Am I Just Burned Out?

[Black Iron PJ]

I've been watching wrestling for years, over 7 years of consuming the product. I've watched countless of other wrestling promotions, I've bought various shirts relating to a wrestler I like, follow them on Twitter. I've been passionately engaged in wrestling for nearly half my life. But a couple of months ago I had an epiphany while watching an episode of Raw and it was pretty simple.

I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of watching it, it just makes me sick. Raw and Smackdown are such sterile, lifeless shows that do not deserve my time of sitting through each episode in order to find something genuinely entertaining. I haven't tuned in to a thing in months. I didn't even watch the last PPV, and don't give a single fuck about the upcoming shows. WWE has done it, they have managed to turn Raw into the new Seinfield, a show about nothing. Nothing happens on Raw, nothing happens on Smackdown, oh sure, there are matches, segments that have things that happens, but it all means nothing in the end, anytime something does happens it's like a fucking miracle like "Oh god we have to replay that one moment over 600 times to emphasize that something did in fact happen and we should care about it."

I don't give a shit anymore it's not worth my fucking time to get so mildly annoyed by a 71 year old man's poor creative choices in trying to create a three hour show that I have to write an essay about how I would do it better when in the end none of it fucking matters. Roman Reigns beats the two top babyfaces on back to back Raws and it didn't matter, none of it matters anymore. Why get mad at somebody winning over somebody you like when they're just gonna win the next week.

It's honestly been refreshing how nice it is to have this much free time on me by not watching Raw anymore, no longer having to slog through 3 hours of just awful tv to find something good. My interests in wrestling are dead, maybe I am burned out but I just need a break. WWE will continue without me, I doubt my opinion holds any worth to them. They'll most likely make even more money in the future to come, while their main shows continue to decay more and more. Do I regret all the amount of time I've put into as a fan? God no, it's been a blast being a wrestling fan, meeting so many friends, and just learning a completely different creative process in making a story through watching. I've loved it, through the good, and the bad, but now I just don't want to bother being engaged to the product anymore. So lemme ask you guys, have you ever been burned out by wrestling before, what made you come back? Or conversely, what was the moment that made you stop watching?

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah RAW is fairly bad and SD is going to shit. I watch NXT and I am getting tempted by New Japan.

Ratings are in the shitter as well. Even on the network RAW is still 2 hours 20 mins.

I have watched some older PPVs with Wrestlemania just over 3 hours, PG era WWE matches and even some old WCW Nitros which were PG.

Its the booking is the prime culprit. If you have the network watch 1997 WCW or the Attitude era or NXT. Even 205 live might be better than RAW or at least the 1 hour duration helps.

 

[Aurtle The Turtle]

WWE is the worst it's been since the New Generation.

Awful week in and week out with the ocassional spark of hope in the form of talented wrestlers (Styles, Nakamura, Joe, etc.) Only for the booking to have no sense of progression or purpose for any of them.

 

[Black Wizard]

Yup, sounds like you're just burned out. I know that feeling, it ended up hitting me back in 2015 or so and I'm still there.

I started with missing a week here and there, to only watching the PPVs, and basically I'm at the point where I watch the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. And I'm usually not even that interested in those anymore. WWE just kept slowly losing my interest with poor booking decisions, uninspired creative stuff and I just completely stopped caring about the product. And every time I've tried to go back and give it another shot, it's even worse than I remember. Was so bad it killed my interest in wrestling as a whole, have watched nothing from NXT or pretty much any other promotion in quite some time.

 

[Jeffry Mason]

I've been watching wrestling for years, over 7 years of consuming the product. I've watched countless of other wrestling promotions, I've bought various shirts relating to a wrestler I like, follow them on Twitter. I've been passionately engaged in wrestling for nearly half my life. But a couple of months ago I had an epiphany while watching an episode of Raw and it was pretty simple.

I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of watching it, it just makes me sick. Raw and Smackdown are such sterile, lifeless shows that do not deserve my time of sitting through each episode in order to find something genuinely entertaining. I haven't tuned in to a thing in months. I didn't even watch the last PPV, and don't give a single fuck about the upcoming shows. WWE has done it, they have managed to turn Raw into the new Seinfield, a show about nothing. Nothing happens on Raw, nothing happens on Smackdown, oh sure, there are matches, segments that have things that happens, but it all means nothing in the end, anytime something does happens it's like a fucking miracle like "Oh god we have to replay that one moment over 600 times to emphasize that something did in fact happen and we should care about it."

