Over In The 80's

[Y 2 Jake]

Weren't everybody. Everybody got a reaction. Obviously the reactions varied. But from Hogan to Billy Jack Haynes, everybody got a reaction. Not even small ones either. All were pretty decent. Especially by todays standars. Where unless you debut and squish a 60 year old Ric Flair, or are a crazy Jamaican you get no heat at all. Stand up Smackdown's Russian dude and Paul Birchill. So how would fans have reacted to certain superstars from the 80's, if they were arround now. Exactly the same. But 20 years later, with more cynical wrestling fans?

I'll use the Rockers as an example. They wouldn't be over. It's that simple. I'm not saying HBK as a singles wrestler wouldn't be over. But as a team nothing they did would get the fans behind them like they did 20 years ago. London & Kendick appear to be compaired to them a lot. I see the comparison. What L & K do today isn't more innovative, it's different. More high risk. The Rockers transported today would appear old hat. Nothing they did then would be new now. And along with L & K they all had the personality of Beth Phoenix.

 

[klunderbunker]

Wrestling today is so different from back then it's hard to not see this happening. Back in the 80s, wrestling hadn't hit mainstream as hard as it has now. Times were just different back then, as wrestling on television was a much rarer thing. Not to mention, gimmicks like that were new as well. No one had ever seen something like the Rockers or a Hulk Hogan for that long. All anyone was used to was something like Sammartino or Backlund, no real gimmicks to speak of at all, just guys in tights and boots wrestling. Today, we've seen everythign from a demon to a garbage man to aliens wrestling. There's almost nothing left to throw at us, and kayfabe is so much wearker than it used to be. Also, back in the 80s things had so much more time to develop as opposed to today when a "major feud" takes 3 months max. Back then a feud would be built up for several months, with the blow off match coming at the very end. With no weekly tv shows except for the occasional superstars which not everyone got, there was nothing except memories. I miss the 80s, such a great time to be a fan.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Heightened expectations play a huge role in how heat is harder to obtain nowadays. Kozlov coming out, doing the same 3 moves every week, and squashing people nobody gives a shit about (or have ever even heard of in most cases) doesn't give us anything more than what we've seen a million times. Kofi was flopping around, doing something different, so the audience took notice.

This goes for pretty much everything, not just wrestling. PS2 is considered out of date in terms of graphics and such, but back in the day, Super Mario World was freaking amazing lol. The movies that come out now are criticized for having sub-standard CGI (when movies like Dr. Strangelove have props that you can see the strings from). Wrestling fits in the same way, that its tiresome to see the same thing over and over with no surprises. A chair shot to the head 10 years ago meant a lot more than it does now. Hell, remember when Hell in a Cell meant something? Lol.

So the people in the 80s had less expectations to meet...on top of some other things that contribute to it, but I'll leave those for others. Too tired to write any more.

 

[FoleyIsGod]

Its true, as wrestling fans go, a lot of us on this board have seen and done it all.

The NWO, Monday Night Wars, Hell in a Cell #1 and #2, the first ladder match. The attitude era, way over the top characters like Stone Cold and The Rock.

You had Foley taking so many chair shots in that I Quit match that even his wife turned around and said no more.

We have seen everything, like the above says. Every gimmick imaginable, besides evil killer Nazis.

Everything in wrestling now is passe, nothings new anymore. Cena? A rehash of 80s Hogan. Batista? A rehash of practically every musclehead thats walked into a wrestling ring. One of the current gimmicks we handt seen before was Ortons Legend Killer, but that was due to having no legends to kill during the Attitude era, as they were all under contract to WCW.

 

[Davi323]

I dunno, when the WWE comes to Grand Rapids, I go during the day to meet the wrestlers as they arrive to the arena...I don't get geeked as much about John Cena, or Batista as I get geeked when Ricky the Dragon Steamboat and Sgt. Slaughter get out of their cars. They are still very over for me...Some gimmicks simply wouldn't work. I can't see a Koko B. Ware gimmick working now, or the Killer Bees, there is no chance Hillbilly Jim would have been as popular...Other wrestlers would simply transcend time. Andre the Giant would still have been Andre. I think Rowdy Roddy Piper, perhaps the best heel ever, could get today's crowds to hate him just as much as he did then. Animal and Hawk, the Road Warriors, in their primes, would be the best Tag Team of any era. As much as I personally despise him, I think, at least for a little while, the Ultimate Warrior would have been just as popular now, as he was then as well.

 

[scott_keystone]

wow im about to wage war against some posts here. how could you possibly say that wrestling wasnt mainstream in the 80's?!?! understanding that you werent really around in the 80s but how could you even make a claim as outrageous as that? see the participation of mr t and cyndi lauper for further evidence. i agree that being over in the rock n wrestling era was easier cause alot of gimmicks hasnt been done but certain things were recycled and pushed the envelope further and still got over ie rick rude - val venis.

 

[danaconda]

I'll use the Rockers as an example. They wouldn't be over. It's that simple.

True the Midnight Rockers/Rock and Roll Express/Rock and Roll RPMs would not be over in this day and age. The reason why is different though. Today if you see two guys with permed mullets and bandanna tied everywhere you would laugh your DAMN arse off. But take two high flying wrestlers and update the look with a maybe goth/emo/techno kinda look and I think it might work. Oh wait, what about the Hardy Boyz? Same thing but updated. The pace of a match and the moves have evolved in the last 20 years. Maybe the above poster remembers when the Iron Claw was considered a move that should be banned. If you did that in 2008 I think your might here a reverse pop, if such a thing exists. Just my thoughts