Favourite/Least Favourite Period as a fan ?

Vince135792003

Simple as that. It might be a bit predictable for a topic but who knows.

What was/is your favourite period of wrestling that you enjoyed the most as a fan and what was the worst?


For me, my favourite period in wrestling was in early 2000. It was really at a point where Triple H was finally getting over, The Rock was chasing him and Mick Foley was beginning to wind his carreer down.

It led to a string of a great ppvs. Everyone of them had somthing different about them and it usually had great mathes. I can't think of one ppv that did n't deliver.

I think right now is my least favourite period in wrestling. Aside from Foley and Flair I find everything else to be pretty much either goofy (which is fine in small doses) boring or just tasteless. Alot of it is just impossible to sit through. I still follow it and will watch when I hear of a good segment or match but I can't remember the last time I watched all 5 hours of WWE tv. From what I've seen of TNA its definitely better. But the state of WWE makes it look better than it actually is I think and its not really a strong viable alternative either. So anyway thats why I hate 2006!

What does everyone else think?

HorseRadish

Favourite : The whole Austin/McMahon saga. Brilliant booking,some of my mates who'd never bothered with wrestling got into it (and still are) solely for this feud.

Least : HHH - Kane - Necrophelia. :mad: :mad:

Fozzy

That early 2000 period was probably my 2nd favourite time. The best for me was towards the end of 2002 and well into 2003. In WWE you had the SD 6, Angle, Benoit, Eddie, Chavo, Edge and Rey, puttin on brilliant matches every week. Matt Hardy was brilliant back then too, Haas and Benjamin debuted and they were brilliant, and Brock was deadly. It was the last time Big Show had been entertaining up until recently too, which has to have something to do with Heyman being on the creative team. ROH were also doing great back then too, I'd seen a few events and they were amazing. Same sort of stuff with TNA, it was really interesting

I'm not too sure about my least favourite period of wrestling. Probably around 2001, the invasion came off terrible. With WWE, now is definitely the worst period, but other promotions are doing well

Ph3n0m

Best: 1995/6 - 2001/2 until the bottom fell out
Worst: HHH and the glass ceiling. Many a career was ruined.

gimmick

^ Whats the glass ceiling?

Good topic. Hopefully this forum can get back on track from its banality of recent months.

My favourite period on being a WWE fan was around 2002/2003 as mentioned above. Stellar matches week in week out on SD. Raw was poor at the time, but it was all about SD at that point IMO.

Must also say that the feud leading into WMX7 was an amazing 10 weeks. Rock and Stone Cold were just too good together, a fued the likes we will probably never see again.

Worst would be around now, the only exception of the fact that ECW is beginning to look good. Raw is a disgrace. It is not entertaining in the slightest anymore, and I havent seen SD due to bandwidth problems and not being able to download it.

However, froma personal standpoint this is also my favourite time in so far as I have come to appreciate that WWE isnt the be all and end all, that there are fantastic indy promotions everywhere, and I can get DVDs of them all and appreciate them all. In fact it makes me realise that WWE, as it stands at the moment, is bottom of the barrel crap.

Hope ECW, with Punk, RVD, Moore, Angle et al can do well (looking forward to see how Dupree works out. I predict great things for him).

Ph3n0m

The glass ceiling is in reference to something HHH said in that all wrestlers had to break through to get where he was - however he practically shat on the careers of Jeff hardy, RVD, Kane and several others

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote:

I'm not too sure about my least favourite period of wrestling. Probably around 2001, the invasion came off terrible. l

They screwed that storyline up big time. However, Austin was so entertaining throughout the whole thing it made it at least watchable for me.

chopperbyrne

My favourite period was during the Monday Night Wars.

Nitro was just so entertaining. The Wolfpac against The Four Horsemen every week. Benoit and Malenko in tag matches every week. Juvi, Rey, Psicosis and Kidman in cruiserweight matches every week that lasted longer than five minutes.

Stings feud with Vampiro was brilliant.

