If you can put the blame on 1 person for the decline of the WWE...

[Hawk 34 0]

Well duh.

 

Vince has stupid ideas, gives the stupid ideas to the writing team, who actually manages to make the stupid ideas even stupider, and do so in a way for the wrestlers -the vast majority of whom can't act or deliver the promos they write, which they can't seem to understand- to make seem, believe it or not, even stupiderer. If Vince just gave the stupid idea to the wrestlers to do with how they like, the shows wouldn't be AS stupid as they are now.

 

The Debra thing was just to stir up artificial conflict between the two.

 

Because two years of a hot rivalry wasn't enough.

[Promoter 0]

At the time believe it or not I thought she was in there to turn Austin heel. I really did believe Austin was going to turn heel at the event. I thought Debra would have got involved and Austin would even stun her on his way to the title. The reason I believed Austin was going to turn heel was the HHH match and the constant going over the edge and JR saying Austin was changing. I think the crowd MIGHT have turned on Austin in that scenario. Austin is Hogan-like where you can really tell the reaction because they are so markish for him myself included at the time. I loved that beating he put on The Rock and I liked both guys.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Well duh.

 

Vince has stupid ideas, gives the stupid ideas to the writing team, who actually manages to make the stupid ideas even stupider, and do so in a way for the wrestlers -the vast majority of whom can't act or deliver the promos they write, which they can't seem to understand- to make seem, believe it or not, even stupiderer. If Vince just gave the stupid idea to the wrestlers to do with how they like, the shows wouldn't be AS stupid as they are now.

 

The Debra thing was just to stir up artificial conflict between the two.

 

Because two years of a hot rivalry wasn't enough.

 

Classic Stephanie Writing. Ignore the obvious, the stuff that people would care about, insert something retarded and which she thinks is "clever" and no one cares about.

 

Though Debs involvement was probably more Austins doing than anything. Still, Classic Steph Writing even if she didn't write it.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I blame Steve Case for forming America Online.

 

When Ted Turner merged Time Warner with AOL, AOL slowly but surely took over WCW. Bischoff explained that as AOL became more in control, they began appointing committees on top of committees to tell Bischoff what the direction of WCW would be.

 

Bischoff & co. were going to purchase WCW for 70 million until AOL's bigwigs said "Fuck wrestling, we don't want rasslin on TNT anymore."

 

Then they backed out. Vince bought WCW. No competition = Suck.

 

And AOL's claim to fame now? No one uses shitty AOL, their website, or browser. AIM has exploded, sure, but there's tons of other messaging programs which would've been just as popular. And wrestling's in the garbage can.

 

Except Ted Turner didn't merge Time Warner with AOL. That happened before Ted Turner was in any way shape or form involved with AOL-TW. Turner owned Turner Broadcasting, which owned WCW & most of the Atlanta Sports teams. He merged his company with AOL-Time Warner. Turner became a VP at AOL Time Warner and gave up his role as head of Turner. It was actually the head of Turner Broadcasting who said no to wrestling. AOL had nothing to do with it, as though it is merged with Time Warner in name, they run as seperate entities. You want proof? Time Warner Cable offers Roadrunner high speed internet, which impedes on AOL's market. AOL Time Warner is a massive clusterfuck, yes. But blame the guy who was in charge of Turner Broadcasting, not Steve Case or Ted Turner

[Richard 0]

On September 22, 1995, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. announced plans to merge with Time Warner Inc. This merger completed on October 10, 1996, with Turner as vice chairman, head of Time Warner's cable networks division. On January 10, 2000, Time Warner announced plans to merge with AOL as AOL Time Warner. This merger closed January 11, 2001.

[Enigma 0]

I thought Bischoff & Fusient Media Ventures' offer to buy WCW was $49 million?

[Enigma 0]

Bischoff & co. were going to purchase WCW for 70 million until AOL's bigwigs said "Fuck wrestling, we don't want rasslin on TNT anymore."

Wrong, Mr. Uh. AOL didn't care about wrestling itself either way. Hell, these guys used to feature weekly WWF superstar chats and periodical WCW superstar chats in the mid/late-90s. When AOL and Time Warner merged, AOL wanted all the parts of the company that were losing money to be deleted. WCW was one of these parts. It's just as simple as that. The company line may have been, "Wrestling doesn't fit here anymore," but I guarantee you if WCW was still making money and not losing it, Jamie Kellner wouldn't have axed WCW from TNT & TBS. They were only cut because they were losing money at a time where it was important that every hole in the ship was plugged up.

[TheInsane 0]

That the pressure is ultimately on Vince is a given and therefore he is responsible for everything about the WWE product. Aside from him I would say Steph though. I dont think she would have had a long stay in the company if she wasn't related to Vince. I think Vince is going WAY to easy on her just because she's family.

 

Lets hope HHH becomes the man in charge when Vince steps down and that he isnt an active wrestler by that time. Everything so that Steph doesnt get the job. And I do think Trips actually has a pretty good idea about wrestling, its history, what works and what doesnt work (especially when he doesnt have to protect himself as an active wrestler).

[Guest Diablo_Dor]

I have been thinking about this topic for a while and I'm gonna pick someone out of the blue who I unfortunately can't actually name but I believe is completely at fault for the downfall of the federation:

 

"Whoever negotiated the 20 year contract for Bret Hart in mid 97 is the person who I believe fubarred the WWF"

 

Ok I'll try and explain this reasoning:

 

I believe that if Vince hadn't been tied to the 20year deal with Bret over the Summer of 97 he would never had needed to talk his way out of the contract, or ask Bret to see if he could get WCW to reconsider.

 

That would have meant that the Montreal incident would never have occured and we would have gotten

 

Wrestlemania 14 Bret Vs Stone Cold for the WWF title.

 

Now I don't actually see Montreal as the cause of the downfall, it was the next night that did the damage.

 

Here is were I think is the catalyst, in Foleys book a LOT of wrestlers did not want to return after what happened that night and this was the point were Vince had to rely on the only person he could book as the Mega Heel against Austin who couldn't be tempted to move to WCW

 

Vincent Kennedy McMahon

 

if that hadn't happened the nepotism would not have been able to infest this company and therefore Vince would not have believed his daughter was capable of carrying the book without any experience.

 

In a lot of ways I think what HHH gets away with in regards to burying is Vince's Nepotistic (is that even a word?) beliefs that nobody who is not a McMahon, or a star before McMahon became the dominant heel, should be the main

star in his federation.

 

or maybe it was the cyclical nature of wrestling, yeah lets blame the Fans. Yeah I'm just an internet Jackoff

[daileyxplanet 0]

TheSmartMarks.com

 

I didn't realize WWE was so crappy 'til you guys told me so .