Before I start this one, I want to say I know wrestling is scripted and so does anybody else over the age of four. If your only intent is to come into this thread and say wrestling is fixed and not a real sport...well, no duh. I think that's been established a long time ago, so please spare us any of the "it's scripted" banality. Like I said, we all know, it's simply a form of entertainment that appeals to some and not others.
OK, now that I got that out of the way, for those of us who do/did like wrestling, here's your chance to talk about it. I was into wrestling for about 20 years, from the mid 80's through the mid 2000's. I lost interest mainly because the characters just got less and less interesting. These days, there are no real characters anymore, and everybody is an overly tattooed and overly roided bore. When I was a wee lad, you had wrestlers of all shapes and sizes and personalities, and the storylines had a proper build up because there was not a pay-per-view every single month.
I also lost interest because so many of the people I grew up watching died at age 40 of heart attacks, and it was then I realized how dangerous the lifestyle was. These guys are sacrificing their bodies everynight without any off season (I'm a firm supporter of an off season in wrestling so guys can recover, but McMahon will never do that as long as there's money to be made). The steroids, painkillers, and uppers to stay up on the road were very common and I am able to watch the old stuff with adult eyes now, where as kid I thought they were all supermen. I was also a huge Chris Benoit fan, but that tragedy was WAY too much to take, and I can't believe there are people who still stick up for a guy who murders his wife and child. I don't care how talented in the ring one is, I cannot overlook that.
All of this being said, as of late I have been watching the stuff I grew up with a lot on DVD. The older I get, the more I understand nostalgia, and no doubt wrestling was a huge part of my life for 20 years. I still love watching the Flair/Steamboat trilogy from 1989 and what DVD's I do have have been fun to revisit. A friend of mine has WRESTLEMANIA 3 and we watched it this past weekend, it is what sparked this resurgance.
I can go on about the old stuff all day, but since I'm running out of time now, I'll have to go into more wrestling stuff later. There are definitely a few DVD's I am eyeballing. Any other current or former fans here besides Jim, who I already know is a fan and I'm sure will chip in this thread?>