Posts Tagged ‘Attitude’

Wrestling Misconceptions

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Earlier in the week at your old gig at 411mania, they did an interesting article that got alot of buzz called the "Top 5 Wrestling Misconceptions."  It's a pretty good read.  Is there any you think they missed or agree/disagree with?   This might make for an interesting post.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/139482/The-411-Wrestling-Top-5.19.10:-Week-75---Wrestling-Misconceptions.htm

 

I’ll be glad to move the discussion off the previous post.

Anyway, most of the list is just “different opinions on stuff” rather than “misconceptions”.  Although “Vince Russo never did anything worthwhile” is just stone cold fact, jack.

Michael’s RAW Recap

Monday, May 17th, 2010

MICHAEL'S RAW REVIEW - EPISODE 2
MAY 17, 2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA

-  Tonight's RAW is commercial free.  Should be a little more entertaining to watch with matches going a little longer.  I know I will appreciate that.  As for Sacrifice, looks like a bunch of unanswered questions for Thursday night.  Why advertise Sting vs. Jarrett, build it up, waste time on TV, and then can't deliver when you know Sting has been injured for a month??!?!?   Blackhawks 1, Sharks 0.  I love it.  Cue the opening video.

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Michael’s Impact Review

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

MICHAEL'S IMPACT REVIEW #19
MAY 13, 2010
THE IMPACT ZONE - ORLANDO, FLORIDA

-  Wow, two recaps in one week?  I guess it's the high I am coming off of from Tuesday night's win by Chicago.  I think this team may have a shot.  No, really.  I do.  Let's cross the line.

Scott says:  Suck it, Blackhawks.

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Old v. New

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

With the passing of Gene Kiniski, I was thinking about how old time wrestlers from the 60's and 70's would match up to guys of today. Obviously wrestling is pre-determined, but could a guy like Gene Kiniski hang in there with a John Cena? Could a Buddy Rogers hang in there with a guy like Edge?
I know you have seen a lot of wrestling, so do you think old time wrestlers (Kiniski, Buddy Rogers, Pedro Morales) were as skilled and talented as the stars of today? Would the old time stars still be stars today or would they be jobbers to guys like Cena and Edge?

 

True story:  My dad lived on the same block as the Kiniski family and grew up with Nick and Kelly as friends, so Gene’s passing was particularly sad for me.

Anyway, I know I say this a lot, but it’s kind of an apples and oranges situation.  Guys of that era were working a style that was selling the product as a sport rather than the cartoon it eventually became, and as a result tended to go for a “less is more” attitude towards working.  That being said, John Cena has such freakish cardio that he could do the 45+ minute matches that headlined those era’s big shows with ease.  Edge, who knows.  Physically is one thing, but he’d probably have been viewed as a “pretty boy” by the fanbase and wouldn’t have gotten any kind of shot at the top.  Same thing today – Morales and Rogers wouldn’t even get a look from a WWE talent scout today and would probably be told they couldn’t work anyway. 

Wrestling With Timeframes

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

 

Thought this was a well-thought post worthy of discussion, so I’ll just post it here via the inbox without adding much.  

I know this has been brought up for debate in numerous threads, but I'm not sure it's been a topic of it's own.

     Growing up as a wrestling fan in the late 1980s was a special time for me.  Maybe it's because time seems to pass very slowly as a child, but it seems that superstars who seemed to be around FOREVER while I was growing up, really weren't around that long.

     Just for clarification, I'm counting a superstar's first big in-ring run with the WWF beginning no earlier than 1985 (exceptions being Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper).  Take a look at Ted DiBiase.  Even though he wrestled for the WWWF in 1979, I don't consider this run as part of my analysis.  Ted DiBiase debuted the "Million Dollar Man" character in late 1987 and his in-ring career was over by mid 1993--a mere 5-1/2 years.  I know he stuck around well into 1996 with his Million Dollar Corporation before jumping to WCW, but his in-ring career had long been over.

Other such superstars include:

Bret Hart 1985-1997 (12 years) - Took off 7 months from WrestleMania XII to Survivor Series 1996

Hulk Hogan 1983-1993 (9.5 years) - Took off 1 year from WrestleMania VII to WrestleMania IX

Shawn Michaels 1988-1998 (9.5 years) - Took several short stints off (knee surgery in 1990, 9 thugs in Syracuse, lost smile)

Roddy Piper 1984-1992 (8 years) - Took off 2 years from WrestleMania III to WrestleMania V

Randy Savage 1985-1992 (7.5 years) - Took off 8 months from WrestleMania VII to This Tuesday in Texas

Jake Roberts 1986-1992 (6 years)

Ultimate Warrior 1987-1992 (5 years) - Took off 8 months from SummerSlam '91 to WrestleMania VIII

Mr. Perfect 1988-1993 (5 years) - Took off 1.5 years from SummerSlam '91 to Survivor Series 1992

Big Boss Man 1988-1993 (4.5 years)

Earthquake 1989-1994 (4.5 years)

Ricky Steamboat 1985-1988 (3.5 years)

You get my point, ad nauseum.  With the exception of Hart, Hogan and Michaels, most of the biggest names in the company during the late 1980s and early 1990s didn't last more than 8 years in a single stint with WWF.  Also, most of the guys with over 5 years in had periods where they were gone for at least 6 months for one reason or another.

