Those of you watched pro wrestling from the late 1990s, how did your families react to the content?

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asiangunner@reddit

I watched it in the 80s(in the United States).My immigrant parents didn't care but they were too busy working to really monitor us. Eventually grew out of it in the early 90s before I got into high school.

I was friends with nerds/geeks in high school but high school kids who were into the WWE/WCW seemed super cringe back then. I had high school buddies who would quote wrestling lines all the time. I still run into them occasionally and they still quote that shit in their 40s.

I do remember my baby sister's nanny loved watching it. I think she loved the spectacle and over-the-tap nature of it.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

I had high school buddies who would quote wrestling lines all the time. I still run into them occasionally and they still quote that shit in their 40s.

🤦😆

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SabresBills69@reddit

I watched some if around the mid 80s when I was a teen. we coukd see it on Saturday mornings/ early afternoon. it was then WWF before thry had to change to WWE— trademark issue with WWF ( world wildlife fund).

At that time you started seeing pay per view events of wrestlemania

I never went to a match , never followed much after the 80s

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

That started when org came out on the internet. WWF wanted both dot com and dot org because someone might type the wrong one.

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SabresBills69@reddit

it was going on for years before the internet came out. WWF was established before wrestling rebranded iyptself inn1979 from a prior name but WWF was well established and know Trademark. A British court ruled in world wildlife favor

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

It didn't change in the US until those designations.

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New-Process-52@reddit

Wow

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OpposumMyPossum@reddit

I was a nanny and it was way too inappropriate and I didn't let the kids watch it. (They got 30 minutes of TV a day and all had to agree on the show! Feels like a long time ago)

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

I babysat a couple of kids for a a little bit. I let them watch what they were allowed to watch at home the first day. Second day, BRAT TV was not allowed at my house. Day 3, the mom said their dad says they have to watch those shows. I knew dad wasn't working. I told them get back in the car, looks like your dad is watching you. We had a good time doing crafts.

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Adorable_Dust3799@reddit

My hubby and boys watched, i rolled my eyes but didn't spoil their fun. It definitely wasn't any worse than my soap was.

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PsychoFaerie@reddit

I watched it with dad starting in the early 90's and still keep up with it.

Dad loved it.. and mom watched it but not as much.. they didn't care about the content as I'd already been watching stuff like Heavy Metal Rocky Horror Picture Show and Halloween...

I only went to a house show once.. never did get tickets to a Raw or PPV.

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TALieutenant@reddit

Been watching since the late 80s. My parents didn't like that my brother and I watched it, but they didn't make us turn it off either.

Dad actually went to a couple live shows with us...mostly because they were all 3 hours away. (I live in the Portland, Oregon area and due to issues with the state athletic commission/government, neither WWE/F nor WCW came here from about 1993 to 2003. Now, we get one show a year.)

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RelevantJackWhite@reddit

I was not allowed to watch WWF/WCW as a kid in the 90s

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Danibear285@reddit

Likewise. My mom thought it was “too violent and aggressive” for me at the age of 4.

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Mountain_Man_88@reddit

I wasn't either. Various westerns and war movies were fine but wrestling was too much because it would have been too easy for me and my siblings to copy.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Thus began OPs lifelong quest to steal working wwii aircraft

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Danibear285@reddit

Never allowed in the home

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voltairesalias@reddit

Not American, but I met the Hart family as a kid because members of their family would wrestle at my town's annual rodeo in Alberta, Canada and a lot of them would attend (I met Brett, Owen, Stu, Bruce and Keith - yes, I'm dating myself). Owen was literally practicing his lines in a room at the curling rink where the wrestling venue was held - and witnessing that was the moment I realized all of it was fake. I was so heart broken to learn that as a kid.

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Im_Not_Nick_Fisher@reddit

Had a relative who would record wrestling matches for me back in the day of the VCR. And he would give me the tapes as a sort of prize for getting good grades.

