Should WWE Have Career Long Feuds?

[WWEvsJosh]

I was thinking about Cena and Edge's feud in 06 and how great it was and how well they made it seemed like they did not like each other. That then got me thinking, what if their feud was a career long feud? What I mean by that is what if Cena and Edge were enemies forever and could never get along no matter what.

What this means is no matter if they were both face or both heel, no matter what year, no matter what they are doing at the time a match can breakout between them at anytime.

What do you guys think of this idea?

 

[ECWcyrus]

It could work if done with the right people. I also think it would have to be done carefully so the feuds don't get to stale. Orton and Cena feud, and Orton and HHH feuds went for so long (granted they're not career long feuds) but they got a bit stale after awhile.

But i guess it could be entertaining as long as it's done properly

 

[rge2010]

Didnt The Rock and Steve Austin do something like that???

Pretty much from the off in 1998 when 'The Rock' was born all the way to 2003 when Rock retired Austin they had a fued. Sure, they tagged a few teams but that was forced, they never alligned with each other. Last year at WM you could tell there was still bad blood when they met, albeit respect. Imagine Wrestlemania 30, Austin comes back for 1 last match against Rock...awesome.

Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had a long running fued from the early 90s all the way to 2010 aswell!!!

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

In today's wrestling world I think this would be hard to pull off. There's so many face/heel changes that it would make it difficult storyline wise. Yes, I saw that you mentioned no matter whether they were heel or face they would hate each other, but there's also other things to factor in. What if Cena became the babyface of the WWE (like his has been) and Edge fizzled off into jobber status? How would they keep that alive then? It would do nothing for Cena in that case.

Plus, if they're both heel (or face) and they make one of those random pre PPV tag matches where the main event heels fight the main event faces, are they going to side step the build up of the PPV just for a segment of the 2 fighting on the same team? Wouldn't that take away from the PPV?

Plus to do it from the beginning, or at least somewhat early in their careers, that would take some serious long term planning, and lately the WWE is terrible at that. How would they know if the 2 wrestlers would have similar careers? What if one got injured in the midst of the storyline? There's just too many questions IMO.

Would it be cool? Sure. Would it be likely to happen? Probably not. The Rock/Austin feud happened for longer periods than most, but by happenstance more than anything. They were in the right place at the right time together. Both big stars. Plus, they weren't "career long" like you asked.

Good idea though.

 

[brighamosity]

Honestly, I already feel like John Cena and Randy Orton have one of these "career long feuds" you are talking about. I have seen several situations where they have crossed paths and given each other dirty looks as if they don't trust each other. Sure, they could team up or something, but I always feel like the match could end with an RKO or Attitude Adjustment just for the heck of it.

As far as rivalries go, Cena/Orton is just like Stone Cold/The Rock. They may not have feuded lately, since they're both faces, but it will happen again.

 

[OutsiderDX]

Of course. What makes great storytelling is layers and layers of plot. And one of those plots should be a wrestler who has a nemesis. Maybe even more intriguing is a wreslter who has "someone's number"- that one guy who he can never seem to beat.

I always liked the running storyline that Mankind had the Undertakers number.

Angles like that pay off years and years down the line, and make it fun for long time fans.

 

[dudedudedude]

Rock and Austin is one that comes to mind.

Never really ever teamed up together.

Showed that tension/respect for each other at Wrestlemania. That would have been your last 'life long' fued.

 

[xavyer]

Those feuds that most of you mentioned were great, but another one that was back and fourth that was also exiting was edge & christian vs the hardys, i remember those matches, no matter wich team was face and wich team heel, it was intense, fun to watch, and i even remember that both teams even use the "conquistador" gimmik to take the titles away from each other............

 

[Peoples_Champ]

The only way I can see this happening is with some kind of extra-connection between the two wrestlers - like Kane / Taker, Edge / Christian, Bret / Owen. The extra factor in those feuds are that they're storyline brothers.

I would love to see it if it were done well, but the problem is that the audience is so cynical and the Creative staff tend to drop the ball with the long-term feuds. There needs to be a fine balance between seeing a feud too often and not seeing it enough.

 

[Twiztid Rodimus]

I think the one we had the closest thing to a career long feud was Rock/Triple H

They fueded throughout each other their incarnations, for the IC belt, heavyweight, through Maivia/Helmsley, through The Nation/DX, The peoples champ/The Game etc. They never seemed to get over on each other more than the other. They had ladder matches, strap matches, they were both involved in the 6 man hell in a cell. They even traded the spots of heel/face every so often

Can wwe do this again? Sure, but they have to have to people that can go out there and both entertain on the mic, emotionally draw people in, AND, keep it fresh in the ring each time.

