Can wwe ever repeat the success of the period 1999-2003

[slimmshady]

Personally, I believe that in the future, a time will come when wwe will rise again but it will never again become as successful and entertaining as the period of 1999 to 2003. Those years were the greatest. A major reason for this was the amount of talent that was coming into the industry. Think about it, there was so many great wrestlers that entered the wwe yet there was hardly any serious injuries to any of them. I feel that this was probably because the wrestlers didn't have to push themselves (because of the success), as hard as they do now. Therefore resulting in fewer wrestlers needing time off to recover. Nowadays I feel that wrestlers are forced to do something out of the blue, for the audience. For example, look whats happened to rey mysterio. The guy just got back from rehabilitation and a few months later he gets injured again. I can't imagine what wwe will be like in a few years once the undertaker and kane (and other legends such as triple h, Shawn Michaels etc...)hang up their boots.I think that its kinda wwe's fault for their recent poor success. They continued to release wrestlers for no apparent reason (such as A-train, the dudleys, the list goes on) and the failure to alter some contracts for long term wrestlers (such as King Booker, Kurt Angle, Goldberg, again the list goes on). And now they are suffering for doing this. What ever happens in the future, I will always treasure those years.

[Sicko]

NOPE!

don't think so!

WWE lacks a crossover star right now like Austin and The Rock, those guys was able to reach out to fans that really did not watch Raw every week, currently besides maybe Cena, WWE lacks that right now

also backstage politics is destroying this business, some guys have all the power back stage and they can basically do what they want, push who ever they want no matter what the fans want or think, I for one am very tired of the same fued going in circles basically Orton vs HHH again? then after that fued is over then what? HHH vs Regal that would be new but Regal as a Main Event guy? not sure if I am buying that one but I like Regal as a heel


but honestly only way WWE will make a better effort is if TNA really starts to get a spike in Ratings and really start to become a threat

what ever happen to the backstage storylines like back in the day when for weeks everyone wondered who Ran Over Austin, or that DDP stocking the Undertaker and his wife that was good TV I thought, at least it kept people watching every week, bring stuff like that back

[MrScott]

they could reach it again with ease, its just people wont let go of the past, always wanting things to be how they were, always wanting that star that was like someone else. nothing goes back to exactly like it was, and no star will ever truely be like another. and untill people stop shoving this "the next such and such" on people, most talent will never grow to who they can truely be, and you'll never experience what a new era can bring to you

[slimmshady]

I understand what you guys are saying but like I said earlier, there will come a time when wwe's popularity will boost back up but the question is when? How much do the wwe desire that hunger for dominance again. To be honest with the tna point that MrScott made previously how the ratings of tna can effect wwe's future. Well, recently I watched a bit of tna and personally I think the way in which they are approaching their wrestling isn't really going to motivate wwe to beat tna's ratings. I mean look whats happening, a former wwe wrestler, sharkboy, is trying to take the mick out of stone cold but the funny thing is, know one really takes him seriously. For crying out loud, the guy wears a mask with a cheesy grin printed on it and some undies he probably found in a garbage dump. No one took him seriously in the wwe so he's trying to imitate the texas rattlesnake on his brand. Now that tells me what tna are like. Don't even get me started on Curryman. But the truth is, the reason why we, as the wwe fans, have loved the past was because of these unique, individual gimmicks/wrestlers that have really lifted the wwe from the ground. Wrestlers like the undertaker, kane, triple H, the great one (the rock), Stone Cold and the list goes on. Matches amongst these great wrestlers have been a true honor for all the wwe fans and we want to see more of them. That is really what the problem is with wwe. Firstly, they are really struggling to bring up new talent as wrestlers like kane were willing to put their individual reputations on the line in order to bring up the new talent. However, that seems to keep failing (that's probably why kane got the push for a title opportunity. Secondly, wwe are also struggling to balance the right amount of matches amongst the right amount of wrestlers (e.g. balancing the right amount of matches when the brothers of destruction are reunited and then followed by a break). These are problems that during the period of 1999-2003 would never have occurred because wwe had the right balance of youth with the established wrestlers. To be honest they actually had more established wrestlers entering the wwe consistently due to the take over of wcw.