I don't give a shit anymore it's not worth my fucking time to get so mildly annoyed by a 71 year old man's poor creative choices in trying to create a three hour show that I have to write an essay about how I would do it better when in the end none of it fucking matters. Roman Reigns beats the two top babyfaces on back to back Raws and it didn't matter, none of it matters anymore. Why get mad at somebody winning over somebody you like when they're just gonna win the next week.

It's honestly been refreshing how nice it is to have this much free time on me by not watching Raw anymore, no longer having to slog through 3 hours of just awful tv to find something good. My interests in wrestling are dead, maybe I am burned out but I just need a break. WWE will continue without me, I doubt my opinion holds any worth to them. They'll most likely make even more money in the future to come, while their main shows continue to decay more and more. Do I regret all the amount of time I've put into as a fan? God no, it's been a blast being a wrestling fan, meeting so many friends, and just learning a completely different creative process in making a story through watching. I've loved it, through the good, and the bad, but now I just don't want to bother being engaged to the product anymore. So lemme ask you guys, have you ever been burned out by wrestling before, what made you come back? Or conversely, what was the moment that made you stop watching?

Man, I have been telling you this exact thing for close to a year now. Just join me in being a super anti-WWE pro-alternatives guy already. It's fun, I promise. I MAY even mail you a membership card to put in your wallet

In all seriousness though, I understand exactly what you are saying, as I'm sure you're aware. What you described above is how I felt a year and a half ago, and your statement toward the end about (paraphrasing here) being happy to no longer force yourself through 8 hours of terrible WWE television a week just to find MAYBE 20 minutes of mildly entertaining product. One can only manage to watch WWE for so many years before they realize it is more of a chore than actual entertainment.

You mentioned watching other promotions, as you and I have talked about in the past, but this entire rant was almost 100% directed at WWE. Have you tried any alternatives lately? Are you willing to try alternatives? Or is it professional wrestling as a whole that you have grown tired of? My feeling is that just because someone didn't enjoy Titanic doesn't mean they won't enjoy any other movie. WWE is possibly at an all time low right now, but the rest of the wrestling world is soaring pretty high. You know I'm here any time to talk about this shit with you dude, public or private, just hit me up

 

[Zardnaar]

NXT is still good, old RAW is goods, hell if you have not tried it I have watched a couple of WCW nitros from 1997 and did not hate it.

I'll watch something new if there is a free trial or whatever.

 

[Mike Thunder]

I've been watching wrestling for years, over 7 years of consuming the product. I've watched countless of other wrestling promotions, I've bought various shirts relating to a wrestler I like, follow them on Twitter. I've been passionately engaged in wrestling for nearly half my life. But a couple of months ago I had an epiphany while watching an episode of Raw and it was pretty simple.

I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of watching it, it just makes me sick. Raw and Smackdown are such sterile, lifeless shows that do not deserve my time of sitting through each episode in order to find something genuinely entertaining. I haven't tuned in to a thing in months. I didn't even watch the last PPV, and don't give a single fuck about the upcoming shows. WWE has done it, they have managed to turn Raw into the new Seinfield, a show about nothing. Nothing happens on Raw, nothing happens on Smackdown, oh sure, there are matches, segments that have things that happens, but it all means nothing in the end, anytime something does happens it's like a fucking miracle like "Oh god we have to replay that one moment over 600 times to emphasize that something did in fact happen and we should care about it."

I don't give a shit anymore it's not worth my fucking time to get so mildly annoyed by a 71 year old man's poor creative choices in trying to create a three hour show that I have to write an essay about how I would do it better when in the end none of it fucking matters. Roman Reigns beats the two top babyfaces on back to back Raws and it didn't matter, none of it matters anymore. Why get mad at somebody winning over somebody you like when they're just gonna win the next week.

