Is WWE having its WCW moment?

[The Yes Guy]

The likes of Punk leaving because of the frustration over bookings..

WWE trying to sign part-timers like Hogan, Sting, Batista and so on..

Extremely Over stars like Bryan being booked pathetically..

The PPVs becoming increasingly nonsensical..

Ratings taking a plunge..

..is WWE having a WCW moment...?? or is this the start of something big..??

 

[thebarber]

how is this a WCW moment???????

The likes of Punk leaving because of the frustration over bookings... What WCW stars on a main event level left WCW for frustration over bookings? Hardly anyone. Benoit and co left, mid carders I might add in 2000, Benoit left because Sullivan was back ion charge of the booking committee, Benoit being married to Sullivans ex wife, he knew he would continue to be booked in the mid card. Flair, Hogan, Hart, Goldberg, Nash, Luger etc didnt walk out over the booking, they stayed, collected fat pay cheques and had great ratings up until 2000-2001.

WWE trying to sign part-timers like Hogan, Sting, Batista and so on..
When did WCW sign part timers who were huge main event level talent? WCW bought guys like Rodman and Master P and non-wrestling guys, but didnt bring in main event level guys for short runs to headline ppvs.

Extremely Over stars like Bryan being booked pathetically.. WCW had wrestlers on the booking committee, WWE doesnt have that

The PPVs becoming increasingly nonsensical.. WCW ppvs were a diabolic mess for years, WWE internet marks who dont get there way think the current ppvs havent been good, well come Mania XXX, most of them will realise the journey will have been worth it once the payoffs arrive. #patience

Ratings taking a plunge....WWE ratings have been down for years, WCW had shit ratings all the time until they started the nWo angle and only stayed on top for just over 18 months, hardly a comparison, especially when WWE hasnt got any real competition.

WCW and current day WWE are nothing alike. WCW had dozens of main event talent, WWE have a handful of full time main event talent, and it is WWE who dont make new stars thus are left with having to go back to oldies to try and boost ppv buy rates.

 

[The Yes Guy]

WWE trying to sign part-timers like Hogan, Sting, Batista and so on..
When did WCW sign part timers who were huge main event level talent? WCW bought guys like Rodman and Master P and non-wrestling guys, but didnt bring in main event level guys for short runs to headline ppvs.

Remember Bret Hart, Ultimate Warrior???

The PPVs becoming increasingly nonsensical.. WCW ppvs were a diabolic mess for years, WWE internet marks who dont get there way think the current ppvs havent been good, well come Mania XXX, most of them will realise the journey will have been worth it once the payoffs arrive. #patience

Please., give me a break. Most of (or should I say all the PPVs of last year, have been pathetic. it's not about patience. Just look at RR 14 for god sake.

Ratings taking a plunge....WWE ratings have been down for years, WCW had shit ratings all the time until they started the nWo angle and only stayed on top for just over 18 months, hardly a comparison, especially when WWE hasnt got any real competition.

I really don't get what u mean, but what I meant was, during it's decline, WCW had pathetic ratings because of bad utilization of it's talent.

WWE is doing the same thing by not concentrating on ppl like punk and Bryan and Ziggler and the rest and bringing back the part-timers.

 

[faltemer]

By plunge do you mean for the most part staying the same year round and actually having noticeable bumps when part timers are on?

The rest is mostly opinions so not gonna talk about those, and yes of course they want to sign part time stars, because guess what, most of the time they are worth the money they spend on them.

 

[yur_momma]

how is this a WCW moment???????

The likes of Punk leaving because of the frustration over bookings... What WCW stars on a main event level left WCW for frustration over bookings? Hardly anyone. Benoit and co left, mid carders I might add in 2000, Benoit left because Sullivan was back ion charge of the booking committee, Benoit being married to Sullivans ex wife, he knew he would continue to be booked in the mid card. Flair, Hogan, Hart, Goldberg, Nash, Luger etc didnt walk out over the booking, they stayed, collected fat pay cheques and had great ratings up until 2000-2001.

