I have a feeling that you’ll see the name John Cena a lot. He’s mine. Watching WWE in the late 2000s early 2010s, John cena was my worst nightmare, even though I was target demographic, a child/early teen. I think what really changed my mind on him was seeing him less and less, as well as two all time feuds with AJ Styles and Kevin Owens. Now when I hear his theme I pop every time. I cried during MitB 2021 when he came out to confront Roman. I fully acknowledge Cena as one of the most important people in the industry and love him.
@@Dporticus the era of ‘Cena wins lol’ was so incredibly mishandled. They tried to portray him as an underdog all the time. It was exhausting. I did forget to mention his US title open challenge which is also incredible. I highly recommend him vs Sami Zayn in Sami’s main roster debut. It’s an all time match for Raw.
@bigburd7232 Same. I'm an attitude era fan who didn't like Cena because he wasn't the same as Austin or The Rock or Undertaker but I came around to Cena at some point and now I have him in my mount rushmore alongside The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Roman Reigns.
Also you can thank Stone Cold for the What chants. It was popular and fun back then but it definitely deflates alot of the promos still today. 2001 was the birth of the WHAT chants
"AEW Guy" here, and Tribalism is stupid. Don't start joining that please. I have been to shows of 5 different wrestling promotions in 3 different countries, and I always had a good time. There is always good and bad in every company, and I love and criticise all of the same. Stop the Tribalism, stop the hate, and let's enjoy wrestling as one big community!
Leaving Twitter and a lot of Sub Reddits was a really healthy decision because of that tribalism. It's so stupid because if there was no competition then bot AEW and WWE would suck on toast.
I wouldn't call myself an AEW fan per se, but it's still pro wrestling and I enjoy pro wrestling, I just wish AEW had better angles to push the product forward more
This guy is your typical AEW fan, Dporticus don’t listen to this person because all that tribalism started with AEW fans. Now we come to a point where AEW is falling off and because of that people are starting to claim WWE fans are just “tribalists”. Tony Kahn can’t go a week without mentioning WWE but the WWE fans are wrong? Listen I’ve been to Indie events, WWE events and even an AEW event and while yes they are fun to go to WWE is the best and that’s not me being a “tribalist” it’s the truth. The ratings prove it point blank numbers don’t lie. AEW was good when it first started for a few years but these past 2 years have been really bad and if you’re an AEW fan and you cant admit that then you’re indeed a “tribalist”
@crazygingerjakeholden268 it makes me laugh because in the 90s when the Monday night wars was happening, you know when wcw actually beat wwe in the ratings (something aew can’t do) can you imagine people saying “why can’t you enjoy both products, what’s up with tribalism”
Hard disagree - like what you want, dislike what you want. I'm under no orders to like and support all wrestling shows. I appreciate wanting people to be nicer, and I appreciate that you like all the things. I don't. I like some of the things and avoid others. It is better for the industry if the market tells the companies what they like and don't like. The opinion of someone that spent $100 to attend an AEW live show is no more valuable than someone that refuses to spend a dime on that product. AEW just keeps putting out this double standard messaging of "we are not for everybody, we are the alternative" mixed with "we are the better wrestling company and we don't know why everyone doesn't like us." You can't be both the alternative and the main stream. Either be the alternative and live with the results of being the second-biggest, or compete with WWE, change the presentation and the corporate structure, and become the mainstream by doing what the mainstream clearly likes. Can't have it both ways. 🤷
Dporticus, if you see this reply, Mr. Cartman is absolutely correct. I know this sounds bad, but look past what he did and just watch. His WCW cruiserweight matches are incredible, and so is the main event of WrestleMania 20.
Dude, I’ve been a wrestling fan for 25 years…yet I find to be so hooked on your videos. I love your perspectives and it’s just so genuine hearing your opinions and thoughts from such a newer fan. Glad that you are part of the family. Such awesome content!