Unfortunately, this is when they decided to put the strap on DDP and it went downhill from there.

Luckily though WWF got ther act together and started producing their own quality product.

There were about five straight years in the nineties when wrestling was consistently good.

gimmick

Ph3n0m wrote:

however he practically shat on the careers of Jeff hardy, RVD, Kane and several others

Ill have to take you up on this one. You can blame HHH for plenty, but I cannot see how he is to blame for any of the above.

RVD - When he came to WWE he was fast tracked to the main event scene, when he clearly wasn't ready. Sure he had main evented ECW, and he had the popularity, but his style was (and some would say still is) too wreckless for the top spot. Not to mention his mic work left alot to be desired. RVD as champ at that time just would not have worked. He was, like all should, made pay his dues, and eventually through hardwork and great attitude made it to the title. We all know what he did then :rolleyes:

Jeff Hardy - how can HHH be blamed for him? Jeff is the only one who screwed Jeffs career, with his constant tardiness and disregard for authority. He was taken on by a fledgling TNA who wanted him to go all the way to the top, and stay there, their very own Shawn Michaels. However, good ol Jeff managed to screw that as well. Now he is going back to be buried again in WWE.

Kane - interesting one this, and I can see how some would see that he has been held back, but Ill have a try anyway. Even before HHHs apparent politicking came into play Kanes star as the unstoppable monster was on the wane. His psycho gimmick was arguably irrepparably damaged by the god awful storyline he was involved in with X-Pac and Tori. He started to talk, and showed to have feelings. His fear factor was gone. Bearing in mind he had already had his 24 hour reign at this point, before HHH came into the title scene its hard to see where the fault lay.

Now, some would argue that there was plenty time since 2000 where Kane could have gone to the top, but let me pose this question - who was the last 'gimmick' champion? I think it was Mankind in 1998. Ever since, it has all been persona champions, where the champ has played himself so to speak. So in this sense it is arguable that Kanes gimmick just didnt fit the bill here, and was just a decade too late, as such a gimmick would have been gold in the late 80s, early 90s, where an evil, mask wearing sadist champion would have eant a great adversary for Hogan/Warrior.

But, it is also arguable that Kane, without being champion, was top man in the WWE, or at least Raw from August 02 - April 03, from when he lost his mask all the way through to his WM match with Taker. He was a heavily featured character week in week out, with programs with RVD, Shane, someone I cant remember, before gathering major momentum when he buried Taker alive at Survivor Series.

Since that, he has been in one poor storyline after another, but has performed well throughout, and has been the typical company man, in so far as, he seems to have done what has been asked of him. He, like people like Jericho, Angle, Benoit, can go from Curtain Jerker at this months PPV, while seamlessly is in the main event next month - a rare quality, in that he makes it all look believeable.

So, maybe the peron who held Kane back was Kane. Im not saying this in a bad way, but perhaps he was just happy with his lot, getting talent over, and not bothering getting into the backstage bullsh*t we call politicking. If you look at the champs of recent years - Austin, Rock, HHH, JBL, Taker, Hogan, Bret, HBK - all these have been very vocal in getting what they wanted.

So lets not knock Kane, but admire his versatility, and hopefully, like Booker, will get the title reign his loyalty, hard work, and patience deserve.

chopperbyrne

If the rumours are true and Kane is going to retire soon, they should give him the strap for a couple of months at least. Hell, send him to SD and have him in their title scene.

RVDs mic work is too poor for him to be the top guy.

Jeff Hardy is a ****ing junkie, end of.

evad_lhorg

so? drugs a deadly fun

chopperbyrne

So deadly, that they stop you from being able to capitalise or spell simple three letter words.

Vince135792003

gimmick wrote:

Ill have to take you up on this one. You can blame HHH for plenty, but I cannot see how he is to blame for any of the above.

