What got you into wrestling?

Vince135792003

As the question says, what got you into it?

What match/angle/wrestler/moment grabbed your attention when you were kid (becasue the majority I think started watching when we were kids) that made wrestling strike a chord with you?

What was your first wrestling memory?

Anyway you get the picture.

For me my first wrestling memory is of Jake "the Snake" Roberts beating some jobber in 1990. Nothing majpr, thats just my first memory. The 3 jabs, the shot hand clothesline, followed by the DDT. Like a thousand other Jake squashes.

2 angles for me really come to mind that made me hooked on wrestling back then, both of them involving Earthquake (RIP).

The first was him crushing Hogan on the Brother Love show with the big splash. It horrified me. Its funny, Hogan growing up like so many others was my favourite wrestler but yet I can barely remember a time when I saw him actually wrestling. I think I was limited to wrestling challenge back then.

The second involved Earthquake and Jake Roberts. I can still see the image in my head of Earthquake squashing Damien as Jake was helplessly tied to the ropes. I was 5 at the time and if Hogan getting squashed horrified me, this scarred me for life!

So anyway those are mine.

evad_lhorg

Two strong memories are Hogan vs Ultimate warrior at Wrestlemania VI and Jake the snake roberts against bad news brown at either summerslam or survivor series witht he snakes and the rats. but I used to always watch wrestling challenge as well. just loved it.

gimmick

Seeing as i didnt watch wrestling through most of the 90s, I got into wrestling twice.

First match, or incident I remember is Randy Savage elbow dropping Ricky Steamboat with the bell, causing a crushed larynx. This was the lead in fued to their Wrestlemania classic. I think this was in 1987. Even at this point, I didnt care for Hogan, as even as a 9 year old, I found him too gimmicky and contrived, but the words i used then was too unbelieveable. I was into wrestling up to about WM9, and when Hogan took the title from Yoko in the 10 second match, that was enough until WM10.

But soon after, I lost the channels, so didnt get back into wrestling until early 1998, around the start of the whole Austin/McMahon fued. While I didnt watch religoously, i still kept abreast, and Raw at this time was off the charts.

Its only recently though Ive gotten a more rounded view, and started watching other promotions, like PWG, ROH, FIP (is this affilated with ROH?), ECW (old) and IWW here.

Must say, all the latter make a mockery of WWE these days, as I am quickly beginning to hate it.

castagnoli

My first memory was seeing highlights of a match between Flyin Brian Pillman and Liger from i think Starcade in 91, back in the good old days of WCW on ITV. The thing that stood out here was that the commentators kept referring to it as one of the best matches ever. I also thought that it was cool that my namesake Brian was a big star, and I then became Flyin Brian, in my own head at least.
Sting was on that show too and I liked his face paint.

Then ITV lost the rights to WCW and my short run love affair ended. Until I got Sky! King of the Ring in 95, when Mabel won. Even then I thought he sucked, but I thought Savio Vega was the coolest guy ever. I only copped on in 2000's when I discovered the indies!!!

Its only recently though Ive gotten a more rounded view, and started watching other promotions, like PWG, ROH, FIP (is this affilated with ROH?), ECW (old) and IWW here.

Yeah FIP is like ROH's sister/developmental federation, Im not sure if Gabe books it or not though. I haven't seen much of it but I hear Punk and Danielson had a great feud there, which never happened in ROH.

Fozzy

I watched when I was around 5-8. Back at the very early 90's. And I despised Hogan! Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker I liked, but I didn't enjoy it that much. Only really watched cos my friends watched

Got back into it around '98. Wasn't big into Austin though. Mainly Mankind! He could do no wrong back then. I wrecked a mate's carpet by jumping up and spillin my drink when Mick came on tv during a ppv once! Got some ECW events back then too, saw a bit of WCW

I don't think it was any single thing that got me into it. I think it was more the realisation that it's not actually "real", made me appreciate it more

That last comment by gimmick was makin me think, there'd be a huge difference between two fans who get into wrestling now, one through WWE and one through ROH. Imagine if all you'd ever seen was ROH!

Terry

got into it first in around 89/90 when sky first started to show it.
i can remember the rockers, jake roberts, randy savage, razor and his buddy from puerto rico.
i stopped watching for a while and then i was tuning in a new tv in the mid 90's and found TCM. it wasn't supposed to be there and i was shocked to see the WCW logo and scott hall walking through the crowd. i was instantly hooked again. been watching ever since. except for tonight because sky sports 3 seems to be missing from my reciever for some reason.

antifyre

Was hooked as a kid for Hogan, never ashamed to admit it...... although the Warrior and Roberts were always favourites behind that....

