Polygonal_Sprite
Gold Member
I like a lot of guys my age watched pro wrestling in the late 80's when 'Hulkamania' was running wild brother! all the way through to the 'New Generation' era of WWF around 1993 then bounced for a few years as it just seemed so out of touch with current trends, my age, my interests changing as I headed into puberty. I returned to it in the late 90's with the 'Attitude Era' headed by Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Undertaker, Kane, Mankind and Triple H. It had gone from 'say your prayers and eat your vitamins!' to 'I don't give a fuck, I'll beat your ass!', the typical late 90's edge of the time but boy was it great! There was much more violence, woman in bikini's, blood, factions and of course the famous 'Monday Night Wars' with WWF and WCW fighting over our attention on a weekly basis.
I fell off in a major way around 2006 when WWF changed their name to WWE, they became a publicly traded company, they changed TV networks which was way more strict (TV-PG instead of TV-14) and Vince's wife, Linda ran for office. This is when the theme of 'hustle, loyalty and respect' became the new slogan of the now WWE and John Cena ascended to become in many ways the new Hulk Hogan starting a near 20 year run at the top of the industry. It however felt like a massive regression to me along with a lot of the Attitude Era / WCW&NWO / ECW guys all retiring around the same time. I moved on to UFC as my third major interest behind videogames and soccer instead of pro wrestling. Funnily enough it was pro wrestler Brock Lesner who became UFC Heavyweight Champion not long after I started watching and it was a great 10 year run for me and MMA. Silva, GSP, Lesnar, Jones, Rousey, McGregor and Khabib. I loved it.
Where is this going? well if you're still with me, thanks. Last summer I got randomly recommended a short of a wrestler being almost killed by what looked like a botched 'pedigree'. It was a match between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay (both New Japan Pro Wrestling stars who were fighting at AEW Supercard 'Forbidden Door' (where pro wrestlers from different promotions like AEW, New Japan, AAA and TNA could face each other in fantasy matches). With that clip lingering in my mind and some more research into AEW and what it was about I was hooked again and I have really enjoyed AEW, New Japan, Impact and clips now and again from TNT Sports on my youtube of WWE for the past year.
With the success of AEW (considering their age), The Rock recently returning to WWE and his planned match at Wrestlemania along with Vince retiring and handing the booking sheet to HHH have you returned recently or in the past few years or have you remained a lapsed fan who still enjoys watching Attitude Era clips on Youtube shorts / TikTok?
It seems like pro wrestling is currently in another boom period similar to the Hogan period of the 80's and the Attitude Era of the late 90's with AEW returning to Wembley Stadium this August and WWE brining it's first 'premium event' ever to Scotland in June 2024 is going to be even better than 2023!
I fell off in a major way around 2006 when WWF changed their name to WWE, they became a publicly traded company, they changed TV networks which was way more strict (TV-PG instead of TV-14) and Vince's wife, Linda ran for office. This is when the theme of 'hustle, loyalty and respect' became the new slogan of the now WWE and John Cena ascended to become in many ways the new Hulk Hogan starting a near 20 year run at the top of the industry. It however felt like a massive regression to me along with a lot of the Attitude Era / WCW&NWO / ECW guys all retiring around the same time. I moved on to UFC as my third major interest behind videogames and soccer instead of pro wrestling. Funnily enough it was pro wrestler Brock Lesner who became UFC Heavyweight Champion not long after I started watching and it was a great 10 year run for me and MMA. Silva, GSP, Lesnar, Jones, Rousey, McGregor and Khabib. I loved it.
Where is this going? well if you're still with me, thanks. Last summer I got randomly recommended a short of a wrestler being almost killed by what looked like a botched 'pedigree'. It was a match between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay (both New Japan Pro Wrestling stars who were fighting at AEW Supercard 'Forbidden Door' (where pro wrestlers from different promotions like AEW, New Japan, AAA and TNA could face each other in fantasy matches). With that clip lingering in my mind and some more research into AEW and what it was about I was hooked again and I have really enjoyed AEW, New Japan, Impact and clips now and again from TNT Sports on my youtube of WWE for the past year.
With the success of AEW (considering their age), The Rock recently returning to WWE and his planned match at Wrestlemania along with Vince retiring and handing the booking sheet to HHH have you returned recently or in the past few years or have you remained a lapsed fan who still enjoys watching Attitude Era clips on Youtube shorts / TikTok?
It seems like pro wrestling is currently in another boom period similar to the Hogan period of the 80's and the Attitude Era of the late 90's with AEW returning to Wembley Stadium this August and WWE brining it's first 'premium event' ever to Scotland in June 2024 is going to be even better than 2023!