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Post by paranoidandroid on May 20, 2015 19:08:32 GMT -5
Wondering what is everyone's thoughts on wrestling in 2015? Obviously the WWE not as good as it used to be but that can't be expected given the PG restrictions. I don't watch RAW any more because honestly it bores me to death, and to be honest other than a Wrestlemania this year and a couple of other highlights (the Survivor Series main event and the WWE title match at the Royal Rumble), I haven't been too excited with WWE over the last year or so, although I do think there are some talented guys being misused. I tend to only watch the big PPV's such as Royal Rumble or Mania now, but i do keep up to date with it. My only 2 shows that I watch regularly now are ROH and NXT. I usually watch them every week. What are your favourite shows to watch at the moment? And what would you change about WWE/TNA/ROH and others? Interested to hear your views!
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Post by Mick McMichaels on May 22, 2015 9:13:09 GMT -5
In the same boat. As someone who lived and breathed wrestling during the early 90's and Attitude era, it really draws a tough comparison to everything we see today. Ever since the WWE made the conscious effort to go PG with their material they have lacked in storylines, match quality, and overall consistency. My main beef is the fact that you can have a main event match on a PPV on the Sunday, only to be followed up on Monday Night RAW with a rematch involving the same two competitors! Really? What is the point in hyping up a match if you can just catch it again the night after? Matches are predictable, storylines are recycled, and superstars are bland. In the 90's we had characters, standalone characters who had their own personalities, traits, and attitudes, and they stayed true to it for the most part. In my opinion, a couple of the entertaining guys in today's WWE are names like Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, even, dare I say, Damien Sandow. STRICTLY based on the fact that these guys represent exactly what I mentioned above, unique personalities and attitudes that they bring to the ring as well as promos. Of course, it's really tough after all these years to deliver something completely fresh and new, but even when you can recycle something and be similar it can still be effective, an example of this would be Bray Wyatt / Undertaker. That match this past Wrestlemania was an awesome representation of Old vs New, and as much as many people hated it. I actually thought it was an incredible match. Could go on for days about this stuff. At ECW we try and mix the attitude era style of storylines and general style, with the new era of wrestlers and entertainment that the WWE has prided itself on for so many years. Not sure if that comes across when the episodes happen, but it is largely influenced by the golden days of wrestling. It's a nice homage to days when I personally was glued to the TV and couldn't look away. Not being able to blink while watching The Rock vs Stone Cold at Wrestlemania, or seeing Kane make is big debut in the WWF. Oh the good ol days. Great topic, would love to get others opinions on this. Thanks for your contribution!
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Post by caseyvr on May 22, 2015 11:51:03 GMT -5
Time for an unpopular opinion. I'm totally okay with where the business is right now. Does the WWE have its issues? Absolutely. Is it a corrupt corporate shell of a wrestling company? Yes. However, I think that the WWE roster couldn't be more stacked.
When it comes to RAW and such, it is very much true that it can be total garbage. However, I often don't bother with sitting through the garbage. I simply watch RAW after it has aired and skip through, watching whatever good I can find. Kidd and Cesaro's recent tag matches, Cena's open challenge, [yes, I'm a Cena fan. I'm sorry.], Bray Wyatt's awesome promos, and so on. I try not to let the stupid angles and story lines bother me. I try to ignore things like Roman Reigns's super push. (though I'm okay with Roman as a worker, I don't think he's ready for the strap. Give him another year or two and build him organically.)
When it comes to the PG restrictions, and this is really where I'll have you all disagreeing with me: I'm totally okay with it. I'm fine with not having chair shots to the head, (concussion risks, etc.) I'm okay with not having blood unless it's hard-way. (did you see Ziggler get busted open the other night? Damn.) I guess what I'm trying to say with this disorganized mess of a post is that, ultimately, there are a number of things that absolutely sicken me such as awful corporate backstage environment, the awful treatment of the women and most of the boys too really, bad storylines, and Vinny Mac being horrifically out of touch (THOSE MILLENNIALS GOTTA GRAB THE BRASS RING DAMMIT.) Regardless of these things that sicken me, I still find things to like about the WWE right now, specifically NXT and various workers and the stellar matches they put on. Anyway, there are my rambly, half-asleep thoughts on the WWE.
