He drew Rocky Sucks chants at the Astrodome before Austin turned at WM17. He got booed out of the building against Hogan. And most recently, in his last match against Lesnar, there was a resounding Anti-Rock presence (though I concede to you that this was also in New York ). Hogan and Lesnar were even built up as vicious heels beforehand. There's a difference? I always found Rock's heel promos more entertaining (the one from SummerSlam '98 he cut on Chyna, for example).
NY wrestling fans seem to be wired a bit differently. Shoot NY fans were what convinced Vince that Brock should turn babyface (when he beat the Rock for the belt, no less). For some reason NY fans HATE the Rock. Of course, I'm starting to get tired of his "I'm an actor now" attitude, where he's taking off 6-8 months at a time, coming back for a couple months, then leaving again. And thats IF he gets to work with Goldberg. Otherwise who knows what he'll do? The Anniversary thing was dissapointing. HHH got to show his leathery ass then pout when he lost the award for performer (not wrestler thank you) of the decade. Of course, that and Vince's little talk made me convinced it's only a matter of time before Stone Cold comes back, probably just to job to HHH so everyone knows who the REAL man is. BTW Kam I've looked everywhere for a digital converter with no luck. The signal seems to be encoded too well plus they can change the signal pattern at will. I'm sure there will be something eventually, it'll just take a while and be expensive as hell.
I'm guessing NY fans hate primadonna pretty boy types. BTW, Steiner dominated HHH at Raw. I mean, that was a smash. But, what's the payoff to HHH? A clean win over Steiner? Could be? Remember hhh jobbed to hbk twice, before beating him cleanly at the last ppv.
Well, given Steiner's somewhat eccentric behavior from his WCW days and given who his opponent is, I'm going to assume HHH goes over. After that though, who's left? HHH has gone over everyone else on RAW, so unless they build Booker up or go ahead and make a heel/somewhat heel feud between HHH and Jericho (guess who'll go over in THAT one again) they've booked themselves into a corner. The one possibility that scares me is that I heard that they were hoping Nash would rehab and be back in time for Mania so they could have HHH vs. Nash. Imagine how slow THAT match would be!
Thanks Rocks for the scoop on Nathan Jones. I guess if Vince is not scared to hire this guy, he would not hesitate to take the wife-beater Austin back, as long as he is convinced he would show up for the shows. I agree on the Angle push for Lesnar at Wrestlemania. But what will the Raw title match? Maybe Steiner v. the revived Dead Man?
I have heard several rumors that the reason we have gotten the HHH/Steiner non-wrestling segments the past several weeks is not due to the fact that HHH is injured. Apparently his injury is healed enough for him to appear on House shows. But the main reason is that Steiner has looked terrible in house show matches. Many of the reports I have seen attribute it less to "Ring Rust" and more to Steiner not being able to work a good match because of chronic problems due to his past injuries and the fact that because he is so pumped up he has lost a lot of his mobility and flexibilty from his younger days. I am not a big Steiner fan but I think he is one of the better mike workers in the WWE. IMO though I think they will use him until his phrases get old and people see he can't work a match. Then they will phase him out and send him back to pasture.
I agree. Its too bad that the WWE has become so smutty though. Hopefully they attempt to change their image a bit in order to bring more fans back.
They will or they will go out of business. It costs just over $12M a year to produce RAW. If the ratings continue to tank, then the advertisers will reduce what they are willing to spend. House show attendance is woeful at this point. It has become clear to many that the WWE "shock TV" style has become old hat. They aren't attracting the casual viewer with the shock value anymore (with shows like Jackass taking that audience), and they have alienated the tried and true wrestling fans. Vince will at some point realize that the only way to maximize his profits long term will be to cater to the core audience (the long time wrestling fans).
what he ought to do is establish a new football league complete with barely-clothed cheerleaders and zany on-field antics...not watered down with all those troublesome rules.
I am a very crazed long time WWF fan! yes thats right WWF ( i will never say wwe) But lately i havent been watching it. The roster split has to go, and the overall product is boring as hell. None of their wrestlers are intresting at all. What happened to the good times of 95-99 when things were good, and ppl actually had real gimmicks! Now everyone is the same boring person, for example TEST. now everyone is so plain and boring its so fustrating to watch. I will start watching again if things can improve, and ive been waiting a while so far
That was my main beef with the Smackdown product. Since then though, John Cena's been given an awesome Marky Mark gimmick. But yeah, they do need more colorful characters. IMHO (and the smarks will crucify me for this), gimmicks and angles are more important than the actual in-ring work. RVD, Booker, and Goldust are a start and Nathan Jones (Nailz-type prison gimmick) and Sean O'Haire's new one (not sure what he's supposed to be, a giggolo?) show some promise. Actually, Test is starting to get over with Stacy's "Testicles" promos. I wish they'd give him a heavy metal bad boy persona (Tommy Lee-esque) and emphasize his being a former bodyguard for Motley Crue though.
