Would you ever completely quit watching WWE Raw/SmackDown? If so, why?
I stopped watching completely from mid 2010 until 2014. I felt like nothing was happening on tv, and the characters I was most invested in at the time (Michaels, Batista, Jericho) all left the company that year, so keeping up with WWE tv felt like a chore at that point, one not particularly worth my time.
Whenever we get a bad show these days, I just think back to the special guest hosts, and main event programs between John Cena and Sheamus, or Jack Swagger and Big Show, and remember that things could be a lot worse.
I could never stop. As irritating and boring as it gets sometimes, I love wrestling too much.
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Katie Vick caused me to turn it off for a long time. I still followed a bit through a few forums. I decided to turn it on and was greeted with the Pipe Bomb episode. I am to the point of dropping it again. Not happy with the direction or the use of most of the wrestlers and there are way to many I do not care about at all.
I stopped watching when I was in college, from about 2006-2012… I don’t think I will, but man, does that FF button become invaluable at times these days.
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Stop completely no but now a days don’t watch it live as much anymore. I listen to the reviews and if anything is worth watching go back and watch it.
I’m seriously considering it. 5 hours a week suddenly freed up? Tempting.
If there is an interesting story line going on, I’ll fast forward most of the episodes to just see those parts. I just keep up with the podcasts to know if I need to start tuning in for anything. This week I didn’t bother watching either show.
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I gave up for years during the reign of Super Cena. The Rock returning and CM Punk brought me back. I find it increasingly challenging to watch RAW live on a weekly basis so I’ve been more inclined to check out the “condensed” Smackdown.
I’ve always kept up with the product through the efforts of John & Wai. I can recall “scramble-vision” during the infancy of PPV, I’d just listen to JR & The King commentate. With our current commentators I would never be able to do such a thing so I’m always grateful to listen to the podcasts to keep informed.
There is a whole thread about taking a break from pro-wrestling with a lot of comments on when and why people have taken a break before. https://forum.postwrestling.com/t/times-you-took-a-long-break-from-following-wrestling/1877
I do think this question is slightly different though. Because right now Yes, I have completely quit watching WWE Raw and Smackdown.
And the reason is because in total those are five hours a week which I don’t have to watch wrestling. Between work, sleep, family time, working out, cooking, errands, etc I maybe have one-two hours of free time a night. My wife is even a fan of WWE but there is no way we are going to spend all night every day keeping up with Raw and Smackdown.
WWE makes everything good and important available on Twitter and YouTube. I can keep up with the product entirely through social media in 30 minutes a week and be ready for the next PPV (which we do watch). The stuff on social media is normally better than what’s on the show anyway! Most of the wrestlers put more effort into their funny instagram videos than WWE does their weekly promos.
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I haven’t watched raw or smackdown in years, I was finding them both incredibly dull, stale and repetitive and was skipping through 90% of the shows. The monthly ppvs is more then enough WWE for me.
After coming back into wrestling a few years ago I’ve basically gone back to not watching the main shows. I was doing the whole shows, then hulu cuts and now I just do the recaps. I just don’t have the time for 5 hours of just ok wrestling content. Especially given how much of it ends up Twitter or YT, any big high light I can get there.
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Personally, I’m thinking about stopping watching Raw right now, i already only watch 2 hours anyway and that’s mostly because they’re nothing else on TV right now but once my shows comeback in the Fall i probably stop watching Raw and only watch smackdown mostly because i enjoy watching Smackdown a lot more then Raw anyway. But i wouldn’t be able to completely stop watching WWE as a whole
I’ve stopped watching RAW and Smackdown now (mainly because I’ve moved out and don’t have Sky Sports anymore). I catch up on highlights through YouTube and of course, through the post reviews.
It’s really quite nice freeing up 5+ hours each week for a show that lets me down too much these days. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy WWE though, but I couldn’t justify the time each week for RAW and Smackdown. NXT and PPV’s will do me for now.
For me it’s that I am too invested in following it and watching it is the only way I can have my own opinion
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When was the last time on RAW or Smackdown have done anything that was must watch TV?
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By coincidence (as it relates to this thread), I decided this week to stop watching Raw and Smackdown on Monday/Tuesday nights. Based on John and Wai’s reviews and whatever else I picked up from this board, Twitter, etc., I went back into the DVR and watched Owens/Rollins from Monday night and Styles/Nakamura from Tuesday night. A total of about 30-40 minutes including the fast-forwarding time
To be fair, it also helped that these were taped shows and I was able to look at recaps/results before they aired. But I think I’m still “plugged in” enough that I’ll hear through the grapevine if there’s a good reason for me to tune in live.
I stopped around 07/08. Product was horrible. I kept up with the LAW so I knew what was going on. Just didn’t watch. Really hadn’t watched any until a couple years ago. Even then I only watch certain shit on YouTube after hearing about it here.
I don’t fully watch the shows, just listen to John & Wai and watch highlights. I don’t have the free time to sit and watch 5 hours of wrestling these days. Even when I really want to watch a show I struggle to get it in, it took me several sittings to watch the whole of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
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I stopped when they left TSN and went to The Score, I didn’t have The Score, and now I don’t have cable…
John and Wai keep me up to date, and I watch PPVs when they look appealing on the Network.