How big of a WWE fan are you?

charlieharper

Hi everyone,

I was a big wrestling fan for years. I was glued from the old days of WCW to the WWE era up to about 3 years ago. Due to work, loss of Sky Sports & slight lack of interest due to time wasting Diva searches I lost track of it. With the basic Sky package I took a glance at TNA & I love it.

I started looking at the WWE shows this last few months & am shocked at how bad it's got. The main event for the WWE championship at the next paperview is MIZ v John Morrison v John Cena. The last I knew Miz was rubbish & Morrison though he's talented lacks serious personality & well John Cena speaks for itself. A poor paperview main event in the early noughties would be Chris Jericho v Big Show & Jericho himself could wrestle a shadow & make it look good.

Vince let go some big names to TNA in Kennedy, RVD, Kurt Angle, etc. TNA has proper hardcore & tag team matches which WWE have completely disregarded.

What's your opinion on the WWE roster these days?

partyndbs

not much at all, its ****in awful

thebostoncrab

Honestly? It's roster hasn't been this strong in a good while. The problem is the most talented guys aren't getting pushed or look weak. But even some of the guys getting pushed have the talent to keep me watching; The Miz, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus, CM Punk, Sin Cara, Christian, John Morrison, Orton, and even Cena. When the likes of Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger get more time than Henry or Khali then the roster will be flying.

CMpunked

Welcome to PW charlie.

I think the roster isnt as to blame as much as the writing has gone down the pan.
The writing cant be 'Edgey' the promos cant get too strong because they have to keep within the parameters of PG.
I think wrestling wise itself; the wrestlers are great when they are allowed go out there and wrestle. But even thats been put on the back foot these days.

I think TNA wrestling has a lot of appeal for wrestling, unfortunately they are quite similar in the sense that the writing is idiotic at the best of times.


Also, i got a bit of a chuckle out of Paperview, PPV stands for Pay-Per-View

Riddle101

I've been a fan of WWE for many years now. Although thanks to youtube i've become more aquauinted with a lot of the old stuff from the old days, and have recently become fond of Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Defientely one of, if not the best mic talker in wrestling history. Also one of the best heels as well.

Anyway the last couple of years have been lackluster to say the least. The product has gotten stale, the talent is just not the same as it used to be back during the attiude era. Although there are a few guys who have impressed me. Also a big thing for me is the fact that WWE dosen't put much focus on tag team wrestling anymore, and also the US/I.C Championships are being booked badly as well. Also the storylines in WWE are badly written, they still stick to their old rountines that to me are out of date and should be changed. For instance the Nexus angle had a chance to become something big, but WWE f*cked everything up about them. They just constantly get buried and fed to guys like Cena and Orton and have lost all their crediblity. But anyway I think WWE really needs to get their sh*t together because they really suck now.

As for TNA. I love TNA as well. A lot of people bash the company and are alway criticising it but I like it nonetheless. It's a great alternative to WWE, and as well as that. They seem to be more fresh. That's not to say they don't have any flaws either. For instance, I don't like the way TNA build their stars. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels are all guys who built TNA, yet they're being booked as if their inferior to guys who came from WWE. Those guys should be in the main event fueding for the TNA Champonship. Matt Morgan is someone who i've become a fan of recently, and I think Morgan has a lot of potential. He's a great talker, decent in the ring and has the look and size to be like Kevin Nash circa 1995/1998. Yet he's not being booked the way a guy like him should. He should be more dominant in the ring, and as well as that he should built as a big man wrestler. He too should be in the main event. I understand Sting, RVD and Anderson being in the ME but the others are being wasted too much. Then you have the tag team division. While I like TNA's tag team wrestling, it's sort of on the decline now. Beer Money and MCMG are the only ones really keeping it alive. But what's going on with Gen Me? They should being in some new teams and revitalise the division and the X division should be revitalised as well. The Knockouts division is ok, but it's not like it was in 2007/8. I guess with the departure of Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Daffney, ODB and Roxxi, all girls who were draws in the division are not there any more, so now only the Velvet Sky and Angelina Love are really keeping it together. Mickie James and Madison Rayne are ok but I don't know if they're quite there yet and I don't know what they're doing with Tara nowadays. Anyway despite all that, I can still flick it one every week and enjoy the show.

Lord TSC

The writing cant be 'Edgey' the promos cant get too strong because they have to keep within the parameters of PG.

