Again, I still don't understand why people seem to think that making the business more edgy would re-create the success of the Attitude Era. It really wouldn't. The business had extremely edgy content all the way up to Benoit, and nothing really got better in terms of money making. After Edge had his live sex celebration, you didn't see people all over the place wearing the "Crude, Lewd, and Tattooed" t-shirts. And yes, the kids will eventually grow up, and then there will be a new batch of kids ready to pester their parents for merchandise and pay-per-views. People could afford their own merchandise back in the Attitude Era, yes, but I doubt that people that age have wrestling shirts as their number one priority with the economy the way it is. Parents are much more likely to get this stuff to make their eight year olds happy, who don't know any better and get those puppy dog looks on their faces when they don't get what they want. It's just the way it is. And that doesn't even take into account, the better deals with sponsors that WWE is getting with the PG content rating. And what have we really sacrificed, honestly? Buckets of blood? Divas in bikinis? Hell, the divas still dress pretty damn skimpy, and just look at TNA for an example of why an over abundance of blood is not necessarily a good thing. I'm never going to understand why people are so frustrated with this kind of thing. Personally I don't need blood or cursing to have a good wrestling product as long as it's written well and I enjoy the characters and matches.
Why Batista Left, According to Meltzer
- Thread starter Turd Ferguson
- Start date
Hundred Dollar Man
Dark Match Winner
I would say that Batista was probably referring to more of the wrestling style than the PG rating. Over the last few years there have been a lot more high flyers / high impact style wrestlers. for a guy like Batista that means taking more kicks and other dangerous moves. If you go back to the 80's the strongmen who could slam or suplex someone were more the norm. Simply put I think the modern wrestling style has turned him off the product and not the content.
I haven't posted in a while, but I want to say a couple things about the Attitude Era, because some people are saying some very false things about wrestling content in different time periods. The Attitude Era was such a success because of the wrestlers who were around for it, such as Stone Cold, The Rock, etc. Their characters naturally tended towards a more adult-oriented product. It wasn't simply because they had people cursing and lots of blood and sex. ECW was much more extreme and it never got near the mainstream popularity of WWF circa 1997-2001. Second, wrestling in the Attitude Era was not geared towards 'non-idiots' anymore than in the 1980s-early 1990s or since the early 2000s. A large number of children and teenagers have always watched wrestling, and a significant number of middle-aged adults (often their parents). I wouldn't say the predominant audience was ever the 18-25 demographic except for the Attitude Era. I was born in 1986 myself, but I've watched several DVD sets of 1980s wrestlers and there were kids all over the place.
Are children 'stupid'? No, they're children. They have different minds and tastes. A bigger problem than the content being rated PG (requiring 'parental guidance') is the obsession for the past year or so with being mainstream, shown by the guest host system. Being mainstream is not bad. They went in that direction in the late 1980s with the rock and wrestling stuff and WrestleMania, but it worked because Hogan was already mainstream, with the Rocky movie and all a few years before. Cena is popular but he is not mainstream in the sense Hogan was in that time. The Marine wasn't exactly comparable to Rocky III, or any decent movie really. Now they are desperately getting a B-list celebrity every week to plug their movie or TV show. It is nowhere near getting them the mainstream appeal of the Hogan era and it comes off very forced. In the Attitude Era they just focused on the anti-authority storylines and characters, and the mainstream success came on its own (although even Stone Cold at his height never reached the Hogan level with the non-wrestling fan public). Anyway, the point is not who's a bigger star, because it's obvious to anyone who's watched wrestling from the different modern eras, but why the current 'children' cycle is obviously worse than the preceding 'edgy young adult' cycle or the 1980s 'children' cycle. It's because it's more forced and because of what has transpired since then. Hogan did not get booed by a significant portion of the audience in 1985-1990 like Cena has for the past five years. Stone Cold and Rock were a new breed of tweeners or anti-heroes when they were most popular.
They didn't directly insult the crowd when they were 'face', but they insulted everyone else, allowing the crowd to feel that they were cool because they were on the good side of this sarcastic tough guy, such as the Rock as the 'People's Champion' insulting all the interviewers and Stone Cold sharing the one-fingered salute with the crowd but not in an antagonistic way, except towards McMahon and the other wrestlers. Cena has neither the legitimate mainstream babyface success and popularity of Hogan in the late 1980s nor the clever anti-hero psychology of Austin and Rock in the late 1990s. He is popular with children and certain other fans but hated by many also. If he would return to his face rapper gimmick circa WrestleMania 21 (2005), after his lewd heel rapper gimmick but before his watered-down The Marine gimmick, he would recapture the overwhelming fan support he had at that time, around when his rap album came out. He could still cleverly insult his opponents yet be largely a 'clean' babyface, between the extremes of Hogan and Austin/Rock.