RVD - When he came to WWE he was fast tracked to the main event scene, when he clearly wasn't ready. Sure he had main evented ECW, and he had the popularity, but his style was (and some would say still is) too wreckless for the top spot. Not to mention his mic work left alot to be desired. RVD as champ at that time just would not have worked. He was, like all should, made pay his dues, and eventually through hardwork and great attitude made it to the title. We all know what he did then :rolleyes:
.

I disagree to a point.. His style was/is at times sloppy and his mic work is poor. But when he first came in he was insanely over. I mean 5 times over than what he is now. There was a buzz when he came to the ring because he was somthing different. Would he have been successful as a champ? I'm not sure. But then was the time to pull the trigger on him. Not 5 years later.

Dickmcsavage

Well I would have to say that probably my favourite period in wrestling was when the new Hart foundation were together in '97. I was obviously alot younger then and so I was quite the mark for the 'Hitman'. I would go into school coming up with all sorts of excuses for why he lost a match and stuff like that... 'Well, he was in a fecking wheelchair when Micheals super kicked him!' that sort of thing. It probably sticks out as a great time in wrestling for me because what I believed I was seeing was real. That Bret really hated Austin and that he really wanted to kick his ass so bad. Since then there has been some other great moments like the Austin/McMahon feud and the great matches on Smackdown as mentioned above. To be honest, I've always preferred WWE when theres groups feuding. I mean when the Hart foundation were going, so were DX and The Nation. The whole corporation/Ministry thing was great too.

My least foavourite period in wrestling, thats easy. Remember when HHH was just given the world title by Bischoff? Well pretty much that whole time while he was champion was ****. He started it off by burying RVD, then had that terrible feud with Kane. After that it just got worse when he feuded with Steiner (which lasted like 2 months). After that he had feud with booker T where they built him up only to knock him right back down again. After that... Feckin Kevin Nash. Terrible. After that Goldberg came along and things started to slowly but surely get better because then Micheals came back and then the whole Benoit thing happened. But like I said, that whole HHH title reign was muck. Smackdown was good around that time though have to say.

Fozzy

chopperbyrne wrote:

RVDs mic work is too poor for him to be the top guy.

I don't think that's true. If you read the last paragraph here, I think that kinda sums it up. When he hits on somethin, he's one of the best around

That time when HHH was the champ and just beatin everyone was awful. I find it hard to remember WWE's two shows together though, I was probably really enjoying SD at that time!

Oh! I just remembered another thing about why that 2002-2003 period was so great! Velocity had the best matches every week! It was like WWE management ignored the show, so the cruiserweights were allowed to just go at it, and there were some brilliant matches guaranteed every week. Some guy on 1wrestling.com used to do deadly reviews of the show too, they were real funny

Ph3n0m

And now I shall retort

gimmick wrote:

RVD - When he came to WWE he was fast tracked to the main event scene, when he clearly wasn't ready. Sure he had main evented ECW, and he had the popularity, but his style was (and some would say still is) too wreckless for the top spot. Not to mention his mic work left alot to be desired. RVD as champ at that time just would not have worked. He was, like all should, made pay his dues, and eventually through hardwork and great attitude made it to the title. We all know what he did then :rolleyes:

Doesnt matter about his mic work - any manager could have gotten him. The point was whilst he was feuding with HHH, he was over....very over. And even if his ring work was sloppy (and who hasnt been at times) he was limited to nothing more then his usual moves without posing any kind of real threat to HHH - thats my problem with that feud.

Jeff Hardy - how can HHH be blamed for him? Jeff is the only one who screwed Jeffs career, with his constant tardiness and disregard for authority. He was taken on by a fledgling TNA who wanted him to go all the way to the top, and stay there, their very own Shawn Michaels. However, good ol Jeff managed to screw that as well. Now he is going back to be buried again in WWE.

Hardy lost interest in wrestling soon after his feud with HHH - he basically won a match against HHH and the following week was immediately and with no offense destroyed by HHH - way to put over another of the guys

Kane - interesting one this, and I can see how some would see that he has been held back, but Ill have a try anyway. Even before HHHs apparent politicking came into play Kanes star as the unstoppable monster was on the wane. His psycho gimmick was arguably irrepparably damaged by the god awful storyline he was involved in with X-Pac and Tori. He started to talk, and showed to have feelings. His fear factor was gone. Bearing in mind he had already had his 24 hour reign at this point, before HHH came into the title scene its hard to see where the fault lay.