But I grew up in east Orlando, not far from the Eddie Graham sports complex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Sports_Stadium

They hosted lots of events, including wrestling. I believe it was championship wrestling, or a smaller league. The type of wrestling with the tables and barbed wire was commonly used. As a kid we would basically sneak in the events. Watched lots of wrestling, concerts and big events that were held there. Used to watch WWF and WCW. Went to a few live events in Orlando. I’m pretty sure some were large pay per view type of events. This would have been the mid 90s. I went with some friends and had some seats way at the top. But after a few matches we noticed some empty seats closer to the front and made our way to them. It was a good time.

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FlyByPC@reddit

Weirdly, nobody in my family or any of my friends have ever been interested in WWE. I'm really not sure who is. It's less believable than Saturday morning cartoons.

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Antitenant@reddit

As a kid of the Attitude Era I can say there were moments where my parents thought there was some questionable content on TV, but also they took me to a few events when they were in my area and I had some video games too. They started watching it a little because of my interest, but not every week like I was.

In school, on the other hand, kids definitely got in trouble for making DX hand gestures or play wrestling during recess.

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IAMAHORSESIZEDUCK@reddit

You most likely watched it on WTBS out of Atlanta which is where I'm from. My older sister worked there as a camera operator so I got to go to a few times and hang out backstage. Those guys got along so well. They were all big buddies.

Me and my friends watched it religiously and when I turned 18 (drinking age for that time) we would go to Stewart Ave and hang out at the bars with them.

Stewart Ave was a street full of bars and strip joints. They were all there, Rick Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Mr Wrestling 1 & 2 just to name a few.

One time I was sitting at the bar with Andre The Giant and he let me try on his ring. I could get 2 fingers in it. LOL. I've heard people claim he was a jerk but he was always nice and friendly whenever I saw him. Those were fun times!

When Tommy Wildfire Rich was just coming up I used to see him at a meat and three restaurant in Atlanta. It was run by a retired wrestler and some big names could be seen there from time to time.

Then a couple of years later I saw him wrestling and he was about twice the size he was at the restaurant. Steroids I guess?

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Mystery_Donut@reddit

I was an adult then. My dad loved it and he still watches sometimes.

My mom was a huge fan in the 70s and 80s and would take us all the time.

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K_N0RRIS@reddit

My dad was the one who got me into watching it (1998 ish?) I started out watching during the Stone Cold era of Raw

My mom thought it was ridiculous

My uncle took me and my cousins to a PPV event one time (No Mercy 2000?)

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Adjective-Noun123456@reddit

My parents were fans.

Tatanka, apparently, used to hit on my mom. While she was pregnant.

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Suppafly@reddit

Born in the 80s, used to watch wrestling with my dad but mostly grew out of it by my early teens and never really could understand teens and adults that enjoyed it, but whatever, different strokes for different folks.

I suppose I had mostly stopped watching before the gore/racy sequences you're thinking of, but I don't really anyone caring about that stuff or being offended by it. Maybe super religious people, but they wouldn't be watching wrestling in the first place.

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ScarletDarkstar@reddit

My brother watched it occasionally, and the rest of us thought it was incredibly stupid. I really wouldn't have known if they pulled racy stunts because I couldn't be bothered to watch it for long. Latex looking costumes on oily growling wrestlers didn't impress me and still doesn't.

I don't recall my Mom forbidding it or anything, but I'm sure she didn't watch it either.

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

Not WWE as I am a bit older but my brother and I could watch what we wanted as long as other kids weren't over. This included HBO after dark. We also had a bullwhip we could play with in the garage as long as no one else was over. (Adults or kids). I totally see the logic of the second one.

We had one set of rules for us and another set when we had company.

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PilotDragon214@reddit

My mom thought it was stupid and hated it, but she didn't outright ban it. She usually wasn't home when it was on, anyway. My dad thought it was stupid but kind of funny and usually let us watch it, unless there was something else on TV he wanted to watch. My siblings and I always begged to go to a live event (they did house shows fairly often in a bigger town about 40 miles away) and for PPV, but it never happened.

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Intelligent-Invite79@reddit

My mom hated it because of the divas, I had Lita pinned up all over my walls lol.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

How old were you my guy? Best comment so far. Sure appreciate the candour. Lol.

