WWE / Godfather movies

[HeenanGorilla]

I started watching the WWF in 1986. I got my first WWF Magazine in October of that year on my first day home sick from school, and then subscribed and got every issue until around 1992. I probably lost passionate interest after SummerSlam 1992. I continued to watch through the Monday Night Wars, but all of those PPVs are mixed up...I no longer new the order of title reigns and extra titles were added anyway. Now, I watch the Rumble and WrestleMania each year, and RAW when I think of it. I go on to WrestleZone every day at work during down time due to boredom. I look for nostalgic posts and articles. I often get irritated at the people who post on this site because their demands and attitudes are so much worse than during the Golden Age--or perhaps it is because low-life, mullet-having grown men who yell "What?" and "This is awesome" way too much didn't have the internet to help them feel important. Whatever the reason, wrestling from 1986-1992 was amazing, the Monday Night Wars were interesting, and the product now is watered down garbage. Now, they seem to be listening to the internet jerks--who bitch and complain about nonsense like Zack Ryder, Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan--and are changing the show to address these fools. For so long, I have tried to think of ways wrestling could get back to where it once was. But, I now see that it can't.

It bothered me that something I once cherished was now awful...but then I realized that just because it is the same federation, with the same characters and, to an extent, the same history--though they will often try to convince you what once happened didn't happen--it doesn't mean it is the same thing.

The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 are two of my favorite movies. The Godfather Part 3 is not. It had a lot of the same characters, but it was crap compared to the others. Do I let that ruin the first two movies? Of course not. I watch those two and pretend the 3rd one doesn't exist. I now realize that is what I need to do with wrestling. I have tapes, DVDs, magazines, action figures in the attic somewhere--all from my favorite age of wrestling and a wonderful time growing up. I can go to them when feeling nostalgic. I can also just ignore the fact that the WWE today--and pretty much post-1992-- exists, as it is the Godfather 3 of wrestling to me.

I must say I feel so much better about it. The anger I have towards know-it-all's like Brain and Dagger Dias and morons like JoeyJoeJoe and George Steele's Barber is gone. There is no fixing the fan base of today. They will raise hell to get an underrated wrestler over and then drop him immediately...I predicted Bryan's current popularity would be gone by year end at the latest, and it will be. And they will move on to the next thing that the masses want, even though they don't know why they want it. I got the biggest kick out of HHH last night because he is dead on.

So, I will watch the first 8 WrestleManias, first 5 Royal Rumbles, first 5 SummerSlams, first 5 Survivor Series and first 2 Godfathers with great memories and be thoroughly entertained. And I will leave the crap that's left over for the people who have no clue what they want and even less of a clue of what to do when they get it.

Sorry to those who I have insulted over the last few years. I still think you are missing the point and what is great about wrestling, but I think today's fans are casualties of the Monday Night Wars. Those were short-term ways to get viewership and now you are left with this junk. I do truly feel sorry for those who missed wrestling's glory days.

 

[JBAKER3170]

For someone who claims to hate the current product, and the people who "bitch" about it, you sure did have a lot of non-coherent babble to spew. If you truly did not like todays current product, then simply stop watchimg it. No need to log into Wrestlezone on your down time, or occasionally watch any of the current programming; just stop all together and your current frustrations are over. And if you have action figures, magazines and what not, buried somewhere in your attic, stop hanging onto the past and sell them. Wipe clean your life of wrestling, and maybe you'll be a happier person.

 

[fenderjapan]

If you didn't care you wouldn't be here posting.

If you weren't still annoyed by certain people you wouldn't have mentioned them in your post.

There was lots of crap back then too, you just choose not to remember it.

It's like you are saying "I don't care what happens in wrestling anymore, I just wish what happened was better" literally contradicting the point in your post.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's a "rose tinted" thing and very generational - it's not just WWE... it's Star Wars, Sports, Movies... every generation looks at what was around when they were a kid and "prefers" it given the choice to what came later. Sometimes it's cos we remember it from our childhood, other times we discover it later and it takes us back there.

I'm a child of the "Summer of Star Wars" so I missed the first movie and the buzz, but was there front and centre for Empire...so that is always gonna be my fave. The redos with added bits were awful, Greedo didn't shoot first and I knew that...