However, I look at contemporary WWE programming, WWE's current roster, and when each superstar debuted:

Undertaker - November 1990 (19.5 years) - Took 7 months off in 1994; currently works reduced schedule

Triple H - May 1995 (15 years) - Missed about 14 months due to 2 torn quads

Mark Henry - September 1996 (13.5 years)

Kane - October 1997 (12.5 years)

Edge - June 1998 (12 years) - Most recently missed 5 months during end of 2009 due to injury

Matt Hardy - September 1998 (11.5 years)

Big Show - February 1999 (11 years) - Took a little over a year off around 2007

Chris Jericho - August 1999 (10.5 years) - Took over 2 years off between SummerSlam 2005 and Survivor Series 2007

John Cena - June 2002 (8 years)

Randy Orton - April 2002 (8 years)

Batista - May 2002 (8 years)

Then they wonder why the product has gotten stale.  Hell, even Hornswoggle's been with WWE for about 5 years.  When you really break it down, it looks like the average of the current roster has spent about 5 more years in their initial big run with the company than their predecessors.  I feel this is due to about four major factors:  age, exposure, competition, and down time.

AGE:  John Cena just turned 33 a couple of days ago.  Hulk Hogan was 30.5 when he won his first WWF Championship in 1984.  Today's superstars are getting their biggest pushes at younger ages (SEE Swagger, Jack) so that by the time they reach John Cena's age, there is nothing left for them to do . . . even though they could theoretically go another 20+ years.  I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I could handle another 20 years of Cena!

EXPOSURE:  When I was growing up, it was a treat to see a Hulk Hogan interview, let alone watch him wrestle . . . a jobber.  There was less original programming every week and only a handful of PPVs per year.  John Cena gets at least 15 minutes of air time each week and is expected to sell over 12 PPVs a year.  So even though Hulk Hogan lasted from 1983-1993 and John Cena's only been around since June 2002, John Cena has actually been around for 16 "Hogan" years.

COMPETITION:  Although I'm not the biggest Jeff Hardy fan, I do have to give him credit as he never seems to overstay his welcome as this is now his second stint in TNA.  Back in the late 80s and early 90s, there were viable alternatives to the WWF, such as WCW, AWA, and ECW, among others.  Unless TNA stops bringing in WWE rejects that people don't want to see (Nasty Boys, Val Venis, Orlando Jordan, The Band, etc.), TNA will never be real competition.

DOWN TIME:  Wrestlers just don't seem to take that much time off anymore.  In the old days it wasn't uncommon for a guy to take a year off for one reason or another.  These days superstars rush back from injury (SEE Cena, John and Batista, Dave).  When Shawn Michaels injured his knee in 1990, Shane Douglas subbed for him in The Rockers, while Michaels recovered.  Now, even when a guy gets injured, he's still heavily featured on programming so fans don't FORGET him and he doesn't lose his SPOT.  This mentality is flawed.  Fans will never forget a good worker (SEE Steamboat, Ricky) and by heavily featuring an injured star, it never really feels like he's gone; so when said star comes back, it doesn't feel as fresh as it could.  I do have to take my hat off to Big Show, Chris Jericho, and Rob Van Dam for voluntarily taking extended leaves of absence.

npiwowar

P.S. - Speaking of Matt Hardy--who has been with WWE for about 12 years, excluding the stint when he was released for whining about Lita on the Internet--why hasn't this guy been PUSHED?  You could give a dozen reasons, such as Vince likes big guys, but just about any reason could be countered in comparison with Jeff who was given the keys to the company and jumped to TNA.  Matt is bigger than Jeff, has less personal demons, seems more reliable/dedicated, has about equal mic skills, and at times has been just as over, but has never risen above the mid-card.  Right now he seems stale, but I feel McMahon missed the boat with him on several occassions.  Matt seemed really over in 2003 with the whole Mattitude thing.  He also could have been risen to the main event with Edge over the whole Lita thing in 2005.  I also remember his feud with MVP in 2007 being really good.  The whole thing that got me thinking about this was that I was watching SmackDown this week and saw Drew McIntyre destroy Hardy the same way Edge did at SummerSlam 2005, killing all his heat in the process.  I wonder why Matt hasn't ever jumped to TNA because of this treatment.

“What If” Day Continues

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

If you're still looking for discussion-worthy questions, here's one my friends and I knocked around on one of our road trips.
The usual "What If" questions are things like, "What if Vince hadn't gotten ahold of Hulk Hogan?" or "What if there had been no ECW as a template for Attitude?", but my question is, What if there had been no Eric Bischoff?
What if after the AWA folded, Eric just shrugged his shoulders and went off on another business venture?  From most accounts, the word is Tony Schiavone may have been next in line to take a whack at the VP position, so how might have history played out differently?  The nWo, and its effect on wrestling, is a big point, but others to consider....
- Would Hogan have signed with WCW?
- Would Nitro have existed?
- Would the luchadors gotten a foothold, however small, in US wrestling?
- What about workers overlooked by Vince like Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, Goldberg, and others?
Discuss at your leisure, good sir

 

It’s not like Bischoff was the all-powerful dictator of WCW, there were other people involved in the decision making as well.  Getting Nitro was huge, no doubt, and I don’t think Schiavone would have gotten Hogan.  It probably would have just proceeded along the same line it was at the time, remained niche programming on TBS with a booking committee and Dusty getting power every couple of years, and still be around today because it wouldn’t have been losing millions in 2001. 

