Current State on Wrestling

[Guest Daredevil21]

With the current state of pro wrestling at one of its lowest points ever, I find myself longing for the “good old days” more than ever before. While the WWF has yet to hit rock bottom, it seems almost inevitable, with the likely departure of Steve Austin, and the return of the Clique being the main factors. In the past year, the WWF has let themselves completely fall apart, and I feel that the lack of any real competition is the reasoning behind it.

 

When you think about it, what reason does the WWF have to actually try present a watchable product? They are aware that they have millions of fans in the palm of their hand, who will watch anything they put out there. Just when things appeared that they would be turning around, Austin walked out of RAW and possibly the WWF. This may very well set of a series of events that will lead the WWF into one of its darkest periods yet.

       

This entire year has really put my love for wrestling to the test. I am torn right now between my love and dedication for wrestling, and my sense of good judgment. While my true love for the business is prevailing over my sense of better judgment, I can tell you that the gap between those two things is minimizing with each bad RAW, Smackdown, PPV, or angle, and it wouldn’t surprise me if my sense of better judgment prevails soon enough.

       

I honestly can’t contemplate what is going on in the head of Vince McMahon. He parades around acting like he actually gives a damn what the fans want. Apparently, the fans want to see Vince get hit on by every new “lady” that comes into the WWF. Apparently, the fans want to see Tommy Dreamer getting TV time because he’s willing to consume inedible objects. Apparently, fans want to see the Undertaker strutting around with the Undisputed title around his hefty waist, while he cuts the same tired and uninspired promo. If Vince is doing what the fans want, then I’d hate to actually see what happens if he tried to give the fans what they didn’t want. Maybe then we’d get something that we aren’t embarrassed to watch.

       

The current state of pro wrestling and more specifically, the WWF is an almost disgraceful one. Never in my 12 years of watching pro wrestling, have I been more embarrassed to admit that I am a fan. I stood tall during the Clique era of the WWF, the one that nearly destroyed the company. I defended wrestling through the good times and the bad, but now, I don’t even attempt to defend it. When someone asks me about wrestling today, I simply remark that I hope they can get their act together soon, because what they are putting out there is simply unacceptable. Through the last dark age of the WWF, I stood by the company, and remained loyal, even though the product sucked. I knew that times had to get better, and with each passing PPV, I saw that they were finally getting their act together. However, it took WCW absolutely destroying them in the ratings to get their act together. The question now is: What’s going to motivate them to do it this time? Despite putting on an awful product, they are still the number one wrestling promotion in America, and I’m sure that that’s all they care about at this point.

       

I don’t really know what the point of this rant was. It just seems that most people have voiced their opinion in detail about the current state of wrestling, while I have been somewhat quiet, and I guess I just thought that I should get my views on the whole matter out into the open. I’m aware that my opinions don’t differ much from everyone else’s, but I though it to be necessary for this lifelong wrestling loyalist to get his thoughts into the open. Here’s hoping that something can be done soon, before I’m watching wrestling tapes from the good old days on a permanent basis.

[Guest razazteca]

well it looks like the WWF is making the proverb "Take one step forward, and two steps backward" a Real World reality.  The start the split to make new stars for the future of the company but bring in the nWo.

 

Then there is a sudden push for everybody from Texas.  SCSA gets to play with the nWo but due to unrecognizible differences and unperceived reality Scott Hall and Steve Austin leave the company.  Bradshaw the once entertaining card playing alcoholic becomes the 1st line of defense against the nWo and what happens.....he stares at the interview girl instead of the camera which results in the big push failure and the Alcolyte is turned back into the hoss cowboy Justin Hawk.  Then the Undertaker is made champion after beating the nostolgia champ Hogan, but noone seem to care about Survivor Series 91, may because the fans were to young to notice or that Undertaker's chokeslam is not as good as it used to be.  But there was hope from the in the women by the name of Jazz, she single handly made the division entertaining but was injuried and will be out for months, now the womens division is just a reason to have lotion near by.

 

RVD vs Eddy Guerrero has been entertaining to watch on Raw, with possible big payoff at the King of the Ring PPV but ends up being one of the many never finished feuds.  RVD as IC champ is put in the KOR tourny and Eddy now gets to wrestle Flair.  Why RVD is in the tourny is a big question, since he is already popular and being position in the tourny does nothing for him other than hurting his heat.  I don't believe a champion has ever entered the KOR tourny before, which makes sense, because that title would usually be defended on the PPV.