The movies I first watched on VCR stay with me like Alien, Carrie, American Werewolf etc... so when I look at a remake of Carrie I am instantly likely to dislike it, even if the movie is truer to the book or has hotter chicks in it cos it's not the version I grew up with. That being said if someone who sees the remake then reads the book and seeks out the original, it's done a good thing...

Wrestling wise I grew up with World of Sport and one week a month it was WWF... Bulldogs v Harts was on the first episode I saw and that fed a lot of my choices there on cos that's what hooked me first... As time went on and the guys I liked became the main guys of course my "choice" was validated in some way and my ability to "pick a winner" improved... no one cared of course past Senior School, where knowledge of the real names, inner workings, that The Genius was Savage's brother etc and being able to put a figure four on someone was a tiny bit of currency. Getting to go to Summerslam 92 was a big thing and my first "solo trip"...

By the time Attitude rolled around I was an adult, working for a living and trying to wrestle as well... I could afford to go to a show on my own or take a friend when WWE came over, I could get to meet some wrestlers and actually know a bit of what went on... so that period has a different appeal.

More recently, I did tune out much as the OP did... not because it's vastly different but something genuinely just isn't the same - or rather I am not... now I'm a thirty something with much less free time and free money. A trip to see WWE is not high on the list anymore cos I've seen it live... I've seen some great stuff like Davey lift the title at Wembley, seen Perfect, Owen, Benoit, Eddie and Flair strut their stuff... Seen Taker fight Kane in street clothes cos his bag got lost at the airport, Ken Shamrock fall flat on his face doing a hot tag leap over the top and perhaps my fave moment, where Hawk told Road Dog "You Suck" during a match, for the immortal replay "Only for money"... Take the Mania threads, I stopped writing after about 16 cos thats when it became not as important to me...

I won't get those moments again now watching wrestling, just as I won't get the same feeling going to see Star Wars Episode 7 as I had seeing Empire as a Three and a Half year old just as I didn't seeing the last movies... Entertainment is more homogenised, thats why Batista is back, Sam Jackson was in Star Wars and Gary Oldman became "rentafranchise"... most products including wrestling became about the lowest common denominator or trying to fool people into thinking it has more about it than it does. It's why Rock came back 2 years in a row to face Cena... there really WASN'T anything better for either guy to do on the card...

Sometimes new things can surprise or an old gimmick be suddenly fresh... Bray Wyatt is a real breath of fresh air right now, not cos he's a great worker (he is) or cos his gimmick is awesome (it is just as Waylon Mercy was) it's because they are daring to do it and letting someone for the first time in what feels like forever actually organically create and grow in front of our eyes... It will likely all crash down when Cena wins.... but right now the fact the E ARE starting to listen to what wrestling fans want. It seems to have cost them Punk, but we could all still be gobsmacked when he shows up at Mania... so it IS more intruiging than it's been since those early days when I believed it was at least a little bit real... Seeing the Winter Soldier movie last week was the nearest to a true geek out I've had in a long time, not cos it took me back to childhood but brought my childhood up to date with violence galore... not a homogonised version, balls to the wall kicking ass when it could have been cheesy... Bray is WWE's way of doing that right now...

OP is right in someways that wrestling WAS better then, but yes, Outback Jack, The Gobbldey Gooker, Brutus Beefcake even the horror show that was Kamala or the Shockmaster... it's no coincidence a lot of Wrestlecrap moments are from that era... more recently they just eliminated the potential for crap...

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I accept your apology.

And congratulations on figuring out that you don't like wrestling any more after 22 years of hating it. Now go play with your dolls and figure out that Chutes and Ladders and Candyland just don't provide you the satisfaction you are looking for.

-Moron

 

[AegonTargaryen]

I started watching the WWF in 1986. I got my first WWF Magazine in October of that year on my first day home sick from school, and then subscribed and got every issue until around 1992. I probably lost passionate interest after SummerSlam 1992. I continued to watch through the Monday Night Wars, but all of those PPVs are mixed up...I no longer new the order of title reigns and extra titles were added anyway. Now, I watch the Rumble and WrestleMania each year, and RAW when I think of it. I go on to WrestleZone every day at work during down time due to boredom. I look for nostalgic posts and articles. I often get irritated at the people who post on this site because their demands and attitudes are so much worse than during the Golden Age--or perhaps it is because low-life, mullet-having grown men who yell "What?" and "This is awesome" way too much didn't have the internet to help them feel important. Whatever the reason, wrestling from 1986-1992 was amazing, the Monday Night Wars were interesting, and the product now is watered down garbage. Now, they seem to be listening to the internet jerks--who bitch and complain about nonsense like Zack Ryder, Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan--and are changing the show to address these fools. For so long, I have tried to think of ways wrestling could get back to where it once was. But, I now see that it can't.

