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Are We WWE Shareholders Or Are We Fans?

The following is a post I made in the bar room last night. Some I've suggested I copy and paste it in here. Nothing personal Sidious. I've agreed with you in the past and have given you positive rep a few times. I'm sure I'll agree with you on other topics in the future. Just not this one. I have not read all the posts in this thread yet so I don't know if my post from last night will go with the flow, but here it is:


Here I am with post #250 and my first trip to the bar room. Sorry it’s going to be long for the bar room. This is just too interesting to pass up. I have both agreed and disagreed with Sidious on different subjects in the past. I think the problem people have is not the opinions Sidious has, but his unwillingness to acknowledge that there may be another reasonable point of view. What’s funny is Sidious always complains that Vince tells people what to like when he seems to do the same things on these forums at times. Sidious, isn’t it possible that there are adults that genuinely enjoy WWE today? Not because they are brainwashed by Vince, but because they really like it? That does not make them wrong. Even if we don’t like every single aspect of the show we can still find enjoyment in it.

Most of us agree that we are tired of Hornswoggle and don’t find him entertaining. What’s the big deal? Kids are a part of the audience and if they are entertained by him where’s the harm? When he is on tv switch to football or go get something to eat. It’s really not worth complaining about. You’re idea about three shows targeted at three audiences is good in theory, but it would not work. WWE is looked at as a whole. If Vince wants a cleaner image he can’t have his flagship show produce the sex and violence you’re looking for. A corporate sponsor isn’t going to take the time to analyze the difference between raw and smackdown and decide he wants to advertise for one show and not the other. If raw goes back to attitude programming that’s the reputation the general public will have of it regardless of what’s happening on the other shows. It’s true that he has to make some sacrifices for the good of his business. That’s not me being spoon fed. That’s a fact. Notice of ECW never got a decent national tv deal in the 90’s.

I really don’t see how you can say fans of today’s products are just being spoon fed by Vince. I could make that same argument about the attitude era you love so much. During the new generation era we were treated to great matches from Bret Hart, Owen Hart, and Shawn Michaels. Then in the late 90’s the quality of the actual wrestling matches diminished (in my opinion) in favor of edgy storylines and comedy. The scientific matches I loved so much were gone. Since I missed that kind of product I could argue that you were being spoon fed by Vince in the attitude era. He was putting on trashy tv just to sell merchandise and increase buy rates and you were following along blindly. Of course you would argue you weren’t following blindly because you were truly entertained by that product. What you need to understand is there are people who are truly entertained by today’s product. I know you think everyone should agree with you, but people have different opinions. What I can’t figure out is why you continue to watch if you are so dissatisfied with today’s product. Actually I probably know why. Like me it’s been part of your life for so long. In fact you probably don’t remember life without wrestling. You don’t want to let it go. That’s fine. Just relax and enjoy it for what it is. If you can’t do that and it is really upsetting you then maybe it is time to just let it go. The only reason you should watch wrestling is for your own fun and amusement. It is not a job or an assignment to keep up with WWE. If it’s not fun don’t watch. By the way, Vince isn’t telling you what you should like. He is not making you watch. He is simply putting a product out there. You don’t have to like it and you don’t have to watch it.

There is no reason to come on these forums and insult the fans. I know you’re hoping all these people read your posts and say “you know what, he’s right.” That’s just not going to happen. I usually hang out in the old school section because that’s the stuff I like to discuss. I like to share my ideas about old school wrestling and read other perspectives too. It’s a nice exchange of ideas without any insults. Just wrestling fans talking about wrestling. There’s nothing wrong with going on the forums and expressing your opinions. I think a lot of people agree that lately you’ve been shoving your opinions down our throats. I have not bothered with a reply on a lot of topics simply because it was not fun for me to do so. Just like watching wrestling, I come on here for fun. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got too much other stuff going on in my life to get upset over WWE. Instead I use it to get away from the rest of the pressures of life.

I’m sure I’ve gone on far too long for a bar room post. Sorry about that. I’m not attacking you personally Sidious and I don’t think I came off that way. I think I may have been too respectful considering I’m in the bar room. There will probably be a thread started to ban me from coming back and to stay in the old school area due to long threads with no insults. I hope everyone enjoys Smackdown tomorrow and Raw on Monday. If not I hope you can find something better to do with your time.
 
im tired of people saying the attitude era was the best because no matter how good it was its over people will always say that wwe isnt as good as it was back then but it isnt boring at all its still entertaining most people who say the atitude era was the best cant even say y its the best they just say it cause most people say that to be followers

I read that on youtube. It was a comment someone posted on the rivalry buildup between Cena and Orton for Bragging Rights. It pretty much sums up how I feel. I wasn't apart of the Attitude Era I started watching wrestling in 2003. I'm sure it was great and all but WWE is great now too. I watch Raw way more than I watch Smackdown,ECW,or Impact. I don't care if other people think those shows are better. I don't watch Raw out of habit I watch it because it entertains me. I'm not brain washed I just like something different and shouldn't be bashed for my choices. I don't have to be 12 to like John Cena and I don't need to be told I don't know what good wrestling is for liking "boring monotonous Randy Orton". I like what I like and thats that. I'm not a stockholder im a fan. Plain and simple.
 
Look at it this way, we all both all share holders of the WWE also we are both all WWE fans. We put money in their pockets, we cheer, we boo, we do the fan things. We also like i said before put money in their pocket, we let them know what we like and dont like, we let them know basically what we want out of them. That makes us all Shareholders because in the end.

We dont work for the WWE. The WWE works for US!
 
"Attitude era is probably the most overrated era ever. The difference is when the attitude era finished all of those fans that loved the product are gone. So it means that attitude era did not create wrestling fans they just attracted reality show fans who watched that product for sex,violence and shock factor."

First of all to call the Attitude era overrated despite all the facts to the contrary is ludicrous, of course when the attitude era ended all those fans left, why would they stay when the product they loved changed.

Let me ask this, if the attitude era didn't attract wrestling fans, you think Hornswoggle is?, the Guest Hosts every Monday?, think Santino having 5 minute skits with B celebritys that'll never be on the show again is? Does ANYONE think Hornswoggle actually DREW fans?, I'm pretty sure he just managed to entertain the kids that were ALREADY watching anyway because I seriously doubt some little kid is watching the WWE for comedy, there are whole networks that devote their time to producing quality children's comedy, why would kids tune into WWE to see 3rd rate skits? No, little kids watch a wrestling show for the same reason adults watch a wrestling show, for wrestling and action.

"I also can't understand why are you looking everyting in ratings wise. Because of the PG product family can allow for their children to buy more WWE merchandise and watch the show. Also WWE right now has more sponsor offerings because it's a product for everyone so please stop looking things only in ratings wise."

Because ratings are important. Ratings, imo, are the best indicator that the WWE is working, its basically a sign of how many consistent fans you have. In 99 WWE was pulling 5.0's every night, I forget exactly how it works exactly but thats about 2 million fans that they've lost in 10 years since they moved AWAY from that. If you're going to talk about sponsors then you HAVE to talk about ratings. The sponsors that are all cool with the PG rating now will dry up in a minute if ratings continue to trend down which they have been for years.

If the WWE wanted to attract younger viewers they were doing great before. You think that parents that didn't let their kids watch the WWE before are going to let them watch now just because they call it PG? It still a show focused on violence even if there isn't any blood. It's still basically classless even though they've cut the bra and panties matches. PG is a quick a lazy fix.

