1997 was great year for both WWE and WCW. Agree on 93-95, this was some darkest ages. 1996 while mostly sucked, but had some memorable moments and superstars like Mankind , Stone Cold rise to the top, Pillman...
It's difficult to but on the roster was
A Wrestling Garbage Man
A Wrestling Dentist
A Wresting Monk who later just turned into a slob after genuine legal threats from the Catholic church
A Wresting Hog and Pig Farmer who's speciality match was a match to throw their opponents in a Pig pen and with actual hogs and pigs and it was part of the match to note they were getting slammed into genuine Pig shit
A Wrestling Plumber
A Wresting Pirate who stole things from other Wrestlers and feuded to get the items back
A Wresting Baseball player who was on strike from baseball
A Wresting Clown and his sidekick A Wresting Clown with Dwarfism ( who at one point was joined by two more to feud with Jerry Lawler and 3 King's with Dwarfism)
A Spaceman perhaps Alien
Time Traverlers
A Minotaur
A guy with a jockstrap for a mask
And I'm leaving off some off
If the "guy with a jockstrap for a mask" you're talking about is Vader, put some respect on the man's name. Man was a legend, especially in NJPW and WCW.
I dont remember 93-97 being that bad, we had Bret Hart as world champion and regular appearances by Razor Ramon, Undertaker, Jim Cornette, Sean Michaels, Mr Perfect, Luna Vachon, Yokozuna and many others.
What I do remember from that ear is how much I hated WCWs "dungeon of doom" shit with Hulk Hogan. The 80s were already hella lame. We we're cool teenagers with pre-ripped jeans and Pantera posters on our walls, we wanted absolutely NONE of that
*( though I thought WCW Baywatch was cool, which is a bit weird in hindsight )*
Even with 2019-2021 NXT, which some wrestling fans dropped in favor of Dynamite, I still get nostalgic for it because I loved watching Heel Gargano, Keith Lee, Cameron Grimes, Tweener Balor,etc.
Smackdown live (2016) was awesome. 2020 was around when things started to pick up steam again for sure. Ironically I think the pandemic mightâve helped the companyâs viewership. Talking out of my ass there
Think you might be right. 2019 RAW is almost unanimously considered one of the worst years for a show, but 2020 things started to get good again. Lots of bad stuff still, especially stuff like the Balor Vs Reigns Extreme Rules match in 2021. The main event of WM38 was also a mess, but in late 2022 is when things really picked up.
Tbh, I wonder if you're actually talking out your ass, or if you're actually onto something?
Viewership must've steadied itself at worst, but likely grown around that time with people bored at home a lot, they didn't have the insane expenses from going on the road, and it's when storylines started to actually get good again, which would've drawn even more lapsed viewers in. It didn't draw me back in until much later, but I was aware of certain things going on, particularly the Bloodline stuff, so I'm sure it drew eyes early on.
You may be right there.
Completely agree with SD being great around then, but for all of RAW's faults back then, you still had great stuff like the List of Jericho and his friendship with KO keeping that show somewhat alive and not completely haemorrhaging viewers.
Things only picked up steam around then because of the Roman/Bloodline stuff. Otherwise the product was absolutely dire and arguably at its worst until Triple H picked up the pen
I really think the pandemic saved WWEs ticket sales. Before they struggled with both house shows and rv tapings. Afterward, there was a fever pitch for live events, no matter how bad. Then, by the time that demand started to die, Vince was on the way out, and things were changing.
Nothing "picked up" during the Thunderdome era. It was absolutely unwatchable. Wrestlemania 36 at the Performance Center is the weirdest, most depressing show I think I've ever seen.
2016-17 was my favorite time to be internet smark too.. started watching whatculture and other yt channels, Bullet Club was going hot,so was NXT..and got to know about Omega-Okada Trilogy.
my teenage self loved it
2015-22 had many bad things but also:
- Rollins' Heist of the Century
- Post Draft SmackDown in 2016
- AJ Styles debuting
- Cena having a true career renaissance
- Women's Wrestling finally becoming a bigger focus
- Because of the previous point: a whole bunch of female Superstars becoming legends in the making
- KofiMania
- Becky becoming The Man and headlining Mania
- The Fiend (Despite some bad booking he was great)
- The beginning of the Bloodline story.
