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Post by Cap on Jul 6, 2020 15:17:41 GMT -5
So I was thinking of this because I just saw one of those OTD posts on twitter. What are your favorite memories of watching wrestling? Maybe others are different, but especially with great matches or big moments I have some fond memories of where I was when watching certain matches and/or how they fit (and wrestling fits more generally) in the broader narrative of my life.
The thing that made me think of this is Hogan v Goldberg. So today is my birthday and Hogan v Goldberg happened on my birthday. I remember being blown away by the fact that they were doing it on Nitro. We were visiting our wealthy and more high society relatives in San Fransisco and I insisted that I be allowed to watch Nitro. I wasn't even THAT big a Goldberg fan, but it felt big. My aunt and uncle could not possibly understand. They sat in a room that was not for touching things drinking rose with my parents or something and I watched wrestling. Good Times.
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Post by elliott on Jul 6, 2020 15:21:54 GMT -5
Happy birthday!
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Post by elliott on Jul 6, 2020 15:24:46 GMT -5
I remember Goldberg/Hogan night. My best friend and i would trade. One of us watched Nitro the other watched RAW live. We'd call and keep each other updated on what was going on on the other show. This night was a my turn to watch RAW live. So he calls during Goldberg/Hogan and i was like, dude im just gonna watch goldberg/hogan. So we stayed on the phone and cheered goldberg.
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Post by bossrock on Jul 6, 2020 17:19:28 GMT -5
So I was thinking of this because I just saw one of those OTD posts on twitter. What are your favorite memories of watching wrestling? Maybe others are different, but especially with great matches or big moments I have some fond memories of where I was when watching certain matches and/or how they fit (and wrestling fits more generally) in the broader narrative of my life.
The thing that made me think of this is Hogan v Goldberg. So today is my birthday and Hogan v Goldberg happened on my birthday. I remember being blown away by the fact that they were doing it on Nitro. We were visiting our wealthy and more high society relatives in San Fransisco and I insisted that I be allowed to watch Nitro. I wasn't even THAT big a Goldberg fan, but it felt big. My aunt and uncle could not possibly understand. They sat in a room that was not for touching things drinking rose with my parents or something and I watched wrestling. Good Times.
Happy birthday!
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Post by bossrock on Jul 6, 2020 17:21:42 GMT -5
One of my favorite memories is watching Wrestlemania 23 live on ppv. I didn't really buy a ton of ppv's as I would have to pay for them myself, but I was able to pay for this one. So my dad actually sat and ate dinner with me while we watched most of the show. He's not a wrestling fan at all, but it was cool to watch something together (he's a big sports fan and I am not haha) and I had a lot of fun explaining the different wrestlers and angles to him.
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Post by Kadaveri on Jul 7, 2020 0:17:19 GMT -5
Staying up all night alone watching Wrestlemania 30 (I'm in the UK so this means till 4am). The main reason I was watching was Daniel Bryan, he'd been my favourite wrestler since 2006 and the prospect of him main eventing Wrestlemania was still mind-boggling to me. In my real life I had to go to a 3 day conference starting the next morning in another city, so I justified to myself that I might as well just stay up to watch it then sleep on the train in the early morning.
At this conference I'd be helping run someone's election campaign. I was chatting to her on Facebook planning things all night while watching Wrestlemania on another tab.
Then it happened. No not Bryan. THE UNDERTAKER LOST. I was so shocked and in need of someone to talk to that I interrupted that serious planning discussion to tell her that I was watching Wrestlemania and THE UNDERTAKER JUST LOST I AM IN A STATE. Thankfully she turned out to have at least watched wrestling when she was a kid so slightly understood! But soon after I happily watched Wrestlemania close with Daniel Bryan victorious, so all was good in the end.