Now, some would argue that there was plenty time since 2000 where Kane could have gone to the top, but let me pose this question - who was the last 'gimmick' champion? I think it was Mankind in 1998. Ever since, it has all been persona champions, where the champ has played himself so to speak. So in this sense it is arguable that Kanes gimmick just didnt fit the bill here, and was just a decade too late, as such a gimmick would have been gold in the late 80s, early 90s, where an evil, mask wearing sadist champion would have eant a great adversary for Hogan/Warrior.

But, it is also arguable that Kane, without being champion, was top man in the WWE, or at least Raw from August 02 - April 03, from when he lost his mask all the way through to his WM match with Taker. He was a heavily featured character week in week out, with programs with RVD, Shane, someone I cant remember, before gathering major momentum when he buried Taker alive at Survivor Series.

Since that, he has been in one poor storyline after another, but has performed well throughout, and has been the typical company man, in so far as, he seems to have done what has been asked of him. He, like people like Jericho, Angle, Benoit, can go from Curtain Jerker at this months PPV, while seamlessly is in the main event next month - a rare quality, in that he makes it all look believeable.

So, maybe the peron who held Kane back was Kane. Im not saying this in a bad way, but perhaps he was just happy with his lot, getting talent over, and not bothering getting into the backstage bullsh*t we call politicking. If you look at the champs of recent years - Austin, Rock, HHH, JBL, Taker, Hogan, Bret, HBK - all these have been very vocal in getting what they wanted.

So lets not knock Kane, but admire his versatility, and hopefully, like Booker, will get the title reign his loyalty, hard work, and patience deserve.

Kane - apart from losing the mask was quite simply one of the outstanding quys in WWE during that barren period. However being put into feuds with HHH where he went from being dominant to being domainated hurt his character immensely aswell as feuding in stupid and downright baffling angles - Katie Vick really stands out


And now for my trump card - Y2J - feuding over hand cream and Steph's dog! Never once getting the better of HHH in any PPV match - aye HHH does wonders for people like this

gimmick

Hardy lost interest in wrestling soon after his feud with HHH - he basically won a match against HHH and the following week was immediately and with no offense destroyed by HHH - way to put over another of the guys

Is this hearsay, or fact? Hardys probelms were very deeply seted by this point, and If i remember correctly this would have happened during the awful 2 Man Power Trip angle with HHH and Austin, where the 2 of them basically ran amok for a few weeks/months. If Jeff was up to the task of being a top guy he would have shoved it in WWEs face when going to TNA. But at TNA, he proved once again he cant draw, and I'll be very surprised if he does in his next WWE run.

Kane - apart from losing the mask was quite simply one of the outstanding quys in WWE during that barren period. However being put into feuds with HHH where he went from being dominant to being domainated hurt his character immensely aswell as feuding in stupid and downright baffling angles - Katie Vick really stands out

I agree completely with that, BUT Kane was playing an idiot, and in stupid storylines long before this. As I said above, the Kane character just came 10 years too late, but he still worked well, most notably during his 8/9 month unbeaten stretch in late 02 - early 03.

And now for my trump card - Y2J - feuding over hand cream and Steph's dog! Never once getting the better of HHH in any PPV match - aye HHH does wonders for people like this

Just theorising here now, BUT could that whole situation not be blamed entirely on Y2J himself? As above, the best WWE champions of recent years have used politics backstage to get their own way. Now, is it beyond belief that Jericho didn't lobby himself properly backstage to get what he wanted? Again, I'll agree, it was a horrible fued, one of the worst wrestlemania fueds in history, but is it not possible that Jericho dropped the ball himself?