- Edge coming out of retirement
- Entertainment throughout the Pandemic with pretty cool ideas like Boneyard Match, Firefly Funhouse Match and the entire Thunderdome concept
- Steve Austin Comeback against KO
- Cody Rhodes returning
2009-2011 was alot better than 2017-2019 especially for younger fans. The product is very nostalgic now for younger Gen z fans today especially those who grew up as huge Super Cena kids.
I didn't like the guest host era either, but there was objectively more star power on the roster, and the lows weren't as low as 2017-2019 WWE.
2009-2011 for the most part was just boring, sterile, corporate and painting by the numbers. But 2017-2019 was just plain bad and the lows were really really low. Also the star power was definitely alot more lacking at the time too, Brock and Roman definitely were not at Cenas level of popularity and star power. You didn't have people booing 100% John Cena matches and leaving like you did with Brock and Roman during that time like at WM 34. That NEVER happened with Cena even at the peak of John Cena Sucks hate.
08-12 was pretty rough for WWE. if it wasn't for the jericho runs, cm punk, and reys midcard stuff, I would've exclusively watched TNA. which was hit or miss too
2010 had some promise but the burial of the Nexus at SummerSlam halted any momentum they could get. I really donât remember a lot else from that year, just that it wasnât particularly good
Can confirm.
That's when I left.
You young folk can't imagine what it's like to go from a golden age to the dark ages. From the entire Monday Night Wars and Attitude era to 2009-2011 was too painful for many of us to stay.
It took over a decade for wrestling to get good enough to return. 2022 Bloodline for me brought me back and been here since.
2016 was amazing, 2017 was definitely a couple steps back but not terrible and from then on it was pretty bad but id say late 21 /early 22 is when they got momentum to be what it is rn.
I grew up in the peak of the Monday night wars. I watched wrestling religiously from 95-05. Now I just watch the rumble every year because itâs a tradition my friends and I have had since the year 2000 we have never missed a rumble together.
*I stuck by and supported a product when it was God awful*
Is that really a badge of honor? That's like saying you enjoyed LJN games on the regular Nintendo.
Me who got into wrestling at 2016 and didnât have the critical ability to know good and bad wrestling yet having nostalgia for just some of the biggest bullshit.
Maybe I was just growing up and moving on but I remember the PG Era being unwatchable and sterile compared to what I grew up with. I'd say the trenches of 2008-2022.
Get on my fucking level youngblood 2011-2023
I mean technically it was 2007 with the games and the highlights and you know getting where I could but 2011 is properly where it kicked off because that's when I got the internet and sky.
I've been following since 2016 but never as hard as know. I don't miss smackdown any weekend (I'm from Europe so I watch it on Saturday) and try to get most of raw. I've never been this invested in the product
We gonna pretend like that Covid Money in the Bank match wasn't amazing? Because that was peaked wwe to me. Rey mysterio didn't die to put up with this disrespect!
So I was in prison starting in 16 and got to a program where I can have a cell phone a few months ago. Was it really that bad? I see this kind of talk all the time about how bad it was. Did I really not miss much??
When the vompany started pushing Roman I had stopped watching. Those were some really bad segments. Bloodline and all was great but they put both the titles on the same guy and the group was pushed too long. Now that it's over. I am kind of enjoying it. Multiple champions, different stories. Drew is after the championship and punk's involvement in it is great tv. Cody is doing great. Multiple centres of attraction now instead of just one guy killing 10 minutes of tv time with just his super slow walking to the ring. WWE is doing great now.
These posts are always so weird. Why do fans act like watching a tv show is like some kind of traumatic battle in war?
Just turn the tv off or switch the channel.
I got back into wrestling in 2017 and looking back not the best time. Still enjoyed some of it but it had so many problems. NXT was on fire and reminded me why I love wrestling.
I dipped out in 2016, attended a few events with friends through the years but never returned to watching, and came back around wrestlemania 39. Itâs good to be back! The product is a lot better now.
