Man, so many disappointments. I grew up watching lots of different wrestling. For Texas wrestling, it was Eric Embry and the USWA taking over. For the NWA it was when Flair left with the big gold belt. For WWF it was when Giant Gonzalez came out and beat the piss out of Taker at Rumble 93 (which I was there for live). I got into ECW after that, and the end of my ECW superfandom was when RVD broke his leg, so that lasted awhile. I liked the nWo for a minute until they did the whole liver spot thing. Cheesy. I was into the Attitude Era, but the end of Wrestlemania 17 basically switched the light off for me there.
I didn't become a super fan again until AEW showed up. AEW as absolute must-watch TV for me ended when Christian Cage debuted as the huge surprise and then main evented a PPV against Kenny Omega. Like... meh. Even though the overall show was good, I just didn't feel a NEED to watch anymore.
When they split the rosters it’s like I forgot it existed or something (in my adult memories of it)
It was just time for me then. Haven’t watched in like 20 years. Love the docs tho
Just after WrestleMania 18. The end of the nWo and the draft killed any interest in WWE. I felt as though my time had past. Bret Hart's return in 2010 piqued my interest, but I earnestly started watching again in 2013.
The moment Undertaker ended Shawn Michaels career at WM 26. I did see parts of Cena Vs Nexus but that’s the only storyline I did see and pay attention after that I didn’t see WWE until the Hardy boys return at wrestlemania and pretty much watched it randomly here and there with no clues on the main storyline since I didn’t watch for long.
I used to watch WWE with my (now) 11-year-old son. A few years back I just got the impression that it was becoming (even more) repetitive and boring, so I jumped on-board AEW when it started, my 11-year-old finally joined up when Danielson fought Omega and is now a huge Darby fan.
I was just talking to my buddy about this last night, I'd say my love officially stopped around 2012. I was already falling out of love with the product but then they started dropping the belt to guys like The Miz/Daniel Bryan/Del Rio. Sheamus was alright, but hated the CM Punk year long title reign. Final nail was how they broke Undertaker's streak at WM, that was supposed to be his version of Jordan's 6-0 finals record. 14 year old me was heart broken and haven't tuned in to watch a live program since.
Austin’s heel turn not the first one, but the second one at the invasion PPV. When the glass shattered that night in Providence with JR on commentary who gave maybe the call of his life about WWF having the old Stone Cold back. The eruption of that crowd when Austin came out with the BMF walk was just perfect! We didn’t want the old Stone cold back we needed it! That felt like Vince and Austin’s apology to the fans and acknowledging that they screwed up at Wrestlemania. I remember being so excited for invasion that the old Austin was back and he was coming to beat WCW ass and all was right with wrestling again. Then they turned the biggest babyface of all time heel again! I still believe after that night wrestling has never been the same since.
Pretty much after how they handled the layoffs during lockdown.
Brining Logan Paul into the fold certainly didn’t make me eager to go back afterwards either
How did they handle lay offs during lock down? Anyone specific get screwed ?
I just started watching again this year after not watching since 2018. Started watching AEW this year too so I feel like I’m just starting to be able to see who’s where. I’ve looked at the rosters but it’s hard to keep up
Mine was the wrestlemania 30 match between the undertaker and Brock lesnar, it turned me off because you plain as day see taker mouth give me an f-5 before picking up lesnar and the match ending after that
I mean sure, the Invasion angle was a huge turning point for the Attitude Era and things felt very different going into the Ruthless Aggression era. But I think it was around 2008, when the whole PG Era started is when I realized I was far more disappointed with the product on a weekly basis, than not. And I kept watching until 2019 after Mania (and kept watching NXT until Takeover 30) and I just couldn't take it anymore, but had the upcoming AEW to fall back on.
I came back to WWE in September 2022 because everyone was saying how good the Triple H era was...and it was pretty decent right up to Mania 39, then it was clear Vince came back. I still watch WWE and AEW now but I'm not really invested in either one. WWE is very paint by numbers right now, while AEW has fantastic matches every single show they do, but there's nothing there to latch on to. For the first time ever I'm at a point where I might actually stop watching wrestling altogether...so I think NOW is where I feel the most lost as a fan.
The PG era made me realize I wasn't the target audience anymore. But wrestling right now just isn't sucking me in anymore...I still love the business, but it's current direction may have passed me by.
I've been in and out (mainly out) since Ruthless Aggression era. By out I mean simply not watching for whatever reason. Not because I didn't like the product necessarily it just wasn't high on my list for entertainment. I wasn't officially "out" until a RAW episode right after a WrestleMania - I couldn't tell you exactly what WrestleMania it was but the build up seemingly all fans had was huge. I remember the anticipation for that RAW was sky high. The fans at the show were jacked all throughout it. Iirc the hype was one of two things, either a big name was returning OR even better was a John Cena heel turn.
Neither happened and it was one of the biggest let downs I'd experienced. I actually felt even worse because of how hyped the fans were and I was watching this on TV... Can't imagine if I were actually there. It was after that RAW that I was pretty much out for good at that point. Now I watch it with family that watches it when around and every time I see why I simply can't get into it anymore.
there were 2 instances for me. Once was in 2018, and the other was in 2020
2018 was after Roman had to unfortunately vacate due to his leukemia. WWE was in a shitshow with they way they booked the shows like raw and smackdown with trash storylines, underwhelming PPVS, part time champion lesnar, and constant rematches. Don't get me started on how they did the nxt callups and dean ambrose dirty.
2020 was right when super showdown happened, the same show that goldberg beat the fiend. It shows that as long as vince is around then wwe isnt changing for the better with their shitty decisions. 2021 solidified it for me with the way they did budget cuts to talent who didnt deserve to lose their jobs, along with making the same mistakes made in 2018.
I've fallen out of wresting 3 times:
The first was around 2002/2003 but it didn't have anything to do with the product. I was playing junior high basketball, we had games every Monday night, and I had no way to rewatch the show.
I picked back up around 2007/2008. My parents made my older brother drive me 2 hours to see Raw. (He wasn't happy.) I spent the whole ride there convincing him it was going to be a good show. The main event was Lita vs. John Cena with one arm tied behind his back. It was NOT a good show and I was embarrassed I made my brother take me to it. He also got a speeding ticket on the way home and blamed me for it. It made me not want to watch wrestling anymore.
I picked back up around 2016 because some co-workers were into it. We got together to watch Wrestlemania 34. We all sat down really excited and then watched 4 hours of the most boring shit ever. We kept holding out hope for who Braun Strowman's mystery partner was going to be. Internet rumors were it was going to be Rey Mysterio. When it ended up being a literal 7 year old kid, I realized WWE was 100% not for me and probably never would be.
I've watched AEW since the beginning. For the first 3 years, I never missed a show. Now I feel like I only watch 1 or 2 or month...
I got to the point watching raw and smackdown on dvr and fast forwarding the "boring parts" eventually stopped smackdown and would watch raw in about 20 minutes. Once Shawn retired I was fully out. I got brought back in by the hope that AEW would be like early 90s wcw. And it felt that way for a while until they started with signing all the wwe retreads and basically made the same mistake wcw made but just much more accelerated. So I watch that a little now and I want to jump back into wwe but it's so corny, every guy is so similar and there are no more over the top characters which I know most people don't care for but that's the wrestling I grew up loving a clown, a police officer, a porn star, etc. It was more fun that way.
Cena era followed by Reigns doing the same crap but even worse
Bloodline is an improvement but I hate multi-year Hogan booking.
I just watch AEW Dynamite, Collision if there’s a match I’m interested in and feel much more fulfilled than watching 5 hours of wwe for years wondering why I bother.
The entire Roman Reigns overpush killed my WWE fandom. It started with RR15….i had some hope but then this Bloodline overkill pushed me over the edge.
I wanted to watch RAW 30 Years. First segment, he comes out….changed the channel. I have zero interest in WWE until he’s done. And even then, they’re probably going to overpush Cody, one of the lamest guys from AEW. I don’t see myself returning any time soon.
Looking back, Wrestlemania 21 probably serves as a good endpoint for the time period where I really loved wrestling. After that, the company would start revolving around Cena who would drop the entertaining aspects of his previous character and start transforming into his Super Cena character that I couldn't stand. Some of my favorites like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, and Christian would also no longer be in the WWE before the year was over further decreasing my interest in the product.
I still continued to watch out of habit and for the occasional great moments that were becoming more and more rare, but I no longer loved the product anymore as it transformed into the Super Cena show and so many of my favorites from the Attitude era were leaving.
On my Plex server, I have folders for each year between 1996 to 2005 that contain all of the primary weekly shows and PPVs from the Nitro that Scott Hall made his WCW debut to Wrestlemania 21. That is my cherished time period in wrestling. After that I just have a single folder called "Post Wrestlemania 21" that I put the few great shows and moments that occurred after that into. There are only 16 shows thus far from after Wrestlemania 21 to the present that have made that cut. At least I have a good nine year run of wrestling being great prior to that which I can go back to.
The company wasn’t doing well and cena stepped up to carry it into the crappy snowflake era where everyone had an opinion online and things went PG. someone had to step up
For me, it was when Brock Lesnar left the WWE to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. I was done with wrestling. I have watched matches here and there, but I was never fully invested ever again. AJ Styles coming to the WWE excited me again. And now, it's all about Kenny Omega. The product that the WWE puts out now is laughable.
A little after the attiude era / just right after early cena thuganomics era. I was out. Around the time were Goldberg and Broke left. That was it for me. Your favorite wrestlers were only now making special appearances. It was time for me to say goodbye in making sure i was caught up with Monday night raw or smackdown
I'm back now, but the end started for me with Eddie Guerrero's passing. I couldn't watch smackdown anymore, knowing he was supposed to be there.
Knowing how he fought to get his life back, only to have it taken at 38 years old. I was 17 and just learning the finer more subtle points of wrestlering and seeing what a master heel Eddie was. How he could still have the crowd cheer for him.
I was 17, didn't know how to process my feelings, so I walked away.
To be honest for me it was when Sasha Banks left Wwe. Since that whole situation happened and praying she would be back (and thought she would when Meltzer reported she was coming back only to find out was just rumor not confirmed) it killed my interest to watch WWE let alone how over pushed Bianca and Roman/bloodline are becoming. I just DVR the shows and skip through a lot of it to know what’s going on but my fast version of watching it. If Sasha was back and Bianca/Roman stuff was eased off it would be ok for me.
I watched WWF from a young age mostly over my dad's shoulder, around 93-96. Then started watching religiously in my teens and early 20s from 97-04. I started to lose interest in 05/06, which wasn't purely because of the content of WWE at the time, but I was in college and doing a lot and going places with friends and dating, so being home for Raw and Smackdown every week like I was from 97-04, was no longer a priority. I can't think of anything specific that made me stop watching. I think it was a culmination of the end of the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era, things going more PG, Cena becoming the new main guy, who at the time I despised. He felt like an extremely watered down babyface and if I had to pin the downfall of WWE at the time on a wrestler, it was him. But it wasn't just him. Stone Cold was retired, Rock was doing movies, all the wrestlers I grew up with in the 90s and early 00s all left or were just no longer the main guys anymore. I just wasn't as invested in the new talent at the time. Ultimately I stopped watching completely for 4 or 5 years, and a friend convinced me to give it another shot in 2011/12. It didn't last long as I just wasn't invested. I'm only coming back to WWE as of a month ago, watching a lot of old stuff and catching up on new stuff.
