For me personally as a pool player, I found out about Predator from a magazine ad in the mid 90’s. It was the pool room copy I was flipping through. It was talking about the deflection, not any pro player. There was a local dealer who had one and I hit a few shots with it. None of the room players had one. I was probably a C- player at the time. 1 single shot with spin was all it took to convince me something was completely different about this shaft. I bought the shaft right then. It was either 140 or 125. 25 years later and I’m still loyal to the brand.
I didn’t even know any pro player names at the time other than efren and Earl, and I could care less what cues they were using.
I’m sure players are influenced by what pros use. But when there is a demonstrable difference in a shaft, none of that endorsement means that much, imo.