Introduction to the Board as a wrestling fan

[ZubazKid]

My name's Tyler, 42, from Kansas City. First got into wrestling when all my classmates did with the rock n' wrestling cartoon, but realized I watched a little differently when I was blown away by Savage-Steamboat but underwhelmed by Andre-Hogan (the match not the build.)

 

Watched until about 1990 but other things took precedence in high school and the product hit a cold streak. Then my last semester of college I was flipping channels and came across Nitro. What's this dark nWo, and Sting's dressing like the Crow and holy he'll Hogan is still around and a heel??? That was 1997 in the build up to Starcade 97 and wrestling was becoming cool again (and I'll always believe the nWo and WCW drive that and made WWF and the rise of Stone Cold possible). Not only did I stay through the Attitude Era but to varying degrees until 2006ish when real life dulled my interest and the WWE was pretty shitty about that time. Along the way found online wrestling sites, ROH, tried TNA.

 

I list interest until a few years ago, but would occasionally check websites and Scott Keith's site led me to Place to Be Nation podcasts, which led me to PWO. Along the way realized a lot more wrestling out there and accessible, so even if you don't share Vince McMahon's vision, you could still find good stuff.

 

Recently watched a ton of ROH to vote on their top 50 wrestlers. Right now I'm watching both SMW and CWF Worldwide in order and loving both. Very interested in some of the sets and yearbooks on here, especially older territories like Mid-South and Memphis.

[kewf1988]

Hey, I'm Stacey, 22 years old, from Sydney, Australia. To add a layer of confusion I am actually a girl, even though I obviously have a male kayfabe name. I began watching WWE in very late 2003, my first memories are basically Steve Austin assembling his Survivor Series team, John Cena rapping at Vince in the ring, Kane giving Biker Taker his eulogy, that kind of thing. I found my way to the internet about 12 months later, and I've been a wrestling tragic ever since. I'm someone who watches WWE religiously and am a WWE fan, and predominantly a modern WWE fan at that. I think that kind of puts me at odds with a lot of hardcore fans, particularly a lot of people on here who have the childhood background and/or extensive viewing in other eras and styles that I simply do not. My good ol' days are 2004. Having said that, I dabble in loads of non-WWE stuff as well. Last year, for example, I went on what I liked to think of as a sort of severely condensed 80s Project where I binged on any and all pimped 80s matches I could find, basically everything that I missed out on not being 20 years older, and introduced myself to loads of cool stuff like PR, World of Sport, Demolition, and my new favourite wrestler Stan Hansen. My favourite wrestler is John Cena. I was a teenage girl in the 00s, what can I say. Other favourites are Trish Stratus, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry. And now, increasingly, Stan Hansen. My two favourite matches are Cena vs Umaga LMS and Team Austin vs Team Bischoff at Survivor Series 2003. I've been reading this board for quite a long time because I really love the general way that wrestling is viewed, dissected and discussed on here, and I feel I have a similar outlook even though I come from a much more modern perspective.

 

Pretty cool that you love to go back and watch everything that you missed out on before watching, even before you were born! Never would have expected that from a girl that's younger than I am...

 

My name's Kevin, and I'm 28 years old (going on 29 in a few days). My earliest memories of wrestling were in the early 90s (my grandma was actually a fan and we always saw the WWF and WCW weekend shows), though my first memories that I actually remember in detail were during the late 90s boom, specifically during the NWO era (I remember Hogan's heel turn and a month later in late August they attacked the Horsemen and Sting and spraypainted them, and being the 8 year old I was, I asked if they'd have "NWO" on their backs forever and thankfully I got a "no" answer"). While following WCW (they had many of the names I remembered from the early 90s like Hogan, Savage, Sting, Flair, Luger, Piper, etc., some great wrestlers in the midcard, and the cruiserweights), I still followed WWF as well because they still had Bret, Undertaker, and Michaels who I also remembered from the early 90s, though the product was clearly inferior (their transition period between the cartoonish gimmicks and the Attitude era, this was before Bret/Austin and all that). A couple years later, WCW started to decline (I knew something was up when Hogan got the belt back so soon after Starrcade 1997, which is when the NWO should have been broken up or at least breaking up), and while entering my preteens, the edgy characters of Austin, The Rock, and DX caught my attention, as well as the hardcore matches. I still followed WCW for a while (Goldberg was on fire at this time, and they had him win the title on Hogan cleanly like Sting should have, and the likes of the cruisers, Benoit, Jericho, Finlay, and Booker were still there putting on good matches) though the WWF was getting very good. Goldberg's streak was ended by Nash at Starrcade, and shortly after was the Fingerpoke of Doom as well as WCW spoiling Raw's main event that same night, and that made me realize something was REALLY wrong, especially when some of my favorites started leaving afterward (Jericho and the Radicals) and the cruisers got less and less emphasis put on them (they were often destroyed during their matches by Sid and Savage in the summer of 99). They all went to WWF, and as a result the good wrestling went there as well (WCW's summer of 99 and Russo and Sullivan eras were bad, even when I was a mark, and when it got REALLY bad in the summer and fall of 2000 during Russo's second era, which is when I found out it was all scripted, I was purely in the WWF camp). When Vince bought WCW, I was looking forward to all the dream matches that would take place, though when the Invasion started, the biggest names to come over were DDP and Booker T, so I looked at the internet and found out that the big names were sitting out their million dollar contracts, which is what made me learn of Hogan and Nash's backstage politics. This isn't what made me an IWC member yet but the seeds were planted. As for the Invasion angle, that was the first hint of WWF starting to become like WCW, as Austin was still a heel and DDP was not booked like a main eventer, being dominated by Undertaker and Kane at every turn and even losing to Sara. Then there were a lot of swerves, like Angle and Regal joining the Alliance and Torrie joining the WWF, which also set off the alarm bells, but that didn't lead me to the IWC...