I always get slightly irked when people complain about PG causing limitations to writing. All it does is stop people swearing or using weapons. It doesn't stop logical booking, well thought out feuds and stories, and great matches. PG is used as an excuse for poor writing and booking; for example, TNA isn't PG, is it? But their writing is equally bad, if not worse. Can't blame PG writing for that. Likewise, you can't blame PG for the fact they focus on two stories on Raw, writing for 4 or 5 guys, and basically just leaving the rest of the roster to have random matches, giving fans no reasons to care about them.

I'm still a big wrestling fan, but I've got to admit I only watch Raw now, and even then it's more out of habit and ignorant hopes. It is hard though, what with SuperCena and SuperOrton destroying all chances of suspending disbelief...

CMpunked

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

I always get slightly irked when people complain about PG causing limitations to writing. All it does is stop people swearing or using weapons. It doesn't stop logical booking, well thought out feuds and stories, and great matches. PG is used as an excuse for poor writing and booking; for example, TNA isn't PG, is it? But their writing is equally bad, if not worse. Can't blame PG writing for that.

Im not ragging on PG at all, i have become accustomed to it and dont mind it.
But i see other PG shows on telly and they do push how close to the bar they go.
Like intensity in rivalries dont seem to be there anymore. The only time they have seem to go as far as they can in recent memory was Lawler and Cole. (Which says a lot)

Lord TSC

Thats what I mean though; just cause a show is PG doesn't mean you cannot have intensity and push two guys having problems with each other.

I was actually in favour of dumping needless head shots and bleeding and the likes; while they can add to matches, their increased frequency had taken away all that made them special. As such, I didn't mind the move to PG. It just irks me when people say PG is the reason the shows aren't good when it's not; bad writing and a refusal to break out of chliches is.

jaykhunter

Although I would class myself as a WWE fan, I'd rather say that i'm a massive wrestling fan. At the moment my viewing habits are RAW every week, SmackDown possibly (depends if my bro is around on Sunday) and Tough Enough is starting to wain (haven't seen it since two weeks ago). I pick and choose events/matches of ROH/DGUSA/NJPW/AJPW etc to watch (i.e. if KENNNNNTAAAAAAAA is involved, Davey Richards, Prince Devitt etc)

Honestly I probably spend more time with wrestling PPVs/documentaries talking about the 80s and 90s moreso than the current.

Em, right now isn't a great time to pick up WWE since they are in the middle of feebly trying to build new stars while relying on their old guard. Taker and Trips don't work week to week, HBK and Batista have retired (for now), Hardy, Anderson, RVD and other WWE cast-offs are in TNA.

Honestly, it's not talent that are the main problem. Yes, we've no "new Austins" or Rocks but instead of having a mega over guy, we could just have a really good product. WWE are bloated having 5 hours of first-run TV per week. Whatever sticks will be beaten and overused to death.

The main problem is creative. Not fully pushing new stars (Miz - when's the last time he's gotten a good win? Oh, when he won the title....which was a 'opportunist' deal with MITB). So....that one time against Morrison, who's barely clinging onto his upper mid-card status.

If WWE just had one main show per week (and just resurrect Heat) and cut the roster down; or even just showcased the roster to the best of it's abilities (i.e. get many people over but focus on a few) we wouldn't be in a rut at all.

Neither are happening, and the product and WWE's future suffers for it. And I won't pay to see that. TBH sometimes WWE is barely worth my time and bandwidth.

My advice would really be to start watching in a few years. But maybe you'll be much more forgiving watching now than you would've been if you started in 2008. (So you're not sick to death of Orton and Cena clogging up the main event)

celtictiger32

i used to love the wwe or wwf as it was known then. even though they used to have the stars fighting nobodies a lot of the time they still held me captivated. they wouldnt get away with that now.i started watching again the last few years as my son is big into it but i dont think the roster has a patch on some of the old timers, the likes of the jake the snakes as mentioned or the hulk hogans. even my own personal favourite the ultimate warrior even though not famed for his wrestling ability look at the reaction he used to get. the tag teams are mostly 2 guys linking up together rather than a team if you get my meaning remember the likes of legion of doom or demolition. a lot of them used to have their managers ringside aswell getting involved some of those incidents used to be brilliant too the likes of jimmy hart. compare that to vicky guerrero screaming her head off at ringside now.

drayme

Is this the thread where we complain about it being better when we were children and off the internet?