WWE trying to sign part-timers like Hogan, Sting, Batista and so on..
When did WCW sign part timers who were huge main event level talent? WCW bought guys like Rodman and Master P and non-wrestling guys, but didnt bring in main event level guys for short runs to headline ppvs.

Extremely Over stars like Bryan being booked pathetically.. WCW had wrestlers on the booking committee, WWE doesnt have that

The PPVs becoming increasingly nonsensical.. WCW ppvs were a diabolic mess for years, WWE internet marks who dont get there way think the current ppvs havent been good, well come Mania XXX, most of them will realise the journey will have been worth it once the payoffs arrive. #patience

Ratings taking a plunge....WWE ratings have been down for years, WCW had shit ratings all the time until they started the nWo angle and only stayed on top for just over 18 months, hardly a comparison, especially when WWE hasnt got any real competition.

WCW and current day WWE are nothing alike. WCW had dozens of main event talent, WWE have a handful of full time main event talent, and it is WWE who dont make new stars thus are left with having to go back to oldies to try and boost ppv buy rates.

so much wrong with this.
first of all benoit made sid tap for the world title and he walked out the next night. but hes a mid carder? giving him the world title is showing him he will continuously be pushed in the mid card? lmao. you should work for wwe, they like re-writing history too.

rating were always shit?? lmao...they had better ratings than any wrestling gets today.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

so much wrong with this.
first of all benoit made sid tap for the world title and he walked out the next night. but hes a mid carder? giving him the world title is showing him he will continuously be pushed in the mid card? lmao. you should work for wwe, they like re-writing history too.

I recall he felt giving him the World Title was a last ditch effort for WCW to convince him to stay. So in his mind winning the title due to politics is no different than being held down due to politics. Also Sullivan was returning to take over booking so Benoit knew he had to bail.

So answer the thread's question. With the exception of building their own stars I would have to agree with this. The constant use of part timers in the main event, bringing the old guys in, giving titles to these old guys (Outlwas as the tag champions?), and of course the DB incident. So yeah I have to agree it sure feels that way.

 

[enviousdominous]

The likes of Punk leaving because of the frustration over bookings..

You're comparing Punk's departure from WWE to the departures of Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko from WCW. Unlike the gentlemen that left WCW, Punk has been granted status as the number one guy. It's not a "what if?" thought in our heads to conceptualize him as the number one guy, it's happened. The guys who left WCW were never granted status at the top of the card, Benoit was given a brief world title run but he left anyway.

WWE trying to sign part-timers like Hogan, Sting, Batista and so on..

I assume that you're comparing the signing of those individuals to WCW's signing David Arquette, Road Warrior Animal, The Insane Clown Posse and The Kiss Demon? The big difference there is that Hogan, Sting and Batista can actually draw and will be used more responsibly. I know you don't often hear the term "responsible" used in reference to a decision made by the WWE, but we're comparing them to WCW here.

Extremely Over stars like Bryan being booked pathetically..

I'm on the fence about this one. Daniel Bryan has obviously not been booked in ways that would make the most use of his potential. Whether or not this was a dumb move is impossible to know, part of my being a fan of his is in his status as an underdog. I'm honestly happy if he gets booked at all, but I would also like to see him have status as the top guy eventually. I don't see a relevant comparison to how he's been used and how a held down WCW talent was underused. Daniel Bryan is being granted a storyline that carefully reflects on his stardom, I honestly don't have a big problem with how he's being booked at the moment.

The PPVs becoming increasingly nonsensical..

You have to give me a little more to work with here. Nonsensical is a little too generic a criticism.

Ratings taking a plunge..

Source? Comparisons?

..is WWE having a WCW moment...?? or is this the start of something big..??

