Pro Wrestling Discussion

[Leo656]

He got to work at the top of the card the entire rest of his WCW run and managed a few short Title reigns and many main events. I'm pretty sure he did okay.

Compared to if he'd stayed in the WWF, where he'd have done nothing. Again, I think everything happened for the best to all involved.

And Time Warner killed WCW. Nothing and nobody else. That's straight from Ted Turner's mouth.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Leo656

He got to work at the top of the card the entire rest of his WCW run and managed a few short Title reigns and many main events. I'm pretty sure he did okay.

Compared to if he'd stayed in the WWF, where he'd have done nothing. Again, I think everything happened for the best to all involved.

And Time Warner killed WCW. Nothing and nobody else. That's straight from Ted Turner's mouth.

I was going by Hogan admitting bloating NwO's roster and prolonging the angle killed the company. Perhaps that was Time Warner's decision?

[Leo656]

Time Warner decided to take WCW off the Turner networks and that made the brand completely worthless.

Ted Turner himself didn't care if the company bled money forever so long as he had it on TBS and TNT. He never even watched the shows. People go on and on about the creative decisions that led to the company's meandering final year, but the fact remains that even if they lost half a billion and drew a .5 share every week, Nitro would still be on TV right now if Time Warner hadn't decided to drop the ax.

Nothing else is ultimately very relevant.

[ZariusTwo]

Strange how we were discussing Spice Girls the other day, and on RAW, Triple H slipped in a Spice Girls joke in his promo

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Time Warner decided to take WCW off the Turner networks and that made the brand completely worthless.

Ted Turner himself didn't care if the company bled money forever so long as he had it on TBS and TNT. He never even watched the shows. People go on and on about the creative decisions that led to the company's meandering final year, but the fact remains that even if they lost half a billion and drew a .5 share every week, Nitro would still be on TV right now if Time Warner hadn't decided to drop the ax.

Nothing else is ultimately very relevant.

It was cool to see Mega Powers 2.0 for awhile and it was Savage that Hogan leg dropped to reveal he was the "third man". It would have been cool for Randy not to feel defeated and join Hogan instead of busting the NwO with Sting. He could have gone after Nash and broke them up while Sting on the eventual win over Hogan. I mean Hogan, can lose some and it does not take anything away from him. I prefer that. No one should win all the time. I want to see Roman Reigns lose some to show vulnerability. Heck, I would be okay if McIntyre beat him since he has not fully shook off the very real cancer and he has that fallback and help give heat to a heel. The only "my guys need to lose some" exception is The Streak. Its tough since I like both Hogan and Savage as a kid and now as an adult I see Hogan's ego running wild on the "w's" letting only Sting and Goldberg get one on him for the sake of the company. Why not Savage legit get one? Glad Hogan shook it off with The Rock a few year latter. I mean the ovation Hogan got after that? He could have given one to Randy without taking it right back.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

- Why would anyone care what PAIGE of all people would think? She's a coked-up hussy with an increasingly-plastic face, who had one good year before it all went to her head and she self-destructed in predictable fashion.

Gah, sadly you're right. The adorable Paige that came in and won the title off of AJ Lee by sheer luck is forever gone. IDK what she did to her face, for some reason it looks like the rest of her body stayed the same but her face got fat. Shame what drugs do to people.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

It was cool to see Mega Powers 2.0 for awhile and it was Savage that Hogan leg dropped to reveal he was the "third man". It would have been cool for Randy not to feel defeated and join Hogan instead of busting the NwO with Sting. He could have gone after Nash and broke them up while Sting on the eventual win over Hogan. I mean Hogan, can lose some and it does not take anything away from him. I prefer that. No one should win all the time. I want to see Roman Reigns lose some to show vulnerability. Heck, I would be okay if McIntyre beat him since he has not fully shook off the very real cancer and he has that fallback and help give heat to a heel. The only "my guys need to lose some" exception is The Streak. Its tough since I like both Hogan and Savage as a kid and now as an adult I see Hogan's ego running wild on the "w's" letting only Sting and Goldberg get one on him for the sake of the company. Why not Savage legit get one? Glad Hogan shook it off with The Rock a few year latter. I mean the ovation Hogan got after that? He could have given one to Randy without taking it right back.

