny? What was it for you?

Smarketh. · 05-01-2009, 07:40 PM

It's a variety of things. When I first started watching, it just seemed cool to see guys like Jeff Hardy do flips and stuff. Then I started watching regularly and getting into the storylines and cheering for my favourites etc.

Eventually WWE just got really boring to me and I probably would've stopped watching altogether had I not discovered TNA (2004-5, when the X Division was at it's best imo) and eventually ROH. It was the in-ring action that I knew I wanted most, because having not ordered any WWE PPVs and only bought a few DVDs, I was deprived of their best stuff. For a while I was kinda like that "who gives a fuck about angles? HEADDROPS, KICKS, 630s!" guy. I'm still heavy on match quality, but now I appreciate/understand psychology more and what a good angle can bring to a match, but I still consider match quality my main priority when it comes to knowing what I consider good watching. I'm able to appreciate all styles now and not just think being an epic chain wrestler makes you good. The Olympics would be my best source if that's all I only wanted to see.

Also, I would love to see KENTA or Davey Richards kicking a jobber in the face until he bled buckets. Bloodthirsty? I suppose so...

Tell me if I completely missed the point of what this thread was meant to be about...

RaiZ-R · 05-01-2009, 08:33 PM

The first match I ever saw was Jake The Snake Roberts beating the snot out of some jobber on what I can only assume was Superstars. I was six at the time, and the fact that Jake looked cool in his snake skin boots, had his very own snake (which to this day I still want to) and finished the guy off by driving his head into the mat with a DDT, had me totally mesmerised.

I guess what I saying is that for me, it's a little bit of everything. I watch wrestling to be entertained, and it's the storylines and characters that do that for me. If it was just for the violence, then I'd only watch MMA, which I also love, but I'm must less knowledgable about. Wrestling would be less interesting to me if it was simply about the "competition" as it's all predetermined anyway.

The Brain · 05-01-2009, 11:16 PM

I'm kind of the same type of fan RaiZ-R is. I like the angles (if they're halfway decent), the characters, the pageantry, the athleticism... the whole package. However, wrestling is still about competition to me, but not the obvious competition in the ring. True, I like a good match that seems like a legit contest in the ring, but I also like the very legit competition in the locker room. I like to try and predict who's going to be headlining in 3-4 years, who's still going to be jerking curtains, and who's gonna be endeavor'd.

Bigpapa42 · 05-02-2009, 12:48 AM

Its entertainment. In a sense, not too much different from a lot of TV shows. It has elements of a sport and elements of a TV show (or film), but its not quite the same as any of them. There is also always a nostalgia element for me, as I've been watching on and off since I was a little kid. What hooks me is the combination of storytelling (both the storylines and within the matches) and action.

The Brain · 05-02-2009, 12:53 AM

Ah, that's an element I totally forgot about, and was what got me watching wrestling again in the first place: nostalgia. I had been watching some old stuff from when I was originally a fan (late 80's, earl 90's) on YouTube. I'd been watching a lot of it and had it in the back of my mind as I was flipping through the channels one night and stumbled upon SmackDown! The Undertaker, a guy I'd actually seen debut in the WWF, was feuding with some fool I'd never heard of named Batista. Taker was giving the title belt gesture with his eyes rolled back. I was hooked again.

MattWWF15 · 05-02-2009, 05:14 AM

Jeff Hardy
Torrie Wilson {though not so much anymore obviously}
MCMG.

End.

E-weezie · 05-02-2009, 02:34 PM

I watched at first because it was something me and my grandfather watched when I was was but a wee child. After he died it left me with his love of wrestling. I fell in love with the characters, the badass, the arrogant trash talker, the underdogs, the evil villains. But right now I watch wrestling by pure force of habit. From about 1999 to right now I've seen almost every WWF/E Raw, SD, Heat Velocity, Jakked and not to mention WCW and ECW programs. So it's something I've simply become accustomed to.

Bernie · 05-11-2009, 04:42 PM

I started first watching pro wrestling in the early 90s...I had always watched it with my mom as a kid. When she started disliking and falling away from it, I was at the point to where I was already a huge fan. Video games, merchandise, you name it I had (And still got) it. So it was always one of those things that I just HAD to watch as a kid, my other shows were all cartoons such as Ninja Turtles and Sonic The Hedgehog lol. I naturally was a Hulkamaniac (Not embarrased to admit that) what I liked about wrestling at first was the larger to life characters. Undertaker is a perfect example, and of course I loved the action (wrestling). Of course as I got older my whole mindset changed on how I viewed wrestling. Today I watch for many things, the action, the drama, great crowd atmosphere. Pro wrestling or sports entertainment, depending on how you go about it...is something that I have never stopped watching since first watching. There is honestly never been a point in time where I got sick of wrestling. I mean sure alot didn't bother me back in the day, because I was just a kid and didn't think much. But today I am a critic towards certain ways wrestling shows, matches, wrestlers and etc are booked. But I have such a respect for wrestling that will never die. I do appreciate the effort put on by the men and women from the past,today and those to come in the future. I enjoy all the different wrestling styles, gimmicks and etc. So why do I watch wrestling? Well because it has made a huge impact on my life, and that passion and love will never die.