I think they're building to a future where, when they feel the time is right, Daniel Bryan will have his big moment and they'll milk it for as long as it makes money. I don't think that WWE is on the verge of financial collapse due to constantly hemorrhaging money on extravagant production costs and a backup roster of over two hundred performers who literally get paid to do nothing. WCW's downfall had as many destructive factors as a Japanese robot trying to diffuse a bomb and divide by zero at the same time. If WCW's problems were limited to shoddy booking and disgruntled performers, they'd still be here.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

Let's put it this way - in less than a month's time, WWE stock has been growing like shit. It went from 14$ a stock, to 21$ a stock. Sure this doesn't seem much, but it's making Vince McMahon go from a millionaire to a billionaire. It hardly and I mean hardly seems like what WCW was pulling out. Also, they are occupying big ass stadiums for their biggest event, WCW had what TNA calls a big house in their time. WWE will not unfold because the IWC doesn't get what they want - if anything we are part of the problem and I wish that WWE would just call it "quits" so that the focus would be in shitty indy and b-class companies

WWE is going nowhere, specially, and I mean SPECIALLY with the WWE Network. I haven't find that much people that are saying: "Oh I'm not signing that crap!" quite the contrary, everyone seems great with it. UFC is scared that if that continues, they'll have to devalue their PPV price. If anything WWE is yet again growing. Last year they had the biggest grossing WrestleMania and this one seems to be even bigger than last year's. You are a moron for creating such thread and people have already gave you examples for that. Go away now.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Hulk Hogan joins TNA: "OH MAH GAD IT'S TEH WCWZ AGAIN TNA IS DYING"

WWE shows clear signs of WCW's mistakes and practices: "Nope. WWE is the best ever. Attitude Era was shit. Bring me more Batista."

Stupid celebrity involvement, lazy storylines, same guys on top, burying good talent, overpaying guys, actually using money as the only incentive to keep them or lure them in Yeah, it's not like WCW at all.

Heck, TNA is too. Both of them are WCW. Because WCW was a sick, dying man. So are TNA and the WWE. So is wrestling. SURPRISE!

It'snot1998andwrestlingsucksnowyayrevelations.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Let's put it this way - in less than a month's time, WWE stock has been growing like shit. It went from 14$ a stock, to 21$ a stock. Sure this doesn't seem much, but it's making Vince McMahon go from a millionaire to a billionaire. It hardly and I mean hardly seems like what WCW was pulling out. Also, they are occupying big ass stadiums for their biggest event, WCW had what TNA calls a big house in their time. WWE will not unfold because the IWC doesn't get what they want - if anything we are part of the problem and I wish that WWE would just call it "quits" so that the focus would be in shitty indy and b-class companies

WWE is going nowhere, specially, and I mean SPECIALLY with the WWE Network. I haven't find that much people that are saying: "Oh I'm not signing that crap!" quite the contrary, everyone seems great with it. UFC is scared that if that continues, they'll have to devalue their PPV price. If anything WWE is yet again growing. Last year they had the biggest grossing WrestleMania and this one seems to be even bigger than last year's. You are a moron for creating such thread and people have already gave you examples for that. Go away now.

Stock is based on public perception (among a shit ton of other things). It's 'Mania season, their stock always goes up this time around. It's when McMahon makes most of his money. Check it a couple of months after 'Mania and then we'll talk. It goes up and down, most of the time it's down. One spike means jack shit.

 

[Gibby]

There are some parallels between WCW & WWE with an older top line that people are a little long in the tooth over, reliance on part-timers and an under-utilised set of mid-carders. Crucially, the differences make the two stand apart with more clarity. The writing WWE has mostly makes sense - it's just that you disagree with it. WCW would call audibles all the time, pass the title around like baby photos, let talent hold the pencil, pay old farts money it couldn't afford, swerves every week, suppress its developmental, sign guys on hearing they were hot and do nothing with them and had guys like the Steiners taking liberties on fellow professionals.

 

[The Yes Guy]

You have to give me a little more to work with here. Nonsensical is a little too generic a criticism.

You can look at any PPVs thro' the year, you'll know what I mean.

Source? Comparisons?