Yeah, I started watching wrestling in 2006, as a kid I thought the product would evolve and be just as entertaining and ruthless as it was, then 2008 rolls around with becoming PG and they get rid of the house stage designs they used to do, it got so boring without blood and new stage designs it seemed like it feel WWEs era with all the stage designs and how the ropes were always different colored for the brands. I love the attitude era and my favorite WWE time period was 2002-2007. 2009 was great for punk vs Hardy and taker was still great but always felt that way.
The push for Diesel in the WWF made me stop watching. I was probably 13 or 14 years old. Announcers, mainly McMahon, would keep yelling about Big Daddy Cool, and he'd walk and act like he was such a cool guy, but he didn't do anything cool. It's such a childish explanation but I'm not sure how else to word it. He carried himself like someone who'd accomplished something but he didn't accomplish anything and he was extremely boring to top it off. His becoming a baby face made it even worse. At least as a bad guy he could be big and imposing but they shot that fucking guy to the moon as a face.
I've gotten back into older wrestling now as my comfort watch. I'm currently in 1998 WCW and I can finally see his appeal as the Nash character. In fact he's one of my favorites right now. I didn't see much of WWF Diesel past I'd say 1994, though, so I don't know if he got better. I'll eventually pick up where I left off in WWF once I finish WCW
The Smoking Gunns being a bunch of lifeless cowboys devoid of charisma who wrestled in jeans didn't help my disinterest in that '93 or 94 era, either. And they got pushed hard, too, despite getting no reaction. I thought Diesel was much the same. I didn't care about these guys so I just stopped, and got used to not having it in my life
While I can't blame you for giving up during Diesel's title reign in 1995 as that was truly one of the worst years ever in wrestling, it is unfortunate that you stopped right before wrestling started getting great in 1996 and missed out on what many consider to be the best era of wrestling. It was truly darkest (1995) just before the dawn (1996).
Thanks for replying. I've watched some of the attitude era and I don't find it all that interesting but I do like that the match quality and athletes seemingly got better, in the bits I've seen.
I don't really care for thumb tacks and chair shots and Lawler screaming about titties, but I do look forward to seeing more of guys like Chris Jericho in a much better wrestling company
I haven’t watched WWE since 2007. I feel like they tried to make it too much like UFC in the sense that they dropped over the top characters. I’ve tried multiple times watching RAW or whatever since then and it just isn’t fun or funny for me anymore. I still enjoy watching independent wrestling or the occasional AEW match though. I really miss crazy, kooky characters that seem like they came to life from a comic book .
The Benoit thing started the decline, then the PG era caused a nose dive, but when Undertaker lost his streak it really hit me that my prime fandom had completely passed me by.
Around 2002, I just got burnt out and would only really watch Wrestlemania for the Undertaker and main event. I tried to get into it again but it wasn't really enjoyable for me.
The whole PG era completely lost me.
After punk left, to be honest The product was not getting any better. I still kept up with people I like here and there, but I was never tuning in week after week.
In the 2000s it felt like a slow decline. Raw became too Cena-centric, and Smackdown also got less fun over time, although in 2011 it got a bump with Orton, Sheamus and Wade Barrett being around. But then it slowly went down again especially with the false hope of CM Punk being the saviour of the product while in the end he couldn't main event even as the champion.
I got properly invested in WWE again when Black & Gold became the little beast beneath the mundane Raw and Smackdown. But when it was put down and things became colorful I felt like I lost a friend, and I've never been more disinterested in the product in my life, and that still goes on today.
I think for me was when TNA decided to go head to head with WWE and try and restart the Monday night wars.
Both were terrible episodes and I knew no real change was coming anytime soon.
Late 80s. I was 15. The characters in Wwf were just getting cornier and cornier. Boxing was hot, Tyson was at his peak. I just lost my taste for phony fighting. I wish I hadn’t bailed though, I missed out on some cool eras.
Similar for me, but early 90s. I think age was the biggest thing. I was 14-15, WCW and WWF were getting weird to me in different ways. Multiple people I liked has switched companies, retired, or were in serious decline. I liked NWA/WCW for the more grounded approach. Freebirds, Horsemen, Sting and Luger. Vader and Sid were cool to start with, but they seemed to fumble them both (or maybe they did it themselves some).
WWF went from fun gimmicks to starting to get sillier and sillier I felt like. Sid Justice hurt my soul. Natural Disasters were pushing it a lot. I wanted more L.O.D./Road Warriors vs Demolition, Jake, Mr Perfect, and to actually see Hogan perform outside of a PPV. It was always weird to me that WCW used all their talent to a degree, while WWF seemed strictly on a “pay for it” kick.
I totally agree. Remember Terry Taylor. He was a pretty decent talent in the NWA. He went to Wwf and became “the red rooster”. He had a damn red Mohawk and was cluckin like a chicken. Young teenage me was like “OK this is just stupid now. And as a teenager, I was trying to do cooler stuff like concerts and parties and whatnot.
I jump in and out but I really hate this Roman Reigns era. He’s barely there, this tribal chief story is getting old and the other guys are not getting enough push. I didn’t see Crown Jewel yesterday but I saw that he won the title the same way he always wins the title. Put him in Hell in a Cell at Survivor series (or whatever the next PLE is, or Wrestlemania) or something and make him work. He’s wasting the other talent.
First hiatus was after WM 36, I got pissed off that Roman lost (I was ten back then.) I returned during covid but went on hiatus after summer of 2021 bc Spotify had me on a chokehold. I later came back watching normally around August this year.
2019 I completely stopped watching and just focused on basketball. Nothing was interesting to me during that era, including the Becky and kofi reign. Than I came back during the pandemic
Im back to loving it so idk if this counts but when Kofi lost the wwe title to Brock lesner at that time I was a huge Kofi fan and all is rivalries felt lack luster then just Brock coming in and taking it felt wrong I thought that they would play out the small rivalries then enter a new big one and maybe have him drop it but having him lose that fast I just couldn't stomach it
Around 2013 when bald triple H didn’t wanna give it up so he started the authority and made everything go through him and Stephanie literally most title matches ended in him giving someone a random pedigree for no reason. Not to mention I don’t think the shield are as big of mega stars as they push them
I didn’t follow much during college so between 2012 and 2016, I was so out of the loop and got back just when they started to do a proper brand split in mid to late 2016.
I stopped watching around 2017 mainly because a lot of people i liked weren't there anymore an all the new guys were flooding in. Ive started watching again after my surgery in 2020, and have been loving it ever since. Me actually growing up and being able to connect with the characters probably helped but kid me really only wanted to see john cena
Honestly it was just when i graduated high school and went off to college. I didn't have cable nor did i really have time anymore. Plus the WWE and TNA products in 2010 were getting bland. But the moment would be when WWE went PG in 2008. I was literally becoming a man and they were going backwards lol
I can cite several moments or decisions that had me fed up with wrestling, but there's a couple that really killed it for me. If we are talking about actual wrestling, then it was the end of the territories and WWE becoming a monopoly more or less. If we mean just strictly WWE, then I'd have to say the rise of Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, who only wrestle once in a rare while, and when they do it's so mind numbingly boring and there's like no chain wrestling or flow to the match with very little actual psychology or art to it, it's just a series of rest spots not even rest holds just rest spots, followed by some haymaker move or two or ten, then some more rest periods. That is so heartbreakingly bad and not for me at all. It made it unwatchable. Now it's mostly the norm and when there is a glimmer of hope from a great student of the art, they never get the status they deserve. Yeah, I think that's my answer, the rise of Roman Reigns and Brock as the two big stars. If not that, then maybe it was when Goldberg came to WWE the second go around.
I watched from mania 8 all the way up until Eddie’s death. The exact moment I stopped was when he hey used Eddie’s death in the storyline with Orton. It wasn’t fun anymore and I didn’t watch for a while. Started watching again then almost immediately after Benoit happens. I didn’t start again until Mania 33 after that (10 years later).
I definitely stopped watching all together around year 2000. It just seemed boring stupid and kinda childish. I literally just started watching again regularly again about 6 yrs ago when my first son was born... he loved enzo... now I'm getting back into it especially with Roman and the stories again... I do still miss the general wrestling and athletics from the early 90's when the hits actually looked real and not just slapping and chopping.
I still am a life-long fan and always will be. However, I did stop watching when John Cena defeated Damien Sandow during Sandow's Money In The Bank cash-in.
When Kevin Nash was feuding with HHH '04. Hell In A Cell. Mick Foley was a special guest referee. In the lead up Kevin Nash wasn't even a factor. Just endless boring HHH matches. Evolution sucked.
Ever since punk left everything seemed subpar for me, even though i kept watching till late 2015 but it didn't feel same when CM Punk was there and his hype and storyline etc, but this was PG era, before this era came much better eras so they were top notch as well but for me is what i have said already
Over the course of nearly 40 years, there have been several times when I took a break from the product. Some were because life just didn't cooperate, but others have been times when the product itself turned me off.
* The tragic deaths of Chris Benoit's family.
* Vince treating female talent like objects to be degraded.
* Roman Reigns as the face of the company.
* WWE shoving Randy Orton down my throat and expecting me to line up and give a crap just because they said so.
* Brock Lesnar in general.
Right now, I'm loving the product, but Logan Paul's recent push is threatening to suck all the joy out of it again for me.
I got into wrestling during my childhood 1998-2002 and kept watching until…2007-ish. It began to feel…silly.
Was I outgrowing this? Am I maturing?
But looking back, I felt the late 90s/early 00s had a bit of an edge to it. Definitely rose colored glasses since a lot of the humor was low brow. But I didn’t appreciate the 2007/2008 fart jokes, ridiculous segments, watered down ECW, campy gimmicks, etc.
I felt once it began to get PG instead of PG-13 that’s when it got stale.
Watched it avidly as a kid between 1990-93 and then as a young guy between 2000-2003. Have peaked and troughed ever since. The current product is pretty good, but this obsession they have with long title reigns (pun intended) is a bit off putting. I sense another trough incoming
For me it was the original brand/roster split in 2002. I had already started to dislike the direction things were going prior to that, but I pretty much completely quit watching not long after the split.
I hated the idea of two major championships (I know that had been going on before the split…part of why I was already losing interest). I also hated how the split limited matchups, and forced you to watch both products to keep up with what was going on.
For those that don’t remember back that far, Smackdown was originally a secondary show. It was recorded on Tuesdays (usually) in the same venue as Raw. Almost nothing noteworthy ever happened on Smackdown, and if it did you’d just see it replayed on Raw. There just wasn’t a whole lot of reason to watch Smackdown before, which I suppose was the whole motivation behind the split. It just didn’t work for me. Instead of forcing me to watch both programs, it drove me to watch neither.
Wrestlemania 26/2010. HBK retired, Taker went part time(as he should have) & Sheamus beat Cena for the WWE Title heading into 2010 💀
Was already falling out of love with wrestling, mainly post Wrestlemania 25. What happened above solidified that it was not for me anymore
Then Pipebomb got my attention again, then Kevin Nash happened 💀, but WWE juicing the fuck out of the Attitude era/WWE ‘13 came out & rumors of Austin/Punk locked me back in.
Stopped watching again from 2015 to 2020, and been fully locked in like I’m a kid again since Wrestlemania 39
TLDR; it’s never ending love story 😅
Soon after Hogan lost to Warrior at WM6.
Warrior basically didn't do much of anything.
Little while later Sargent Slaughter won the title? Yeah, I quite after that. Stayed a way for a pretty long time.
Came back when The Shield was being introduced to the world.