It bothered me that something I once cherished was now awful...but then I realized that just because it is the same federation, with the same characters and, to an extent, the same history--though they will often try to convince you what once happened didn't happen--it doesn't mean it is the same thing.

The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 are two of my favorite movies. The Godfather Part 3 is not. It had a lot of the same characters, but it was crap compared to the others. Do I let that ruin the first two movies? Of course not. I watch those two and pretend the 3rd one doesn't exist. I now realize that is what I need to do with wrestling. I have tapes, DVDs, magazines, action figures in the attic somewhere--all from my favorite age of wrestling and a wonderful time growing up. I can go to them when feeling nostalgic. I can also just ignore the fact that the WWE today--and pretty much post-1992-- exists, as it is the Godfather 3 of wrestling to me.

I must say I feel so much better about it. The anger I have towards know-it-all's like Brain and Dagger Dias and morons like JoeyJoeJoe and George Steele's Barber is gone. There is no fixing the fan base of today. They will raise hell to get an underrated wrestler over and then drop him immediately...I predicted Bryan's current popularity would be gone by year end at the latest, and it will be. And they will move on to the next thing that the masses want, even though they don't know why they want it. I got the biggest kick out of HHH last night because he is dead on.

So, I will watch the first 8 WrestleManias, first 5 Royal Rumbles, first 5 SummerSlams, first 5 Survivor Series and first 2 Godfathers with great memories and be thoroughly entertained. And I will leave the crap that's left over for the people who have no clue what they want and even less of a clue of what to do when they get it.

Sorry to those who I have insulted over the last few years. I still think you are missing the point and what is great about wrestling, but I think today's fans are casualties of the Monday Night Wars. Those were short-term ways to get viewership and now you are left with this junk. I do truly feel sorry for those who missed wrestling's glory days.

Let me preface by saying I have no idea about where the animosity in you against a few Wrestlezone users stems from, but judging from how people like George Steel's Barber will crap over an elaborate exposition about a logical fact like the futility of the 30-man Andre the giant battle royal, I can only sympathize with you.

As far as you glorying the pre-1992 days, I cannot say anything for that because I scarcely have seen a single WWF match pre-1995 and regret not having seen Sting, Flair, among others from WCW pre-1995. IMO, (and believe me, I'm the most ignorant when it comes to Wrestling in pre-1995 days), wrestling used to be very amazing not just until 1992 but until some time around 2005 and it progressively worsened and that progression peaked in 2010. Meanwhile, the WWE tried creating stars but there only failed attempts with every death and every firing, and every retirement. (Mr. Kennedy released). In fact, my customary habit of watching every Raw and every SD ended in 2009 and I haven't watched an entire episode of SD since then, and have only watched "segments" from Raw, if I ever did watch.

I'd like to assert that you're perfectly reasonable in your perception which speaks unuttered apathy, disgust, futility and helplessness when you think about Wrestling NOW- with the WWE and TNA and whatever crop of superstars that exist.

I watched Starrcade 1996 today- just the opening match between Dean Malenko and Ultimo Dragon, and I realized the same things you mention, only that for you it ends in 1992, for me it begins in 1992. The only way to really like wrestling now is the past, and for me I understand that the WCW always was, ALMOST ALWAYS, until somewhere in 1999 I suppose, miles ahead of the WWF/E in the quality of their shows, the "wrestling" aspect of it. Of course the WWF had its own share of good things in the 90s, Bret-Shawn, Bret-Austin, The Undertaker, etc. but IMO, WCW(something which I never saw as it happened in the 90s) was a far more superior product because it was about wrestling, whereas Vince Mcmahon's WWF had essentially become more of a crap attitude and vulgarity than wrestling. With guys like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit dead, Kurt Angle departed long ago, most others either permanently retired or injured, pro wrestling will never be cool, or even good again. And by pro-wrestling I obviously only mean the WWE. TNA doesnt' exist for me, not with the garbage that happens there.

