So which was the most damaging angle of 2002

[Guest evilhomer]

So a year of utter wrestlecrap has passed and there are three huge pieces that spring to mind, which one did the most damage to the WWE?

 

The HHH/Kane nechrophelia angle - an angle that was just a horrible premise for a fued, that totally disregarded years of character development, and was badly played out by both parties. A bad idea that had no hope of creating an interest in the fight, then to top it off, they go with the necrophelia re-enactment that made it truly embarrassing to be a wrestling fan.

 

 

The Billy and Chuck wedding - ok, I don't know why this was supposed to interest me in the first place, but in the wide world of sports entertainment, I suppose I can see the point of crap like this. So it was actually put together well, it garnered mainstream media attention, and then - SWERVE BABY SWERVE!!! That's fine for a wrestling audience that has become accustomed to no payoffs, but it totally pissed of the mainstream media and killed chances for future "good" coverage and exposure from them.

 

Hot Lesbian Action - one word comes to mind - DESPERATION. "Please watch us, please please please. We know the product that you're supposed to be here to see sucks ass, so maybe we'll give you something totally unrelated to spike a rating." Did anyone tune in expecting to see something on "family broadcasting" that they could go down to the video store and rent for $2.99 instead? So with the way the segment went down, I suppose it was actually wrestling related because they used it to further the heel appeal of 3MW (btw, great choice of hosses there sparky). Why they thought these 400 pound sacks of shit beating up 100 pound women, plus of course why they thought these 400 pounders could actually go somewhere is a mystery but based on the overall angle, it was just a bright flashing neon sign saying "ratings are in the shitter and we haven't got a clue of what to do about it."

 

 

So my pick for most damaging would have to be the nechrophelia angle. It's the only angle I can ever remember where (apart from Vince) there was zero positive feedback about it. It was an angle that was so bad that it was an embarrassment to admit to being a wrestling fan if the subject of it was brought up. It killed any chance of bringing back the casual fan and came at a time when many long time fans were on the edge, pushing them over and away. The Chuckabilly wedding may have pissed off the media, but that was only something that would prevent exposure to bring fans in, it didn't do much do drive away existing fans. The HLA was nothing more than a confirmation of what was already known.

[Guest Downhome]

None of those truly damaged WWE for long term, they were all shit that happened that meant nothing. Well, Billy and Chuck I liked, I loved the pay off at the wedding, and loved their skits, I thought that was a good thing for the year, anyhow...

 

...the one thing that was most damaging to WWE in 2002, even though I'm personally a fan of the IDEA but not how it's been played out, is THE SPLIT. That hurt them more than anything, period.

[Guest converge241]

Necrophilia

 

and the way the split has been presented

(NOT the split itself mind you)

[Guest webmasterofwrestlegame]

To be honest, Vince and co acknowledged that the nechrophelia was supposed to do nothing but gain attention to WWE, which it did. The reason that it didn't pay off was because WWE did not do enough to sustain people's attention with it.

 

So it was nothing more that a short-term puplicity stunt like the Gay Wedding and HLA.

 

The Roster Split is the most damaging angle.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

Triple H's politics and Push hurt the most. Period.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

They actually did the Billy and Chuck thing alright.

 

The Katie Vick thing was just awful, this was the worst, I don't even want to type anymore about it.

 

HLA bothered the shit out of me.

 

MEMO TO FANS: Eric Bischoff plays the roll of the heel, thus he will not give you what you want; ie, HLA. And yet the marks would go nuts every time, even though it didn't happen last time. I'm glad they canned this when they did, I was ready to stop watching

 

Austin and Rock taking most of 2002 hurt them more then anything else.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

Necrophilia is the worst thing they've done since...the invasion i suppose. I thought the idea of Bischoff giving raw 'Hot Lesbian Action' because steph had a gay wedding was funny, but that should have been it. It's the perfect example of WWE-brand non subtlety. Instead of leaving it alone whilst it was mildly amusing, we have t shirts, chants, stips and it just gets ridiculous. I don't think the billy/chuck wedding was that bad really, except it gave Bischoff and the samoans the face heat by accident because everyone hates steph. But I'm cool with hating steph. Very cool.