Hogan lost almost every single match between July 1996 and May 1999. When he "won", it generally took 27 guys and a tank. Wins and Losses don't matter, the storyline matters. The storyline was about Hogan vs. Sting. Savage had no place in that, and the story ended up being far too convoluted as it was.

Also, WCW never brought Savage in to be that guy. He was there to be Hogan's sidekick and that's it. That's what they paid him to do. And again, what actually ended up happening with him being used to make DDP a major main event player would never have happened if he'd been kept a face and put in meaningless matches with guys who weren't going to job for him anyway.

Also, nobody actually WANTED to see Hogan and Savage feud by that point, anyway. If the Halloween Havoc 1996 match hadn't been lousy AND done a poor buyrate, then maybe they would have gone a different path, but it didn't play. People didn't like it. And their matches in 1998 and 1999 weren't very good, either. Nobody watching WCW at that point in time wanted yet ANOTHER 1989 rehash. Those are the cold facts.

Hogan and Savage are two of my favorites, too, but here's the thing: Wrestling fans have a bad habit of "fantasy booking" what they WANT to see for themselves personally, and they don't factor in whether that makes any sense or would be good business for the company.

Everyone ended up exactly where they needed to be, and it all worked out for the best. People say a LOT of guys should have gotten "The Spot" between 1996 and 1999, but whether it was Savage or Flair or Benoit or Jericho, it wasn't gonna happen because it wasn't booked to happen. Goldberg only ended up in the mix because his popularity grew too big to ignore. The original plan was for Hogan to end up feuding with NASH that whole second half of 1998, instead. The plan for the top of the card in WCW from 1997 through 1998 was ALWAYS for Hogan to feud with Sting, then transition into a feud with Nash. I *think* they'd planned for Luger to turn heel on Sting and then they'd do a feud over the belt, but obviously a lot of things changed before Starrcade actually happened, and then Goldberg blew up huge so they had to literally change everything they'd planned to do so that he could take center stage. But guys like Savage, Flair, Benoit... they weren't part of the plan. Ever. it wasn't gonna happen. So it's pointless to even speculate.

It all worked out. Guys got rich, guys got famous, even after Time Warner pulled the plug. Historically, everyone ended up where they were supposed to be. Not everybody's the star of the show, man, it is what it is.

[ZariusTwo]

Well, out of the blue we have Charlotte as the Smackdown women's champion, and Kofi qualified for Wrestlemania by having his tag team partners do all the hard work for him.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Well, out of the blue we have Charlotte as the Smackdown women's champion, and Kofi qualified for Wrestlemania by having his tag team partners do all the hard work for him.

Wait... what? How? She beat Rousey? Huh? WHAT DID I MISS?

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Wait... what? How? She beat Rousey? Huh? WHAT DID I MISS?

She beat Asuka to win the Smackdown version of the women's title. Ronda is the RAW Women's champion.

[Leo656]

Brother Bruti allegedly is gonna be the final announced HoF inductee for this year.

Good for him, I always liked Beefcake. Three cheers for The Zodiac!

[Prowler]

I don't think the higher ups care much for Asuka, so I'm not surprised she lost the title.

I guess her not being 100% fluent in English doesn't help her much.

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Brother Bruti allegedly is gonna be the final announced HoF inductee for this year.

Good for him, I always liked Beefcake. Three cheers for The Zodiac!

Same always was a fan of Bruti



Cuttin and Struttin

[Leo656]

He didn't care that I ripped off his look, so he's an Ace in my book.

Got to meet him several times, chilled at the bar with him after the show a couple'a times. He's a space-case but treats me fine.

As he put it to me the last time we spoke, "You gotta remember, brother, I got Drain Bamage!"

[XERO]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Well, out of the blue we have Charlotte as the Smackdown women's champion, and Kofi qualified for Wrestlemania by having his tag team partners do all the hard work for him.