Here's the ratings for the year 2000 for WCW
http://www.prowrestling.com/almanac/wwe_vs_wcw_ratings/

And here's WWE ratings for the year 2013
http://www.gerweck.net/tv-ratings/2013-ratings/


Don't they look similar???

 

[zomigosh]

Let's put it this way - in less than a month's time, WWE stock has been growing like shit. It went from 14$ a stock, to 21$ a stock. Sure this doesn't seem much, but it's making Vince McMahon go from a millionaire to a billionaire.

You're (obviously) right that the WWE isn't going anywhere and this is in no way shape of form a "WCW moment", but those stocks are completely arbitrary to the situation at hand.

They are only up because of the announcement of the network and the potential for the new RAW and Smackdown contracts, they will go down just as fast as they came up if the network doesn't make its expectations and they don't sign good RAW and Smackdown contracts. Bad decisions through Wrestlemania time could lead to that. I'm not going to say it's going to kill them, but all of this bad buzz just before the WWE Network is coming out is NOT good.

 

[shafe_41]

No. Why do people think that once something big happens... in this case... WWE possibly losing a huge asset like Punk, that WWE is automatically grasping at straws to stay relevant? Does WWE have someone like David Arquette as champion? No. Is the WWE putting Dennis Rodman in the Shield or the Wyatt Family? No. Are they booking matches with Jay Leno against Brock Lesnar? No. Is Vince Russo coming out in the middle of PPV events doing shoots on superstars and having the champion lay down for another champion? No.
So how in the hell is WWE having a WCW moment? Something isn't going WWE's way right now. ZOMG TOP GUY IS UNHAPPY!!! CLASSIC WCW!!!! Just ridiculous.

I'll bet nobody said it was a WCW moment when Austin left Raw because he wasn't going to job to Lesnar in a KotR qualifying match. When Floyd Mayweather and Donald Trump were big parts of Wrestlemania, I'll bet nobody said it was a WCW moment just because celebrities and other athletes were booked into the show.

The PPVs aren't "nonsense." The ratings aren't "taking a plunge." And booking part-timers is hardly anything new. WWE shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as WCW unless the words "own" "bought" or "acquire(d)" are in the same sentence. Just a ridiculous notion.

 

[Wald]

how is this a WCW moment???????

I don't think he's right but it's worth a comparison when you see things like this (posted from another forum where the same point was brought up)

A wrestler from The Kliq in charge of booking - Check.
A three hour weekly television show - Check.
Main event slots occupied by over 40s - Check.
Ludicrous booking decisions and missed opportunities - Check.
Fans booing and ridiculing the product at live events - Check.
Complete failure to build new stars - Check.
Talented wrestlers leaving out of sheer frustration - Check.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

CM Punk is one of WWE's 2 top guys behind Cena. WWE losing Punk is bigger than WCW losing Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero and Saturn. They were mid-carders when they left WCW, not main-eventors/top guys,

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I see what you mean. There seems to be confusion as to what on earth is happening in the main event scene. Last August - Daniel Bryan (fresh of a comedy role teaming with Kane) was chosen by an injured John Cena to be his opponent at Summer Slam. As the build up was based around the Authority internal disputes and the focus not being on DB (and the fact that Super Cena had just destroyed Mark Henry)made the PPV unappealing.This led to low buy rates and WWE blaming DB. At the event HHH turned on DB and handed the belt to Orton; there was no real linked build up- so nobody cared; they just wanted DB to be champ. Since then - HBK turns on DB too (which was interesting but means nothing if it is going nowhere). Big show gets in the mix out of nowhere, CM Punk gets ignored whilst he and Bryan build up the new comers and then they both get treated like scum at the Royal Rumble by the booking.

Sure - that would totally be acceptable if there was a pay off coming; but there is not. and Wrestlemania this year, like every year since Wrestlemania 17 is veteransmania - when the two stars of the company get overlooked for a decent and hard earned pay day- you cannot blame punk for walking.

