Your Wrestler 180s

[mizfan]

Sounds like a good one, go get her back Chopper!

[Mr Chop]

Yeah, I watched that Miz/Lawler TLC match with my then girlfriend (who had never watched wrestling in her life) and she HATED The Miz, was screaming for Lawler to win. She's a proper Indie wrestling nerd now too, like buys the ICW VIP packages to hang out with the wrestlers.. The Miz literally made her a wrestling fan.

[mizfan]

I was a big Batista fan for most of his initial run actually, I only started to sour on him towards the end. His heel turn was less engaging to me than it was for others, though there are some gems in there for sure. Definitely felt bad for him in his return run, wrong place and time for sure. I actually don't even think he's particularly limited, he can do an awful lot and has some genuine classics to his name.

Also want to say that Miz/Lawler feud was great, they just should have had Miz win a whole lot more decisively and followed it up with feuds that didn't make him look like a 2nd rate chump.

[Powder]

I will have to say the Miz. When he first started I couldn't stand him, to me he had the go away, get off my screen vibe to him. Then in 2010 I began to really like his heel work when he was going for the WWE title. The WWE screwed the pooch on that run too, by immediately having the Miz feud with Lawler.

Then I hated him again during the enitre Hollywood A-Lister gimmick, but somewhere in there, the Miz became the best guy on the roster. His work on Smackdown Live and the feud with Cena and Nikki was the best persona on either brand. He was gold on the mic and made you want to cheer for him even though he was a heel. During that feud and the mixed tag match at Mania 33, the Miz and Maryse should have won.

The Miz is the ultimate company guy. As he points out all the time, he does whatever is asked of him. He does the talk shows, goes to the red carpets, does interviews, plays the fool, plays the victim, plays the heel, he does what ever.

The Miz should be given one more WWE title run, and I would love for him to finally beat Daniel Bryan and John Cena cleanly. He has earned both of those victories.

[SirSam]

I've done a full 360 on Batista.

He was the wrestler that initially got me interested in wrestling however after discovering other wrestlers I then went through a pretty classic 'big guy sports entertainers with no work rate suck' phase.

More recently when reassessing some of his matches for Skullduggery I've done another 180 and realised the guy has his limitations but in the right situation (eg, in a Hell in a Cell against The Undertaker) he is an awesome ball of intensity ready to explode.

[mizfan]

That's probably the worst possible time to start watching Flair, in fairness. Even when I started watching, in '03, I liked him because he seemed like a good manager for Evolution and a fine wrestler for his age, though I didn't love see those moobs flopping around!

[Mr Chop]

***deep breath****

Ric Flair.

When I started watching wrestling it was Austin and The Rock and DX just laser targetting my teenage rebel brain. Meanwhile WCW had this weird old dude taking off his clothes and screaming. Of course now I know hes THE MAN (Sorry Becky). Now I've seen Flair/Funk and a thousand Horsemen promos. I'm sorry Naitch! 15 year old me was a fucking muppet.

[meandi]

In the vein of stuff I didn't like at the time, but when I look back on it now, I've done a 180 - R-Truth. I used to loathe the guy. When I look at his 2011 run now, though? I didn't know what I was missing. He was absolute gold. I think my dislike of his cheesy babyface "What's Up?" stuff hung around with me enough to not truly appreciate his conspiracy theory stuff.

R-Truth is very hit or miss. Mostly hit when his comedy is on point, though. How can we forget this?

[mizfan]

Spectacular, I didn't even know Arn was in a G1!

Kurt is...a weird one for me. When I first started in 2003, I didn't like him. He had mostly moved on from being a goof but wasn't fully "wrestling machine" yet. I remember thinking he did way too many long promos.

Then as my interest in the actual matches grew more defined, I started to appreciate the fact that he was an athletic freak and could be a lot of fun to watch, so I became a big fan.

But, as my tastes have continued to change, I've started to see him, for all his good qualities, as kind of a "get my shit in" wrestler who values the athletic spots, fast pacing, and lots of big moves over storytelling. Plus, of course, he's been painful to watch in the ring for the past 4-5 years, but I don't judge him just on that I guess. So yeah, my feelings are a bit mixed these days but it's impossible not to recognize his big positives.