Ph3n0m

gimmick wrote:

I agree completely with that, BUT Kane was playing an idiot, and in stupid storylines long before this. As I said above, the Kane character just came 10 years too late, but he still worked well, most notably during his 8/9 month unbeaten stretch in late 02 - early 03.

I am interested in the Kane was playing an idiot bit - why do you say that? Sure he was teaming with the Hurricane, but I wouldnt say he was playing the idiot

Hightlight for me for Kane was January 21, 2001 - Royal Rumble - he was made to look totally dominant in that - low entry number, 11 elinimations and it took multiple chair shots for Austin to eliminate him

As for Jericho - I dont think he dropped the ball at all - there was talk that when Jericho joined WWE, Nash got into HHH ear and bad mouthed Jericho - which was pretty evident to me when HHH refused to put over Jericho

gimmick

I am interested in the Kane was playing an idiot bit - why do you say that?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bGmd722BaIM

Around this time, If I remember correctly, he was just playing a goofball. His mystique was all but gone, and already had numerous face turns > unstoppable monster turn > Face turn etc etc etc

As for Jericho - I dont think he dropped the ball at all - there was talk that when Jericho joined WWE, Nash got into HHH ear and bad mouthed Jericho - which was pretty evident to me when HHH refused to put over Jericho

This raises another point to me - must a wrestler win a fued/match to be 'put over'? As I felt Jericho was very over, even in his defeats to HHH.

Re the Nash thing, be that as it may, but Nash did the job quite a few times to Jericho in the WWE. Jericho was allowed rip the piss out of Trips and Steph on a weekly bbasis. Hardly the actions of someone who was held back.

I'll just point out here again, that I am not necessarily 'pro HHH', merely trying to state a balance to the HHHating.

Ph3n0m

gimmick wrote:

Re the Nash thing, be that as it may, but Nash did the job quite a few times to Jericho in the WWE. Jericho was allowed rip the piss out of Trips and Steph on a weekly bbasis. Hardly the actions of someone who was held back.

I'll just point out here again, that I am not necessarily 'pro HHH', merely trying to state a balance to the HHHating.

Cant watch the vid, youtube is down

As for Nash he did the job once to Jericho at PPV - Hair vs hair Match - any other time they faced was in tag team, and the two other singles matches they had finished either in DQ or countout

Jericho might have been allowed rip on HHH and Steph - but literally that was all he could do. Not once in all their PPV meetings has Jericho ever gone over HHH - why is that?

gimmick

Obviously that cannot be answered by me, but my guess is that HHH pushed for the win a bit harder than what Jericho did.

I still refute that Jericho was buried, or held back though. Sure, I would have liked for him to get another title run, but who is to say he actually wanted another? He has always been very exposed to his band as well, so perhaps he felt it was a pressure he didn't need. He was one of the most used people on Raw, always involved in some good angle, and never far from a title, be it IC, tag team or world. As above, he can move from PPV opener, to main eventer, to mid card all the while looking credible.

However, this is all speculation.

Vince135792003

Jericho's run as champion was poor to say the least. Never mind another title run, he came in with such momentum with his double win over Austin and Rock and it just fizzled to the point where he was almost portrayed as Stephanie McMahons lackey. He got lost in the shuffle on Triple H's return and the NWO angle. He became forgotten.

In regards to Kane, the way I look at major titles is that they should n't be given based on loyalty or years of service.

Its based on who at that particuliar time can draw the most money if given the belt. Could Kane have drawn more money as champion than Austin in the late 1990s? I don' think so. Could he have drawn more during Triple H's and Rocks respective title runs in 2000? Agaim I don't think so.

The only period I can remember that Kane was more of a potential drawing champion than anyone else were the weeks following he lost his mask. At that particuliar time it freshened his character up, recreated his monster aura which got over with the crowd, became the focal point of the show and began raising ratings a little. I would have given him ago then. But I can't think of another time like that.

Ph3n0m

gimmick wrote:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bGmd722BaIM

Ah that video rocked - to me it was just another dimension to Kane's character....plus I pissed myself laughing when I first saw it