LETTERS KEEP COMING, AND THE FANS DO CARE
- 08/05/2007 (2:44:05 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
WWE Please wake up…
Hi Georgie,
Here is a couple of suggestions. I definitely see the theme in alot of
them to get the belt off Cena. Well, count me in. It is time to get the
belt off of Cena. He has had it long enough. When they put the belt on
Edge awhile back when he was on Raw, the ratings actually went UP. Why?
Because someone new had the belt. I like Cena. Don't get me wrong .
However, it is time to push someone else. Orton seems to be a good
candidate for a champion. Let him have it and have him feud with HHH
for awhile and I mean a LONG while. Don't put the belt back on Cena the
next month. Time to stop giving the belt to someone else and then
putting it back on Cena who evidently is Vince's "boy" and security
blanket.
Another suggestion is along the lines of some others: make the
storylines sensible. I mean, how they threw Candice Michelle in a tag
match as Cena's partner I don't know. Did not make sense. I also
would like the company to cut down on the swerves. If they say X is
going to happen in a match, then don't have Y happen when the match
happens. In one of the recent PPV's when Lashley was fighting to regain
the ECW title against Vince, Shane and Umaga....he "won" the match.when
he pinned I THINK Shane....forgot...so therefore the audience both
viewers at home and live THOUGHT he won the title back....after all,
nothing was said on RAW at all about stipulations or conditions as to
who he had to pin.....well , what happens? Vince gets on a microphone
and gleefully announces that even though Lashley had "won" the match, he
did NOT win the title because he did not pin VInce. That is what I mean
by the swerves. They have to be more creative in their storylines than
resort to this.
From: Terri Bey of Lexington, KY
"There were times last season when I was knocked down repeatedly, but
getting up to continue fighting was the only option I knew."- Ben
Roethlisberger on advice given from his dad on not giving up
Here is a couple of suggestions. I definitely see the theme in alot of
them to get the belt off Cena. Well, count me in. It is time to get the
belt off of Cena. He has had it long enough. When they put the belt on
Edge awhile back when he was on Raw, the ratings actually went UP. Why?
Because someone new had the belt. I like Cena. Don't get me wrong .
However, it is time to push someone else. Orton seems to be a good
candidate for a champion. Let him have it and have him feud with HHH
for awhile and I mean a LONG while. Don't put the belt back on Cena the
next month. Time to stop giving the belt to someone else and then
putting it back on Cena who evidently is Vince's "boy" and security
blanket.
Another suggestion is along the lines of some others: make the
storylines sensible. I mean, how they threw Candice Michelle in a tag
match as Cena's partner I don't know. Did not make sense. I also
would like the company to cut down on the swerves. If they say X is
going to happen in a match, then don't have Y happen when the match
happens. In one of the recent PPV's when Lashley was fighting to regain
the ECW title against Vince, Shane and Umaga....he "won" the match.when
he pinned I THINK Shane....forgot...so therefore the audience both
viewers at home and live THOUGHT he won the title back....after all,
nothing was said on RAW at all about stipulations or conditions as to
who he had to pin.....well , what happens? Vince gets on a microphone
and gleefully announces that even though Lashley had "won" the match, he
did NOT win the title because he did not pin VInce. That is what I mean
by the swerves. They have to be more creative in their storylines than
resort to this.
From: Terri Bey of Lexington, KY
"There were times last season when I was knocked down repeatedly, but
getting up to continue fighting was the only option I knew."- Ben
Roethlisberger on advice given from his dad on not giving up
* * * * * * * * * *
Dear Georgie:
Here are a few ideas my friend Ken and I came up with:
1) Enough with the T & A matches (no more pudding, bra and panties), concentrate on women who can actually wrestle. (Molly Holly, anyone?)
Here are a few ideas my friend Ken and I came up with:
1) Enough with the T & A matches (no more pudding, bra and panties), concentrate on women who can actually wrestle. (Molly Holly, anyone?)
