A question of spoilers

mayordenis

This may or may not be considered on topic, personally I think it is but if a mod disagrees then no problem at all.

Basically I've only recently got back into PW and it seems to be such a major thing with fans to actually have read all the spoilers for the week ahead or sometime as we can see in this forum several weeks ahead, I just happen to find it strange, most fans of any TV show won't do it. I know plenty of people who if they miss a football match will record it and avoid hearing the score, but yet in PW it's something that is very prolific.

Now I'm not complaining or telling people they shouldn't read them or make threads about them, by all means do what you like but I just don't get it. Anyone who can shed enlightenment in my direction please do.

Machismo Fan

Most internet wrestling fans tend not to really care too much about the results of matches but rather about how good they are.

Lord TSC

I think in this day and age where shows can vary wildly in quality, some like to read spoilers so they can judge whether or not its worth watching.

For me, I read Smackdown and TNA spoilers cause I simply can't be arsed to watch the shows any more but still want to keep up with whats happenening...when I find the shows are getting good, I stop reading spoilers and start watching again...

gimmick

Not sure I am sure what you are asking?

Is it that you think it is odd people will watch a show even after reading spoilers of it?

flahavaj

I for one am glad of spoilers. Its not like i'm going to actually watch TNA to see whats going on.

Diabhal Beag

Wrestling isn't proper TV. Spoilers can often completely ruin your enjoyment of a show whereas I might watch Smackdown if I hear about a title change or whatever.

mayordenis

I guess I'm maybe still in the honeymoon period where I'm kind of enjoying the whole thing at the moment.
Certainly no 1 on the priorities is good matches, but I think you see alot of people having a go at the writing while reading spoilers, you miss out on any potential impact of surprise turns.
While I 100% take that you can't fully compare it to either a sport or episodic television I still think the writing and story lines all lose their sheen when you know whats happening, I got a major spoiler for an episode of TNA a few weeks ago, a certain title change. It took away from it majorly and my opinions were formed before I saw the event, seemed less of an event, whereas if I had no idea going into Impact I'm sure I would of been sold on it alot more.

Certainly I take the points coming across though, most likely just being back into it from a several year draught means I want the whole shebang.

jaykhunter

I personally hate spoilers. I wish wrestling would return to the kayfabe days of "it's a tv show and nobody knows what's gonna happen". I'm happy with the setup on boards because spoilers are there if people want to read them and the thread titles are generic so I don't find out if there's a title shot.

I love discussing wrestling on the internet but i'm not a fan of spoilers, which is fairly inevitable if you're on the net. Spoilers come from everywhere!

I really think that spoilers ruin TNA. People know for a few weeks what's gonna happen. That said, TNA ruined TNA. If there's good buzz for an episode (of say, SmackDown) i might be tempted to check it out.

Ridley

I tend to avoid spoilers otherwise I'm just sitting back and waiting for the finish. It's not like I'm devastated if I do read something ahead of time (accidentally spoil'd myself on Barrett's win last week) but I'd rather be less sure when the finish was coming. Although WWE.com spoiling that Edge cashed in Kennedy's MitB on Undertaker was a little irritating.

Think it was Smackdown when Ziggler got the rope break with just two fingers. *googles* Yes it was, and he won that match against Matt Hardy which would have lost most of its impact if I knew Dolph wasn't going down at all.

Plus the spoiler summaries tend to focus on the outcome of a match and not the detail.

Used to read TNA spoilers to find out if MCMG or Kendrick were doing anything but I stopped doing that because TNA makes it hard for me to even want to see wrestlers I like on their shows at all.

Wile E. Coyote

I'm not really a fan of the spoilers but I don't see it as any different to any other tv show out there. How many weekly magazines are published telling you what's going to happen in soaps during the week?

Cactus Colm

I try to avoid reading spoilers when I'm planning on seeing a show. Sometimes I know I'll be missing smackdown, so I'll read the spoilers so I know what's going on. But I do try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, mostly because I like to be surprised.

Knowing ahead of time that something is going to happen does take away from the event. For example if fans knew that John Cena was going to show up at the royal rumble a couple of years ago, it would have ruined his entrance. The pop he got was pretty dang wild, and even a lot of his detractors couldn't help but cheer.