anarchistxx

Ironic, from the company that loves to be 'honest' to its loyal fanbase. Not surprised though, I got banned from their board a few years back for telling Gabe FIP wasn't worth $20 a disc.

I never liked the Raw set. The Smackdown one with the silver steps looked cool. I don't know, it wasn't as if Eddie/Rey was ever likely to headline a PPV. Trish v Lita main evented a Raw that year, but I wouldn't call it a main event feud. I actually thought of Jericho/Christian first, I liked the whole twist at Wrestlemania 20, but I'm not sure the match quality was there, and we never did get a good payoff as I recall. Rock/HHH in 98 is also a great pick.

(1) What do you ultimately think Vince McMahon will most be remembered for as a promoter? - Some genius ideas, that made him the only serious promotor around, but ones that he tended to run again and again until they appeared mundane. (2) What do you think is the most important positive change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? - Dramatic storylines that are pretty out there. Of course, for every Eddie/Rey 'I'm your papi' feud, you get a Katie Vick. (3) What do you think is the most important negative change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? - Highly repetetive storylines often. Once you've watched for 2 years, you've seen it all before. (4) What is something that you have always felt WWE does well that they don't get enough credit for? - Building a good heel. (5) What is something that you have always felt WWE does horribly that they don't get enough criticism for? - Their ridiculous 'comedy' segments. Do they seriously think we find 'poop' funny? (6) Overall, do you think most people are fair when discussing WWE, or do you think people tended to be blinded -- either by fanboyism or hatred? - Depends on which aspect, and which time. At the moment everyone is going overly nuts for John Cena, where from what I've seen, he's pretty average in the ring. Then again, in 2003 they and especially HHH got ripped on to the death pretty unfairly at some points. (7) What match would you point to as the match that most defines the WWE version of wrestling? - Austin v Undertaker, Fully Loaded 99 (8) Could the WWF have had their initial success without Hulk Hogan? Why or why not? - Yes. Someone else could have stepped up, they had a number of other equally talented performers. (9) Could the WWF have been more financially successful in the post-Hogan, pre-Austin time period with different people on top? Why or why not? - No, because the booking would still have been awful. A bit more sxtar power wouldn't have gone amiss, but the storylines were the main problem. (10) Who do you think was a bigger star at their peak -- Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin? - Austin definately. I was 9/10/11/12 in the attitude era, and everyone I knew watched wrestling, and thought Austin was the coolest thing ever. 'Cool' isn't really what you'd assosciate with Hogan, though I suppose he drew more of the younger kids in. (11) What do you think is Vince McMahon's greatest accomplishment as a promoter? - Turning the company around from nearly going otu of business, hiring Tyson and screwing Bret and generally expanding the market to the highest it's been ever. (12) What do you think was the greatest contributing factor to WCW overtaking the WWF from 1995-1998? - It was cool and edgy. Nobody wantedsome of the ridiculous storylines WWF were putting on, with dustmen and pirates and old looking arenas. (13) What do you think was the greatest contributing factor to the WWF overtaking WCW in 1998? - Once again, it became 'cool', while WCW just ran out of ideas and nobody could agree on anything. You had Rock running people down and looking like the coolest guy ever, Austin not giving a shit about anyone, Undertaker crucifying people, Foley falling 15 feet, Kane was still interesting. (14) Which world champion was the best in terms of ring work and why? - Austin in 2001, just for the huge body of work against such a variety of opponents. (15) Which world champion do you think meant most to the company? - Hogan (16) Which world champion had the worst run? - Probably Bradshaw. The feuds seemed so repetetive and predictable after Eddie. Maybe Khali but I haven't seen anything since 2006. (17) What do you consider the high point in WWF or WWE history? - 98/99/00, where they actually managed to be the 'current thing'. Doubt it'll happen again, at least for another generation or so. (18) What do you consider the absolute low point in WWF or WWE history? - 1995 is definately the worst. 2004 would be up there if it wasn't for Eddie and Benoit, luckily by then they had enough competent guys on top to make us forget about Heidenreich and Kenzo Suzuki and the Basham's. (19) Looking at things from their point of view, why do you think WWE frowns on employees being big wrestling fans? - They figure the 'wrestling fans' are going to keep watching whatever, so they want an outsider in to help them reach the further non-wrestling audience. (20) Do you think the WWF has ever done a good job at booking tag teams in a meaningful way? If so, what time period? - In 2000 it was pretty sweet, entertaining at least. And in 89/90 they had quite a good tag division. (21) What is the best non-main event feud the company has ever produced and why? - Orton/Foley or Eddie/Rey. (22) What is the worst main event level feud the company has ever produced and why? - Jericho v Triple-H at Wrestlemania X8. (23) What do you think was the single biggest contributing factor that caused the end of the 1998-2001 boom? - They were repeating feuds, it wasn't new, it burnt out, there was a new 'cool thing', people who liked it were now older. (24) From your personal experiences, is the WWF a company that delivers house shows where you feel you get your money's worth? - The one I went to was alright, but only really because I ended up meeting Batista and Jericho. The matches themselves were crap. (25) Where do you think they'll be in five years? - Same as, maybe a little less popular.

