2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Another one for the "favorites" file is Chris Kanyon. Just loved watching him in the ring, especially right as he was getting his first big break as Mortis in WCW. He had a stretch of a few months where he seemed to break out one cool, new move per match. It was fun to watch for it and pick it out.
A damn shame that he couldn't conquer his personal demons.

Also liked Dean Malenko during his late-90s WCW run. Dude just looked like he could hurt you. That cruiserweight division was a lot of fun to watch in those days. Too bad they were so badly overshadowed by the NWO.

 

First time as fan (early '90s): I was a Hulkamaniac, and I'm not one bit ashamed. I would watch Superstars every Saturday and convince my mom to rent as many PPVs from the video store as possible, and Hogan was just larger than life. I also marked the hell out for Jake Roberts, Randy Savage, the Rockers and the Bushwhackers. There was even a time when the neighbor girl (who grew up to be a *hot* sorority girl) and I pretended to be Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire...damn catchy music.

Second fan run (1998-end of WCW): Still into Hogan. *Loved* Goldberg. Also a big fan of the cruiserweights, from Jericho to Malenko and Mysterio (when he actually tried), and from Kidman to Juvi, Ultimo Dragon and Kaz Hayashi. Could *not* stop geeking out for Alex Wright and Disco Inferno...those guys were funny as hell with their lame-ass dance moves.

Third fan run (2006-now): I picked up SmackDown vs. RAW for my PlayStation 2 and started going through career mode/story mode/whatever the hell it was called back then. I was going for Goldie, which was held on the game by some kid I'd never heard of named Randy Orton. Liked what I saw from the character on the video game, and *loved* what I saw when I started watching wrestling again. Got big into Edge and realized I'm a mark for the heels. Thought Rated-RKO was the greatest thing ever conceived. Started watching/buying tons of WWE DVDs and learned to appreciate the past. Realized what made Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels so awesome back in the day, and realized Hogan wasn't all that good. Enjoyed the tail ends of Flair's and Michaels' careers. Now I'm a CM Punk fan.

 

Huge Flair fan, even though he has embarassed himself the last few years. For me, at the top of his game there was nobody better, in or out of the ring. I can kill an hour just watching old interviews on YouTube.

Loved Savage too and always marked out for Jericho.

Good to see some love for the Bushwhackers, wasn't a fan of their WWF gimmick but loved them as the Sheepherders, a truly violent heel tag team. Interviewed them once - after their WWF days - and they were great guys, was great to hear them talk about starting out in small promotions all over the world.

Current fave is CM Punk, first guy to get me to pay attention to wrestling in ages.

 

So many, so many. Don't really have a favorite ....

1980s: Started watching in late '85 or so. I guess I was a Hulkamaniac until around 1988 (I started getting bored with him during his second title reign). Savage (because of his style and Liz), Roberts (I thought the snake was cool, and loved his sinister attitude even when he was a babyface), Piper (because he was (still is) nuts), the Killer Bees (liked Brunzell's dropkick and the nutty mask stuff), Big John Studd (He seemed like a gentle guy despite being a heel), Ultimate Warrior (because he kicked ass) and Velvet McIntyre (Compared to the other women wrestlers post-Wendi, I thought she was pretty cute).

1990s: Flair (Obviously), Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and Benoit (because they seemed so old-school), Jericho, Mysterio, Juventud (the Luchadors were great), Sabu (I became a fan the first time I saw him in a match)Austin (the guy, who, if I was ever a wrestler, I'd be him), Rock (Best promo man in the business. Ever), Foley (Not just for the bumps, but that he can pull off both serious and funny characters), Undertaker (the biggest ass-kicker of them all), Davey Boy Smith (No real reason) and Reggie Bennett (Came along about five years too soon. She would have been fun in WCW).

2000s and beyond: Michaels (Hated his attitude in the 90s and his role in the Screwjob, but I came to respect his in-ring work), Edge, Punk (especially now), Bryan, Trish, Stacy Keibler (not for her ring work ,

 

Loved ECDub too, and was just introducing Huggy Jr. - who has become an avid WWE watcher - to the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD. Those days were awesome.

 

Count me in as a dyed-in-the-wool Hulkamaniac. Was PISSED at my dad for years for not taking me to the closed-circuit of WM1 (I had been bad or had poor grades or something ...), but caught Hogan-Iron Sheik at a Denver house show when they were in their bloody boot-camp matches -- Sheiky Baby with the evil loaded boot! Two years later, went to McNichols Sports Arena to see Hogan slam Andre and pin him clean in the center of the ring at WM3.

