[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by MacFan92

I just watched an old Raw on Youtube last week from either 1999 or 2000. I watched it from really late 1999 til about 2003. .

That's just when I wasn't watching it at all 9I still don't much any more). I couldn't bear to watch it after the horror (the horror!) of Survivor Series 1997!

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

Rowdy Piper

How could I not list Roddy?! He was one of the best and Piper's pit was always great.

Originally Posted by mottabam

I liked the WWF way back when Pedro Morales, Jesse Ventura, Superfly Snuka and Roddy Piper were in the ring. My favorite tag team was Tony Garea and Rick Martell. The managers of that era were cool too...Captin Lou, Fred Blassy and the Grand Wizard. As far as the current era I find it unwatchable. Little wrestling and far too much talking and drama.

I completely agree. Not enough actual wrestling and although of course you knew it was fake, far more effort went into keeping up the pretence/kayfabe. Now they can't even be bothered doing that. Although some of these names were just before I really got into it I have to agree that then and the 10 years or so after were WWF at its peak.

Originally Posted by tilthefirefades

Shawn Michaels is a God to me, as is all of DX. I lovelovelove Stone Cold too, and old school Kane and Undetaker. But yes, Shawn Michaels is without a doubt one of my favorite people ever, even beyond his wrestling career.

I am incredibly jealous that you got to meet Bret!! How can I help but love him because of his rivalry with Shawn. Bret seems like a great guy, and I've been eyeing his book since it came out, how is it?

WWF (because it will never be WWE to me >.>) has been horrible since the merger with WCW, and that really crushed me as a kid. I was never a fan of WCW, and thought it was a cheap version of WWF.

And just because I'm in love with this thread...

Ok, as a big Bret fan this entire post gets a big from me!! I think that the rise of DX and the Attitude era was when things started to go of the rails and it became less about wrestling and the skill involved (both technically and in relation to storylines) and more about sensationalism as reflected in the, albeit forced, title change from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment.

Gotta love Stone Cold though. His gimmick as the bad guy everyone loved was just enough attitude to make things really interesting and it's what Vince McMahon really ran with for Attitude. Do you remember him as Stunning Steve Austin in WCW?

I think Shawn in onbviously one of the best wrestlers/workers in the business and wrestling involved in him and Bret's rivalry was first rate. I've always been a fan of his ability to work the crowd too. I just didn't like how obviously real Shawn's attitude was. As for the "I'm going to find my smile again..."...AAAGHHHH!

Bret's book is one of the best biographies I have ever read. It's well written,incredibly detailed and surprisingly honest about his own failings. It's quite a tome though! I got the North American version on pre-order way before it came out in the UK, a fact noticed by Bret when he signed it! He also asked me what my favourite match of his was and my answer got a smile and a "Hey, you're an old school fan!"

There's a 3dvd set just been released all about Bret and Shawn. Well worth checking out.