Well, it's not like Kofi was "chosen" for a random title match or anything, not unlike a certain NEW SmackDown Women's Champ...

[The Deadman]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Well, out of the blue we have Charlotte as the Smackdown women's champion, and Kofi qualified for Wrestlemania by having his tag team partners do all the hard work for him.

Uhh...you are aware that they've had Kofi go after the WWE title since after Elimination Chamber, right?

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by The Deadman

Uhh...you are aware that they've had Kofi go after the WWE title since after Elimination Chamber, right?

Yes, which is why I'd have preferred it if Kofi had earned it himself.

[Prowler]

Vince Russo Explains Why Triple H Shouldn’t Be Top WWE Executive, Issues with Batista/Triple H Storyline

Former WWE and WCW writer Vince Russo was recently interviewed by 411Mania to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During the interview, Russo explained why Triple H shouldn’t be a top executive in WWE. He also detailed his issues with Triple H and Batista’s WrestleMania 35 storyline. Here are the highlights:

Why Triple H shouldn’t be a top WWE executive: “No because Triple H now is doing exactly what they did to him [after the curtain call], and he’s doing it because of ego, bro,” Russo said. “Listen, when you’re a wrestler, you have an ego. And because you have an ego, it’s very hard to put you in management positions because you’re going to have built-in feelings for other wrestlers you know and other wrestlers you work with. You’re going to have your favorites and guys that you don’t like.

“You’re not going to be able to be subjective, and that’s going to affect everything. That’s why you can’t put wrestlers in roles like that. When I talk about Triple H having an ego, the Batista promo should be an exposé of Triple H. Batista should be saying, “Let’s call a spade a spade. You don’t even love your own wife. You’ve never loved your wife. First of all, you kicked Chyna to the curb, and you saw Stephanie as your ticket to the throne. And once you worked her and once you worked your magic and once you had her, then you started making your moves.

“You’ve buried people. You’ve stepped on people. Look what’ve you done to Kurt Angle, yadda, yadda, yadda.” I’m work-shooting with that now, but that should’ve been the freaking promo bro, not “Oh, well, Triple H hired me as his muscle, and he used me.” That’s fake wrestling bull****. But the reason you can’t cut that real-to-life promo on Triple H is because his ego won’t allow that. So, that’s the problem. You’re gonna go out there. You’re gonna be fake wrestling half-pregnant as opposed to shooting with it, working together and making it a great angle.”


Issues with Triple H and Batista’s WrestleMania storyline: “Well, that’s the thing. We don’t know that because they haven’t told us,” Russo said. “I mean, I’m watching that promo, “Gimme what I want! No, we’re doing it on my terms. Gimme what I want!” And I’m saying to myself, “Guys. You’re not telling me the story here!” You don’t understand why Batista is so upset with Triple.

“And I know a lot of that is because Batista was trying to get work again at WWE, and Triple H wasn’t returning his calls and blowing him off like he was a piece of ****. Then, all of the sudden, Batista makes this movie that makes millions of dollars. Well, tell us that! Don’t make us guess! We don’t know what’s going on behind-the-scenes. So, that’s the problem. We don’t know. They don’t tell us. They kayfabe us. Why does Vince McMahon have a stick up his ass when it comes to Kofi Kingston?

“Why do you keep running Kofi Kingston through the mill? You’re not telling us! So, I’m sitting there and I’m wondering, why is he wrestling 10 people? What is Vince’s issue with Kofi Kingston? It’s not that, “Oh, you’re only a B+ player!” That’s such wrestling bull****. It’s stupid. It’s juvenile. They’re not explaining these stories to us.”

https://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/...-top-executive

[The Deadman]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Yes, which is why I'd have preferred it if Kofi had earned it himself.

In the angle, he has...multiple times. It was the McMahons that have been screwing him over every time.

[Leo656]

It's rare that I give Vince f*cking Russo credit for anything, but when you're right, you're right.

Especially all that stuff about Hunter, Chyna, and Steph. Brutal, but 100% true.

How anyone could ever be a fan of Hunter as either a worker or a human being is beyond me. He's such a scumbag.