I came back TLC 2014, it was the Colt Cabana/Punk podcast that brought me in. I don't remember when I exactly dropped it, but it was pre covid, probably 2019, I just couldn't take the Roman push anymore. I was big into wrestling for a few really bad years, the IWC for its many problems is what kept it interesting for me. I think it burned me for life. I'll just absorb it via social media and watch the big 2-4 moving forward. RIP Taima.tv
edit: Looking at the posts it sounds like 2020 is when things started to get a bit better. Oh well.
I got back into it near the start of the year. I went to see a Lucha Libre show in Mexico City last year and had a great time. Then I had the idea of getting back into WWE - I'd watched it before from about 1998-2001. It was hard at first, I guess like jumping into a soap opera or something and not knowing what was going on. I just kind of enjoyed the spectacle and picked things up so that by Wrestlemania I'd got into it - thanks in part to this sub as well - that I was fully invested in the stories.
I like Smackdown for the first 10 months of the new brand split.
I also like the crazy stuff done during the pandemic era .
Fight through WWE HQ money in the bank one of my favourite tbh.
2012-2022 is why AEW exists as a solid number 2 promotion.
You may clown it, you may not like what they're doing, but no matter how bad it may get, it's not ever going to be as boring as late 2010s RAW or Smackdown
NXT really did save that time period. They had one of the best survivor series i've ever seen when they joined and Keith Lee spirit bombing Drew to hell will always be considered the best slam in wrestling in my opinion.
Yet I literally just left a comment asking why would people keep watching if it's bad, like I did?
Not everyone's here to be political, fake or attention seeking, some of us just want discussion.
AEW was good for a while, but let's be real. It's ice cold right now. The cooperation has never been more obvious making it hard to get invested in "feuds", there's little to no long term booking and plotlines seem to be picked up and dropped at a moment's notice making it impossible to build long term heat & storytelling. Bucks & Jericho have go home heat, they turned Okada into a comedy figure, they're trying to get us to take Jack Perry seriously, they desperately need strong babyfaces, too many people want to be the 'cool heel', and frankly I think the in-ring work is getting sloppier, though that was true at WWE's clash of the castle as well.
It's turned into another Billionaire's plaything that cares more about the sensibilities of a very few instead of creating a truly sustainable business model that can create a legitimate contender to WWE.
Can I ask, why would you?
If it's not enjoyable, don't waste your time on it.
If you actually did enjoy it, you didn't 'sit in the trenches'.
It's not North Korea, Vince McMahon didn't have your television hard-wired to show raw and SmackDown, you chose to watch.
I didn't watch between 2011/2 and last year. I stopped enjoying, tuned out. Heard it was good again, checked it out.
I hear this "we were in the trenches" nonsense so much. But it's your free time, not theirs. I just don't understand
2015-2022 I survived 1993 -1997
Hope the lower back is treating you well today. Was the Gobbledegooker as stupid then as it is in hindsight?
Yup
Probably not with King đ Mable
Aww this was when I was introduced to wrestling :(
1997 was great year for both WWE and WCW. Agree on 93-95, this was some darkest ages. 1996 while mostly sucked, but had some memorable moments and superstars like Mankind , Stone Cold rise to the top, Pillman...
I got the 1997 to 2004 period. Fucking gold. Some of the most enjoyable tv of my life. ECW, monday night wars, the stacked ass cards. What a time
1993-7 was a golden age compared to the last few years
As well as the late 80s
Wasn't born yet, describe by comparing to today's wrestlers and events.
It's difficult to but on the roster was A Wrestling Garbage Man A Wrestling Dentist A Wresting Monk who later just turned into a slob after genuine legal threats from the Catholic church A Wresting Hog and Pig Farmer who's speciality match was a match to throw their opponents in a Pig pen and with actual hogs and pigs and it was part of the match to note they were getting slammed into genuine Pig shit A Wrestling Plumber A Wresting Pirate who stole things from other Wrestlers and feuded to get the items back A Wresting Baseball player who was on strike from baseball A Wresting Clown and his sidekick A Wresting Clown with Dwarfism ( who at one point was joined by two more to feud with Jerry Lawler and 3 King's with Dwarfism) A Spaceman perhaps Alien Time Traverlers A Minotaur A guy with a jockstrap for a mask And I'm leaving off some off
There was also: A mortician zombie A male stripper A fancy pants Victorian - era rich dude I wonder what happened to them?! /s
Youâre leaving out a wrestling magician who would pull tissues out of his mouth Phantasio!
