World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

[HappyGilmore]

Anyone else looking forward to the Legends of Mid-South Wrestling DVD or Blu-Ray? Looks like a pretty loaded set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pncMWGoJaLs

I really do miss the days of territory wrestling. Happy to discover a promotion that runs shows in Atlantic Canada and even my home province in LCW (Legend City Wrestling)...cool stuff and a lot of fun. Wish they had more and an half hour show but I still enjoy watching it every week. Gonna have to make a point to take in a show someday soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0hUTgNDZwc

I've never seen Mid-South, but just looking at the talent involved, I may pick up the set. They got a new ECW set as well.

[VenomX73]

I miss that so much...

[A_Dubya]

Is anyone else not really excited about this years  Wrestlemania?

The only match I'm really looking forward to is Ryback vs Mark Henry.

Everything else is rematches  or really thrown together at the last second.



Also WWE put an alumni page up for Kurt Angle

http://www.wwe.com/superstars/kurt-angle

I never thought I'd see that happen.

Wrestlemania is just like Ozzfest these days, it's only a name.  Call me old fashioned, but I used to like Vince McMahon's old "Professional Wrestling Hour" that showed on pre-cable TV and some UHF stations. 
There wasn't so much glam, glitter, and all this soap opera stuff back then. They wrestled, and they had little interviews with the commentators and said some of the funniest insults to each other while doing it.
I guess times have changed and it's all about money now. Not my cup a' tea.

I agree with that last statement. It's always been about money, even when I grew up watching in the late 80's, but at least in those days, it wasn't just shilled incessantly and thrown in your face every 10 minutes. I really noticed this trend starting in 2008 with WWE, and currently, I just watch from afar....if I even watch at all anymore. I'll always have the memories of WWF, WCW, ECW and SMW in my head though.

Also, to the person knocking wrestling for being scripted, I have always been bewildered by why people care that it's fake. I have had conversations before with my father, a brother and random other people, and it just baffles me. What is the obsession of non-fans to point out (as though they are discovering the theory of relativity)  "hey, this is not a real fight, but a predetermined scripted show" like it's breaking news in 2013? I don't think many people over the age of 12 would believe it's real.  Do these same people point out that Back to the Future or Ghostbusters isn't real?

I didn't watch pro-wrestling because I think it's real, dude. I watched it to be entertained by certain characters I can relate to, emotional investment in storylines, and what happens in the ring...just like I dunno, most people watch phony films or reality TV shows.

[Chainsawmidget]

Wrestlemania is just like Ozzfest these days, it's only a name.  Call me old fashioned, but I used to like Vince McMahon's old "Professional Wrestling Hour" that showed on pre-cable TV and some UHF stations.
There wasn't so much glam, glitter, and all this soap opera stuff back then. They wrestled, and they had little interviews with the commentators and said some of the funniest insults to each other while doing it.
I guess times have changed and it's all about money now. Not my cup a' tea.

Back then wrestlers had character.  They were over the top and fun.  Now everyone seems to want to be taken seriously. 

I miss the days when you could change the channel to the wrestling match and see a Drill Sergeant and a clown fighting with a policeman and a neon cowboy. 

[VenomX73]

Back then wrestlers had character.  They were over the top and fun.  Now everyone seems to want to be taken seriously. 

EXACTLY. Thats why I don't watch WWE today, I still catch what Undertaker is up to though.



Look at those unique characters - pure awesome

[VenomX73]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REs8td6VvDI
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I've found this on youtube, October 31, 1985 Halloween show, enjoy!

[HappyGilmore]

Raw goes through these stretches lately where it'll be really good...then it kinda sucks.

There's a few wrestlers currently I like, but I recall a time from '99-'03 where eceryone was popular.

[VenomX73]

I recall late 80's early 90's everyone was popular.



What the heck is going on with wresting today?