One match that stood out was Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect.... it went on 20 minutes and really was the first time I recognised the art as well as the excitement.....

then went away (after WM 9 surprise surprise) and came back on the tail end of Austin McMAhon (lost sky) but always managed to see Nitro on a Friday on TCM, so saw the Monday night wars completely from A WCW perspective.....

Bounty Hunter

It was the Undertaker for me. Before the time of sports entertainment when the its not real arguement was in full swing he was the example of what i liked in wrestling. Yet everone knew he wasnt Dead, that it was just a gimmick but they didnt care Because The Undertaker was so entertaining.Plus he is a great wrestler too

unfortunatley maybe tis my original taker fans fault i wasoncedLast rided off a caravan into a ditch... wouldn't recogmend it.

I_Need_a_Life

Christmas 1990 i was given a wwf stationary set and a copy of wrestlemania 4, double video, with the tournement for the vacant wwf title, i was only 5 at the time but i remember being totally mesmirised by it, especially guys like hogan, savage, warrior and dibiase (never have i hated a heel as much as i hated him)and demolition!. it was my first exposure to wrestling and i was hooked. Then Got my cousin into it, watched anything and everything i could get my hands on, went to the wwf and wcw tours in the early 90s. Kept watching it pretty fanatically up until wrestlemania XI, lawrence taylor vs bigelow? even as a 10 year old i found that pretty insulting.

watched in dribs and drabs up until bad blood 97, and that ppv pretty much brought me back into it, was in america staying with family for the summer of 98, and watched EVERYthing, first hour of nitro, then to raw, then nitro etc etc.This is when i discovered ECW aswell, I was hooked again, lucky enough that we had sattelite back then aswell, so when i got home, i was watching them all. Me and my cousin every friday night would watch wrestling. Then i discovered you could get the results of raw on the internet, and started reading them, then watching it on friday. then discovered message boards and things like that. Looking back on it now, I think this is when I got pretty cynical bout wrestling. Reading about all the backstage stuff, and the politics, and what ACTUALLY went on behind the scenes, well, I lost my smile (see what i did there). So between late 2001 and 2004, i watched little to none, still kept up to date, but watched very little. Started watching properly again early 2005, but less and less wwe and more and more indies and stuff from japan.

Dickmcsavage

As a child I didn't watch wrestling too much. Only the odd time really. More into Cartoons I suppose. My earliest memory however, and this gave me nightmares for a while, was when before Survivor Series, Jake Roberts took out Randy Savage by tying him up in the ropes and then allowed the snake to start chewing on his arm! To be honest, I would probably be quite disturbed by that if it was to happen at this day and age in WWE.

I really got into wrestling in '96 when I watched the Survivor Series of that year. Like I said I had been watching it casually before anyway but a friend of mine was a major mark for Bret and so eventually I became a mark for Bret. As you would imagine, I wasn't exactly the biggest Austin or Micheals fan back then. What really got me into religiously though, was the whole Hart Foundation thing. Loved that. I almost cried I was so happy that time Bret came down to stop the British Bulldog and Owen fighting thus reuniting the Hart Foundation. Sad, I know. Actually, if I remember correctly, Owen was balling his eyes out in the ring when that happened. Knowing now that Owen was meant to be quite the funny guy, he was probably just doing it to get a good laugh out of Bret and Davey-Boy.

spacecoyote

I guess my favourite memories pretty much all involve the Ultimate Warrior, the retirement match with Savage, the hogan match when he won both belts, oh and the gimmick with Papa Shangoo.

The original undertaker was great, they totally hit the nail on the head with him. Kids crying in the crowds, etc...classic tv!!!

Loved the legion of doom when they first arrived too. Hogan really was a gimmick man alright, but i always found him entertaining.

I always remember the storyline with Jake the Snake & Rick the Model Martell when Jake was blinded by the perfume spray

evad_lhorg

awww yea andd his big giant spraying yoke he had

nacho libre

It was wcw back in 1988 on ITV when the very first wrestler i saw was Cactus Jack and he did his bang bang salute. I was hooked.
Also Dan Spivey made a big impression with his wild eyes.

