Questions from a Wrestling Fan 10 Years Ago

[Diamonddust 0]

10 years ago, I had to write a letter to myself 10 years in the future for a school project. I recently got the letter, and I discovered a large portion of it dealt with what was happening in wrestling at the time. The letter is circa-February 1998. Here's the letter with answers:

 

"So tell me, what's going on in my favorite sport of pro-wrestling? If they are still around, the WWF is going to have Wrestlemania XXIV in about a month. Did Copeland (Edge) live up to the hype? (I'd say he did) Did Austin retire because of the neck? (It led to it) Did Owen ever clean pin Shawn? Down in Turner Land, what ever came of the "Disappearing Flair" situation that was beginning to brew? (We want Flair!) Did Chris get the belt he deserved? (I knew something like this was in here) When did their fossils retire? Did Birmingham ever land a PPV? (Armageddon 2000 and ECW's Guilty as Charged 2000) What ever came of ECW? Did Paul's brainchild continue to gain popularity? Is it still around? (If you only knew) Did I ever go to the arena? (ECW Arena and the answer is no) Is Terry (Funk) still wrestling? (I think so) Who's main eventing right now? Is it (ECW) still big? Did a rising indy become the next ECW?

 

World Champions at the time of the letter: "Shawn and Shane" - I left out the WCW Champion

 

The next week, I went to Thunder in Birmingham and wondered if the net liked my 1st hand report of the show

 

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Ha... this could be a lot of fun... I'll write back to 1998 Diamonddust

 

So tell me, what's going on in my favorite sport of pro-wrestling?

 

Let's see, according to the date on this letter, you are getting ready for Wrestlemania XIV. This event would kick off the era of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who would lead the WWF to unprecedented heights. They got so big in fact that they swallowed up all of their competition (WCW and ECW are dead). Subsequently, they got complacent, Vince put his daughter and husband (Triple H... yeah, really) in charge and the whole thing is now a mess.

 

Oh and they lost a pissing match with the World Wildlife Fund and are now called WWE. Yeah, they went with that stupid name.

 

Did Copeland (Edge) live up to the hype?

 

In many ways yes. He sputtered around the mid-card for a few years before deciding to fuck his best friend's girlfriend behind his back. This turned into real life heat and the WWE pushed him to the moon. He's a 4-time world champ and is headling Mania this weekend in front of 70,000 fans.

 

Did Austin retire because of the neck?

 

Sort of. He went on a two-year run as the biggest draw in wrestling history before succumbing to his neck injuries. He made a brief comeback as a heel in 2001 but later called it a career.

 

Did Owen ever clean pin Shawn?

 

Here's the thing about Owen. In about a year, the fed will decide that it's a good idea to revive the Blue Blazer gimmick and have him propel from the ceiling. Unfortunately, the chord will break and he'll plummet to his death in front of a live audience.

 

Down in Turner Land, what ever came of the "Disappearing Flair" situation that was beginning to brew?

 

Flair came back. And then he stuck around for another ten years.

 

Did Chris get the belt he deserved?

 

Well Chris finally made it to WWE and won the world title in 2004. Then he went crazy and killed himself and his family. This will be an embarrassing moment for wrestling, but not as bad as 2003 when Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash were main eventing.

 

When did their fossils retire?

 

Most of them stuck around. Some pop up in WWE for nostalgia and others compete in this glorified indy called TNA (which tries to be WCW, with all of the problems and none of the history or occassional successes)

 

Did Birmingham ever land a PPV?

 

Hell if I know.

 

What ever came of ECW? Did Paul's brainchild continue to gain popularity? Is it still around?

Paul thought it would easier to run a indy promotion if he didn't pay his workers. That worked for about six months before the whole thing blew up and the promotion closed. Paul went to work for Vince, but that never really worked because he couldn't get along with anyone and his stuff only played to a niche audience.

 

WWE resurrected ECW a couple of years ago. It's a sad, neutered version of the original that runs on Sci-Fi. Its workers are treated like third class citizens.

 

Did I ever go to the arena?

 

Probably not. That shithole stopped being important shortly after you wrote this letter.

 

Is Terry (Funk) still wrestling?

 

Maybe. Shows up now and again.

 

Who's main eventing right now?

 

Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, HHH (yes, this is 2008), Edge, John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton

 

Is it (ECW) still big? Did a rising indy become the next ECW?

 

ECW is dead. The indy scene is dead. There's this fed a lot internet nerds like called ROH, but their last PPV generated 19 buys.

[King Kamala 0]

Funk hasn't wrestled a match since One Night Stand in June '06 but is coming back for the XPW reunion in May. The man will never retire.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Cheech, that RoH figure involved something in Canada, did it not? I don't think that's an overall figure, but I might be wrong.

 

Birmingham hosted Armageddon in 2000.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

To be fair, that figure was from one service provider in Canada, and, IIRC, it was Northern Canada, which as a much smaller population than Southern Canada. I don't believe any figures overall of the RoH PPVs were released with total buys, which leads to the belief that they're not doing so hot. Oh well, as long as the company breaks even, it's still an avenue worth attempting.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Yes, the RoH PPV thing is something I find funny even if it is stretching the truth.

[Diamonddust 0]

I went back and got the date off the letter - February 11th, 1998. If I remember correctly, Superbrawl and No Way Out (I remember everyone thinking how funny it was that a WWF's ppv had the initials NWO) hadn't happened yet.

[yankovic fan 0]

I remember the morning after WM XIV my girlfriend and I met in the hall before class (high school) exchanged our morning love notes (barf) and she was telling me what she expected to happen on Raw.

 

Wrestling chatter in a love letter.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Is the "disappearing Flair" situation a reference to his no-showing Thunder in April 98 or something else?

[Diamonddust 0]

Is the "disappearing Flair" situation a reference to his no-showing Thunder in April 98 or something else?

 

I believe so. I know it came to a head in April so I can't remember why I was writing about it in February.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Good stuff. Though it does make everyone here feel THAT much older!

 

Geez, has it been 10 years since Austin won the belt in the then Fleet Center in Boston?

 

 

[Ravenbomb 0]

Christ, later this year it'll be ten years since I really started watching wrestling.

[garfieldsnose 0]

I thought Edge debuted in summer 1998? Was he floating around in dark matches around this time?

[Dandy 0]

There were a bunch of guys in Dory Funk's wrestling school that was the WWE feeder at the time, and Adam Copeland was getting a lot of hype. Also there around the time were Jay Reso (Christian), Glen Kulka, Sean Morley (Val Venis), and Andrew Martin (Test). Martin at one time was being billed as Shawn Michaels at 6'6".

[Jacques 0]

To be fair, that figure was from one service provider in Canada, and, IIRC, it was Northern Canada, which as a much smaller population than Southern Canada. I don't believe any figures overall of the RoH PPVs were released with total buys, which leads to the belief that they're not doing so hot. Oh well, as long as the company breaks even, it's still an avenue worth attempting.

 

According the the Observer, they did three dozen buys in Canada and 19 on the Dish network. That's the biggest problem with catering only to internet fans. Most of us can wait a few hours and download the torrent of the event. I know I did.

 

According to reports ROH's last PPV "Undeniable" only had 19 total buys on all of Dish Network . As previously reported the PPV only did 36 buys in the entire country of Canada which has led to them no longer being shown there. ROH is likely to stop airing PPV's once the final two have aired.