My how things things change...

[Guest Downhome]

Yes, my how things change indeed. If the past year in the world of Pro. Wrestling has taught us anything, it is that just about anything truly is possible when it comes to not only the WWF, but the Pro. Wrestling industry as a whole. From the WWF to Puroresu, it has been one hell of a news making year. But of course, this is simply the WWF folder, so I will not go into the Keiji Muto/New Japan/All Japan story, etc..., even though that was a HELL of a story when it comes to us Puroresu fans, lol. But anyway...

 

...the WWF has been far from stale when it comes to "breaking news" in the past year. Seriously, who would have ever thought in Jan. of 2001, that WCW would seriously have been shut down? Yes, we all knew it was coming, but it seemed to just be there one day, and gone the next. We all basicly knew the day would come, but I don't think it would come as soon as March of that year, I know I didn't. Then to take it a step further, who would have ever dreamed, that the WWF would honestly to God BUY WCW? We've all asked "what if", but I don't think many people actually thought such a thing would truly happen, lol.

 

Booker T, DDP, and all of the other guys from WCW that debuted durring the "Invasion" angle, it was just a true moment in history when they were first shown on WWF TV, and that's the truth.

 

Then, we had the short lived "reformation" of ECW. Even though it was only truly great for just over an hour, it was one hell of a story. Who would have thought that ECW would be recreated in WWF with Paul Heyman as the leader once again? This was just simply a huge news item.

 

As "small" item, was the debut of Maven. A true unknown last year, but is now on WWF TV weekly, lol. He may still be green, but he has potential, and is a star that we never would have thought of seeing a year ago. Well, he also has a hell of a dropkick also, so that's a good thing, lol.

 

As we move forward, we then have the story of Stone Cold Steve Austin and his "reinvention" of himself showing a comic side, which he hasn't really shown since he was in WCW. Austin singing, playing the guitar, hugging Vince McMahon of all people? Hell, he even was the man know for making "What!" one of the most over catch phrases, err..., catch WORD, of all time. The entire Austin story was, if nothing more, interesting, lol.

 

Also, we had Ric Flair's WWF re-debut, annoucing he was the co-owner of the WWF. The world was just waiting for his re-debut after the WCW sale to the WWF, and when it finally came it was simply great. Then we had the match that was cool for if no other reason, just the fact that it was Vince McMahon Vs. Ric Flair. Just saying that match even took place is a huge news item if you ask me.

 

Then also last year, Chris Jericho became the FIRST EVER Undisputed World Champion of all time. Who would have, or COULD have predicted that Jericho of all people would be bestowed the honor of THAT great achivement? I think this is one that shocked us all. I knew it was going to happen as they were building up for the match, but the simple fact that they even DID that in the first place was a hell of a story.

 

Fast forward a bit more and then we come to the nWo encounter, lol. Once WCW was officially merged into the WWF, we all basicly knew it was just a matter of time before Hall, Nash, & Hogan showed up on WWF TV, but once it happend, it was another one of those "wow" momements. Then the Hogan Vs. Rocky match at Wrestlemania X8, and then it was that just more odd, lol. I never would have truly imagined last year that Hogan/Rock would be one of the matches in the WWF just a year later. Even more so, I never would have thought that Hogan would recieve the ovation that he did, leading to The Rock being booed, lol.

 

Finally, we have the WWF "brand extension". Even though we knew SOMETHING like this was going to happen after the WWF bought WCW, did we even think it to be possible before then? I think not, thus this being a hell of an event!

 

My point you ask? Well, that's quite simple really, just the fact that the past year proved that there are no boundries when it comes to what can happen in this sport that we all love so much. All of this finally leads to this simple question, lol...

 

...after seeing all that happened in the past year, just where in the hell do you see the Pro. Wrestling world, more specificly the WWF, going from here? If nothing more, it is sure to be one interesting, and one hell of a ride. Anyone care to share your thoughts on this?