2) Remember WCW's crusierweight division...? You know, when they were allowed to wrestle their style and were taken seriously.
3) Keep Vince off camera. There has been no reason for him to be on since SCSA retired.
4) Longer matches, let the wrestlers tell the story through ring psychology. Shelton Benjamin vs. Triple H on Shelton's first night on Raw is a perfect example of this and may be one of the best matches from a psychological stand point in years.
5) Why reward a man who trashed a hotel room for an massive amount of damage and sent home from a tour early with a title shot?
6) Bring in more tag teams/factions and push them. New Breed vs. the ECW Originals was a good example of how well it can work.
7) Bring up OVW talent such as Nattie Neidhart, T.J. Wilson, Harry Smith... bring in Ace Steel and Colt Cabana and you have the Hart Foundation 2.0 and the Second City Saints.
8) Keep the title on Cena... for now. Have him drop it to Kennedy, not Orton.
9) Continue to steady build up of the younger veterans I.E. Matt Hardy, Helms (when he returns from injury), Val Venis, Funaki. Not all world title pushes, but you get the idea.
10) Enforce the wellness policy, on EVERYBODY, not just wrestlers who didn't marry into the family.
From: Gordon and Ken
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Georgie, I am so happy you have asked for our opinions and suggestions.
I know that you care about the sport. But I can tell by your writings now, that you to are turned off. You don't have the passion you once did in your writings.
But it is your job that keeps you connected to us and the sport.
What other wrestling website, offers free wrestling tickets, free convention tickets, notices when free tickets are available. None of them.
We all know you care about your readers and you do care about the sport and you are trying your best to get through to the McMahons, who should no by now, we care to, but are fed up.
I will keep my note short and sweet. You fans really want a change, you must stop buying the pay-per-views, stop watching the horrible shows like Raw, Smackdown and ECW. You must stop buying the PPV's, that is the bread and butter of the company.
Then and only then will changes be made. And that's the bottom line, because I said so.
I miss the likes of The Rock, Stone Cold, Mick Foley and others. Yes I know new talent must be weaned for the future, but the way it looks to me there is no future for a true wrestling fan. I dont like sports entertainment, it is not working for me and millions of others.
That's all I have to say, I do hope everyone is listening, we shouldn't have to settle for the crap we are now seeing, and the wrestlers who are dying shouldn't have to die. Stop the maddness.
From: Barbara from Dayton, OH
* * * * * * * *
First let me say thank you for providing a forum to address the WWE. I think that allot of fans, myself included, are just frustrated with our concerns falling on deaf ears.
I am going to start this a little bit out of the ordinary by expressing first why I am huge TNA Wrestling fan.
I love to fact the Wrestling matches are the focus, and the story lines while funny, inspirational, dramatic or other wise are well thought out and serve as a lead into the match. The wrestling never looses it's place as the climactic point of the story.
I love that God can be mentioned, for example Sting in his feuds with Jeff Jarrett and Abyss and those kick butt cool PPV intros. God is treated with respect, and that I RESPECT.
I love that TNA features wrestlers of all shapes and sizes. I can't tell you how sick I am of seeing wrestlers with cookie cutter physiques, no personalities and even less skill in between the ropes. In TNA a you Sting who is about the flat out coolest looking wrestler you'll ever see. You have Kurt Angle who is a straight amature wrestling machine. You have Samoa Joe who looks like your average guy on the street, but is about the most intimidating thing inside a ring. Joe isn't scary because he wears a giant G-string like Rikishi ( though I admit that is terrifying ) he isn't some ethnic pigeon hole like Umaga ( gee, another samoan covered in tattoos who only grunts and groans ) No, Joe is scary because he is a fine athlete regardless of what he looks like. Joe shines because he is not portrayed as a joke or a one dimensional character.
Now on to the WWE:
Aside from doing the exact opposite of what I just outlined some of the biggest problems with the WWE I have when I watch are as follows.