Same, ive been binge watching his videos so far. I also just started watching from WM 39 and havent missed a week since. I live in a far away country so we dont have much options in terms of live shows so it’s fun seeing wrestling through the lens of someone who has been to most shows. I have lived the atmosphere though, we have watch parties here in sports bars with 50-60 people and the pops are insane.
To answer your question, The Miz. It was his IC title run that turned around my opinion of him. Not just the Daniel Bryan talking smack incident, but all his promos were so good and so passionate. And I started to really enjoy his matches. Huge fan of his to this day. I’ll take your signed photo! 😂
I completely agree with you about the more "mature" content vs the PG stuff... its not an all or nothing thing... just because netflix gives them the freedom doesn't mean they have to take it... its so much more effective if its in small doses.
The one wrestler that I wasn't hot on was Baron Corbin. Initially, he was presented as a badass which I enjoyed. Once, he lost the money in the bank and changed his gimmick to Happy Corbin. I hated Baron Corbin, but he went back down to NXT again and they teamed him with Bron Breaker as the "Wolf Dogs." It revitalized his career.
I think you are 100% right about non-wrestling fans and suspension of disbelief... but i think the reason they aren't able to suspend their disbelief is because for a very long time the product was straight up unbelievable. It as corny and predictable... it was more like a 1970's saturday morning variety show than a pro-wrestling show. I think the Attitude Era got so popular because there was so much grey area about what was or wasn't real, and the wrestlers had a level of authenticity that people could buy into as being their legitimate personalities.... once WWE tried turning that into a formula people started rejecting it because it all became so obvious. I think Triple-H is trying to reincorporate some of that individualism and authenticity in the presentation, which is why more and more people are willing to buy into some of the bigger storylines.
LA Knight never really bought me over to answer your question. Not cause I didn’t like him but just because I didn’t know understand what he brought to the table, I didn’t get the hype. But one day I just decided to follow the crowd and make myself believe I liked him which made me actually root for him more than I expected I would😂😂
Same! When he went up against bray I was like “who is this? This is just some dude.” But by the time money in the bank happened I was all like “with everybody sayin L A KNIGHT YEAH!” 😂
@@davey12334that's why you should watch nxt to see who the superstars of tomorrow are. I had never heard of LA Knight (Eli Drake in TNA) before, but his first night in nxt he cut a promo about who he was and why he was here, and I've been a fan ever since. He was even the Milion Dollar Champ in NXT, so clearly WWE was high on him from the start.
Another comment from me. As for PG-14 rating going to Netflix, Paul Levesque(HHH) said on the imPualsive podcast "I want [blood and swearing] to mean something when it happens" he doesn't want everyone swearing and bleeding every match, he wants those moments to be a pop. So it's definably something he wants to happen, but not every show/match/promo
Make sure you go to other wrestling shows. In my area there’s a local promotion called F1rst Wrestling and they do an event at the mall of America every year, and it was an amazing experience. And Erik Rowan (currently going by Eric Redbeard) wrestled a match there, legit just two weeks after the memorial for Bray Wyatt.
I'm so glad you got around to answering my question! I totally agree with you, when blood and swearing is used only to elevate the story it feels special. Also I just want to say you have built an incredible wrestling community here and I'm so proud to be a part of it.
Heath Slater. He looked like if you crossbred a human with a spaghetti noodle, then smacked him with the ugly stick a few times, with a voice to match it. He was a null point. If I saw or heard him, I tuned out. A few times just turned it off altogether and got the results online the next day. Then there was a storm in West Virginia that was real bad. Led to some mudslides in fairly populated areas. He put up a lot of his own money and put in actual work hours digging for survivors and helping the community rebuild. Immediately humanized him. Unfortunately that was right at the end of his WWE run. That's how thing work out sometimes. He's doing alright.
John Cena and Roman Reigns Cena turned me around after the US Open challenge and his matches with AJ Styles at Money in the Bank, SummerSlam, and the Royal Rumble. I liked Roman when he was in the shield but hated him after, he turned me around when he turned heel.