 

[BaconBits]

Good lord these Punk threads are getting worse and worse. Now because he quit WWE is 2000 WCW. If you're making that comparison, you don't know a goddamn thing about wrestling.

Levity folks, some of ya'll seriously need it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Let's put it this way - in less than a month's time, WWE stock has been growing like shit. It went from 14$ a stock, to 21$ a stock. Sure this doesn't seem much, but it's making Vince McMahon go from a millionaire to a billionaire. It hardly and I mean hardly seems like what WCW was pulling out. Also, they are occupying big ass stadiums for their biggest event, WCW had what TNA calls a big house in their time. WWE will not unfold because the IWC doesn't get what they want - if anything we are part of the problem and I wish that WWE would just call it "quits" so that the focus would be in shitty indy and b-class companies.

WCW was circling the drain financially the last year to year & a half of its existence. Over the course of a few months, WWE's stock has gone from about $7.50 per share to being $21.42 as of yesterday. The company's stock is worth about $1.3 billion and takes in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year. If the WWE Network is a success and they're able to get the 1 to 2 million subscribers in 2014 that they're hoping for, that's another $120-$240 million that goes right in their pockets, with none of it going to cable providers. The last I read a few weeks back, WrestleMania XXX had already sold nearly 60,000 tickets without a single match being announced or advertised. So yeah, I agree, WWE looks to be in absolutely no danger of having anything resembling a WCW moment financially.

I'm a huge CM Punk fan, but if Punk decides to not come back to WWE and go to TNA or ROH, it's not going to be a crippling blow. They'll have lost a really, really great member of their roster and that sucks for people who're really into him. But, if WWE could survive Hulk Hogan leaving, they can weather the storm of not having CM Punk on the roster.

 

[shafe_41]

I don't think he's right but it's worth a comparison when you see things like this (posted from another forum where the same point was brought up)

A wrestler from The Kliq in charge of booking - Check.
A three hour weekly television show - Check.
Main event slots occupied by over 40s - Check.
Ludicrous booking decisions and missed opportunities - Check.
Fans booing and ridiculing the product at live events - Check.
Complete failure to build new stars - Check.
Talented wrestlers leaving out of sheer frustration - Check.

Wrestler from the Kliq? That's pure coincidence. You knew when HHH married into the family that he would one day take over. Especially with Shane distancing himself from the WWE and Vince getting older. HHH loves the business and honestly... he's responsible for NXT thriving over the past year or two and it continues to get better.

Three hour show? Also coincidence. Everybody dumped all over the 3 hour Raw when they announced it was coming. I said it was good. Are there always spots wasted on Raw? No. Are you bored every segment of every week? No. Is it a waste? No. Yes you have pointless segments. No TV show is perfect. Raw never will be.

Main event slots held by stars over 40? Where? Batista, Taker and Triple H? Triple H is a presence on tv but he's not a regular in the ring during the year. Batista has been back a week. We'll see how regular he really is. No I don't love Batista in the headlining spot of Mania either... but he left a VERY over heel and was a VERY over face prior to that during his main run with the company. You can't fault him for that. Batista worked hard during his time in the WWE. He deserves it. Just because the fans don't LOVE it does not mean Batista isn't deserving of what he gets. And now that he's in a MAJOR headlining role in a Marvel movie which is attached to that Marvel Universe, that cross-promotion is going to be phenomenal for the WWE. It's a business to make money. Not to cater to every wrestling fan. As for Taker... find me 5 people that complain about Undertaker wrestling one phenomenal match every single year at his age. Exactly. And don't even start with Hogan. He will host Mania. Not wrestle there. Hogan is on the Mt. Rushmore of wrestling. The WWE you sit and enjoy to this day may not even exist without Hogan. Love it or not... it's the truth.

Terrible booking decisions and missed opportunities? Where? Daniel Bryan? Whether the whole thing with Bryan is actually a work or not, you're still watching. WWE wins. Batista winning the Rumble? That I give you. Again... I'm not thrilled with that decision either... but that's ONE not so great decision. Of course it's going to magnified because it's fresh in everybody's mind. Wait until after Mania comes and goes. You won't even care that Batista won the Rumble at that point. Sure the world wants Daniel Bryan to rise above and be THE guy. You can't have Superman without Lex Luthor.