[JaseSF]

To me, wrestling has had two really huge popular periods that I recall in my lifetime but no doubt it's always went through periods of prosperity and decline. The best periods for wrestling I'm talking about are the Hogan era 1980s WWF & Flair 1980s era NWA which arguably stretches into the early 1990s. Then when Hogan left WWF, the popularity of wrestling declined. Of course there was also controversy surrounding the steroid trials in the early 90s and suddenly wrestlers like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and big guys like Vader and Yokozuna gained in popularity but as a whole, interest seemed to decline and things didn't really get hot again despite Hogan jumping to WCW I'd argue until 1997 and the Monday Nights Wars. The emergence of the nWo and the rise of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as well as the emergence of ECW in the mid-90s changed wrestling again and the Attitude Era under Austin led wrestling into arguably even more popular heights than the Hogan era. Also in the late 90s, kayfabe was eliminated and the WWF in the early 2000s changed to a more corporate like structural entity where no talent became bigger than the company as a whole. With the death of WCW and ECW, WWE had no real competition and wrestling has essentially become a more watered down imitation of itself in many ways. Wrestlers nowadays generally work the WWE style and stick mainly to the same style of match practically all the time, with the main focus being to have each wrestler hit their signature spots at certain times and rarely change or update their characters. It doesn't help there are fewer enhancement guys to help build young talent so now guys get exposed and generally have much shorter WWE careers or just become stagnant and stale from too much exposure in matches on TV that would have only been on PPV or saved for main events in the past. Also some promising young talents simply get cast as glorified jobbers nowadays. i.e. Raven and Stevie Richards were big stars in ECW who basically became jobbers in 2000s WWE...

Daniel Bryan is the first guy I've seen in years who seems to have that "it" quality but WWE is already trying to undermine him getting bigger than the company. C.M. Punk had it too a couple of years ago but has become somewhat stagnant since. They don't want guys getting bigger than the company nowadays. WWE is much more corporate focused on WWE product being WWE product.

[HappyGilmore]

WWE essentially owns the industry. Late '90s there was ECW and WCW. Fans could watch a guy start out as a rookie in ECW, go to WCW and then be established by the time they made it to WWE. Plus, creatively, with competition you strive to be better. TNA hardly registers as competition, so WWE can trot out the 'same old same old' each week. Lot of the wrestlers now are lazy to an extent. A guy like Tatsu or JTG are happy to get a WWE paycheck and not have to appear on tv or contribute to their characters or even be on tv. It's more than being on the indie circuit.

The best guys, past or present, strive to be the best and contribute ideas not only for themselves, but others. Example: Steve Austin, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Undertaker. All strived to be the top, all made it.

As a fan, you can tell the difference.

[JaseSF]

WWE essentially owns the industry. Late '90s there was ECW and WCW. Fans could watch a guy start out as a rookie in ECW, go to WCW and then be established by the time they made it to WWE. Plus, creatively, with competition you strive to be better. TNA hardly registers as competition, so WWE can trot out the 'same old same old' each week. Lot of the wrestlers now are lazy to an extent. A guy like Tatsu or JTG are happy to get a WWE paycheck and not have to appear on tv or contribute to their characters or even be on tv. It's more than being on the indie circuit.

The best guys, past or present, strive to be the best and contribute ideas not only for themselves, but others. Example: Steve Austin, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Undertaker. All strived to be the top, all made it.

As a fan, you can tell the difference.

Happy, that nails it all down big time. Very well said.

[VenomX73]

They don't want guys getting bigger than the company nowadays

Why? It's not like they can run off and start a show of their own...
or can they? Is that what the company is afraid of? I dont get it.

[HappyGilmore]

They don't want guys getting bigger than the company nowadays

Why? It's not like they can run off and start a show of their own...
or can they? Is that what the company is afraid of? I dont get it.

Hogan got big, left, did movies, went to WCW.

Rock got big, left. Won't go to TNA, but it cost a pretty penny for him to come back.

[VenomX73]

Good points.

[VenomX73]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofPKXHGKJbk
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http://www.wwe.com/inside/randy-orton-attacked-by-audience-member-26136332

Cape Town, South Africa