[FoleyIsGod]

Originally Posted by MrScott

they could reach it again with ease, its just people wont let go of the past, always wanting things to be how they were, always wanting that star that was like someone else. nothing goes back to exactly like it was, and no star will ever truely be like another. and untill people stop shoving this "the next such and such" on people, most talent will never grow to who they can truely be, and you'll never experience what a new era can bring to you

The reason why we will not let go is because the prdouct the WWE throws at us sucks at times.

Cena being rammed down our next, granted, he was redhot as the cocky, repping heel, but as a goofy babyface, diehards like me cannot buy into him. The crap offense and poor moveset are a joke. It might appeal to 30% of the audience(who are kids), but the rest of us its just crap.

The best storylines and matchups that have been recently were the Smackdown shows run by Paul Heyman, Benoit, Angle, Lesnar, Edge, Rey Mysterio, the Gurerros. These guys had smoking hot matches whilst over on the Triple H show, he was squashing anyone who was remotely close to taking his popularity.

Look at Ecw. They could make that show huge, more risky(due to being late night) and generally raise hell to try and bring back anything that will draw.

[Jonny B]

I don’t think the WWE can hit that level of success anytime soon, of course it’s possible we all know the Wrestling Industry is in one massive loop there is bound to be a boom at some point in the future.

One of the reasons it will be so hard for them to replicate what they did back in 1999 (you can probably go back to 1998 to be honest) is one reason… Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Vince vs. Stone Cold storyline was completely fresh and new, every person who ever had a dick for a Boss wanted to be Stone Cold, wanted to stick it to the man etc… and that storyline will never be able to be replicated with the same amount of response from the fans, because it has been done and times have moved on. Of course there was a lot more going on around then, you had The Rock rising to become one of the biggest draws in the history of the company, Undertaker running around doing crazy shit… the rest of the Belts really meant something, sure there was some crap thrown in, but on the whole the whole product was completely amazing and you could watch RAW and then Smackdown every week with a reason to tune in.

WWE do have the talent available to them to give us a character such as Stone Cold, The Rock etc… but right now they don’t have a hook for them. There is nothing to grasp onto and draw the casual fans back into wrestling. That’s going to be the problem for a while, until they can grab that catalyst to bring the Industry into a Boom we are going to be left feeling like this doesn’t match up to years gone by.

[Mighty NorCal]

Jonny is right. Until the next "huge new thing" comes along, it wont have the same success rate. Back in the first boom, it was Hulkamania, the second boom, Austin, and Austin Vs Mcmahon. Until the next gigantic Personality comes along, or the next huge storyline comes along, the company cant expect to see the same success. Its only a matter of time I think though, its all cylical. I consider this just a better version of the "new era" period.

[misskim]

I know it's been said over and over but it is truly the lack of competition that is holding WWE back from making good TV. Think about it, WWE right now are making great profit, they have THREE shows on somewhat mainstream channels, they have complete monopoly on wrestling today. There is really absolutely no need for them to change anything from current status quo.

I read that they broke their record in earnings on their recent European tour so just why should they bother? I think Vince and USA would be just as happy with RAW even if it just made 2.x in ratings so really why change?

It sucks for us who are bit older but that's the way it is. I just hope that everyone who cheered when WCW died realize how retarded they were, and the same goes for the people wishing TNA dies.

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

IMO it will take more than one or two guys to become big draws to save the company. They have these two guys already, and as much as ppl won't like me saying it, IMO its Cena and Batista. Orton and Edge have worked their way up to being near that spot, and all the other top guys are the remaining guys from the Attitude era. Much like WCW had Sting and Goldberg as two guys who worked their way up WCW and joined all the old WWE guys in the top spots. For a guy to get a character over, he needs to just b himself with the volume turned up. Guys like Kennedy shud receive his promo cue card, remember the key points that creative want him to say, and then jus make up the rest. We know DX got fined in the beginning for their antics until ppl wanted to see it and Vince said 'Oh, ppl like that? Better keep doing it then.' Do you really think the Rock was given a cue card that read "Don't forget to call Kevin Kelly a hermaphrodite." Probably not.