 

Until 2002. The brand split happened, and almost immediately I could tell that Smackdown was way better than Raw, as Raw was featuring older wrestlers in the main event while delivering an inferior in-ring product to Smackdown, which featured the Smackdown Six. Then HHH was handed the WHC and went over every face in the company, while the in-ring product was still way below average, and that is what brought me to the IWC. HHH's reign of terror is what brought me there, to see if other people were as alienated as I was, and I realized that others shared my views as well. Raw was bad throughout the brand split until around Royal Rumble 2004, when Benoit jumped ship, and after WM 20 the opposite occurred as Raw became VERY good while Smackdown became the show that had the inferior in-ring product and poor structure. Raw stayed good throughout Benoit's reign with the occasional bad show (this occurred more during the Diva Search than the early part of his reign), until Benoit lost the title and Orton turned face and losing the belt back to HHH at Unforgiven 2004, once again turning Raw into the entertainment show, though it still remained slightly better than Smackdown, until the WM 21 build, which was very good with the HHH/Batista feud and Batista's face turn, as well as Cena/JBL and HBK/Angle. At WM, they had Batista and Cena winning cleanly, though shortly after WM both shows lost momentum fast and went back to their late 2004 form. After a very bad summer for both brands, good wrestling finally came back to TV in the fall with Impact debuting on Spike. I watched during the FSN era and was impressed by the X Division and the tag teams like AMW, though Jeff Jarrett DOMINATED the main event then and was having main events with guys way past their primes and the undercard was filled with the likes of the Harris Boys and Trytan. Jarrett was still in the main event, but put over Christian in the main event at AAO 2006 and took two clean pins to Samoa Joe, which I was worried he wouldn't because of his FSN era reign of doom. The X Division was still amazing with the AJ/Joe/Daniels feud and the tag division was still solid with AMW's heel run and later LAX. Raw remained bad throughout this time but Smackdown started to become the wrestling show again like it was in 2002-2003 after Eddie's death. TNA was consistently awesome during this time (many of the X Division matches on Impact from this time are on YouTube as are their classic PPV matches), until Jarrett won the belt at Slammiversary. The shows were still good after Slammiversary so I gave them a chance, and then a few months later I read that they signed VINCE RUSSO, and I nearly had a heart attack. No real mistakes were made though until Genesis 2006 when Joe lost clean to Kurt Angle, thus ending his streak... by SUBMISSION. That was the real start of TNA's decline, while Smackdown was awesome and Raw became decent again after the Royal Rumble in 2007 (ECW was still bad at this time and only got consistently good after the Benoit tragedy, while Raw and Smackdown took a massive nosedive in quality at the same time). TNA didn't recover until the last 5 months of 2009, when they went back to focusing on wrestling and pushing young talent like AJ, Joe, Daniels, Beer Money, World Elite, Hernandez, and Desmond Wolfe, while WWE had a very good year all around in 2008 (Raw was solid, especially during Jericho's heel run, and ECW was very good the second half of the year with the likes of Matt Hardy, Finlay, and Jack Swagger main eventing, though Smackdown was full of squashes all year) and two out of the three brands were good in 2009 (ECW's best all around year with Christian as their top face, Smackdown's best all around year until Punk got squashed by Undertaker, but Raw's worst year in the first split by far with the guest hosts, stale Orton/HHH feud dominating, Hornswoggle/Chavo feud, and DX reunion). TNA being good to close out 2009 while Raw being bad throughout 2009 led to me actually watching Impact over Raw during the 2nd "MNWs", and once again, TNA lost all momentum and was bad for the next two years, with WWE not doing much better as Raw still had the guest hosts, Smackdown had terrible main event feuds, and NXT was NXT... not one good brand in 2010, while only Smackdown was good in 2011 (its last good year until the next split). 2012, TNA was quite good with Aries, Roode, and Bully Ray in the main event scene providing some great television, as well as a revival of the KO division (their best booked division by far in 2007-2009) with Gail Kim's long title reign and the debut of Bad Influence, while both Raw and Smackdown were dull all year. 2013 was more of the same until around June when Raw became decent again with Henry turning on Cena and Daniel Bryan gaining huge momentum, earning a title shot at Summerslam. He lost, and after the next PPV, Night Of Champions, Raw went back to what it was from January-May, and TNA started to decline again with the Aces and Eights angle progressing too slowly (I gave it a chance for the longest time because of how good 2012 was, and then they gave Sabin the title for two weeks in the summer, made Dixie a heel, and the wrestling on the show started to decrease, which is likely when they secretly rehired Russo, and then they didn't resign AJ, which is like WWE not resigning the Undertaker, WCW not resigning Sting, or ECW not resigning Tommy Dreamer), and eventually got kicked off Spike and then Destination America. With many of the people from the 05-06 period back like Dutch and D'Amore, hopefully they'll become a good alternative again (I still keep up with Raw and Smackdown as well, mainly through the Network, as 2014 was that bad).