I can't stand to see guys like Shawn Michaels who can legitimately put on a good show used pretty much for the sole purpose of putting over the latest chump with a nice body. It means nothing to beat HBK when anybody, seemingly at will can do so any time they feel like it. I don't know if it's Shawn trying to make stars or something else, but walking all over a door mat isn't a feat to be too proud of.
Sex sex sex, gee I wonder if some cute babe will wave his bits and pieces around tonight on RAW?
I am so sick of "models" wrestling. First when there are people like Molly Holly who can work a circle around allot of the men inside WWE and do it without shoving her sexuality down my throat, why are we seeing these clumsy, cover girls who by most indications don't even like or enjoy the sport suddenly eating up so much TV time?
I love women. I think there great. I'm also not a pervert and think they deserve a heck of allot more respect they get on WWE TV, regardless if they would give it to themselves or not.
Lets create new fans!! but first lets do all we can turn women off of wrestling completely!! Bright.
I am really tired of story lines that vanish. For example, we all got treated to ringside interviews by some Russian monster who "Lub dubya dubya eee" for about a month and a half only to have him suddenly vanish from the face of the earth with no explanation. Strange.
I'm a fan of Pro Wrestling Noah. I don't miss the goofy story lines, slutty women or outlandish gimmicks that seem to go hand in hand with "sports entertainment"
after a couple of min of action.
All the usual trapping of WWE that are meant to get your attention and "hook" you are the furthest thing from your mind as you simply enjoy the fact your seeing two athletes perform at the top of there game.
You can tell me so an so is a great wrestler with three months of promos, I'm not going to be convinced. But you give that same wrestler, just one decent match that lasts more than five or ten min and have him really fight hard, well darn it if that one match didn't make me sit up and take notice where weeks on end of clips of him playing golf and eating sushi and telling me he's a great wrestler didn't.
Stop messing with success! why does nearly every grappler who has been successful outside of WWE have to be re-imagined and re-tooled upon entering WWE? ie: DDP, Raven, Goldberg etc.
Shock TV doesn't work anymore. back in the attitude era, there wern't 1000 Jerry Springer shows on around the clock. Wierd, lued and sexually explicit things did draw in large crowd of transient viewers, who as history can clearly point out now, only stuck around as long as it took them to change the channel and find the next, more shocking thing.
If a person is inclined to oggle sexually explicit content, then they already have have the playboy channel, or use that intenet we've heard so much about. :)
If the want to be shocked by violent acts, then simulated fighting isn't going to get it done for them. That's what cell phone videos and youtube are for.
If the want leud then Jack*ss and MTV are there to fill the need, or again youtube.
But what of the one thing ( up until TNA at least ) that WWE had to offer that no one else did, PRO WRESTLING?
I would make the case that providing wrestling in a market place already saturated with soaps, sex and violence would not only draw in the wrestling fans who have been turned off by the lowest common denominator routine, and draw in people who would see something they can't see anywhere else - Pro Wrestlers Wrestling! not acting in ridiculous sex dramas etc. all to justify a feud that could easily be perpetuated as an rivalry between two athletes who both want to be the best or be the champ.
honor, dignity and triumph over adversity still sell. Look at Nascar, they have prayer and the national anthem before the race. They have video packages about the struggle it took for the driver to get to were he is. It may be a little too sweet somtimes but you can't deny that people respect and admire people who are worthy of being respected and admired.
In long run what "face" character is going to be remembered as hero or legend:
The pron star turned wrestler Val Venis, who gyrated, pranced and helllllo laaadies- ed his way to mediocrity or Hulk Hogan, who encouraged and inspired us to train, say our prayers and eat our vitamins as he beat down baddies all the while staying true to good guy character?
Remember how I mentioned TNA respecting God?