It would give some satisfaction to both demographics, children (who like straight babyfaces) and young adults (who like edgy anti-heroes) and middle-aged parents (who don't want it to be too profane for their children, but appreciate charisma instead of an obviously stale character). Sorry to rant so long but this is how I see this whole 'different eras' debate regarding PG and why the current PG era (at least at the main event level) is vastly inferior to both the Attitude Era and the 1980s-early 1990s PG era. Basically, it's not because of the rating, it's because of trying to force the mainstream aspect, and because Cena's character (and most of the characters) just plain sucks compared to about five years ago.
Are children 'stupid'? No, they're children. They have different minds and tastes. A bigger problem than the content being rated PG (requiring 'parental guidance') is the obsession for the past year or so with being mainstream, shown by the guest host system. Being mainstream is not bad. They went in that direction in the late 1980s with the rock and wrestling stuff and WrestleMania, but it worked because Hogan was already mainstream, with the Rocky movie and all a few years before. Cena is popular but he is not mainstream in the sense Hogan was in that time. The Marine wasn't exactly comparable to Rocky III, or any decent movie really. Now they are desperately getting a B-list celebrity every week to plug their movie or TV show. It is nowhere near getting them the mainstream appeal of the Hogan era and it comes off very forced. In the Attitude Era they just focused on the anti-authority storylines and characters, and the mainstream success came on its own (although even Stone Cold at his height never reached the Hogan level with the non-wrestling fan public). Anyway, the point is not who's a bigger star, because it's obvious to anyone who's watched wrestling from the different modern eras, but why the current 'children' cycle is obviously worse than the preceding 'edgy young adult' cycle or the 1980s 'children' cycle. It's because it's more forced and because of what has transpired since then. Hogan did not get booed by a significant portion of the audience in 1985-1990 like Cena has for the past five years. Stone Cold and Rock were a new breed of tweeners or anti-heroes when they were most popular.
They didn't directly insult the crowd when they were 'face', but they insulted everyone else, allowing the crowd to feel that they were cool because they were on the good side of this sarcastic tough guy, such as the Rock as the 'People's Champion' insulting all the interviewers and Stone Cold sharing the one-fingered salute with the crowd but not in an antagonistic way, except towards McMahon and the other wrestlers. Cena has neither the legitimate mainstream babyface success and popularity of Hogan in the late 1980s nor the clever anti-hero psychology of Austin and Rock in the late 1990s. He is popular with children and certain other fans but hated by many also. If he would return to his face rapper gimmick circa WrestleMania 21 (2005), after his lewd heel rapper gimmick but before his watered-down The Marine gimmick, he would recapture the overwhelming fan support he had at that time, around when his rap album came out. He could still cleverly insult his opponents yet be largely a 'clean' babyface, between the extremes of Hogan and Austin/Rock.
It would give some satisfaction to both demographics, children (who like straight babyfaces) and young adults (who like edgy anti-heroes) and middle-aged parents (who don't want it to be too profane for their children, but appreciate charisma instead of an obviously stale character). Sorry to rant so long but this is how I see this whole 'different eras' debate regarding PG and why the current PG era (at least at the main event level) is vastly inferior to both the Attitude Era and the 1980s-early 1990s PG era. Basically, it's not because of the rating, it's because of trying to force the mainstream aspect, and because Cena's character (and most of the characters) just plain sucks compared to about five years ago.
You know what, Batista probably wasn't talking about WWE focusing with a more family friendly.
I mean he could've been talking about the backstage changes to how the WWE seems to be more political in terms of Linda's campaign which can contribute to WWE past decisions. I doubt PG is the reason for his departure.
I mean he could've been talking about the backstage changes to how the WWE seems to be more political in terms of Linda's campaign which can contribute to WWE past decisions. I doubt PG is the reason for his departure.
bigbootydaddyV
arrogant bastard
that's true i remember reading that somewhere now that you mention it. Batista is crazy if he thinks he will have much of an acting career, rock may be the best actor to come out of wrestling and even his acting career is average despite him being poised to be the next action superstar. I think ultimately wrestling took its toll on him and he just can't hang with it anymore, not that i blame him, vince seems to be working these guys like crazy. Also, i'm totally speculating here but i feel like its worth mentioning, it just says he left because he doesn't like the direction of the company. Could it be the smaller direction they seem to be going to? I don't know that they are necessarily, but w/ guys like DB, Kaval, and Evan Bourne getting much more time, even cody and dibiase jr aren't that big. Seems like the direction they are heading is no more muscle bound apes dominating and that puts him SOL. As for the creative direction, like it really matters much, i'm sure he's fine w/ less risks and more comedy since thats a lot easier on the body anyways.
