Raw last night (contains spoilers)

Sualtam

Hey,

I was watching RAW last night and Joey Styles was talking about having to say "Sports Entertainment" and "Superstars" instead of Pro Wrestling and Wrestlers. I never really thought much about it until he said it.

Is there a reason or a benefit to using these terms?

S

Firewalkwithme

WWE calls it's brand of wrestling sports entertainment probably because it's a more accurate description of their product than Pro-Wrestling.

As for the Superstars term, I think it's used just to make the wrestlers sound more famous and important than they really are.

gimmick

Sports Entertainment and Superstars is very much a wwe term. People dont really call TNA or CZW, or NWA Ireland or IWW sports entertainment, notr do they call the wrestlers 'superstars'.

Ive not seen it yet, but read it, and it seems like a great promo. If you ever heard Styles on ECW he was always taking swipes at silly storylines in WWF and WCW. His promo last night simply brought that part of his character back.

Funny how they have used the internet again, as Styles remarked on what was on all the gossip sites, thats he wasn't allowed call moves, but had to sell storylines instead, and he got in trouble with Vince for not doing it WWE style.

Sualtam

I know they're WWE terms and probably do describe the product better, I just don't see why they would be preferable to Pro Wrestling.

Sports Entertainment sounds so much more scripted. I'm starting to think it's not real;)

Mr.Nice Guy

I felt this merited its own thread as I think it's one of the most exciting angles the WWE has done in a long time.

Did anyone else pop for this speech as much as I did? I was disappointed that the crowd weren't as responsive as they could have been.

My favourite bit of his promo was:

Here's the best part, because I'm not a sports entertainment storyteller I get pulled from Wrestlemania, and the reason I'm given is, is because I don't sound like Jim Ross - who's the guy they fired in the first place. That makes sense, right?

Can't wait for ECW now! What were your thoughts on the promo?

Cactus Col

Maybe a successful reworking of the invasion angle. With ecw wrestlers breaking away from wwe. (or at least raw)

Cactus Col

Well, I think wwe started using the term superstars back in the hulk hogan days to differentiate their wrestlers to those of the other organisations around at the time (i.e. {or e.g.} wcw), implying that wwe's wreslters were the best of the best.

The term sports entertainment I think came about as wwe were trying to become more mainstream and appeal to more casual fans and non wrestling fans, trying to not insult people's intelligence by claiming it was an actual competitive sport.

castagnoli

Am I right in thinking that the whole Sports Entertainment thing came in big time when they changed from WWF to WWE?

Firewalkwithme

castagnoli wrote:

Am I right in thinking that the whole Sports Entertainment thing came in big time when they changed from WWF to WWE?

Well there seemed to be a lot more emphasis on 'Sports Entertainment' once WWF had to "Get the F out". Perhaps it was seen as a way to get long term viewers more used to the new name while also making out that they were quite happy to go along with the change.

Cactus Col

I think they've been going on about Sports Entertainment a lot longer than that, at least around the attitude era they were using the term (I think)

Dragan

"He mocks God.....HE MOCKS GOD!!!!"

Fozzy

According to wikipedia, Vince first used "sports entertainment" when promoting the first WM

I really can't get behind Joey's promo, because WWE wanted him to do it. It's not like he's shocked the company and now they want to fire him or anything like that. They still want him, and he'll still be on WWE tv shows. When he used to say stuff like that, it was real

Dragan

It's all just part of the build for ECW is that is coming back.

Fozzy

Dragan wrote:

It's all just part of the build for ECW is that is coming back.

I get that, and it's making me interested, but I'm not going to start popping for an obvious worked shoot

gimmick

Just watched the promo on youtube. Good stuff, though i dont like the way Styles has essentially turned heel by also having a dig off the fans.

I have a feeling this shoot was unscripted, but he is in no trouble as it totally got the start of the ecw angle over.

One of the best promos Ive seen since Heyman pre Survivor Series 2001 at the end of the Invasion angle.