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Post by Mick McMichaels on May 22, 2015 12:31:02 GMT -5
Time for an unpopular opinion. I'm totally okay with where the business is right now. Does the WWE have its issues? Absolutely. Is it a corrupt corporate shell of a wrestling company? Yes. However, I think that the WWE roster couldn't be more stacked. When it comes to RAW and such, it is very much true that it can be total garbage. However, I often don't bother with sitting through the garbage. I simply watch RAW after it has aired and skip through, watching whatever good I can find. Kidd and Cesaro's recent tag matches, Cena's open challenge, [yes, I'm a Cena fan. I'm sorry.], Bray Wyatt's awesome promos, and so on. I try not to let the stupid angles and story lines bother me. I try to ignore things like Roman Reigns's super push. (though I'm okay with Roman as a worker, I don't think he's ready for the strap. Give him another year or two and build him organically.) When it comes to the PG restrictions, and this is really where I'll have you all disagreeing with me: I'm totally okay with it. I'm fine with not having chair shots to the head, (concussion risks, etc.) I'm okay with not having blood unless it's hard-way. (did you see Ziggler get busted open the other night? Damn.) I guess what I'm trying to say with this disorganized mess of a post is that, ultimately, there are a number of things that absolutely sicken me such as awful corporate backstage environment, the awful treatment of the women and most of the boys too really, bad storylines, and Vinny Mac being horrifically out of touch (THOSE MILLENNIALS GOTTA GRAB THE BRASS RING DAMMIT.) Regardless of these things that sicken me, I still find things to like about the WWE right now, specifically NXT and various workers and the stellar matches they put on. Anyway, there are my rambly, half-asleep thoughts on the WWE. Agreed. In no way is it ever enough to completely turn our backs on the WWE. You just can't. I am in the same boat with the fact that I no longer regularly watch the shows. But as a longtime fan of WWE / WCW / ECW etc.. It's tough to let go of something so easily that was an integral part of growing up. They still do do a great job with superstars, but in comparison to the 80's / 90's, it just doesn't compare in my opinion. Love him or hate him, John Cena has put up with more bullshit than any superstar has had to deal with from the fans in a long time, if ever. I give him crazy credit for that and for sticking through it and putting on some incredible performances. He's also an awesome dude too with all of the charity work and extra curricular stuff he does. Absolutely. Agreed that the Roman Reigns story was pushed. Give him some time and maybe, just maybe, he will be good to go
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Post by paulliiee on Aug 9, 2015 23:30:22 GMT -5
The WWE we see today is definately not the best. They do try very hard to get the most ratings on RAW but they just seem to fail to realise that you cant always push the same guys every week down your throat as "top dogs". I watched an episode of RAW a few weeks back and somehow i managed to get through it all without my eyes bleeding. In reflection on the show a few things came across my mind.
1) The commentary: What the hell happened the excitement and the zing factor that you would get from the commentators. I get that you can never keep a good thing going as we seen when JR left and now that King is on Smackdown, it just seems forced. Michael Cole's best days as a commentator i truly believe are behind him. For the commentary to get back to what it once was, Vince needs to get off the headset and let the men at the desk have some freedom to say what they like and feel. We all know that back in the attitude era/Monday night wars, commentators had freedom to go off of script (oh no i broke the fourth wall) and say what they thought would fit better if they thought it would. JR was an expert at doing this.
2) The Wrestlers: The current stock of guys is actually rather good. There is a lot of depth in it but the lack a certain pzazz that will get them to where they ideally want to be. This again puts WWE at fault. They never actually have a back up plan for injuries. It seems the moment there is an injury where someone has to go on the shelf, they freak and make bad decisions by making, say, Cena champ again because they don't have any idea what to do. What i would do is give the guys some breathing space, let them work on their characters a little bit more. Some of the guys i do like is Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose (who reminds me of an early stone cold), roman reigns, Kevin Owens, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar and paul Heyman.
3) John Cena: Removing Cena from the WWE title picture and putting the United States title on him was one the best moves that WWE could have done. It freed up the top slot for someone new i have to say its about time that it happened. For 10 Years, John has been around the WWE title in some way and for some, yes it is too much. Making him step back a bit has been a blessing. I noticed he also added a few extra moves to his repertoire, guess that way to make all the "Cena Sucks" fans something to shut up about.