I think the wrestler that I think of when I think of wrestlers who took me a long time to "get" is The Miz. When he came in, he was a reality TV show dude whose main character trait was being annoying. He also was a pretty bad promo and a bad wrestler, which makes sense because he had next to no experience. However, over the years, I realized that he has improved immensely and is now a really solid wrestler and consistently able to get one of the better responses from the crowd. I think the thing that made me reevaluate him and his abilities is a promo he cut on Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack in 2016. (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8d4SLA4HYp0.html) One of my favorite and one of the realest promos ever. It made me realize that he has been consistent for the longest time and, even if he isn't the greatest wrestler or anything, he is one of the best promos ever in my opinion and he has established his character for so long that he is one of the most believable wrestlers in the company.
@@Dporticus I commented that before I watched the entire video so I just figured I'd respond here. It was great to hear your praise of Chelsea Green throughout the video. In my opinion, she is one of the best character actors of this era of wrestling and has been for quite a while. She did some great stuff in Impact/TNA wrestling as well if you want to see more of her. I also agree about the Jey Uso stuff. It seems like they never really know what to do with him other than putting him in a tag team unfortunately. In regards to CM Punk, I would recommend going back and at least watching his match against Cena at Money in the Bank 2011. One of the most important (and best) matches in WWE history. Also, Eddie Guerrero is one of my top 5 favorite wrestlers of all time. He is someone you need to check out. Most people agree with the What chants being one of the worst chants ever. It's very annoying. Sorry for the long comment but it's hard for me to condense my thoughts lol.
I'm glad the internet trolls haven't soured your opinion of Aew, you're right that it's a small group making a big noise on both sides. I'm glad they're both succeeding it just means there is more variety. There are things you will never see in one company that you will see in the other.
I agree with JD and Chelsea for the ones who deserve a future push! I like how you specified a tag team push for him because I’m not sure if I’ll think the same if he’s on a solo run. Chelsea with a briefcase or a belt would be the most annoying thing on tv and I want it so bad.
i meant to comment this on the last video where you asked about certain matches or shows you should watch but for some reason it didn’t go through. but a promotion i haven’t seen anybody really reccomend is stardom. it is a japanese joshi only promotion. joshi means girl in japanese, so it is an all female wrestling company. their style of wrestling in japan is really hard hitting, explosive, and fun to watch. they have tons of great matches over there and really interesting characters. some notable WWE talents that came from there are iyo sky (fka as io shirai) kairi sane, and a newly signed talent who will be debuting soon named giulia. there are other great wrestlers like AZM, mina shirakawa, starlight kid, syuri, tam nakano, endless other names. it is also a cross-branded promotion so sometimes you’ll see NJPW talents or AEW talents wrestle there and vice versa. there is also another joshi wrestling brand that is actually being created right now named marigold, the owner is rossy ogawa who was originally a part owner of stardom. some stardom talents are going to start wrestling there and there is rumours that wwe and marigold have reached an agreement for stars like iyo and kairi to do some stuff down there during the summer. the only tough part about watching japanese wrestling is it is obviously in japanese, so you can’t understand the commentary and such and such. but after watching for a while you actually start learning some japanese words along the way, but there is also english translation or english commentary on mostly PPVs. you can watch on their official website (it requires a monthly subscription) or there is a website called tokyvideo that offers all matches for free really. its like a free movies website but with wrestling matches. completely safe, you can watch any wwe match or aew njpw stardom whatever. just type in for example “bryan danielson vs will ospreay tokyvideo” and a link will pop up. one final thing, some matches i reccomend from stardom are giulia vs syuri at dream queendom 2022, mercedes mone (sasha banks) vs kairi hojo (sane) at battle in the valley 2023 and starlight kid vs AZM at cinderella journey 2022. would love for you to react to some of these on the patreon! also sorry for the long comment 😓
For a long time in the 2010s I felt like R Truth was a plague who made any storyline he touched worse by his inclusion. But over time his comedy started winning me over around the 24/7 era, he got more mic time and got to work in more pure comedy segments, and I realized the guy is just really funny and having a great time out there