Needless to say, there will never ever be another "Golden Era" of professional wrestling. Its greatest time was the 90s which simultaneously saw the coming and success of nearly 3 dozen superstars only considering mainstream America- whether it be Sting, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, or Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero. Even though some might be seeing superstardom when they see Cesaro wrestler(and so do I), I see a future with main events like John Cena vs The Rock, or Uncle Fester in his streak match, and Cesaro in the pre-show at Wrestlemania. One can only hope someone like Ted Turner might come along one fine day, and create another WCW. Until then, Vince Mcmahon and his successors are running the damn circus, and I don't like much about it- not Uncle Fester and his damn streak, not Daniel Bryan, and certainly not John Cena. (I like Daniel Bryan as a wrestler based on his matches from ROH I have seen, not the YES-chanting goof in a miniature version of Mick Foley but at least Foley was amusing and enthralling).

 

[AegonTargaryen]

If you didn't care you wouldn't be here posting.

If you weren't still annoyed by certain people you wouldn't have mentioned them in your post.

There was lots of crap back then too, you just choose not to remember it.

It's like you are saying "I don't care what happens in wrestling anymore, I just wish what happened was better" literally contradicting the point in your post.

It's you who's failing to see the point and the OP displays anything but contradiction. For somebody who might've once seen Sting and Ric Flair in 1992 with Sting becoming the WHC, it must suck bad watching someone like the Miz in 2011, and sadly, they cannot really say "Oh, I'll switch to WCW which is a far more superior wrestling product" because the only choice they have is TNA(and ROH, but I'm not so sure if ROH are even equal to TNA or whether they have a weekly TV show or some Ippv shit).

Sure, there was a lot of crap back then too, like Kamala to me would be crap. So would be Duke the dumpster. But again, for every Kamala and Duke the dumpster, there was a Shawn Michaels and a Bret Hart. The thing with today is, even when you dislike John Cena, you know, at the end of the day it's John Cena that's going to headline wrestlemania and CM Punk isn't. Or, there's a lame Hulk Hogan-says-it's-awesome battle royal while Cesaro and Jack Swager are in the pre-show. What choice does one have today? I puke at TNA and Wrestlemania XXX is three/fourth disenchanting and disturbing right on the surface, leave aside the inside of it. Merry watching the battle royal, or Shield wrestling 3 aged has-beens from the attitude era- a match that would be more suited for a Raw.

 

[supaman5279]

aww man wrong godfather..cuz if they made a movie about The Godfather pimpin hoes i would be the first in line to watch dat shit haha

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Haha! Sorry for the confusion, ho train fan. I know how disappointed you must have been when you saw what I meant. I remember wondering why the Rock was starring in a movie about Hercules, and wondered if it would cover his time with Roma as Power and Glory. Haha!

Renaissanceman2014, thanks for seeing the point of my post about today's wrestling. (Like you said, I clearly didn't contradict myself; but, a lot of people on here can't read. Thank you for pointing that out though, I appreciate it.) You are right, there were some great times after 1992. I list 92 as my cutoff because I thought WWF dropped off horribly in 1993, then was good with Bret/Owen in 94, then just awful in 95-96. The Monday Night Wars and the time right after that did have a lot of great moments--you are right!

Sad that those times seem to be gone. What's worse is I was always rooting for WWF to win the Monday Night Wars. For a while, I enjoyed WCW more...but wanted WWF to win. I wasn't allowed to watch NWA/WCW as a kid because of all the blood. So, WWF was it for me and I loved it. Now, ironically, I wish someone would challenge WWE so that they were forced to step up again.

Hopefully, the network will be a success and I will order it one day. (Guys who ordered it immediately and are pissed that there are problems, I'm sorry but you're fools. You HAD TO know there would be glitches in the beginning. This is what I mean. Not only are people who don't think or use their brains raising hell all over the internet, but WWE is LISTENING TO THESE DOLTS) A sad day for wrestling. But, just like if they ever made a Godfather IV, I'll just let it be and enjoy the glory days.