Fans booing? We pay the ticket prices. We can do anything we want. Fans didn't sh*t all over the WWE on a regular basis booing big decisions other than the Rumble. That's a one-time thing. Cena and Orton had a great match. It was one of the better ones they've had with each other. It wasn't a five star match. But it wasn't a three star match either. They played off the crowd very well. Orton's heel tactics were right on during it. Sure he may have disliked the crowd, but he used it to his advantage. They had some good false finishes. I was at the Rumble and I even said to the guys beside me "This is actually a really good match." So the fans had a little fun during the beginning of it. So what? That's what they pay for. Once it got going and got into the meat of the match, the "Randy Savage" chants and "We want Divas" chants stopped. The crowd got into it. One thing nobody outside of Pittsburgh would even consider though is... what was the last PPV held in Pittsburgh? I'll tell you. Bragging Rights in '09. What was the headline match? Cena/Orton in an Iron Man Match. Pittsburgh got the same PPV main event stars twice in a row. So we did sort of get shafted there. Some of the reactions from the fans could have stemmed from that. I know that's why I was bummed going into the Rumble. I really doubt I was the only one.

Complete failure to build new stars? Did you even watch the Rumble? Three guys came out of just that PPV alone 10x bigger than they went in. Bray Wyatt. Roman Reigns. Daniel Bryan. Yes Bryan was big at this time last year... but not to the height of where he's at right now. I also recall when the WWE signed Bryan Danielson and gave him the name "Daniel Bryan." Every single person laughed at it. Said it was lazy and dull. Who's laughing now?

Wrestlers leaving out of frustration? One guy. One. Punk has always had a short fuse and marched to the beat of his own drum and told everybody he'll leave on his terms and not those of anyone else. He's a guy that loves the business and loves to wrestle. I'm sure he loves the toys and luxury the money he's made in WWE got him... but he'd be the first to tell you he'd give them all away if need be. If you watched his documentary, he wrote out a six-figure check to Joey Mercury so he could keep his house. Money doesn't seem to matter that much to him. Sure he likes it. Who doesn't? He's a red-blooded American. But he doesn't NEED any more of it.

There is absolutely no "WCW Moment" happening in the WWE. None. You're tuning in every single week to see what happens to your favorite talents and how they overcome the odds or take down the top guy. Not to see what Dennis Rodman or Karl Malone are doing at the next PPV or what a train wreck the show is going to be.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I love how everyone is pointing to the stock price now as justification of the WWE's success. I'd suggest those same people go back to Yahoo Finance or wherever they are looking at the stock prices, and click the Max time frame for the chart to see where the WWE has been and where it may be going. The spike in the price has everything to do with the WWE network, or rather the promise of the WWE network.

It remains to be seen whether that network actually work to increase revenues. If it doesn't, you will see the stock price crater again.

All this is to say that whether it is Batista, or Undertaker or Cena or Orton, or Lesnar is relatively immaterial to the day in and day out of WWE's success in the short term. The problem is that the WWE's ultimate success comes down to a few, nearly once in a generation entertainers who can capture international media attention and thereby ratchet up interest in their product to a whole new level that they can sustain for awhile.

The entertainers who were able to do that: Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock. That's it. Once those guys left, revenues started falling back to the next sustainable level.

So in the end, this whole business is predicated on building up the next big superstar. The WWE Network is first chance they've had at finding a bigger audience willing to pay for their product, and that's why there's a bump.

None of this is to say that WWE is like WCW...that's just patently false. It may seem that way from a content perspective, but from a money perspective (the perspective that matters), it's night and day.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Wrestler from the Kliq? That's pure coincidence. You knew when HHH married into the family that he would one day take over. Especially with Shane distancing himself from the WWE and Vince getting older. HHH loves the business and honestly... he's responsible for NXT thriving over the past year or two and it continues to get better.