Remember the Undertaker crucifying people? Vince proclaiming himself the head of his own religion and fighting against God and Shawn Michaels?
in the words of Joey Styles: " You mock God! GOD!?!"
You reap what you sow.
If you don't have a point please, please, just shut up, cut the 22 min interview full of catch phrases you cut for the last year and half every monday, and have a dang match. I'm looking at you HHH!
I think the use of blood and when meaningful weapons is a good tool.
I also like the concept matches like Ultimate X, TLC and King of the mountain.
I do see a problem when you use then too often, I buy PPV's for to see the best matches, newest matches and expect the best effort for the wrestlers.
I HATE when I have just forked over forty bucks for a PPV and see the matches, wrestled again the next night on RAW. It's especially irritating that the RAW re-do's are often better than the originals!!
It all makes me fell like got lead down the garden path... jump by a gang of wrestlers and robbed blind!
I also think it would benefit you to take a min, step back and use some common sense. ( it's called that because every has, even if they don't use it )
for example the new ECW theme song. Looks kinda bone headed, and at worst like your cashing in on tragedy when you use a song by an act that has things like t-shirts that encourage kids to kill there parents...Stupid? YES, VERY.
Please take this as constructive criticism. I want wrestling to succeed. It's a fine product in the right hands and can be relevant and entertaining at the same time as being a responsible with message and with how it portrays, women, non bodybuilders, Christians, etc.
I buy the dolls... err... action figures....um... collectible art investment pieces, the PPV's, go the live events, buy magazines, t-shirts and video games. I hope you take into consideration when you read this and other comments that they are coming frOm those of us who keep you in business.
Best Wishes and thanks again Georgiann,
Joe Jalbert
I am going to start this a little bit out of the ordinary by expressing first why I am huge TNA Wrestling fan.
I love to fact the Wrestling matches are the focus, and the story lines while funny, inspirational, dramatic or other wise are well thought out and serve as a lead into the match. The wrestling never looses it's place as the climactic point of the story.
I love that God can be mentioned, for example Sting in his feuds with Jeff Jarrett and Abyss and those kick butt cool PPV intros. God is treated with respect, and that I RESPECT.
I love that TNA features wrestlers of all shapes and sizes. I can't tell you how sick I am of seeing wrestlers with cookie cutter physiques, no personalities and even less skill in between the ropes. In TNA a you Sting who is about the flat out coolest looking wrestler you'll ever see. You have Kurt Angle who is a straight amature wrestling machine. You have Samoa Joe who looks like your average guy on the street, but is about the most intimidating thing inside a ring. Joe isn't scary because he wears a giant G-string like Rikishi ( though I admit that is terrifying ) he isn't some ethnic pigeon hole like Umaga ( gee, another samoan covered in tattoos who only grunts and groans ) No, Joe is scary because he is a fine athlete regardless of what he looks like. Joe shines because he is not portrayed as a joke or a one dimensional character.
Now on to the WWE:
Aside from doing the exact opposite of what I just outlined some of the biggest problems with the WWE I have when I watch are as follows.
I can't stand to see guys like Shawn Michaels who can legitimately put on a good show used pretty much for the sole purpose of putting over the latest chump with a nice body. It means nothing to beat HBK when anybody, seemingly at will can do so any time they feel like it. I don't know if it's Shawn trying to make stars or something else, but walking all over a door mat isn't a feat to be too proud of.
Sex sex sex, gee I wonder if some cute babe will wave his bits and pieces around tonight on RAW?
I am so sick of "models" wrestling. First when there are people like Molly Holly who can work a circle around allot of the men inside WWE and do it without shoving her sexuality down my throat, why are we seeing these clumsy, cover girls who by most indications don't even like or enjoy the sport suddenly eating up so much TV time?
I love women. I think there great. I'm also not a pervert and think they deserve a heck of allot more respect they get on WWE TV, regardless if they would give it to themselves or not.
Lets create new fans!! but first lets do all we can turn women off of wrestling completely!! Bright.