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Intelligent-Invite79@reddit

I was like 15 or 16 lol. I remember putting a new poster up and she walked and just went, “another one?!” lol.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

Seems you may have been a popular goofball in school. I never dared ask for any merch/posters and had grown out of it when I was earning, so your Mom sounds fun.

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Intelligent-Invite79@reddit

Yeah man! Not super popular, just my group of buddies, we were with the skaters and whatnot. I guess folks knew us, but we weren’t the rich or super popular kids for sure.

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HotButteredPoptart@reddit

I used to watch WCW. My grandmother was a huge fan and would buy all the pay-per-views.

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GOTaSMALL1@reddit

So after Andre the Giant?

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MarsupialPresent7700@reddit

My mom had been a wrestling fan for decades by the time I started watching it. She didn’t care so long as I didn’t get in trouble at school by repeating what I saw/heard.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

Do you recall what year it was or the rough time frame? How close to the wrestlers were your seats? And did you meet any wrestlers backstage or something?

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MarsupialPresent7700@reddit

It had to be 01 or 02. They had a lot of the “B” team there. The Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz had a match. Lita and Trish had a scrap. Wanna say Val Venis vs some other miscarder to…?

But what I remember clearly was at the very end of the night The Rock showed up and just farmed aura and it was glorious. Didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything, just stood at the ring posts like the glorious People’s Champion that he was.

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Enough-Moose-5816@reddit

Pro wrestling was always considered a soap opera for men and was viewed as D-U-M-B.

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zoppaTheDim@reddit

“What kind of a moron watches this?”

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TesticularNeckbeard@reddit

Watched in the 80s and early 90s. Dad hated it and pointed out it was fake every time it was on, but I was allowed to watch as long as he didn’t want the tv.

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MyWorldTalkRadio@reddit

I started watching during the Monday Night Wars. Admittedly I was more of a WCW guy but the NWO/NWO Wolfpack/LWO circle jerk started to get old quickly and I switched to WWF during the attitude era. I watched very regularly until I started noticing the circle jerk of content when Kurt Angle sprayed Steve Austin with milk, mimicking Austin having previously sprayed the Corporation with beer. It was a great time for a while, I watched Mankind get thrown off the steel cage by the Undertaker, my teenage eyes ogled Sable and Lita… I walked around yelling Suck It and asking my friends if they smelled what the Rock was cooking. My parents seemed to chalk it up to just boys being boys and giving me some space during my teenage years. I quickly got out of watching it every week and didn’t really come back to it until just before the pandemic. The women’s division is amazing now although the overall product is kind of garbage. Too many commercials, not enough wrestling, and the men’s division needs a real overhaul. I’m excited about Rhea Ripley still but my current favorite is Sol Ruca, the Sol Snatcher is the most amazing signature finishing move I’ve ever seen. If I had kids I’d let them watch then or now.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

walked around yelling Suck It and asking my friends if they smelled what the Rock was cooking

Lol. My interests revolved with time, sometimes cartoons, sometimes sports, sometimes WWE. But yes, a lot of my friends and I were devoted fans and discussed it at length in school or at the playground. I never tried aping dialogues in any social situations though, not sure how that would fly at school haha.

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AshySlashy11@reddit

Started watching wrestling in 1997 because my whole family did. We watched every telecast and they took me to my first live event when I was 9 or 10. They bought me merch and dvds, supported my childhood dream of training to be a wrestler. These days, I'm directly involved in pro wrestling (not a wrestler, though), and my family is still supportive.

The content was never even addressed, as far as being appropriate or not. The whole premise is violence for entertainment, so to then start clutching pearls over the rest of the show seems silly.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

May I ask what capacity and how do you like the work?

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AshySlashy11@reddit

I am part of a team that helps run a mid sized local promotion (Indy Wrestling)! It's definitely a passion project type situation, there is very, very little money in it, and that money goes directly back into the budget to keep the show running. We keep it alive to keep it alive, if that makes sense.