 

Last year around this time, I signed up for the WWE Network out of wanting to relive my childhood and teen years (I waited for enough classic content to be there, as the current product and non-wrestling shows wouldn't draw me in). I saw stuff like Savage/Steamboat, both Warrior/Savage matches, War Games 1992, and Sting/Vader from Starrcade 1992 and was just amazed with what I saw. Some of my favorite wrestlers:

 

Male: Benoit (I know, but he had brain damage and likely roid rage as well), Eddie, Bryan, Jericho, Angle (yes, I think he's a good worker, as he didn't start using the fast paced style he had in his later years until he got the "wrestling machine" gimmick, and had a great match with a green Cena in his first match), HBK (one of the best big match wrestlers ever and gave Khali one of his best matches ever in 2007), Rey, AJ, Daniels, Joe, Roode, Austin Aries, Christian, Kevin Owens (his style fits his character well), Nakamura, Undertaker (VERY good big man worker)

Female: Trish, Gail Kim, Awesome/Amazing Kong, all of the four horsewomen, Asuka

 

I'm obviously more of a "moves" fan than most here, though I do appreciate psychology as well (still watching stuff from the 80s and early 90s on the Network to get more of an opinion on the old school wrestlers). Cool to know that there are other "millennials" here who have this much knowledge about pro wrestling like I do.

[Maciej]

Not sure if folks read these, but figured I might as well say hi before I'm littering match threads with nonsense.

 

I'm 31 and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I started watching wrestling in the early 90s, and my earliest wrestling memories include the Undertaker putting a jobber in a bodybag, seeing the Patriot on ESPN, and Papa Shango making the Ultimate Warrior vomit. I watched wrestling loyally through the Monday Night wars, with an interest in Mick Foley and the WCW cruiserweights, occasionally finding the airings of ECW where I could and watching some lucha on Chicago's Spanish-language stations. In the early 00s I started buying and trading some tapes and watching some Japanese stuff and more lucha and indie wrestling with help from compilations from the likes of Phil Schneider and Scott Mailman. When I went to college I stopped watching wrestling obsessively, occasionally tuning back in here and there. A few years ago I realized how easy the internet had made it to watch stuff from all around the world and am now again watching wrestling obsessively.

 

I like all kinds of wrestling. For most stuff, I'm probably less likely to watch whole shows than I am to just rely on watching wrestlers I tend to like and recommendations for good matches (for which this board has been very helpful). My current favs include Fred Yehi, Barbaro Cavernario, Chihiro Hashimoto, Sasha Banks, Dick Togo, Mayu Iwatani, and Hechicero. I don't like Marty Scurrl very much and don't quite get all the love for either Tanahashi nor Okada. I fairly regularly attend Evolve shows in Queens, and I made my first trip down to CHIKARA last month and had a bucket of fun.

[OldSkoolNWA]

Hey guys

 

I was posting classic WWWF/WWF shows on youtube around a year ago - under the name OldSkool

One of your members (youtube name Titans TV) hit me up about this site - saying I should check it out.

 

Well, I signed up.......got busy, and forgot about this place.

I recently started posting matches on youtube again - and came across my old messages from Titan TV.......and here I am

 

 

I grew up in Maryland. Started watching the WWWF until I discovered Georgia Championship Wrestling.

During my preteen/teen years, I loved watching any wrestling I could find - Georgia, Mid-South, AWA and the UWF

Every month a made a trip to Baltimore to see JCP at the Civic Center, and later the Arena.

 

Moved out on my own in 1990 - and stopped watching until I found out about the first live episode of Monday Nitro.

I was hooked again - but not for long. Ended up giving up at the end of 97. Got tired of the same NWO crap on every show.