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Post by bossrock on Jul 7, 2020 17:32:05 GMT -5
Staying up all night alone watching Wrestlemania 30 (I'm in the UK so this means till 4am). The main reason I was watching was Daniel Bryan, he'd been my favourite wrestler since 2006 and the prospect of him main eventing Wrestlemania was still mind-boggling to me. In my real life I had to go to a 3 day conference starting the next morning in another city, so I justified to myself that I might as well just stay up to watch it then sleep on the train in the early morning. At this conference I'd be helping run someone's election campaign. I was chatting to her on Facebook planning things all night while watching Wrestlemania on another tab. Then it happened. No not Bryan. THE UNDERTAKER LOST. I was so shocked and in need of someone to talk to that I interrupted that serious planning discussion to tell her that I was watching Wrestlemania and THE UNDERTAKER JUST LOST I AM IN A STATE. Thankfully she turned out to have at least watched wrestling when she was a kid so slightly understood! But soon after I happily watched Wrestlemania close with Daniel Bryan victorious, so all was good in the end. Mania 30 is another great memory. And yeah, SO many thoughts ran through my head when Taker lost. Was it an accident? Did Brock somehow cheat and they're gonna restart the match?
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 7, 2020 23:47:55 GMT -5
I wasn't watching it but was following along live and, yeah, Undertaker losing at WM30 was easily the most shocking wrestling moment. It was sort of like Germany 7-1 Brazil (which funnily enough happened a few months later) in that you couldn't believe what was happening/had happened.
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Post by Cap on Jul 8, 2020 10:06:41 GMT -5
Staying up all night alone watching Wrestlemania 30 (I'm in the UK so this means till 4am). The main reason I was watching was Daniel Bryan, he'd been my favourite wrestler since 2006 and the prospect of him main eventing Wrestlemania was still mind-boggling to me. In my real life I had to go to a 3 day conference starting the next morning in another city, so I justified to myself that I might as well just stay up to watch it then sleep on the train in the early morning. At this conference I'd be helping run someone's election campaign. I was chatting to her on Facebook planning things all night while watching Wrestlemania on another tab. Then it happened. No not Bryan. THE UNDERTAKER LOST. I was so shocked and in need of someone to talk to that I interrupted that serious planning discussion to tell her that I was watching Wrestlemania and THE UNDERTAKER JUST LOST I AM IN A STATE. Thankfully she turned out to have at least watched wrestling when she was a kid so slightly understood! But soon after I happily watched Wrestlemania close with Daniel Bryan victorious, so all was good in the end. So I am sure I told this story somewhere here or over at PWO at some point, but there are some interesting parallels in our experiences. This was my first live Mania. I was in grad school and there was a regional conference in New Orleans at the same time. So I doubled up. I flew out and met some friends at the conference. I wound up going to two indie shows, met some wrestling fans and hung out, met some more wrestling fans that were actually from SLC (where I was living at the time) and wound up keeping in touch with them after, and then obviously hit the show. I was honestly a little beat by the time I got to the show. I went because Bryan was also my favorite since I discovered him in the early 2000s, probably the biggest reason I got back into wrestling. Obviously getting to see the taker loss was incredible. I wasn't happy, but I wasn't crushed. That is partially because I found the reactions of many of the fans around me amusing. I was going to go out after, but all I could manage was a couple beers and then back to my airbnb because I had an early flight out. Probably my fondest live wrestling, even though I was flying solo.
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Post by TheDutifulWebmaster on Feb 11, 2023 20:15:52 GMT -5
Regarding my wrestling memories:
In the early 90’s I loved The Rockers. When Shawn Michaels betrayed Marty Janetty, I was so heartbroken and furious, even more so when I saw that Marty lost the subsequent match against Shawn at Royal Rumble 1991 or 1992.
Around this time, I remember seeing WWF backstage interviews of Macho Man, where he would say ‘WRESTLEMAYYYYNIA EIGHT!’ a lot.