[Guest]

It's sad but true.  Difficult to put one's finger on exactly why the WWF seems so bad just now.  From a business point of view, it was in a much worse state during the mid-90's.  From a talent point of view, it has probably never been better.  So why does it feel as if it's on its last legs?

 

Probably because the 1998-2000 boom is still so fresh in our minds, it seems that much more terrible the speed the ratings are declining.  When the ratings began to fall in the early-mid 90's it was more of a gradual thing.  A slow decline doesn't cause so much panic as a rapid one, and also causes less hair-brained 'here today gone tomorrow' quick fix hosthot angles.  

 

This is not one of the worst periods for wrestling ever, but at the rate things are going to it won't be long before we're in it.  They need to put the falling ratings out of their minds and simply construct coherent storylines with the talent they have instead of looking for that quick fix which is just making the product nonsensical and random and making it that much worse.  

 

That and the fact that they only have 50% of the name talent they used to have on each of their shows.  That and the fact it's not even called the WWF any more.  Ahhhhh shit ..........

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

The WWF Champion has been in the KOTR exactly once.  In the 1988 Tournament, Ted Dibiase defeated WWF Champion Randy Savage in the finals.

 

Former champions have been in the tournament.  

 

Pedro Morales 1985 (Lost to Muraco in the Semis) & 1986 (Lost to Race in the Finals)

 

Iron Shiek 1985 (Lost to Muraco in the Finals) & 1986 (Lost to Billy Jack Haynes in Round 1)

 

Bret Hart 1993 (Won)

 

Bob Backlund 1993 (Lost to Luger in Round 1)

 

Undertaker 1995 (Lost to Mabel in Quarters)

 

Yokozuna 1995 (Lost to Savio Vega in Quarters) & 1996 (Lost to Owen Hart in Round 1)

 

Ultimate Warrior 1996 (Drew with Goldust in Round 1)

 

Kane 1999 (Lost to Billy Gunn in Semis) & 2001 (Lost to Christian in Round 1)

 

Big Show 2001 (Lost to Christian in Quarters)

 

Kurt Angle 2001 (Lost to Edge in Finals)

 

Chris Jericho 2002 (Unknown)

[Guest pappajacks]

Although no one's wants to admit it, the loss of Russo was huge.

 

The WWE is missing a Russo type booker.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Although no one's wants to admit it, the loss of Russo was huge.

 

The WWE is missing a Russo type booker.

 

No, Russo's reign of terror was horrible too.  I don't think anyone wants to relive 1999 again.  

 

It was the loss of that guy who booked from the time Russo left until Steph took over around Survivor Series 2000.  I can't remember his name.

[Guest Austin3164life]

I don't have one enourmous paragraph to sum up my feeling towards the wrestling business as of today.  It's highly lackluster, and even with the somewhat timid ratings it is getting (in comparison with 1998-2000), the product is pretty horrendous.  It almost saddens me to represent wrestling to other people who are not interested, because I am losing my respect for it.  Yet, my blind devotion to the sport remains (even though my favorite icon has left).  I just hope that Vince and the management pick up things before it gets even worse and before we begin to see the WWF Championship passed around to the Clique class of 2002......

[Guest]

We need Dusty Rhodes! No reason really... The American Dream can fix anything. He's like the duct tape of wrestling.

[Guest]

No, Russo's reign of terror was horrible too.  I don't think anyone wants to relive 1999 again.  

 

It was the loss of that guy who booked from the time Russo left until Steph took over around Survivor Series 2000.  I can't remember his name.

 

Who WAS booking in that time period?  Rumble 2000-SummerSlam 2000 period was gold.  Survivors 2000 was about the same time the product (creatively at least) started taking a nose dive.  

 

Incidentally, sorry to those who are pissed of with posters on this board for being all doom and gloom.  I for one will try to be more positive about the state of the WW_.  They're just not making it easy for us right now.

[Guest Dangerous A]

I do think the business is doing a downward spiral right now but not as bad as say 92-mid 96. That was damn bad. However all signs point to it possibly reaching those depths very soon. Something needs to be done and that something is to create new stars and attempt to come up with something fresh to watch. The coming up with something fresh to watch in regards to storylines is a lot harder to come up with than it seems. What pleases the average smark may not go over with the casuals(who comprise 95-98% of the viewing audience). Who knows where the busines will be 1 or 2 years from now. I can tell you this, Vince's decisions the last year are scaring the shit out of me.