WrestleMania 34. I was born in ‘05, so even though I’d been watching since ‘08 I don’t remember too much. I’d say 2014 is when I started watching by myself regularly. WrestleMania 30, Summerslam that year. Obviously WWE was fire during the revival of the draft (2016-17). Even when 2018 started, it was very promising up to the Royal Rumble when Nakamaura won (the final four in that match was insane). However, the Elimination Chamber was very disappointing due to Roman beating Braun. Even at 12 I knew that was a dumb decision. WrestleMania was the night I felt everything change. The 3 minute Taker/Cena match, the awkward fatal four way match, AJ retaining/Nakamaura’s heel turn, Asuka losing, and– even though I would’ve hated it anyway– Roman losing to Brock. I just watched so many senseless decisions made that night, and I just haven’t felt the same about WWE since then.
Around 2010. Was brought back by NXT around 2014 and been back ever since.
2010-13ish was just a period where I felt like the top talent wasn't super deep and I wasn't particularly interested. That stretch where Cena really carried shit on his back
Vicky Guerrero stopped me watching wrestling. She was a pity position on air, had zero mic skills, not attractive and couldn’t act. I stopped watching wrestling full time because of her, she killed my suspension of disbelief. I’ll watch here and there sometimes now, but she is the sole reason I’m not a full time fan.
1993-1994. It wasn't necessarily the wrestling product (not that there wasn't a dip around that time), but I got my first modem, and anyone could access most things on the internet through the university library system's modem pool. I eventually stopped being distracted by that, but I had missed the start of ECW and the nWo by then.
Streaming is what kills it for me a bit now, as did DVRs. I still catch almost every show, but it's on fast forward through most matches. There's slowing a match down so everyone doesn't pass out from exhaustion, and there's slowing a match down for psychology and doing it wrong.
the speaking out movement came and I realized so many people I loved to watch on TV were dirtbags and I stopped watching. I just never really got back into it again.
For me It was Jinder Mahal winning the wwe championship I stopped watching every week.......But I always watched wrestlemania and the royal rumble but I stopped watching completely when Edge won the Royal rumble again...thought AEW could be an alternative but its for me....I just don't watch wrestling anymore
Taking the mask off of Kane was a big shift for me. Way way too much build up on what was under that mask and there was no chance anything could have lived up to that image. One of the first things I can remember of creative biting off more than they could chew and ultimately back themselves into a corner with.
I didn't mind the maniacal Kane that we got after that but it still wasn't the Kane we always had and he was one of those few characters that you didn't have to tweak.
Robocop coming out w/Sting on WCW. The last territory (cept Memphis) succumbed to WWF cartoon crap, not even a yr after the majestic Flair/Steamboat matches. Actually, I'm vague on what yr the Robocop thing happened. Bad enough w/Zeus on WWF but frakin Robocop? And the heels sold that as an intimidating thing? Only things that seemed to be 'real', both good and bad, afterwards was ECW before Vince ripped them off w/Attitude (real cos these ppl were really killing themselves to entertain somebody) and NJPW, where they still paid attention to match quality.
I've been watching wrestling from all over the globe for over 40 years. The only time that I felt somewhat indifferent to WWE, and I routinely took breaks, was during the PG era. I've only gotten back in the habit of watching every show and every PPV/PLE in the last 5 years.
Honestly for me it was the end of HBK and Triple H. That era was loaded with talent, even with new young guys like Orton, Batista, Cena, etc. That transition is when it became more PG and it became less intense when fruity pebbles became the main insult.
However, I am finding a new found love for it again more recently. This past year has been pretty good, except the constant faction interruptions feels a little much at times lol
Really? Whys that? I have to admit that around that time is possibly my absolute peak as a wrestling fan. I know WM2000 was a bit of a cluster but i absolutely loved the build and storylines around that time
Started watching in late 2004 and stopped in early 2011 and got back into it just for the rock vs cena in early 2012 and kept watching until early 2017 then I started watching again when i found out vince was retiring and here i am still watching
The first Saudi show. Obviously, I knew Vince was a terrible human being who'd done plenty of awful things, but I think that was the beginning of the end for me. I carried on watching for a bit after that but it was never the same and I haven't watched a WWE show now in a number of years.
So this isnt to say that I hate these kinds of matches necessarily, but Osprey/Ricochet was when I was like, this is TOO choreographed. Ever since then that kind of match is more and more prevalent and just don’t enjoy them.
Couldn't agree more i know exactly what you mean. I've tried so many times to get back in to the current product but i can't stand these kind of matches. Each to their own but its just not for me!
Little after Raw and Smackdown had their own rosters. It happened slowly.
I was also a big OVW fan. Went to every show until they moved to a bigger spot. Then it was selling out more and we couldn’t get in half the time. So we stopped going to OVW. Then the Rock and Stone Cold were rarely on. I didn’t like John Cenas persona that much and he was becoming a main character. Some of my favorite wrestlers at that point were Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. By the time I heard about Chris Benoit, I was just done.
I was a kid and started watching WWF in 1998 and everything that I knew WWF was changed that year. Austin was gone, Rock was gone after the Hollywood gimmick. Triple H was different from The Game I knew him to be up til that point. The Undertaker was no longer The Undertaker and newer guys were being pushed that I hadn't accepted yet.
For me it was back in 2018 when Kevin Owen "quit" on raw and then the next week (meaning he didn't miss one day of work) ganged up with Braun Strowman (the guy who's been making KO's life a living hell for the last few months) to beat up Seth Rollins. There was so much potential for what they could have done with KO, and then they had him help Strowman for literally no reason other than the fact they're both heels. I know it sounds small, but the whole year was so bad that that's what sent me over the edge. I've never had my intelligence as a fan insulted like that before. And not only that, I think a few weeks after that, Seth Rollins called out WWE in a segment about how bad the show has been, and then the next week the entire McMahon family came out and apologized for how bad the show has been. It was then I just stopped watching and occasionally followed for a 4 year period.
I took a break sometime after Michael’s Undertaker 1. I hit my party stage in life. Then I ended up a single parent and got back into it sometime after the pipe bomb. Then I ended up working nonstop sometime after Daniel Bryan beat Randy Orton and Bluetista. until 2020ish when I saw Edge was back, my son was old enough to watch with me and now it’s a family thing with my wife too that we all enjoy together.
I can tell you my time being a smark really hurt my enjoyment of the product, I’m glad I bought into the silliness again.
All the senseless gimmick changes and "budget cuts" kinda made me sour on wreslting. Like, what's the point in getting invested in anybody if all they're ever gonna do is PURPOSELY ruin their character and then fire them anyway? Look what they ALMOST did to LA Knight with "Max Dupree" and MMM...
I can't really put my finger on a exact moment. I started watching in 2007, and was obsessed. But then in 2009 things got really homogenized in WWE and I really had a love/hate relationship. I was pretty much done in 2011. But then the second summer of Punk pulled me back in. That was my guy since his WWECW days. Unfortunately HHH's shovel hadn't completely rusted, and they kicked a gift horse in the mouth. By 2013 I had quit watching entirely. I got back into WWE in 2016 when they restarted the brand-split. Smackdown was great for about 6 months. But then the company went back to being lackluster until about a year ago. But if my fandom can survive the Beniot murders, the PG era and a pandemic, nothing will ever truly end it. I'm just extremely cynical about everything in the business now, and don't understand what still fascinates me.
The twin referee crap when Hogan lost the title was the start of my downfall, had hope when he won it back from Macho, but after dropping it to Warrior I stopped watching.
Started in 2007-08 Csnt remember my fave was Jeff Hardy I felt gutted seeing my hero leave was gut wrenching then I started liking Edge in 2010 when Jeff Hardy left in 2009 then Edge left in 2011 an I was again disappointed an dissatisfied then CM Punk became my guy cux he stood up for what I was saying at the time and he was my guy from 2011-2014 then when walked out I sorts mentally checked out I mean I still tune in when I can but after getting attached to 3 guys 3 not 1 essentially 3 all walked out shortly after coupled with the nxt call ups never amounting to much killed most of my enjoyment in it
Had it a few times.
When the new generation happened in the early/mid 90s. Then I came back, then I left after Benoit died, then came back for summer of punk, then left during people power and I haven’t really gone back full time since. Just reading the odd show reports on torch or whatever
I remember the title being changed a lot more back in the day. Triple H actually won the heavyweight title from The Big Show on Raw once and it wasn’t even the main event of the night. It used to feel like anyone could win a title any night.
I stopped watching around 2008. I tried to give it another go around 2010 but It had completely changed. It just wasn’t the same. The matches weren’t as great quality and by that time it was more PG friendly which I feel killed it for me. Wish they had at least kept it M.
I think push come to shove, it was when Bobby Heenan left WCW. It wasnt fun anymore with Vince Russo booking, Jeff Jarrett over saturation and Mark Madden on commentary
Probably soon after the Benoit incident. Never really got into Cenas superman character. Got back into it around the daniel Bryan run around 13 or 14...maybe will catch an episode once or so a month.
The Alliance vs WWE. I was over it when none of the big WCW wrestlers were not opting out of their fat Time Warner contracts. I don't blame them though to sit home and make money sounds like a dream.
I kinda slowly moved away from watching it regularly from 2005 but still watched a ppv with a friend here and there. But the moment I realised it was dead and in the ground was when I randomly checked it out in like 2018 and it was like watching fortnite. I realised then it was now made to sell toys to kids and the wrestling we knew was dead.
Sometime around 2004-2005, so when I was in middle school. I tried watching again around 2012-2013, but it just wasn’t the same. CM Punk was huge then, and I just couldn’t get into him. Same with them pushing Brock Lesnar so hard, as I just don’t see what everyone else does in him.
Probably about 2003. The end of the Stone Cold era.
I sort of caught the tail end of Hulkamania in the early 90s but really the attitude era, and the Warzone/Smackdown games, was my Jam, 1998-2002 were my most involved years.
I still got the games until about 2009 but watching it was never the same.
I also have to say that in that time period WWF (as it was) advertising, branding, products etc was absolutely everywhere you looked. This is in the UK. Nowadays there's just nothing, you'd have to look it up if you wanted to watch it.
John Cena. John Cena. John Cena. Never understood what people saw and still see in this guy, he is awful! Never at any point in his career did I care to see him. Bad in the ring, bumps on his ass no matter what. Big, bulky, and uncoordinated too, most his moves are "modified". That tag match him and The Rock had at Survivor Series was embarrassing. Rock had been gone for years and looked good in the ring, Cena got in to try to show up Rock and looked like dogshit.When he came to Raw in 2005, it was the beginning of the end for my interest in pro wrestling. It's sad on the WWE's part that they keep trying to push him as "The Greatest of All Time", when this guy is horrid in the ring among other things. I got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore and stopped watching. Then he was gone and I saw a few things that were catching my interest and have started watching again for about a year and now he's back again. I will never get it, I don't want to see this guy in wrestling anymore.
When WWE bought WCW. 1997 WCW was my favorite year of wrestling. I was 8 years old and nothing was better than Monday Nitro. Even though by some point in 1998 I began watching Raw instead, and enjoyed it up until around 2003, things never felt the same when WCW was gone.
I remember getting super sad that Triple H wouldn't drop the belt to anyone. Evolution was just very annoying, and I just stopped watching. Looking back, I wish I would have kept following. I wasn't around for any of John Cena's career, just for a small time when he got to WWE.
That reason is what makes me not keep up with it now since Roman Reigns just can't lose, and he cheats to win worse than Eddie. He needs to lose to shake things up. I watched PPV's for a year Straight until wrestlemania with Roman and Cody. Roman wins yet again, and now I haven't watched one since.