I then stopped watching wrestling until 1999, where a then friend brought round to my home a VHS tape of Royal Rumble 1999 which he had recorded a few days before. He showed the Mankind vs The Rock ‘I Quit’ match. I was very very shocked at how violent the match was. It was just so depressing. But, the match and the rumble match itself piqued my interest and I became an avid wrestling fan again. I had no idea who Mankind, Rock, and Stone Cold were, by the way. I did recognise Steve Austin, however, from a vhs case I had seen for sale in town (the ‘cos stone cold said so’ vhs).
I remember thinking Tori was so hot, then I showed my friend hat she looked like at Wrestlemania 15, and she looked a mess with that crap cat suit and cat make up on. It was very embarrassing for me to show my friend who she was after I had told him she was such a babe.
But, my best memory, was watching WWF Royal Rumble 2000 live on TV, here in England. Channel 4 struck a deal with WWF, and we got 4 free ppvs, starting with RR 2000. Channel 4 were outraged at how graphic the PPV was and didn’t renew apparently. But the event was just so special for me. The atmosphere is the best I have ever seen at a WWF/WWE PPV. Kurt vs Tazz was electric, Hardys vs Dudleyz is the best 10 min match ever imo, and HhH vs cactus was amazing.
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Post by TheDutifulWebmaster on Feb 11, 2023 20:24:17 GMT -5
Also, I really like watching WCW in 1999. Scott Steiner’s promo’s we’re so so good. Rey Mysterio Jr’s matches were a treat, and Goldberg…….oh man, he was so over and a real spectacle to watch as he mowed down everyone in the ring so quickly. A lot of people won’t understand the appeal of Goldberg, but back then he was a big deal and very over, way more than in any of his WWE stints.
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Post by mvz on Feb 11, 2023 21:42:03 GMT -5
Thanks for bumping this thread.
I have earlier memories, but the moment that hooked was when Orndorff turned on Hogan, the week to week stuff leading up to it was so great and while there have been ebbs and flows I have basically been a fan ever since. I have very vivid memories of the tv around this time from numerous promotions.
I watched both WCW and WWF and WCW started running cards at the meadowlands in New Jersey in 1990. There was a card running in Jan 91 and we were hit with a blizzard. My friend and his dad bailed, but my dad drove 15 year old me to the arena. Sting was defending against Flair and Flair won and tied the record. I was a huge Flair fan and was so thrilled to be there.
In the mid 90s I was getting back into it and I went to an afternoon show, they had an event with a band in the parking lot and Michael hayes sang freebird and Badstreet USA. He was Dok Hendrix at this time and it felt like a real nod to the hardcores.
I was also at the nitro where Hennig perfectplexed the giant.
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Post by elliott on Feb 11, 2023 22:04:15 GMT -5
What was the first foreign match everyone watched?
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Post by lemming on Feb 12, 2023 6:40:03 GMT -5
What was the first foreign match everyone watched? The whole tape trading thing passed me by so I didn't get into non WWE stuff until I was at uni, circa '05/'06, where I acquired matches mostly through malware-infested file sharing sites like Megaupload. I remember the first batch of Japanese matches I got was mostly NJPW juniors stuff featuring NA wrestlers like Eddie, Owen and Benoit. They were great because they contained more moves and more flips than WWE matches and thus were better. Except ...one match stood out. It didn't have *any* flips. In fact, they hardly did any moves at all. Surely this Takada vs Vader match had been included by mistake. Although, as I kept watching, it turned out that this match was awesome too. In fact, the more I thought about it, it was somehow the best one. Watching this (relatively) undersized Japanese fellow trying desperately not to be murdered by Vader, and then getting murdered by Vader blew my mind with how compelling it was, without even using 2.99 kick outs! It's still one of my favourite matches today.
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Post by silverwidow on Feb 12, 2023 10:14:30 GMT -5
What was the first foreign match everyone watched? Pretty sure it was Gedo vs. Dean Malenko (NJPW - 4/16/1994)
The Super J Cup was the gateway tape for traders in that late 90s/early 2000s era.
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