"The biggest problem is this PG era is not for kids it's for everyone. Why do you want a product that is only for you.”

I'd actually argue to the contrary and say that the PG era is for kids and not for everyone beause the type of things that entertain children specifically usually do not entertain adults, but the type of programming that attracts adults usually can attract children. It's like adults probably are not to inclined to watch a Batman cartoon show, but they loved The Dark Knight, and y'know what kids did too. Same thing with the attitude era, sure adults and teenagers loved it, but kids LOOOOVED it just as much and more.

You know what I'll give you that this is mostly a complaint about Raw, but it IS the flagship show as anyone will attest all the way up to Vince himself. If a potential wrestling fan were to catch Raw one day, I do not think that it would make them want to be a fulltime fan. I believe what they are doing on Raw is counterproductive to the business as a whole in addition to something I don’t like.

I’m new here so I should specify, I actually do enjoy about 45min-1 hour of Raw every week, but usually the other stuff is so bad that it leaves a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the show. This past week was more of the same, I very much enjoyed the Main-Event, but why is Santino out there acting the fool getting so much spotlight at that point in time? It‘s like c‘mon man and to be honest I actually think that Santino‘s funny, but it didn‘t belong in that segment.(I usually do enjoy Smackdown though but I wouldn't include ECW in the conversation since even though it has its own Championship I still consider it essentially another Velocity/Livewire/Heat type show sugercoated with the "ECW BRAND" label.)I feel like that more than anything is the type of thing that drives possible fans away, stuff that just can‘t be taken seriously, and more than anything the type of things that infuriates the IWC consistently.

I said it on another post but I'll say it again, the WWE, Vince, and the self-depreciating IWC itself like to believe that we have less influence then we do, and it is crazy. The WWE is living behind the times if it doesn't think the IWC is influential and as we move further into the future you better believe that a larger and larger percentage of the WWE audience is going to be reading dirt sheets and talking it up on the forums. All those people that the WWE try to attract to its own website are most likely becoming a part of the IWC inadvertantly. We are the future of wrestling because we are the most loyal fans, and I have no doubt that our opinions will have a greater and greater impact on the business as the years go by.
 
I have mixed opininons.

On one hand, it's about time someone has came out and fucking said it. That not everything has to be about if it's a good business model for Vince. All too often I see this brought into conversations where it doesn't need to be brought up in. It ends up coming across as smarky.

On the other hand, I was just reading a post someone made in some random thread that was basically saying

"It'd be cool if WWE invaded TNA or vice versa, picture all the dream matches. Not to mention, I think it would help both shows ratings in the long run."

Well, how do you respond to something of that sort? Who has a fan wouldn't love to see it? On the flip side, who in their right mind actually thinks it's in the realm of possibility? Sure, it might help Raw ratings or w/e but it'd be doing 10x more for TNA, a company the WWE holds no stock in. Is that not worth bringing up? Is that being a WWE share holder? Where's the line drawn? Do we just ignore the reality of situations because we think it'd be cool as fans? On the flip side do we just keep bringing "Not a proper business model!" BS into everyones topic they put time/thought into simply because WE think it's bad for WWE from a profit stand point?

As most things, I'd say the answer lies some where in the middle. Sometimes "That'll never happen because it's terrible for business" needs to be said. On the other hand sometimes people just need to shut up and take a topic for what it's worth and not dig too deep into it.
 
I feel that I'm a fan but even as fans we shouldn't be blind and oblivous to the crap that Vince Mcmahon is selling us.

I don't really want to hear about how John Cena is the best thing for wrestling in this PG era I'll use my eyes and they tell me he is a babyface that often gets booed more than cheers that means he is failing period.

Also I really don't care if people say that Randy Orton is "boring and monotone" my eyes tell me he is the best heel in the WWE so in some sense I am a fan.

Sometimes though I feel like I can analyze what creative is trying to do etc. So I'm kind of on the fence as to what I am exactly.

I'll tell you this though, I'm not a fan of what's put on my television right now and really could care less if it's too fill up a billionaires pockets even more.
 
in all respect im a wwe fan. iv been watching it since i was 2 ok. i would like to be known as a FAN, not a SHAREHOLDER. that jus makes me and everyone else seem uninterested in the product. but i love the wwe. no matter what. and if i ever will say its good business, it would mean for the product to get better, which is what i want. and i enjoy watching tna aswell. but its not the same for me. wwe is, and dont u people ever think that wwe fans are not real fans, becus we are, just becus its entertainment mixed with wrestling, doesnt mean we dont know what wrestling is.
Thank you
 
Exactly...

Well, I suppose I had to respond at some point, and I'm up, so I guess I'll do it now.

This is yet another lie, I've never said wresting should be a sport and have said many times else where that it shouldn't be deemed as such. Just look through my profile elsewhere, I've never said anything about wresting should be considered a sport and have laughed at people thinking such. As usual, you lie when you have nothing to go on.

I have never, ever seen you laugh at anyone when they suggested as such. And nor will you come out and suggest that it should because you would be laughed at for the mere suggestion that it should. Instead, you have to read between the lines of your posts.

You support in-ring product over storyline. Check.

You consistently harp on work-rate and frequently criticize match performances far more than a casual fan. Check.

You are a big supporter of Ring of Honor, Chikara, Dragon Gate, along with Japanese Wrestling such as New Japan. All of those promotions are heavy match-focused promotions. Check.

You frequently ridicule storylines in wrestling. Check.

You frequently complain about match times being too short. Check.

You have frequently justified the toning down of all aspects of the wrestling business, including toning down characters. Check.

You complain because the public doesn't take wrestling seriously. Check.

To alleviate this problem, you suggested that people come to the shows in suits and ties. Check.


All one has to do is add it up and connect the dots on how you want the public to view wrestling. You want the public to have the same point of view as smarks when it comes to in-ring workrate and look at it in the same critical structure. That way, like many smarks, it can be twisted around to be viewed as a sport ...... with the best in-ring worker getting the push and the title.

That's the way you want to view wrestling. That's fine. However, I will always take the better Entertainer and Character over in-ring workrate. I'm not saying they should completely suck, but this consistent harping on ringwork, ringwork, ringwork that the IWC has done ..... to the point of where a worker botches one single move .... has gotten to the point where people now call for these people's jobs for botching a single move.

Take Gail Kim for instance. That match with Mickie about two months ago had people calling for her to resign when she received a concussion, because she botched the finish, as a result of being knocked out. These are people that view wrestling like a sport.

I simply feel it should be viewed as a TV Action/Drama sitcom more so than a sport, and would argue for those fans that are concerned with wrestling being taken more seriously by Mainstream America, that this type of Marketing has a far better chance of connecting with them, then trying to convince the public to view it as some sort of a real sport, the way smarks view in-ring wrestling competition.


You're really taking this IWC gimmick as far as you can I see. It means nothing we're a couple of marks on a computer arguing over men that pretend to fight in underwear.

Are you arguing that Vince doesn't pay attention to the IWC? Why does he harp on Spoilers and Long-term plans leaking out if the IWC is so damn insignificant to him?

As far as members of the IWC being "community leaders" of sorts, let me ask you who smartened you to the business, and how did that process shape up?


Cena should win more and shouldn't be losing every other month.

Why? To make the PPV's predictable, and make people frustrated with spending $40 a month always to see a guaranteed Cena victory?


I thought it was spamming to talk about what goes on at another board in the Spam Free part of the board? What happens else where stays there.