J.R.HARTLEY

it seem spretty obvious that they'll be moving him over to call the ECW show and probably bringin Jim Ross Back to do RAW, or maybe moving Micahel Cole over from SD if JR doesn't want to do it.

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote:

I get that, and it's making me interested, but I'm not going to start popping for an obvious worked shoot

Who cares if it was a worked shoot? It was a great promo (maybe the best from 2006 so far) which he clearly felt passionate about that was used in a productive way to start the ECW angle. Promos like that are worth popping for at least in my opinion. You won't hear them every week.

I think Styles comments were designed to create a a divide amongst fans for the feud ie. ECW v WWE rather than make him necessarily a heel. But maybe not.

Now its all about where they go with it. Edge v Foley with ECW interference looks the most likely.

Mr.Nice Guy

I agree^. Regardless of whether it was worked or not there was definitely alot of stuff from the heart in that promo.

I wonder myself if Paul Heyman had a hand in that promo because apparently he's being given alot of freedom in the revived ECW and if this is part of the storyline where it gets revived, it would make sense to allow Heyman some input into it.

triple h

i thiught last nights raw was the best raw in a long time,
i am going to watch it again later tonight.
the spirit squad ( and i use to hate them) did a FANTASTIC job as co general managers. that may 19th shirt they made shawn wear, man i was laughing so much the tears were coming out of my eyes.
joey- i guess ye have said it all.
where is the main man, coach.
i dont like king changing colours. king is great as the bad dude, i wish they would leave him one way. for example last night he said he loved chris masters enterence, last week he said it sucked, what is he going to say next week.

the sunbabe wan

not a bad raw the kane vs conway match was funny... style's "quiting" was just lame. we all know the reason for it like. man triple h, edge, and cena had some nasty bruises and scars, and ouch on triple h that has to be the worst scaring i've seen ever from him, but hey we have mick foley vs edge in a wrestlemania re-match.... it might not be as good as the first time. dx coming back, um i'm still trying to figure out is this a good thing or a bad thing...

and i hate to say thing, but the spirit squad is growing on me... :eek:

J.R.HARTLEY

you're aware most of the scarring is make up, which is why it's gone 7 days later instead of all yellow and still healing

the sunbabe wan

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

you're aware most of the scarring is make up, which is why it's gone 7 days later instead of all yellow and still healing

yes i am actually. but it was some nasty looking bruises though. but triple h did suffer from lacerations near his eye

Fozzy

I think the idea behind Joey having a go at the fans might be something to do with trying to get more people interested in the new ECW. I'd imagine that most of the old ECW fans would now be fans of the likes of ROH (or CZW..) more than WWE. Joey used to criticise WWE a lot when he was writing for 1wrestling.com, and if he criticises the fans now too, it will create a division between the WWE fans and the rest (which already kinda exists, but if ECW acknowledge it, they could do better business). Just somethin I was thinkin about

Corholio

the sunbabe wan wrote:

and i hate to say thing, but the spirit squad is growing on me... :eek:

Nasty condition there, should take something to clear it up

Stalfos

Thought this weeks RAW was one of the best since January. Really seems to have more flow in it. Probably since Mcmahon sat there and didn't nothing. Well almost nothing, Lucky guy
The spirit squad have more charisma than i thought. I'll getting behind these guys more and more every week. Edge and Foley in a MW rematch next week, that should be nice.

Styles promo, like and return of ECW is a good and bad thing. Was nice for him to have a go at WWE and it's fans but since it's a work, that isn't much to it really. I'm still waiting for WWE to start promoting ECW though. Even a promo for ONS would be nice.