Three hour show? Also coincidence. Everybody dumped all over the 3 hour Raw when they announced it was coming. I said it was good. Are there always spots wasted on Raw? No. Are you bored every segment of every week? No. Is it a waste? No. Yes you have pointless segments. No TV show is perfect. Raw never will be.

Main event slots held by stars over 40? Where? Batista, Taker and Triple H? Triple H is a presence on tv but he's not a regular in the ring during the year. Batista has been back a week. We'll see how regular he really is. No I don't love Batista in the headlining spot of Mania either... but he left a VERY over heel and was a VERY over face prior to that during his main run with the company. You can't fault him for that. Batista worked hard during his time in the WWE. He deserves it. Just because the fans don't LOVE it does not mean Batista isn't deserving of what he gets. And now that he's in a MAJOR headlining role in a Marvel movie which is attached to that Marvel Universe, that cross-promotion is going to be phenomenal for the WWE. It's a business to make money. Not to cater to every wrestling fan. As for Taker... find me 5 people that complain about Undertaker wrestling one phenomenal match every single year at his age. Exactly. And don't even start with Hogan. He will host Mania. Not wrestle there. Hogan is on the Mt. Rushmore of wrestling. The WWE you sit and enjoy to this day may not even exist without Hogan. Love it or not... it's the truth.

Terrible booking decisions and missed opportunities? Where? Daniel Bryan? Whether the whole thing with Bryan is actually a work or not, you're still watching. WWE wins. Batista winning the Rumble? That I give you. Again... I'm not thrilled with that decision either... but that's ONE not so great decision. Of course it's going to magnified because it's fresh in everybody's mind. Wait until after Mania comes and goes. You won't even care that Batista won the Rumble at that point. Sure the world wants Daniel Bryan to rise above and be THE guy. You can't have Superman without Lex Luthor.

Fans booing? We pay the ticket prices. We can do anything we want. Fans didn't sh*t all over the WWE on a regular basis booing big decisions other than the Rumble. That's a one-time thing. Cena and Orton had a great match. It was one of the better ones they've had with each other. It wasn't a five star match. But it wasn't a three star match either. They played off the crowd very well. Orton's heel tactics were right on during it. Sure he may have disliked the crowd, but he used it to his advantage. They had some good false finishes. I was at the Rumble and I even said to the guys beside me "This is actually a really good match." So the fans had a little fun during the beginning of it. So what? That's what they pay for. Once it got going and got into the meat of the match, the "Randy Savage" chants and "We want Divas" chants stopped. The crowd got into it. One thing nobody outside of Pittsburgh would even consider though is... what was the last PPV held in Pittsburgh? I'll tell you. Bragging Rights in '09. What was the headline match? Cena/Orton in an Iron Man Match. Pittsburgh got the same PPV main event stars twice in a row. So we did sort of get shafted there. Some of the reactions from the fans could have stemmed from that. I know that's why I was bummed going into the Rumble. I really doubt I was the only one.

Complete failure to build new stars? Did you even watch the Rumble? Three guys came out of just that PPV alone 10x bigger than they went in. Bray Wyatt. Roman Reigns. Daniel Bryan. Yes Bryan was big at this time last year... but not to the height of where he's at right now. I also recall when the WWE signed Bryan Danielson and gave him the name "Daniel Bryan." Every single person laughed at it. Said it was lazy and dull. Who's laughing now?

Wrestlers leaving out of frustration? One guy. One. Punk has always had a short fuse and marched to the beat of his own drum and told everybody he'll leave on his terms and not those of anyone else. He's a guy that loves the business and loves to wrestle. I'm sure he loves the toys and luxury the money he's made in WWE got him... but he'd be the first to tell you he'd give them all away if need be. If you watched his documentary, he wrote out a six-figure check to Joey Mercury so he could keep his house. Money doesn't seem to matter that much to him. Sure he likes it. Who doesn't? He's a red-blooded American. But he doesn't NEED any more of it.