CMpunked

drayme wrote: »

Is this the thread where we complain about it being better when we were children and off the internet?

not at all. Everything about wrestling these days is amazing.

parker kent

WWE are just increasingly disenfranchising me. The booking is inept, they have created no new main eventers in so long. They push somebody for a bit and then completely ruin it through idiotic booking. Kofi or The Nexus are good examples.

It is more or less a variety show now.

DM_7

Massive Fan.

I love it.

Its fun.

In fact I like it more now than ever.

Fair enough the Divas aren't pushed well but at least they are not a bunch of on screen sluts like the attitude era.

No Tag Team Division. I never really liked WWF tag team wrestling anyway. Face tam starts well, one guy gets isolated, bad guys tag in and out in and out, good guy pulls off a move eventually gets the tag. Match finished shortly afterwards.

The reasons I like it more than ever?
In order
CM Punk
Daniel Bryan
Sheamus
Vickie
Edge got to retire before injury

In no particular Order: Evan Bourne, Dolph, Kofi, Christian, Swagger, Miz.

Oh and I love Cena.
I love him even more when people get so upset about him.

Charisteas

To answer the question of how big of a WWE fan am I, then I would say probably not very. I rarely go to house shows anymore, I don't buy their DVD's, PPV's, no merchandise, and i've phased Smackdown out of my weekly routine within the last few weeks.

I do still watch Raw every week, not live though as I need the option to fast-forward. I am enjoying Tough Enough but that's almost the Stone cold Steve Austin show.

In other words, I spend zero cash on WWE, and about 2 hours a week watching their programming.

The Volt

It pisses me off no end yet I'm a sucker for it, always have been. I'm a big fan of a lot of their stars much more so than the company and I wouldn't watch it if it wasn't for the stars.

So this would be like asking me if I'm a fan of football if you get me.

DM_7

Voltwad wrote: »

It pisses me off no end yet I'm a sucker for it, always have been. I'm a big fan of a lot of their stars much more so than the company and I wouldn't watch it if it wasn't for the stars.

So this would be like asking me if I'm a fan of football if you get me.

I would go a long with that - I'm not a fan of everything they do but I am a big fan of the wrestlers and I too am a sucker for WWE.

I am a fan of WWF , when wrestling was entertaining. Not WWE when entertainment is boring.

drayme

Deleted User wrote: »

I am a fan of WWF , when wrestling was entertaining. Not WWE when entertainment is boring.

It has been 10 years or so since WWF. You are 10 years older and probably 10 years on the net learning what Vince has for breakfast.

GTR63

It was about 10 years ago since wwe bought wcw don't care what anyone says Wrestling hasn't recovered.TNA has come in but i'd say can't even beat wcw in ratings or buys.The last 10 years have had some ups and downs. CM Punk,Hbk's comeback,Jericho's heel turn,Ric Flair's retirement the downs so many deaths & a failure to create Main Eventers for about 5 years.Nobody needs the internet to know that wwe needed to bring back The Rock to get a great buyrate at Mania.

Mulvee

I grew up watching it during the 90's and watched WCW Nitro on a Friday night. For a long time its been about the younger 6-12 audience cos they buy the most merchandise. Yet nowadays you can hear the older crowd deafening the youngers with chants for guys who can actually wrestle and dont sell themselves. In my opinion, CM Punk is one of the best heels the WWE has seen in recent times, the crowd love him! Bar the kids who can't understand that he's a good wrestler and just cool haha....but this new Nexus tripe is dragging him under, I mean the original Nexus was a good idea but now its pointless. Same With the Corre. I think Barrett, Otunga, Gabriel, Zeke & Mason Ryan could be very big on a singles path. But the WWE is continuing to make Cena invincible and I can see in the next 10 years or so that if they continue this the WWE will be a kids show.

