Austin WON'T be appearing at the Rumble

[Guest Just call me Dan]

I say it'll be blown either way, but I sincerely hope not.

[Guest GameCop]

Yeah, WWE needs to bring that aura of unpredictability back. An Austin appearance at the Rumble would really be a nice gesture to the hardcore fans that have stuck around with WWE through the good, bad, and UGLY.

[Guest Just call me Dan]

I think they could care less about those of us who are that type of fan. They want new fans and want wrestling to be a tendy thing again, to hell with us loyal fans.

[Guest GameCop]

Yeah, you're right. SCREW WWE. I hope Vince's company dies a slow and painful death. The McMahons don't deserve us, and THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE CAUSE WE SAID SO.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

WWE could make money on Austin's Return at the Rumble even without hyping his comeback at all..

All that would have to happen is that Austin returned to the Smackdown roster and either have him win it or another Smackdown wrestler win it..

 

RAW after RR, Bischoff comes out and says that due to some unforseen occurances at the Rumble, they can't show any highlights of the Rumble match itself. JR throws in some sort of indirect reference to Austin's return..

 

Now people wanna see what happened..so they can either A - wait until thursday for Smackdown or B - rent the Royal Rumble replay on Tuesday...

I know a lot of people that would do B..

 

of course, it won't happen because I don't think he's coming back..

[Guest bob_barron]

What about the fans who don't want Austin to return and are pissed as hell at him for walking out??

 

Enough with the I HOPE WWE DIES stuff- trust me- you don't want that to happen

[Guest CanadianChick]

Ugh. I don't want to see Austin back unless he helps elevate new guys. For the love of god, we have enough old stars, let's make some new ones. Sure Austin will pop the rating a bit, but remember, ratings were on decline before he left. Don't expect it to be 2000 again. Also, bringing in *old* stars to pop a rating won't work because 1) no one cares or 2) WWE doesn't know how to properly bring them in. Let's have another era and stop trying to relive the Attitude era.

[Guest CanadianChick]

Ugh. I don't want to see Austin back unless he helps elevate new guys. For the love of god, we have enough old stars, let's make some new ones. Sure Austin will pop the rating a bit, but remember, ratings were on decline before he left. Don't expect it to be 2000 again. Also, bringing in *old* stars to pop a rating won't work because 1) no one cares or 2) WWE doesn't know how to properly bring them in. Let's have another era and stop trying to relive the Attitude era.

[Guest GameCop]

Lunatic--That's a pretty good idea; however, WWE is too stupid to listen to its fans.

[Guest bob_barron]

I don't want Austin to come back and I consider myself a very loyal fan.

 

I have sat through a lot of bad and ugly-

Like Austin v. Taker from Backlash and Austin v. Booker T lumberjack match

[Guest creativename]

And you make $0.00 off Austin's big return. Hype the hell out of it

I vehemently disagree with this; all the people who said that a surprise would work better are on the right track. In the long-run, they'd probably make more money off of a surprise Austin entrance (won't happen, but I'm speaking hypothetically). It would immediately spark interest in the product to a level where a pre-announced Austin comeback wouldn't.

 

Also, it's about fan conditioning. If fans are taught that PPVs will sometimes deliver huge mark-out moments, they'll be more inclined to order them. Fan'll think stuff like "hey, we can actually be surprised on PPV!" and "My friend that ordered the PPV was going nuts! Damn, I wished I had ordered it! What a moment I missed!" A one-time surprise wouldn't do all of this, but it would be a first step--and this one, especially, would be a very big first step.

 

A well-executed hot-shot can make more money--over the long-term--than a hyped up return, even if that hyped-up return is well executed as well. It's hotshotting for hotshotting's sake, where there's only a useless short-term payoff, where you get into trouble.

[Guest bob_barron]

It really all depends how they pull it off. The one problem with hotshotting Austin in my mind but what happens at the next ppv when the suprises end and it's back to same old, same old. I'm just not sure WWE is in the position where they can risk a hotshot.

 

Like with Steiner- He showed up announced, beat up some guys and said his catchphrases. It was an awesome experience live but I don't think anyone went: Oh darn- I should've bought the show.

[Guest creativename]

Like with Steiner- He showed up announced, beat up some guys and said his catchphrases. It was an awesome experience live but I don't think anyone went: Oh darn- I should've bought the show.

Because he wasn't in a match. If Austin was a surprise entrant, that would be something on a whole different level. It's the same as with this Taker "appearing at the Rumble" nonsense--in the end, no one really cares.

 

And, of course, Steiner is no Austin.

[Guest HHHater]

I laugh every time that Steiner makes a reference to being "the greatest of all time" or something. He's not even a has-been, he's a never-was.

[Guest Just call me Dan]

For all of you who don't want Austin back because you want new stars, I think you're not analyzing the situation.