There is absolutely no "WCW Moment" happening in the WWE. None. You're tuning in every single week to see what happens to your favorite talents and how they overcome the odds or take down the top guy. Not to see what Dennis Rodman or Karl Malone are doing at the next PPV or what a train wreck the show is going to be.

None of this bullshit is relevant to what you are replying to.

This is WWE nowadays-

• They only think short term
  
• Same backstage politics
  
• Talents are unhappy
  
• Top guys are quitting
  
• Same wrestlers are hogging the spotlight
  
• They depend on older stars to carry the product

You are either too fucking stupid or just another WWE apologist fanboy. Keep kissing WWE's ass. WWE is modern day WCW, sheep.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

None of this bullshit is relevant to what you are replying to.

This is WWE nowadays-

• They only think short term
  
• Same backstage politics
  
• Talents are unhappy
  
• Top guys are quitting
  
• Same wrestlers are hogging the spotlight
  
• They depend on older stars to carry the product

You are either too fucking stupid or just another WWE apologist fanboy. Keep kissing WWE's ass. WWE is modern day WCW, sheep.

This makes no sense because for WWE to be a modern day WCW there needs to be another company going to buy it when it goes out of business. That is never going to happen in our lifetime.

Short term thinking and backstage politics I will give you but who is unhappy? Who are all these top guys quitting? Wrong on same wrestlers hogging the spotlight because Wyatt is getting pushed and Batista has been gone for years. Every fed has depended on older stars to carry their product except AE era WWF.

 

[Dagron]

I see a of people posting who didn't live through the MNW or don't remember it too clearly. Royal Rumble was the modern day equivalent of the "finger poke of doom" in January 1999. A stacked roster of full of talent run afoul by terrible, nonsensical booking as management flocks back to what worked years ago to the dismay of their audience (sound familiar?). Fans witnessed a reboot of old stories for no apparent reason in WCW with no payoff for Goldberg losing the night before via taser and the rest is history.

Now keep in mind, at that point, WCW was still getting massive ratings and live attendance and riding at an all time high. In that single moment, though, their nonsensical booking reached a tipping point and they never looked back. The difference was, fans had an alternative then if they didn't want to watch the schizophrenic feuds with no payoff in WCW; they just flipped the channel. Today all we have is to attempt to hijack the show or to stop watching altogether.

WWE is in no danger of dying whatsoever, but even so, they risk alienating fans and losing some profit when some of the die hards say 'enough is enough'. Being a lifetime WCW fanboy who never missed a live Nitro or Thunder til the very end, I can see a lot of parallels and witnessed first hand how fast things can go sideways if you insult your audience over and over with stupid booking. I think they got the message loud and clear and we'll see some changes in the weeks to come.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

lol what the hell are you talking about?

DB is being pushed brilliantly. HE'S AN UNDERDOG! HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HOLD THE STRAP! If he were to hold the strap, then....he's not an underdog.

Punk is one of my favorites, but he's not that important and I think it's a work.

WCW was dying financially, WWE is stronger financially than any pro wrestling company (including Tude era WWE) in history.

Also, stop looking at ratings. Jesus Christ it's 2014. Most people I know don't even have cable. They're about to make an enormous amount of money with WWE Network and a possible billion dollar TV deal. Get with the times. There aren't 50 channels for people to choose their entertainment from and that's it. There's Hulu, Youtube, Amazon, torrents, Vine, Twitter, Facebook, and a host of other shit that I don't even know about. Guess what doesn't take those into account, ratings. Guess what WWE doesn't give as much of a shit about, ratings. Also, if you look at ratings, don't look at the number, look at the ranking. The TV market is so split up at this point that you will probably not ever see ratings like 1999 again. It's basic math and probabilities.

I really get annoyed by the WWE doomsayers on here. You guys don't understand the entertainment market or business and make vague comparisons where maybe one thing is quasi similar to another.