Last thread has well over 10,000 replies. Its body is breaking down like The Undertaker's. Seeing as we might have crossed the threshold into a new era in the business, here's a fresh new thread.
Originally Posted by New World Order:
Vince is sticking it to TNA.
No. Vince had Roman do this shit to Bryan too. He just can't have his chosen superstar take any clean losses. Always has to be some contrived bullshit as to why he loses. We already went through this for damn near a decade with Cena. [Reply]
Funny thing is Reigns put on a hell of performance tonight. He should be getting cheered for that. Nope, Vince had to go to the WCW guidebook for shitty booking and nonsensical swerves and ruined what was probably his best outing yet in WWE. [Reply]
-Tag Match not anything to say for obv reasons. Yikes.
-Didn't watch the pre-show because Ryback fucking sucks. (I was actually busy but Ryback sucks)
-Ambrose/Jericho was p good and Ambrose needed a rub after getting fucked in the ass at WM
-Zayn/Owens was fantastic and had the correct ending. Just don't think they'll take advantage of what they did.
-IC title was overbooked to hell
-Womens match. Overbooked to hell for a "moment" in a don't give a shit PPV. Okay.
-Everybody knew Roman Reigns was going to win. He slogged around the ring and they had AJ and friends try to carry a gassed Roman for 30 minutes. Overbooked and swerves that weren't convincing.
C PPV. jericho/ambrose zayn/owens was good and the rest was a sludge. It's an irrelevant PPV so can't sink it that far; should be happy anything was decent. [Reply]
yo seriously all my years posting on this forum hating on some bad Chiefs players or bad divisional talent for fun doesnt come close to my actual hatred for Ryback.
Got free tickets to the Smackdown show at Sprint Center this past Tues.
Corporate box suite w/ free beer and food, pretty much the only reason I went.
I'm one of many that grew up watching pro wrestling when the Attitude era and Monday Night wars was at its peak. Went to the very first Smackdown show which was at Kemper in 1999 (happened to be on my bday) and also was at the Over the Edge PPV event when Owen Hart fell from the rafters at Kemper.
I haven't been to one of these events in about 15 yrs so here is what I noticed:
- The crowds are a fraction of what they once were, both in terms of pop/engagement (hardly anyone had signs anymore). Me and my friends always made signs and we almost always got a shot or 2 on the TV broadcast which was kinda cool for a 16yr old at the time. But the upper decks at Kemper used to be filled to the very last row up top, everyone had signs and the crowds were just more into it, and a lot better, MUCH bigger pops, but then you had the glass shattering and IF YA SMELLLLL.... , people used to just go nuts when they'd hear that. Hell even now w/ Y2J's music people don't really give a true pop anymore. People used to go nuts when his countdown started. Maybe Jericho doesn't really relate w/ this generation's wrestling fan I dunno. The theme music now isn't as personlized to the character if you will. There are a lot of characters music that's nothing more than alternative 98.9fm crap (for those in KC area) which to me all sounds the same, rather than unique original themes that add on and build up the character's persona. Jim Johnston was really good at creating that.
- To add to the above, the entire top section of the Sprint Center was roped or curtained off. WWE already ropes off one side of the lower level for their TV production and camera crew, but the entire top level was also curtained off, they don't even bother to sell tickets in those areas anymore because nobody goes to the events anymore. I know it was Smackdown, which has over the years become the tier 2 roster of WWE. The worst thing WWE ever did was buy out WCW and then split roster in half and then incorporate a roster draft determining who will appear on each show. Just my opinion. When you don't have real true competition in your industry, your product can eventually become stale and you get complacent and I think that along w/ poor character development and the PG shit has made the WWE product stale. Back in the day all rows and seats would've been filled to the top last row of the arena. Only places they used to curtain and rope off was the TV camera broadcast section in lower level, although that roped off section didn't seem to be as big as it is now and then of course behind the stage/titantron area. Sprint Center holds approx 19k ppl. I would say about 9k people were there...again just a fraction of what it used to be.
- But man is there ever some poor character development now, there are some acts that are so cartoony and silly, I'm actually surprised WWE even goes along w/ it. For instance, the New Day...wtf are these guys and wtf is behind this idea. They're the most goofiest silliest (not in a good way, but like in a horrible "Sinbad/Arnold's Jingle All the Way" - type of way). It's little kid's comedy. And these guys are the WWE's tag team champs? Get the fuck outa here what a disgrace. Their match was with the Dudley Boyz and it was cool to see the Dudley Boyz again, who IMO are legends, This New Day crap can't even hold the DB jockstrap IMO and they're the ones being put over? What a bunch of crap. The New Day just ran through these guys in a few minutes, no tables no 3D, nothing. But I'm still glad I got to see them.
- It was cool to see some of the late 90's/00's or older wrestlers, even though they're not many left, and most of the ones that are left are not on the roster 1/2 the time. Dudley Boyz as I mentioned before, Y2J was there, always liked his entrance, his debut w/ the Rock was one of the all time best segments in WWE history. Jerry the King Lawler was there though he obviously didn't wrestle but he came down to the announcer's table. And then Ric Flair, who finally stopped wrestling but came out w/ his daughter Charlotte (who's a breeder btw, and totally would), comes out w/ Flair's iconic robe and kinda mixes his old music into her own. Kinda neat. Obviously good pedigree and is in good hands and has the name. They're going to put her over for a long time. Bret the Hitman Hart's theme played and I got a little surprised by that, until this WWE diva Natalya came out, I guess she's Bret and Owen's niece? It seems she' uses Bret's theme when she comes out, or something very similar, has that high pitched electric guitar power chord at the beginning etc...
- Man people do NOT like Roman Reigns and I can see why. He's worse than Goldberg in the ring. Nothing but shoulder knockdowns, tackles, Super Cena flying super punches and spears thats all. He shouldn't be their main guy, let alone trying to get him on the mic for a promo, the guy sounds like a robot and/or is half retarded. Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins are all MUCH better when together w/ the Shield, and I think that's better for the WWE, the Shield can be it's own brand and much like DX and nWo they can create their own path to WWE mortality, but WWE thinks all wrestlers are good enough to make their own brand individually. Another thing IMO that WWE needs to change.
- Overall WWE is really hurting for major star power to help carry the company. Cena is not anywhere close to being a WWE legend by my standards even though he'll be a HOF'r. Always had a real problem w/ his gimmick, hated his thugganomics crap and I hate the cereal box superhero/saturday morning cartoon crap too, and for a decade WWE has ran w/ that. Unbelievable...just a different wrestling fan/audience. Wanting to make it a family event and PG etc... If that changed WWE would have a much better turnout. Still had fun and free beer and food and free tickets...paid $10 for parking not bad for a night of fun on a weeknight. [Reply]
Nobody to blame but themselves. I still wonder how big CM Punk could've been if they didn't feed him to Nash and HHH after he came back white hot. They act like it's the talents fault for not trying to push the envelope and get over but Zack Ryder did just that, and they buried him. No one cared after that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mcaj22:
not sure what you were watching in the attitude era but most of the jobbers/mid carders were cartoon characters.
Almost everybody in the attitude era was over far more than the top guys today.
Also, the attitude era was far looser as far as what the wrestlers were able to do creatively as far as their characters personality. Austin, Rock, Foley, and HHH were all parts of their personality magnified and given center stage basically.
Same thing with the APA, Edge & Christian, Dudleys, etc. [Reply]