Without solid ring work, even the best gimmicks and angles are doomed to failure. People don't want outrageous gimmicks/angles anyway. Every gimmick or angle has to seem plausible in reality. Would you really watch a product that was full of characters like the Hurricane? First...it isn't a gimmick. Jones actually served time in an Austrailian prison for armed robbery. For that reason he had a lot of trouble getting a US visa. More importantly...he isn't going to come to the ring in some lame prison costume, a la Nailz. Sexual gimmicks haven't worked for 2 years now. Notice that The Godfather and Val Venis have been either gone or repackaged for a while. O'Haire's new gimmick isn't going to get over. He has a good look and they should develop a gimmick that plays off of it rather than some lame ass sex thing.
Booker seems to have sacrificied some of his athleticism for added bulk. Anyone remember the "harlem hangover?" Awesome move. Ten years ago, Steiner was very athletic. He was pretty muscular also. Too bad. I still think he should go over HHH though. A clean victory by HHH would be awful for future bookings, imo. Steiner/scsa, Steiner/HBK, Steiner/rock, etc. would all be more entertaining than hhh vs those guys (again). Also, what about goldberg? Vince wants ratings? I guarantee Goldberg brings up RAWs rating by a full point, if not more.
Hell yeah. That's exactly the kind of stuff I mark out for. The "plausible" argument kind of goes out the window when you consider that wrestling is choreographed. If I wanted to watch bland shoots, I'd check out UFC. LOL. But it appears that they are going to milk the hell out of that for his character. As I recall, Godfather and Venis got huge pops, and their promos were some of the best of the time. Their gimmicks weren't bad, just their storylines (me choppy your peepee) and lack of push. Godfather even got a brief IC title push before Undertaker squashed him on Sunday Night Heat one night. Their careers only ended when RTC formed.
1. You are in the minority on this issue. 2. I'm not saying that every guy needs to be Steve Blackman either. I'd love it if most of the roster was comprised of Steve Austin, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels type characters. But now it is played out. They were chosen for RTC because their gimmicks were failing. You can only shock people for so long...then it starts to look pathetic.
Well, from what I've read, Nathan's not going to be a Nailz type character as much as a Hannibal Lecter character. Apparently he's going to be an icy civil person on the outside but then when he's angered he turns evil. I don't know, sounds like Waylon Mercy version 2.0. As for Sean O'Haire, I need to see more to make an educated guess. What would be nice is if he became like everyone's id. He thinks only of pleasure, and acts as a kind of devil-on-your-shoulder type. Of course that's kind of imaginitive so prolly won't happen like that. As for Steiner, his foot has been a sore spot for quite some time. I believe it's some sort of degenerative condition that limits his movement. I miss the days when he could pull off the Frankensteiner on anyone from any angle *sigh*.
I remember watching RASSLIN' back in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's. I stopped watching it completely once the WCW went into the tank and most of their RASSLERS went to the WWF. The WWF has basically destroyed RASSLIN' for me. Hulk Hogan put it on the map, then all the stupid T&A matches and unbelievable soap opera matches just killed it. I decided to watch the 10th Anniversary special they had just to see what's been going on the past couple of years. I remember The Rock had one of the best mic skills of anyone but he sounded so lame in this show (except for the part when he smacked Stephanie McMahon down). Then of course you had the gratuitous mooning at the end... can't have a WWE show anymore without either T or A... so ignorant. Some of their picks for the "best of" were lame, too. Ah well, I hope it returns to its roots and makes it fun to watch again for me.
I too, hope Vince and Goldberg can agree on a contract as soon as possible. I miss his intro more than anything. But does anyone know what kind of shape he is in? Also, I bet that he will look small next to Brock. I think wrestling is down now because it is in a transition phase from the old stars to the next stars. With no Austin, Rock or Goldberg, some fans have dropped off. Kind of like last year's Rockets. Comebacks for Austin, Rock, Steiner, Goldberg may give wresting a brief surge, but then a push of the younger stars might be best for the long-term health of the industry. If the old guard comes back, after their brief glory, they need to job to the next generation (Brock, Randy Orton etc.).
