How much things have changed...

[JoeDirt 0]

I was just watching a tape of an old RAW from the night after King of the Ring 99. It's weird comparing that to today's RAW.

 

Austin and Taker wrestled in the main event (Austin winning the title back) and had a 12 minute match with the only "wrestling" moves being 2 stunners by Austin, and a body slam and chinlock by Taker. The rest was clothesline, punch, kick, elbow, punch, kick, clothesline. And yet, the crowd is INSANELY into the match.

 

Billy Gunn had won the King of the Ring the night before and interferes in a HHH/Rock match on this show, beating the Rock down. Big push coming up, right? Well, later in the show he loses to Bradshaw!

 

Droz and Albert come out and try and pierce the tongue of one of the Godfather's ho's, but Edge makes the save, so he gets the ho's.

 

Jarrett and X-Pac wrestle for the IC title in a 4 minute match that features the referee distracted about eight times. Debra distracts the ref, X-Pac hits Jarrett with a guitar, Billy Gunn and Chyna run in and hit X-Pac and roll Jarrett over for the pin.

 

I know things were like this when Russo was in charge, but just comparing it to today is surreal. People complain a LOT about today's WWE...but would you rather have this?

 

Maybe, maybe not. It's just interesting to look back and see how COMPLETELY different things were in this era.

[Guest drdrainoscott]

Looking back on it, I can't believe I was a fan in 1999. That had to have been the worst year booking wise and wrestling wise the WWF has had in the modern era. Looking back on it, 1993 through 1995 may have been bad, but at least you had Bret, Shawn, Razor, Owen, Bulldog, etc. to keep the workrate up. 1999 the wrestling was pretty bad. Things didn't improve until right after Survivor Series '99, which, to no surprise, was when Russo left. Comparing 1999 to 2000 is like night and day.

[JoeDirt 0]

And don't forget Undertaker and his Ministry...

 

Lame.

 

It's a whole different show, a whole different presentation of entertainment. I can see why VERY few matches in 1999 hit ****, and you wouldn't even DREAM of it in a TV match.

 

We're a lot luckier now than we give credit for.

[Guest MikeSC]

And don't forget Undertaker and his Ministry...

 

Lame.

 

It's a whole different show, a whole different presentation of entertainment. I can see why VERY few matches in 1999 hit ****, and you wouldn't even DREAM of it in a TV match.

 

We're a lot luckier now than we give credit for.

The fact that it was so loved only shows how REALLY BAD WCW's booking was at the time.

-=Mike

...I tried to watch WM 15 --- I failed in the attempt

[JoeDirt 0]

And don't forget Undertaker and his Ministry...

 

Lame.

 

It's a whole different show, a whole different presentation of entertainment. I can see why VERY few matches in 1999 hit ****, and you wouldn't even DREAM of it in a TV match.

 

We're a lot luckier now than we give credit for.

The fact that it was so loved only shows how REALLY BAD WCW's booking was at the time.

-=Mike

...I tried to watch WM 15 --- I failed in the attempt

WM15 is pretty awful. Rock/Austin has great heat and is decent, and nothing else is better than *1/2.

 

Backlash is actually pretty decent though. Rock/Austin have a good rematch and I really liked Taker/Shamrock, though the crowd is dead for it.

 

Of course it ends with Taker saying "HELLO STEPHANIE!" and setting up that whole angle...*shakes head*

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I hated 1998 & 1999 in the WWF at the time, and I still hate it now.

[Guest drdrainoscott]

1998 wasn't bad back then because Austin just ruled the world then. He was getting good matches out of everyone, Taker included. And how can you possibly say that you didn't like the Austin/McMahon storyline, not to mention the Rock, DX and Foley?

[ISportsFan 0]

1998 wasn't bad back then because Austin just ruled the world then. He was getting good matches out of everyone, Taker included. And how can you possibly say that you didn't like the Austin/McMahon storyline, not to mention the Rock, DX and Foley?

Everything in 1998 outside the main event totally sucked in the ring. Mostly storyline wise too.

 

1999 everything sucked.

 

2000 everything ruled until SummerSlam.

 

Jason

[JoeDirt 0]

1998 wasn't bad back then because Austin just ruled the world then.  He was getting good matches out of everyone, Taker included.  And how can you possibly say that you didn't like the Austin/McMahon storyline, not to mention the Rock, DX and Foley?

Oh don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good stuff in 98, especially Austin/Macmahon. But there's bad stuff too...does Val Venis getting castrated ring a bell?

 

But 1999 just surprised me because WWF was SO popular then...and a lot of the stuff is laughable, like the Ministry and the Greater Power angle and Taker setting Vince's teddy bear on fire.

 

And who the hell was supposed to be behind the rising briefcase at KOTR 99, anyways?