 

Around 2007/2008 my passion for wrestling was rejuvenated when I discovered tape trading.

 

I dont trade anymore, for no better reason than the fact that I have probably everything I want (that's available).

 

 

Now, when I'm in the mood to watch wrestling - I watch matches/shows from the 80s

[JazeUSA]

Hey guys

 

I was posting classic WWWF/WWF shows on youtube around a year ago - under the name OldSkool

One of your members (youtube name Titans TV) hit me up about this site - saying I should check it out.

 

Well, I signed up.......got busy, and forgot about this place.

I recently started posting matches on youtube again - and came across my old messages from Titan TV.......and here I am

 

 

I grew up in Maryland. Started watching the WWWF until I discovered Georgia Championship Wrestling.

During my preteen/teen years, I loved watching any wrestling I could find - Georgia, Mid-South, AWA and the UWF

Every month a made a trip to Baltimore to see JCP at the Civic Center, and later the Arena.

 

Moved out on my own in 1990 - and stopped watching until I found out about the first live episode of Monday Nitro.

I was hooked again - but not for long. Ended up giving up at the end of 97. Got tired of the same NWO crap on every show.

 

Around 2007/2008 my passion for wrestling was rejuvenated when I discovered tape trading.

 

I dont trade anymore, for no better reason than the fact that I have probably everything I want (that's available).

 

 

Now, when I'm in the mood to watch wrestling - I watch matches/shows from the 80s

Welcome aboard friend, this place has the best professional wrestling discussions on the internet today IMO, this is the place to be

[Ricky Jackson]

Hey guys

 

I was posting classic WWWF/WWF shows on youtube around a year ago - under the name OldSkool

One of your members (youtube name Titans TV) hit me up about this site - saying I should check it out.

 

Well, I signed up.......got busy, and forgot about this place.

I recently started posting matches on youtube again - and came across my old messages from Titan TV.......and here I am

 

 

I grew up in Maryland. Started watching the WWWF until I discovered Georgia Championship Wrestling.

During my preteen/teen years, I loved watching any wrestling I could find - Georgia, Mid-South, AWA and the UWF

Every month a made a trip to Baltimore to see JCP at the Civic Center, and later the Arena.

 

Moved out on my own in 1990 - and stopped watching until I found out about the first live episode of Monday Nitro.

I was hooked again - but not for long. Ended up giving up at the end of 97. Got tired of the same NWO crap on every show.

 

Around 2007/2008 my passion for wrestling was rejuvenated when I discovered tape trading.

 

I dont trade anymore, for no better reason than the fact that I have probably everything I want (that's available).

 

 

Now, when I'm in the mood to watch wrestling - I watch matches/shows from the 80s

Glad to see you here. I'm Titans TV on youtube btw

[Isae Arreola]

Hello, my name is Isae and I'm from Los Angeles, California.

I started watching wrestling in early 2014. It was during the build to WrestleMania XXX where I had my first exposure to WWE. I enjoyed watching guys such as Daniel Bryan, The Shield and The Wyatt Family and before I knew it, I was hooked on wrestling. I got the WWE Network in May of 2015 and watch NXT, old pay-per-views (primarily the gimmick PPVs like Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank), old Raw and SmackDown episodes.

Eventually, I checked out other wrestling promotions. I watched a bit of TNA, but it didn't keep me interested for that long. I tried out New Japan and for the most part, I like it but don't consider it the greatest promotion in the world like the majority of wrestling fans tout it to be. I've watched Lucha Underground, but lost interest during Season 3. Thanks to the internet, I discovered promotions such as Evolve and Progress. Those two, along with WWE, are the promotions that I'm heavily invested in at the moment. Right now, I'm checking out other indie promotions like CZW, AAW, Beyond and some classic stuff like AJPW and Mid-South.

I enjoy a lot of different wrestling styles and I'm open to try anything out, but what I generally want to see in my wrestling is storytelling. Characters and engaging stories are what I love the most about wrestling. My Top 3 favorite wrestlers currently are AJ Styles, Roman Reigns and The Miz, while my all-time favorite is Daniel Bryan.

I found PWO through the Greatest Wrestlers Ever list. It was posted on the Daily Open Thread of Cageside Seats (a thread to talk about anything and where you can find me regularly) one day and thought it was really interesting. I looked through the site and found some of the discussions here to be very insightful and it really helped me learn more about wrestling. I've had an account for a year now and now I'm looking to start sharing my thoughts on wrestling here.

[Boss Rock]

My name is Greg and I'm 26 years-old. I was originally introduced to wrestling watching (I think?) WWF Mania. I remember my first favorite wrestler was Ahmed Johnson. I watched until I saw the Undertaker-King Mabel casket match from Season's Beatings and being only 6 years-old, it scared the hell out of me. I didn't watch wrestling again until the build-up to Summerslam 2002, and I was immediately hooked. I only watched WWE until about 2005/2006 when I discovered TNA. Around 2009-2010 I lost interest in both television products (being in college at the time also had me focusing on other things) but largely kept up with it online. I would also pop in from time to time, mainly during the Nexus run, the Pipe Bomb, and Lesnar's return. I got back into watching it full-time right before Summerslam 2013 and got to witness the saga of Daniel Bryan, probably the greatest (even if largely accidental) wrestling story I've ever seen.