It's honestly been refreshing how nice it is to have this much free time on me by not watching Raw anymore, no longer having to slog through 3 hours of just awful tv to find something good. My interests in wrestling are dead, maybe I am burned out but I just need a break. WWE will continue without me, I doubt my opinion holds any worth to them. They'll most likely make even more money in the future to come, while their main shows continue to decay more and more. Do I regret all the amount of time I've put into as a fan? God no, it's been a blast being a wrestling fan, meeting so many friends, and just learning a completely different creative process in making a story through watching. I've loved it, through the good, and the bad, but now I just don't want to bother being engaged to the product anymore. So lemme ask you guys, have you ever been burned out by wrestling before, what made you come back? Or conversely, what was the moment that made you stop watching?

Just watch something else. NXT, NJPW, ROH, Progress, Lucha Underground, Impact Wrestling, EVOLVE, PWG, CZW, ICW, CHIKARA, DDT, AJPW, Beyond Wrestling, CMLL, AAA, CWF Mid-Atlantic, WCPW, RevPro, etc. There's just so much good wrestling right now.

 

[Zardnaar]

WWE is the worst it's been since the New Generation.

Awful week in and week out with the ocassional spark of hope in the form of talented wrestlers (Styles, Nakamura, Joe, etc.) Only for the booking to have no sense of progression or purpose for any of them.

Might actually be worse. New Generation still had Owen/Bret Hart, Razor Ramone, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and there were some really good events like Wrestlemania X.

 

[Jeffry Mason]

WCPW

good wrestling

^This is the reason you get a disagree from me . Other than that, I more or less support what you posted

 

[Zardnaar]

WCPW any good? They are doing a free week.

 

[Jeffry Mason]

WCPW any good? They are doing a free week.

No. Don't support those clickbait money-marks. Watch and support almost literally any other promotion

 

[Mike Thunder]

^This is the reason you get a disagree from me :emoji_stuck_out_tongue:. Other than that, I more or less support what you posted

I am not really a fan of WCPW either but I wanted to give him a good variety of alternatives.

 

[Zardnaar]

No. Don't support those clickbait money-marks. Watch and support almost literally any other promotion

I have watched a couple of their matches, they were decent enough but I keep hearing about Okada/Omega in Japan. I'm not asking if you like WCPW just is the wrestling/storylines any good.

I would watch almost any of them for free to try them out and then would be willing to subscribe or pay for the occasional PPV.. I'm not in the US so realistically its New Japan, WWE, WCPW, not sure about Impact, RoH, PWG, the Mexican one which I have also heard about.

 

[Jeffry Mason]

I have watched a couple of their matches, they were decent enough but I keep hearing about Okada/Omega in Japan. I'm not asking if you like WCPW just is the wrestling/storylines any good.

I would watch almost any of them for free to try them out and then would be willing to subscribe or pay for the occasional PPV.. I'm not in the US so realistically its New Japan, WWE, WCPW, not sure about Impact, RoH, PWG, the Mexican one which I have also heard about.

Basically any of the wrestlers that are worth half a shit you can see elsewhere. As for the storylines, probably trash since the promotion is literally just run by a few fans who got a bunch of money by making clickbait wrestling videos on Youtube and decided to open a company. That's about the most objective opinion of that company you will get from me.

I'm not sure whether they have a free trial or not, but I would highly recommend the Highspots Network if it's available in your country. Has a ton of promotions from all over the place, a ton of shoot interviews and such, and just a whole ton of wrestling content. Unless I'm mistaken, it's the same price as the WWE Network, for price comparison. You can see if they have some sort of trial, but if not, it's still totally worth it imo to just pay for a month and try out a ton of different companies and find what you enjoy. (Most of this applies to OP PJ too, btw )

 

[Solid Snake]

No offense to anyone who is currently enjoying anything the WWE is doing, but most of what they are doing is mediocre at best. I follow it, I watch short recaps, but I don't watch full shows and haven't in a long time. I watch Mania and the Royal Rumble (my personal favorite). They are ruining the womens division, wasting amazing talent, and booking such repetitive matches it is no wonder people are getting bored with it. I will rewatch certain parts if they sound great but that is about it. It isn't just you, I think a lot of people are burned out on it. At this point, you are better off watching Japan if you want good wrestling shows.