They get close to doing this, but cut the feuds short to soon. I would like more long winded and developed fueds, perhaps Punk/Danielson. They could even go back and forth with switching Heel/Face and everything

 

[BASSER911414]

Rock and Austin is one that comes to mind.

Never really ever teamed up together.

Showed that tension/respect for each other at Wrestlemania. That would have been your last 'life long' fued.

DUDEDUDEDUDE !!!!! (see what I did there)

The rock and stone cold have teamed up a bunch of times. Theyve even had beer bashes and have shook hands. Backlash 2000 beer bash and backstage handshake when stone cold returned from rikishi running him over.

The only feud that comes to mind is Rock and HHH. Sure they were partners during the corporation thing but for a very short time. Rocky Maivia vs Connecticut blue blood. DX vs Nation. Then for the IC title later on. Then Mcmahon Helmsley vs the rock. Theyve tagged up a couple of times but i dont think they were ever allies or anything like that.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

WWE used to do this really well back in the WWF days, best example was Tito Santana and Rick Martel. Their actual feud only lasted a little while, but every time they were in the Rumble together or on a Survivor Series team the rivalry was immediately there. Shawn and Marty kinda did the same thing after the Rockers split.

The problem tends to be the "flip-flop" nature of turns in the modern era, in the Hogan era a turn was a massive deal and irreversable. Martel walking out on Santana at Mania was an unforgivable moment and you could buy the emnity between them from then on.

It has happened in more recent times, but it tends to be more "chapters" rather than career long feuds... Trips v Taker, Shawn v Jericho and Edge v Cena as the OP mentioned... at various times they also have teamed up as well as fought.

 

[LSN80]

Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

Let me take this one step further. In the not so distant past, John Cena was involved in an angle at Survivor Series 2010 with Wade Barrett. In this angle, known as "Free or Fired", Cena had been forced to be apart of Nexus, because he lost to Barrett at Hell In A Cell. Barrett had made Cena's life a living hell, and Cena had helped Barrett become Number 1 Contender. In the angle, Cena had to referee the match at Survivor Series. If Barrett won the title, Cena was free from Nexus control. If Barrett lost, Cena was fired from WWE. Barrett's opponent in that ever important match? Randy Orton.

Yes, this is the same Randy Orton, that, the night after Summerslam 2007, kicked John Cena's dad in the head. He later faced Cena's dad in a match with Cena handcuffed to the ringpost, forcing to watch as Orton methodically beat his dad down, before RKO'ing him unconscious. He was about to punt him again before Cena escaped from the ringposts.

Anyway, why wouldn't Cena screw Orton here? Promises to be an unbiased referee my ass, would you be able to be unbiased towards someone who beat on your dad several times? Three years later be damned, I'd never be able to co-exist with that person again. Yet Cena actually pushed Barrett into Orton, allowing Orton to RKO Barrett, and then he counted the three. So essentially, he cost himself his job for Randy Orton(and his integrity, I know), the man who had brutalized his dad.

The two have teamed together multiple times since Orton turned face, and there hasn't been a sign of dissension between them. I know we're to suspend disbelief and have short memories as wrestling fans, but this was too much for me. The most nauseating thing to me? After Cena gave his fairwell speech on Raw the night after Survivor Series, he hugged and shared final pleasantries with the entire roster. The last person he came across was Randy Orton, and they hugged. It was as if their feuds in 2007 and 2009 never happened, and Orton had never targeted Cena's dad. How absurd.

So yes, I'm all for this. When there are personal feuds, they shouldn't be forgotten. I loved last year how when Cena was teaming with the recently turned Alex Riley, and he said something along the lines of not forgetting what Riley did to him when he was with Miz, and not trusting him.

I wish all wrestlers were booked this way, with long-term memories. It would add to the realism of shows and make the wrestlers seem so much more authentic and real.

 

[TheHeartbreakPunk]

That depends on how old the person working in the wwe. If someone is like 35, then it would be okay, because they wont be around for a very long time. But if there is a guy that is 24, and people love him and you him to stay in the wwe for a long time, then...well, i still say no. If they were going to have a carreer long feud, then they coudnt be anywhere near the titles for their whole carreer. People would get tired of seeing the same title matches. People would get tired of seeing the same old matches between the two regardless. They did something a little like this with randy orton and john cena. At bragging rights 2009, they showed a pretty good viedo package of their rivalry spanning from 2006 to the present day. Cena and orton will probably feud again, but thats a long time away. Stone cold and the rock counts too, but im only thinking about the pg era.