 

Around 2015 I began exploring other products and became a huge fan of Lucha Underground and New Japan, both of which I still watch today. I also try to catch Evolve and CMLL when I have the time. Reading through the Greatest Wrestler List on this site inspired me to do more historical viewing and I am currently in the midst of working on my own 100 Greatest Wrestler list.

 

My favorite promotion is 90's All Japan, my current favorite wrestler is Kazuchika Okada, and my all-time favorite wrestlers are Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, Mitsuharu Misawa, Stan Hansen, and Kenta Kobashi.

[Tetsujin]

Hi, I'm new here but I follow the forum since last year's GWE (which was fucking incredible). Awesome community! I'm not a native English speaker, so excuse me for my Steinerism. Hope to have fun here, and happy new year

[Viking Hall]

Thanks for having me on board, I'm Will, I'm 30 and I live in Yorkshire, England. I've been watching wrestling on and off for probably about 20 years and got the bug when the Attitude Era hit its stride. First match I remember watching was a multi man tag match between Kaientai and The Oddities on RAW and was instantly hooked, with the members of Kaientai becoming long term favourites (I still consider their match at Barely Legal one of the best ever). I soon found myself back tracking when I discovered you could get late eighties and early nineties WWF VHS tapes cheap on market stalls and to this day I still have a soft spot for the New Generation era despite its obvious flaws. From there I began devouring magazines to keep up with what was going on elsewhere, at that time in the UK it was pretty much WWF or nothing in terms of what was broadcast with both WCW and ECW buried on obscure channels late at night so magazines were a godsend. WOW Magazine and PowerSlam were both particular favourites as they covered some indie and international promotions too, as well as a little of what was a very slowly reemerging UK scene at the time too. Soon after ECW DVDs became easier to find so I began amassing the essential shows and like many of my generation I was soon reeled in by the whole anti-establishment feel of it and although I'm not sure a lot of it has aged well, I still hold a lot of those shows in high regard simply because they introduced me to a lot of new styles, wrestlers as well as being a genuine alternative to the mainstream shows.

 

I think like a lot of people I lost interest a year or two after WCW and ECW shut down, the Invasion angle soured me on the WWF/E and that combined with being a teenager and doing teenager things I found myself walking away in about 2003/4 I guess. After that happened, there really wasn't any alternatives at all in the UK, I think beyond maybe NWA: Hammerlock and FWA, British promotions were still basically seaside WWF rip off shows and certainly nowhere near as prevalent as they are today and TNA wouldn't show up on UK television until a couple of years after I stopped watching. I still kept my finger on the pulse though during that time, periodically checking forums and the like to see who was who but it would be a few years until I actually started watching again, partly due to a couple of my friends piquing my interest again and partly due to the growth of streaming and the like which made it easier to watch what I liked. Since then, while I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore viewer I do find myself watching quite a lot from all over the place and have also been to a few UK shows in the past couple of years too which has really got me interested in what's going on closer to home. Current favourites are Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Marty Scurll, Pentagon Jr, Asuka and Aleister Black but there's so much talent out there at the minute that it's becoming hard to narrow it down to a few.

 

So yeah, that's me really, I look forward to get posting.

[SteveDubRN]

Hello, everyone. I'm Steve, 36 years old from the Louisville, KY area. I started watching with THE MAIN EVENT show that featured Ted DiBiase vs Ultimate Warrior in November of 1990. I was fortunate enough to grow up in USWA territory and attended many Tuesday night shows at the Louisville Gardens. I grew up on WWF, WCW, USWA, and my favorite was ECW once we started getting the television in early 1996.

 

Nowadays, I mostly stick with wrestling out of habit and because a great deal of my friendships have been formed through a mutual love of wrestling. It's odd because although my interest in current wrestling is probably at an all-time low, the amount of money I've poured into it in recent years has been at an all-time high between show tickets, streaming services, and travel costs.

 

I appeared on several Place To Be Nation podcast episodes last year, as I joined Will from TX on many episodes of the For Your Consideration podcast and I sometimes guest on The Deep Dive with Rich Fann on the Saturday edition of the PWTorch LiveCast.

 

I'm trying to become a more frequent poster, but you can feel free to follow me on Twitter if you like (@NotDrDeath), where I frequently watch older shows and tweet my observations. I'm currently deep diving WCCW after being inspired by the World Cast guys. If you see me at a show, I'm usually one of the more outgoing and friendly guys at these events. I'll be at Scenic City Invitational in August stealing beers from Pete and sneaking off to the diner with Johnny P if you want to come say hello.

