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How do you defend when someone says "stop watching


Coffey

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I'm just curious if anyone else has ran into this. It comes up a lot for me, especially when WWE is at a low point, like right now.

 

Personally, I've been watching WWE for twenty years. I've watched Raw since it's initial inception on USA. I watched WCW up until they went out of business. Same with ECW.

 

I watch wrestling because I'm a wrestling fan. Even when the overall product is bad, there's always at least something that I can get into.

 

So, when you've been watching as long as most of us have, and you know that this business goes through it's peaks and valleys, what do you do when someone, usually someone that doesn't even follow the product anymore, simply says "just stop watching."

 

It's like they don't understand that we want the product to get better. We want to be there when the rebound starts. We don't want to quit watching we just want to criticize the product when it's bad, the same that people whom talk about games and movies do.

 

Ugh. This is kind of me just venting because it gets annoying defending yourself against someone that doesn't even watch the product anymore. Still, I know at least several of you have ran into this, so I'm curious how you handled it.

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I usually turn it around by saying that I care enough about the product to complain. Then I bring up ECW and how they might've not been utter shit the last 4 years if the fans had actually complained instead of just accepting anything.

 

Otherwise just ignore them. That's a knee jerk response to try and stifle debate. Also ask them why they're on the internet to begin with. If they can't stand to debate the merits of the WWF then they have no business on a message board where that's the purpose.

 

I ran into this heavily in 2001 when things started to go south around November. It eventually died down as I was proven right over and over and the defenders got more negative about the product.

 

Though people defending the product at this point have tasted the kool-aid.

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Yeah sometimes when my TV shows are preempted or something, I'd switch over to Raw for a few minutes and see Vince's ugly mug on the screen crowing about pulling shit out of JR's ass, I'm reminded "Oh yeah this shit sucks." That's why it boggles my mind to see people continue to watch it and then complain about it. I mean if the Simpsons started to really suck, would people watch it? No. Why is it different with WWE?

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I almost never tune into an actual match these days. I've tuned in for 30 minutes before to see the recap of something inring, see a bunch of backstage stuff and if I'm really lucky they'll just be introducing guys for a match by the end of the 30 minutes.

 

The last time I watched was that battle royal and for the first time since I can remember I could barely tell anyone apart in the match. Everyone in the WWF just looks the same to me anymore.

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Guest Bruiser Chong

I can only buy into Coffey's defense for a while. For the longest time, I kept watching, if not loyally, then at least when I could be bothered to do so, mostly because I felt how he did. But then I realized something, at least in regards to WWE. Things aren't ever going to change. Even if we get what we want to a degree, it will always have that WWE spin to it.

 

There's only so much trash you can sit through before you throw your arms up and proclaim, "Enough!" As I saw it, by watching a terrible product, I was simply endorsing the continuation of such programming. When you watch, you support. Why let them take your loyalty to the business as a whole as a way to keep shoveling terrible storylines and childish "humor?"

 

For a business that's pre-determined, I don't know how they continue to mess things up as badly as they do. Real sports aren't pre-determined, and yet we can get some of the most exciting moments of our lives from them. Everythin we see in wrestling is scripted, which is probably why it's harder to accept such garbage. It's their choice to give us all of it.

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WWE, until recently, was the only outlet to watch pro wrestling on TV every week.

 

To clarify, comparing wrestling to other TV programs is a bit of apples and oranges. The Simpsons started to suck, but it wasn't the only comedy show on TV. People had other shows to watch that provided simliar entertainment.

 

When WWF was shitty, we had WCW and vice versa. Now its WWE or TNA in a poor timeslot. WWE is more accessible to people who want to watch wrestling.

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I know that to some people, WWE is the only way for them to get their wrestling fix. To me though, there are times where you just have to cut your losses and move on, at least, until the product gets better or you find another means of getting your fix. That's my honest opinion. I've watched wrestling since the 80's, so I know how hard it is to pull away from WWE at first. But sometimes it has to be done.

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The problem is that most of the people who say "stop watching" usually have a stash of tapes/DVDs from around the world to keep them occupied, and not everyone has that advantage. I know I've been paying far less attention to WWE since I've been getting Mid-South and TNA comps. Hell, I forget about Smackdown most weeks.

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Guest Bruiser Chong

The approach used with movies should be used with wrestling: there's far too much quality stuff out there to waste time on crap. In wrestling and film there's an illustrious history and thanks to the 'net, much easier access to it, that there's no excuse to waste your time with something of an inferior quality.

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The approach used with movies should be used with wrestling: there's far too much quality stuff out there to waste time on crap.  In wrestling and film there's an illustrious history and thanks to the 'net, much easier access to it, that there's no excuse to waste your time with something of an inferior quality.

Not everyone has the time, cash, or hookups to obtain the quality you're speaking of.
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Guest The Man in Blak

You're a wrestling fan and you've been watching week after week of offensively bad WWE programming. As a consumer, your primary methods of making a difference in the programming are:

 

1. Contact the WWE with some feedback

2. Stop watching

 

Since it's long been documented that the WWE have little or no regard for their fans, option #1 is already toast. Which leaves #2, which is a Catch-22 if there ever was.