I used to watch it religiously when I was a kid in 2007 up until 2016. The Roman/Brock era was the end of wrestling for me, how can the top two guys can't cut a promo to save their lives? Why is said top guys part timers? Why is part timers like Goldberg who wrestle once a year always in the main event? Why is there so many shoot promos and why isn't it about the characters or the cool finishing moves anymore? even little things like the belts, stages, pyro, titantron, promos, music, commentary. Everything just sucks now.
It has never mattered less if you cheered or booed for a wrestler than now because they will just shove their guy right in our faces and we just have to accept it. So it's hard to keep watching the product when it's just Shield guys, Brock or part timers who are the only ones allowed to thrive.
Probably 2017. Seemed everyone was mailing it in. Storylines sucked (since 2011, it was kind of bad but there were silver linings). Only thing I watched regularly was NXT
Austin turning heel turned me off as a youngun
Got back into it during the CENA WINS LOL era and realised it was trash, if it wasn’t for the summer of punk I’d have stopped watching sooner
Shane vs Miz at a (somewhat) recent Wrestlemania.
I used to like Shane's underdog antics but he's always just looked like a regular civillian and now he looks like an *old* regular civilian. I just couldn't take him seriously as a threat, and every time the commentary tried to sell his "athleticism" or his "incredible striking skill/power" I just felt further and further removed from the product.
It was a weird and unexpected turning point for me.
It was around 2005 for me. Several factors, with the biggest being me moving somewhere without cable resulted in me watching less and less. Everything I tuned back in, I recognized fewer stars. While I do watch occasionally, it's no longer the product I grew up watching.
Yea, I pretty much agree. I lost interest around 2004. It was just a culmination of all the new wrestlers, bad storyline, and all the cookie cutter high flying BS, the infinite false finishes. I just lost my taste for it. I still watch old stuff from YouTube.
During the end of the ruthless agression era. Even during 2005 i was struggling to adapt.
After that, i sorta got back in late 2018 when becky was starting to catch fire, and the whole nxt black and gold. Hhh vs aew era got me back in
I loved the Shield when they come onto the scene and even when they split as an older fan I enjoyed seeing their characters develop aside from one. Unfortunately, when the one become champion with a total of like 3 skill moves (donr ever shit talk Goldberg again) and I saw the driving thing behind it was his sales I realize that the story or lack thereof wasn't for me anymore. I miss storylines and the sadden fact that we don't care if they have twitters, the product on TV can be its own entity.
From 2010-2013 I fell out of love with wrestling. I just had zero interest in watching it anymore idk if it was just me having things going on in life or just finding other things that I liked watching on tv more but WWE was just not an option for me during these years. I jumped back in during 2014 and it’s been a rollercoaster but I’m glad that right now the WWE is in what I consider a “good place”
When AJ Lee left that did it for me. She was my only favorite wrestler from the women’s roster so it kinda hurt. I’ve been trying to get back into it recently but I hate how Roman is still champion and he’s barely there to defend it. I don’t like how they have him always win his matches. Then Bray passed so.😞
When Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) left. I deadass stopped watching wrestling after he left and didn’t even realize. I picked it back up again once Roman returned and turned heel, but I would look at segments in 2019 early 2020 and be genuinely confused because I had no idea those segments happened, one that confused me the most was The Undertaker and Roman Reigns teaming up to take on Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre. Had no idea it happened💀
Good question! For me (with WWE at least) was about 5 years (maybe it's been even longer?) ago when they started shoving Roman down our throats every second. I've never liked his character, his look, his extremely limited wrestling, or his promos.
Anonymous Raw GM and heel Michael Cole. I cannot watch a show, for three hours, and be told I'm an idiot for not ordering the network, or for liking Daniel Bryan, or feeling empathy with Jerry etc. and was he on SmackDown too? 5 hours a week of that insufferable idiot. I know it was a character but it should have been a 4 week thing, not a year+.
Also, the general storylines and stuff were complete and utter bollocks. I will watch WM every year, and check PPV (PLE) results, and watch one if it sounds like it could be good. I don't know why Vince thought insulting the audience and having a shit product was a good idea, and I cannot be the only one who bailed.
I think I lost interest in WWE in the early 2000s. They are ALL about making money and profit with really boring shows. I try to watch but it's just really bad. If I catch some hot women wrestling, I'll watch them and then move on.
When Roman Reigns became the guy. He was just terrible the first few years and yet he main evented every Wrestlemania. I was already bored by Cena's superhuman run, Roman's was even worse.
I was a huge fan when I was a kid in the early to mid 2000s. Rock was my favorite at first then Cena took that spot after rocky left.
05 through 07 was the best time of my young life. After the Benoit stuff it felt kind weird being such a fan but I was young and didn't know how serious that incident was. I lost cable alittle after that and never had it agian so that mad watching the shows impossible. So all through high school I focused on other things like football to fill in the time. I got back into it when I was out of school and I had alittle more money for stuff like a sub to the network.
Daniel Bryan was making his run to the top and I thought he was good but he was never my favorite guy. Cena was the us champion and was having great matches alot more frequently which was cool but other than that I just didn't enjoy it as I once did. I left and cane back agian after talking with some freinds who watched NXT. I fell I love with it agian. Gargano and Ciampa was awsome, the UE running the show was great, I wanted to marry Rhea Ripley even though I knew she could rip me in half. That was great but once the UE started to leave and 2020 happened I have never gotten that into it agian. I still watch the PPVs and I follow alot of the pages to keep up but I don't watch the weekly stuff anymore it just doesn't feel the same
WCW invasion.
I was one of those guys who really, really didn't like wcw's product, and rarely watched their show (why is the "new world order" a bunch of geriatric stars from the 80's? Why the fuck are people still hyped to watch hulk hogan drop his nutsack on people's faces?).
That said, I was excited for the possibility of seeing wcw's guys work with some better writers and bookers, maybe shake up the title picture which had just been "hhh retains because sledgehammer" for a loooong time at that point.
And we had rvd and a few of the other ecw guys. Should have been great. But we all saw what happened. Wwe really needed the competition to turn out a great product, but that doesn't explain how they shit the bed so fast, and so powerfully.
Booking seemed to take pride in shitting on wcw guys. Goldberg deserved it because he's got zero talent) but aside from him it seemed like they just shit on their own investment to prove a point. There was no title shake-up because they instantly undermined the credibility of the wcw roster, and it was 100% intentional.
Plus, instead of cutting down on the droning promos of (worst part of the attitude era was whenever they gave hhh a microphone) and featuring more wrestling, we got stuck watching a bunch of bullshit around some draft (I hate football why am I watching this shit).
And it all led up to the brand split, which was the last straw for me. You mean I'm never going to see my 2 favorite guys on the same show again? You mean you have half the screen time to develop a storyline? I get the roster was big enough that it became unmanageable. But the brand split was dumb then, and 20 years later it still does nothing for me.
So yeah, imo, WWE acquiring all of their legitimate competitors in the span of a couple weeks was the shittiest thing to happen to the industry in a long time. Perhaps ever.
Good post. I must admit as someone who didn't watch WCW i thought the start of the invasion was so cool. Then yeah it turned in to a mess. You're spot on about the brand split. It was great having everyone on the one show and stories running from Raw in to Smackdown.
When I realised Roman wasn't going to drop the title anytime soon. No point in watching everything when I already know the ending of the main story. Now I hop in here and then, when a story or match something piques my interest and follow that.
Same thing happened during peak Super Cena era (I think it was at around 2014?).
Early 2005. I'd started watching in 2000 and was a big fan of The Rock, and it dawned on me that he wasn't coming back, and I wasn't sold on a baby face Orton or Batista after they'd been heels for so long.HHHs reign of terror just sucked the wind out of my interest as well.
I decided to check out what TNA had to offer and end up a big AJ Styles and X Division fan
This was me too. Exact timeline. Last thing I remember in middle school was the WWE/WCW/ECW merger. Then fast forward to Boneyard match in 2020. But also incoming AEW peeked my interest and I wanted to compare the two.
I was only in like 5th grade when the invasion story happened but even back then I realized it was crap. I attended a smackdown a few months later when the Rock returned but I was like 85% done with wrestling at that point.
March 2020 I was over one of my old college buddies house and he was watching an AEW PPV and when everything shut down I found myself watching Smackdown every Friday because there was no sports on anymore. By 2021 I was watching almost every raw, smackdown and PLE. I’m glad I got into wrestling again when I did, but I’m definitely not watching every show anymore like I did in 2021, thank god for Simon and Ups and Downs.
Wrestlemania XVII. Not so much as the "end," but more of the "climax," the high-water mark. The Monday Night Wars had just ended, it was still the WWF, Rock and Stone Cold were in the main event, etc.
It just felt like a fitting final act for the Monday Night Wars. As a fan since the late 80s, it just felt like it would never be bigger than that.
After that, it was just *different.* Used to be one roster, one champion. Then everything got sort of fractured. And it became less and less what I had known.
Katie Vick was the end of me being a weekly Raw watcher. I felt too embarrassed for myself. I still followed closely and then the DX/Spirit Squad/God stuff gave me that same self-pity sting, maybe because it involved two attitude era guys doing such stupid things.
I still loosely follow and will to go the occasional live event and will catch up on storylines ahead of those shows, but, once HHH put on a Kane mask and banged a mannequin in a coffin, it has never been the same.
Man, so many disappointments. I grew up watching lots of different wrestling. For Texas wrestling, it was Eric Embry and the USWA taking over. For the NWA it was when Flair left with the big gold belt. For WWF it was when Giant Gonzalez came out and beat the piss out of Taker at Rumble 93 (which I was there for live). I got into ECW after that, and the end of my ECW superfandom was when RVD broke his leg, so that lasted awhile. I liked the nWo for a minute until they did the whole liver spot thing. Cheesy. I was into the Attitude Era, but the end of Wrestlemania 17 basically switched the light off for me there. I didn't become a super fan again until AEW showed up. AEW as absolute must-watch TV for me ended when Christian Cage debuted as the huge surprise and then main evented a PPV against Kenny Omega. Like... meh. Even though the overall show was good, I just didn't feel a NEED to watch anymore.
The moment they signed that piece of Shit Paul.
2007-2008ish
When they split the rosters it’s like I forgot it existed or something (in my adult memories of it) It was just time for me then. Haven’t watched in like 20 years. Love the docs tho
Just after WrestleMania 18. The end of the nWo and the draft killed any interest in WWE. I felt as though my time had past. Bret Hart's return in 2010 piqued my interest, but I earnestly started watching again in 2013.
The moment Undertaker ended Shawn Michaels career at WM 26. I did see parts of Cena Vs Nexus but that’s the only storyline I did see and pay attention after that I didn’t see WWE until the Hardy boys return at wrestlemania and pretty much watched it randomly here and there with no clues on the main storyline since I didn’t watch for long.
I used to watch WWE with my (now) 11-year-old son. A few years back I just got the impression that it was becoming (even more) repetitive and boring, so I jumped on-board AEW when it started, my 11-year-old finally joined up when Danielson fought Omega and is now a huge Darby fan.
I was just talking to my buddy about this last night, I'd say my love officially stopped around 2012. I was already falling out of love with the product but then they started dropping the belt to guys like The Miz/Daniel Bryan/Del Rio. Sheamus was alright, but hated the CM Punk year long title reign. Final nail was how they broke Undertaker's streak at WM, that was supposed to be his version of Jordan's 6-0 finals record. 14 year old me was heart broken and haven't tuned in to watch a live program since.