[Guest Austin3164life]

Well, now with The Rock's apparent jumpstart return, and a possible role to play at King of the Ring, I think Vince is trying to take things in a different direction.  I might be wrong but something should give soon here.  I don't think Vince is that moronic to revisit the 1994-1996 "Dark Ages" period.....

[Guest Ravenbomb]

watching the WWF right now is like a movie with *Insert your least favorite actors name here, I'll use Paul Reiser* in the lead role with De Niro or Kevin Spacey as some lame extra. It'd be really entertaining if they'd get the crap out of the spotlight and let the really talented guy take over

[Guest Dangerous A]

With the Winner of KOTR getting a shot at SS it looks like there is a little shred of some long term booking as opposed to the week to week bullshit they have been treading on the last year.

[Guest]

Well guys all I can say is that the WWE may not be what it was in its peak but it isnt really that bad upon further inspection.  Number one reason why it can never be as bad as the "dark days" is because of the talent roster.  There are loads of good performers on the WWE roster and although a lot of them might be buried on second rate shows, the percentage of good matches on WWE shows is still a lot higher than it was back in the days of Mabel vs Adam Bomb.  Number two reason is the writing is a lot better than it was in the dark day, granted it is weak in comparison to the peak writing but we are still not forced to endure Phinneas Godwinns crush on Sunny as one of the focal points of the product.  And I really think the WWE is trying harder these last few weeks, there are new pushes, and new creative directions for some of the workers, and guys like Lance Storm, D-LO, Jamie Knoble, and The Big Valbowski are at least getting Raw and Smackdown time.

[Guest]

Sure it is a bad time now for good storylines, decent gimmicks,  and competition, BUT in my opinion it is a GREAT time now for the actual WRESTLING in the WWE.  I think the last few months on both RAW and Smackdown the talent has put on some good matches.  And by this I mean matches that last longer than 3 minutes which was the standard back in 1999-2000.   As a fan who likes the actual in-ring work better than the backstage hijinks and long-winded promos, I consider now to be some what of a breath of fresh air.   Look at Heat, Velocity, both shows put on some good matches with the cruisers and even sometimes a decent woman's match.  

 

Sure the WWE is in a slump creatively but as far as in-ring workrate it has been REALLY good.  And this is what keeps me watching.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I don't know why people always say that wrestling is cyclical. The WWF came back from shittiness only once, so I don't understand why there are people saying that the WWF will survive because it has before. If Vince is hoping that the Rock's movies will help wrestling's image, he needs to remember that the Rock may be able to get a few more people to tune in, but the product still sucks. He needs to improve his product and get rid of the people who kiss his ass and are related to him that are helping the sinking ship take on water.

[Guest Prince Paul]

Hopefully they will not put the SS title shot on the line at the July PPV, but I've got my doubts. They should take the 2 months given and completely build a storyline for the main event. That will be the first time in a while that we've gotten a 2 month buildup for a PPV Main Event.

[Guest griffinmills]

The WWF Champion has been in the KOTR exactly once.  In the 1988 Tournament, Ted Dibiase defeated WWF Champion Randy Savage in the finals.

 

Former champions have been in the tournament.  

 

Pedro Morales 1985 (Lost to Muraco in the Semis) & 1986 (Lost to Race in the Finals)

 

Iron Shiek 1985 (Lost to Muraco in the Finals) & 1986 (Lost to Billy Jack Haynes in Round 1)

I don't remember there being King of The Ring in 85, 86 or 88, and I was watching WWF at the time every saturday. Couldn't get ppv though but....still....?

[Guest Daredevil21]

Those particular KOTR events were just house shows. They were never shown on PPV. I don't believe they were ever taped at all, either. KOTR 91 is the only non-PPV that can be found on the net. I think it's safe to say that the rest don't exist.

[Guest razazteca]

more questions about KOR

 

how many wrestlers as champion at the time entered the KOR, like RVD is the current IC champ.

 

I do remember Harely Race, Haku, Randy Savage using a King of the Ring gimmick, but dont know if they were ever crowned on a PPV.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

Didn't Jerry Lawler sue the WWF because of the use of the name "King?"

[Guest BX-#general]

Although no one's wants to admit it, the loss of Russo was huge.

 

The WWE is missing a Russo type booker.

You..... you.. JINXED US ALL! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!