[klhare]

My name is Kevin. I'm 31. I was first exposed to wrestling very early through action figures and cards, but did not actually start watching until the Attitude Era. I stopped watching in high school, but came back after, first looking at more historical US stuff, then branching to the US indies and Japan. Mankind vs. Undertaker HIAC is the match that made me love wrestling. I was always drawn most to wrestlers like Sabu, Stan Hansen, Terry Funk and Foley. They always were a bit chaotic and unpredictable.

[G. Badger]

Welcome aboard!

 

Hansen, Funk, Foley & Sabu- right on!

[9 Corpses Hang in the Mist]

Sup, bruhs?

[kuinerb]

I've been a wrestling fan as far back as I remember, but my first consistent memories are from the early 90s. I was a little too young to really get into Hulkamania so my favorites were from the so-called New Generation, particularly Bret Hart. Being Canadian I was WWF only until TSN began airing Nitro in late '97. Like many wrestling fans, I got really into WCW's cruiserweights and mid-card but preferred WWF's main events (although I was initially into the NWO storyline and Goldberg). I didn't have the Internet at home until much later but in my limited access I started following the backstage news and lurking on message boards like deathvalleydriver, which expanded my sense of what kind of wrestling was out there. I began getting tapes which let me try out all different kinds of wrestling. I was in many ways a typical workrate focused fan, but I enjoyed many different styles, from 90s AJPW to goofy stuff like Ken the Box and everything in between. I was really into it for a few years, but by the mid 2000s WWE was going in a direction I was less interested in, Japan was in a downturn, and the cost of buying DVDs was getting to be too much to keep up with while I was in college. I remained a MMA fan in the intervening years and would occasionally check in on Raw or SmackDown but not find anything that would hold my interest. In the past few years the hype for NJPW and NXT (among other things) caught my interest and got me looking into what was available. The ability to access matches online made picking things up again very easy so I started looking into recommendations and found PWO from there. I'm trying to make up for lost time and learn about all the areas of wrestling that I haven't gotten to yet and rewatch the stuff I loved the first time around to see what holds up.

[samikhoshabeh]

Hello everyone, I'm Sami. I'm twenty nine, born in Tehran, but grew up in Los Angeles county and been here ever since.

My wrestling fandom started with my brother and arcades. My brother used to take me to the local spot and he use to play (Wrestlemania) for hours as I just sat and became familiar with the wrestlers. He watched Raw at the time and naturally, I started watching, becoming heavily into it. Bret Hart was the first wrestler I really started to like. Shawn Michaels was the first wrestler I really started to hate. While I know the iron man match gets mixed feelings a young child in Reseda was losing his mind during every second of that match. At that point, I started watching every second of Raw. 

I came across WCW and that was what I enjoyed most. Better wrestling from various regions, it just really clicked for me. I never thought about this until recently but I stopped watching wrestling altogether once WCW started to flounder. So, that was probably in 2000, and I started watching again in early 2013 when a friend invited me to a PWG show. I live incredibly close to the venue -- it really blew my mind that something so wild was happening in that area. This led to checking what was going on in WWE -- Bryan was really starting to get hot, I thought he was incredible. This led to New Japan while the Tanahashi/Okada stuff was in process. I'd never watched Japanese promotions as a kid so the whole style really jumped off to me. So, ever since I've just been watching everything, past and present. Right now, I'm trying to follow companies starting from the first day of each decade to have a better perspective of what's happening globally in wrestling at that point in time. For example, it's cool watching Wrestling World 2000 where Chono has a forgettable match with Muto only to show up on Souled Out a week later to interrupt Disco Inferno. In short, I like wrestling a lot and I like talking about it a lot. 

[Jetlag]

2 hours ago, samikhoshabeh said:

 Right now, I'm trying to follow companies starting from the first day of each decade to have a better perspective of what's happening globally in wrestling at that point in time. For example, it's cool watching Wrestling World 2000 where Chono has a forgettable match with Muto only to show up on Souled Out a week later to interrupt Disco Inferno. In short, I like wrestling a lot and I like talking about it a lot. 

 

Welcome and good luck with this project

[samikhoshabeh]

Thank you! I'll undoubtedly just skip around but, you know, dreams. 

Anways, just subscribed to your YT channel. Stoked to watch a lot on there.