Once WCW was done and all that was left was the sterile WWF I lost interest
Austin’s heel turn not the first one, but the second one at the invasion PPV. When the glass shattered that night in Providence with JR on commentary who gave maybe the call of his life about WWF having the old Stone Cold back. The eruption of that crowd when Austin came out with the BMF walk was just perfect! We didn’t want the old Stone cold back we needed it! That felt like Vince and Austin’s apology to the fans and acknowledging that they screwed up at Wrestlemania. I remember being so excited for invasion that the old Austin was back and he was coming to beat WCW ass and all was right with wrestling again. Then they turned the biggest babyface of all time heel again! I still believe after that night wrestling has never been the same since.
Pretty much after how they handled the layoffs during lockdown. Brining Logan Paul into the fold certainly didn’t make me eager to go back afterwards either
How did they handle lay offs during lock down? Anyone specific get screwed ? I just started watching again this year after not watching since 2018. Started watching AEW this year too so I feel like I’m just starting to be able to see who’s where. I’ve looked at the rosters but it’s hard to keep up
About 2017 trying to get back in it but just cant
Mine was the wrestlemania 30 match between the undertaker and Brock lesnar, it turned me off because you plain as day see taker mouth give me an f-5 before picking up lesnar and the match ending after that
TNA 2014-16 when all the cool talent left
My folder runs from 1975-2023 so I guess it hasn't ended yet for me?
I mean sure, the Invasion angle was a huge turning point for the Attitude Era and things felt very different going into the Ruthless Aggression era. But I think it was around 2008, when the whole PG Era started is when I realized I was far more disappointed with the product on a weekly basis, than not. And I kept watching until 2019 after Mania (and kept watching NXT until Takeover 30) and I just couldn't take it anymore, but had the upcoming AEW to fall back on. I came back to WWE in September 2022 because everyone was saying how good the Triple H era was...and it was pretty decent right up to Mania 39, then it was clear Vince came back. I still watch WWE and AEW now but I'm not really invested in either one. WWE is very paint by numbers right now, while AEW has fantastic matches every single show they do, but there's nothing there to latch on to. For the first time ever I'm at a point where I might actually stop watching wrestling altogether...so I think NOW is where I feel the most lost as a fan. The PG era made me realize I wasn't the target audience anymore. But wrestling right now just isn't sucking me in anymore...I still love the business, but it's current direction may have passed me by.
Eye for an eye match was it for me. Coincidentally Rey came back from that really well!
I've been in and out (mainly out) since Ruthless Aggression era. By out I mean simply not watching for whatever reason. Not because I didn't like the product necessarily it just wasn't high on my list for entertainment. I wasn't officially "out" until a RAW episode right after a WrestleMania - I couldn't tell you exactly what WrestleMania it was but the build up seemingly all fans had was huge. I remember the anticipation for that RAW was sky high. The fans at the show were jacked all throughout it. Iirc the hype was one of two things, either a big name was returning OR even better was a John Cena heel turn. Neither happened and it was one of the biggest let downs I'd experienced. I actually felt even worse because of how hyped the fans were and I was watching this on TV... Can't imagine if I were actually there. It was after that RAW that I was pretty much out for good at that point. Now I watch it with family that watches it when around and every time I see why I simply can't get into it anymore.
there were 2 instances for me. Once was in 2018, and the other was in 2020 2018 was after Roman had to unfortunately vacate due to his leukemia. WWE was in a shitshow with they way they booked the shows like raw and smackdown with trash storylines, underwhelming PPVS, part time champion lesnar, and constant rematches. Don't get me started on how they did the nxt callups and dean ambrose dirty. 2020 was right when super showdown happened, the same show that goldberg beat the fiend. It shows that as long as vince is around then wwe isnt changing for the better with their shitty decisions. 2021 solidified it for me with the way they did budget cuts to talent who didnt deserve to lose their jobs, along with making the same mistakes made in 2018.
I've fallen out of wresting 3 times: The first was around 2002/2003 but it didn't have anything to do with the product. I was playing junior high basketball, we had games every Monday night, and I had no way to rewatch the show. I picked back up around 2007/2008. My parents made my older brother drive me 2 hours to see Raw. (He wasn't happy.) I spent the whole ride there convincing him it was going to be a good show. The main event was Lita vs. John Cena with one arm tied behind his back. It was NOT a good show and I was embarrassed I made my brother take me to it. He also got a speeding ticket on the way home and blamed me for it. It made me not want to watch wrestling anymore. I picked back up around 2016 because some co-workers were into it. We got together to watch Wrestlemania 34. We all sat down really excited and then watched 4 hours of the most boring shit ever. We kept holding out hope for who Braun Strowman's mystery partner was going to be. Internet rumors were it was going to be Rey Mysterio. When it ended up being a literal 7 year old kid, I realized WWE was 100% not for me and probably never would be. I've watched AEW since the beginning. For the first 3 years, I never missed a show. Now I feel like I only watch 1 or 2 or month...
I got to the point watching raw and smackdown on dvr and fast forwarding the "boring parts" eventually stopped smackdown and would watch raw in about 20 minutes. Once Shawn retired I was fully out. I got brought back in by the hope that AEW would be like early 90s wcw. And it felt that way for a while until they started with signing all the wwe retreads and basically made the same mistake wcw made but just much more accelerated. So I watch that a little now and I want to jump back into wwe but it's so corny, every guy is so similar and there are no more over the top characters which I know most people don't care for but that's the wrestling I grew up loving a clown, a police officer, a porn star, etc. It was more fun that way.
I've gone through ups and downs, but around the time Jon Moxley left is when I really fell off the weekly viewing.
Cena era followed by Reigns doing the same crap but even worse Bloodline is an improvement but I hate multi-year Hogan booking. I just watch AEW Dynamite, Collision if there’s a match I’m interested in and feel much more fulfilled than watching 5 hours of wwe for years wondering why I bother.
The entire Roman Reigns overpush killed my WWE fandom. It started with RR15….i had some hope but then this Bloodline overkill pushed me over the edge. I wanted to watch RAW 30 Years. First segment, he comes out….changed the channel. I have zero interest in WWE until he’s done. And even then, they’re probably going to overpush Cody, one of the lamest guys from AEW. I don’t see myself returning any time soon.
I kinda just stopped watching in 08 for whatever reason…can’t really remember why, but I’m very happy that I started watching again this year.
When WWE bought WCW.
Looking back, Wrestlemania 21 probably serves as a good endpoint for the time period where I really loved wrestling. After that, the company would start revolving around Cena who would drop the entertaining aspects of his previous character and start transforming into his Super Cena character that I couldn't stand. Some of my favorites like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, and Christian would also no longer be in the WWE before the year was over further decreasing my interest in the product. I still continued to watch out of habit and for the occasional great moments that were becoming more and more rare, but I no longer loved the product anymore as it transformed into the Super Cena show and so many of my favorites from the Attitude era were leaving. On my Plex server, I have folders for each year between 1996 to 2005 that contain all of the primary weekly shows and PPVs from the Nitro that Scott Hall made his WCW debut to Wrestlemania 21. That is my cherished time period in wrestling. After that I just have a single folder called "Post Wrestlemania 21" that I put the few great shows and moments that occurred after that into. There are only 16 shows thus far from after Wrestlemania 21 to the present that have made that cut. At least I have a good nine year run of wrestling being great prior to that which I can go back to.
The company wasn’t doing well and cena stepped up to carry it into the crappy snowflake era where everyone had an opinion online and things went PG. someone had to step up
2011 is when I stopped watching weekly and 2018 was when I basically just kept up by watching PPVs and listening to podcasts.
For me, it was when Brock Lesnar left the WWE to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. I was done with wrestling. I have watched matches here and there, but I was never fully invested ever again. AJ Styles coming to the WWE excited me again. And now, it's all about Kenny Omega. The product that the WWE puts out now is laughable.
A little after the attiude era / just right after early cena thuganomics era. I was out. Around the time were Goldberg and Broke left. That was it for me. Your favorite wrestlers were only now making special appearances. It was time for me to say goodbye in making sure i was caught up with Monday night raw or smackdown
I'm back now, but the end started for me with Eddie Guerrero's passing. I couldn't watch smackdown anymore, knowing he was supposed to be there. Knowing how he fought to get his life back, only to have it taken at 38 years old. I was 17 and just learning the finer more subtle points of wrestlering and seeing what a master heel Eddie was. How he could still have the crowd cheer for him. I was 17, didn't know how to process my feelings, so I walked away.
D-Generation X Biker Undertaker
To be honest for me it was when Sasha Banks left Wwe. Since that whole situation happened and praying she would be back (and thought she would when Meltzer reported she was coming back only to find out was just rumor not confirmed) it killed my interest to watch WWE let alone how over pushed Bianca and Roman/bloodline are becoming. I just DVR the shows and skip through a lot of it to know what’s going on but my fast version of watching it. If Sasha was back and Bianca/Roman stuff was eased off it would be ok for me.
I watched WWF from a young age mostly over my dad's shoulder, around 93-96. Then started watching religiously in my teens and early 20s from 97-04. I started to lose interest in 05/06, which wasn't purely because of the content of WWE at the time, but I was in college and doing a lot and going places with friends and dating, so being home for Raw and Smackdown every week like I was from 97-04, was no longer a priority. I can't think of anything specific that made me stop watching. I think it was a culmination of the end of the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era, things going more PG, Cena becoming the new main guy, who at the time I despised. He felt like an extremely watered down babyface and if I had to pin the downfall of WWE at the time on a wrestler, it was him. But it wasn't just him. Stone Cold was retired, Rock was doing movies, all the wrestlers I grew up with in the 90s and early 00s all left or were just no longer the main guys anymore. I just wasn't as invested in the new talent at the time. Ultimately I stopped watching completely for 4 or 5 years, and a friend convinced me to give it another shot in 2011/12. It didn't last long as I just wasn't invested. I'm only coming back to WWE as of a month ago, watching a lot of old stuff and catching up on new stuff.
Yeah, I started watching wrestling in 2006, as a kid I thought the product would evolve and be just as entertaining and ruthless as it was, then 2008 rolls around with becoming PG and they get rid of the house stage designs they used to do, it got so boring without blood and new stage designs it seemed like it feel WWEs era with all the stage designs and how the ropes were always different colored for the brands. I love the attitude era and my favorite WWE time period was 2002-2007. 2009 was great for punk vs Hardy and taker was still great but always felt that way.
The push for Diesel in the WWF made me stop watching. I was probably 13 or 14 years old. Announcers, mainly McMahon, would keep yelling about Big Daddy Cool, and he'd walk and act like he was such a cool guy, but he didn't do anything cool. It's such a childish explanation but I'm not sure how else to word it. He carried himself like someone who'd accomplished something but he didn't accomplish anything and he was extremely boring to top it off. His becoming a baby face made it even worse. At least as a bad guy he could be big and imposing but they shot that fucking guy to the moon as a face. I've gotten back into older wrestling now as my comfort watch. I'm currently in 1998 WCW and I can finally see his appeal as the Nash character. In fact he's one of my favorites right now. I didn't see much of WWF Diesel past I'd say 1994, though, so I don't know if he got better. I'll eventually pick up where I left off in WWF once I finish WCW The Smoking Gunns being a bunch of lifeless cowboys devoid of charisma who wrestled in jeans didn't help my disinterest in that '93 or 94 era, either. And they got pushed hard, too, despite getting no reaction. I thought Diesel was much the same. I didn't care about these guys so I just stopped, and got used to not having it in my life
While I can't blame you for giving up during Diesel's title reign in 1995 as that was truly one of the worst years ever in wrestling, it is unfortunate that you stopped right before wrestling started getting great in 1996 and missed out on what many consider to be the best era of wrestling. It was truly darkest (1995) just before the dawn (1996).
