What keeps you interested?

[Loss]

I need a positive thread before I turn everyone at this board completely against me forever.

 

So yeah, wrestling is awesome. We all have talked many times about what made us watch to begin with. But I have to say that what keeps me watching is that there's so much buried treasure still out there. For as much "new" (read: old) wrestling has been found and discussed over the past few years, there's still so much more where that came from. This is the hobby that keeps on giving.

 

Wrestling is awesome. I don't mark out like I did when I was a kid as much anymore, but I really love watching athletic performers manipulate emotions of people through a medium of fake sport. It really is a brilliant concept when you actually think about what wrestling is at its core. There's nothing like it.

 

How about you?

[Matt D]

I know I've gotten away from MOVEZ as I've gotten older and what not. But whenever I see something I've never seen before in an old match, I get excited.

 

It could be a reversal like that crazy rotating counter out of a headscissors that Zangiev did vs Hashimoto or Bockwinkel berating Martel for boring the Winnipeg crowd during a hold to counter boring chants, or something on completely the other end of the spectrum like watching 91 Zenk trying desperately (and wretchedly/brilliantly) to fight off a rampaging Cactus Jack with a bunch of rope-assisted leg and body kicks.

 

So yeah. I love when I'm honestly surprised by something I wasn't expecting. One of my favorite moments watching wrestling over the last few years was seeing tully actually hit an axehandle on a prone opponent instead of eating a foot.

 

Also, there's only a finite amount of stuff I've seen so I love when I find out there's a match I never realized happen, like some of the random 80s PR Rick Martel matches or what not.

 

That's more what makes me excited than what keeps me me interested, mind you.

 

I think what keeps me interesting the most right now is when I see a wrestler doing something I really want him to do, something that shows me he gets it the way I want him to get it. I get really excited seeing a wrestler sell once they get back on offense or when I see a call back spot from earlier in the match that plays into a larger story but also makes sense and is clever in an organic way.

 

Actually I have something more primal than all that and I'll get to it later.

[soup23]

You hit the nail right on the head Loss with the discovery of new things and also for me the reanalysis of wrestling past. I have come to grips with my wrestling fan arc that I don't have to see everything new right now and can just focus to watch the stuff I want to watch.

 

I have touted the yearbooks constantly but will do so again because while not all inclusive, I think they allow the viewer a more than fair representative of what was going on in wrestling for that given year and as a result you can make conclusions from the footage.

[JerryvonKramer]

I stopped watching wrestling in 2005 and yet I probably spend more time watching, thinking about and talking about wrestling now than at any time previously in my life.

 

There is so much stuff to see from the 80s and 90s that I could go the next ten years without exhausting it or getting bored of it. And beyond that there's vast unchartered waters: 70s World of Sport, Lucha, hell everything post-2005 which I'll get round to one day.

 

The thing that keeps me going is that I rediscover guys I had long since written off. Ronnie Garvin, for example, is a guy I just thought was a loser up until not too long ago. And now he's a guy I appreciate. And of course discovering people I haven't seen before. Stuff like the 80s sets can take me from literally zero knowledge to thinking Jumbo Tsuruta was one of the greatest workers in the world.

 

And the more you see, the more it makes you reassess what you knew before.

 

And finally, honestly, this place is one of the things that keeps me interested. The whole process of watching stuff would be much less enjoyable without a sounding board to play off of, especially one comprising the sorts of characters who post here on a regular basis.

 

I've probably never been happier as a wrestling fan than I am right at this moment in early 2013.

[jpchicago23]

Yea the unknown keeps me interested as well. The 80's sets and the yearbooks have opened my eyes to a lot of great stuff and made me realize how guys like Lawler and Murdoch for example are Fucking awesome as I only knew of lawlers wwf stuff and a small dose of a guy like Murdoch. Also guys like Punk keep me watching today. You can tell he cares about the craft of wrestling and while he's not the best wrestler he is different from everyone else and is usually entertaining.