I am really tired of story lines that vanish. For example, we all got treated to ringside interviews by some Russian monster who "Lub dubya dubya eee" for about a month and a half only to have him suddenly vanish from the face of the earth with no explanation. Strange.
I'm a fan of Pro Wrestling Noah. I don't miss the goofy story lines, slutty women or outlandish gimmicks that seem to go hand in hand with "sports entertainment"
after a couple of min of action.
All the usual trapping of WWE that are meant to get your attention and "hook" you are the furthest thing from your mind as you simply enjoy the fact your seeing two athletes perform at the top of there game.
You can tell me so an so is a great wrestler with three months of promos, I'm not going to be convinced. But you give that same wrestler, just one decent match that lasts more than five or ten min and have him really fight hard, well darn it if that one match didn't make me sit up and take notice where weeks on end of clips of him playing golf and eating sushi and telling me he's a great wrestler didn't.
Stop messing with success! why does nearly every grappler who has been successful outside of WWE have to be re-imagined and re-tooled upon entering WWE? ie: DDP, Raven, Goldberg etc.
Shock TV doesn't work anymore. back in the attitude era, there wern't 1000 Jerry Springer shows on around the clock. Wierd, lued and sexually explicit things did draw in large crowd of transient viewers, who as history can clearly point out now, only stuck around as long as it took them to change the channel and find the next, more shocking thing.
If a person is inclined to oggle sexually explicit content, then they already have have the playboy channel, or use that intenet we've heard so much about. :)
If the want to be shocked by violent acts, then simulated fighting isn't going to get it done for them. That's what cell phone videos and youtube are for.
If the want leud then Jack*ss and MTV are there to fill the need, or again youtube.
But what of the one thing ( up until TNA at least ) that WWE had to offer that no one else did, PRO WRESTLING?
I would make the case that providing wrestling in a market place already saturated with soaps, sex and violence would not only draw in the wrestling fans who have been turned off by the lowest common denominator routine, and draw in people who would see something they can't see anywhere else - Pro Wrestlers Wrestling! not acting in ridiculous sex dramas etc. all to justify a feud that could easily be perpetuated as an rivalry between two athletes who both want to be the best or be the champ.
honor, dignity and triumph over adversity still sell. Look at Nascar, they have prayer and the national anthem before the race. They have video packages about the struggle it took for the driver to get to were he is. It may be a little too sweet somtimes but you can't deny that people respect and admire people who are worthy of being respected and admired.
In long run what "face" character is going to be remembered as hero or legend:
The pron star turned wrestler Val Venis, who gyrated, pranced and helllllo laaadies- ed his way to mediocrity or Hulk Hogan, who encouraged and inspired us to train, say our prayers and eat our vitamins as he beat down baddies all the while staying true to good guy character?
Remember how I mentioned TNA respecting God?
Remember the Undertaker crucifying people? Vince proclaiming himself the head of his own religion and fighting against God and Shawn Michaels?
in the words of Joey Styles: " You mock God! GOD!?!"
You reap what you sow.
If you don't have a point please, please, just shut up, cut the 22 min interview full of catch phrases you cut for the last year and half every monday, and have a dang match. I'm looking at you HHH!
I think the use of blood and when meaningful weapons is a good tool.
I also like the concept matches like Ultimate X, TLC and King of the mountain.
I do see a problem when you use then too often, I buy PPV's for to see the best matches, newest matches and expect the best effort for the wrestlers.
I HATE when I have just forked over forty bucks for a PPV and see the matches, wrestled again the next night on RAW. It's especially irritating that the RAW re-do's are often better than the originals!!
It all makes me fell like got lead down the garden path... jump by a gang of wrestlers and robbed blind!
I also think it would benefit you to take a min, step back and use some common sense. ( it's called that because every has, even if they don't use it )
for example the new ECW theme song. Looks kinda bone headed, and at worst like your cashing in on tragedy when you use a song by an act that has things like t-shirts that encourage kids to kill there parents...Stupid? YES, VERY.
