A Return To 80's Wrestling?

[3/4 Facelock]

So for the past few weeks I have been noticing a few things that remind me of wrestling in the 80s.

Tag Teams
Enough of them to revitalzie the division and each team has the chops to win and hold the titles. There has not been a solid division since the late 80s.

Storylines
Multiple storylines going on, some intersecting with others.

The faces are helping other faces and the heels backing up the other heels. There seem to be no 90s style stables, but I see it as goodguys vs badguys ala 80s style.

Now, I don't see it as a straight up copy of the 80s but more as a beginning to a new time for wrestling with a splash of 80s style mixed in.

What do you think? Are there any other similarities or perhaps it is more like another time in wrestling or is it completely new?

 

[ladydyanne]

So for the past few weeks I have been noticing a few things that remind me of wrestling in the 80s.

Tag Teams
Enough of them to revitalzie the division and each team has the chops to win and hold the titles. There has not been a solid division since the late 80s.

Storylines
Multiple storylines going on, some intersecting with others.

The faces are helping other faces and the heels backing up the other heels. There seem to be no 90s style stables, but I see it as goodguys vs badguys ala 80s style.

Now, I don't see it as a straight up copy of the 80s but more as a beginning to a new time for wrestling with a splash of 80s style mixed in.

What do you think? Are there any other similarities or perhaps it is more like another time in wrestling or is it completely new?

I miss the days of the Horsemen, and the Road Warriors. But there does seem to be a nice change with tag teams nowadays. All we need is one team with a heel for a manager, and all will be well.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I agree with most of your points except for the tag team part.
The late 90s/early 00s were pretty strong for tag teams - The Acolytes, New Age Outlaws, Hardyz, Dudleys, E+C, Too Cool and Rikishi and sneaking in at the end, The World's Greatest Tag Team and Los Guerreros were all pretty good and more accomplished than the teams today. Even brief teams like the 2 Man Power Trip, Brothers of Destruction and the 2 Chris' (Benoit and Jericho) all did pretty well too.
That's not an era to overlook and was certainly better than what we have at the moment.

As for the changes that are giving you flashbacks to the 80s, a lot of it has to do with the PG type environment that the WWE is going for as they want a new generation of fans so they have reverted back to what brought them success the last time they were trying to entice new fans in.

 

[3/4 Facelock]

The Acolytes, New Age Outlaws, Hardyz, Dudleys, E+C, Too Cool and Rikishi and sneaking in at the end, The World's Greatest Tag Team and Los Guerreros were all pretty good and more accomplished than the teams today. Even brief teams like the 2 Man Power Trip, Brothers of Destruction and the 2 Chris' (Benoit and Jericho) all did pretty well too.
That's not an era to overlook and was certainly better than what we have at the moment.

Ah yes. Some of them are pretty good. I was a big fan of the Acolytes. BUT....The Twin Towers, The Bholsheviks, Demolition, The Orient Express, The Nasty Boys, The Hart Foundation, Natural Disasters, Rock 'n Roll Express, Steiner Brothers, Road Warriors....I can't remember much more right now, but look at those names and now look at what tag teams are around and have been around since the late 80s/early 90s. Not even close. On the way there, but not even close.

And I have to be in disagreement with you about the era we have now. I watched in the 90s as well and while a bunch of you remember Rock vs Austin and similar matches, I remember the other matches of Savio Vega vs D'Lo Brown quality which far outnumbered the Rock/Austin/HHH matches.

...Godfather, Mean Street Posse, Gangrel...

Yuck.


Personally I really like with the WWE is doing with their rosters. They are and have always been smart and consistantly progressive.

 

[mister_b1LL]

Yeah, I'm really liking the tag division right now. Mostly because a "pure" tag team is holding the Tag Titles. And I do see the idea of the return to 80s wrestling considering that there aren't any throw together tag teams that are holding the titles, which is more 90s style to me.