 

Austin isn't done. He's no Hogan, he's no Flair, he's no HBK. He still has a few years left in his tank at least. I believe he and Booker are around the same age and have been wrestling pretty close to the same amount of time, I may be wrong.

 

Yet everyone complains that Booker is a new guy needing to be pushed. I agree with you, but he's no new star. Austin can draw and can carry a company on his back.

 

Austin in 2001- you have to admit he was good.

 

Austin in 2002 - sucked ass. But he was booked horribly (not as far as not winning matches, I mean the product was piss poor, and they guy dogged it.)

 

He's no HHH. He'll be back in a better form and not a worse one. Give him one more shot and I think his track record of guys he didn't put over who ended up doing nothing serves as enough right for him to hold a top spot on the card in anticipation of him putting over useful talent in the future.

 

You want Eddy G to be a top guy? I think Austin's your man. Give the guy a little more crediut.

[Guest Brian]

I think Austin only has about two years left. Knees, neck, and all.

 

Anyways, Austin had so much fucking shit going on outside of his home and then so many people pulling his strings backstage while being buried, he as due to blow up at some point.

 

Anyways, have the Austin segments slowly building up. Only have him as an outsider trying to get in. Desperate to save face, Bischoff bring in Austin and Vince and HHH get pissed. Bischoff is succeful, but Vince hates Austin. So they break off but in the fans' eyes both guys are faces. So they can actually do a full-blown split angle without Vince going over. I wish I could keep Triple H on RAW but logically Triple H should lose something like a loser-leaves-RAW match.

[Guest bob_barron]

For all of you who don't want Austin back because you want new stars, I think you're not analyzing the situation.

 

Austin isn't done. He's no Hogan, he's no Flair, he's no HBK. He still has a few years left in his tank at least. I believe he and Booker are around the same age and have been wrestling pretty close to the same amount of time, I may be wrong.

 

Yet everyone complains that Booker is a new guy needing to be pushed. I agree with you, but he's no new star. Austin can draw and can carry a company on his back.

 

Austin in 2001- you have to admit he was good.

 

Austin in 2002 - sucked ass. But he was booked horribly (not as far as not winning matches, I mean the product was piss poor, and they guy dogged it.)

 

He's no HHH. He'll be back in a better form and not a worse one. Give him one more shot and I think his track record of guys he didn't put over who ended up doing nothing serves as enough right for him to hold a top spot on the card in anticipation of him putting over useful talent in the future.

 

You want Eddy G to be a top guy? I think Austin's your man. Give the guy a little more crediut.

I know Booker isn't a new star but he still deserves to get pushed and not get shit on like he does.

[Guest CanadianChick]

For all of you who don't want Austin back because you want new stars, I think you're not analyzing the situation.

 

Austin isn't done. He's no Hogan, he's no Flair, he's no HBK. He still has a few years left in his tank at least. I believe he and Booker are around the same age and have been wrestling pretty close to the same amount of time, I may be wrong.

 

Yet everyone complains that Booker is a new guy needing to be pushed. I agree with you, but he's no new star. Austin can draw and can carry a company on his back.

 

Austin in 2001- you have to admit he was good.

 

Austin in 2002 - sucked ass. But he was booked horribly (not as far as not winning matches, I mean the product was piss poor, and they guy dogged it.)

 

He's no HHH. He'll be back in a better form and not a worse one. Give him one more shot and I think his track record of guys he didn't put over who ended up doing nothing serves as enough right for him to hold a top spot on the card in anticipation of him putting over useful talent in the future.

 

You want Eddy G to be a top guy? I think Austin's your man. Give the guy a little more crediut.

My point isn't that Austin is old and isn't capable of working anymore. My point is that I am sick and tired of Vince trying to turn back time and trying to relive past eras. Why can't Vince just, you know, make a new era and make new stars. It's not as if the talent isn't there.

[Guest HartFan86]

Just Call Me Dan hit it right on the head. Austin STILL is a draw and STILL is a big time player. Just because he had one bad half year because of all the backstage shit against him, people turn on the guy and say he's a nothing, he needs to come back and job to everyone so the world is right...which it won't be. All they have to do is use Austin right again and as long as Austin's motivated, $$$ will role in so fast it will make there heads turn.

 

And if Brian is correct with theory that Austin only has a few years left....make SURE for a fact that he stays around after he's done wrestling...manager? Spokesperson? Commish? President? Who knows. But Austin must stay around after cause he'll still be a notable person to the fans.

 

And Bob, as it was stated....Steiner's heat was killed by doing nothing from March of 2001 to November of 2002...the fans don't remember him and you can obviously tell he was a waste of money. And as it was stated, Steiner isn't Austin.

 

I have sat through a lot of bad and ugly-

Like Austin v. Taker from Backlash and Austin v. Booker T lumberjack match

 

I sure as hell would rather sit thru that then anything past Summerslam 2002 (minus the SD 6).