[Oliver]

Ollie I'm shocked!! What flipped the switch for you?

Funnily enough, I went on a G1 Climax watching kick a fair few years back. 1992, the first round was Arn vs Austin, and that made me think there must be something more to Anderson than had previously caught my eye. That took me to watch the tag at Clash XVII, with he and Zbysko against Dusty and Steamboat, and that was the moment I really realised I'd been missing out!

Another of mine would be Kurt Angle, although I think that's more to do with being a kid when he was during his first run with WWF and absolutely hating him as a character. Similar with Arn, I checked out a couple of his matches from that period a few years later down the line and realised I'd made a youthful mistake.

[mizfan]

That's so awesome. I dug him when he, Drago, and Fenix tore the house down on their first day, but I thought he might be the #3 guy of the bunch when he spent a little while running around with Chavo. Then he started snapping arms and I was hooked!

If anything I admit I've come down on him juuuust a little bit, because I think when he's removed from the top notch LU presentation he's not quite as much of a home run. But we're talking, from the #1 wrestler I'm excited about in the world to still in the top 10, so not a huge drop. I think he's picked up a couple bad habits on the independent scene but still, there's just something about him.

Here's a weird one, for a long time my only exposure to Juventud Guerrera was his weird Mexicools run in WWE, and I didn't think anything of him. Going back to watch him in the 90s was a revelation, and I've even seen stuff within the last decade which made a positive impression on me. Definitely think of him as a key part in the group that made lucha what it is today in America now.

[LWO4Life]

If we do a recent 180... hum... let me see.... I think for one, Pentagon Jr. That just goes with being a AAA wrestler at a time I was hating on AAA. I even vented and Cult had to remind me not to throw CMLL in AAA mess. So anyways, Lucha Underground came on, and I was happy because it was AAA wrestlers, but I wasn't too big on Pent. Like he was introduced to battle Kalisto (as Octagón Jr) in AAA, but once Kalisto went to WWE like dude was just there. Lucha Underground really opened my eyes on him though, and forced me to not be so lazy looking at this new generation of luchadors. You know, I was getting like, nothing's better than 90's luchadors. But Penta forced me to open my eyes.

[mizfan]

Ollie I'm shocked!! What flipped the switch for you?

Co-sign Sabre, although I think part of it is that he legitimately got a lot better in the past couple years. He was so mechanical before, but now he actually has a sense of character. It's not tremendously deep but it adds a layer that makes him FAR better in my mind.

For a recent one, I have to say I've kind of fallen off of Travis Banks after liking him quite a lot at first. I dug his gritty spirit and willingness to take big bumps and bombs, but he's really not much of a character and I'm not sure he offers anything deeper than what's on the surface. I could switch back on him easily but there was a time I'd actively seek out his stuff, whereas now he's not very high on the list at all.

[Oliver]

Arn Anderson.

Took me flipping years to realise just how good he was.

[Def Jarrett]

The biggest one for me currently in the positive sense is Zack Sabre Jr. I genuinely used to HATE the guy. Hated watching him wrestle, hated his submission stylings, his white-meat mostly babyface routine, his look, his everything. Didn't help that he was regularly touted as one of the best wrestlers on Earth and I just, couldn't see that being true! He wasn't awful but he was played up as a much bigger deal than I thought he deserved at the time. I remember chanting vehemently against him every time I saw him at the Orlando WrestleMania indie shows, asking people to 'snap his chicken legs' and what have you. Hated him!

Since then, I think I've been almost in love with the dude. Since he turned heel and stuck the landing in PWG, alongside joining Suzukigun and clearly picking up a lot of good character work and quirks from the likes of Minoru Suzuki...he's just become exactly what I want in a wrestler. The dude is smart, has a great knack for psychology, knows how to play up his dickheadedness to maximum effect, has a bunch of great submissions, he's just perfect for me right now. Really into him, honestly have him as one of my favorite wrestlers. And all it took was really embracing the heel side and learning from MiSu!