Living In Fast Forward: Does Anyone Actually Watch Entire WWE Shows?

For years now, there's been one thing in wrestling I can't live without. No, it's not NXT. It's not Paul Heyman promos. It's not even A.J. Styles matches. Truthfully, the one thing I can't live without when it comes to watching WWE is the fast forward button.

Now trust me, before all of the comments start rolling in on why watch WWE if you fast forward through major portions of shows; let me explain myself.

WWE, for better or for worse, has inundated their fan base with hours upon hours of wrestling a week. From NXT to 205 Live and even a three hour Raw, WWE has slowly ramped up it's programming to an inhuman level. On weeks without Pay-Per-Views, there's approximately seven hours of programming to watch if you want the full WWE experience. On week's with Pay-Per-Views, which are far more weeks than in the past I might add, WWE nears eleven hours of programming.

Some people might look at that and say "Great! Look at how much wrestling I can watch". For the most part, I view it the same way. Having an abundance of wrestling to watch is always a good thing. It means that their are plenty of different shows that suit different tastes while also almost always providing an outlet of entertainment whenever you wish to watch.

The problem comes when you actually want to watch all those wrestling shows.

If you want to watch all of WWE's programming, it honestly becomes an insurmountable task. On top of that, if you have any interest in wrestling outside of the McMahon Empire, you have to make time to watch that as well.

Make no mistake, watching wrestling is one of my favorite pastimes. I spend hours and hours viewing it a week. It's just that I can't possibly view the entirety of the all the shows I want to see. That's where my pal the fast forward button comes in.

Since I don't usually have time at the traditional nightly slots that wrestling airs to catch up on my favorite rivalries, I usually tape the programs. This allows me access to fast forward to whatever portions of the show I want to see. If there's a segment that looks horrible, think Bayley and Alexa Bliss This Is Your Life, then I just skip it. If there's a competitor I don't like about to enter into extended promos and matches, I'm lookin at you Enzo Amore, then I dive for that remote.

Now I suspect that for a lot of people, this is commonplace for them as well. Selective viewing of a show isn't something I invented (we all know that was Chris Jericho), yet at the same time I see many people raise some red flags when the subject comes up. It's not uncommon to hear people say that if you don't like WWE then don't watch it. For the most part, that makes sense. What doesn't make sense though is not skipping through what you know you won't enjoy. Many people still see wrestling viewership as an all or nothing thing. Either you like the promotion or you don't. I argue that it's more nuanced than that. If you don't like Roman Reigns, no matter how much he's on WWE TV, that shouldn't mean you preclude yourself from watching all WWE programming. Just hit the fast forward until the Big Dog is back in his doghouse.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks about this. Does fast forwarding through large portions of a show mean you shouldn't view the show at all? Is wrestling viewership an all or nothing thing? I know that for me the fast forward button is not just a tool, it's a necessity. If only so I never have to hear the question "How you doin!?!" again.