I_Need_a_Life

Stalfos wrote:

Was nice for him to have a go at WWE and it's fans but since it's a work

Apparently styles penned the promo himself, while he ran it by the creative department, they didnt have anything to do with the content!

oneofakind32

Vince started using the term "Sports Entertianment" in the 80's because if his events were classified as entertainment he could get tax exemption

Zip

i have just thought of something that could be very possible.just say dx were to come back, who would they fued with?that is a big question.however i think i have the answer and it is quite simply...................................................................EC 'FN' W!!!!!

think about it.rob van dam brings back some of the best ecw talent there was like sabu,dreamer and sandman.eventualy they take over all raw titles with van dam the wwe champ sabu the intercontinentil champ and dreamer and sandman the tag champs.and also vandam brings in a manager for this ecw team and this manager being none other than.........PAUL HEYMAN!!!!mr. heyman eventually becomes the raw genral manager which dosent sit well with the likes of say...HHH.the reason for this being that heyman dosent give hhh what hhh's "good friend" gives him.so what does hhh do.............

BRING BACK DX!!!alongside shawn micheals and say.....a man behind the scenes looking for more talent for the newly formed dx, this man being hhh's "good friend".when dx fully reforms with th other 2 talents being say....chris masters and a returning chris jericho,they go after ecw and try to get all the titles backwhich eventually leads to classic survivor series elimination match at survivor series with the winning faction taking all the titles (hhh=wwe champ,micheals=intercontinentil champ,masters and jericho=tag champs).but thats not all.with paul heyman the genral manager of raw he dosent allow this,so what do dx do?they bring back hhh's good friend who is none other than......................

ERIC BISHOFF!!!!with bishoff back as dx's manager he belittles heyman sayin something like "ecw could never have been as big as wcw or wwe". with that the match at survivor series is on aswell as another match

BISHOFF VS HEYMAN IN A WINNER BECOMES RAW GENRAL MANAGER/HARDCORE MATCH!!!!

all this will lead to dx winning at ss aswell as bishoff.bishoff will then give all the wrestlers involved with the ecw team a wwe contract including heyman who will then branch out and bring back ECW as a extended brand of the wwe witch will have old ecw wrestlers in it aswell as new talent.and even maybe in a few years just maybe this ecw brand will take over either raw or smackdown.

that is my theory on both the rumord dx return and the ecw return.please give your opinions.

(please note that all this just came to my head and might not even happen)

Zip!!

Fozzy

The problem with all that is that it would have to happen within 6 weeks! They're looking to start doing ECW shows in June, after ONS

the sunbabe wan

Corholio wrote:

Nasty condition there, should take something to clear it up

i know :eek: i'm rather scared now. dear god bring back evolution or dx, i'm forgetting what a good group was :eek:

I_Need_a_Life

the sunbabe wan wrote:

i know :eek: i'm rather scared now. dear god bring back evolution or dx, i'm forgetting what a good group was :eek:

Am I the ONLY person who dosent want to see DX reform?! The fact that ECW is coming back brings up so many new and different possabilities for all the underused talent in WWE, but DX will just be HHH and HBK...both, while still 2 of the top guys in the business (when they want to be), are not gonna be able to recapture the magic they had in late 97!

The fact that the creative departments answer to everything is to recycle old ideas that were once hyper-succesful, fills me with dread and trepidation. The "attitude days" are over, lets have something new!...please!

Fozzy

I don't want to see DX reform either, but I've pretty much given up on WWE at this stage. Might as well have something interesting on tv. ECW gives me hope if Heyman and Dreamer are booking it

Johnmb

oneofakind32 wrote:

Vince started using the term "Sports Entertianment" in the 80's because if his events were classified as entertainment he could get tax exemption

It was more to do with getting him out of the control of the Boxing Commissions. If wrestling was real, it would be subject to the same controls as boxing events, by acknowledging that it was just an act, Vince had complete control over what he wanted to do.

Clareman

the reason it's sports entertainment not wrestling is for 3 reasons, different tax brackets for entertainers, not for sports, doesn't have to be under the control of the local sporting authorities, and most importantly, not being sport means that the performers wouldn't have to supply drug tests