WWE

Exactly, just like the marriage skit he had a couple of years ago where Stephanie gets plastered and HHH says "I do" for her.

It's his character. Heck, the guy tried to paralyze Mick Foley and murder Steve Austin.

Refman- Did you have any objections to the characters of Repo Man(a car thief) and Nailz(an escaped convict)? Aside from being notorious for their suckitude, were those ideas deplorable?

Also, the interviews Kurt Angle has cut on Rey Misterio (and Essa Rios a year ago) have absolutely reaked of racism. Oddly enough, I don't hear anyone calling for his head...

 

Here's where I draw the line: if they had actually shown Kane doing that, even to a dummy, it would be a little much. But, this is HHH being HHH. He's someone that will go to any ends to piss of his opponent.

I thought the Angle/Rios dialogues were hilarious. ANgle played the ignorant and insensitive American. It's not like the wwf was against Mexicans. The skits portrayed Kurt's personality, just as these portray HHH's personality.

Even from an angle standpoint, it doesn't imply that Kane is a necrophiliac. All it implies is that HHH is a jerk.

 

I think the whole angle is rediculous, on par with the DDP stalking the Undertakers wife. I wish they would get rid of all this stupid crap.

 

Wrestling crossed the line of good taste long ago, why anyone bothers to watch that crap is beyond me The skit they did last nite was sickening however it was not surprising. It's kind of sad, wrestling when I was growing up seemed so much more pure, there is no coming back from where Vince McMahon has taken WWE, it will only continue to get darker and darker. Definatly not for the kiddies anymore

 

Don't buy into the "it's fake, I know it's fake so it's ok", because it's wrestling and wrestling is supposed to have a touch of reality. When you have wrestling fans forced to watch a guy "rape" a dead person in a coffin how can you seriously enjoy wrestling? Is it any wonder the WWE is losing millions upon millions of dollars? Over the last 2 years Vince McMahon has lost <b>500 million dollars</b>, so the buck has to stop somewhere. There's a difference between Repo Man playing a car thief or something like that, and a guy playing a rapist, a murderer, or violating a corpse. Wrestling isn't like a regular T.V. it's a touch of reality. I don't think people understand, the TNN channel in some southern areas, and the Canadian and Australian feeds and channels like that cut their broadcast in the middle of that because it's tasteless. The sooner Vince McMahon realizes that things like that can't be done, the sooner the ratings and buyrates (which are horrible), will rise again. While some things bother me you know that Rey Mysterio will defeat Angle and satisfy the crowd, but how in the world is the crowd going to be happy with Kane defeating Triple-H after that? The arena was 70% empty after that segment, legitimately. The WWE is in serious trouble. By the way, here is the press release by the WWE:

<i>Statement concerning last night’s RAW
From WWE.com

In a blatant attempt to create controversy and further enhance the character of RAW’s chief antagonist Triple H, last night’s Monday night RAW on TNN (rated TV-14 LVD) presented an alleged act of necrophilia.

Triple H, poorly disguised as his chief adversary Kane, presented a skit in a funeral home using a mannequin that simulated the body of Kane’s former girlfriend Katie Vick.

WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn, stated that numerous warnings to WWE viewers about sensitive subject matter did air prior to the segment. “While the subject matter is sensitive, on balance this was an attempt at dark humor capitalizing on the popularity of programs such as CSI, Six Feet Under and X-Files,” said Dunn.

</i>

People can justify this all the want, but when, in the last year, ratings have dropped 60%, attendance has dropped 40%, WWE Stock had dropped 70%, PPV buyrates are among the worst in history, and wrestlers are walking out left and right because of these things, and the WWE has to cut wrestlers (which they have been doing since last November), and TNN has been flooded with calls for the last month and live feeds have to be cut because of angry callers, then things are really serious and you can't blow this off. Here's something to think about, when WCW was around the WWE was doing a mind-blow 5 and late 4 in the ratings, and WCW was doing around 3.5 to 3.7 in the ratings and WCW was considered crappy in the ratings race. After absorbing WCW, the WWE LOST fans, the ratings are on average 3.7 every week, they lost ALL of the WCW fan base, and nearly half of their fan base in one year's time. You can thank angles like this for that.

 

At its best, WCW was just wrestling, almost no angles. Even with a competitor, they managed these numbers. As I and others (including Refman, I think) have advocated in the past, it is past time for a return to the days when the majority of the action took place in the ring.

 

I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you there. The WWE has (for all intents and purposes) lost The Rock, Steve Austin, and Hulk Hogan, their three biggest draws ever. That must account for some of the losses.

In the timeframe you mentioned(post WCW purchase-present), we've seen one incredibly mind-blowing storyline botch after another; a pathetic Austin heel turn, the "terrifying" Invasion of WCW B-Listers, the return and utter misuse of the nWo, a talent diluting Brand Extension, and the biggest draw of the 90's walking out because of frustration with the writing staff involved with it all.

Heck, it should probably be traced back even further to the revelation that Rikishi was Austin's attacker.