So I guess the question becomes:  Was Bischoff good or bad for the business in the big picture?  I sure as fuck would like to still have WCW around today, even just doing 1.0 ratings on Saturday afternoons.

Stalking the Undertaker

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Hey Scott,
I was wondering if you and your viewers could help me out. This year will mark the Undertaker's twenty solid years in the WWE as an active wrestler.  Think about it he's been in the company from Hulkamania to the New Generation to the Attitude Era to the Brand Split to the modern era. From what I can tell he's wrestled in 48 states (minus Wyoming and Montana), all the Canadian provinces (except for maybe Prince Edward Island I'm not sure), all populated continents and over 50 countries.
In honor of his 20 years, I'm looking for where everywhere he's wrestled. www.thehistoryofwwe.com has been a godsend for me. Thanks to them, I found nearly every match he wrestled in WWE. (Right now he's ranked as having the second most matches from 1980-2010 only behind Bret Hart.
I need your help in his pre-WWE years. I'm looking to find as many matches and different cities and countries he wrestled in WCW (as Mean Mark Callous), CWA/USWA (as Master of Pain and the Punisher), World Class {Texas Red), Central Illinois Wresling (The Commando), and New Japan (Punisher Dice Morgan)
When I've found as many as I can I hope to make an online map with all the cities.

 

Good luck.

Product Quality

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

On a lot of levels i respect you writing and coverage of the wrestling industry. Your writing played an important role in developing my desire to become involved in the business anyway possible and train to work the indies. Your thought provoking writing is important as an introduction to many fans to some of what goes on behind the curtain.
i understand your discontentment with the current wwe as i grew up one the early 90's wwf, the new gen era, on into the wwf attitude. I would, howeve argue that the in ring product has VASTLY improved in recent wwe history. Having gone through the training and worked in front of crowds myself, i think sometimes, the iwc loses sight of how difficult it is to pull off even a match that is generally inoffensive. I think that you, and many of your readers would be willing to admit that we are very rarely treated to 'dreadful' level matches on tv or ppv these days.

Here's kinda my point. I submit to you my top 10 list of all time matches in the wwe era. It is my assumption that many of your readers would argue this list and cry foul over certain omissions. That, being my point. A best of list in the current era is much more difficult to put togehter than in times gone by. The reason for such is that, the current in ring product is, technically, much better than it ever was. The list is made up of matches i have seen enough to evaluate from as many aspects as possible. In all cases, the quality of of the work by those involved (from the perspective of someone who's actually been paid to perform the job itself) will be of primary evaluation:
10. Hhh vs. Jeff hardy (no mercy 2008)
9. Rock vs. Angle vs. Undertaker (vengence 2002)
8. Edge vs. Orton (Raw 4/30/2007)
7. Regal/taylor v. mnm v. haryz v. Kendrick/london (armageddon 2006)
6. Edge v. Michaels vs. Edge v. Cena (backlash 2007)
5. Hhh vs. Michaels (summerslam 2002)
4. Cena vs. Michaels (raw 4/23/2007)
3. Michaels vs. Angle (wrestlemania 21)
2. Undertaker vs. Michaels (wrestlemania 25)
1. Chris benoit vs. Angle (royal rumble 2003)
Ps... Despite what it looks like, i'm not a michael's mark. I actually mark out for angle, orton, and edge these days (edge would be my 'rocket' from his debut in 96 on wcw pro. I recognized him in 98 when he started with the fed).
Take it for what it's worth. Maybe there is something about your argument that I'm missing that someone can further elaborate on.
Brad
Sean finn on the indies

 

My problems with the current product don’t really stem from the in-ring product and the quality thereof.  If ringwork was the problem then I’d just order HDNet and watch ROH TV on a regular basis.  In fact that’s why I’m happier ordering the occasional WWE PPV – because then I’m generally going to get a few good matches without having to put up with the bullshit of the weekly TV shows.  What I’m looking for is a ***** classic between two guys that I care about, and that’s a problem they haven’t been able to resolve in a while.  Yeah, John Cena delivers the goods on most of his major matches, but I wouldn’t pay 10 cents to watch him unless they revamped his act. 

Wrestlemania Main Events: Wrestlemania 13

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

One of the great one-match cards. Sadly I don't even do the one match that everyone remembers. I had it at ***** too in case you were wondering...even though their match at the Survivor Series was better.

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Royal Rumble Repost Countdown: 2007

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

The SmarK Rant for WWE Royal Rumble 2007

- Live from San Antonio, TX

- Your hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Joey Styles & Tazz.

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