My incredible Hogan-related fortune continued when, as I flew cross-country to visit my mom (who worked for United Airlines and thus could afford such a thing) a couple times a year. One such trip, Hogan was on the plane! Let him be, as he slept the entire flight, but got his autograph on the back of the ticket stub from that Sheik house show I still carried around.

Flash forward SEVERAL years later, and my (then) wife and I secured gratis camera-well ducats at the infamous Bash at the Beach in Daytona when the NwO was formed. I remember, vividly, standing and applauding Flair's entrance -- knowing I was witnessing wrestling royalty -- earlier in the show. Then, of course, wrestling history was forever changed in the main event.

Wow.

rb

 

Favorite wrestlers over the years:
-Jericho (Could you guess)
-The Von Erichs, esp. Kevin (one of the best dropkicks ever)
-HBK
-Benoit before, well, you know
-The Four Horsemen, 1980s version and later the version with Benoit and Malenko (not Mongo, though; hated him as a Horseman)
-New Age Outlaws (Oh, you didn't know?)
-Goldberg
-Lesnar
-Angle
-Edge and Christian (For the benefit of those with flash photography)
-Hardy Boys (Damn they've fallen)
-Dudleys
-RVD
-Sabu
-Early Mysterio
-Eddie Guerrero
-Buff Bagwell (screw it, I'll admit it; I marked out for Buff; he was the stuff)
-Kevin Sullivan
-Samoa Joe (though the last year or two have been a waste for him)
-AJ Styles (another wasted talent)
-Ricky Steamboat
-Jack Evans
-Rock
-Austin
-Punk
-Bryan
-Stacy Kiebler (mmmm legs)
-Curt Hennig
-Rick Rude
-The Freebirds
-Dr. Death Steve Williams

Crap, I could go on forever. Barely touched ECW and WCCW.

 

My first favorite wrestler was a guy by the name of Koko B. Ware. He appeared weekly on USWA, which I watched religiously each week with my grandpa or my dad. Those two got me hooked on wrestling. I got to meet him a few years ago when he came to my hometown for an Indy show. One hell of a guy in and out of the ring.

And I was also a Hulkamaniac -- and am not afraid to admit it. I loved the red and gold of Hulk, and was crushed when the heel switch hit and he started wearing all black (hey, I was 12 ... shut up. ). But then I grew to love heel Hogan, and started cheering for most of the heels. Except I couldn't bring myself to cheer against Goldberg, Sting or Lex Luger, who were my favorite faces at the time. Have always been a huge Sting mark for whatever reason.

And as far as the WWE went, I was an HBK mark. Love that theme song and I always mark out when I hear it.

2000-04: Loved Angle and Brock. Then I stopped watching for a few years.

2006-now: Favorites have been Edge (his heel persona was fucking awesome), Orton (same as Edge), Morrison, Miz and Flair to name a few. I'll post more on this later.

 

When I started watching, of course it was Hulk Hogan.

Then when they shifted into the Attitude era, I became aware of just how good Mick Foley was. Cactus Jack was always a quirky character when I was watching old WCW. Didn't quite understand him, but when Mankind came out in the WWE after Foley's run in ECW, I found that I loved just about everything he did.

Then, I stumbled upon ECW one late night while flipping channels. I was already a wrestling fan, but this was new, exciting and violent. I quickly took to the product and to this day, my favorite wrestler is Tommy Dreamer (duh right). He put everything into his matches and got very little reward (titles etc.), until he was either leaving or retiring.

So mainstream it'd still be Foley.
Off the beaten path: Dreamer.

 

For some reason, when i was groeing up, we didn't get the WWF shows, but we did get TBS, so when I latched onto wrestling, it was WCW Saturday Night, and it was Sting. Maybe it was the face paint, or spiked hair, which seemed so different at the time, or maybe it was because he wore pants, and not underwear (which is how I thought of it) but Sting remained my favorite until I lost interest around 1999.

 

I remember Sting when he was the face-painted muscle for Kevin Sullivan's group. Say what you want about him, but he's made a hell of a living in this business and has held up a hell of a lot better than guys like Hogan. He has to be going on 25 years in the business. Of course, he has never gone away from his 3 moves of death. The punch/chop, stinger splash and the scorpion death drop/lock.

 

I think Sting has been hurt by never being in the WWF/WWE, ever. If you switch him with Lex Luger, when Luger went to WWF and they tried to push him in feuds with Bret Hart and Yokozuna, I think he's an even bigger star than he is now. As is, I kind of wonder if more casual fans would know of the Ultimate Warrior or him, two guys that came up together as a tag team of bodybuilders, IIRC. The difference between the two is that Sting eventually improved to the point that he was at least average in the ring, but I don't think anyone considers him as a top guy in the ring.