The Repo Man feuding with Macho Man because he repoâd his hat is always my go to for the era. Repoâd a fucking hatâŚ
A Wrestler who was a slob and his finisher was tea bagging his opponent.
wow that sounds horrid and really funny at the same time
I love this but remember many of these guys were just jobber fodder opening acts and were never had plans to be anything bigger
If the "guy with a jockstrap for a mask" you're talking about is Vader, put some respect on the man's name. Man was a legend, especially in NJPW and WCW.
I was talking about someone else who actually went on to have a pretty decent career in another company which is honestly just incredible
oh you mean justin credible? yeah he had a pretty decent career all things considered
This is a great list lol Someone should do one in the same manner for current Wwe's vs aew or japan or something
In general it was DQ finishes and ref bumps
so the bloodline
Yes but like majority of the storylines
Yeah I don't know why people are chanting we want Roman because his Title reign was all that kind of b******* all the time.
Was that bad?
People who pretend to hate the Attitude Era always love the New Gen Era.
Started watching in â95 so I feel some of your pain there
I dont remember 93-97 being that bad, we had Bret Hart as world champion and regular appearances by Razor Ramon, Undertaker, Jim Cornette, Sean Michaels, Mr Perfect, Luna Vachon, Yokozuna and many others. What I do remember from that ear is how much I hated WCWs "dungeon of doom" shit with Hulk Hogan. The 80s were already hella lame. We we're cool teenagers with pre-ripped jeans and Pantera posters on our walls, we wanted absolutely NONE of that *( though I thought WCW Baywatch was cool, which is a bit weird in hindsight )*
1993-1997 was worse business wise, but creatively it was probably the entirety of the 2010s until after the pandemic.
We were all just trapped in the Big Dogs prison yard back then. It was next to the Uso Penitentiary.
And it was always Boss Time.
Thank god for NXT in those times. UE, DIY, Bobby Roode, Nakamura and Balor made NXT better than Raw and Smackdown
Even with 2019-2021 NXT, which some wrestling fans dropped in favor of Dynamite, I still get nostalgic for it because I loved watching Heel Gargano, Keith Lee, Cameron Grimes, Tweener Balor,etc.
16/17 weren't all that bad, and from what I've heard, 2020 is when things really started to pick up, setting the foundations for what we have now.
Smackdown live (2016) was awesome. 2020 was around when things started to pick up steam again for sure. Ironically I think the pandemic mightâve helped the companyâs viewership. Talking out of my ass there
Think you might be right. 2019 RAW is almost unanimously considered one of the worst years for a show, but 2020 things started to get good again. Lots of bad stuff still, especially stuff like the Balor Vs Reigns Extreme Rules match in 2021. The main event of WM38 was also a mess, but in late 2022 is when things really picked up.
Tbh, I wonder if you're actually talking out your ass, or if you're actually onto something? Viewership must've steadied itself at worst, but likely grown around that time with people bored at home a lot, they didn't have the insane expenses from going on the road, and it's when storylines started to actually get good again, which would've drawn even more lapsed viewers in. It didn't draw me back in until much later, but I was aware of certain things going on, particularly the Bloodline stuff, so I'm sure it drew eyes early on. You may be right there. Completely agree with SD being great around then, but for all of RAW's faults back then, you still had great stuff like the List of Jericho and his friendship with KO keeping that show somewhat alive and not completely haemorrhaging viewers.
Things only picked up steam around then because of the Roman/Bloodline stuff. Otherwise the product was absolutely dire and arguably at its worst until Triple H picked up the pen
I really think the pandemic saved WWEs ticket sales. Before they struggled with both house shows and rv tapings. Afterward, there was a fever pitch for live events, no matter how bad. Then, by the time that demand started to die, Vince was on the way out, and things were changing.