Haven't seen that specifically mentioned in the Rule Book. You can't mention the name of forums elsewhere, but nobody ever said you couldn't bring up what was discussed by a poster on here, elsewhere. You are free to bring up some of our past conversations, as well.

But this does help establish what type of character you are for those not familiar with you.


I guessed being "pressed' is the new trolling. Just ask and I'll tell you, no need to you know: get all angry and start trying to get personal, wouldn't want you to have a meltdown or something.

Pressing someone on an issue isn't trolling at all. If you follow them all around the forums and to other boards, it may be considered trolling though.

Here is the definition of trolling, though.


Trolling: This is known as following a specific poster around, for the sole purpose of annoying them or insulting the topic they are commenting on. It can also apply to simply insulting a thread or post, rather than having an opinion on it. If you think a thread or post sucks, there is no need to comment on it. Move on, or make a contribution to the conversation in the topic. Trolling may result in an Infraction.


No not really. I give Russo credit for the one good year in 1998, but everything he has done the last 10 years has been shit. I mean look at his track record, since he left WWE. But again, I don't know why we're even having this conversation. I thought the thread was about people telling you why they like the product, without talking about the business side. You're confusing yourself and wasting my time.

Well, if I am "wasting your precious time", then please don't feel the need to respond to anything I say. Nobody is holding a gun to your head to respond.

What was done in 1999 that was so different to both 1998 and 2000, that you couldn't stand?


Until Survivor Series 2000.

Are you sure about that? IMDB has him listed as working with WWE until the year 2002.

Do you have a link somewhere that supports that he left at Survivor Series 2000? Not calling you a liar, but I would just like to see what you got, since there is apparently some discrepancy.


He used story boards, was a freak for continuity, he linked everybody together and made everybody seem important without giving them dumb gimmicks. He incorporated great storylines with great wrestling, and made everybody seem credible. Everybody from the lower-mid-upper mid-to The ME was viewed as important, and he made it easy to slot new guys in to the Main Event scene without missing a beat, and the fans bought it, literally. What is even more impressive, he did it without Austin, Taker, and Foley, and it ended up being WWF's most successful year until 2007. The matches still hold up and the angles still hold up.


Ok.

Vince Russo left WWE and signed with WCW on October 5, 1999. So if Chris Kreski took over at that point and left as you said in October of 2000, you are essentially on record as calling him the greatest writer in WWE history, while basing his performance off of 1 whopping year as Lead Writer.

And following WWE since 1990 and watching it through the Attitude Era as well, I honestly could not point out any huge differences in programming content in that single time frame. I didn't find it distinguishable.

So if you wonder why I come to the conclusion that you simply don't like Vince Russo and have a problem with him being known as The Creator of The Attitude Era ...... when you turn around and praise another writer as the Greatest Thing in History Since Sliced Bread, when he was only with the company as Lead Writer for a year, then that's why.


The Radicalz Invasion

4 guys from WCW debuted and were a faction. I was not impressed with the actual "Invasion" at all. It was no different than any other faction debuting and having each other's backs. When they split up and each were given characters of their own, was when things got interesting.


DX/Helmsely/Mcmahon regime vs The Rock

What was done substantially different here than Austin vs McMahon? Basically, this was a repeat of Austin/McMahon, except the Rock was inserted.

The Kurt/Steph/Triple H love Triangle

I did like this quite a bit, actually. I was at SummerSlam 2000 in Raleigh when they had the Triple Threat Match with The Rock, when Angle received his concussion.

Benoit and Jericho main event pushes

Good move to move them up. Who's to say Russo wouldn't have?


All drew better then the shit fest in 1999.

Oh, so now we are going into "WWE Shareholder" mode again? I want to hear your opinions in this thread.

But again, maybe you can specifically elaborate and give us a nice looooong laundry list on what was so different in 1999 compared to 2000, since you are so adamant that this single year was transformed like night and day.

So yeah, that is why I liked Kreski better.

I was hoping for a much more extensive list than simply that. You only pointed out three single storylines and a single decision (which was probably Vince McMahon's) to move Benoit and Jericho up the roster. That was it.



Well I like Cena because he is a great character and I've always been a fan of the WWE Style babyface, which is basically babyface overcoming the odds and coming out victorious. This has been WWE's formula since Bruno and Pedro, and it has always worked through the Hogan and Austin's era, and it worked in 2007 with Cena, but now they're booking him like he is one of the stars, opposed to being THE star like he should be.

Okay.

But you do certainly have to admit that we live in a different day and age now where there are a Hell of a lot more PPV's than the Hogan Era, and there obviously weren't any in the Age of Bruno and Pedro.

You can't expect the public to necessarily accept the same things today that they did back then. The concept of the Internet has made people a lot more impatient, and seeing the same result over, and over, and over again simply does not appeal to people anymore. Plus, with the multitude of PPV's we have now, instead of seeing Hogan victorious 4 times a year, you are asking the public to be happy seeing Cena victorious 9 or 10 times a year .... not to mention all the times he wrestles on Raw for TV.

I just don't think that is realistic, and is a big reason why the fans turned on Cena early on. Fortunately, a good amount of them have since come around because he is known for being a great guy behind the scenes, a good employee, and is a very good worker. But booking him like the way you wanted the company to book him resulted in the fans actually turning on Cena. That tells me that they aren't happy with the "Superman" style of booking anymore in this day and age.


I think WWE is awesome because I love the booking on Smackdown, and how Hayes finds a way to book the show around the World title, while building up the Mid card titles. I like the way JeriShow are giving credibility back to the Tag Division. They really seem like a badass team that nobody can fuck with. Jericho playing the smarmy smartass heel and basically hiding behind The Giant Big Show is entertaining to me.

Well, developing the Midcard has been a critique of mine for the past several years. I appreciate that many within the IWC has jumped down WWE's case for this, as well. Unfortunately, I have also gotten in debates with many of the "WWE Shareholders" who had adopted Vince's philosophy of "Only the Main Event matters, and everything else is filler".

But I have to give credit to each of the shows in seemingly doing a much, much better job with promoting the Midcard these days. I am just in utter disbelief that Vince has let it go this much over the years, and failed to see what the repercussions of such a move would be.

As far as Jericho and Big Show and the Tag Team Titles, this is another discussion I have gotten in with a couple people. I really don't see them bringing credibility back to the Tag Team Titles at all. I'm glad to see Vince McMahon back into backing the Midcard once again, but he has still not embraced the Tag Team Division, which I really want to see again.

It's hard for Jericho and Show to really restore credibility to the Division, when it is still so bare to begin with.

You figure we have:

Legacy (which look to be breaking up soon)
Cryme Tyme
Hart Dynasty
Kozlov/Jackson (who Jerishow basically doesn't even appear on ECW)


I don't see them adding any credibility to the Tag Team Division at all, really. They are basically just there, and Vince is using them as Tag Team Champions to appear on both shows and inflate the appearance of established Upper Midcarders on the two rosters.

I do not see them defending the Tag Team titles regularly. They are basically inserted into big angles on each of the broadcasts. I just don't see the prestige rubbing off on the titles, so much as Jericho and Show being simply used to appear on both broadcasts.

I Love Jericho's promos as well as Punks, I think they are the best in the business at playing heels and incorporating their characters in to their matches and promos. They do a good job of building heat and setting the faces up for big comebacks, both in the ring and in promos. They pay attention to detail, an art lost in pro wrestling.