It's not because of controversial angles, it's because of ****ty long-term storylines.

Some of the most entertaining segments have been the "immoral" ones:

Shawn Michaels throwing Marty Janetty through a window
Anything D-X did
Stone Cold breaking into a gun-toting Brian Pillman's house
Stone Cold assaulting Vince in the hospital
Godfather and Val Venis' entire gimmicks
The nWo's vehicular homicide on The Rock

Granted, there have been some sucky ones(Mark Henry's sexual escapades with transsexuals and elderly women), but these "shock" moments were probably the only thing that kept people watching(contrary to the wet dream of a belief that some "smarts" have of Chris Jericho main-eventing Wrestlemania).

I dunno, maybe I'm just a sicko, but I love that over-the-top kinda stuff.

 

The WWE actually drew it's best ratings whenever it was shock tv. That's how they overtook WCW.

 

It's not because of controversial angles, it's because of ****ty long-term storylines.

*nod*

Whats really blowing my mind is how they can be doing almost everything right with Smackdown! and not be learning a damn thing from it. IMHO, Smackdown! right now, can almost do no wrong because they've allowed their talent both the time on the mic and the time in the ring to get over, without handcuffing them with rediculous gimmicks. I really have to give Paul Heyman his props here, its everything wrestling should be.

If Vince wants to fix the RAW brand and save himself a headache and a couple of years down the road, he can start by firing Brian Gerwitz, and hiring someody who knows wrestling.

 

I agree with gr8 here. The loss of talent and lack of competition, along with the huge discrepancy in the creative drive behind each show is the problem right now.

This is the point I was making before...had the WWE been trying to pass it off as 'real', then hell yeah I would be right there with the 'deplorable' cry. But the moment you saw an obvious Triple H in a Kane mask and a mannequin with a big curly wig sticking out, you should see what they are going for. They weren't trying to make it out to be a 'real' tape. They were making it out as the Triple H character being the dumb jerk he's supposed to be.

So instead, the only thing I was disgusted by was the stupidity of the writing.

Actually, this kind of over the top tasteless stuff has been going on for a long, long time. And it was just as present when the WWE was in its peak moments as it is now. People complained then; people will complain now.

The difference? Well.....the writing. Pure and simple. Smackdown is much better than RAW right now, because the creativity is at a higher level. Not because they aren't using the same kind of 'stunts' that wrestling has been relying on in previous years.

Don't forget that the 'Commitment Ceremony' was on Smackdown not too long ago. Something that could have gone very badly...but actually turned out well. Because of how it was written, more than anything else. If the RAW creative team had been in charge of that, you can bet they would have botched it.

 

It was just sick. That warning before that **** happening, it felt like watching Jackass on MTV. After seeing it, I wish I had watched Jackass instead..

Watching Triple HHH do that **** made me want to puke! He seemed like he enjoyed that **** and it completely turned away from the wrestling angle and into some p*rn flick. Such a waste of 10 minutes by the WWE...

 

It sucks now that I tape Raw expecting something interesting to watch, and the writers of Raw are coming up w/ crappy a$$ ****!! What the hell is going on w/ Raw? I even fast forward through the fights because they don't appeal to me anymore. The matchups and angles are getting terrible every week. The only matchups that I love seeing are the TLC matches and the Lingerie matches. Other than that, nothing else comes to mind. They DESPERATELY need to get the Rock back and make him WWE Champion so he can appear on Raw and Smackdown again. He at least adds some flavor to the shows and makes it worth watching.

It also sucks that I have to see this **** and miss out on another great show, CSI Miami!! WWE, get your **** TOGETHER!!!

 

If anything, I think that angle where Lawler made fun of the Snake's alcoholism is more deplorable.

 

In addition to a return to the ring, please get better ringside commentators. All fourof the main guys suck, and beyond Lawler being the worst it is hard to pick who sucks more than whom. Maybe Taz is the best because he doesn't talk quite as much. Is it possible to get Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiovanne (sp?).

 

I have no clue why the WWF keeps dragging out these long and boring angles. Can anyone explain it?

I'm sure the true fans want less story more ringwork.

I'm sure even the fans of the stories could stand for them to be at least cut in half time wise.

Why can't management see it?

I could care less who is announcing, but I think they are all pretty bad.

I think I'll start watching less raw and more Smackdown, esp since MNF is still on. The only wrestlers I kind of enjoy watching are Jericho and Christian.

I used to enjoy watching HHH, but his mic work has been horrible since his return and he's built himself up so much that his matches aren't even all that interesting. No comp.

 

You like Lawler, all he does is talk about how much he loves "puppies". I guess JR is okay, but I wish he didn't have to mention Oklahoma every 30 seconds, that he didn't jock Randy Orton so much, and that he didn't say the same things every time a guy wrestles (soup bones anyone?). We'll have to agree to disagree on my boy Tony, but who doesn't love the Brain? Michael Cole and Lawler should be fired immediately and replaced with anyone else, and Heenan would be perfect for RAW.