To me the wrestler that took me the longest time to actually even start liking is the one and only Second City Saint, Voice of the Voiceless, Cranky Phil himself, C M Punk. This is going to be a long one so read at your own risk. So I grew up watching the Ruthless Aggression Era, which is the Era beginning at the end of the Attitude Era from mid 2002 to 2008. During this time i was a hardcore fan of Wrestling, watched all PPVs and followed all storylines. I was also a teenager back then and so that Era is tinged with nostalgia to me so I will always love that Era above all others. During this time Vince had the **great** idea to bring back ECW which was a former Wrestling Promotion that Vince had bought out and basically fleeced it's roster of its stars to either make them work for him or bury them to show that his own stars were better than the completion he beat. ECW was made into it's own brand like Raw and Smackdown and was advertised to be extreme like its name suggested; ECW stood for Extreme Championship Wrestling. I didn't watch ECW growing up so I didn't have any real attachment to it. I like Hardcore matches to be more of a novelty anyways so I didn't really tune in to watch the show. Unfortunately it seemed like Vince cared as much about ECW as I did. As long standing fans of ECW said that the WWE brand was nothing like what they used to love. Eventually Vince turned ECW into sort of a development brand, debuting new stars from the indies there and seeing if they were worth bringing up to RAW or Smackdown which was considered the 'main show'. CM Punk debuted in 2006 on ECW. I didn't watch that, I didn't watch any of his matches and by the time he moved to Raw in 2008 I was sporadically watching Wrestling. I came back in 2009 and I think Punk had been moved to Smackdown and I watched some Raws but by then Punk was an underrated fan favorite and I just hadn't had any opportunity to get on that bandwagon. I honestly couldn't really see what other people saw in him. From 2009 to 2011 I watched the PPVs but didn't really watch the day to day until the Rock was announced as the Host of Wrestlemania 27. When that happened in early 2011 it pulled me back in and I started watching Raw day to day again. Unfortunately that Wrestlemania wasn't really very good with HHH vs Undertaker being the best match and the main event being pretty shit. By this time a trend had begun that I wasn't really ready for. The previous year Shawn Michaels my all time favourite wrestler, had had a streak vs Career match with the Undertaker which he lost and so he retired, and then this year Triple H, my second favourite wrestler of all time also announced after his failure to beat Taker at Mania to also stop wrestling and he became COO of the company. Taker was now only wrestling at Mania's, Kurt Angle was in TNA and the only favorites of mine that remained was Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Edge. And then Edge announced that he had serious problems with his neck and that he would no longer be able to wrestle. So we had most of my favorites either on their way out or already out. And honestly none of the newcomers were doing anything for me. Bryan was boring, Punk was an unknown, Cena was a clown, all of them were just not what I wanted from my wrestling. And then Punk dropped his pipebomb. Now I admit that the Punk/Cena feud around Money in the Bank was good, barring the unfortunate drive-by to Rey Rey, but I wasn't really a big fan of either of them and I am also an old school wrestling fan and to me breaking kayfabe whether shoot or work was not something I liked so I didn't mark out to the pipebomb like everyone else did. All I saw was a wrestler I barely knew, hijacking the show and hurling insults at one of my favorite wrestlers in Triple H, who in my eyes gave a lot to the company and they even presented it as not being a work so I bought in hated Punk for that. 2011 was already a terrible year for my wrestling entertainment and to me, Punk made it even worse. By the time Punk came back after Money in the Bank I was ready to tolerate him but then they fucked up that storyline going into the end of the year and I just gave up. I admit now today that my problems with Wrestling in 2011 wasn't solely due to Punk but since he was the final straw and his pipebomb and storyline was the one that made me stop watching Wrestling for ten plus years. Well it gave me a figurehead to blame all of it on, when my resentment should have been towards Vince, I blamed it all on Punk. And I hated him for it. I instinctively hated him even till the end of last year since as soon as I knew he had returned to WWE I stopped watching again after I has just restarted watching two years prior. But I am no longer the kid that I was back then; hating Punk and festering resentment for him when he wasn't the one to blame. I would like to say I've matured somewhat and can see now what I couldn't see back then. My favourites were leaving