 

Some people tout "Just don't watch" as though the boycott will send a message to WWE, but it doesn't. Option #2 accomplishes nothing, except freeing up your time to investigate better TV to watch, better things to do. If you quit, holding out for better wrestling, you're probably going to miss the changes you're waiting for. And, if that happens, who's to say that, by the time you start watching again, it hasn't already started to get worse?

 

Quitting does nothing for you because there are still tons of people out there - people like Coffey and others - who have watched through everything, from the Gobbledygooker to Katie Vick, and will continue watching, no matter how bad it gets. Wrestling is such a counterculture that fans almost adopt a "me against the world" type of attitude about it, as though it can't be considered a regular TV show or a regular type of entertainment. It's an attitude that fans on "the outside" - casual fans that latched on when professional wrestling had its cultural heyday in the late 90's - really can't understand. For them, it's just another TV show, so they feel it's easy; just do what they did and stop watching.

 

Just for perspective, those who posted at the first incarnation of SNKT know that I stopped watching years ago. I stopped then, but it didn't stop at the WWE - the last year that I watched of wrestling was so exceptionally terrible and offensive to taste that it gave me a sour outlook on the industry in general. I haven't gone back.

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Guest EastCoastJ

WWE for me is like being a parent with a kid who isn't always perfect. I have watched it grow and do great things over the last 20 years, but I have also seen it makes some enormous mistakes. Does that mean at the end of the day I'm going to stop caring about it? Of course not. It might irritate the hell out of me, but it's just going through a phase right now I keep hoping it breaks itself out of.

 

"If you think it sucks you should just stop watching it" is such a dumb argument. If the 49ers suck for a season, I'm not going to stop going to games because I care about the team. There is nothing wrong with watching WWE right now and rooting for them to improve, because those of us who have been watching it for 20 years and love American wrestling obviously have emotional ties to WWE.

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Guest EastCoastJ

Unless the 49ers ran off their good players and had maybe 5 years of 0-16 seasons, then I guarantee their fanbase would dwindle big-time. Besides wrestling is pre-determined. Football is not. There's always that chance the 49ers will surprise. Not as much with WWE.

Actually no. There is a bigger chance of WWE suprising than a bad football team because wrestling is predetermined and they can basically go in any direction at any time they want. Their roster now is infinitely better top to bottom than it has ever been, it's just a matter of finding a way to put all of the pieces together effectively.

 

Look at Smackdown. It has gone from being unwatchable to a solid show in less than a months time.

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Says the guy with CHRIS MASTERS in his avatar. :P

 

You might be right, but if they could get better, why haven't they yet? Vince has his head far up his own ass. All SF needs is a few pieces that fits and boom, they're a great team again. It's sad that SD has become a better show by all accounts and yet WWE doesn't give a shit about SD.

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The approach used with movies should be used with wrestling: there's far too much quality stuff out there to waste time on crap.  In wrestling and film there's an illustrious history and thanks to the 'net, much easier access to it, that there's no excuse to waste your time with something of an inferior quality.

Not everyone has the time, cash, or hookups to obtain the quality you're speaking of.
Dude, I had about 100 total DVDs around May. It only took a couple of bulk buys and acquiring a DVD burner (which costs about the price of 4-5 WWE DVDs) to kickstart my collection into overdrive. I now have close to 1300 DVDs. I am not saying everyone can buildup that quickly but through my trading and hustling, I have discovered that almost anything can be obtained easily in great VQ. You just have to spend some time to look around.

 

"Stop watching" is easy. I never missed a Monday night wrestling show for close to 6 years... even when I was on vacation. THen in early 2002, I had enough and never looked back. Being a wrestling fan does not equate to being a WWE fan.

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Guest TheShawshankRudotion

Bite the bullet and admit you're an idiot for watching such a bad show. It's kinda hard for someone to provide a comeback for that. Plus, you are. Simply put, there isn't a good reason to watch WWE programming. They put on the worst shows on television. There is something wrong with you. Admit it, move on. Lots of people do stupid things, it's only human.

 

Or there's the classic:

 

"Hey, if you don't like reading my posts, stop reading". Back in the day, man, that one was a killer.

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Guest EastCoastJ

They put on the worst shows on television.

Somebody call the hyperbole police...

 

There are still roughly five million people watching Raw each week. If it was that bad of a show and it was that idiotic to watch, it wouldn't constantly be the top or amongst the top rated shows on cable. I'd say the numbers happen to speak louder than anyone who assumes because they don't like WWE, anyone who watches the show must be an idiot and not a real wrestling fan.

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Guest Mike Campbell

I'm actually really close to once again, taking a break from watching WWE. The first time was in early 2003, when I was still in college. I'm never around on Fridays to watch SD, and the only things about RAW I'm finding to be worth watching are Rob Conway and Alexis Laree's character and angle with Trish Stratus.

 

While WWE is becoming worse and worse, TNA is doing a great job with Impact, and OVW TV is getting all sorts of praise, plus ROH is still going strong. So it's not really that difficult to find good wrestling in the USA in 2005.

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