Does anything in WWE matter any more?

[Guest Dazed]

Perhaps not the best title, but I didn't want to use "anything" twice in there.

 

Anyway...

 

Does anything matter any more? I was watching the "Bloodbath" DVD, and someone mentions that a plancha was a huge deal back then, because it was something that you never saw. Now, of course, you could see a plancha several times in one match.

 

Face and heel turns have lost meaning, because they happen so often. Back when I was a child, having a turn meant so much because you were so used to having someone as a good guy that having them cheat was a huge shock. Now, you've got someone like Brock Lesnar, who, over the course of a two year career turned something like 4 times. How do you get behind a character like that?

 

I'll never forget the Rockers breaking up. The superkick, followed by the throw threw the window was a huge moment. Now though... tag teams in general are just two guys with nothing better to do (look at RVD's 2003 / 2004 career), and the break up is inevitable. Meaningless.

 

Having a title belt. Partly HHH's fault, but holding the WWF title is just... nothing these days. It doesn't matter who the champion is, because the focus isn't neccessarily on them, nor are the necessarily the "best" on the card. Indeed, there's been so many titles that almost everyone on the active roster (other than new guys) have been a champion at some point.

 

Being number one contender. Partly a by-product of the General Manager as a character era, but title shots can be awarded for anything - winning a match, winning a tournament, or for no reason at all, regardless of the person's history. The ubiquitous "rematch clause" is lazy booking, and...

 

...means that having a match on PPV is devalued, since you'll get to see it again, almost guaranteed, on Raw the next night, or the week after or on next month's PPV.

 

The act of actually having a match doesn't matter. Remember when Russo could make a title match for later on in the same show, just a week before a PPV, and poor ol' Jim Ross had to sell it as though there was some intrigue as to who would win? Having two wrestlers go out and work doesn't matter because 50% of the time, the match is never referenced again, and 50% of the time, the consequences of the match are all that matters. It doesn't matter if, I dunno, Benoit beats Christian, it only matters that Tyson beats the shit out of Benoit after the match.

 

There are so many tired plot devices, too. Oh no! Shawn Michaels has been ejected from the building. Well, I bet that's the last we see of him tonight! Oh my, he's back. What a shock. Ah, well, he's been arrested now. There's definitely no way he'll be back. HOW DID HE DO THAT!!!!? LOL! Look at JR getting beaten up.

 

Oh, and there's cheating. Once upon a time, a heel cheating in a match would be enough to cause a rematch and it'd be a huge plot point. Now, it's expected and forgotten about. Even JR just acknowledges it with a weary, "that's just not right". If the production team see the cheating well enough to replay it, and JR notices it, and the person who's been hit with a belt presumably notices it, are we supposed to just accept that the referee gets let off for missing it? And what about the swarm of referees that are backstage ready to run out if there's a fight? Presumably they're watching...

 

So, is there anything that *does* mean something any more? Anything that matters? More things that used to matter, but don't?

[Precious Roy 0]

Paul London

[Taker666 0]

you make alot of good points. but to me, as a fan. I just watch WWE to be entertained.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

The way you say that "you see a plancha several times in one match" implies something very different to me than what I'm seeing on my telelvision. I wish I was bored of wrestling because so many people were pulling off beautiful looking spots that previously used to be thought of as unique.

 

Instead, I'd say it's the lack of finesse and constant pound-pound-pound offense of the show that kills crowds. JBL knows a few more moves than Kevin Nash, but not enough to make it worthwhile to distinguish the two (other than Bradshaw can move faster.) Yet despite this crappy offense, he had the Title for how long? He killed the crowd at the PPV because he dominated the match with his mindless beatdown offense.

 

The titles aren't devalued because there's so many of them. The titles are devalued because they simply signify whose angle is going to get the lion's share of the cameratime. Somewhere around the 90s revolution the title became less of a prize than the hand in marriage, the family feud, the controlling interest in the company, or whatever other scripted prize is on the line. I blame this starting when stables became popular with the NWO. Previously, stables revolved around titles, such as the Horsemen revolving around Flair's gold. From the point the NWO started using the WCW title as their personal toy, the stables started eclipsing the titles.

 

Tag teams are meaningless because the people inside them are usually in the tag team to hide their weakness as a worker. To have a shocker of a breakup, you must first have a team the fans care about enough that the breakup will shock them, and when your tag division looks like nothing but rookies and jobbers, nobody will care.

 

PPVs are devalued because they're so damned many, not because Vince runs angles into the ground, because he always has done that. Hogan/Andre did so much money the first time, that Vince kept repeating it with different situations over and over for the next year and until Andre left for good. The difference is that then they didn't have so many shows.

[Guest Dazed]

The way you say that "you see a plancha several times in one match" implies something very different to me than what I'm seeing on my telelvision. I wish I was bored of wrestling because so many people were pulling off beautiful looking spots that previously used to be thought of as unique.

 

It wasn't a criticism, it was just what inspired me to think of this. Should have been clearer there.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

No, nothing does matter anymore. Its why wrestling sucks. YOu can only see the same old tired crapola recycled so many times before its not entertaining any more. its part of why i gave up.