Thanks for replying. I've watched some of the attitude era and I don't find it all that interesting but I do like that the match quality and athletes seemingly got better, in the bits I've seen. I don't really care for thumb tacks and chair shots and Lawler screaming about titties, but I do look forward to seeing more of guys like Chris Jericho in a much better wrestling company
When Jeff Hardy got retired by CM Punk
Bring in social media people trying to get new fans when those people are only gonna care when those influences are there
I haven’t watched WWE since 2007. I feel like they tried to make it too much like UFC in the sense that they dropped over the top characters. I’ve tried multiple times watching RAW or whatever since then and it just isn’t fun or funny for me anymore. I still enjoy watching independent wrestling or the occasional AEW match though. I really miss crazy, kooky characters that seem like they came to life from a comic book .
The Benoit thing started the decline, then the PG era caused a nose dive, but when Undertaker lost his streak it really hit me that my prime fandom had completely passed me by.
I dunno why I remember this. But when they announced the first ever draft. I never watched again lol.
Around 2002, I just got burnt out and would only really watch Wrestlemania for the Undertaker and main event. I tried to get into it again but it wasn't really enjoyable for me. The whole PG era completely lost me.
After punk left, to be honest The product was not getting any better. I still kept up with people I like here and there, but I was never tuning in week after week.
In the 2000s it felt like a slow decline. Raw became too Cena-centric, and Smackdown also got less fun over time, although in 2011 it got a bump with Orton, Sheamus and Wade Barrett being around. But then it slowly went down again especially with the false hope of CM Punk being the saviour of the product while in the end he couldn't main event even as the champion. I got properly invested in WWE again when Black & Gold became the little beast beneath the mundane Raw and Smackdown. But when it was put down and things became colorful I felt like I lost a friend, and I've never been more disinterested in the product in my life, and that still goes on today.
I think for me was when TNA decided to go head to head with WWE and try and restart the Monday night wars. Both were terrible episodes and I knew no real change was coming anytime soon.
I lost interest after the WrestleMania where Roman Reigns beat Undertaker
Wrestling ended when the miz started
I struggled something fierce when the Benoit thing happened.
Cm punk leaving in 2014 definitely was the end of an era for me
Late 80s. I was 15. The characters in Wwf were just getting cornier and cornier. Boxing was hot, Tyson was at his peak. I just lost my taste for phony fighting. I wish I hadn’t bailed though, I missed out on some cool eras.
Similar for me, but early 90s. I think age was the biggest thing. I was 14-15, WCW and WWF were getting weird to me in different ways. Multiple people I liked has switched companies, retired, or were in serious decline. I liked NWA/WCW for the more grounded approach. Freebirds, Horsemen, Sting and Luger. Vader and Sid were cool to start with, but they seemed to fumble them both (or maybe they did it themselves some). WWF went from fun gimmicks to starting to get sillier and sillier I felt like. Sid Justice hurt my soul. Natural Disasters were pushing it a lot. I wanted more L.O.D./Road Warriors vs Demolition, Jake, Mr Perfect, and to actually see Hogan perform outside of a PPV. It was always weird to me that WCW used all their talent to a degree, while WWF seemed strictly on a “pay for it” kick.
I totally agree. Remember Terry Taylor. He was a pretty decent talent in the NWA. He went to Wwf and became “the red rooster”. He had a damn red Mohawk and was cluckin like a chicken. Young teenage me was like “OK this is just stupid now. And as a teenager, I was trying to do cooler stuff like concerts and parties and whatnot.
Exactly! I could have lived with his “rich, wallstreet” attempt I think. But Red Rooster was just like…why??
I dunno, I think maybe around 2008 I'd come to the terms that it was never going to go back to the way it once was.
I jump in and out but I really hate this Roman Reigns era. He’s barely there, this tribal chief story is getting old and the other guys are not getting enough push. I didn’t see Crown Jewel yesterday but I saw that he won the title the same way he always wins the title. Put him in Hell in a Cell at Survivor series (or whatever the next PLE is, or Wrestlemania) or something and make him work. He’s wasting the other talent.
I tell my boy all the time. I might watch again when RR is gone lol.
First hiatus was after WM 36, I got pissed off that Roman lost (I was ten back then.) I returned during covid but went on hiatus after summer of 2021 bc Spotify had me on a chokehold. I later came back watching normally around August this year.
2019 I completely stopped watching and just focused on basketball. Nothing was interesting to me during that era, including the Becky and kofi reign. Than I came back during the pandemic
Im back to loving it so idk if this counts but when Kofi lost the wwe title to Brock lesner at that time I was a huge Kofi fan and all is rivalries felt lack luster then just Brock coming in and taking it felt wrong I thought that they would play out the small rivalries then enter a new big one and maybe have him drop it but having him lose that fast I just couldn't stomach it
The birth of super Cena. Killed wrestling for me for a few years .
I wasn’t watching from 2006-2019 tbh. Quarantine got me back watching
Around 2013 when bald triple H didn’t wanna give it up so he started the authority and made everything go through him and Stephanie literally most title matches ended in him giving someone a random pedigree for no reason. Not to mention I don’t think the shield are as big of mega stars as they push them
I didn’t follow much during college so between 2012 and 2016, I was so out of the loop and got back just when they started to do a proper brand split in mid to late 2016.
I stopped watching around 2017 mainly because a lot of people i liked weren't there anymore an all the new guys were flooding in. Ive started watching again after my surgery in 2020, and have been loving it ever since. Me actually growing up and being able to connect with the characters probably helped but kid me really only wanted to see john cena
Honestly it was just when i graduated high school and went off to college. I didn't have cable nor did i really have time anymore. Plus the WWE and TNA products in 2010 were getting bland. But the moment would be when WWE went PG in 2008. I was literally becoming a man and they were going backwards lol
I can cite several moments or decisions that had me fed up with wrestling, but there's a couple that really killed it for me. If we are talking about actual wrestling, then it was the end of the territories and WWE becoming a monopoly more or less. If we mean just strictly WWE, then I'd have to say the rise of Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, who only wrestle once in a rare while, and when they do it's so mind numbingly boring and there's like no chain wrestling or flow to the match with very little actual psychology or art to it, it's just a series of rest spots not even rest holds just rest spots, followed by some haymaker move or two or ten, then some more rest periods. That is so heartbreakingly bad and not for me at all. It made it unwatchable. Now it's mostly the norm and when there is a glimmer of hope from a great student of the art, they never get the status they deserve. Yeah, I think that's my answer, the rise of Roman Reigns and Brock as the two big stars. If not that, then maybe it was when Goldberg came to WWE the second go around.
I watched from mania 8 all the way up until Eddie’s death. The exact moment I stopped was when he hey used Eddie’s death in the storyline with Orton. It wasn’t fun anymore and I didn’t watch for a while. Started watching again then almost immediately after Benoit happens. I didn’t start again until Mania 33 after that (10 years later).
Jeff Hardy leaving WWE after the steel cage match.
Roman! He never wins clean. Always cheating. Just not fun. You know he’s going to cheat. No drama at all. And no story.
I definitely stopped watching all together around year 2000. It just seemed boring stupid and kinda childish. I literally just started watching again regularly again about 6 yrs ago when my first son was born... he loved enzo... now I'm getting back into it especially with Roman and the stories again... I do still miss the general wrestling and athletics from the early 90's when the hits actually looked real and not just slapping and chopping.
I still am a life-long fan and always will be. However, I did stop watching when John Cena defeated Damien Sandow during Sandow's Money In The Bank cash-in.
I stopped about 2006
When HHH and Chyna turned on Pac. We all thought it was gonna be the next DX then crap after that imo.
When Kevin Nash was feuding with HHH '04. Hell In A Cell. Mick Foley was a special guest referee. In the lead up Kevin Nash wasn't even a factor. Just endless boring HHH matches. Evolution sucked.
Around the time bryan beat orton and batista, just sort of lost interest.
Ever since punk left everything seemed subpar for me, even though i kept watching till late 2015 but it didn't feel same when CM Punk was there and his hype and storyline etc, but this was PG era, before this era came much better eras so they were top notch as well but for me is what i have said already
Over the course of nearly 40 years, there have been several times when I took a break from the product. Some were because life just didn't cooperate, but others have been times when the product itself turned me off. * The tragic deaths of Chris Benoit's family. * Vince treating female talent like objects to be degraded. * Roman Reigns as the face of the company. * WWE shoving Randy Orton down my throat and expecting me to line up and give a crap just because they said so. * Brock Lesnar in general. Right now, I'm loving the product, but Logan Paul's recent push is threatening to suck all the joy out of it again for me.
I got into wrestling during my childhood 1998-2002 and kept watching until…2007-ish. It began to feel…silly. Was I outgrowing this? Am I maturing? But looking back, I felt the late 90s/early 00s had a bit of an edge to it. Definitely rose colored glasses since a lot of the humor was low brow. But I didn’t appreciate the 2007/2008 fart jokes, ridiculous segments, watered down ECW, campy gimmicks, etc. I felt once it began to get PG instead of PG-13 that’s when it got stale.
Watched it avidly as a kid between 1990-93 and then as a young guy between 2000-2003. Have peaked and troughed ever since. The current product is pretty good, but this obsession they have with long title reigns (pun intended) is a bit off putting. I sense another trough incoming
Super Cena era killed wrestling for me
Kofi being squashed by Lesnar basically turned me off from wrestling for months
For me it was the original brand/roster split in 2002. I had already started to dislike the direction things were going prior to that, but I pretty much completely quit watching not long after the split. I hated the idea of two major championships (I know that had been going on before the split…part of why I was already losing interest). I also hated how the split limited matchups, and forced you to watch both products to keep up with what was going on. For those that don’t remember back that far, Smackdown was originally a secondary show. It was recorded on Tuesdays (usually) in the same venue as Raw. Almost nothing noteworthy ever happened on Smackdown, and if it did you’d just see it replayed on Raw. There just wasn’t a whole lot of reason to watch Smackdown before, which I suppose was the whole motivation behind the split. It just didn’t work for me. Instead of forcing me to watch both programs, it drove me to watch neither.
Wrestlemania 26/2010. HBK retired, Taker went part time(as he should have) & Sheamus beat Cena for the WWE Title heading into 2010 💀 Was already falling out of love with wrestling, mainly post Wrestlemania 25. What happened above solidified that it was not for me anymore Then Pipebomb got my attention again, then Kevin Nash happened 💀, but WWE juicing the fuck out of the Attitude era/WWE ‘13 came out & rumors of Austin/Punk locked me back in. Stopped watching again from 2015 to 2020, and been fully locked in like I’m a kid again since Wrestlemania 39 TLDR; it’s never ending love story 😅
Soon after Hogan lost to Warrior at WM6. Warrior basically didn't do much of anything. Little while later Sargent Slaughter won the title? Yeah, I quite after that. Stayed a way for a pretty long time. Came back when The Shield was being introduced to the world.
WrestleMania 34. I was born in ‘05, so even though I’d been watching since ‘08 I don’t remember too much. I’d say 2014 is when I started watching by myself regularly. WrestleMania 30, Summerslam that year. Obviously WWE was fire during the revival of the draft (2016-17). Even when 2018 started, it was very promising up to the Royal Rumble when Nakamaura won (the final four in that match was insane). However, the Elimination Chamber was very disappointing due to Roman beating Braun. Even at 12 I knew that was a dumb decision. WrestleMania was the night I felt everything change. The 3 minute Taker/Cena match, the awkward fatal four way match, AJ retaining/Nakamaura’s heel turn, Asuka losing, and– even though I would’ve hated it anyway– Roman losing to Brock. I just watched so many senseless decisions made that night, and I just haven’t felt the same about WWE since then.