Punks promos are good. I do think Jericho's promos are vastly over-rated, but we've been down that road before and I won't go into it again on here.

Jericho does consistently get a negative reaction though, so at least the fans respond to it. Just from a personal perspective, I think his promos in this particular character are over-rated, primarily because of repetitiveness. Then again, repetitiveness has been a highly successful technique with some of the greatest heels in the business.

As far as the "lost art of pro wrestling", again I have to put the finger on Vince for this one, as I do feel he has lost the art of it. But there has been some noticeable improvement out of the company in the past couple months though. It's just a shame that he "lost the touch" to begin with, for several years at that.


Again with the petty trolling. It's pretty obvious your feelings are hurt from else where and it's bleeding over to this forum.

Oh, no. My feelings aren't hurt whatsoever. If you recall, I left the other place in April and didn't return until September, only pushing the End Hornswoggle/Chavo program petition.

All I was simply saying was that the quality of posting elsewhere isn't nearly as good, because of their flex in what is tolerated for "spam". Hence all the "He's awesome", "That's awesome", "Everything is just awesome" posts out of you.

It would be nice to see you up your game with quality over quantity and quit worrying about what your post count and rep are. You do that stuff, then the other things like rep will take care of themselves.


Not really it was a team of writers. You blame Vince when something isn't going right but credit Russo when things you like happen. Typical double standards and wishy washy posting. I don't care to get in to that, this is an argument that will never be settled and it will become an endless cycle.

Funny. I don't think I have ever seen you come down on Vince McMahon for anything other than steroid use. It is so rare to actually see you criticize WWE for anything, but to actually criticize "Vince McMahon" is even more of a rarity.

You credit Kreski immensely, for the one lone year he was Head Writer, bash Russo .... and seemingly don't say anything at all about Vince McMahon. Do you feel Vince McMahon has only a minimal role in Creative?

What my thoughts are, are this. I feel when McMahon was facing bankruptcy when WCW was kicking his ass, he had no idea what to do. Most people accept that. When Russo came along and pitched his ideas for a new cutting edge program (with many elements inspired by ECW), Vince went for it and gave Russo and Ferrara a lot of flexibility, with Vince concentrating most of his Creative time on solely the Main Event.

When Kreski and Russo left, that is when I think Vince kicked it into high gear and exerted far more control over the Creative team then he did under those two writers.

That is why I credit Russo for most of his booking in WWE, can credit Kreski for his single year as Head Writer, and why I fault Vince for the past several years, since he rules the Creative Team these days with an iron fist ... which isn't a good thing as far as I'm concerned.


If Russo did it himself he should have easily been able to do it some where in the last ten years. He hasn't been able to, he was a one hit wonder. What has he done outside of Stamford?


Well, it's clear that Russo has nothing outside of wrestling. That is his thing. I think you know why I don't fault him for WCW, as the AOL/Time Warner merger killed WCW, along with very bad internal decisions, including decisions to give too many talent Creative Control clauses along with salaries that were far too high. Russo came in to a clusterfuck, and wasn't able to patch together the pieces in time. He was at Hogan's mercy, as those two routinely butted heads about the direction of Hogan's character, yet WCW would have been sued if Russo did not comply with him.

Russo was all for pushing the younger guys, something I don't hear enough people give him credit for. He made Chris Benoit WCW champion. He pushed Booker T up into the Main Event.

As far as his work in TNA, I can not say that I am upset with it. Not as good as his work in WWE, but I'll tell you this much .... his work is better on Impact today than what I have seen on Raw for the past couple years.

He simply does a lot better job with storylines and getting people to actually care about the wrestlers themselves, as opposed to sticking un-developed guys who the crowd could care less about, out there to wrestle, and simply expect the audience to react. He seems to understand the notion that the crowd isn't going to connect to the wrestlers UNLESS you actually give them a reason to connect. And they aren't going to connect solely based on their in-ring abilities. Russo seems to understand that. McMahon did not these past couple years.


You'll probably see The Dungeon of Doom. Hogan is 56 and pretty much broke, and doesn't draw without another name on the other side of the ring.

I doubt that. Hogan is smart enough to see that WWE is the family-friendly company, where as TNA is now the adult and older teen company. So I can say with confidence that we aren't going to be seeing any Dungeons of Doom any time soon (thank goodness).


He will never let a guy like AJ or Joe work on top in a company he is apart of, and he will never really let Russo stick around, hell he is baiting Russo already.

Like I said before, if I were Dixie Carter, I would probably tell Hogan "hands off Russo". It's pretty clear that Hogan and McMahon were in the middle of a feud even before this happened and going back to WWE wasn't on the table at this point.

Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, Dixie still had the advantage and she should use that.

Now, as far as Hogan bypassing Russo for asking for Creative Control, as much as I would hate to say it, I would consider it. I would be more opt to consider this as opposed to firing Russo in order to bring in Hogan.

I do think Hogan's finances are hurt and that he needs TNA right now more than TNA necessarily needs Hogan. If TNA is content with being #2 and essentially just being a cash register for Panda Energy, then so be it. I know a lot of people were scratching their heads at why TNA wasn't taking more risks to move ahead, but what I don't think a lot of people were considering was that maybe Panda Energy was simply content with TNA providing the capital they were providing and didn't really seek to compete with Vince.

But if they want to step up their game, let's see what they got.

Now, as far as Hogan working with AJ and Samoa Joe ... Hogan put Goldberg over and it made Goldberg a huge star in record time. I don't question him putting over a Top Babyface in the company, and I have a feeling that person will be AJ Styles. As far as Samoa Joe, I am not quite as sure on that one.

I am just hoping that Hogan comes in and becomes a Heel pretty quickly, as I think that is the way to go with him.


Hogan in WCW didn't catch on until a heel turn and even then he wasn't the biggest drawing act in WCW's boom period, Goldberg was.

Goldberg was the draw he was thanks to Hogan putting him over in the Georgia Dome.

However, before that, Hogan was indeed the draw. Impressive for a Heel to be the Top Draw, too.


The second top rating draw was Flair, behind Goldberg. Goldberg was the guy who gave them that monster year in 1998, and then Bischoff let Nash fuck it up. History will repeat itself. These guys aren't going to TNA because they feel they can build it up, they couldn't careless about TNA coming up. They see a cash cow and they're going to milk it dry. One because guys like Hogan, Nash, Flair, and Foley know that Vince will always give them a job back. However getting free money only comes around once every blue moon, examples being WCW and TNA.

Oh, I am going to have to dispute that one, as well. You mean to tell me that if a card was being advertised and only one of the two between Hogan and Flair could be on it, that Flair would prove to be the bigger draw being on that card more so than Hogan?

I attended a WCW House Show at Baltimore Arena in which Hogan was on the card when he was WCW Champion in his NWO days, and that thing was completely sold out. I've been there other times before in that same time period with Flair on top and it was not sold out.

Even going back to their days in the WWF, Flair was never as big a draw as Hogan was.

You simply have a heavy bias against both Hogan and Vince Russo. It's just funny how you don't like either one of them, yet those two can't stand each other.


Hogan doesn't draw on a full time basis anymore this was proven in 2002, getting pops doesn't=drawing. Hogan was great at getting pops in 2002, but once he won the title nobody cared.

That's because Hogan wasn't really wrestling Full Time. He was around for sporadic appearances.

Now as far as Hogan's pops go, please. Hogan would still outpop John Cena any day in WWE.

