Hi all and welcome to

THE TAP OUT

As I have mentioned before I haven't been a 100% wrestling addict all the time, I've left during the bad times and returned during the good.

I wanted to share my defining wrestling history and the moments that sent me away and moments that brought me back.

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels
I remember first getting Sky TV when I was a kid and the first channel my dad turned the TV onto had WWF wrestling on it and I was hooked, the lights, the showmanship, the good guys, the bad guys and the all out action. There was a lot during this time that appealed to me as a child. The strict divide between good and bad, the simplicity of the story lines. The commentary from Monsoon and McMahon. It was excellent. I was enamored with the Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels rivalry and the rivalry between Bret and Owen. As a child it was all real to me and when Vince screwed Bret in Montreal that was me done and I left wrestling behind.

The Rock and Stone Cold
The next time I saw wrestling was by accident. I was working as a chef and used to get home very late on a Friday night (when Raw used to be shown in UK) I flicked through the channels when I got home and came across Raw. I saw an eyebrow raising hooligan in the ring giving a promo and wearing a very colorful shirt, whilst talking this man was interrupted by a countdown on the screen, once the countdown reached zero another man entered and these two went back and fourth for a few minuets and before I realized It I was captivated by these two men..The Rock and Jericho!! I then started watching every Friday night and all the PPV available on Sky, I watched everything through the whole Rock/Austin era. The Hardyz struggle to become champions, TLC, NWO etc I was hooked. Sadly after a few years The Rock left to peruse acting. Stone Cold took a reduced role due to injury. Huge steroid looking guys started to come in (Brock and Batista) and I just lost interest. it was almost spiteful as I was watching the rise of a singles Jeff Hardy winning the title off HHH and thought they had huge things in store for him (which they later did) and then to have a huge monster like Lesnar come in, destroy the Hardyz and moved up the ladder far too fast IMO (I believe this single man lead to the new craze of throwing people into the title picture before they had earned their stripes in the Mid Card) and again due to all this I left wrestling again.

The Summer of Punk
Once I moved in with my then girlfriend and got a new job there was very little time to watch anything to do with wrestling etc and it wasn't until a good friend started at the same place as me that we got to know each other that he sent me a message stating that I needed to watch the end a raw for a promo by some guy he though was cool..CM Punk. I watched this promo on you tube and instantly had my mind blown...I was like WTF have I been missing, this guy was phenomenal on the mic and suddenly my passion had been re-lit and I was hooked once again. Unfortunately the summer of Punk was diluted by the addition of Nash and HHH and turning Punk into some Tweener not funny comedy sketch. Thankfully before I decided to leave again they have now turned him heel and this is working for him and there is potential in the new up and comer Ryback. I shall be watching for some time to come but I'm certainly looking forward to what the next defining moment in WWe history will be for me.

What moments have changed the way you view the wrestling world?