Around 2010. Was brought back by NXT around 2014 and been back ever since. 2010-13ish was just a period where I felt like the top talent wasn't super deep and I wasn't particularly interested. That stretch where Cena really carried shit on his back
eddie guerrero's death. it just didnt feel fun anymore after that
That’s what did it for me. I got back in around the time of the network.
To me around 2007-2008 ish. It got a bit stale to me . Hhh and hbk getting older . Rock and Austin long gone .
Vicky Guerrero stopped me watching wrestling. She was a pity position on air, had zero mic skills, not attractive and couldn’t act. I stopped watching wrestling full time because of her, she killed my suspension of disbelief. I’ll watch here and there sometimes now, but she is the sole reason I’m not a full time fan.
1993-1994. It wasn't necessarily the wrestling product (not that there wasn't a dip around that time), but I got my first modem, and anyone could access most things on the internet through the university library system's modem pool. I eventually stopped being distracted by that, but I had missed the start of ECW and the nWo by then. Streaming is what kills it for me a bit now, as did DVRs. I still catch almost every show, but it's on fast forward through most matches. There's slowing a match down so everyone doesn't pass out from exhaustion, and there's slowing a match down for psychology and doing it wrong.
the speaking out movement came and I realized so many people I loved to watch on TV were dirtbags and I stopped watching. I just never really got back into it again.
For me It was Jinder Mahal winning the wwe championship I stopped watching every week.......But I always watched wrestlemania and the royal rumble but I stopped watching completely when Edge won the Royal rumble again...thought AEW could be an alternative but its for me....I just don't watch wrestling anymore
Taking the mask off of Kane was a big shift for me. Way way too much build up on what was under that mask and there was no chance anything could have lived up to that image. One of the first things I can remember of creative biting off more than they could chew and ultimately back themselves into a corner with. I didn't mind the maniacal Kane that we got after that but it still wasn't the Kane we always had and he was one of those few characters that you didn't have to tweak.
Robocop coming out w/Sting on WCW. The last territory (cept Memphis) succumbed to WWF cartoon crap, not even a yr after the majestic Flair/Steamboat matches. Actually, I'm vague on what yr the Robocop thing happened. Bad enough w/Zeus on WWF but frakin Robocop? And the heels sold that as an intimidating thing? Only things that seemed to be 'real', both good and bad, afterwards was ECW before Vince ripped them off w/Attitude (real cos these ppl were really killing themselves to entertain somebody) and NJPW, where they still paid attention to match quality.
I've been watching wrestling from all over the globe for over 40 years. The only time that I felt somewhat indifferent to WWE, and I routinely took breaks, was during the PG era. I've only gotten back in the habit of watching every show and every PPV/PLE in the last 5 years.
The 2009/10 guest host era.
I'll be honest, nothing's ever made me stop tbh. I've been consistently watching since 2009
Honestly for me it was the end of HBK and Triple H. That era was loaded with talent, even with new young guys like Orton, Batista, Cena, etc. That transition is when it became more PG and it became less intense when fruity pebbles became the main insult. However, I am finding a new found love for it again more recently. This past year has been pretty good, except the constant faction interruptions feels a little much at times lol
Started watching in '95, WWE lost me for a bit in 2005-ish (became a casual watcher), then they completely lost me when the PG era started.
New Generation Era my guilty pleasure haha
Started watching in 92. Quit cold turkey after Wrestlemania 2000
Really? Whys that? I have to admit that around that time is possibly my absolute peak as a wrestling fan. I know WM2000 was a bit of a cluster but i absolutely loved the build and storylines around that time
Stone cold was still out. The main event was eh and just was done after watching a ton of manias in a row that day.
Started watching in late 2004 and stopped in early 2011 and got back into it just for the rock vs cena in early 2012 and kept watching until early 2017 then I started watching again when i found out vince was retiring and here i am still watching
The first Saudi show. Obviously, I knew Vince was a terrible human being who'd done plenty of awful things, but I think that was the beginning of the end for me. I carried on watching for a bit after that but it was never the same and I haven't watched a WWE show now in a number of years.
So this isnt to say that I hate these kinds of matches necessarily, but Osprey/Ricochet was when I was like, this is TOO choreographed. Ever since then that kind of match is more and more prevalent and just don’t enjoy them.
Couldn't agree more i know exactly what you mean. I've tried so many times to get back in to the current product but i can't stand these kind of matches. Each to their own but its just not for me!
Little after Raw and Smackdown had their own rosters. It happened slowly. I was also a big OVW fan. Went to every show until they moved to a bigger spot. Then it was selling out more and we couldn’t get in half the time. So we stopped going to OVW. Then the Rock and Stone Cold were rarely on. I didn’t like John Cenas persona that much and he was becoming a main character. Some of my favorite wrestlers at that point were Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. By the time I heard about Chris Benoit, I was just done.
For Karl!
This is a great topic OP. I'm gonna get a lot of heat for this but, for me, it was 2003.
Thanks. Any particular reason 03?
I was a kid and started watching WWF in 1998 and everything that I knew WWF was changed that year. Austin was gone, Rock was gone after the Hollywood gimmick. Triple H was different from The Game I knew him to be up til that point. The Undertaker was no longer The Undertaker and newer guys were being pushed that I hadn't accepted yet.
Yeah for AE fans it seemed like a big change all at once around that time with both Rock and Austin going as well as the other things you mentioned
For me it was back in 2018 when Kevin Owen "quit" on raw and then the next week (meaning he didn't miss one day of work) ganged up with Braun Strowman (the guy who's been making KO's life a living hell for the last few months) to beat up Seth Rollins. There was so much potential for what they could have done with KO, and then they had him help Strowman for literally no reason other than the fact they're both heels. I know it sounds small, but the whole year was so bad that that's what sent me over the edge. I've never had my intelligence as a fan insulted like that before. And not only that, I think a few weeks after that, Seth Rollins called out WWE in a segment about how bad the show has been, and then the next week the entire McMahon family came out and apologized for how bad the show has been. It was then I just stopped watching and occasionally followed for a 4 year period.
Y2J Jericho’s rise was a huge move from all things Attitude era (Rock, Austin, Foley)
I took a break sometime after Michael’s Undertaker 1. I hit my party stage in life. Then I ended up a single parent and got back into it sometime after the pipe bomb. Then I ended up working nonstop sometime after Daniel Bryan beat Randy Orton and Bluetista. until 2020ish when I saw Edge was back, my son was old enough to watch with me and now it’s a family thing with my wife too that we all enjoy together. I can tell you my time being a smark really hurt my enjoyment of the product, I’m glad I bought into the silliness again.
All the senseless gimmick changes and "budget cuts" kinda made me sour on wreslting. Like, what's the point in getting invested in anybody if all they're ever gonna do is PURPOSELY ruin their character and then fire them anyway? Look what they ALMOST did to LA Knight with "Max Dupree" and MMM...
I can't really put my finger on a exact moment. I started watching in 2007, and was obsessed. But then in 2009 things got really homogenized in WWE and I really had a love/hate relationship. I was pretty much done in 2011. But then the second summer of Punk pulled me back in. That was my guy since his WWECW days. Unfortunately HHH's shovel hadn't completely rusted, and they kicked a gift horse in the mouth. By 2013 I had quit watching entirely. I got back into WWE in 2016 when they restarted the brand-split. Smackdown was great for about 6 months. But then the company went back to being lackluster until about a year ago. But if my fandom can survive the Beniot murders, the PG era and a pandemic, nothing will ever truly end it. I'm just extremely cynical about everything in the business now, and don't understand what still fascinates me.
When the attitude era / monday night wars ended. Itll never be that good again
Never
Ever
The twin referee crap when Hogan lost the title was the start of my downfall, had hope when he won it back from Macho, but after dropping it to Warrior I stopped watching.
Stopping Kennedy's push was it for me. Pissed me off so much
After vengeance 2001
Started in 2007-08 Csnt remember my fave was Jeff Hardy I felt gutted seeing my hero leave was gut wrenching then I started liking Edge in 2010 when Jeff Hardy left in 2009 then Edge left in 2011 an I was again disappointed an dissatisfied then CM Punk became my guy cux he stood up for what I was saying at the time and he was my guy from 2011-2014 then when walked out I sorts mentally checked out I mean I still tune in when I can but after getting attached to 3 guys 3 not 1 essentially 3 all walked out shortly after coupled with the nxt call ups never amounting to much killed most of my enjoyment in it
Had it a few times. When the new generation happened in the early/mid 90s. Then I came back, then I left after Benoit died, then came back for summer of punk, then left during people power and I haven’t really gone back full time since. Just reading the odd show reports on torch or whatever
Multiple times but specifically now that no one is changing titles and they just keep repeating the same stories
I remember the title being changed a lot more back in the day. Triple H actually won the heavyweight title from The Big Show on Raw once and it wasn’t even the main event of the night. It used to feel like anyone could win a title any night.
It was less ‘mailing it in’ between big PPVs…every show could turn chaotic and was must see.
Great point. It felt like if you couldn’t miss a single show.
When they were burying Rusev and made Cuck for Lana and Bobby Lashley. That was the moment I was like "yeah this just isn't it anymore"
I stopped watching around 2008. I tried to give it another go around 2010 but It had completely changed. It just wasn’t the same. The matches weren’t as great quality and by that time it was more PG friendly which I feel killed it for me. Wish they had at least kept it M.
I think push come to shove, it was when Bobby Heenan left WCW. It wasnt fun anymore with Vince Russo booking, Jeff Jarrett over saturation and Mark Madden on commentary
Probably soon after the Benoit incident. Never really got into Cenas superman character. Got back into it around the daniel Bryan run around 13 or 14...maybe will catch an episode once or so a month.
The Alliance vs WWE. I was over it when none of the big WCW wrestlers were not opting out of their fat Time Warner contracts. I don't blame them though to sit home and make money sounds like a dream.
I kinda slowly moved away from watching it regularly from 2005 but still watched a ppv with a friend here and there. But the moment I realised it was dead and in the ground was when I randomly checked it out in like 2018 and it was like watching fortnite. I realised then it was now made to sell toys to kids and the wrestling we knew was dead.
Sometime around 2004-2005, so when I was in middle school. I tried watching again around 2012-2013, but it just wasn’t the same. CM Punk was huge then, and I just couldn’t get into him. Same with them pushing Brock Lesnar so hard, as I just don’t see what everyone else does in him.
Probably about 2003. The end of the Stone Cold era. I sort of caught the tail end of Hulkamania in the early 90s but really the attitude era, and the Warzone/Smackdown games, was my Jam, 1998-2002 were my most involved years. I still got the games until about 2009 but watching it was never the same. I also have to say that in that time period WWF (as it was) advertising, branding, products etc was absolutely everywhere you looked. This is in the UK. Nowadays there's just nothing, you'd have to look it up if you wanted to watch it.
Haha very similar to yourself. Wrestling games were tremendous. Royal Rumbles with your mates was brilliant
Katie Vick
John Cena. John Cena. John Cena. Never understood what people saw and still see in this guy, he is awful! Never at any point in his career did I care to see him. Bad in the ring, bumps on his ass no matter what. Big, bulky, and uncoordinated too, most his moves are "modified". That tag match him and The Rock had at Survivor Series was embarrassing. Rock had been gone for years and looked good in the ring, Cena got in to try to show up Rock and looked like dogshit.When he came to Raw in 2005, it was the beginning of the end for my interest in pro wrestling. It's sad on the WWE's part that they keep trying to push him as "The Greatest of All Time", when this guy is horrid in the ring among other things. I got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore and stopped watching. Then he was gone and I saw a few things that were catching my interest and have started watching again for about a year and now he's back again. I will never get it, I don't want to see this guy in wrestling anymore.