Hygro

The glory years for me with the WWF were 86 - 92

Wrestlemania 2 to 8.

drayme

Not really much came out of the WWE investors conference call today other than Vince McMahon talking about two new live events shows that he feels they will have no trouble getting a partner for. It wasn't clear if they were going to do television specials, or that they were going to produce new weekly live shows. I'm figuring the former. The company took in $119.9 million in revenue in the first quarter and had an $8.6 million profit. Comparing with last year is faulty because WrestleMania was first quarter last year and second quarter this year. But expenses were up, PPV was flat not including Mania (prior quarter buys made up the difference in the steep decline of Elimination Chamber, while Rumble was pretty much in the same ball park as last year. Attendance was down even with the huge period from late February through March, because January through mid-February was way down. But with higher ticket prices, that was flat. Merch was down, but toys were up because of the Mattel deal. DVD shipments were up due to the History of Mania DVD. Vince McMahon said it wasn't a great quarter, but later said that the storylines were connecting better than at any time in company history. Wow. He also said they have been successful at elevating talent, noting Miz was a prelim guy a year ago and main evented Mania, and Alberto Del Rio wasn't even with them a year ago and main evented Mania. Unlike Shawn, Batista, HHH and Undertaker, where their absence was credited for business going down, he mentioned the unfortunate retirement of Edge but also said that business would not be affected at all by his retirement.

http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/20503/

:pac:

drayme

drayme wrote: »

It has been 10 years or so since WWF. You are 10 years older and probably 10 years on the net learning what Vince has for breakfast.

Yet i still enjoy matches from ROH or Japan, more then what WWE put out. I am just point out the irony that now that they are entertainment, they are no longer entertaining .

drayme

Deleted User wrote: »

Yet i still enjoy matches from ROH or Japan, more then what WWE put out. I am just point out the irony that now that they are entertainment, they are no longer entertaining .

You are comparing two different products one storyline drive and the other in ring firstly.

Also how much politics is there online about ROH and Japan?

drayme

I guess you thought 1994 WWF > 1994 All Japan?

CMpunked

Oh tell us, what is it that vince likes for brekkie?

drayme

drayme wrote: »

You are comparing two different products one storyline drive and the other in ring firstly.

Yes exactly , i am more entertained by the in ring wrestling then i am the "Entertainment" To which i was pointing out the irony.

drayme

CMpunked wrote: »

Oh tell us, what is it that vince likes for brekkie?

Ok, I lied but he has a steak wrap every single day for lunch.

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes exactly , i am more entertained by the in ring wrestling then i am the "Entertainment" To which i was pointing out the irony.

Ok............

Gerard.C

I love WWE but I have no time for any of this backstage stuff. Creative Team, Ratings, Stock Holders meetings... whats that got to do with anything? I never understood that really.

jaykhunter

Gerard.C wrote: »

I love WWE but I have no time for any of this backstage stuff. Creative Team, Ratings, Stock Holders meetings... whats that got to do with anything? I never understood that really.

Wrestling is the only entity where the backstage dealings is as interesting (if not more so) as the on-screen stuff. It's such a unique product where every match and finish has a story behind the story.

Check out Review-a-Wai's WrestleMania XIX podcast it's compelling the stories behind a lot of these matches. Austin's last match/having to check himself out of hospital that day, Rock coming back from Hollywood, Angle risking paralysis wrestling....absolutely chock-a-block with stories

Gerard.C

jaykhunter wrote: »

Wrestling is the only entity where the backstage dealings is as interesting (if not more so) as the on-screen stuff. It's such a unique product where every match and finish has a story behind the story.

Check out Review-a-Wai's WrestleMania XIX podcast it's compelling the stories behind a lot of these matches. Austin's last match/having to check himself out of hospital that day, Rock coming back from Hollywood, Angle risking paralysis wrestling....absolutely chock-a-block with stories

I know but I find that people who become too invested in backstage stuff watch the shows from a completely wrong perspective. It's more fun to be a "mark" as they say when watching wrestling than to be worrying about why so and so isnt getting pushed, etc... It is fake at the end of the day. I like backstage stories about, like you said, WM 19. That doc. they did on it was very interesting. I will listen to that though, WM 19 seemed a big of a hectic one alright, thanks for the link

mightyreds

i have to agree with most here that its gone to hell lately ad they will need something big to pull it back..at the moment i'm an average fan i watch the shows read the back stage news but not nearly a big a fan as i was 96 through to even 04-06..i dont believe its better cause we were children i just believe it was plain better! I stuck on wm 17 last week for the watch and i was amazed at how far it has degraded since then austin and the rock was the main event and one part of the match was the rock punching austin and austin falling off the rope and back into another punch fall on the rope to his left and back rinse and repeat through the four ropes nothing crazy but the way they sold themselves once again captivated me i couldnt look away the match was so exciting the crowd was really really up for it too recently on a wwe show you could hear a pin drop when the matches are on i hope vince gets the hint the wwe fans are throwing at him every week and gets it back to what it once was!!