But what WWE really needs is to plan thier PPVs and rivalries far in advance. PPV matches shud have a month long build, and either follow on to the next part of the rivalry or create grounds for a new one. Batista v HBK at Backlash shud have ended with Jericho screwing one of them over to start a bitter fued, not calling HBK a liar on the highlight reel (altho that was a damn funny segment), and then havin a match announced on wwe.com.
The brand extension also doesn't allow for lots of the younger mid carders chance to get on PPV unless they're a champ (I can't remember the last time i saw London and Kendrick on PPV) because all the match time is taken up with the big names from 3 separate shows. The Divas HAVE to have a match even if there's no build just so they get PPV time. Did we really need to see Big Show v Khali? Couldn't we have had Carlito and Santino winning the tag belts instead (especially as Holly/Rhodes haven't defended them in 4 months!)?

Let's look at Summerslam '99 (one of my all time faves). Each match on the card (except the Women's title match) was either the conclusion of a long fued, or the beginning of a new one. Here's the card and how it developed.

1. D'lo Brown v J. Jarrett for the IC/Euro belts. Jarrett had lost the IC belt to D'lo on Raw, and was having trouble with Debra (his valet). D'lo had won the Euro title the month b4, had been helping Mark Henry (his tag partner) lose weight and was becoming a fan favourite. Debra convinces everyone that she's leaving JJ by coming down w/ D'lo. Distarcts the ref at the end, and Mark Henry comes in and costs D'lo both belts with a guitar shot. This then put JJ and Debra over as bigger heels, and started a D'lo/Henry fued for the Euro belt (which JJ gave to Henry)

2. Tag Turmoil match:- Started w/ Edge/Christian vs New Brood (Hardys) w/ Gangrel. So there's a fued between these two teams. They wrestle the majority of the match and E+C beat the Hardys, which wud lead into their massive tag fued which the Dudley's wud get involved in l8r. E+C squash the next two teams (Mideon/Viscera + Droz/Albert), but at least those teams got some exposure on PPV, and then get beaten by the Acolytes. Then the Hollys come out who'd only formed a team the week before, we get to check them out and then Farooq and Bradshaw leave victorious, because in '99 they were the team that cud crush anyone.

3. Al Snow v Big Bossman Hardcore belt w/ Road Dogg doing on the spot commentary. Road Dogg got on PPV to talk and hit Bossman w/ a nightstick. This fued was a month old now, where Al had ditched Head and gotten Pepper. It then led to Snow eating Pepper, and the whole Kennel From Hell fiasco, but hell, a fued is a fued.

4. Women's title match - Just there for the Women really. Ivory beat Tori if you care.

5. Lion's Den Weapon's Match Shamrock v Blackman. This fued started 2 months b4 with Shamrock always winning in matches, Blackman attacking backstage. Both guys speciality matches combined into one to end the fued, Shamrock wins.

6. Test V Shane for the right to date Steph. Great match, great build up with Test crippling the whole MSP, and then fighting Shane w/ the Posse always interfering (the Mean Street Posse NEVER won a match, yet were involved in one of the biggest matches in the card) First time u see Shane dive thru the announce table, first time u see Shane wrestle properly. Great match, great finish with the Stooges. Fued ends, steph/test angle continues.

7. Taker/Big Show v Kane/Xpac Tag Titles. (Fave match on this card) Everyone's fave underdog tag team at the time (coz Kane always had to do all the work) versus the two guys you DONT want forming a team. This started as Kane and Taker beating the crap out of Big Show. Xpac cost Taker the World title at Fully Loaded so Taker tried to cripple him. Kane comes out to save, suddenly out comes Big Show and we have a new unstoppable tag team. We saw Kane's character develop further as he was torn between his friend and his backstabbing brother. Kane learns of Taker's betrayals and sides w/ Xpac, and pays for it. Taker and Show obliterate Xpac after Taker hits the best move in all of wrestling (tombstone piledriver) and we have new tag champs. This wud lead into Taker/ Show vs Rock and Sock for the next month, then Taker went on the shelf til the following June so any other fueds had to b scrapped.