 

I should also mention that it's not just the angles...it's how the matches are set up. Not only are they short...but there's very little wrestling, and tons of punching/kicking.

[deancoles 0]

My tv match of the year was the DDP-Sting Title Change on Nitro and that was only because of ok Wrestling but an Awesome Crowd.

 

Edit:I didn't watch Nitro from September-October so I missed The Hart/Benoit match.

Edited March 25, 2004 by deancoles411

[cawthon777 0]

1999 sucked in the WWF. I watched but not nearly as often as I once did. Owen's death turned me off even more. There was no long-term planning, everything was week-by-week. One week, this guy is the champ ... the other week this guy is ... one week this guy is a face ... the next week he turns heel for little to no reason.

 

Toward the end of the year, I was much more into WCW ... oddly enough for the same reason I hated the WWF earlier in the year - it was being run by Russo. And while we can all complain night and day over some of his decisions, he did a lot to elevate Bret, Benoit, Kidman, etc during those final months.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

And who the hell was supposed to be behind the rising briefcase at KOTR 99, anyways?

 

I think it was gonna be the Boss Man, but of course it was never revealed.

[Jericholic82 0]

it had to be bossman, as many others have said, the week before on raw he was kicked out of the corporation, now austin had put in the contract of the ppv match that no corporation member could interfere. the night after ppv, bossman came down to his old music, got in the ring and hugged the corporation and said he loved them. so I guess we were to infer it was he who did it, but they didn't dwell on it and can you blame them, its Ray Freaking Traylor who hasn't had any heat since about 92.

 

 

and yea the show is different now. And the reason why we watched is cuz were fans and its a habit. now being smarkish I dont enjoy wrestling as much, but still watch due to force of habit. and wcw wasn't all that bad in 99. must fans just listened to the hype and thought the wwf was the best cuz they won monday nights and had "attitude" . btw 99s ppvs werent that bad summerslam was pretty good as you had a decent opener in dlo/jarrett, a surprisingly good, rock/gunn match, and an above average triple threat ME (and cmon foley won the title). then again 99 was bad forget it. That was the best ppv of the year so what does that tell you. Though I enjoyed the rumble at the time and stil think its pretty decent, with my match of the year Mankind/Rock I quit and well the rumble wasnt great but it had a good story and a shocking win by vince mcmahon (dumb in theory but worked well with the angle that followed)

 

 

 

and we get better tv matches now, but that doesnt bother me, the ppvs are where you get the longer matches and thats probably the best reason to order them. anything's better then jobber matches.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I was another one of those people that bought into the hype of WWE and pretty much only watched them in '99. Looking back, WCW may have been putting on much better shows at the time with the Cruiserweight division being carried by Billy Kidman, Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, and Rey Mysterio Jr., as well as the Tag Team division with Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn and Raven. Diamond Dallas Page was getting his main event push and some of the older guys were putting on the best matches they had in years. I guess the old saying "you don't know what you've got, until it's gone" is always correct, because I miss Nitro every single time I see guys like Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, and the cruiserweights being wasted.

[iliketurtles 0]

Summer of 1998 was good, but late 1998 was rough. DX vs. Nation feud, Austin/Taker vs. Mankind/Kane feud that turned into Austin vs. Taker...everything other than that was kind of bleh.

 

Once HHH became champ in late 1999, I started becoming more intrested in the product...most of 1999 I didn't watch and Owen's death wasn't exactly making me jump for joy when it came to watching WWF.

 

Like you guys said, 2000 was amazing. No comparison whatsoever as everything up and down the card was pretty damn solid.

[Tony149 0]

I enjoyed the hell outta what I call the "real" WWF Attitude. (1997 until Russo left. Say what you want about the guy but he came up with crazy stuff)

 

I loathe the WWF at the time (Nitro and the nWo hooked me on WCW since the WWF was filled with rejected 80s gimmicks -- T.L. Hopper, The Goon, etc), thinking they were nothing but smut and little wrestling -- which was true -- until I saw a Austin/McMahon segment, which led to me catching an entire Raw and thus becoming a WWF fan again.

 

The WWF's talent roster was horrible back then, I guess that's why I loved it so much; I wasn't expecting classic matches. It was so over-the-top (especially 1999) that it was great. Nobody will deny 2000 as a bad year because it was great, but I'll always be fond of the WWF 1998-1999. You could feel the buzz.

[eiker_ir 0]

i really liked WWF in 98, especially the summer with the build-up to Summerslam which i loved. then after Summerslam it just became blah.

 

then in 1999 i just couldn't stand it, the wrestling sucked, every match was just brawling interferences and i hated the storylines and everything. I stopped watching for the first time in years untill i came back in 2000 and i'm still here.