Pfffft. Dude's in his 40's and steroids can only keep you going for so long (ask Scotty Steiner). He was always pissy about not being the top dog in WWE or so the story (both in and out of kayfabe) goes. Yes, he's done some Filipino martial arts training, but I doubt he would do well in high level MMA contests, especially at his age. It's widely been understood that he was only in the wrestling business for the money and joined up after a pro-bodybuilding career didn't quite pan out. Hence he is probably going after a movie career for the prospect of big money. I assume he left 'cause if he wasn't going to constantly be booked to make the most money and/or get similar treatments of reduced schedules he saw no point it trying to keep his body going through all the grueling travel and high levels of physicality.
Wow. Just... WOW! HBKevin may have just summed up what I've been thinking about the different eras in WWE, only that there was just something I couldn't put my finger on to differetiate the Attitude era vs. the "post attitude" era vs. the current era. Well played sir. Don't know if this would have influenced Batista's opinion on the direction of the company/his character, but the thing that got me with where things are going with the WWE was the CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio PPV match that was stopped because Punk got cut somehow... they stopped the match! and then restarted it without showing the dreaded "bloody bandage" that Punk got in the "intermission". It's getting to the point of being ridiculous as far as making sure kids aren't traumatized by watching the show (and I know about what can traumatize kids, I know some kids that are pretty f'd up because of some pretty crazy shit) but taking out any semblense of realism from wrestling. As in, if you got thrown head first into the ring post, gasp, you might bleed because of it.
I think that it is something that may happen more so. People will leave WWE when they are financially secure and go to a profession that is easier on their body or just to have time for themselves/family. The wrestling business isnt easy at all so unless you truly need the money like they did back in the 80s etc wrestlers may not be working for 20+ years now.
The product thing is cyclical i think. They wait until the last minute to create new stars and then it picks up because things are fresh again. Batista must have been kinda bored and maybe felt creatively stifled at working with the same people/material constantly.
The acting thing may work out in the sense he'll get work but obviously due to his look/size have a fair degree of typecasting. MMA would hopefully never happen. He has nothing really to gain from it and is probably too old anyway.
The product thing is cyclical i think. They wait until the last minute to create new stars and then it picks up because things are fresh again. Batista must have been kinda bored and maybe felt creatively stifled at working with the same people/material constantly.
The acting thing may work out in the sense he'll get work but obviously due to his look/size have a fair degree of typecasting. MMA would hopefully never happen. He has nothing really to gain from it and is probably too old anyway.
Mustang Sally
Sells seashells by the seashore
Batista sounds like the Albert Haynesworth of pro wrestling.
Consider the "plight" of both men: They're paid a king's ransom, featured over others, fawned over by management and restored to their favored positions after missing significant time with injuries.........yet are both living in abject misery because they've decided they don't like the direction the organization is taking.
I feel a small tear welling for both of these poor guys.
Best of luck to you, Batista. You have every right to leave if you want and you did wait until your contract expired (unlike Haynesworth).
But, if the money starts running low, I wouldn't be surprised to have you come back, swearing that you love the wrestling game and never actually had any problem with the company's direction.
Consider the "plight" of both men: They're paid a king's ransom, featured over others, fawned over by management and restored to their favored positions after missing significant time with injuries.........yet are both living in abject misery because they've decided they don't like the direction the organization is taking.
I feel a small tear welling for both of these poor guys.
Best of luck to you, Batista. You have every right to leave if you want and you did wait until your contract expired (unlike Haynesworth).
But, if the money starts running low, I wouldn't be surprised to have you come back, swearing that you love the wrestling game and never actually had any problem with the company's direction.
Turd Ferguson
DA-DA Da Da Da Bah Da Da DADADA
Crossposting from the MMA section.
This is truly hysterical.
Holy fuck (per TMZ), Strikeforce signed him.
I like how Scott Coker came out and said he has no interest in Kimbo Slice... and yet he signs Batista to a contract. Chances are, it will be officially announced Saturday at the Fedor vs. Werdum card.
I think the hilarious possibilities are endless. Batista vs. Lashley, Batista vs. Herschel Walker for starters. They should sign Kimbo now and do Batista vs. Kimbo.
Fuck treating them like a legitimate company. They're on the fast track to being like EliteXC.
This is truly hysterical.
Holy fuck (per TMZ), Strikeforce signed him.
I like how Scott Coker came out and said he has no interest in Kimbo Slice... and yet he signs Batista to a contract. Chances are, it will be officially announced Saturday at the Fedor vs. Werdum card.
I think the hilarious possibilities are endless. Batista vs. Lashley, Batista vs. Herschel Walker for starters. They should sign Kimbo now and do Batista vs. Kimbo.
Fuck treating them like a legitimate company. They're on the fast track to being like EliteXC.
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