Gerard.C

mightyreds wrote: »

i have to agree with most here that its gone to hell lately ad they will need something big to pull it back..at the moment i'm an average fan i watch the shows read the back stage news but not nearly a big a fan as i was 96 through to even 04-06..i dont believe its better cause we were children i just believe it was plain better! I stuck on wm 17 last week for the watch and i was amazed at how far it has degraded since then austin and the rock was the main event and one part of the match was the rock punching austin and austin falling off the rope and back into another punch fall on the rope to his left and back rinse and repeat through the four ropes nothing crazy but the way they sold themselves once again captivated me i couldnt look away the match was so exciting the crowd was really really up for it too recently on a wwe show you could hear a pin drop when the matches are on i hope vince gets the hint the wwe fans are throwing at him every week and gets it back to what it once was!!

I thought that the Nexus angle was going to recaptivate a lot of people, It was so intense and well booked at times. But it didnt exactly pan out like most people would have hoped

jaykhunter

Gerard.C wrote: »

I thought that the Nexus angle was going to recaptivate a lot of people, It was so intense and well booked at times. But it didnt exactly pan out like most people would have hoped

That nexus angle (save circa SummerSlam and post-Survivor Series) was the first time i felt like a mark in a while. I was actually really interested in discussing wrestling in terms of kayfabe, something i rarely do as the stories today i find aren't worth discussing as matches are of no consequence ("see you at the next PPV" syndrome)

It is tons more fun to be a mark. That said I think if the internet wasn't around to discuss/vent, a lot of wrestling fans would've just stopped caring and moved on. I don't think i can ever go back to going "dark" on backstage news as i love reading/talking about wrestling so much but i do miss surprises.

I think when people see ratings they might be looking for validation on if their enjoyment of the show is reflected on how many people watched. Of course it isn't, they're just numbers but overall trends are more telling.

Like i couldn't give out about today's product if it got monster ratings and PPV buyrates but obviously it's not so we discuss why not. But things aren't as bad as they might seem on the net; people use it to vent to keep watching. It's cathartic!

Gerard.C

jaykhunter wrote: »

That nexus angle (save circa SummerSlam and post-Survivor Series) was the first time i felt like a mark in a while. I was actually really interested in discussing wrestling in terms of kayfabe, something i rarely do as the stories today i find aren't worth discussing as matches are of no consequence ("see you at the next PPV" syndrome)

It is tons more fun to be a mark. That said I think if the internet wasn't around to discuss/vent, a lot of wrestling fans would've just stopped caring and moved on. I don't think i can ever go back to going "dark" on backstage news as i love reading/talking about wrestling so much but i do miss surprises.

I think when people see ratings they might be looking for validation on if their enjoyment of the show is reflected on how many people watched. Of course it isn't, they're just numbers but overall trends are more telling.

Like i couldn't give out about today's product if it got monster ratings and PPV buyrates but obviously it's not so we discuss why not. But things aren't as bad as they might seem on the net; people use it to vent to keep watching. It's cathartic!

That is so true, I get some laugh out of it when looking at it through the eyes of a mark. When you think about the likes of Kane and Taker as if the whole thing is real its some ****in craic. Kane like, what a disaster of a yoke. He's just an awful man. You gotta love it!

mightyreds

man that nexus story really got off to a great start got me watching again in a big way.. then john cena comes out and beats them all up at once which then went down hill after that they really could of had a big faction and reignited the tag division all in one big swoop got people interested again

p.s reading the storys backstage news is the only thing keeping me going lately the "storylines" are far more entertaining than in the show and the matches lately are terrible except the odd taker at wrestlemania match so they dont really factor

Rjd2

Gerard.C wrote: »

I love WWE but I have no time for any of this backstage stuff. Creative Team, Ratings, Stock Holders meetings... whats that got to do with anything? I never understood that really.

I don't mind that stuff it can be fun to be discussed. However what I can't stand reading on the iwc is twits who seem obsessed with the business side and don't actually watch it to be entertained. A great example would be twits who want certain people to be champion because they are some sort of draws, in their opinion.


I mean unless you have stock in the WWE the "drawing power" of wrestlers should be secondary to your genuine opinion of them as a performer.

Thats the great thing about marks they don't get bogged down by ratings and all that jazz.