How do you enjoy wrestling?

Dolphin made an interesting point in the World Cup thread,saying Prom and House look for different things in matches to him and it got me thinking.

How do you watch wrestling?
Do you completely suspend disbelief and watch it unfold like a film?
Do you watch it with no regard for kayfabe and just watch them call spots or see how well written the scripts are?
Do you watch it just to admire the athleticism or the segments unfold?
Do you watch to see if you can spot any botches or mistakes?
Do you watch purely out of habit?
Do you watch to see how they construct matches and look out for innovation?
Are you after watching good technical moves? strikes? spot fests? Story telling?

This may seem like a really odd question as the chances are it's a mixture of everything,but it did make sense in my head.

I think the first thing for me is that I like to watch matches.  So, I've had less and less interest in watching Raw this year because so many of those matches end in DQ endings or roll-ups when a wrester is distracted, etc.  

I love the story to unfold in the ring.  And I'm not so tied down to the style of match that makes that happen as long as the story is good.  So, for example:
- I will happily watch LU, or PWG where there is a relative lack of selling and a lot of big moves and even multiple kick outs from finishers.  That is the world I buy into when I watch that wrestling.
- I'm not a fan of hardcore, but when done really well (e.g. Havoc / Robinson in Progress, or Vampiro / Pentagon Jr in LU) I am hooked
- And I'll happily watch the more traditional matches that we could say WWE or New Japan put on
- And I'll happily watch Ishii or Chris Hero or Tommy End belting the hell out of each other

I think I totally suspend disbelief because I never hear spots being called, and if I notice a botch then it takes me right out of the match (like if someone misses a hurricanrana and the other wrestler has to throw themselves over).

I like it when wrestlers put effort in and I like my action.

Overall, I'm really easy to please.

Quickly things I don't like:
- I don't like tag teams where there is no point of them being a tag team, i.e. one wrestler is in the ring and then his partner is. If you are a tag team I want double team moves.
- I really don't enjoy it when a wrestler is distilled down to a move or a series of moves. So, I've practically lost all interest in Neville now that his match just seems to be about the Red Arrow and will he hit it or not. I know that all wrestlers are going to have their move set, but they should be worked into the match, not the match worked to fit those.

I like Sports Entertainment. Spot heavy matches annoy me, and I would agree with Austin that nowadays not enough matches have heels wrestling as heels. I'm not as strict on that as some, say Crips for example, but I do certainly feel that week by week they should be toning down anything exciting.

I love a good match as much as the next, but its a different type I guess. Taker/Lesnar, both those matches this year were out of this world for me. Thats not a match you get in the indys or probably Japan. Its very much about context though. And it has to be a character I care for. Thus segments are hugely important to me.

As far as the weekly content goes, the matches should be about building for the PPV, within reason as we still need to have something going on in those matches. I am not against belt changes on TV and think it should happen a few times every 2-3 years, except the main title probably, although MITB changes that.

I don't care as much about botches because I think the reaction to them is more telling than the botch itself. I'd expect things to not be too smooth in a fight, but when they kind of stand around and muck things up for a 5 second period afterwards it draws away. Id have no problem with someone botching and then being annoyed they missed their move. Don't just try it again like it was written on a script, do a subtle switch up and then hit it.

I love a good story, and prefer a well told story vs a technical classic with no build. Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart and Kurt Angle could put on a 1 hour classic exhibition match and I would check out because theres no reason for them to fight.

Story is the most important thing I think to get people to watch, and tune in next week.

Hark back to when I started watching was before the 2000 Royal Rumble. Triple H and Steph were abusing their power and fired Foley, so the rest of the roster went on strike till he was rehired. Then HHH beat him stupid and forced Mankind to transform into Cactus Jack and Triple H sold it perfectly. I was hooked. Heres two guys who hate each other and want to prove their the better man and win the WWF title. Still one of my favourite promos of all time.

Wrestling story telling 101: Get sympathy on the babyface and make the crowd hate the heel and want to see them get their comeuppance.

Thanks for taking the time to answer,I enjoyed reading through them.

This is why I love wrestling,even the way you watch it is subjective,there's no right or wrong way to watch it and enjoy it,and I can't think of many other forms of sport/entertainment you could say that about.

I'm a very open wrestling fan,and when I speak to people about it they all have different memories/experiences and even though some of them claim they grew out of it,I've actually managed to get a few people into it in the last few years.

One friend loved attitude era spots,another liked just hardcore matches,another was only a fan of the hijinks of stone cold,and one only watches botchamania because he loves to watch failure.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I like Sports Entertainment. Spot heavy matches annoy me, and I would agree with Austin that nowadays not enough matches have heels wrestling as heels. I'm not as strict on that as some, say Crips for example, but I do certainly feel that week by week they should be toning down anything exciting.

I love a good match as much as the next, but its a different type I guess. Taker/Lesnar, both those matches this year were out of this world for me. Thats not a match you get in the indys or probably Japan. Its very much about context though. And it has to be a character I care for. Thus segments are hugely important to me.

As far as the weekly content goes, the matches should be about building for the PPV, within reason as we still need to have something going on in those matches. I am not against belt changes on TV and think it should happen a few times every 2-3 years, except the main title probably, although MITB changes that.

I don't care as much about botches because I think the reaction to them is more telling than the botch itself. I'd expect things to not be too smooth in a fight, but when they kind of stand around and muck things up for a 5 second period afterwards it draws away. Id have no problem with someone botching and then being annoyed they missed their move. Don't just try it again like it was written on a script, do a subtle switch up and then hit it.

Despite how often we disagree, this is exactly the same thing. You've pretty much summed up what I enjoy about wrestling. It's strange then that I feel like WWE is not doing this anywhere near enough, whereas you seem pretty content right now.

I totally agree about botches not being a problem and in fact when recovered from can actually add to the match by giving it a more realistic feel. The reason I think I rate Lesnar, Bryan and Punk higher than most is because it feels so much real to me, allowing me to be invested. I think a lot of the WWE roster are too obsessed with being smooth and therefore aren't great at recovering from botches. The best example of this would be the IC Elimination Chamber match where there was nobody with the ring smarts to do anything when it messed up. Ziggler's solution was to loudly shout at people what to do, which is one of the worst things you can do! I think when a wrestler takes a botch into his stride, which Punk, Bryan and Lesnar are all good at doing, it adds a lot to the match because it actually makes the botch a part of the story. 

We do seem to have a similar view on the kind of matches we like and agree on the build up. I think there is actually too much wrestling on Raw, it's completely oversaturated.

Oh I'm not content. I can just forgive. Raw is increasingly unwatchable though. But I've been reading old dirtsheet articles to make me feel better

Sit back on my sofa with a cigar and a can of lager

I love to get sucked into the story of the thing. Sometimes I feel like that the matches and results are almost inconsequential to the soap opera going on in the ring. I know this might not be a popular opinion but I do feel like if I really believe 2 guys hate each other I'd be happy for a one punch match over a long technical event.

Having said all that who doesn't love a well fought technical match?