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ColoradoCattleCo@reddit

Pro wrestling might be the stupidest thing ever invented by America. I can’t believe they actually do some stuff on ESPN about it now.

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Se7enJohnDoefanatic@reddit (OP)

As a child not from the Anglosphere, I found the promos and some other antics dumb even back then. But I still watched it as I liked the acrobatics and entrance music. Lots of my peers watched it too.

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ColoradoCattleCo@reddit

Each to their own. But sometimes, I feel like the absolutely worst parts of our culture are widely exported. From war to the Kardashians… and complete morons running every aspect.

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CounterObjective2347@reddit

Watched it all throughout the 90’s until 2001. I’d usually watch it with my dad while my mom would kind of roll her eyes and do something else lol.

But once the attitude era started, my dad would always say “this is getting ridiculous” and mainly watched WCW since Nitro and Raw were on at the same time.

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BudgetThat2096@reddit

My half brothers and their dad loved it, he had a bunch old action figures as a kid and passed them down to my brothers. Owned Mankind's book, his replica mask, they watched it almost every time it came on. They quoted The Rock and would wrestle with each other a lot lol

I never really cared for it, I thought it was really weird

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RedReaper666YT@reddit

Dad would sit down next to me and ask when Undertaker was gonna wrestle. Mom would go in the kitchen, grumble under her breath, and bang shit around until the show was over

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Courwes@reddit

My parents didn’t care it was no interest to them.

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charlies-ghost@reddit

My family used to watch WWE every Monday night during dinner. I was a big fan of Degeneration X.

My parents didn't have a problem with the plot-line where Triple H drops a cinderblock on Stone Cold Steve Austin's head, but Trish Status and Stacey Kibler sharing a staged kiss was just too much. We weren't allowed to watch it anymore.

If you like WWE, you'll love this 11-year-old documentary about the rise and fall of Triple-H.

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yyythoo@reddit

Was not allowed to watch it as a child in the 90s. But my brother and I would sneak watch it every week, it was our favorite thing. We weren’t allowed to watch it because we would then do the moves on each other

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Zestyclose-Feeling@reddit

They rolled their eyes at it, like most kids things.

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hobocat76@reddit

My dad watched it with my brother and I lol. He grew up on wrestling as a kid. So we'd watch RAW every Monday night. It was always a good time, and would sometimes evolve into wrestling matches against dad. Between that and watching Dragon Ball Z with him they are some of my fondest memories with my dad as a kid.

My mom didn't mind, she didn't watch it but she was never upset that we watched it.

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Aggravating-Key-8867@reddit

I watched in the early 90s as a 6 and 7 year old. I stopped watching for awhile, but started again during the Attitude Era for WWF. This was when all the promotions (WWF, WCW, and ECW) were trying to out-do each other for who was the edgiest. A lot of my friends were into wrestling as well.

My parents didn't watch wrestling and figured that if it was on basic cable then it was ok for me to watch. I was never allowed to order the PPVs - we didn't have enough money.

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Verbz@reddit

My dad always laughed at it. Called it fake. Pointed out that the wrestlers were helping their opponents execute their moves. He thought it was silly but didn't care too much that we watched.

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kinnikinnick321@reddit

Watched it purely for entertainment. There was a percentage of folks who took the matches really seriously from a fan perspective, I had some relatives who were very into it. I can't recall what or when but there were some telling interviews with some of the stars that it all staged but almost all of the ring activities were fairly physical and many did get physically injured temp. or permanently.

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sackofblood@reddit

My mom got mad at me when I copied The Rock and yelled "give me some of that poontang pie!"

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Zappagrrl02@reddit

My mom didn’t care. She didn’t really watch it with us. She wouldn’t pay for the pay-per-views though. We had to pay her for those.

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caveat_emptor817@reddit

I watched it religiously. My mom didn’t care, my dad didn’t care. My stepmom actually loved it and watched it with me (especially when the Rock made an appearance). My dad would tease us but I think he was mostly just happy that she and I had something to bond over. And my dad once came home from work with an Austin 3:16 shirt for me and I was so fired up.

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It was high drama for an 8 year old.