Kahran Ramsus

Some guy like Matt Morgan would have been perfect to break the Masterlock, so of course they fired him. But somebody like that who has potential, but needs to make an impact to be noticed by fans.

Benoit's better off than the other two because he's never been jobbed out the same way, even though he's been dropped down the card. Just look at how he was allowed to squash Orlando at Summerslam. Jericho & RVD would never be allowed to do that. Benoit still has his credibility and that is a big deal. He's still seen as a threat, whether he is challenging for the World Title or in the opener.

He was a great face, especially when he got to work with heels like Dibiase & Flair.

A-Train was booked terribly. Every time he would get some sort of push they would immediately cut it short and send him back to Velocity for months at a time. No wonder he didn't get over.

I liked him too, but Brock Lesnar was far and away the best 'hoss'.

I only bought it because it was on clearance at Zellers for like $60.

I have the set with Wrestlemania I-XV and Piper's Pit there. There is a small cut in the Money Inc./Mega Maniacs match from IX, but that's all. Just give me a sec and I'll run upstairs and see the name of the set. EDIT: It is called Wrestlemania: The Legacy and features grey boxes with the original posters on the front of the individual boxes. The box is black, but on the sides are pictures of the various events in Wrestlemania history. One side is blue and features attitude guys like Rock & Austin, the other side is red and features older guys like Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart & Randy Savage.

RVD's absolutely last chance was when he fought Shawn for the World Title. When he was treated like an afterthought there, it was the equivalent of Jericho's last stand against Michaels at Wrestlemania XIX. Sure, he had been buried repeatedly before then, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back and he never got anywhere close to that level of credibility again. Even if RVD got pushed again now, it is too late, just like with Jericho for Summerslam. He's been crushed so many times that nobody will buy him as a serious threat anymore. Even if they like him, they will just assume he will lose, because that's what he's always done. Even if he wins the title, people would just assume it was a fluke. It's too late. HHH really did a good number on him.

Bret didn't hold the belt until Summerslam of the next year, other than the one day reign and Shawn's reign ended in November. Bret was WWF in one of the three lowest buyrates in WWF history, IYH 6. For the others, Its Time and International Incident, Sycho Sid & Shawn Michaels were the champions respectively. As far as ratings go. In the last two months of Bret's title reign and the first month of Shawn's in 1996, RAW drew an average of 3.2 with a low of 2.8 and a high of 4.7. During Shawn's last three months as champion, RAW drew an average of 2.21 with a high of 2.6 and a low of 1.8 (for the Oct 14 RAW, the lowest in the history of the show). With a business that is usually (and in this case was) built largely around the champion of the promotion, that is not a good sign. The highest rating during Shawn's last three months as champion was lower than the lowest during the spring and the average was a full point lower. In terms of PPVs, IYH 6 in February drew a 0.77 for Bret Hart/Diesel. Shawn's last non-Big 5 PPV main event was Mind Games in September which drew a 0.48. In addition, Summerslam, traditionally the second biggest PPV of the year, built around Shawn Michaels drew only a 0.58, less than what Bret drew in February for a non-Big 5. It wasn't all WCW either. Their PPVs those same months drew a 0.63 (Superbrawl, pre-NWO), 0.62 (Hog Wild, Hogan's big title win after the heel turn), and 0.65 (Fall Brawl, WCW vs. NWO WarGames). WCW actually didn't get a big buyrate until the 0.95 it got at Starrcade 1995, opposite Sid's It's Time. The NWO didn't really start paying off until after Shawn lost the belt. So basically, a WWF that revolved around Shawn Michaels as champion, were losing viewers not to WCW, but to somewhere outside the wrestling industry. That is not a good drawing champion. I'm going into the realm of speculation here, but based on what happens afterwards the man who probably should have led the WWF in 1996 was the Undertaker. As champion in 1997 he started sloooowwwwllly turning things around at a time when the NWO angle was really starting to pay dividends for WCW. He got the belt at a time where the WWF name was in the sewer and had helped (along with the Hart Foundation) to bring the buyrates back up to a 0.57 for his title defence against Austin at A Cold Day in Hell and an incredible for 1997 0.80 at Summerslam, one year after Shawn drew the worst buyrate in the history of the show. That Summerslam main evented by Bret Hart & Undertaker actually beat Wrestlemania that year, which shows you how bad business was when he got the belt. His drawing power at his peak was greatly underappreciated. He wasn't Steve Austin, but things were looking up after the WWF was quite close to bankruptcy for the previous two years.