But again, I think the better way to market Hogan in TNA is to do what they did with him in WCW and work him as a Heel, but this time, a Heel figure with some authority. I think Foley needs to go from that "Majority Shareholder" role he has in TNA, and do a storyline where perhaps Hogan purchases the company with Eric Bischoff.

You care about the bottom line way more then I do. But if you want to talk about it, we can go there to, kid.

That's funny, you calling me "kid". I think I am actually older than you.

But yes, we can talk bottom line all night if we want to, and I'd be happy to elaborate on why some bottom lines are better today then when they were several years ago, as well.

It has to do with raising $$$$$$$$ on pretty much everything.

You're lying and you know it.

LOL. Okay, so you are accusing me of putting WWE business interests first and foremost over what actually interests me, and in essence are calling me a "WWE Shareholder"? Hysterical.

Believe me, Industry. If that were truly the case, I would be supporting the PG Era with absolute blind faith because it is profitable. You'll see that I am doing anything but.


I didn't mark out for that spot. I actually bashed the segment because Triple H looked stupid with the constipated shaking. Look it up

I don't deny that you criticized Triple H as I remember you doing it.

But you also popped big time for Orton DDT'ing Stephanie. I also remember you touting "Now how is this PG television??!!", acting like Vince had crossed the line and wasn't doing PG television in that segment, despite having the PG rating.

And if you remember, the entire thread was praising how well that segment came off (minus Triple H's facial reactions).

But after it is said and done, you have to pretend like you were not in favor of seeing women struck in any scripted storyline segment for purposes of generating heat.

That was an example of where you once again reverted back to the "WWE Shareholder" mentality.


The Share Holder gimmick is never going to get over, no matter how much you force it. If you want, I could make it catch on for you, but you'd have to pay a fee.

That's right. I forgot you needed the money to get your subscription back to the wrestling pay site we were discussing, so you could show me how the posters there came up with the terminology "PG Era" before the posters here at Wrestlezone did. We named the current WWE Era. And now, it's all over the Internet.

As far as paying you a fee, no thank you at this time. Appreciate the offer, though.


TNA has never been healthy competition. They shouldn't even be competing until they get their shit together. Going up against WWE when they're barely breaking a 1.0 and can't even draw decent outside a free venue like The Impact Zone isn't a smart move. They should work on being the best they could be on Thursday night before they start, jumping in to a fire with Gasoline MEM shirts on.

I am sure that Bischoff, Hogan, and the Carters are mapping out a strategy and a road map on expanding the company as we speak, to make those very preparations.

I seriously doubt they are going to jump right in and then say "So, now what do we do?"

That is obviously what they are working on right at this moment, between when they signed and the next round of Impact tapings.


People like you want too see TNA die, if it means getting WWE back to Attitude

Not at all. Think of me like the character Ra's al Ghul as portrayed in Batman Begins. I believe in there being a balance. If the balance becomes heavily tilted (in this case between WWE and TNA), then that is not a good thing. Don't expect any terrorist threats from me though, in the name of starting over again. But still, if the roles were reversed this time and TNA eliminated WWE, then what's to say that TNA also won't get lazy and do the same thing Vince did?

There needs to be at least two major companies for a healthy wrestling business to exist.



but what will it do for guys who will lose their jobs, when the second best option on wrestling goes out of business because foolish mismanagement? WWE will still be doing PG Programming and guys will be back on the indy circuit struggling to get pay days.

Which is why both companies must continue to stay in existence.


But hey, I love watching train wrecks, so I can't wait to see the DVD of TNA's history.

In a way, I would have to laugh if TNA produced a DVD entitled "The Self-Destruction of the WWE".

Now, keep in mind that I did say that two organizations should exist for a healthy wrestling business. I didn't say, however, that one of those HAD to be the WWE. So if hypothetically TNA put the WWE out of business, I would be okay as long as another wrestling company came along to restore the balance, and serve as a check for TNA.

It's just a shame that you prefer there only being one wrestling organization, which really hinders wrestling fans all over. Because it only offers them one choice for their wrestling entertainment, with a "Take it or Leave it" philosophy. Fans are very loyal to the wrestling business and are willing to be spoon-fed by Vince because of that loyalty. However, I am not so sure that the masses are so much loyal to Vince, as it is they are loyal fans of the wrestling business.

I would be highly disappointed if disgruntled fans with today's product simply stuck it out with Vince because the company has the "WWE" label attached to the product. Although that is a very large obstacle, in this day and age.


TNA shouldn't focus on making a new show on Monday Night, if their going to start pouring out money they should focus on making Impact the best it could be, increasing attendance and PPV buys. It's clear they haven't thought this through and by time they do, it will be too late.

I'm quite sure they are thinking it through now. Bischoff, Hogan, Russo, and Carter do not want to see a repeat of WCW going down the drain. But if they wait too long, then it will be too late, and the buzz will have died.

So no, I don't think it is in their best interests to wait. I think they have to play a game of "Beat the Clock" and "get in while the get-in is good". They need to make decisions now, and they need to be quick and decisive over it, because they have a very limited window to work with.

Hell, Hogan has been on 3 shows the last 2 days and doesn't even seem like he want to talk about TNA, he basically no sells the the topic every time somebody brings it up.

And that is clearly the strategy. He'll be out there promoting TNA when they are ready to do so, and implement some changes first. Why does it make sense to heavily promote the product, before you are able to strategically position your company where you want it to be? It's obvious that some changes need to be made to prepare for taking the company to the next level, first, before promoting the company before they are ready to do so.


Let's be real Sidious, you never cared about TNA until Russo became head booker. 6 months ago, you were saying the company would die without Angle. You never cared about Vince's Monopoly until last week. You're like the typical bandwagon smark, you go with the wind.

I did not say that the company would die without Angle. I am on record stating that Angle actually made very little difference in ratings and buyrates since he actually joined the company.

Although, when Russo took over as Head Booker, yes I was extremely happy to learn that people like Jarrett and Mantel were removed, while Russo was given a promotion. Jarrett and Mantel were simply too old school in their booking, and were holding the company back.


So to recap

Oh, this should be fun ....


You asked what I liked about the product? I explained it

To a limited degree, yes.


You lied about me bashing The Attitue Era, and I didn't.

Nope. You bashed the Attitude Era on many an occasion. Although, clearly you realize that you aren't going to make many friends on this forum by doing so, like you did elsewhere, so it is rather obvious why you feel you must say to the contrary.

But from my past experiences in talking to you, I know what you said.



You said you wanted to talk about the Current Product and typical Sidious, you really didn't, it was just another stream to start your Attitude Era propaganda.

Again, notice the way you say "Attitude Era propaganda". It's clear that you do not like that Era. Maybe you can go into the Negative WWE Discussion thread and debate some people, since it seems like with a sample of approximately 300 people (which I think is actually decent for an IWC sample) ... more of them are actually displeased with your favorite Era, the PG Era, then they were thrilled with prior Eras.

Be my guest. I know you like getting into nice long debates with people since after all, you proclaim yourself and advertise yourself to be "right 95% of the time". Let's see a little more of that Industry as opposed to the watered-down one that I've seen on here.

I realize you are out of your comfort zone, but I promise you will have a far better breed of poster to debate with on here overall, as opposed to elsewhere. That is, assuming you are comfortable with doing so.


You want to be a WWE Share Holder

Ironically, I do hold a single share of WWE stock as a gag gift someone got me from online. But if I had a "shareholder" mentality, I most certainly would not be bashing the PG Era, as I stated earlier. It wouldn't make a shred of sense to.


