JamesP

Posted on 3/14/08 6:55 PM

Ever since Steve Austin rose to the main event, the style of matches in the main events changed with it. No longer did we have story based main events that were synonymous with the Bret Hart era, instead we had wild brawls all over the arena filled with ref bumps, interference, and so much more. However, even though these did help create an exciting atmosphere, it basically created a glass cieling. The only way you were going to be considered "main event" is if you changed your style to match the things that Steve Austin was doing. If you didn't...well have fun hitting your head on glass. While people like Chris Benoit were able to adjust fine, it took a long time for people like Chris Jericho to be able to adjust because his style was so different. Not only that, but it seemed like the more over you were for a different style, the further down the card you were pushed. Rob Van Dam is the perfect example. He was nearly ostracized from the main event all together, because his style was so much different, but HOW DARE it become more over than Steve Austin or HHH's style!

What's worse is that it killed variety. Most of the main eventers had the exact same movesets, so it's like they're wrestling a mirror image of themselves. While the matches ARE good, it gets boring watching the same cookie-cutter crap every month. What's worse is that when they let someone unique into the main event, they adjust their style and make them far worse than they were before. As I mentioned in my blog about CM Punk, it seems like WWE forces workers from outside of the company to adjust to the style by making them developmental wrestlers, thus killing the variety in the mid-card as well. WWE is stale as hell right now, and this is one of the reasons why.

4 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/13/08 5:36 PM

I seriously doubt it. Even though I loved the Attitude era, if you deny the fact that the storylines and ideas were original and not taken from ECW, then you're a fanboy. I mean, for God's sake, even Vince McMahon has admitted that he adopted ECW's concepts and ideas (in a watered down version, of course) on The Rise and Fall Of ECW, so that's a eason why to get out of your foolish delusion. Just compare how WWF was before they started acknowledging ECW, to WWF after they strted. When ECW became more and more popular, you started seeing a more chaotic atmosphere in WWF, with realistic characters, huge brawls, and more to the point where Shane McMahon was giving Vince ideas from things he saw in ECW. The gospel truth is that hadn't ECW been around for WWF to find a template to rebuild his show, then we'd ONLY be watching WCW Nitro on Mondays. And don't give me crap about Vince taking ideas and making it better. He just made it more appealing to mainstream with less extreme content.

22 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/12/08 10:33 PM

For the longest time, I've always tried to figure out why Indy Wrestlers needed to be signed to developmental deals with WWE when they were already trained enough. But then I realized it was one thing-so that they can homogonize their style so that they can water-down their movesets and limit them to the punch-kick-strung-together move formula. CM Punk has been absolutely mauled by WWE's trying to make people basically wrestle mirrors. I mean, back in ROH, IWA: MS, and FIP, he was so versatile. He could do spotfests, 90-minute Technical showcases, and so much more. But it seems like WWE has almost completely changed his style to the point where he's nearly a completely different wrestler. Whereas 2005 CM Punk could have a crazy 40 minute match, it seems like WWE CM Punk can't get much interesting after 20 minutes. They've even changed his personality. Even when he was a face in 2004, he would still stress the Straightedge lifestyle. Now, he never mentions it and his character is so bland. For shame, WWE...

4 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/12/08 6:55 PM

Simply put, WM 24 is going to have the most big celebrity appearances since WrestleMania 11. And we all know how things went in 1995. I'm perfectly fine with one celebrity appearance at WM since it's the biggest show of the year, but with this amount of appearances, I think that WWE isn't that much confident in their actual wrestlers to get a good buyrate. Next thing you know, different female celebrities will escort Cena, HHH, and Orton to the ring like in HBK-Diesel. Anyway, considering the domestic buyrates, it's obvious that WWE doesn't really have big stars. WM21, 22, and 23 were heavily promoted internationally, unlike previous WM's. Domestically, they made the same buyrates that 18-20 made globally, since most of the buys for those came domestically. So basically, WWE's really in the same rut it was a few years ago. Meanwhile, 15-2000 did nearly the same numbers domestically that 21-23 did GLOBALLY, so it shows how far off WWE is from having another boom period.

2 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/11/08 6:51 PM

You know what I'm talking about. The belief that HHH wouldn't make it in the main event without marrying Stephanie McMahon. I don't understand this. While you could argue that he married her to SECURE his top spot and standing in the company, he recieved his super-push to the top long before he started dating Steph. Hell, even during the McMahon Helmsley era, HHH was dating Chyna. While a STORYLINE that saw HHH marry Steph is what got him over as a believable main event heel, a real-life relationship didn't. Hell, by the time him and Stephanie McMahon became a couple, Trips was already a 4-Time WWF Champion. Hell, they were pushing HHH even years before he was put into a main event. So don't assume that he would be a nobody without marrying Stephanie McMahon.

3 comments Permalink