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

the split fails

hogan is chased outta the wwf, nash follows suit

hhh turns heel and dominetes tittle picture

angle jobs to up n'comers

brock pulls a warrior and disappears

eddy,henning,hall are fired and join AA

[Guest Kinetic]

I've thought about this, too.  It's similar to the situation in '97, when I first became a smart fan.  Shit was just happening all of the time and it was really exciting.  The main difference between now and then, of course, is the general quality of WWF television.  They were building momentum at that point.  Now it just seems like Vince is hanging on for dear life.  Most of the major stories of the last year have been the result of the creative process known as "throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks."  Almost nothing has.

[Guest Risk]

I predict the WWF will start to die a slow death, ala WCW.  I don't see the WWF around in four years, that's just my opinion.

[Guest tazmission86]

I don't think the WWF will die, but I do think they will go through an extremely bad period. I predict, like someone said before, that Hogan and Nash will have some sort of problem with Vince, and will disappear, but not before pissing off Austin enough to leave or retire early. Then, I have a feeling The Rock will go to Hollywood fulltime, leaving Kurt Angle to carry the WWF for a while. Eventually, something will pick up and a mainstream wrestling renaissance will happen, but not before the WWF comes dangerously close to shutting it's doors.

 

The WWF will never die, though. Vince is smart (and evil) enough to find some way to pull it out of the gutter right at the last second. (Why he doesn't do this earlier is beyond me.)

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

The WWF won't die in the forseeable future as there is still demand for pro-wrestling on a national scale - another company would need to kill them, which obviously is extremely unlikely.

 

I think the WWF can go two ways in the next year - Hogan, HHH and the nWo dominate story lines, Austin gets fed up and quits, or the old men leave and Angle, RVD, Jericho etc get a decent chance to become the 21st century main eventers we all want to see.

[Guest]

I can see into the near future but I say Survivor Series this year we see an other match like last years. Just this time the Owners team who wins takes back over both shows killing off the "Split."

 

By the Way,

eddy,henning,hall are fired and join AA

 

When Has HENNIG ever been known to have a drinking or Drug problem?

[Guest Dr. Wrestlingphysics]

I predict that in the next year, no-one will be able to beat the record number of "lol"s written in a single post as set in Downhome's thread opening post.

 

In the WWF, I predict Hogan and Nash leaving/being thrown out,

Hall staying for a bit having a short face run before leaving.

HHH turning heel (again) and teaming up with Steph (again),

Rock being champion before the year is out.

[Guest RetroRob215]

Some people thought Henning was drunk on Raw the night he fought Austin in the main event.

[Guest Austin3164life]

I predict that Angle will feud with Edge until King of the Ring.....hehe Anglesault will kill me

 

I see Hollywood Hogan winning the Unified Championship before his career is finally over

 

I see Austin finally coming back to the Main Event scene in about May-June

 

I predict that Triple H will turn heel at Summerslam, and Stephanie makes her much NEEDED comeback:(

 

I predict that the WWF is going to continue to be stale for about another year, at WM Austin loses his last World Title to either Rock, Rob Van Dam, or Jericho, signaling the end of Attitude era.....

[Guest notJames]

When Has HENNIG ever been known to have a drinking or Drug problem?

Hennig was noticeably drunk on a few Nitro broadcasts. Stumbling on his way to the ring, giving incoherent, rambling promos, puking on the ref (nah, I made that last one up)

 

[Guest dreamer420]

Hennig was also noticably drunk when he appeared live from WWFNY on No Way Out.

[Guest Brian]

Yeah, bottom line is until there's strong competition, the WWF isn't in danger of dying. They will probably post pretty strong earnings this quarter at least around expectations.

[Guest]

Actually, I've been of the mind lately that the only way we're going to get a new national wrestling promotion until/unless the WWF actually dies off and goes under, because it's just too strong to not cut off any upstart fed at the knees (i.e. signing Goldust and Mr. Perfect just to take them away from that other company).

 

So I kinda hope that the WWF gets so bad it falls apart and goes under...leaving us back in a situation where there's only local territories sprinkled out across the country.  And maybe then one of them (or, hopefully, more) can get the momentum needed to go national.  This is why I was glad the NWO was signed, because I thought they really could do the political & locker room damage to help set up the breakdown.

 

Nothing is going to get better in terms of elevation and/or better storylines unless the WWF dies or comes to the very brink of death.  At least that's how I feel.