[Frank Ocean]

hello there thanks for validating my account i am an underage kid ‌14 years old i am so incredibly young for this site i found about it this year in may i love this website sorry if i am too young to discuss stuff with you all i am rohan and i am indian by nationality i found about wrestling in 2014 by wwe and then i found its scripted nature in 2016 then i found about companies such as new japan and other us based companies in the same time i found about all japan the same time and become a fanboy then i found about joshi wrestling british wrestling more japanese wrestling styles genres and other thing in wrestling over time reading things on this board helped i ve currently knowledge about mexican japanese europe french and american companies territories and have knowledge about most of the companies indies sorry for my bad english since english is far from my first language lol

[Frank Ocean]

I Dont know what it was? But i was sleepy and maybe didnt cheack and misplled. I am 17 years not 14 still underage just confirmed

[gunder]

Hi everybody, I'm a longtime listener to the podcasts.  33 from southern Ontario.  Got into wrestling in '92 with the WWF and WCW Saturday morning shows and have been following pretty much ever since, although today I am mostly watching older stuff.  PWO has actually been very helpful in establishing my own footage-watching regimen:) especially as relates to oldschool lucha.  Been laughing along with Titans/Space City/World Cast for a couple of years now, and got into BTS via the 6:05.    Look forward to taking the next step and sharing my basement-dwelling  insights- conforming to stereotype, I suppose!- with others.  

[JustYourAvgBozo]

Hi everybody! I figured I should introduce myself and give my story. Bear with me, it might be a bit long.

I was first introduced to PWO through Titans Of Wrestling (which I discovered by chance) in 2017. (Great timing, I catch them at the end of their run. But I still listen to those shows to this day, I love the banter and interaction with the fellows. I'd watch the shows they describe and wish I could be one of the guys: and I'm just younger than Pete.) Finally saddled up and tried joining last summer, but after a while I've heard nothing about being invited so I just forgot all about lurking. Until a few months ago, when I got an email saying I'm "in". Yay!

You can call me Bozo; the name derives from my thinking that "I don't think I'm better than anyone. I'm just your average bozo." (Kinda taken from the old Tommy Sledge P.I. bit on The Comedy Channel - yes, way back then - when he's praised for solving a case. He just shrugs, "That's my job. That's what I do.") I'm from Northwest Indiana, where it's still considered "AWA Country". Ask anybody from at least age 40 about wrestling here and you will get 3 names they remember: Da Crusher, Baron Von Raschke & Bobby Heenan.  Sometimes Dick The Bruiser, though those are mainly the really older fans. (If you talk to a Hispanic fan about wrestling, Pepper Gomez was THE GUY. He was like their Superman.)

Anyway, to my story. My wrestling fandom started as a complete fluke in the late summer/early fall of 1983. My best friend's mom called my mom one Sunday. She had just went shopping at Dominick's, a large grocery chain in the Chicagoland area, and they handed out these scratch-off tickets. They were linked to a harness racing show that aired that afternoon @ 5:30pm on a brand-new and hard to receive UHF station called WPWR Channel 60/"Power 60" - which would become Channel 50 a few years later, as it had the stronger signal. (You'd scratch off the 2 boxes: one was the race and the second was the number on the horse you want to win. Prize was "up to $100 in groceries!" $100 could last you almost a month in 1983.) "Can I send Brian down to your house to watch this show and see if we won? We only have cable and don't know how to find this station." (Back then, cable didn't require that all channels were available. So with smaller stations, you had to actively search for them. We didn't have rabbit ears; we had the "bowtie".)

I'm determined to find this station. We had one of the early TVs that had "preset channels": 13 spots you can set your favorites, and a wireless (!!!) remote with 3 buttons. (Up the list, down the list and the volume button was 3 clicks. Loud, softer, still softer, and off.) All were already marked with the proper corresponding numbers. But Channel 60 wasn't one of them, we had to set the tuner from Channel 66 and tune the knob down until we got a grainy/fuzzy picture. There was what resembled a boxing ring, but there were only 3 ropes not 4. Two guys in the ring, but not wearing gloves...or any semblance of boxing ring gear, as they were possibly in just their underwear and boots. They threw each other into the ropes, tossed each other around. Talked smack to the fans. It was fascinating to me!

What I had discovered was: World Class Championship Wrestling, from Dallas. Here on TV in the Chicago area! Out of all things! (Possible connection: Bill Mercer was the commentator. He had done some play-by-play for White Sox games here in the mid-70s. Also of note, in hindsight: one of the guys in the ring had white trunks and boots. I can only guess that may have been Jimmy Garvin, as he was the only guy who wore white boots - Kevin Von Erich had white trunks but went without shoes.) It was only on for 30 minutes at 5pm, then the Harness Racing show came on. (No, my friend's parents didn't win anything that day.)

But I started making it a habit to watch this show. I was a "Kevin" guy out of the Von Erich clan (he was the older brother so I felt a kinship as I'm the oldest). I really dug Iceman Parsons with his unique look, talk and act. And then there was Chris Adams, who was my favorite. The dives to the outside, the different ring style he possessed compared to the others, the superkick. And the last few weeks of World Cast is right in the heart of my introduction as a fan, and it stuck with me all this time later.