and Vince hitched his entire wagon on the kids choice in John Cena and stopped catering to us young adult and fully adult fans. He was the one to blame for all of it and I shouldn't have taken my anger out on Punk. I was wrong about that and today when I see Punk in WWE carrying on such a great feud with Drew it made me realise that what Drew's character is doing right now against Punk, I've spent the last decade doing the same against Punk as well. Undeserved resentment and hatred. And when I put that aside I was able to see him for the passionate and gifted performer he is. Someone who is made for this business, just like L A Knight, just like Seth Rollins or Cody Rhodes or Roman Reigns. I may never call him the Best In The World like he would want me to, for me that is always HBK, but he's definitely one of the best and today with my blinders off, I can finally appreciate the man's genius. I don't think you were looking for something this deep when you asked that question but this was the first thing that popped into my mind. I see my former self in Drew's hatred for Punk and I do not like that person. I'd like to think adult me is a better person than that. Cheers.
I just got into wrestling in August, right after SummerSlam Detroit. Actually, probably after watching All In with my dad. Around that time frame. I didn't really care about and AEW wrestlers (save for MJF and Swerve, plus the occasional Danielson or Edge match), but one name I knew was CM Punk. We watched the pre-show and then the first couple matches (if you'll remember, Punk vs Samoa Joe for the 'real' AEW world championship opened the show. We went upstairs for lunch and while we were eating I got on my phone and looked up CM Punk, since I was a new fan and didn't know anything about him. Then I saw the news stories: "CM Punk in backstage fight at All In Wembley" and I wrote it off as him just being hard to work with. Fast forward a few months after it was confirmed he had been 'fired' (he said he quit) and the possibility of him coming back to WWE gets real. I don't know how to describe it, but I came around on him sometime in the fall for whatever reason, and now he's one of my favorites.
Hey bro! Been loving your content. I just caught your video on watching Undertaker vs Shawn for the first time. If you haven't seen this match PLEASE watch Mankind vs. Undertaker at Hell in a Cell. It's an instant classic. There's also Mick Foley vs. Edge, and Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart in a Steel cage at Summerslam. Happy watching 👍
The crowd definitely ruined finn vs seth for me, them singing seths song while finn is trying to cut a serious promo was so annoying. Also the "we want tables" chant in every single extreme rules match is so annoying to me. Not every extreme rules match needs a table and if they are going to use one they will get to it when they do.
So I've been a casual fan all my life until maybe around 2016. then got way more invested in 2019. despite my love of wrestling I've never really been a part of the online fandom - not watching youtubers or tiktok or reading articles or engaging in wrestling content because people tend to complain every week and nitpick everything. Your channel has been refreshing! It's fun to buy into it & watch the story play out on screen. tribalism & getting overly/negatively invested sours a good thing
As for the PG rating changing, I totally agree with you. I wouldn’t mind if they quietly changed it to TV-14 but still used that sparingly. It adds the weight when we see blood because we don’t see it all the time. I would like them to have that option when need be, but it has to be used sparingly
Honestly, Orange Cassidy. When he first debuted in AEW and he was just a mascot that made a mockery out of the business it legitimately pissed me off. But then eventually the character started to get a little more serious, the goofy stuff was still there, but he actually started caring about winning or losing. Rn he's like one of my favorites in AEW
Even though the wrestler was cancelled I highly recommend watching his match with David Starr, it was on an Indy promotion and it shows how awesome he can truly be. Starts out goofy, with his shtick, then somewhere in the match his nose is just pouring blood. He’s on his knees, beckoning to him, going “Come on baby”, and it adds this excellent touch of seriousness that proves when he starts to really go hard it becomes something amazing
Damien priest….when he cashed in money in the bank LA knight….the first time I seen him in person It was those two moments where I’m like ok I get it now
Just watched your reaction to Shawn vs Taker, here's a few matches that are on the WWE RU-vid channel that I think you should watch: Undertaker vs Jeff Hardy, ladder match for the WWE Championship on Raw in 2002. Kurt Angle vs Rey Mysterio, can't remember the PPV though. Short match, 11 minutes I think. Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker, Wrestlemania 26. Undertaker vs Triple H, Wrestlemania 27. Undertaker vs Triple H, Wrestlemania 28.