But I would understand why there would be touches of the 80s in wrestling today. The Rock n Wrestling era was one of the most successful times for the WWE and I'm pretty sure Vince would do anything to recapture that glory again.

However I think that the multiple storylines idea has always been there. There's just been a time where the other storylines excluding the WWE Title have been incredibly horrible or unmemorable. Now I think that WWE his picked up the pieces and run with them and have produced some great storylines which I hope will last a good while this year. Cena/Batista, Edge/Orton, Jericho/Miz tag team, Drew McIntyre's storyline, Swagger's life story...there's a lot of stuff going on to keep us entertained all week.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

3/4 Facelock - As I didn't watch wrestling in the 80s I wasn't comparing the teams I mentioned to the ones you mentioned, but was merely trying to raise the point that I think the teams from the Attitude era were better and more specialised than the teams we have at the moment. Granted that some of the teams I mentioned were thrown together, but then there were teams that were tag specialists to counter-balance them too, only the Hart Dynasty and that new team on Smackdown (Dudebusters?) have debuted as a tag team.

I wont deny that the Attitude era didn't throw up it's share of stinkers of matches and talent, but as that was the time I was getting into wrestling, I was entertained a lot more than I was put off.

As for the current rosters, to me Raw is over-stacked with big calibre talent which could hinder some mid-carders more than help them (thinking of John Morrison mainly) yet Smackdown doesn't seem to have benefited too well from the draft in who has come over from Raw.

Not arguing for the sake of it you understand, just saying my piece!

 

[3/4 Facelock]

HA! Yes, the Dudebusters. I forgot all about them. Ryder should join up with them and they could be a douchey Freebird style team.

But hey, it's all good Dowds. You started watching in the 90s, I was in it in the early 80s. The era we start in will always affect our view of what the WWE is and should/should not be.

My primary interest is in how people watch the program. Some cheer for their favorites only, some people hate other wrestlers because of who they are or what they do. Myself, I see the WWE like a giant book with each Wrestlemania ending a chapter. How do the storylines work and the talent the company has to pull off some of the matches.

I see RAW as the marque show. Those who tune into it (having special guests and the promotions they show) are seeing the best the WWE has to offer at the moment. Over on SD, they have so many midcarders who can contend and win titles. They are building another group of maineventers for the next few years. And back on the original topic, all the mid-carders remind me of the IC title division back in the 80s. This mid-card division is stacked with young talent waiting to be showcased and surprise some of us.

I'm just excited because I see all the tag teams and the intersecting stories and I think of all the possibilites that can happen. It reminds me so much of the wrestling I watched when I was a kid.

 

[BWEEZY2009]

3/4 Facelock:

I noticed you mentioned the possibility of Ryder joining the Dudebusters as a Freebird gimmick. Actually in FCW the Dudebuster did do a Freebird like gimmick. But it was Hawkins as the 3rd and not Ryder (Kind of good point you had there.. just wrong Major Brother)

I do like how they are trying to revamp the tag division. We even saw the introduction of Hawkins and Archer this week on superstars. Vince gave them the mic, so he must see something in them..

Not to mention Hawkins and Archer were aligned with Jackson Andrews in FCW (Andrews is a 7'1 LEAN giant... kind of a Matt Morgan body type) I wonder if they plan on bringing him up and re-align with those two.

Also in FCW right now you have:

The Uso Brothers (Rikishi Fatu's son) They are aligned with Danny Marlow (Dudley Graduate)

The Rotondo Brothers (IRS Sons)

Fortunate Sons who were supposed to debut on Raw but Brett Dibiase toar his muscle in his knee last month.

I'm a huge fan of Tag team wrestling and I'm really interested to see the direction they put the division in. Hopefully they keep trying to get it over!

Off Topic: Hey guys, you notice I mentioned FCW's weekly show a lot above... I do not live in Florida or do not get FCW on T.V.

But there is a youtube Channel that uploads the weekly episodes on his channel. It's actually a very good show and fun to watch.. plus you have Norman Smiley comedy