 

[IHW]

The right 2 people would work for this situation.

Edge and Matt Hardy always disliked each other in the WWE. This could be in the lines of a career long feud.

I look at this almost the same way as i look at career long teams or friends. Eddie and Rey, HBK and HHH, Kane and Taker, Edge and Christian. They can have their ups and downs but they will always be a team. I think they could certainly do this with Rivals.

 

[ilapierre]

Wrestlers of the past used to feud for a year. Even when they stopped feuding, most of these wrestlers acted as if they always disliked those they feuded with unless the face of the feud turned heel and joined sides. What makes wrestling believable is when a wrestler doesn't ever get over hating another wrestler or at least doesn't get over it for a year or two. Jericho and Michaels had a great feud that lasted a while and they could still milk that one-up-man ship now if Michaels was still around. Orton and Triple H is an example of a long time feud between two guys who used to be portrayed as great friends. Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels always had tension, Martel and Santana had tension, and Rock and Austin seemed to be for the most part opposed to each other. Bobby Heenan and Jesse Ventura were always opposed to Hogan and that made sense. Sting's character only made sense when he was in opposition to Hogan. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart feuded pretty much their entire WWE career. Macho Man and Roddy Piper started their WWE career chasing after Hulk Hogan. Piper-Hogan can be seen as a career-long feud. Even though Hogan and Savage had been on-again, off-again enemies, Savage made his feud a personal lifetime feud. Savage spent most of his career feuding for months with one wrestler and you believed his character's hatred of Jake Roberts or Ric Flair or DDP. The NWO vs WCW rivalry went three years. Some people say that was too long, I say that's how long a really good feud should continue. As long as it makes sense and there still appears to be a reason for animosity.

So let's get this straight. A long feud makes for entertainment. It's not boring to see two wrestlers forget about titles and focus completely on destroying each other. Savage vs Hogan, Sting vs Hogan, DDP vs Savage, Rock vs Austin, Triple H vs Jericho or Michaels or Orton, Taker vs Kane, Hitman vs Michaels. All of these long-term feuds could have been drawn out into career feuds. Most of these wrestlers' identities continued being connected to those they feuded with. So I would say, yes, there should be one or two wrestlers that a guy like The Miz will be identified as forever being opposed to or in an on-again, off-again feud with. Forgetting that you were in a feud with someone just doesn't come across realistic but that is what today's wrestlers seem to do. They feud for a month or two till the PPV and then the following RAW find a new dance partner.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

In today's wrestling world I think this would be hard to pull off. There's so many face/heel changes that it would make it difficult storyline wise. Yes, I saw that you mentioned no matter whether they were heel or face they would hate each other, but there's also other things to factor in. What if Cena became the babyface of the WWE (like his has been) and Edge fizzled off into jobber status? How would they keep that alive then? It would do nothing for Cena in that case.

Plus, if they're both heel (or face) and they make one of those random pre PPV tag matches where the main event heels fight the main event faces, are they going to side step the build up of the PPV just for a segment of the 2 fighting on the same team? Wouldn't that take away from the PPV?

Plus to do it from the beginning, or at least somewhat early in their careers, that would take some serious long term planning, and lately the WWE is terrible at that. How would they know if the 2 wrestlers would have similar careers? What if one got injured in the midst of the storyline? There's just too many questions IMO.

Would it be cool? Sure. Would it be likely to happen? Probably not. The Rock/Austin feud happened for longer periods than most, but by happenstance more than anything. They were in the right place at the right time together. Both big stars. Plus, they weren't "career long" like you asked.

Good idea though.

Ironically, a guy with a Kane avatar says that something like a career long feud isn't likely to happen.

These types of feuds have been staples in wrestling promotions over the years. The most recent WWE one would actually be Undertaker/Kane.

The 'career' feud for obvious reasons, cannot go on non-stop in todays environment. In the territory days, it could because two guys would just keep taking their act from area to area, moving whenever they started wearing out their welcome. Even then though, they'd have to break it up a little to keep it fresh... like pulling the angle where they become allies before inevitably splitting up and feuding again.

This is actually what Kane and Taker have done. They feud, they make up, they split up for a while before coming back and feuding again and repeating the cycle... and that's how this angle is done. Take away the gothic imagery and big crowds, and it's really not very different from Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee down in Memphis.

So can it happen? Yes, because it always has happened.