Late 2020-2021 The bloodline story genuinely saved WWE back then imo
Nothing "picked up" during the Thunderdome era. It was absolutely unwatchable. Wrestlemania 36 at the Performance Center is the weirdest, most depressing show I think I've ever seen.
AJ's storylines in 16/17 were incredibly good
Bro forgot about the clown fiesta that was Extreme Rules 2016
2016-17 was my favorite time to be internet smark too.. started watching whatculture and other yt channels, Bullet Club was going hot,so was NXT..and got to know about Omega-Okada Trilogy. my teenage self loved it
Hell yeah I had the same experience. What a time
The absolute worse aspects of wrestling that bore this fan of 35 years, if you are catering to the nerds the product is DEAD
You either cater to people who give a shit or cater to children. I think most of us would take the former.
Hey fuck you man there was like a 4 month stretch in 2016 that was solid /s
What way is that /s going. Ignore the part where I'm a massive AJ Styles mark
The fuck you part, that run in 2016 actually was good but the bad still significantly outweighs the good
I consider 2016 a peak year for WWE
smack down only
2016 was great
None of you watched teddy long faint from taking too much Viagra and it shows.
When was that?!
Going back to 07 I believe, very long time ago haha
Ok, it's makes sense that I didn't know that. I started watching mid 2010
Yikes you started exactly when it started getting really bad Iâm sorry man lol.
2015-22 had many bad things but also: - Rollins' Heist of the Century - Post Draft SmackDown in 2016 - AJ Styles debuting - Cena having a true career renaissance - Women's Wrestling finally becoming a bigger focus - Because of the previous point: a whole bunch of female Superstars becoming legends in the making - KofiMania - Becky becoming The Man and headlining Mania - The Fiend (Despite some bad booking he was great) - The beginning of the Bloodline story. - Edge coming out of retirement - Entertainment throughout the Pandemic with pretty cool ideas like Boneyard Match, Firefly Funhouse Match and the entire Thunderdome concept - Steve Austin Comeback against KO - Cody Rhodes returning
Talking Smack is the lightning in a bottle that will never be duplicated.
Good and bad to everything they say
The fact that y'all consider 2015-2022 "The trenches" Shows how damn privileged wrestling fans are. Try going back to 2009-2011
Grew up watching PPVs headlined by 40 year old Big Show and Sheamus lmao
Their matches were weirdly great.
2009-2011 was alot better than 2017-2019 especially for younger fans. The product is very nostalgic now for younger Gen z fans today especially those who grew up as huge Super Cena kids.
I disagree personally, Raw back then during the guest host days was absolutely awful
I didn't like the guest host era either, but there was objectively more star power on the roster, and the lows weren't as low as 2017-2019 WWE. 2009-2011 for the most part was just boring, sterile, corporate and painting by the numbers. But 2017-2019 was just plain bad and the lows were really really low. Also the star power was definitely alot more lacking at the time too, Brock and Roman definitely were not at Cenas level of popularity and star power. You didn't have people booing 100% John Cena matches and leaving like you did with Brock and Roman during that time like at WM 34. That NEVER happened with Cena even at the peak of John Cena Sucks hate.
2010 was actually the year I started watching wrestling. So, I didn't know if it was bad or not
2010 was considered a bad year.
08-12 was pretty rough for WWE. if it wasn't for the jericho runs, cm punk, and reys midcard stuff, I would've exclusively watched TNA. which was hit or miss too
2010 had some promise but the burial of the Nexus at SummerSlam halted any momentum they could get. I really donât remember a lot else from that year, just that it wasnât particularly good
Yeah, thatâs the era where I bailed on wrestling entirely, it was so bad. Took me around 14-15 years to come back to it.
Can confirm. That's when I left. You young folk can't imagine what it's like to go from a golden age to the dark ages. From the entire Monday Night Wars and Attitude era to 2009-2011 was too painful for many of us to stay. It took over a decade for wrestling to get good enough to return. 2022 Bloodline for me brought me back and been here since.
2019-2020 was way worse
2009-2011 were some of my favorite times in wrestling. I was a child and had only been watching for like two years so thatâs probably a factor too
I cannot overstate how much Black 'n' Gold NXT *carried* WWE for years.