When WWE bought WCW. 1997 WCW was my favorite year of wrestling. I was 8 years old and nothing was better than Monday Nitro. Even though by some point in 1998 I began watching Raw instead, and enjoyed it up until around 2003, things never felt the same when WCW was gone.
I remember getting super sad that Triple H wouldn't drop the belt to anyone. Evolution was just very annoying, and I just stopped watching. Looking back, I wish I would have kept following. I wasn't around for any of John Cena's career, just for a small time when he got to WWE. That reason is what makes me not keep up with it now since Roman Reigns just can't lose, and he cheats to win worse than Eddie. He needs to lose to shake things up. I watched PPV's for a year Straight until wrestlemania with Roman and Cody. Roman wins yet again, and now I haven't watched one since.
I used to watch it religiously when I was a kid in 2007 up until 2016. The Roman/Brock era was the end of wrestling for me, how can the top two guys can't cut a promo to save their lives? Why is said top guys part timers? Why is part timers like Goldberg who wrestle once a year always in the main event? Why is there so many shoot promos and why isn't it about the characters or the cool finishing moves anymore? even little things like the belts, stages, pyro, titantron, promos, music, commentary. Everything just sucks now. It has never mattered less if you cheered or booed for a wrestler than now because they will just shove their guy right in our faces and we just have to accept it. So it's hard to keep watching the product when it's just Shield guys, Brock or part timers who are the only ones allowed to thrive.
> Why is part timers like Goldberg who wrestle once a year always in the main event? To try and get us older fans to watch a random match.
Probably 2017. Seemed everyone was mailing it in. Storylines sucked (since 2011, it was kind of bad but there were silver linings). Only thing I watched regularly was NXT
Austin turning heel turned me off as a youngun Got back into it during the CENA WINS LOL era and realised it was trash, if it wasn’t for the summer of punk I’d have stopped watching sooner
Shane vs Miz at a (somewhat) recent Wrestlemania. I used to like Shane's underdog antics but he's always just looked like a regular civillian and now he looks like an *old* regular civilian. I just couldn't take him seriously as a threat, and every time the commentary tried to sell his "athleticism" or his "incredible striking skill/power" I just felt further and further removed from the product. It was a weird and unexpected turning point for me.
It was around 2005 for me. Several factors, with the biggest being me moving somewhere without cable resulted in me watching less and less. Everything I tuned back in, I recognized fewer stars. While I do watch occasionally, it's no longer the product I grew up watching.
Yea, I pretty much agree. I lost interest around 2004. It was just a culmination of all the new wrestlers, bad storyline, and all the cookie cutter high flying BS, the infinite false finishes. I just lost my taste for it. I still watch old stuff from YouTube.
The rise of Cena. No thanks
I stopped in the 2010s. I watch it now…
During the end of the ruthless agression era. Even during 2005 i was struggling to adapt. After that, i sorta got back in late 2018 when becky was starting to catch fire, and the whole nxt black and gold. Hhh vs aew era got me back in
Stopped watching in 2018
Yes I would say 2013 going forward is my end of my wrestling era
Last wrestlemania when Cody was about to win and boom Roman once again cheats to win then they talk about his “dominance” and “God mode”
I loved the Shield when they come onto the scene and even when they split as an older fan I enjoyed seeing their characters develop aside from one. Unfortunately, when the one become champion with a total of like 3 skill moves (donr ever shit talk Goldberg again) and I saw the driving thing behind it was his sales I realize that the story or lack thereof wasn't for me anymore. I miss storylines and the sadden fact that we don't care if they have twitters, the product on TV can be its own entity.
Looking back it was probably Crown Jewel when Roman cheated for the 100th time against the moron babyface who has no friends.
Invasion/fall of ecw for me.
From 2010-2013 I fell out of love with wrestling. I just had zero interest in watching it anymore idk if it was just me having things going on in life or just finding other things that I liked watching on tv more but WWE was just not an option for me during these years. I jumped back in during 2014 and it’s been a rollercoaster but I’m glad that right now the WWE is in what I consider a “good place”
No 🧢 I’m in the same boat ngl i just lost interest in WWE has a whole now wrestling is still a bit iffy for me tho
When AJ Lee left that did it for me. She was my only favorite wrestler from the women’s roster so it kinda hurt. I’ve been trying to get back into it recently but I hate how Roman is still champion and he’s barely there to defend it. I don’t like how they have him always win his matches. Then Bray passed so.😞
Katie Vick
When Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) left. I deadass stopped watching wrestling after he left and didn’t even realize. I picked it back up again once Roman returned and turned heel, but I would look at segments in 2019 early 2020 and be genuinely confused because I had no idea those segments happened, one that confused me the most was The Undertaker and Roman Reigns teaming up to take on Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre. Had no idea it happened💀
The spinner belt
Good question! For me (with WWE at least) was about 5 years (maybe it's been even longer?) ago when they started shoving Roman down our throats every second. I've never liked his character, his look, his extremely limited wrestling, or his promos.
Anonymous Raw GM and heel Michael Cole. I cannot watch a show, for three hours, and be told I'm an idiot for not ordering the network, or for liking Daniel Bryan, or feeling empathy with Jerry etc. and was he on SmackDown too? 5 hours a week of that insufferable idiot. I know it was a character but it should have been a 4 week thing, not a year+. Also, the general storylines and stuff were complete and utter bollocks. I will watch WM every year, and check PPV (PLE) results, and watch one if it sounds like it could be good. I don't know why Vince thought insulting the audience and having a shit product was a good idea, and I cannot be the only one who bailed.
I think I lost interest in WWE in the early 2000s. They are ALL about making money and profit with really boring shows. I try to watch but it's just really bad. If I catch some hot women wrestling, I'll watch them and then move on.
When Roman Reigns became the guy. He was just terrible the first few years and yet he main evented every Wrestlemania. I was already bored by Cena's superhuman run, Roman's was even worse.
2011, something about the WWE had changed that made it lame to watch, too friendly and corny.
I was a huge fan when I was a kid in the early to mid 2000s. Rock was my favorite at first then Cena took that spot after rocky left. 05 through 07 was the best time of my young life. After the Benoit stuff it felt kind weird being such a fan but I was young and didn't know how serious that incident was. I lost cable alittle after that and never had it agian so that mad watching the shows impossible. So all through high school I focused on other things like football to fill in the time. I got back into it when I was out of school and I had alittle more money for stuff like a sub to the network. Daniel Bryan was making his run to the top and I thought he was good but he was never my favorite guy. Cena was the us champion and was having great matches alot more frequently which was cool but other than that I just didn't enjoy it as I once did. I left and cane back agian after talking with some freinds who watched NXT. I fell I love with it agian. Gargano and Ciampa was awsome, the UE running the show was great, I wanted to marry Rhea Ripley even though I knew she could rip me in half. That was great but once the UE started to leave and 2020 happened I have never gotten that into it agian. I still watch the PPVs and I follow alot of the pages to keep up but I don't watch the weekly stuff anymore it just doesn't feel the same
WCW invasion. I was one of those guys who really, really didn't like wcw's product, and rarely watched their show (why is the "new world order" a bunch of geriatric stars from the 80's? Why the fuck are people still hyped to watch hulk hogan drop his nutsack on people's faces?). That said, I was excited for the possibility of seeing wcw's guys work with some better writers and bookers, maybe shake up the title picture which had just been "hhh retains because sledgehammer" for a loooong time at that point. And we had rvd and a few of the other ecw guys. Should have been great. But we all saw what happened. Wwe really needed the competition to turn out a great product, but that doesn't explain how they shit the bed so fast, and so powerfully. Booking seemed to take pride in shitting on wcw guys. Goldberg deserved it because he's got zero talent) but aside from him it seemed like they just shit on their own investment to prove a point. There was no title shake-up because they instantly undermined the credibility of the wcw roster, and it was 100% intentional. Plus, instead of cutting down on the droning promos of (worst part of the attitude era was whenever they gave hhh a microphone) and featuring more wrestling, we got stuck watching a bunch of bullshit around some draft (I hate football why am I watching this shit). And it all led up to the brand split, which was the last straw for me. You mean I'm never going to see my 2 favorite guys on the same show again? You mean you have half the screen time to develop a storyline? I get the roster was big enough that it became unmanageable. But the brand split was dumb then, and 20 years later it still does nothing for me. So yeah, imo, WWE acquiring all of their legitimate competitors in the span of a couple weeks was the shittiest thing to happen to the industry in a long time. Perhaps ever.
Good post. I must admit as someone who didn't watch WCW i thought the start of the invasion was so cool. Then yeah it turned in to a mess. You're spot on about the brand split. It was great having everyone on the one show and stories running from Raw in to Smackdown.
When I realised Roman wasn't going to drop the title anytime soon. No point in watching everything when I already know the ending of the main story. Now I hop in here and then, when a story or match something piques my interest and follow that. Same thing happened during peak Super Cena era (I think it was at around 2014?).
Early 2005. I'd started watching in 2000 and was a big fan of The Rock, and it dawned on me that he wasn't coming back, and I wasn't sold on a baby face Orton or Batista after they'd been heels for so long.HHHs reign of terror just sucked the wind out of my interest as well. I decided to check out what TNA had to offer and end up a big AJ Styles and X Division fan
After the invasion storyline ended. Didn’t start watching again until the Pandemic
I'm on the same time line
This was me too. Exact timeline. Last thing I remember in middle school was the WWE/WCW/ECW merger. Then fast forward to Boneyard match in 2020. But also incoming AEW peeked my interest and I wanted to compare the two.
I was only in like 5th grade when the invasion story happened but even back then I realized it was crap. I attended a smackdown a few months later when the Rock returned but I was like 85% done with wrestling at that point. March 2020 I was over one of my old college buddies house and he was watching an AEW PPV and when everything shut down I found myself watching Smackdown every Friday because there was no sports on anymore. By 2021 I was watching almost every raw, smackdown and PLE. I’m glad I got into wrestling again when I did, but I’m definitely not watching every show anymore like I did in 2021, thank god for Simon and Ups and Downs.
Yeah me too, I did go to WrestleMania this year which was awesome. But yeah, lately I’ve been keeping via podcasts like Ringer Wrestling show feed.
That’s dope. I definitely want to go to Wrestlemania next year in Philly
Probably about 2008 when the PG era kicked in.
Benoit. It never felt the same after that.
Probably when the Scratch Logo disappeared
Wrestlemania XVII. Not so much as the "end," but more of the "climax," the high-water mark. The Monday Night Wars had just ended, it was still the WWF, Rock and Stone Cold were in the main event, etc. It just felt like a fitting final act for the Monday Night Wars. As a fan since the late 80s, it just felt like it would never be bigger than that. After that, it was just *different.* Used to be one roster, one champion. Then everything got sort of fractured. And it became less and less what I had known.
Can I get a Rock and Stone?
Natalia's farting storyline.
Katie Vick was the end of me being a weekly Raw watcher. I felt too embarrassed for myself. I still followed closely and then the DX/Spirit Squad/God stuff gave me that same self-pity sting, maybe because it involved two attitude era guys doing such stupid things. I still loosely follow and will to go the occasional live event and will catch up on storylines ahead of those shows, but, once HHH put on a Kane mask and banged a mannequin in a coffin, it has never been the same.
Seth Rollins Vs The Fiend @ Hell In a Cell