Rock v Mr Ass in a Kiss My Ass match.
Mr Ass cost the Rock the no. 1 contendership at Fully Loaded. Was supposed to show Billy cud hang with the big boys (he was KOTR after all) and he didn't really pull it off. Rock won, fued ended, Rock did RocknSock, Billy hooked back up w/ Road Dogg after a coupla months of nothing.

Triple Threat Match Austin v HHH w/ Chyna v Mankind w/ Jesse Ventura the guest ref.
We saw months of HHH working his way up to the no. 1 contendership. Begins attacking Austin, forced to put the title shot on the line against Taker and Chyna, Chyna wins thanks to Austin. Chyna defends it against HHH, wins it thanks to Foley. Foley challenges Chyna for title shot and wins it. HHH challenges Foley for title shot and no one wins, so becomes triple threat. Foley wins the match after being added to it the week before, HHH injures Austin to spark their fued several months down the line, and the night after HHH gets his title win and his career soars even higher from that point on.

I can't remember a PPV since 2001 that had that sort of detail in every segment. If you can think of one please put it up here because i'd like to be reminded.

Now, every match on that card either had an amazing build, or started off a new fued or was used to showcase guys who didn't have anything to do at that stage. That's the sort of writing the WWE needs to go back to doing otherwise if we don't see these guys wrestling/doing a promo etc in a scripted programme for a week or two with a big climax we forget about them, or we immediately think 'well they'll b let go or jus stick around jus for a paycheck.'

When we get to see all our faves (not just the Main Eventers) being used regularly and effectively again, we'll see WWE ratings go back up IMO.

(Sorry, i know that went on for ages but i cudn't get my point across without all that.)

[TNABlowssssss]

MUST READ: I think a lot of you will agree to what i have to say. And i agree with a lot of you as well. WWE lacks a lot to bring its success top ratings in the 4s and 5s. It will be hard to get there, but they can. There roster on Smackdown and RAW is weak. To me they need to combine shows. If you look at there ratings histroy, there ratings were solid from 1998-2002. It hit the shitter in 2002 right after Wretlemania. They had the first ever draft 2 weeks after, the shows split right after the draft, and 3 weeks later after the draft was over the ratings stayed in the 3.x. They have not gone above a 4.5 since may 2002. Exactly a month after people realized that the draft was probably the dumbest thing they did. I watch RAW every week, and barely watch Smackdown because i dont have time and there roster blows with the exception of Undertaker, Batista and Edge. If the shows were combined again i would watch both shows every week. Im sure im not the only one who agrees or im not the only one that does that. Along with combining the shows, doing that would make the Tag Team Division better, The Intercontinental Division better and make for better feuds. To this day i think it was very dumb for them getting rid of the Hardcore Title. I thought that made crappy wrestlers like murdoch, cade, festus, and other mid-low card wrestlers look good. The Hardcore Title gave fans excitement, fun, and laughs as well. The 24/7 rule was one of the funniest things ever. To this day i still think it should be part of the show. The IC Title lost a lot of its relevance and prestige and that needs to be brought back which would help WWE. I use to enjoy watching feuds for that title. Now they dont even do it!!! Chris Jericho has it now and WWE should run with that and give him a good feud, not a special referee in a match. WWE is getting dumb! They are just not being smart with what they have. Another big problem is they are focusing on kids more. That is the number one most dumb this they are doing. WTF r they thinking! they tryed it once in the 90s and the ratings how how bout it was. They did horrible. I coach a little league baseball team and some kids have told me they dont watch wrestling because they are not aloud or go to bed at 9PM. They need to target teens like they did in 1998-2002. Use profanity, jokes, bra and panties matchs and more. Jerry doesnt even say PUPPIES any more. They wont use blood any more!! WTF, stop bein gay and target teens, not little kids. It just bothers me to watch sometimes because i loved the attitude era and the excitement, WWE has no excitement with everything they are doing. NONE! Please feel free to comment on my post, would love to keep this going!!