The first "angle" I recall is the David Von Erich-Jimmy Garvin "Valet For A Day". And in addition, while Johnny will repeat the "World Class chants" as "Go, ___, GO!" and "Go Home Freebirds!"; my nostalgic heart warms when I hear all the young girls and kids yelling-without provocation-during Jimmy Garvin matches:  "We Want Sun-Shine!" on a seemingly endless loop. And Jimmy covering his ears, yelling "NO! No-no-no-no-NO!"

So obviously this 9 year old was hooked. Which got my dad to flip around one Sunday morning (while waiting for football to come on) and find AWA All-Star Wrestling. 11am. "There, you like 'rasslin, there's the real 'rasslin!" (Crusher and the Baron may have been on the TV, guys he and my mom would go to the old International Amphitheater or Hammond Civic Center to see in person.) Then, afterwards, there would be this show called "Bruiser Bedlam" with Bob Luce. Bob in huckster-mode, his machine-gun rat-a-tat-tat delivery on selling these guys as the greatest athletes in the world. And the commercials, which I'm sure you've all seen online in some form. The guy never took a breath! "Ben's Auto Sales, come on down and get your tickets for the next great card from the Amphitheater this Saturday night! And while you're here..." then sell you on a great deal on a used car. (And, the match they'd show seemed like it was the same one every week: Verne Gagne vs. Nick Bockwinkel in a cage match from  Soldier Field in 1972. Verne wins, Nick is bloodied. Heenan gets involved and Verne tosses him into the cage walls a few times. Heenan looks like a homicide victim covered in blood. And my parents would go nuts, because they loved the way Bobby would fly around that ring.)

WWF wasn't on my radar until later in 1984. At Brian's house and his older brother had control of the remote, flipping channels. We saw Weird Als' "I Lost On Jeopardy" video on MTV. Then flip to WWF wrestling (had to have been after Black Saturday as this was on TBS); Andre the Giant vs. 3 guys. Brian's brother would yell "ANDRE!" and we had to watch. (Funny thing is later that night, HBO would air "All The Marbles". Talk about things that point to telling me "You're going to be a wrestling fan and like it!"

I would watch almost everything available at that time. Around 1990 I would kinda fade as a regular watcher but still get the magazines. Come back in and out. 1993-95 is a period where I remember watching but don't know a lot about without looking it up. Let the magazine subscription run out when I started working retail; just read the magazines on my breaks, then put them back when I was done. And almost anything after 2006 is a blur: I'd watch but it would just be "there". I still get the PWI Awards Issue every year, but that's the last link to when I started as a big-time fan. My brother and I would have a WrestleMania tradition where he'd come over and we'd watch WM together, just like we're 12 and 10 again. (Our peak as fans: 1987.) But this year, he watched it all. I watched 4 matches from Night 1 because Becky Lynch was there. Fell asleep during that ladder match. And I haven't seen anything else.

I'll stop here. Hope you're not asleep yet. Thanks for the invitation!

[Ricky Jackson]

Welcome aboard! From a pure ego perspective it always makes me feel good hearing about someone enjoying Titans and other podcasts I've been involved with over the years. I'm feeling nostalgic because we're wrapping World Cast up with #100 and I'm stepping back from podcasts other than an occasional show here and there. Yesterday I was reminiscing about Titans. Anyway, glad we were able to steer you to PWO

[KinchStalker]

Hello all. I've been lurking for a while, but have just had an account created. In lieu of a lengthier introduction, I'll just say that I'm a 24-year old Oregonian who, after almost 15 years of being borderline-obsessively fascinated by professional wrestling whilst having almost no interest in consuming professional wrestling, finally got hooked in 2019 courtesy of 1990s All Japan. I'm sure that's a cliché by this point, though, and I promise to try not to beat that heap of equus carrion too much further. 

Currently though, I'm undergoing a comprehensive watchalong of as much 1972-1992 AJPW footage as I can. This is towards a project I've been kicking around in my head for around a year now: a major Jumbo retrospective. Without going into too much detail, I'm extremely fascinated by his life, and I consider it the best vantage point from which to tell the story of the entire company during the Baba era. However, I also think that the shifts in his reputation in the West (exemplified by episodes such as the Meltzer-Williams "lazy Jumbo" Wrestling Classics board dispute of 2003) could be an interesting case study of historiography in a niche fan community. (And other more meta-wrestling concepts, such as: whether the Meltzerian ideal of the consistent Flair performance was simply irreconcilable with the Japanese touring schedule - hence lazy Jumbo/Misawa/whomever - and whether or not that dissonance arose from the American tradition of using television matches as advertisements for the touring circuit.) The ideal form this will take is a longform YouTube video essay series, though of course that's a precarious route to go on.

Anyway, I hope I can learn from and contribute to this forum whichever way I can, and I look forward to participating.

[Shrike02]

Good luck with the project. Count me as a fellow fan of Jumbo. Welcome to the board.