Is this the weakest WM title match build up ever?

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Ok...from the time of Royal Rumble till Wrestlemania you have to build the match for the world title.

 

January to February is kind of rocky, cause the title and #1 contendership are usually on the line at the Feb ppv...

 

Then for the past few years they've been doing this "who's the real #1 contender" deal a week or so after...

 

After that you only have a few weeks to build for the title match...

 

And what does Vince do?

 

He has Jericho out running around picking up lotion and water while HHH is left feuding with Steph.

 

This is such a shit lead up for what's suppose to be the biggest match of the year...I really do not care who wins, I have no reason to...HHH and Jericho have had almost no verbal sparing or physical confrontation...they could at least give them a WM contract signing or something.

 

And making HOgan vs Rock the main event it weak...they have to do this just so HHH can run in and attack the Rock durring the main event...sorry, but I don't think anything should follow the title match.

 

I just have a feeling that this year's Mania will leave me disapointed.

[Guest Army Eye]

It seems like such an easy sell too.  Jericho, whose ego has grown to immense proportions, due to winning the title, and HHH who has always been obsessed with the world title (well, since '99) and has just come back from a devastating injury.  Instead 99% of the angle is centered on Stephanie.  

 

It's not that surprising though.  The McMahons were in the corners of all the wrestlers in the XVI main event, and ultimately decided the outcome, and of course Vince's interference directly decided the outcome of the XVII main event too.  It's just more frustrating than anything.  Could they BUTT out just once?

[Guest Van-Daminated]

i agree on some extent to what your saying the way there pushing this match you would think hhh is wrestling stephanie at 'mania instead of jericho. but on the otherhand rock vs. hogan is a big money match "ICON" VS."ICON",its a marks dream match so i think it should main event

[Guest J*ingus]

Well, let's look at all the Wrestlemania title build-ups in depth:

 

1. Title was not defended, but main event (Hogan & Mr. T vs. Piper & Orton) was heavily built up through the MTV rock-n-wrestling connection.  

 

2. Hogan vs. Bundy: Hogan's ribs were "broken" by Bundy prior to their title match, which at least made more sense than a carved-in-half Corvette.  

 

3. Andre vs. Hogan: best buildup of all time.  

 

4. Tournament: obviously hyped the whole tournament to the moon, but the main focus was put on the Hogan-Andre rematch, while the Macho Man and Ted Dibiase were a bit overshadowed.  

 

5. Hogan vs. Savage: great buildup over the Elizabeth issue.  

 

6. Hogan vs. Warrior: good buildup for having a first-ever match between the two top babyfaces.  

 

7. Hogan vs. Slaughter: lots of people were seriously pissed over the WWF exploiting the Gulf War, as shown by this show's not-so-good ticket sales and buyrates.  They at least tried to build it up.  

 

8. Flair vs. Savage: an issue over Elizabeth AGAIN, but done a bit differently this time.  Handled oddly, because the heat for the buildup only started afterwards.  

 

9. Hart vs. Yokozuna: crappy buildup, as Hart and Yoko didn't have anything to do with each other.  The final Yoko vs. Hogan travesty didn't help either.  

 

10. Luger vs. Yokozuna vs. Hart: better than last time, for the whole "who's going to lead the WWF into the new generation?" storyline, plus the issues with Bret vs. Owen and Lex vs. Perfect.  

 

11. HBK vs. Diesel: textbook buildup, as Shawn was given a big "I can beat big men" push, plus badass backup Sid to take on his old ex-partner.  

 

12. Hart vs. HBK: same as 6, the classic face vs. face buildup.  Hart was being very subtly turned heel, while HBK feuded with Bret's brother Owen who'd "given" him a "concussion" a few months back.  

 

13. Taker vs. Sid: crap, plain and simple.  It was supposed to have been Bret-HBK 2, but Shawn lost his smile and Vince panicked.  The match wasn't even finalized until two weeks beforehand.  And why did babyface Undertaker require no less than THREE Bret run-ins to beat heel Sid?  

 

14. Austin vs. HBK: great buildup with Mike Tyson and Vince McMahon both apparently being against Austin winning the title.  Shawn was the cocky arrogent pervert, and Austin was the blue-collar everyman New American who was gonna whoop his ass.  

