You guys are going to laugh at me about this...

[fisme_nasu]

I watch wrestling. It's the first thing Bren and I clicked about - he bought Jerry Lawler's book because he was going to lead the Q&A with him at Dreamcon. We didn't have cable when I was a kid, so the one day we were allowed to watch all the tv we wanted was spent watching Saturday morning cartoons and then the WWF show came on at 12. My brother and I loved it. Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, The Ultimate Warrior, The Legion of Doom, Tito Santana, Hacksaw Jim Duggan... I got to see the end of Andre the Giant's career and the beginning of The Undertaker's.

I stopped watching in high school, but started again when I came back from Gainesville. My ex and his family all watched it, and my best friend Steve was a huge fan, too. But it was so different. There really weren't any good guys anymore, and nobody befriended anyone unless they were in a tag team together. I remember watching everyone come out to help someone who was getting a beat down - this no longer happened. Still, I fell in love with Mick Foley, the APA, Kane, and Chris Jericho.

Lately, I haven't made it through a show. The girls no longer wrestle; they're just there to be eye candy. There still are no alliances. The McMahons feel it necessary to be in the spotlight all the time, and all focus has gone to the belts. There's no real storytelling anymore, just the same thing over and over again.

I think last night was my last time watching Monday Night Raw. It's become so violent and misogynistic that I can't justify watching it for the three guys I really like. I realize that it's not real (for the most part) but I can't sit there anymore and watch some guy beat the crap out of a girl, or beat another guy until he's bloody. I can't watch women who were athletes prowl around like sex kittens and show off their tits and asses for the cameras. I just can't do it anymore.

Comments

[without-within.livejournal.com]

*sheepish* Yep, me too.

I can remember the summer my older brother and I spent glued to both the tv and the wrestling magazines we frittered away our allowances on, transfixed by the Macho Man/Hulk Hogan feud. The last time I watched wrestling on a regular basis was right before the mergers...say, around 2000-2001. I mean, it was delightfully vulgar and goofy and over the top funny. It was entertainment, go figure sports entertainment. Mick Foley, The Rock, the Hardy Boys, Jericho and my personal favorite Triple H. YES I AM AWARE that it makes me sound like a hick and a rube, but when his Motorhead entrance music would play and the flashing lights would go and he'd do that thing with the water...I'd get chills.

I am easily entertained. I admit this.

Somewhere along the line, it went from being giddy, silly, irreverent lowbrow fun to just being lowbrow. I don't know if the talent is no longer there or if pro-wrestling is some sort of microcosm for society much in the fashion of horror movies or if I've just outgrown it. Somewhere along the line, it stopped being fun.

[fisme-nasu.livejournal.com]

We call Triple H Hungry Hungry Hippos and The Best Water Spitter in the WWE. XD I like him too. I think he's super talented and very savvy.

It's gotten worse - much worse in the last 5 years. And I'm glad the McMahons gave Vicki Guerrero a job so she could feed her kids after Eddie died, but I have to cover my eyes because what they're doing with her is so awful and such a mockery...

My other issue is their reaction to Chris Benoit. Yes, what he did was a terrible, monstrous thing, but it's pretty much been proven that he did what he did because he was mentally ill, brain damaged, and messed up due to all the steroids and crap he took in order to compete. They should take what happened and use it to make things better - and not pretend he never existed.

[nanci-raygun.livejournal.com]

I see the hulk all the time because he lives pretty much down the street from me! YESSSS!

[fisme-nasu.livejournal.com]

I've seen several of the guys out and about when I lived in Tampa. Jim Neidhart used to hit golf balls at the driving range that was next to my parents' shop. My brother was starstruck. :D

[askingxalice.livejournal.com]

That is EXACTLY why I quit watching it.

[lizwontcry.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched for years but I still have a warm place in my heart for Shawn Michaels.

[fisme-nasu.livejournal.com]

I gotta giggle every time his theme music comes on because he's still using "Sexy Boy" and he's got thinning hair. XD

[bajingo.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the "divas" were hired only for their looks, not for talent. not that I like that. I quit watching soon after they started this diva shit. I liked being able to watch female wrestlers who actually, you know, wrestled. Lita, Trish Stratus, Molly Holly. I loved them. These girls don't even care about wrestling, this is just their springboard to a Playboy spread. I blame Sable.

[fisme-nasu.livejournal.com]

There are four women that are actual wrestlers right now. Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Natalya Neidhart, and Melina. Stephanie McMahon made Mickie James lose weight and be more like the other divas and it drives me nuts.

The TNA knockouts are mostly wrestlers, which is great.

[askingxalice.livejournal.com]

I would let Natalya Neidhart do anything she wanted to me. Anything.

Melina too.

[tiajuanabible.livejournal.com]

IDK how you have watched it this long, tbh.

[fisme-nasu.livejournal.com]

The man watches it and I like curling up with him. I'd say it's been almost 2 years since I've watched the whole thing.

[ekstrapiksels.livejournal.com]

My brother and I used to be huge Rey Mysterio Jr. fans back in the day (when he was with WCW). I don't remember a lot about it, but I do remember that we had to buy the N64 WCW vs. NWO: World Tour just to play as him. Man, those were the days.