It's crazy like you are the boy version of me 🤣 same path as you regarding my wrestling passion and we do watch the shows in a very similar way. I just want to enjoy the show and I don't understand why people keep improvise him themself as bookers! Speculating is nice but always breaking the fourth wall would bring me out of it I think! Overall continue what you do I love your content!
You know there are many people that I looked over or didn’t like that have fully won me over. I’d say the list includes people like Grayson Waller, Tony D’Angelo, Bron Breakker and Lyra Valkyria
During the mid to later 2010’s when I got into wwe, I just could never get behind sheamus’ heel character, just something about it seemed off to me. But with the whole new fight night gimmick, the banger after banger stuff, and his rivalry with gunther had me really liking him as a face. I hope he stays face at least until he wins the IC title, he’s just a really likable face
I started watching WWE January 2023. Who won me over? 1. Drew McIntyre. I couldn't stand the whining until he came out with the CM Punk Wrestlemania tshirt. As a petty mf myself, i loved it and now can't wait to see this man appear with a mic in his hand lol. 2. Roman Reigns. I couldnt understand how people could continue to watch him win endlessly for 4 years... then i watched a hour twenty minute RU-vid documentary called "the unreality of pro wrestling." It essentially gave a history of roman reigns' rise. Hearing his wwe story, the ups and downs, how he finally won the crowd over...i may not like his character and i am cheering against him but i acknowledge the tribal chief. Every time. Insane respect to him.
For me a wrestler I never got into was Heath Slater. With The Nexus I felt he was a bottom two of that group, around to make up the numbers and take the pins for them The Corre. That idea stayed with me through the years the different groups. What changed for me was after The 2016 Draft when he was undrafted and no one wanted him. He was going to both brands for a job, wrestling for a spot and losing. Then his teaming with Rhyno and going after the new SD tag titles as odd couple partners was my favorite part of most weeks. They had chemistry and their segments was great and then they won the titles and he got a contract. Something about that story, how they did it and Heaths work made me a fan after that. Im still a fan of HEATH and when Rhyno joined him in TNA it made me smile.
Gunther for me. I didn’t really understand the hype around him most of his matches were just squash matches. But then the royal rumble happened in 2023 and I was like Jesus this guy is ridiculously good. Been a fan ever since
For the longest time I really didn’t ‘get’ Seth Rollins, I appreciated how good he was but it just didn’t really click for me, I didn’t hate him or dislike him I was just always impartial. But the work he has done inbetween mania 39 and 40 (including 40) has really made me a fan of his.
I started out hating The Miz. At first it was because I was young and he got under my skin, because he's good at doing that as a heel. But as I got older and understood how he was able to generate those reactions, I really grew to appreciate him more and more and admire his skill and charisma on the mic and in the ring. And then he gave what is to me one of the best shoot promos ever on Talking Smack with Daniel Bryan (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8d4SLA4HYp0.html), and he was one of my favorite wrestlers from then on.
It was the same for me. But in my case he won me over during the Movie Star phase--the Mizdow run. That was the point at which he really started stepping it up.