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

Shawn Michaels feuding with HHH

[Guest Goodear]

Al Wilson being on TV more than RVD.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Al Wilson being on TV more than RVD.

Al's more over as a heel then RVD as a face...wonder how long till HHH starts holding him down

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

To wrestling fans: Kate Vick, easily. 99% of wrestling fans were disgusted and insulted by it, and the other 1% are extremely stupid.

 

To the mainstream world: Billy and Chuck. There was massive hype going into this one, stories in newspapers and Gay and Lesbian groups were commending the WWE for finally doing a gay angle and following through with it. Then what happens? They blow it. Billy and Chuck aren't gay and what was even more damaging was the fact that they got turned into super-macho studs, thus pissing off the G and L groups even more.

[Guest jester]

You know, call me crazy, but I think they could have really gone somewhere with the Billy & Chuck thing.

 

The angle actually got them the outside press they wanted. Suddenly, people who wouldn't give WWE the time of day we paying attention.

 

And then they said "Hah hah, we were just kidding! Weren't you fools for believing we'd do something like this!"

 

And the outside press said "Yes, we certainly were," and just ignored WWE from then on.

 

I agree with Downhome. The split has done the most damage. Maybe there was a way to run it correctly to boost ratings and attendance, but it sure isn't what they're doing now.

[Guest Insane Bump Machine]

The most damaging angle was the return of the NWO, hands down. It lead to Steve Austin's walkout, Hulk Hogan's World Title reign, Kevin Nash sitting at home and getting paid for it, increased locker room frustration, the botched beginning of the brand extension, the return of Shawn Michaels...I'm sure there's even more.

[Guest chirs3]

The Billy/Chuck wedding was brilliant, but it went nowhere after that. More dissapointing than damaging.

 

Probably "RAW is NECROPHELIA" caused the most damage.

[Guest Human Fly]

Necrophelia angle. Everyone who was involved in that angle hasn't been the same since. Even Hurricane. Stupid stupid.

 

I think the split could work out well. Look at Smackdown it has been a good show with the exception of the Big Show and Albert pushes. The problem with Raw is that it has been HHH v. HBK for the last 3 months. While everybody else who is over (RVD, Kane) gets shafted. Steiner is over right now, but uf the WWF really looks at him as short term then there is no way HHH doesn't swallow his heat as well.

[Guest notJames]

Triple H's politics and Push hurt the most. Period.

Hear hear. Once he weaseled his way back to the top (at far less than 100%), the politicking stopped whatever momentum every wrestler and every angle had. He truly is a career killer.

[Guest Brian]

Most damaging angle? Hulk Hogan, WWE champion.

[Guest The Old Me]

Katie Vick's name was mentioned more than HHH's at one point. RAW is NECROPHILIA was TERRIBLE and EMBARASSING. It's one of the reasons I watch about 20 minutes of RAW per week.

[Guest Super Pissed Smark]

I don't know if it was the most damaging, but necrophilia was definitely the most embarassing, idiotic wrestling angle since Vader and Sid waddled down to the beach and interrupted the volleyball game Sting and Davey Boy were having with the orphans, cunningly distracting them while their evil midget sidekick planted a bomb on Sting's boat.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Necrophilia would have been the worst, but the people were driven away by then anyways. It was still pretty bad. It only gained the attention of fans already watching, and drove several thousands of them away. Besides, the segment didn't really affect Smackdown at all.

 

Billy & Chuck was actually a good thing. By the time the angle backfired, Vince had already gotten what he wanted.

 

HLA is no different than any other diva segment. Forgotten two minutes after it happened. It had no long term affects at all.