You have some other beef with me from elsewhere and you're trolling me to have a flame war with you.

I don't see me following you all around the forums "trolling you". I see me having a debate with you in this very thread. I am seeing this trend that anyone who actually "debates you", you accuse of "trolling you". Doesn't work that way, pal. At least not here, it doesn't.

Now, if you don't want to debate, nobody is forcing you.


You for some reason basically said you believe the IWC is a Revolution.

I said that I think that members of the IWC can have a degree of influence over the Casual Fans, yes.


Indeed.
 
to the point of where a worker botches one single move .... has gotten to the point where people now call for these people's jobs for botching a single move.

I'd have to say that botching a move could be a firing offense. Part of it is how obvious it is to the audience or how damaging it is to your opponent. It's like screwing up your lines in a promo--if it's not a big screwup, not a big deal. IF you challenge Jim Cena for his world title, that might be ok. If you challenge the champion to a Pell Mell Hell Cell match at Summerfest, that's a problem.

I simply feel it should be viewed as a TV Action/Drama sitcom more so than a sport, and would argue for those fans that are concerned with wrestling being taken more seriously by Mainstream America,

I don't think that the viewer should pretend that it's a sport, but that the writers and the companies should work harder at pretending that it's a sport. Number one, that would cut out a lot of the Stupid. It gives a quick rule of thumb--would this ever, ever happen on ESPN? If not, does it really need to happen here? Second, it gives a jumping off point for stories, a readily available writer's toolkit. Say you took the entire undercard and threw them into 4-man teams with coaches that would compete from now until the Royal Rumble for points in a competition, the winners to get a shiny trophy and a pile of cash. You'd have drama galore as coaches and wrestlers blamed each other for losing, argued that they deserve the top spot on the team, and argued that that other guy on the team is in business for himself. This also gives the wrestlers issues to use to get their characters over. Third, it's simply a way of approaching the business that hasn't been done lately.

Attitude has been done to death--there's not a lot of milk in that cow. "Over-the-top" or "SNL with steel chairs" seems to be where WWE is going, but Hornswoggle and guest hosts don't have a lot of fans around here. "Fake sport" is an organizing concept, a direction the business could go in.

"Only the Main Event matters, and everything else is filler".

The Revised gospel is "Only the Main Event matters, so everything else should be geared to developing tomorrow's Main Eventers." OR maybe that's just me. YEah, it's just me.

As for Jerishow as Tag Team Champions, they have made the tag titles more important than they've been since the HArdys and Dudleys and E&C were killing themselves in TLC matches. Although I'd have more confidence that they're using the Tag Titles to move people towards the main event if they had given MVP & Mark Henry a couple of days or a week with the titles. They might just be marking time until Jericho and Show break up and feud, as all teams must in the Gospel According to Vince.

Oh, no. My feelings aren't hurt whatsoever.

Well, that's nice, although I don't really care about any of your feelings. Which is probably why I'm bleeding rep almost as fast as TNA is bleeding money. But whatever.

Well, it's clear that Russo has nothing outside of wrestling. That is his thing. I think you know why I don't fault him for WCW, as the AOL/Time Warner merger killed WCW

I have to change an opinion here after doing some minimal research. The Fingerpoke of Doom was not Russo's fault. He was still in WWF, according the always-fallible Wikipedia.
He is probably to be faulted for putting himself on TV, for constantly vacating the titles, for his infamous "the belt is only a prop" line, and for falling in love with the "worked shoot". But some of that was the Attitude Era--in 1998 it was new and shocking and incredible, by 2000 less so, by 2002 it was tired and overdone. I believe that WCW Champion David Arquette and WCW Champion Vince Russo are his fault.

Like I said before, if I were Dixie Carter

If you or I or Industry were Dixie Carter, Impact would probably be flirting with 2.0s and there would be some coherent theme to the product besides "evil heel champion and his stable of henchmen." Kings of Wrestling/Planet Jarrett/MEM. Dixie has the financial advantage on Hogan, but she's a mark with dollar signs in her eyes--Hogan is going to make her a huge success. (She thinks so.)

Now, as far as Hogan working with AJ and Samoa Joe ... Hogan put Goldberg over and it made Goldberg a huge star in record time. I don't question him putting over a Top Babyface in the company, and I have a feeling that person will be AJ Styles. As far as Samoa Joe, I am not quite as sure on that one.

Hogan went a long time in WWF and WCW and only put over Warrior and Goldberg. A cynic would say that he saw those guys as so limited that they would fail and the company would have to come back to him. But in WWE, Hogan put over Brock Lesnar huge--if Lesnar had stayed, I have to think the clip of Lesnar wiping Hogan's blood across his chest would be iconic by now.

I could see Samoa Joe destroying Hogan, AJ Styles outpointing Joe, leading to a Hogan & STyles vs Joe & Someone match.

DISCUSSION OF RUSSO AND CHRIS KRESKI
When Russo became sole booker of TNA, I was very leery. I was expecting title switches and screwjobs and vacant titles and multi-man title matches for no reason and HEY LOOK AT THIS television without coherence. I was wrong, I've liked Impact lately. I'm watching regularly, which I wasn't before.

Wikipedia says that Chris Kreski was head writer from October 1999 when Russo left until Survivor Series 2000 (November) when Stephanie took over, and he stayed with WWF until 2002. He died in 2005, so no sense starting a movement to bring him back.

But if you want to talk about it, we can go there to, kid.
That's funny, you calling me "kid". I think I am actually older than you.

Well, I was working the "address you by a kid's name (Jimmy/Skippy/Cubby/Leroy/etc.)" bit, but I don't think I've been here long enough to call gimmick infringement. And I'm stealing it from Dennis Miller anyway, moochahcho.

Going up against WWE when they're barely breaking a 1.0 and can't even draw decent outside a free venue like The Impact Zone isn't a smart move.
I've got to agree with this. The smart move is to get good before you get big.

I seriously doubt they are going to jump right in and then say "So, now what do we do?"

Why not? It's what they did with Foley, Taz, Lashley, the two hour timeslot. This is more of the same, just on a bigger scale. Big enough to kill the company.

The dog has caught the car. Now what?
 
You support in-ring product over storyline. Check.
No, I support both. Again you're lying.

You consistently harp on work-rate and frequently criticize match performances far more than a casual fan. Check.
You do the same thing with storylines. I like analyzing matches, you like analyzing storylines. Neither of us are saying the shit is real. If I bitch about a guy selling, I am obviously acknowledging he is doing a bad job as a character.

You're arguing with yourself.

You are a big supporter of Ring of Honor, Chikara, Dragon Gate, along with Japanese Wrestling such as New Japan. All of those promotions are heavy match-focused promotions. Check.
This is a lie. Chikara is nowhere near a heavy wrestling focused company, if anything Chikara is more storyline driven then any company in wrestling now and the workers are sloppy and green, but the booking is the only thing that saves them.

I'm a NOAH guy more then New Japan

I hate ROH right now

And I've said WWE was the best wrestling company in the world since 1997

Again you're lying.

Another thing, you admit you have never watched any of those companies...So how would you know how they are booked?

You frequently ridicule storylines in wrestling. Check.
You do to.

You frequently complain about match times being too short. Check.
This is a lie

You have frequently justified the toning down of all aspects of the wrestling business, including toning down characters. Check.
No I didn't.