 

15. Austin vs. Rock: the only good thing about this show was the main event and the buildup to it, which was also the culmination of the Austin vs. McMahon and Rock vs. Foley feuds.  Everything came together for that one match.  

 

16. Rock vs. HHH vs. Foley vs. Big Show: everyone agrees, this would've been a LOT better if it were simply HHH vs. Rock without the extras.  Having all four McMahons involved was annoying too.  They sabotaged it to an extent with the results of No Way Out and the follow-up that year.    

 

17. Austin vs. Rock: for a straight face vs. face match, the buildup was good.  For trying to turn Austin heel, I wondered what the hell they were thinking, since Rock was the one that had the subtle heel persona.  

 

18. HHH vs. Jericho: what the hell?  They'd be doing okay if it were HHH vs. Stephanie, but Jericho is possibly the weakest ingoing champion in 'Mania history.  The feud hasn't been bad, it's been simply nonexistent, as Jericho has been stuck in midcard matches while HHH battles Angle in the main events.

[Guest RedJed]

Even if Hogan-Rock is the headliner, its no excuse to have piss poor buildup to this match.

 

My gosh, there is so much past buildup they could use, fors starters. Jericho touched on it once with him further injuring HHH after the quad pull, but it was within minutes put to the backburner for genetalia jokes. You could bring up their feud way back when in 2000. Hell, you could play up the fact that Jericho and Steph immensily hated each other, and now wild it truly is that they are paired together.

 

What would have been the best buildup would have been for Jericho to somehow play some part in the breakup angle. The most obvious thing would have been for somehow it be revealed that while HHH was sidelined, Jericho and Steph were having an affair. Instant heat right there, big time. Why didn't they do it? Probably because Steph doesn't want to "hurt her character" or something.

 

It's very true that this should be an easy sell, but so should have been the Invasion, and the NWO return also. Nothing is an easy sell for the "creative" team these days.

[Guest Army Eye]

My gosh, there is so much past buildup they could use, fors starters. Jericho touched on it once with him further injuring HHH after the quad pull, but it was within minutes put to the backburner for genetalia jokes. You could bring up their feud way back when in 2000. Hell, you could play up the fact that Jericho and Steph immensily hated each other, and now wild it truly is that they are paired together.

Yup. you touched on three great things right there.  Amazingly they have been briefly mentioned but glossed over

[Guest Sakura]

Why didn't they do it? Probably because Steph doesn't want to "hurt her character" or something.

 

 

Um, while HHH was gone Steph was busy feuding with Jericho. She would have people fight him and she would screw him out of wins. Remember all that?

[Guest One Bad Apple]

Probably because Steph doesn't want to "hurt her character" or something.

 

That doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever.

[Guest RedJed]

What I meant by that is that it would hurt her character (she would think at least) by revealing she was unfaithful in the storylines by having an affair with Jericho. That was what I was trying to get at there. I don't think there is any denying Steph is pretty high on her portrayal of her character, look at TV lately for christ's sakes.

 

They could easily still have played up they were having an affair though.......could have started once Jericho beat the Rock for the WCW title. If you remember correctly, she even interfered in that match. You could either say she was working with him there or else that she tried to make him lose, and she failed. She finally gave up on trying to take out Jericho and instead got turned on by his power over her. Or something to that effect.......that would be the basis of the affair. In the same respect, this would have made Jericho look pretty damn strong, as the focus would have been on him and not Steph as much.

[Guest chirs3]

I wouldn't mind Steph's involvement so much if it wasn't her sole intent to insult Triple H's penis size.

 

If she was hell bent on keeping him away from the world title, not hell bent on proving he's incompetent in bed, this fued would interest me a whole lot more.

 

Monday: Pedigree the whore and cut a miracle-interest promo like Jericho's "I am not a fluke champion!" a few months back. It won't fix the problem, but it'll help.

 

Edit: Wow.

 

I just read the HeAT review, and according to White Chocolate, the title match was

never mentioned.

 

Wow.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

It is the weakest buildup. It could be a hell of a match and has potential to have a hell of a buildup. But "daddy's little girl" is painted all over it. God I'm so tired of her.