Please take this as constructive criticism. I want wrestling to succeed. It's a fine product in the right hands and can be relevant and entertaining at the same time as being a responsible with message and with how it portrays, women, non bodybuilders, Christians, etc.
I buy the dolls... err... action figures....um... collectible art investment pieces, the PPV's, go the live events, buy magazines, t-shirts and video games. I hope you take into consideration when you read this and other comments that they are coming frOm those of us who keep you in business.
Best Wishes and thanks again Georgiann,
Joe Jalbert
* * * * * * * * * *
Georgie I am with you 100%
Wrestling has really taken a nose dive. It is ALL about money, matches are only five minutes long, they don't even break a sweat. the matches are so predictable, you know each week what is going to happen.the story lines are so stupid and trashy, a two hour show consist of 1.20 minutes of talk, stories,30 minutes of commercials and 10 minutes of wrestling. it sucks. During football season I actually watch football instead because of a lack of interest. The wrestlers have gotten a lot worse over the years as well. These wrestlers today look for the easy way out. For example the ROCK, I want to puke thinking of him, he wrestled just long enough to get a movie, then he ditched all the wrestlers and the FANS. he makes me sick, I watch my old video's back in the 70-80s all the time. I don't see it getting any better now Ithat there is no competition for Vince. I hope I am wrong, but I think wrestling will be completely gone from television within ten years, the ratings keep dropping every year, there is more and more fans stopping watching it and going to matches, I used to go to one live match every month back in the 80's, I now haven't been to a match in over two years. I don't know how we can get this great sport back and all the crap on TV. (Benoit, steroids) help absolutely nothing. I am a die hard huge wrestling fan of over 30 years and attend legend reunions every year but I don't know how this is ever going to keep going with all the baggage, domination, and loss of fans and Vince in charge. Drop me a line sometime.
From: Greg
* * * * * * *
sbuchanan That fan speaks the truth!
From: gilmourwaters03
* * * * * * *
Hello,
Been interesting reading the fans comments on the state of the WWE. Some of the suggestions have been good, terrible and unrealisitc. It is good that fans still have an opinion. As for me, I am more into the simpler storylines, as opposed to the really outlandish stuff, with child custody, domestic squabbles, people smashing up each others cars and alot of the stuff that the attitude era brought about.
For example, the Matt Hardy / MVP feud has the potential to be the feud of the year if they play it right. Both men can get it done in the ring and the basis of their conflict is simply they don't like eachother and are trying to prove they are the better of the two, thats it. No lawyers, FBI agents, who dun it crap.
I see some small signs that WWE may be inching back to the simpler stuff, the Hardy/MVP feud, the Batista/ Khali feud is just about the World Title as is Cena/Orton. For all of those who want to pull the title off Cena just cause he has had it so long is ridiculous. Hogan had the title for over 3 years in his first reign, so a 10 month title reign is not out of hand. London/Kendrick held the belts for almost a year and nonone had a beef with them.
The attitude era's worst quality was the title reigns that lasted 3 hours, it devalued the titles soooooo much that noone cared who was the champ, it was just about who got the best of who, who drank the most beer and talked the most trash.
I think they should unify the WWE/ World titles and the WWE tag/ World tag titles and stop the brand extension stuff. It served its purpose, but having one world champ, appear on each show and defend the title opens up the possibilities. Keep the 3 shows and work them together. Like back in the day with Wrestling Challenge, Wrestling Superstars and Prime Time. Then in the 90's with Raw, Shotgun, and Superstars.
Also, have something of substance happen at house shows now and then. I go the house shows, to see the action, but when you know nothing of merit is going to happen it kind of loses the excitement. When, Macho Man beat Tito in the Boston Garden for the belt, or Rotundo and Wyndam lost to Beefcake and Valentine in Philly, that kind of stuff was great.