You complain because the public doesn't take wrestling seriously. Check.
No I don't. It is just a fact, that they don't take it seriously. It has always been a niche product.

To alleviate this problem, you suggested that people come to the shows in suits and ties. Check.
No, I said wrestling fans who boo a face for wearing a suit are morons.


All one has to do is add it up and connect the dots on how you want the public to view wrestling. You want the public to have the same point of view as smarks when it comes to in-ring workrate and look at it in the same critical structure. That way, like many smarks, it can be twisted around to be viewed as a sport ...... with the best in-ring worker getting the push and the title.

All of this is a lie. I hate matches with no story going in, no matter the workrate.



Lets get a few of these out of the way. The more important ones.



Hogan went a long time in WWF and WCW and only put over Warrior and Goldberg. A cynic would say that he saw those guys as so limited that they would fail and the company would have to come back to him. But in WWE, Hogan put over Brock Lesnar huge--if Lesnar had stayed, I have to think the clip of Lesnar wiping Hogan's blood across his chest would be iconic by now.
Hogan wanted to beat Lesnar in 2002, which is why Vince let him walk and which is why ratings went up after he left.

I could see Samoa Joe destroying Hogan, AJ Styles outpointing Joe, leading to a Hogan & STyles vs Joe & Someone match.
I have this bridge in London. Do you want to buy it?




Wikipedia says that Chris Kreski was head writer from October 1999 when Russo left until Survivor Series 2000 (November) when Stephanie took over, and he stayed with WWF until 2002. He died in 2005, so no sense starting a movement to bring him back.
Never said I wanted him back, just said his Attitude run was more successful then Russo's and more enjoyable to the masses.






I've got to agree with this. The smart move is to get good before you get big.
Keep listening you might learn some more

I kid.



Oh, I am going to have to dispute that one, as well. You mean to tell me that if a card was being advertised and only one of the two between Hogan and Flair could be on it, that Flair would prove to be the bigger draw being on that card more so than Hogan?

I attended a WCW House Show at Baltimore Arena in which Hogan was on the card when he was WCW Champion in his NWO days, and that thing was completely sold out. I've been there other times before in that same time period with Flair on top and it was not sold out.

Even going back to their days in the WWF, Flair was never as big a draw as Hogan was.

You simply have a heavy bias against both Hogan and Vince Russo. It's just funny how you don't like either one of them, yet those two can't stand each other.


Dave Meltzer said:
Flair drew bigger ratings than Hogan, and WCW was all about ratings.

Hogan drew bigger buy rates than Flair and sold more tickets. Hogan was a bigger national star.

Flair was a bigger star in the Southeast.

Hogan's coming didn't turn WCW around. Nitro did and a roster that had more star power than any roster in history. In WCW's best year and hottest period, Goldberg was the draw. When WCW was doing those 30,000 fan Nitros, Hogan was doing one of his retirements and the company was doing its biggest house show business ever without him.

Hogan being portrayed as a bigger star than Flair wasn't bad. Flair not being competitive, that's bad. Flair being asked to put over Shane Douglas, and be used to get heat on so Brian Adams could make the save in an angle when Flair was the company's No. 2 ratings draw at the time? Insanity.

Anyone confusing the NWO with the Horsemen doesn't get it. The Horseman were about making the faces look good, to the extreme. If anything, they lost too much and sold too much. the NWO were about making the faces look impotent and not giving back at all. Both should have been closer to the center for long-term but Dusty booked to make himself look strong and the Horseman's job was to make Dusty look like he was still in his prime. The NWO was all about keeping the top spots for themselves and burying everyone else. Both versions killed companies.

Now if you care to dispute Flair was a bigger ratings draw. Feel free to pay the 9.99 and go and prove it to the most credible guy in the business who actually has the numbers.

Why? To make the PPV's predictable, and make people frustrated with spending $40 a month always to see a guaranteed Cena victory?
It worked from 2006-2007

Goldberg was the draw he was thanks to Hogan putting him over in the Georgia Dome.

However, before that, Hogan was indeed the draw. Impressive for a Heel to be the Top Draw, too.

Dave Meltzer said:
Dave Meltzer never posted Hogan made $20 million in his best year.

Hogan, by his own estimation about five years ago, was worth $20 million.

Hogan's best year in WWF was $6 million. that's directly from people in WWF who have access to such records. His beat year in WCW was probably $8 million. If you want to do the WCW math, you can figure it out:

$25,000 per TV or house show
$600,000 minimum on PPV or 25% of the company gross

He had a big cut of his merchandise, although his merchandise actually didn't sell nearly as well as Sting and Goldberg's at the time.

1998 would be the best year in WCW.

The biggest payoff for any WWF wrestler for any show before 2001 was $750,000 that Hogan got for the Andre match. Hogan topped $1 million on a few of the biggest WCW events.

Dave Meltzer said:
Goldberg had incredible charisma. That's all he had. Goldberg was already working longer matches by the end of 1998. I saw him live several times. The average fan was more jakked to see Goldberg than every other wrestler. They had just come off a couple of successful stadium shows that did 30,000 people each, and had topped 30,000 advance for Atlanta. Neither Sammartino nor Andre ever pulled numbers like that in theri lives, and they kept Andre "undefeated" nationally until 1987 in fans' eyes, so that was 14 or so years of national touring.

If anything, the fans were telling them it's not time to change the key guy.

He should have lost when it was time, to someone that could have a great drawing program with it. The public would have told them when ticket sales slowed. Any other reason for him losing when it was the most successful gimmick in company history would have been stupid.

How many great Goldberg vs. Nash PPV buy rates for rematches did they draw? They didn't even book another Goldberg vs. Hogan match. So what did his losing accomplish other than it being the beginning of a rapid business slide?

Hogan is fantastic at getting "pops." Once of the best I've ever seen. You know who else was fantastic at that, Jimmy Valiant. Dusty Rhodes was one of the best as well. Hogan will get them until he's 60. Maybe longer.

What does it mean? Sometimes a lot. Sometimes nothing.

Guys who know how to work a crowd can great pops and it's the great illusion of all. Jim Duggan and Rikishi's stink face drew massive pops. At the same time Rikishi used to tear the house down in WWF, the ratings for his matches would always go down.

Hogan was a giant draw from 1984-92. Failed in 93 and left. Big PPV draw from 94-early 99, dying together with Flair in the spring and that was it for the company. Hogan didn't draw that well at house shows in WCW until the entire company itself was on fire, and then they were drawing with him and without him. Hogan was never close to the man when it came to WCW's big period of ratings. Goldberg and Flair moved the audience the most consistently. Hogan was good, but he was second tier with Savage.

In WWE, his first 2-3 PPVs and first TV appearances did great for the nostalgic return. Check the ratings that year. They died after a while. I remember the week, there was a Hogan interview shortly after he'd won the title where the audience tuned out in droves. They had to get the belt from him. People wanted him to win the belt, but when he did, they didn't want it anymore. It's a funny deal which is why this is a very difficult business at times. Smackdown ratings were the lowest in history, hitting 2.7 a few times, when they revolved around Hogan. But Hogan's pops were so huge everyone was blinded. As soon as Hogan got mad about not getting to beat Lesnar and walked out, the ratings immediately turned around. The turnaround started the week after Hogan left, due to the ascension of Lesnar

Now today, business wise, maybe one time and out every 18 months is good for him and kept like that, it should always work, although diminishing returns each time out. You can't credit Mania's buy rate this year to him. He was in no advertising for the show. Backlash had an incredible ad budget, biggest of any B show in years, his first match in nearly two years in WWE, and was a big disappointment. HHH vs. Batista hell in a cell with no Hogan greatly outdrew HHH vs. Batista with no cage and all the mainstream advertising around Hogan's first match. Aside from his first unadvertised appearance where most people thought it was going to be Rock and not Hogan as the surprise partner, which did huge, Raw ratings have been slightly below average for his appearances. SummerSlam will do well for a dream match, but that's as much due to Michaels and the match-up. Dream matches first time of legends almost always are easy draws, and Hogan is a legend. Hogan vs. Austin will do very well. If Hogan was facing Batista or JBL, there would be no legend vs. legend deal out of it and it would not do well.