 

The split is the only reason I'm still watching (no clique on Smackdown), so that's not it.

 

Easily the worst angle of the year was the NWO. It brought back Hogan, Hall, Nash & Michaels, all of whom severely damaged the product. None of them ever should have been hired. Bringing in the NWO was the second most damaging WWF angle of all time (to Diesel's 1995 title run). Hogan was the only one who ever was anything to begin with, and did well for Mania, but should have retired after that. Michaels was the second worst drawing WWF Champion ever, Nash almost killed the WWF, and the highest Hall ever got on the card was teaming with Flair in 1992.

[Guest Funaki]

Gay and Lesbian groups were commending the WWE for finally doing a gay angle and following through with it.

What, they aren't satisfied with Goldust?

[Guest chirs3]

I don't know if it was the most damaging, but necrophilia was definitely the most embarassing, idiotic wrestling angle since Vader and Sid waddled down to the beach and interrupted the volleyball game Sting and Davey Boy were having with the orphans, cunningly distracting them while their evil midget sidekick planted a bomb on Sting's boat.

... please tell me there was never a storyline like that...

 

... please...

[Guest saturnmark4life]

Most damaging angle? Hulk Hogan, WWE champion.

Nah, at least he was over. He put everyone over too, and lost to brock in his last match, so I really didn't mind him that much. Sure, I don't really want to see him again, but he was far more entertaining than HHH and took up half the TV time. Maybe the title reign was a killer but the plan was always to take it off him the next month anyway.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Hogan was one of the best things about the year.

 

HHH was the single most damamging thing, with the return of the NWO very close behind. Almost everything else that you can think of that was bad this year was actually caused by HHH or the NWO in some way - no RVD, Jericho or Booker anywhere near the top of Raw, the IC title being buried, the necrophilia, Austin leaving etc. etc.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Hogan was one of the mark out moments of the year for me.

 

I just wish that when Hogan went back to the red and yellow, he got rid of that damn black beard. He looks younger without it.

 

And went back to the classic gear...no stupid feather boas.

 

Ah well.

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

Dawn Maria/Al Wislon was(IS) pretty fucking awful.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Is it me, or does the Dawn Marie/Al Wilson storyline sorta like an inverted gender version of the Mark Henry/Mae Young storyline in the past?

[Guest buffybeast]

To the mainstream world: Billy and Chuck. There was massive hype going into this one, stories in newspapers and Gay and Lesbian groups were commending the WWE for finally doing a gay angle and following through with it. Then what happens? They blow it. Billy and Chuck aren't gay and what was even more damaging was the fact that they got turned into super-macho studs, thus pissing off the G and L groups even more.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I was shocked to see the WWE didn't follow through with this storyline. I think they could have gone for months with gay married wrestlers. The storyline still had a lot of life in it when they had that stupid blow off.

 

Yet I do not think this was the most damaging angle of the year. I think they pissed off a lot of people and made themselves look bad to the mainstream media by blowing it off like they did. But it wasn't the most damaging.

 

I would have to say the necrophilia angle and the introduction of the NWO would be the most damaging angles of the year. Both bombed miserably.

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

I don't know if it was the most damaging, but necrophilia was definitely the most embarassing, idiotic wrestling angle since Vader and Sid waddled down to the beach and interrupted the volleyball game Sting and Davey Boy were having with the orphans, cunningly distracting them while their evil midget sidekick planted a bomb on Sting's boat.

... please tell me there was never a storyline like that...

 

... please...

Unfortunately, there was. It twas during the Summer of 93 in WCW.

 

Checkout Wrestlecrap's section on it.

[Guest AndrewTS]

Is it me, or does the Dawn Marie/Al Wilson storyline sorta like an inverted gender version of the Mark Henry/Mae Young storyline in the past?

At least it involved a wrestler. A retired one, but still. Oh, and Mark Henry was in matches and stuff so I guess he counts as one too.