Finally, too many PayPer Views, everyone seems to feel that way....Rumble, Mania, SummerSlam, Survivor....and maybe a Wild Card PayPer View, that they surprise us with at some random point during the year, something to settle a big feud or something. And have the Great American Bash be a month long summer tour like the NWA did before it became just one Payper view.
I could go on, but thats all for now
From: Joe from Voorhees, NJ
Been interesting reading the fans comments on the state of the WWE. Some of the suggestions have been good, terrible and unrealisitc. It is good that fans still have an opinion. As for me, I am more into the simpler storylines, as opposed to the really outlandish stuff, with child custody, domestic squabbles, people smashing up each others cars and alot of the stuff that the attitude era brought about.
For example, the Matt Hardy / MVP feud has the potential to be the feud of the year if they play it right. Both men can get it done in the ring and the basis of their conflict is simply they don't like eachother and are trying to prove they are the better of the two, thats it. No lawyers, FBI agents, who dun it crap.
I see some small signs that WWE may be inching back to the simpler stuff, the Hardy/MVP feud, the Batista/ Khali feud is just about the World Title as is Cena/Orton. For all of those who want to pull the title off Cena just cause he has had it so long is ridiculous. Hogan had the title for over 3 years in his first reign, so a 10 month title reign is not out of hand. London/Kendrick held the belts for almost a year and nonone had a beef with them.
The attitude era's worst quality was the title reigns that lasted 3 hours, it devalued the titles soooooo much that noone cared who was the champ, it was just about who got the best of who, who drank the most beer and talked the most trash.
I think they should unify the WWE/ World titles and the WWE tag/ World tag titles and stop the brand extension stuff. It served its purpose, but having one world champ, appear on each show and defend the title opens up the possibilities. Keep the 3 shows and work them together. Like back in the day with Wrestling Challenge, Wrestling Superstars and Prime Time. Then in the 90's with Raw, Shotgun, and Superstars.
Also, have something of substance happen at house shows now and then. I go the house shows, to see the action, but when you know nothing of merit is going to happen it kind of loses the excitement. When, Macho Man beat Tito in the Boston Garden for the belt, or Rotundo and Wyndam lost to Beefcake and Valentine in Philly, that kind of stuff was great.
Finally, too many PayPer Views, everyone seems to feel that way....Rumble, Mania, SummerSlam, Survivor....and maybe a Wild Card PayPer View, that they surprise us with at some random point during the year, something to settle a big feud or something. And have the Great American Bash be a month long summer tour like the NWA did before it became just one Payper view.
I could go on, but thats all for now
From: Joe from Voorhees, NJ
* * * * * * * * * *
First, Georgie, thanks for the outlet.
Something has happened in the world of wrestling that has made me
disinfranchised from it. I cant exactly put my finger on it, but somethings
gone wrong.
I try to remember what made me get real into wrestling. When I started,
Hulkamania was at its peak and a young upstart by the name of Ultimate
Warrior was trying to dethrone him. So I can say that its not just
muscle-heads that are the problem. I have yet to meet a person into
wrestling between 1985-1990 that did not at one point like Hulk Hogan. He
was bigger then life, literal superstar.
What did Hulk Hogan have that wrestlers today dont? I'd say first and
formost, charisma. Enough charisma that what lack of ability he had in the
ring made him look phenominal. I think a big tribute to this was the
wrestlers then were given an open microphone with no script. That forced
them to actually become thier character and believe what him or her was
saying.
Another thing that made wrestling then so popular was the influx of very
talented workers to make that one guy look awesome. Lets take the most prime
example I can think of for that era, Mr. Perfect. Now there was a wrestler.
He was cocky and arrogant and they backed him up with constant video footage
and promo's. He WAS perfect. He was so perfect, that was his name. He could
beat anyone. He was PERFECT. And he just flew around for whomever was the
good guy.