Yes it was. The 90s show doesn't hold up at all, unlike say Batman: TAS.

I assume that Wargames 1992 doesn't count. 1) Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart - Wrestlemania XIII 2) Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart - Survivor Series 1996 3) Steve Austin vs. The Rock - Wrestlemania XVII 4) Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit - Edmonton Smackdown, June 2001 5) Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle - Summerslam 2001

My problem with Shawn Michaels in 1996 had a lot more to do with his character than any particular problem in the ring. Shawn Michaels first got over by playing the arrogant underdog heel who ended up becoming sympathetic because of it. At a time where there were wrestlers like Lex Luger who were the same stale babyfaces and cowardly heels, Shawn was someone who would talk shit and then either back it up or die or trying. This especially started to catch on in 1995 where he had the advantage of feuding with Diesel, one of the biggest failures as WWF Champion in history and Shawn was thus able to get a lot of cheers a bit easier. Regardless, he turned face after Wrestlemania XI and pretty much played the same dick as before only now he was a face. Watch Shawn & Jarrett trying to one up each other at IYH II or Shawn dicking around at KOTR 95 for examples. But once they decided to give him the title at Wrestlemania XII they completely changed his character to this stupid 'lifelong dream to win the WWF Title' thing and nobody bought it for a second because it was completely phony to believe that the Shawn Michaels character that people had been cheering for the past year would behave like that. It would be like having Austin come out before Wrestlemania XIV and say that maybe Vince isn't such a bad guy after all and hugs him. It was a complete violation of Shawn's character and it ruined his face run right out of the gates. They turned him into the exact same stale babyface character that fans were sick of. He continued to play this character until Survivor Series when his reign limped to a conclusion by him getting booed out of the building against Sid. Maybe if the marine thing never happened he would have been booked differently. I don't know. But the WWF, and possibly Shawn himself if he was pushing for the change, really screwed that up.

Nobody played her in the last game. They could have put Havok in by dumping her.

There were lots if you are going to use WCW/NWA, guys like Steamboat & Vader.

And that was only because he knew Hunter was going to squash Booker at WM XIX. It had nothing to do with Rock not wanting to lose to someone he felt was below him or to protect his spot. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Because the exact same thing happened the year before with Jericho.

The only time I can even think of where Rock refused to do a job was to Booker T just before Wrestlemania XIX.

Yokozuna

I must of missed when Chris Benoit was the undisputed top guy in the company for the better part of a year like Hart & Shawn.

It was a Samoan Drop.

Gladiator and Master & Commander were successful, so there is an audience out there somewhere. I like them when they are good.

RAW - Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage. Savage would soon be gone, and Heenan would be gone from the company in December. After that they had a Special Guest Commentator every week, either a wrestler or manager. They wouldn't get a permanent co-host until after Wrestlemania when Shawn Michaels took over the gig. Superstars - Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Randy Savage. Savage & Lawler were both out soon, and I believe they went down to a two-man team of Vince & Stan Lane or Gorilla & Lane after that. All-American Wrestling - Gorilla Monsoon & Johnny Polo. Once Polo left, Dibiase took over his spot until probably the show's cancellation because I don't remember it airing too long (at least in Canada) after that. Gorilla & Dibiase were also doing Challenge, but I can't remember who was doing Challenge in Sept 1993. I think it was JR & Heenan, but I'm not sure. Heenan was definitely one, but it might have been Gorilla teaming with him instead of Ross.

Would you consider Oshawa to be a part of Toronto? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hell no. I consider Oshawa as something that needs to be wiped off the face of the planet. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I used to live there, and you're not far off.

Toronto has 2,518,772. The GTA has another 2.5 million or so, but it isn't accurate to put it in with the city itself. Would you consider Oshawa to be a part of Toronto? By comparison, Ottawa has 808,391.

This is just a question since I haven't seen a lot of shows recently (although I might start watching Smackdown again now that the Eddy/Rey shit is over with), but I see several of you talking about the crowd turning against Cena at times. My question is, does the same thing happen with Batista? I know that Vince is down on Batista right now, but anything I've read seems to say that the crowd responded quite positively towards him.

A large percentage of the Canadian crowd starting watching wrestling in the 80s with the WWF and most of them are still watching, unlike in the US. NWA/WCW had no penetration up here at all. Therefore the nostalgia factor is so much greater up here than in the US. Practically anybody who was a WWF superstar in the 80s would get a big pop up here (Hogan, Savage, Dibiase, you name it), and since Hogan was the biggest of them all, he gets the biggest pop.