They really need to go back to their 2004 number of shows. I reckon they'll have been making more money back then, as loads of people bought the DVD's. Joe v Punk II, for instance; I'm willing to bet that if that match happened now, it would get lost in the crowd, whereas back then, it was a match that everyone had to see. Now, there seems to be 3 'must see' matches every show. And their shows haven't improved at all since then; still the useless 4 corner survivals, perhaps the match quality is better all round now, but character wise they've fallen off a whole lot. Reading the results, there's pretty much nobody apart from Jacobs who is compelling.

Projects and Lists please. PM'd you. -- Loss, 01/29

Spears is definately as big and controversial as Tyson in 1998, if not bigger. Even if she has a breakdown on TV, it would work awesome for Vince. In fact, especially if she has a breakdown.

I for one would be watching this. This would draw huge, all the goss mags would pick it up.

Gays, blacks, jews, women. You name it.

I just can't listen to Michael Cole, he's a disaster. I never again want to hear him refer to a match as 'this thing'. I never again want to watch a heel cheat to win and hear Cole shout 'he just stole one'. I never again want to go to a commercial break with his assertion that 'the match hangs in the balance'. He's terrible.

So after travelling Australia for 5 months, I'm back for a while until I save enough to go to Europe. I didn't see any wrestling in the time I was there, and two weeks after my return I still haven't watched any, until I sat down tonight with RVD v Jeff Hardy. I haven't watched wrestling regularly for over a year now, but I really enjoyed watching this. Ah, this is a fantastic match, ticks every box for me. RVD turns in his greatest ever performance, and Jeff isn't too far behind. Everything they did seemed (And seems) so fresh and pretty much nothing looks bad. Van Dam is at his best as a heel; he's no good at getting any heat, and but he's so cool, and usually it doesn't take away from his opponent. Because he's really no good at getting heat for anyone, that's why he seems pretty stale and boring as a face. As a heel against over faces like Jeff, it gives a really interesting dynamic and the fans love everyone. They really go all out, and stuff like the DDT is fucking sick. It feels like a fight to the death contest. I love it. I'd give it 5* if I still did ratings and shit. What does everyone else think of this?

Nah, you're blowing it out of proportion. Problem is, not many people actually care. And when I said 'back to normal', I meant Raw will be the same product we're getting now, with the same wrestlers, and people will have forgotten about this.

It's not that big a deal, guys, in three months time everything will be back to normal. Ad they can't be having that much of a crack down, it's obvious guys like Rey have been on them and are not named.

It's the one from Final Showdown earlier in the year. They do more to entertain in 10 minutes than Danielson can do in a thousand 30+ minute matches. And they do it without just making it into complete spot-fu.

Yeah, the matches with Lynn don't age well. Sydal's match with Rave a couple of years ago is better.

He's a lot better than Waltman ever was, at least in the ring.

I Said Credit: www.wrestleview.com Guess we'll find out.

It's because he actually is a complete cunt that Randy keeps getting these pushes. I believe he's this arrogant, self centred, vain, talented guy, and he plays it so well because he is like that in real life. He's probably the best heel WWE have had since Rock or Austin, and better in some ways, because he draws genuine heat.

Anyone else think Orton/Cena will draw huge numbers at Summerslam? I've been watching some bits on You Tube and the feud looks red hot. Will Orton win the title?

I still don't get why Foley was in that random 5-Way earlier in the year. Was there a story behind that?

I did not realise that, no.

Austin 2001 is the best in ring year of anyone, anywhere, ever, for my money, and an awesome character as well. I probably overrate it a ton, but I love the Angle, Benoit and Rock matches, he has a couple of stellar tags, the Trips match and some really cool stuff that kept the Alliance/WWF storyline at least somewhat respectably. I loved the faction feud with RVD, the beatdowns on the Hardyz, and, I probably shouldn't say it given my reputation, the whipping of Taz. The stuff with Taker was awful though. I liked him in 96, 97 and 98 a bunch, 99 not so much, the 2003 run against Hollywood Rock was OK, the stuff after his retirement varied considerably. It was mostly shit on the shows that I saw, though there were a few times where you could see he was head and shoulders above any other guy out there in his interviews, his timing was always amazing. I haven't seen as much of his WCW stuff as I should have, I thought his ECW run was overrated, probably because it was fairly controversial, though he was entertaining most of the time.

I find it hilarious that Phil Schneider comes running, every time there is so much of a whiff of the 'anarchistxx is a racist' discussion. Isn't this the entire reason you're on this forum in the first place? Surely you have better things to do with your time? Then again, maybe not. You continue to amaze me. I wonder which is more laughable - your desperation to get a rise out of me, or SLL's blatant bumming of Bix.

Playing the race card, guys, what a surprise. I like flashy attire, just not MVP's attire, because I think the top bit looks kind of stupid. It's called an opinion, I'm allowed one. And, for the record, if we were doing a world list, Kyoko Kimura would be in my Top 5.