[Guest HHHater]

Austin's had almost a year off to heal up. He should be feeling good when he returns.

[Guest Loss4Words]

I'm not completely sure that Austin and Rock are going to make the slightest difference in the WWE's bottom line. Business started falling in late 2000 when Austin, Rock, HHH and Taker were all being shoved down our throats every week, not just since Austin left.

 

The WWE will not see another rise until they realize their problems are with creative and booking philosophy, not with a lack of big names that stopped drawing years ago.

 

I agreed with Austin walking about, but bringing him back is SOOOOOOO WCW on the part of management.

[Guest HHHater]

Who cares? WWE is becoming WCW in so many other ways...why not?

[Guest subliminal_animal]

Rhyno was on the OVW Tapings and lost to Doug Basham

Damn, he beat Rhyno? Wow, this Doug Basham is good. I'm going to have to keep my eye on ol' Doug.

 

"Austin is back? I'm ordering the replay!"

No one orders the replay.

[Guest Just call me Dan]

For all of you who don't want Austin back because you want new stars, I think you're not analyzing the situation.

 

Austin isn't done.  He's no Hogan, he's no Flair, he's no HBK.  He still has a few years left in his tank at least.  I believe he and Booker are around the same age and have been wrestling pretty close to the same amount of time, I may be wrong.

 

Yet everyone complains that Booker is a new guy needing to be pushed.  I agree with you, but he's no new star.  Austin can draw and can carry a company on his back.  

 

Austin in 2001- you have to admit he was good.

 

Austin in 2002 - sucked ass.  But he was booked horribly (not as far as not winning matches, I mean the product was piss poor, and they guy dogged it.)

 

He's no HHH.  He'll be back in a better form and not a worse one.  Give him one more shot and I think his track record of guys he didn't put over who ended up doing nothing serves as enough right for him to hold a top spot on the card in anticipation of him putting over useful talent in the future.

 

You want Eddy G to be a top guy?  I think Austin's your man.  Give the guy a little more crediut.

My point isn't that Austin is old and isn't capable of working anymore. My point is that I am sick and tired of Vince trying to turn back time and trying to relive past eras. Why can't Vince just, you know, make a new era and make new stars. It's not as if the talent isn't there.

There is a big difference in someone staying on top because they can still hold the torch, and rehashing the sme angles with these people. I in no way want to see an Austin vs McMahon or Austin vs HHH feud again, but that doesn't mean the guy shouldn't be brought back. He shouldn't be brought back to feud with the same guys. There shouldn't be any more Austin/Taker, Austin/Vince, Austin/HHH, or any other feuds like that, but you can't deny that people like Eddy, Booker getting a better program, RVD, Lesnar and Edge wouldn't benefit from a strong name like Austin to feud with while at the same time he draws viewers.

[Guest Austin3164life]

Just when you thought it was safe to swim in the smartmarks pool WHAM!!

 

I'm back....

 

Ever since I've been gone (left around summer 02 time), I have not even watched one second of wrestling. It's so ironic that when you are totally into it, life moves along slowly. The only wrestling I even thought of was the wrestling from early attitude era in 97, when it wasn't known as attitude just yet. All of a sudden, the other day my friend tells me they had a celebration of the last ten years of Raw or WWF or whatever, and says Austin was named wrestler of the decade. Got me thinking about wrestling more, also thinking about this forum. It's been a loooong time since I've come to this neck of the woods, but it feels kind of cool coming back.....

 

Anyway, reading this topic, let's say if Austin were thinking of returning (doubtful), a sudden surprise appearance at the Rumble (my favorite ppv), would DEFINITELY spark more of a fan following (especially loyal fans that might've left this past year). The long term profits would be enormous, especially if Austin is referred to as a legend and a true great among the sport. So he comes back at the Rumble, raises some hell among the better talent (Angle, Eddie, Jericho), then dissapears for a short while, causing the hype to build up like a snowball, rather than instant hype and death immediately after. Build Austin as a legend getting his last hurrah (last year) in as Champion, then build up Kurt Angle (next wrestling icon) as the man to lead WWE for years to come. Angle gets built up, beats Austin in a memorable WM main event, fans pop Austin's final match like crazy, goes out a true legend, leaves a great legacy......sounds far fetched i know. Being gone from smartmarks has that effect.....

[Guest Just call me Dan]

Good to see you back, but I'll need to catch you up. It's all but confirmed that Steve is returning. I am not quite sure but I think Ross and Vince have both been quoted as saying that Steve Austin and the Rock WILL wrestle in 2003.

[Guest HartFan86]

Hey, welcome back dude. We missed ya.

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

:::: marks the fuck out ::::

 

Dude, it's great to see ya again.

 

 

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