[Guest Patriotsfan2000]

Oh my gosh, there is sooooo many things they could be doing to make this WWF title match mean something! For starters, how about actually brining up the clean WWF Title win Jericho got over Triple H on a 2000 episode of RAW, only to have the belt stripped of him that night due to HHH's relationship w/ the McMahons. Or how about showing clips of the classic last man standing match the two had at Fully Loaded 2000. Heck, maybe even bringing up the whole quad injury, they could play up the fact that Jericho was the one who injured it w/ the Walls of Jericho (I know others have mentioned these scenarios as well). Or...get ready for this...play up the fact that Chris Jericho is the #1 man in the WWF, the Undisputed Champion, and hell, maybe let him wrestle in some RAW main events. And...call me crazy...play up the fact that HHH has just returned from a debilitating injury, won the Royal Rumble, and has earned the right to fight for the sports biggest championship on wrestlings biggest night. I don't know, but all these things are a lot better than HHH and Stephanie throwing sophmoric humor around.

[Guest converge241]

the buildup is awful, its been discussed numerous times here.

One thing I wanted to expand on is a request to do away with all those "number one contender on the line" matches. Just sick of them. Why couldnt HHH just fight Angle and push the fact that Steph wanted Kurt to hurt HHH?

[Guest humongous2002]

The WWF has portray Jericho as a weak gutless champion that knows how to crack goofy jokes. We are talking about a man that was trained in Stu Hart's dungeon, a man that's been in Japan,Mexico,SMW,ECW, and WCW, a man that's got great wrestling skills and great mic skills,a great worker but what Vince turns him into????? a lackey for the billion dollar skank.

Ever since he first stepped into a WWF ring politics have tried to make him look like a fool, first by jobbing to Chyna (a woman that couldn't even lace Y2J's boots or for that matter  she couldn't lace the Brooklyn Brawler's boots)Second the WWF complaints(mostly Triple H and Xpunk) that his style is too stiff and that he has to slow down.Third he's stuck in midcard limbo for about 2 years even though he had a clean pin win for the WWF title against HHH. Then he wins the big one but with the use of a chair. And finally he becomes the undisputed world champion but it doesn't mean shit because he hasn't won a match cleanly w/o anyone's help .That's the Y2J story the WWF years.

The sad thing is if these championship reign doesn't workout the first person Vince is going to blame is not the bookers for misusing a great talent, hell no, Jericho will be the scapegoat for all the "creative" talent mistakes.Meanwhile the NWOld will be main eventing every PPV for the whole year while Y2J struggles to be back on top.

[Guest gusmahler]

The WWF has portray Jericho as a weak gutless champion that knows how to crack goofy jokes. We are talking about a man that was trained in Stu Hart's dungeon, a man that's been in Japan,Mexico,SMW,ECW, and WCW, a man that's got great wrestling skills and great mic skills,a great worker but what Vince turns him into????? a lackey for the billion dollar skank.

Ever since he first stepped into a WWF ring politics have tried to make him look like a fool, first by jobbing to Chyna (a woman that couldn't even lace Y2J's boots or for that matter  she couldn't lace the Brooklyn Brawler's boots)Second the WWF complaints(mostly Triple H and Xpunk) that his style is too stiff and that he has to slow down.Third he's stuck in midcard limbo for about 2 years even though he had a clean pin win for the WWF title against HHH. Then he wins the big one but with the use of a chair. And finally he becomes the undisputed world champion but it doesn't mean shit because he hasn't won a match cleanly w/o anyone's help .That's the Y2J story the WWF years.

The sad thing is if these championship reign doesn't workout the first person Vince is going to blame is not the bookers for misusing a great talent, #### no, Jericho will be the scapegoat for all the "creative" talent mistakes.Meanwhile the NWOld will be main eventing every PPV for the whole year while Y2J struggles to be back on top.

The sad thing is if these championship reign doesn't workout the first person Vince is going to blame is not the bookers for misusing a great talent, #### no, Jericho will be the scapegoat for all the "creative" talent mistakes.Meanwhile the NWOld will be main eventing every PPV for the whole year while Y2J struggles to be back on top.

For some reason, I don't think the nWo push will last very long.  They haven't popped the ratings and if they don't push the buy rate of WM, Vince may scrap the idea of nWo as headliners and de-push them, long guaranteed contracts notwithstanding.  

 

However, I do agree that the push of this match has been terrible.