Guys, I'm afraid I like wrestling again.

A couple weeks ago I spent a Saturday at a buddy's place playing Singstar ABBA, watching bad action movies, taking turns killingeachother, and racing to the bottom of a couple cases of beer. After singing, venturing to a nearby bar, climbing into an abandoned boat, then venturing back for a couple more songs, I found myself being shown the best matches of the previous week's episodes of RAW and SmackDown, and liking it.

My friend and I were both surprised how enjoyable it was, and talked about watching it seriously again. He and I both grew up on it and fell out of love at some point during that period where you either become Dan Ryckert or a well adjusted human being. I haven't actively watched wrestling in, probably, over a decade. I have some friends who are extremely casual fans, and I'm a fan of this website, so I've heard things about how it's changed over the years, but haven't really watched a match since I quit back around 2005 or 2006.

Last night I was laying on my couch around 7:30pm thinking about starting up a movie. I flipped through the relatively few channels I actually get to see if any movies were about to come on. I had watched several movies over the weekend and ended up pretty disappointed by all of them. I thought about how I wanted to watch something I knew I'd enjoy. And then I spotted it. WWE RAW.

"Well, shit. I have an evening to kill."

Three shockingly bearable hours later I started thinking about how I kind of want to figure out a way to tune into SmackDown despite not even having the SciFi channel, how I kind of want to see Fastlane, how I'll definitely want to see Wrestlemania, and how enticing WWE Network suddenly sounds.

"Next month is free for new subscribers, you say? Well, I'm kind of wasting money to not take advantage of that."

This afternoon I spent a solid half hour on Comcast's website seeing how much more it'd cost me to upgrade my cable package to include SciFi. It's only ten more bucks a month and I get pretty much every channel I've ever missed having, and more. I could watch regular season NBA games again. I could watch It's Always Sunny as it airs. I could continue not giving a shit about Walking Dead, but this time have the option to actively ignore it. I could spend six hours every week for the rest of my life watching big, sweaty dudes beat the life out of themselves.

Guys, I'm afraid I like wrestling again.

one of us

I was in the exact same position a few months ago. I became... one of them. NXT is absolutely amazing. FINN BALOR

And this is why, despite their personal beliefs, parents need to vaccinate their children.

gobbledy gooker gobbledy gooker

The WWE network is worth it for NXT alone. Be aware that the Free subscription offer only covers the rest of February, so on March 1 you'll be charged the 9.99 - cancelling is nice and easy, though.

I wouldn't go out of your way to get SyFy just for Smackdown, it's just not really a show worth watching. If you're looking at adding new networks for wrestling, though, might I recommend El Rey for Lucha Underground (best wrestling show on TV right now) and AXS for their New Japan Pro Wrestling show - specific matches over the last couple of years with amazing English commentary (though it's just a 13 episode run that they're about half way through now, no word on if they're going to do more) .

Don't be afraid. Embrace your desires...and join us in the wrestling thread!

I'm so, so sorry to hear that.

But since you're already here... welcome back.

If you watched the literal worst wrestling and decided that you like it again, you either actually hate wrestling or are about to find out that you really love it. Do yourself a favor and start watching NXT. And while you're upgrading your cable package, make you sure you get the El Rey network too and start watching Lucha Underground.

"That's why I love wrestling"
- Mike Haggar

FYI: I thought WWE Network was good value for the money. Especially if you're an old-school wrestling fan, since they had a crapload of old PPV's and episodes of NWO era Nitro, to name a few.

Hell, Striker said to go ahead and watch it online if you have to during one of the goddamn episodes.

NXT + Lucha Underground viewing = Happy wrestling fans.

Hoodslam sells its shows online so a friend and I have Been digging deep on that for some great small dude acrobatics and just silly Mayor Of Universe fun

embrace the darkness

Welcome to the club.

I'd definitely recommend checking out NXT on the network since you've got it, they just did a live special last week and the main events were great.

NXT, NJPW, and Lucha Underground are all pretty fun. With every passing year, Vince McMahon's Tongan deathgrip over WWE loosens. We'll eventually get a better product someday, so it's a fascinating transitional period to watch.

Gabba gabba we accept you

Loved it as a kid. Got way out of it through high school and college. Got way back into it late last year.

Signed up for the Network and started watching a bunch of early-2000's PPVs on top of NXT and current WWE programming.

It's whatever. I'm not ashamed of it. Happy to have something old-that's-new-again to occupy my free time with.

Welcome home. As a friend of mine once said, "Everyone goes through that dark period in their life where they stop watching wrestling." Be sure to join us in the official wrestling thread, it's a fun place to hang out whether the shows are great or terrible!

It's funny because WWE is kinda bad right now, so if this seems worthwhile to you, just wait until they start hitting a good cycle again. But like others have said, then Network is definitely worth it. Tons of good stuff on there both old and new (ie NXT).

I have never cared for wrestling before in my life. Tried watching it when I was about 10 and it didn't take. Because of the Power Bombcast....I now find myself wanting to watch at least the PPVs, as I watched the Royal Rumble last month, and now I'm even debating on skipping the UFC event on Sunday in favor of the WWE PPV....what the hell is happening to me?

Dude dont bother with Smackdown, literally NOTHING happens on that thing. Its like on the same level as 'Main Event' and 'Superstars'.

NXT however, is the best thing WWE puts out by a country mile.

Welcome to the jungle!

@thunderstorm101: If anything Main Event has more value than Smackdown because it just usually has 1 or 2 good matches

I kinda like wresting myself, though personally I prefer boxing. I;m on a boxing team,

I'm in the same boat dude. But holy hell, NXT is so much better than WWE. I wish the weekly shows were maybe 30 minutes longer though but main WWE wrestling is just boring. I do like the dumb promos and story lines though.

@hatking: People have already mentioned NXT so I'll suggest you go back and watch NXT: Arrival from Feb of last year. It was The First live show to air on the network and its a good place to start with NXT. You could probably watch all four NXT live shows and get caught up on all the current storylines.

The Network can be a bit cumbersome so just look for "NXT TakeOver" in the title.

Hey man nothing wrong with like something terrible. Something so, so, SO ridiculously terrible ;)

A shame all of the disastrous WWE Network UK/Sky stuff resulted in live Main Event being pulled from the Network and new episodes added being almost a month behind.

If you want to watch NXT but dont want to get the network its on hulu plus as well.

Good for you. I don't watch anymore, but I have a soft spot for it. I actively wrestled in a very small, very short lived amateur university league in the late 90s. We had one show in the auxiliary gymnasium on floor mats with no ropes that we didn't expect anyone to show up to, and then were completely stunned when half the university showed up, many very drunk. It was absolutely amazing. The last match, this one guy power bombed this other guy through a table we'd weakened, only it wasn't weakened enough and instead the legs gave out and the whole thing collapsed and made the hugest noise and everyone was on their feet screaming. Complete insanity. We were forced to disband by the university when one guy broke his arm. It's really a more respectable form of entertainment than many give it credit for. It might not be a real sport exactly, but it's a fucking hard-ass job. I respect anyone willing to threaten life and limb just to entertain.

If you already enjoy singing ABBA and watching bad movies, it's only natural that you'd get into WWE next.

@sinusoidal: Totally. My friend made the point that a lot of these dudes are more athletic than most 'real' athletes, and I think that's a totally fair statement.

@dizzyhippos: Yeah, I think my plan for now is to watch RAW live, since that's not costing me anything extra, and catch the other stuff on Hulu Plus for a couple weeks. We'll see how I'm feeling after that, and if I feel like I need to dive in hard.