 

[Wrestlemania 20-0]

one feud has dured so long about Taker and HBK and actually it's done.
This feud started in 1997 when Shawn crashed an chair on the face of Taker during SS97 with Bret hart to cost the tittle to the dead man,an fight will be added at Badd blood to the first Hell in the cell.
The Casket match in 1998 RR will be an defeat for Taker due to interference of Kane.11 years later Shawn beat Kozlov for to fight Taker at WM25,with this historic match they win the Slammys for best feud of the year,Shawn say he can beat Taker and makes theirs 5 match at WM 26 with the "end of Shawn's career".

 

[DirtyD79]

It would be cool and does make sense. I think the big problem though is that stuff changes too fast in wrestling these days for it to work. Wrestlers jump back and forth from heel to face, change gimmicks, change shows, or hell even the guys writing the show change. It's hard to have consistency.

On top of that storylines move faster now than they did back in the day. A lot of this is due to having more weekly shows and mothly pay per views. Bret Hart feuded with Owen for over a year. that was pretty normal back then. If they tried it nowadays they would have burned it out in just a couple months.

 

[jopoll]

I agree with the OP here about Cena/Edge. WWE really dropped the ball having them seem to be friendly after Edge's face turn. They could have kept the animosity going between the two of them as I believe their feud represents the best feud in either of their careers (although a case could be made for Matt Hardy and Edge but 'ole crazy legs couldn't get over as a main eventer). I think their feud is also the last time two just/not quite yet established main eventers solidified their place in the main event using each other as the vehicle to prove their worth instead of getting a rub from an older guy. With WWE needing to push younger talent and establish them maybe a good year long feud between two of them like a Sheamus vs McIntyre or maybe Rhodes vs Ziggler. I don't know just an idea.

 

[BlueLightning]

I actually really like this concept. The two wrestlers involved do not necessarily have to be having constant matches every year, but if WWE were to create animosity between two wrestlers to such a degree, that they could never get along and their paths always seemed to cross at different points in their career, they could have a legendary rivalry and feud on their hands. It could potentially be of a high enough caliber after a while, that whenever WWE needed a 5 star match/feud to bank on for a PPV, they would have it and if done properly, we wouldn't get tired of it because of the sheer history of it all.

But you'd have to trust WWE to carry this out with enough finesse.

 

[Headman]

As recent as the Orton/Christian feud Randy Orton mentioned he respects Triple H but does not like Triple H. It wouldn't take much to reignite this rivalry because while they came to a mutual respect for one another Randy Orton has never forgiven Triple H for kicking him out of Evolution and taking his world title. And Triple H has never shown any sign of regret. The last time he commented on the subject he said he'd do it again if the situation was the same. I would consider this a career long feud seeing as it has never been settled and was made reference to as recent as last summer.

 

[M3420]

Cool thread! And I like the proposition that no matter what phase of heel face each character would be in, they could pull off an awesome match. It could come in really handy to build a few of these dynamics in case they need a can't miss match between two superstars that goes over well. The roster is always 'subject to change' at a moment's notice or injuries could occur and a 'career feud' situation could really come in handy.

Sidenotes--Why couldn't Shelton Benjamin or '3 Count' make it to the top??
-does anyone actually remember 3 count?

 

[JJ15776]

Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels was a career long feud. They started feuding when The Hart Foundation and The Rockers were fighting for the tag team titles, and after they both went into singles competition they feuded on and off for years until Bret Hart left the company, and then the feud continued off screen in real life until they finally buried the hatchet a few weeks before HBK's last match.

And I think the WWE could definitely do that again. It has to be two guys that come up together...maybe start off by feuding for the tag titles, then feud for a midcard title, then feud as main eventers, spread apart over several years. It can definitely be done, but I don't think it's something you can script or force. The two guys have to move up the card on their own, and if it makes sense for them to feud then have them feud. If/when they get to the main event, then you can make a point of them having always feuded and turn it into career feud. But don't push one just to keep up with the other.

 

[jtolliver23]

First to answer the question of if they should have career long feuds? Yes, so long as it is with the right two people. In order for something like that to sustain through a career, fans have to be intrigued by the two people involved.
Now, out of curiousity, how is it that through all these posts, not one person has mentioned what I believe to be one of the most popular career long feuds between Sting and Ric Flair. That is a rivalry that started in the 80s and is still there today in TNA, just not so much in a wrestling manner anymore. That is a feud that really led to Sting being as popular as he is and was the staple of WCW for years and years. And I think that feud could really be used as a blue print on how a career long feud could work and should be implemented so it doesn't get stale.