I was drawn to the dark side by the Undertaker after that. His debut at survivor series in 1990 is a fond of memory.

Fozzy

I know it's hard to remember back all those years ago, but I don't think Mick joined WCW until at least 1991!

Ruu_Old

I used to watch WCW when it was on ITV (I think) every Saturday. :)A friend of mine gave me Wrestlemania 3 on tape (also 8 and a few others). What a match Savage V Ricky Steamboat from Wrestlemania 3, they went at it non-stop, such pace! I stopped watching it not that long ago because I just haven't got time anymore but watch it now and again still.

Wacker

For me, when I was in second clas in school, a lad asked me who I preffered; the Hart Foundation or Demolition. At the time, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about (I amn't sure if I'd even heard of the concept of pro-wrestling), but rather than appear ignorant, I said the Harp Foundashure (or something like that). Good save, eh?

From that point, I got sooo into Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart it was actuallly scary. I remember when they beat the Bolsheviks (sp?) inside of fifteen seconds while they were still singing their anthem, I don't think any theoretical experience could have made me happier.

I was never mad for Hogan back then, as I never really saw hi m wrestle. I loved the Undertaker though. I remember almost crying in angle they did where Jake Roberts slammed the casket lid on his hand in the funeral parlour, DDTed Paul Bearer, and then went to work on 'Taker with a chair. When Undertaker was feuding with Hogan, I was an outsider in my class because I wanted Undertaker to kill him.

As with a lot of people, my interest subsequently wained. It wasn't until I started playing the old Warzone game on the playstation that I got back in to it, and this was around the 2000 mark. Reading Foley's books made me love the guy, even though he was no longer an active competitor. I got pretty crazily into ECW too, picking up most of the DVDs and VHS that I ever saw on sale. I still watch some of my (slightly) old DVDs now and then, but I don't follow the WWE at all any more.

AlphaMale 3OO

For me it was catching the Hogan/Sgt. Slaughter at Wrestlemania 7 match half way through and being captivated by Hogans winning and bloody performance. I even realised a dream and met the man a few years later but now I hate him. What a prick. I also remember how distraught I was as a 6 year old when I saw my current favourite, the Undertaker defeat Hogan with help from Flair at Survivor Series (91?). Flair pissed me off soooo much and I was ECSTATIC when Hogan won the belt back a few days later. Like a lot of guys here I lost interest after Wrestlemania 9 due to ridiculous charachters like Doink and IRS. (In what sport do guys compete dressed like such buffoons? these two took the biscuit) I will however rememeber fondly, Razor Ramon from this era and rued him not having a World Title run. I also thought the Warrior made a great return at Wrestlemania 8. Only took it up again at the end of 2005 when I saw the Divas Gauntlet match and continued to enjoy for a while but at the moment they are making a bolox of it and lack anyone with the star and presence of The Rock or Austin. Triple H isn't what he was and the Undertaker has almost gone. Oh Well...........

triple h

i remember my brothers, friends and cousins years and years ago watching and talking about wrestling. i never liked it. to me it was stupid and i wondered why any person would even watch it.
i dont know why i got into it, but i do know it was the rock, stone cold and edge and christan that got me into it.
i was never a fan of the undertaker (i do like his music)
i was not a hulkamaniac.
and i did stop watching it for a while because it started to get (i reckoned) to ameriacn a few years ago, it was like the americans againist the rest of the world. i hate hacksaw jim duggen and the way he gets the crowd to shout america and the way he waves the flag. it just bugs me. i stopped watching it for a while (cant remember the year) and when the patriotic crap was over i got back into it.
i was going to say more and i forgot......oh i have to go. anyway

fatal

i was in my uncles house for a week bored outta my ****in head and while i was flicking through the channels i came across it and watched it...I was 4/5 at the time.........
favourite memory???/i have way too many.....chris benoit and eddie hugging at wm,rock vs austin at wm,alot of bret harts matches,undertaker vs undertaker etc etc etc

Necronomicon

edit: Double post. Actually I'm not really into wrestling anymore, my brother decided to pose as me

Necronomicon

my earliest memory is the feud between dino bravo and ultimate warrior. one night they had a contest to see who was stronger. they had to do press-ups with an audience member on their back. dino picked a "random" fan from the crowd. it was a large guy, that than became earthquake. dino bravo did the press-ups with him on his back, but when it was the warriors turn he squashed him by jumping on him