[BrickHithouse]

Acquiring footage keeps me interested. There's SO MUCH I haven't seen. AWA, Portland, Florida, Lucha remained unseen by me, with small exceptions. There's all sorts of Japan stuff I'm just digging into as well. It's like putting a huge 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle together with no picture to go off of and 850 pieces missing.

 

I like pretty much everything I've seen from the 80's, and most of the 90's. Saving 2000-present stuff will have to wait another decade before I'm ready to watch it.

[NintendoLogic]

I saw Hansen/Tenryu vs. Jumbo/Yatsu from 12/6/89 for the first time last night. It's pretty rare that I get emotionally invested in a match these days, especially one from decades prior, but I was seriously rooting for Yatsu to pull it out and was legitimately bummed when he didn't. So I guess what keeps me going is that just when I think I've seen it all, I'll come across something new that has that kind of impact on me.

[Tim Evans]

I think going to 2-3 NXT shows a month and getting new footage keeps me interested. Plus all the new Lucha tv that is avaiable now and I'm still a big WWE fan.

[jpchicago23]

Where is nxt at now? Fcw used to be off of dale mabry and I lives going to that

[ohtani's jacket]

Taking regular breaks. I only really dedicate three months of the year to watching wrestling.

[Death From Above]

I do not watch wrestling often anymore at all, but I think we're really lucky to be doing so in the digital age. Most of what I watch is older stuff, and it's so easily accessible. My own enthusiasm may have waned, but it's a great era to be a fan. It's all out there to be had. And when I do feel like scratching the itch it's very simple to find a match that fits the bill of what my mood is calling for.

[Tim Evans]

Where is nxt at now? Fcw used to be off of dale mabry and I lives going to that

NXT does tv tapings at Full Sail University in Orlando. They still run house shows at the FCW arena.

[jpchicago23]

Oh ok I wasn't sure if they left that arena or not. Im in Tampa so ill just catch the house shows

[El-P]

Revisiting older stuff (that I have seen or not) in context.

I lightened up in my tastes during the GOAT poll, and I think I enjoy a much broader scale of wrestling now than I did 12 years ago when I had become a hardcore puro fan (in reaction to the Russoisation of WWF and WCW). I would love to get hook on a current product to feel the excitement of the unknown that I haven't felt since I stopped watching WWF & WCW, but all my attempts have failed (or should I say, WWE and TNA have failed in capturing me back) so far. It is just not working for me anymore. Wrestling seems to be something of the past to me. Thankfully (well, in a way), the past has never been so prevalent than in today's wrestling nerditude landscape.

[Ricky Jackson]

My interest in wrestling, new or old, has been hanging on by a thread lately, but the last hour of tonight's Raw provided a spark.

[Johnny Sorrow]

My interest in wrestling, new or old, has been hanging on by a thread lately, but the last hour of tonight's Raw provided a spark.

 

RAW tonight was pretty kick ass altogether, but yeah...I LOVED Rock owning Punk. Unlike the last time, Punk's "Pipe Bomb" stuff was "shooty" in a way that made you want to see him get punched in the face, not go online and jerk off about how "He's shooting what we think".

I was chomping at the bit for Rock to come out and own him, and he did. And it worked so well, Punk was never buried as a threat, just owned verbally by THE FUCKING ROCK. Great god damned stuff.

[Jingus]

I do not watch wrestling often anymore at all, but I think we're really lucky to be doing so in the digital age. Most of what I watch is older stuff, and it's so easily accessible. My own enthusiasm may have waned, but it's a great era to be a fan. It's all out there to be had. And when I do feel like scratching the itch it's very simple to find a match that fits the bill of what my mood is calling for.

Ditto. Pretty much the only time I ever watch wrestling anymore is in connection to a bunch of younger smarks at another board, educating them on some of the great older stuff and occasionally catching a current show for podcast/review purposes. But it's really nice to have the unfathomably gigantic archive of wrestling matches on Youtube, including plenty of old "Holy Grail" inaccessible footage. Any time I want to watch any random match, there's a good 50/50 chance that it's on that website somewhere.