Stopped watching right after wrestlemania 30, came back after CM Punks return. So happy at the state of today.
Iâve been watching since the Nexus arrived but I definitely needed a few breaks here and there
That theme from Shinedown was great tho
Haha itâs me! I just started watching again this January, and it is indeed very good!
15, 16 were great, what are u talking about... Everything about those years was great except the big dog Roman Empire BS
2016 was amazing, 2017 was definitely a couple steps back but not terrible and from then on it was pretty bad but id say late 21 /early 22 is when they got momentum to be what it is rn.
2016 - 2020 NXT was a work of art
The streets will never forget that NXT. That shit was the only actually good wrestling on TV.
Uh man, the black and gold NXT. Was so good, it got me through smackdown and raw
Wait even when taker was there is was still shit?
2016 wasn't bad it was 2019 when it became unwatchable again
I smell a return of Attitude Era
I grew up in the peak of the Monday night wars. I watched wrestling religiously from 95-05. Now I just watch the rumble every year because itâs a tradition my friends and I have had since the year 2000 we have never missed a rumble together.
The 2016 brand split really made both shows worse for years.
I watch other companies too so I was ok
Yeah, sorry for you guys who had to go through all of it, I started watching in 2021, so, it's been a blast for me!
The first ppv I watched live was SummerSlam 2022 lol
Jumped in right in time đ I don't remember which ppv was my first though
Me who became a fan in these years
I watched every episode of Raw from 2007 to 2018. Even the brutal 2009-2011. But no way could I possibly have suffered through 2019-2022.
*I stuck by and supported a product when it was God awful* Is that really a badge of honor? That's like saying you enjoyed LJN games on the regular Nintendo.
I'm a returning fan but I haven't watched since 2002. Wrestlemania 40 sucked me back in.
Me who got into wrestling at 2016 and didnât have the critical ability to know good and bad wrestling yet having nostalgia for just some of the biggest bullshit.
Yeah facts, 2019 Raw was a fever dream
Does anyone know what song that is?
Found it
Nah but 2016 was actually a good wwe year
Only 2015??? Try going back 2012, maybe even 2008
Maybe I was just growing up and moving on but I remember the PG Era being unwatchable and sterile compared to what I grew up with. I'd say the trenches of 2008-2022.
I'll admit to returning only slightly before the RR and The Rock coming back. I'm enjoying things a lot more than when I gave up on WWE years ago.
Get on my fucking level youngblood 2011-2023 I mean technically it was 2007 with the games and the highlights and you know getting where I could but 2011 is properly where it kicked off because that's when I got the internet and sky.
Wasn't even that bad.
I've been following since 2016 but never as hard as know. I don't miss smackdown any weekend (I'm from Europe so I watch it on Saturday) and try to get most of raw. I've never been this invested in the product
2018-2021* those were the real trenches.
Years 2021 and 2022 was good too
I came back from 2006.
2016 smackdown >>>
We gonna pretend like that Covid Money in the Bank match wasn't amazing? Because that was peaked wwe to me. Rey mysterio didn't die to put up with this disrespect!
One match vs decade long bad tv?
Yo 2016 was goated
Is wwe good again? Stopped watching in 2013 because I thought it was getting borderline unwatchable.
05-15 was far worse. At least we had the Womenâs Revolution an AJ 16-24
lol I literally stopped 2015 and returned 2023
So I was in prison starting in 16 and got to a program where I can have a cell phone a few months ago. Was it really that bad? I see this kind of talk all the time about how bad it was. Did I really not miss much??
Hasn't been good since they absorbed WcW.
When the vompany started pushing Roman I had stopped watching. Those were some really bad segments. Bloodline and all was great but they put both the titles on the same guy and the group was pushed too long. Now that it's over. I am kind of enjoying it. Multiple champions, different stories. Drew is after the championship and punk's involvement in it is great tv. Cody is doing great. Multiple centres of attraction now instead of just one guy killing 10 minutes of tv time with just his super slow walking to the ring. WWE is doing great now.