Roman Reigns i hated the big dog stuff, but once he feuded with Jey Uso in 2020 especially the hell in a cell 2020 match made me finally become a fan of Roman Reigns
My answer would be Drew McIntyre, never really cared for him before, didn’t like how his heel run started but ever since he’s been on fire with this punk feud and he’s arguably doing the best work of his career
I never really liked Bayley till she came back with Damage Ctrl, she was amazing in nxt but her main roster run always left me with the feeling there was something missing and whatever that something was I think she found in the past few years
Whenever you decide to start watching an AEW match, may I suggest Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes (Double or Nothing, 2019). Incredibly emotional match featuring someone you're familiar with, and I've heard from many people irl who've told me that match made them a wrestling fan. To answer your question, it took me a while to come around and appreciate Kurt Angle and Trish Stratus. Thought they were superficial WWE products, but as the yrs went on, their dedication and talent became more apparent.
You watched Wrestlemania 40 live, right? Why aren't you uploading any videos specifically about it? I would love to see a different perspective about that mania from someone new to wrestling like me
My biggest turnaround has to be Sheamus. I thought he was so boring (mind you, this was 2014 and they had him in what seemed like an endless series of matches with Orton at the time) and I think the turnaround was probably...when he turned heel and got the mohawk? He really has some solid character work and I appreciate him as one of the stiffer workers in the company.
Not a huge wrestling video game fan! I am curious if you play MY GM on the wrestling games! I really enjoy that part of the wrestling games. This may sound stupid, it has really helped me learn the booking and stuff since I am also a very new fan!
@@Dporticus yes both me and my girlfriend who have recently got into the WWE have found a little overwhelming! The MY GM Mode has really helped us think ahead and learn about the WWE in real life is doing or trying to do with current storylines future storylines. If that makes any sense, lol 😂
I thought the rock sucked until I saw him at king of the ring 1998 and he impressed me with his performance. Not specifically the match, but his attitude as a heel finally got me in this one.
Wooooah my comment is the main event! Thanks for such an awesome answer man, you make a fantastic point. I myself have the EXACT reaction watching AEW a fair bit (though I’m a fan of both), and get frustrated when I see something negative that’s usually not even correct about the product. But you’re absolutely right, the impulse to get defensive is knee-jerk, and it’s definitely the minority. I personally see a lot of recycled opinions from major wrestling content creators like Jim Cornette, which I don’t take seriously as they aren’t really watching it and making up their mind they’re just hopping on a bandwagon (there’s legitimate criticism that’s level headed and reasonable but good luck finding that in RU-vid comments). Wrestling is better than it’s ever been and I think new fans like you are legitimately proving that, and I choose to focus on how much goddamn fun it is to watch everything. Dope video dude!
Have you watched any AEW? I’d suggest watching the Danielson vs. Ospreay from AEW Dynasty as it’s a must; also watch the CM Punk vs. MJF feud. Both are great. I’d also suggest the CM Punk vs. Darby Allen match from All Out 2021.
I think the wrestler that comes to mind is seth because back in 2014 when the shield broke up...I was like yooo seth a sell out, traitor!!!😂 but when he was in a match with triple h and then win the match and call yourself the kingslayer 😭🙏🏾ever since then I love Seth Freakin Rollins!!!!
sorry if youve already answerd this but do you know about the whole punk wwe aew drama saga its really fasciniating imo if you havent love to see/hear your thoughts on it
For me it was Roman, loved him in the shield but we they broke up it felt like he was EVERYWHERE and his character was boring. But when he announced he was leaving to fight cancer I snapped back into reality and realized his character isn’t really his fault. It still didn’t necessarily like him still but I found a new respect for his “big dog” with some underrated matches. But him returning during the pandemic…just pure cinema
I was actually at the show live when the crowd hijacked the Seth and Finn segment and I was very disappointed when it happened. Especially for me as a fan of Finn Balor
Santino merlla is one of those guys that took me a while to come around to. Kind of the comedy gimmicks in general. Now they are some of my favorites. Broun baker I think is gonna be one of those guys for me right now. I see the Tallent but he doesn't click for me yet.