4) Brock Lesnar: The beast incarnate. What more can you say but is he ever going to do a promo where he talks instead of letting Paul Heyman do it for him? Apart from that i actually like the look of the Undertaker/Brock Lesnar feud. Leaving the Wrestlemania match aside, these two have a long history that makes this feud all the better because it comes across as real and authentic. Not many people can say that.
All in all, the current state of WWE is predictable and suited to children but does have its adult appeal thrown in there as well. Eventually WWE will change towards a more adult friendly product and when that happens, i'll be ready to ride the wave of that. Until then, we need to put up with stale shows and crowds who wouldn't know what him them if an exciting show was to happen before their eyes
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Post by timmydynamite on Aug 11, 2015 20:17:03 GMT -5
I've been a fan of WWF/E and wrestling in general since 1998. I saw the best and the worst of the Attitude Era, I watched WCW falter and go out of business, I experienced the Invasion angle and the events that led to what is now known as the Ruthless Aggression Era (which still remains to be one of my favorite eras of pro wrestling.)
During that time, WWE went through a number of down periods where the product just wasn't at the level that it once was. Whether that was because of poor story writing, lazy booking, a lack of diverse and interesting characters or a combination of factors, there was a time when it was almost a chore for me to tune in to Raw and/or Smackdown every week. And yet, WWE always seemed to do just enough to keep me coming back, as couple of you guys already mentioned. As much as I could and do criticize the WWE, they still provide a little something for everybody which I suppose is their No. 1 goal at the end of the day.
That being said, I do feel like sometimes WWE and the big dogs that run the show get stuck in their ways and are hesitant to try different things that even some of their most loyal fans openly call for. The whole Roman Reigns debacle is an easy example. It was clear early on that out of the three Shield members, Roman was the guy they wanted to push as the top babyface of the company. They had planned to build him to the moon from the moment the Shield split up all the way up to the Royal Rumble. His hernia injury halted that process, as WWE couldn't build him up as well with him on the shelf as they could've if he were completely healthy for those few months. But Vince McMahon and the top producers had their minds made up that Roman was their guy and went forward with the push, regardless of how the crowd would respond. It put Roman in a rough position, and not surprisingly he got eaten alive by a jaded crowd who felt Roman just wasn't ready for that spot.
WWE managed to salvage it all, and now Roman is thriving in the midcard. At this point Roman is right where he should be, putting on good-to-great matches against midcard opponents and legitimizing himself.
But I digress. I think one of the main issues regarding WWE is their fixation on this "sports entertainment" title and their disregard for their pro wrestling roots. A lot of the time, the wrestling takes a backseat to a load of convoluted "angles" that sometimes go absolutely nowhere. It is possible to balance deeply written, movie-esque stories with pure pro wrestling (just look at Lucha Underground.) But sometimes WWE makes it hard for fans to suspend their disbelief with certain things they do, and that can take a lot of people out of it.
Personally, I've gotten a better perspective on the whole of professional wrestling by expanding my boundaries as to which wrestling companies I watch. WWE virtually used to be the only wrestling company I would regularly tune in to, with the exception of TNA during some of its solid years. Now I watch ROH, NJPW, LU, and other top indie companies around the country. I live near one of the hottest indie companies going today, AIW in Cleveland, and I plan on attending a few of their shows when I have some disposable income. Plus, everyone knows by now the effect that NXT has had on the wrestling industry and the kind of roll they've been on the last couple of years. Triple H is running things there to the extent that it almost feels like an entire different entity than the WWE. (an entity that Vince has no say over).
Between expanding my wrestling viewing and watching old shows and PPVs on the WWE Network, it's really opened my eyes to how incredible pro wrestling has been and still can be. Yes, WWE can really suck at times and make a lot of bad decisions, but when they really try they can put on some genuinely entertaining shows. The Cena-Owens feud gave us some of the best matches WWE has put on in years. Hell, the entire John Cena US title reign has been far more exciting than I ever could've imagined. WWE has incredible talent from top to bottom, on the main roster and in NXT. If Vince, Kevin Dunn and the rest of the crew step out of their comfort zone and utilize the full potential of their roster, we could be in for another golden age of WWE. It'll be fun to sit back and see how it all unfolds.
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