[pantherwagner]

Taking regular breaks. I only really dedicate three months of the year to watching wrestling.

Same here except my three months are probably two. I can go for months without watching a single match then I check something out, I discover a good website or youtube channel and there you go.

[khawk20]

Searching for rare clips or matches has kept me interested for a long time and continues to do so. AWA stuff is my main focus, but anything rare and/or new is great to find and watch for the first time.

 

Depending on how much time I have to dedicate to them, my AWA and Wrestler projects can keep me very busy. My stuff is more "niche" than the things guys like Will put out, but because I'm doing them more as a record for myself first and foremost, I never feel any sort of pressure to get something done and as such can work at it at my own pace. I'm finally re-working my Mad Dog Vachon set, for example, and what I thought was a decent finished product a couple of years ago has me tearing it apart and reworking it, and also including a lot of new footage (sometimes waiting is good), and that keeps me invested in doing this stuff....it stays relaxing and fun. I'm challenging myself to make it better.

 

Finding and acquiring footage is still a lot of fun and the rarer a really good find is, the more fun the search is.

[jpchicago23]

My interest in wrestling, new or old, has been hanging on by a thread lately, but the last hour of tonight's Raw provided a spark.

 

RAW tonight was pretty kick ass altogether, but yeah...I LOVED Rock owning Punk. Unlike the last time, Punk's "Pipe Bomb" stuff was "shooty" in a way that made you want to see him get punched in the face, not go online and jerk off about how "He's shooting what we think".

I was chomping at the bit for Rock to come out and own him, and he did. And it worked so well, Punk was never buried as a threat, just owned verbally by THE FUCKING ROCK. Great god damned stuff.

 

 

You really think The Rock owned Punk? I think Punk's stuff before The Rock came out was really good heel heat and when the two went face to face i thought it was pretty even although Punk didnt get as much time. Punk dropping Nas lyrics was enough for me

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

The football game being a blowout caused me to flip on Raw for the first time in forever last night. I try to give the modern product another shot about once per year, but always end up hating it. CM Punk is the one guy that always holds my interest, and he was great again last night. Last time I tried getting interested in the modern product, Punk was a face and he was great. Obviously, he's a heel now and he's even better in that role. Just an all-around pro.

 

(Side note: Why do the interview segments have to be so damn long? At least there was a Rock bottom to cap off last night's marathon gabfest.)

 

Anyway, guys like Punk keep me interested. I don't even watch the modern product, but last night I turned it on for the final hour and Punk sucked me in for the entire hour. As I countine watching more and more 80s and 90s footage that I missed growing up, I love having those hours like I had watching Punk last night, seeing extremely talented wrestlers at the top of their game just firing on all cylinders. Flair, Lawler, Rose, Funk, Tsuruta, Heenan, Bock, Steamboat, Savage, Eaton, etc., etc.

 

Mix in those moments with the overall goofiness and the so-bad-it's-good element of pro wrestling, and that's why I'll always be a fan.

[Matt D]

I spent a number of years jumping from pimped match to pimped match, and it's so much more satisfying to me now to watch whole years in context. I've gone through the 90s for WWF revisiting some of my youth and then moving on to stuff after I stopped watching in 92-93 and I think I enjoy Luna Vachon on Face to Face and Heenan calling Steiners squashes as much as I like watching the really top matches of the year.

 

Watching a whole season of mid-south or Memphis with all the matches we have available in the middle is just a better experience to me than watching match after match, no matter how good they are.

[Bigelow34]

I still watch regularly but I am more ambivalent to it than anything. I just have accepted what the current product is and save my excitement for things that deserve it...like the Shield breaking through, Punk/Rock, Lesnar, etc.

 

What keeps me really going is similar to everyone else...the classics. Watching old shows and matches with a new viewpoint. Also, doing the podcasts keeps me invigorated as well because they are so fun to do that it keeps me always thinking about wrestling as we go through these older shows.