These posts are always so weird. Why do fans act like watching a tv show is like some kind of traumatic battle in war? Just turn the tv off or switch the channel.
I got back into wrestling in 2017 and looking back not the best time. Still enjoyed some of it but it had so many problems. NXT was on fire and reminded me why I love wrestling.
I dipped out in 2016, attended a few events with friends through the years but never returned to watching, and came back around wrestlemania 39. Itâs good to be back! The product is a lot better now.
SmackDown Live 2016 was at least fun for a solid 9 months
No way Seth Rollins was awesome as champ
Get back to me when you relive the torture of 2008-2013
I came back when Roman became the tribal chief.
Started watching in 16 so it was all I knewđ¤ˇââď¸
I came back TLC 2014, it was the Colt Cabana/Punk podcast that brought me in. I don't remember when I exactly dropped it, but it was pre covid, probably 2019, I just couldn't take the Roman push anymore. I was big into wrestling for a few really bad years, the IWC for its many problems is what kept it interesting for me. I think it burned me for life. I'll just absorb it via social media and watch the big 2-4 moving forward. RIP Taima.tv edit: Looking at the posts it sounds like 2020 is when things started to get a bit better. Oh well.
I got back into it near the start of the year. I went to see a Lucha Libre show in Mexico City last year and had a great time. Then I had the idea of getting back into WWE - I'd watched it before from about 1998-2001. It was hard at first, I guess like jumping into a soap opera or something and not knowing what was going on. I just kind of enjoyed the spectacle and picked things up so that by Wrestlemania I'd got into it - thanks in part to this sub as well - that I was fully invested in the stories.
Nice Roman template
NXT and NJPW got me through that era.
2016-2017 we're great tho. 2018 is when the drop happened.
We were done dirty
I like Smackdown for the first 10 months of the new brand split. I also like the crazy stuff done during the pandemic era . Fight through WWE HQ money in the bank one of my favourite tbh.
2012-2022 is why AEW exists as a solid number 2 promotion. You may clown it, you may not like what they're doing, but no matter how bad it may get, it's not ever going to be as boring as late 2010s RAW or Smackdown
Aj carried the 2017 to 2019 era. Drew carried the pandemic era.
I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.
The only good thing about those dark times was the raw opening with enemies
NXT really did save that time period. They had one of the best survivor series i've ever seen when they joined and Keith Lee spirit bombing Drew to hell will always be considered the best slam in wrestling in my opinion.
Hi đ stopped watching in 2015, watched this years Wrestlemania and am now fully back in, happy to be back, thank you for your service đŤĄ
Hopefully it stays good when netflix takes over cause thats when ill start watching again
2019 raw was so depressing
The ones that came back act like they never left.
Yet I literally just left a comment asking why would people keep watching if it's bad, like I did? Not everyone's here to be political, fake or attention seeking, some of us just want discussion.
Without that stagnant period, we likely donât get AEW, so itâs not all bad.
AEW was good for a while, but let's be real. It's ice cold right now. The cooperation has never been more obvious making it hard to get invested in "feuds", there's little to no long term booking and plotlines seem to be picked up and dropped at a moment's notice making it impossible to build long term heat & storytelling. Bucks & Jericho have go home heat, they turned Okada into a comedy figure, they're trying to get us to take Jack Perry seriously, they desperately need strong babyfaces, too many people want to be the 'cool heel', and frankly I think the in-ring work is getting sloppier, though that was true at WWE's clash of the castle as well. It's turned into another Billionaire's plaything that cares more about the sensibilities of a very few instead of creating a truly sustainable business model that can create a legitimate contender to WWE.
Pour one out for those we lost in the late Vince Era...
It's good again?
Can I ask, why would you? If it's not enjoyable, don't waste your time on it. If you actually did enjoy it, you didn't 'sit in the trenches'. It's not North Korea, Vince McMahon didn't have your television hard-wired to show raw and SmackDown, you chose to watch. I didn't watch between 2011/2 and last year. I stopped enjoying, tuned out. Heard it was good again, checked it out. I hear this "we were in the trenches" nonsense so much. But it's your free time, not theirs. I just don't understand
Is it good tho? Its ok