 

Actually strike that, nothing matters anymore, except occasional backstage dirt involving Matt, Lita, and Edge. only entertaining thing to come out of WWE.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

WWE should do good storylines and it's because of the internet. It's not suprising anymore.

[Dark Age 0]

you make alot of good points. but to me, as a fan. I just watch WWE to be entertained.

Why the Hell do you even discuss it then? May as well just close down the forum, because everything can be defended with "just be entertained".

[Guest Dazed]

WWE should do good storylines and it's because of the internet. It's not suprising anymore.

 

How so?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

WWE should do good storylines and it's because of the internet. It's not suprising anymore.

 

How so?

Because everything is the internet's fault. Haven't you been listening to the WWF like a good little sheep?

[Vyce 0]

Does anything in the WWE matter? No.

 

You have to look to the indys or Mexico or overseas if you want wrestling that matters in the slightest.

[Guest Andrew J.]

Nope. In fact, nithing matter anymore. WWE will be run Trips and the McMahons forever, TNA won't go four months without Jarret being champion, ROH will continue to not focus on its champion and focus even less on its most popular workers, business in Japan is going down the drain, lucha is as corny as it ever was our sport is absurd AIEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Oh, wait, I just remembered that this inane hobby of mine has never mattered that much. I feel better now.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Well, all hope isn't lost for me at least. There's still some good workers (Shelton,Benoit,Christien, Trish, etc.). However, in spite of Batista being champ, it's still (and at this point it seems like it will always be) the HHH show. Meanwhile on SmackDown, there are also good workers, and a (somewhat) legitimate Cruiserweight division, even though Cena is the champ over there now. So while it sure is starting to look dim, all hope isn't completely lost yet.

[Guest Dazed]

Well, all hope isn't lost for me at least. There's still some good workers (Shelton,Benoit,Christien, Trish, etc.). However, in spite of Batista being champ, it's still (and at this point it seems like it will always be) the HHH show. Meanwhile on SmackDown, there are also good workers, and a (somewhat) legitimate Cruiserweight division, even though Cena is the champ over there now. So while it sure is starting to look dim, all hope isn't completely lost yet.

 

But does any of it really matter?

[Gary Floyd 0]

Well, all hope isn't lost for me at least. There's still some good workers (Shelton,Benoit,Christien, Trish, etc.). However, in spite of Batista being champ, it's still (and at this point it seems like it will always be) the HHH show. Meanwhile on SmackDown, there are also good workers, and a (somewhat) legitimate Cruiserweight division, even though Cena is the champ over there now. So while it sure is starting to look dim, all hope isn't completely lost yet.

 

But does any of it really matter?

To be honest, I don't know anymore. I just don't know.

[CanadianChick 0]

In what context are you curious if it matters? You're making it sound like you're trying to find the meaning of life in wrestling.

[Gary Floyd 0]

In what context are you curious if it matters? You're making it sound like you're trying to find the meaning of life in wrestling.

Great, now I'll have to find a fat guy who vomits into a bucket

[Twisted Intestine 0]

Edit: Ooopsies.

[Guest Dazed]

In what context are you curious if it matters? You're making it sound like you're trying to find the meaning of life in wrestling.

 

Matters within the context of the promotion or matters that it happens at all. Benoit / Christian is meaningless in either context, despite (from what I hear) being a good match. The winner is meaningless, the finish is meaningless, them having a match at all is meaningless...

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I don't buy the idea that more PPVs and titles devalue them. They do to a certain extent, but they can easily be worked around. Look at 2000. Almost every PPV was great or at least had something unique to set them apart and every title had meaning, except the Women's (what else is new).

 

The problem is that they don't do anything to make PPVs special any more. Aside from the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania & Taboo Tuesday (which is killed by not being on the weekend), all the PPVs are the same. They need to come up with gimmicks that you know will happen at a certain PPV annually, even if you don't know the participants. Like using the 6-Man HIAC at Armaggedon.

 

For titles, they need to do two things. One, build angles around them. Two, have the wrestlers act like they want them. Shelton Benjamin has had the IC Title for 6 months and has gone about 10 without a decent feud. That's why nobody sees the IC Belt as being important anymore. The US Title was fine when it was held by Cena, but Orlando Jordan isn't doing anything with it. Sadly, the CW Title is one of the better booked belts in the promotion right now, which is part of the reason why fans are into Paul London's matches so much. The tag titles suffer the most. I grew up watching in the 80s WWF, where after the WWF Champion, No. 1 Contender, and possibly the IC Champion, the holders of that belt were the biggest stars in the promotion. Eddy & Rey are good guys to have the belts, but they aren't doing anything with it, because they have no division to compete against. The RAW tag titles are in such bad shape they are lucky if they can get off Heat. The title matches should always be the main selling points of a show, except for certain big events like the Royal Rumble, and the champions should be pushed as the best wrestlers.

[Celtic Jobber 0]

WWE is going down the tubes quicker than I would've thought. They'll probably fold within 3 or 4 years if things don't start improving.