And that is clearly the strategy. He'll be out there promoting TNA when they are ready to do so, and implement some changes first. Why does it make sense to heavily promote the product, before you are able to strategically position your company where you want it to be? It's obvious that some changes need to be made to prepare for taking the company to the next level, first, before promoting the company before they are ready to do so.
Wait a minute. Hogan was on Larry King, Howard Stern, and Jimmy Fallon on the day he signed to TNA. All 3 shows have combined over 30 million fans a day at 3 different times of the day. You're telling me Dixie and Hogan's "strategy" was to not plug TNA on 3 mainstream shows in a span of 2 days? You're telling me they didn't want millions of potential viewers to watch TNA?

Really?

Do you seriously understand what you're saying?

That is smart too you?



You're making this too easy for me.
 
I did not say that the company would die without Angle. I am on record stating that Angle actually made very little difference in ratings and buyrates since he actually joined the company.

Oh my bad you said it would be a death knell.

I would look forward to a Kurt return. I think it's a given he is going to jump ship as soon as his contract is up.

That will be yet another nail in the coffin to TNA, as the writing will be on the wall at this point, that nothing is happening in the company and nor are they going anywhere

You also piggy backed on my argument, that he wouldn't draw after I proved you wrong [You actually said he was a buyrate draw, which he wasn't without Joe or Sting]- which was constant with you around February.


Again, you're lying and I'm right a recurring theme even here at Wrestlezone.

Congrats on the mod status also, I know you've been looking for a gig like that for a while now.

I'll wait 3 days to talk to you again.
 
I can do this sometimes, the reason, because my singular opinion means fuck all, same as yours, same as everyone else that posts on this board. I have accepted this, I will bitch and moan about CM Punk being pushed cos' I think he's shit, but if theres a market for the fellow then I have to accept that. I'll just find the good points for me elsewhere.

Anyone who thinks that WWE is going to change a successful aspect of their show just for them is a selfish lunatic.
 
I can do this sometimes, the reason, because my singular opinion means fuck all, same as yours, same as everyone else that posts on this board. I have accepted this, I will bitch and moan about CM Punk being pushed cos' I think he's shit, but if theres a market for the fellow then I have to accept that. I'll just find the good points for me elsewhere.

Anyone who thinks that WWE is going to change a successful aspect of their show just for them is a selfish lunatic.

I think it's fine to have opinions in looking at WWE from a Business perspective. It's another to be willing to sacrifice your own personal opinions of what you feel constitutes a "good product" for what Vince McMahon feels you should. That is nothing more than being a "blind, spoon-fed sheep".

In all honesty, the wrestling business would probably be in a Hell of a lot better state, if Smarks simply went back to being "Smart" "FANS" ... instead of willfully and blindly following Vince McMahon to the slaughterhouse. The more negative attention Vince receives from fans who put their own personal principles first, the better off all the fans would likely be.
 
I initially started reading this thread, and thought to myself "Hey, this is actually kind of interesting, a chance to actually talk about the Shareholder Mentality itself." Then, after just a few posts, it devolved into a bunch of mindless, ridiculous drivel, with all of the principles involved contradicting not only each other but also themselves at times. At one point, I believe The Industry actually somehow started arguing with himself, and John Bragg appears to be arguing with The Industry and Sidious simultaneously. It's very confusing. I wouldn't even mention it, except somehow it has become more about 1) What was said on other message boards, 2) How Hogan will help/hurt TNA, 3) Whether Hogan or Flair was a bigger draw, 4) Whether the Attitude Era or the PG Era was better, 5) Who is a bigger hypocrite/liar about their previous posts. You know what guys, most of us could really care less about your history with each other, most of the stuff you have to say to each other is completely irrelevant to the actual topic at hand, and...BAH!

OK, now, to the topic at hand...I seriously doubt that you can find two people just on this board that will agree 100% on every aspect of what they want to see on a wrestling show. You might find some that are pretty close, maybe as much as 95-97% agreement, but there will still be some element that one wants and the other doesn't. And in most cases there are going to be huge differences. Some people want to see multiple title changes, others want to see a long-reigning champion. Some want to see John Cena win all the time, some want to see him disappear forever. Some want to see a purely action-based show, others want to see more storyline over action. Most people want to see Hornswaggle go away, a few actually find him entertaining. Becca wants to see HBK naked, the rest of us could do without. No single show will ever live up to everyone's expectations. In the case of that last example I just gave, that's a very good thing.

Yes, there is a lot that I don't like about the product on TV today. There was also a lot I didn't like about the product in the Attitude Era, as well. Even as a kid who grew up with Hogan as the WWF champion, there was a lot I didn't like about the product then. And in those days I believed it was real. (As I've stated elsewhere, I was dumb as a kid).

I personally think the guest host concept is absolutely dreadful in execution. I think it could have been brilliant, but it has been handled terribly. I absolutely despise the way promo's are handled today, and I think Hornswaggle has no business being in a WWE ring. I happen to like the current incarnation of DX, but thats primarily because I'm not expecting them to be the same DX that we had ten years ago...I am able to appreciate the type of humor they are attempting now. I think people are missing the fact that they aren't trying to be the edgy, troublemaking rebels that they were in the 90s, they are instead showing that they don't always have to be super intense, and like to goof around and have fun. I could care less whether Vince McMahon makes money or loses money, as long as there are still parts of the show that I can enjoy.

See, the problem I have with a lot of the posts I see in this forum is that a lot of people try to argue that this or that is "not what the fans want to see." Well, I have a big ol "Fuck You" card for every one of those posters, because I am a fan, and you have no clue what I want to see unless you've asked me personally.

I do have a certain level of interest in buyrates and "draws", not because it influences whether I like the product, or accept what I'm given, but because it gives me an idea of how other people feel about certain aspects of the business. I have argued about whether this angle or that was good for business or bad for business before, not because I give a damn about how rich VKM gets, but rather because that was the topic of conversation at the time. And there are times when it is appropriate, such as the endless debates about who was better than who, and the like. Those numbers apply there, because ultimately they do determine who the majority of people were able to get behind and who they weren't. It doesn't always mean I personally agreed with those numbers, just that they are an indication of overall success. As an example, I argued ferociously in the last WZ tournament that Bret Hart was not really the best ever...the numbers prove that in most people's opinion he was, but my personal opinion remains the same.

So yes, there are times when I will phrase an argument in the terms of what is best for the business. This does not make me a "Shareholder," this makes me a poster who works with the tools I have available. What would truly make me a "Shareholder" would be if I hated every aspect of WWE programming, yet continued to watch the shows because "I don't want to let Vinnie Mac down, now do I. Just because I don't like it, some people still do, so I better watch it and keep those ratings up."

But, that's just my take on it.
 
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