I think I'll have the most unpopular opinion in the history of WWF/E fandom: I wasn't big on The Rock. His People's Elbow was ludicrous as a finisher even when I was 9-10 in the early 2000s. I stopped watching around Wrestlemania 30, when The Undertaker streak was broken and only came back for real this year (I had watched some Wrestlemanias as a standalone watch over the past 10 years, but not much more than that). His heel run this year sold me. Went back and watched many of his promos back then and the guy is incredible. Having to watch the Spanish dub also didn't help me back then, a lot is lost in translation.
I started watching wrestling in the 80s when I was a kid but stopped watching around 91. When I started watching again as a young adult in 97 a guy that I hated was Chris Jericho. I didn’t start to like him until around 2001 when he was teaming with Benoit vs Austin and HHH. After that I was a fan of his even if he was a heel. Though I think he should have retired around 2019. There are more guys like that but he’s one that comes to mind. Also RVD for some reason
If youre after a CM punk match CM Punk vs John Cena from Money in the Bank 2011 was awesome, Eddie Guerrero, Eddie vs Brock Lesnar from No Way Out 2004....in terms of tribalism, its stupid, enjoy both AEW and WWE if you like both of them
For me Gunther. I couldn’t get into him for the first part of his IC reign. But after Clash of the Castle 2022 i loved his work. Also, Breaking Benjamin hat? Just curious
John Cena, Austin Theory & The Miz I use to hate all of them. Cena won me over in 2018 when he became part-time because I started to miss him. It was like the main character of your favorite TV show leaving the show while it continued. Now I love him and I appreciate when he comes back. For Theory I can’t put my finger on what made me start to like him but he has it all to be the next guy. With Miz it was 2016 he had such a great run and I realized how good he actually was.
To answer your question. Roman Reigns. I absolutely loved him when he was in the SHIELD, but when they broke up and he was doing his solo thing, it did not work for me. His mic work was absolutely horrible and I could not get behind him. When the whole Tribal Chief/Bloodline stuff started, I thought it was going to flop, he started working with Paul Heyman and that's when it all clicked. Paul Heyman can turn any bad wrestler, into a Top Star, and that's exactly what he did with Roman Reigns. It took me awhile to get behind him when the Bloodline stuff started though, but I loved the story that surrounded it, and I actually started to acknowledge the Tribal Chief
Dean Ambrose. From the formation of The Shield all the way through their run and even during his "Lunatic Fringe" solo arc (we won't talk about gas mask Ambrose , getting shots in his ass on Raw) I was never fully into his character, it felt like he was working with constraints. And he was. I wasn't familiar with his CZW days or anything prior to The Shield, but the minute Jon Moxley came into AEW through the crowd, I could feel the difference. Been a massive fan of Moxley ever since. Side note on Tribalism: yeah, it's dumb. We have so much wrestling to consume these days, enjoy any of it that you want. Sam Roberts was preachin' when he said "As a wrestling fan, if your plate's not full right now, you don't know how a buffet works." 🤌
The only Tribalism we should acknowledge here is the Bloodline. 🤣 My Tribal Chief! ☝Anyway the wrestler I did not get into at first was Kenny Omega because they compared him to past bad asses such as Brian Pillman, but then again I grew to love his move set, feuds and great matches as he became my favorite modern day wrestler.
Sheamus for me. I started watching at the start of the PG era as embarrassing as it sounds, and when Sheamus got called up, I didn't feel his shtick at all. Especially his heel run. After taking a break from watching wrestling and then getting back into it just as the pandemic hit, I rewatched all his matches that I could scour, and with hindsight I realized how good he was. I was really hooked at the bar tag team and those bar fights he has with cesaro. Now he's one of my favorites of all time.