One of my all time favorite matches, from summerslam, Mr. Perfect vs. Bret
Hart. Mr. Perfect made Bret Hart in that match. He threw himself completely
around and made Bret Hart look awesome. Not only was there that dynamic to
the match, there was also the fact that you had Bret Hart as the "take no
garbage, I'm just here to win" good guy vs. the arrogant cocky villian. On
top of all that, you had the amazing technical skill of the both of those
wrestlers. What a real match.
So what happened between now and then? The WWE turned, essentially, into a
machine. Not so much finding the one breakout amazing star, but more or less
just putting different people into an equation. It didnt particularly matter
if you were good or not. Look at how many "un-stoppable" bad guys that came
though. Snitsky, Matt Morgan, Test, etc. Where are they now? They're being
replaced by Khali, who's the new unstoppable heel in the equation.
I think a big problem is that WWE simply doesnt listen to crowd reaction.
WWE is too much of a machine. They dont take advantage of when a person has
a real following. My biggest example would be Gregory Helms. That man gets a
reaction. People care about Gregory Helms. You can do whatever you want with
him and people will be interested. Make Gregory Helms the US/IC champion and
I promise people will notice.
If I could have one thing to say to the WWE, just over anything else, it
would be listen to the fans, listen to who we cheer and boo loudest for and
follow them. Please, for all of us.
From -Josh
Something has happened in the world of wrestling that has made me
disinfranchised from it. I cant exactly put my finger on it, but somethings
gone wrong.
I try to remember what made me get real into wrestling. When I started,
Hulkamania was at its peak and a young upstart by the name of Ultimate
Warrior was trying to dethrone him. So I can say that its not just
muscle-heads that are the problem. I have yet to meet a person into
wrestling between 1985-1990 that did not at one point like Hulk Hogan. He
was bigger then life, literal superstar.
What did Hulk Hogan have that wrestlers today dont? I'd say first and
formost, charisma. Enough charisma that what lack of ability he had in the
ring made him look phenominal. I think a big tribute to this was the
wrestlers then were given an open microphone with no script. That forced
them to actually become thier character and believe what him or her was
saying.
Another thing that made wrestling then so popular was the influx of very
talented workers to make that one guy look awesome. Lets take the most prime
example I can think of for that era, Mr. Perfect. Now there was a wrestler.
He was cocky and arrogant and they backed him up with constant video footage
and promo's. He WAS perfect. He was so perfect, that was his name. He could
beat anyone. He was PERFECT. And he just flew around for whomever was the
good guy.
One of my all time favorite matches, from summerslam, Mr. Perfect vs. Bret
Hart. Mr. Perfect made Bret Hart in that match. He threw himself completely
around and made Bret Hart look awesome. Not only was there that dynamic to
the match, there was also the fact that you had Bret Hart as the "take no
garbage, I'm just here to win" good guy vs. the arrogant cocky villian. On
top of all that, you had the amazing technical skill of the both of those
wrestlers. What a real match.
So what happened between now and then? The WWE turned, essentially, into a
machine. Not so much finding the one breakout amazing star, but more or less
just putting different people into an equation. It didnt particularly matter
if you were good or not. Look at how many "un-stoppable" bad guys that came
though. Snitsky, Matt Morgan, Test, etc. Where are they now? They're being
replaced by Khali, who's the new unstoppable heel in the equation.
I think a big problem is that WWE simply doesnt listen to crowd reaction.
WWE is too much of a machine. They dont take advantage of when a person has
a real following. My biggest example would be Gregory Helms. That man gets a
reaction. People care about Gregory Helms. You can do whatever you want with
him and people will be interested. Make Gregory Helms the US/IC champion and
I promise people will notice.
If I could have one thing to say to the WWE, just over anything else, it
would be listen to the fans, listen to who we cheer and boo loudest for and
follow them. Please, for all of us.
From -Josh
* * * * * * * * * *
Georgie [email protected]
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