elbrujo138

I don't know about that All I know is that ratings are in the toilet and that USA are not happy (hence the split) and that WWE are ice cold as a show.

Well , I agree on Heath Slater being fun in his new role. That guy knows his role and makes the most of it.

Well, for a big time angle this kind of failed. I'm actually getting kind of worried (as a wrestling fan) that this might be the beginning of the end for the company unless they have a big time angle planned to make this work. So fucking boring...

By no means am I participating on the poll (I'm a newcomer and,sadly enough don't have the time) but I find the "slippery slope" argument against Onita (big fan) silly. Onita gets blamed for the stupid, break your neck/mutilate yourself, match without reason. I will present two, hopefully valid argumetents against it. Argument no 1: Foley claimed in an interview in Power Slam way back in 1995 that he would rather work FMW than AJPW/random puro fed because missing some flesh and bleeding was better than taking the bumps in the other promotions, I would infer from this that working death matches was better than the suplex heavy style. Shaky evidence since I tossed all my Power Slam magazines away and can't quate him exactly. Argument no 2 If we are blaming Onita for popularazing a style of wrestling we might as well start blaming the first wrestler who bladed to add some heat to his match, because that is what Onita did, If you check out the two macthes that i link below you can see that the spectacle is the center of the action not the "stupid fall down on milion lightubes shit". I have a hard time seeing a 100 greatest wrestler list without Onita on it.

Wouldn't that make Cena a sympathetic figure? The company that has promoted him, bragged about Cena's charity work, a company that Cena has rushed back from injuries for sends Cena to the glue factory when a new stud comes along. That seems like a storyline that would evoke sympathy for Cena and turn the new ace heel.

I'll take a go at Austin. I came up with these that all could be argued were great. The Gun Angle with Pillman - Raw 1996 Austin spends an evening stalking Pillman leading to him breaking in to Pillmans house. In the midst of the craziness, Pillman shows of a gun that goes off while the transmission from the house breaks down. Why it's a great angle: Austin is shown as take no prisoner unstable crazy man willing to settle scores the hard way. In the ratings it wasn't that special if I remember correctly. Double-Turn at WrestleMania 13 - 1997 This is a hard one because it's a match and I don't know if it counts as an angle. But the vivid shots of Austin struggling, screaming and eventually passing out in a pile of his own blood is a iconic as it gets and launches "Stone Cold" as the Next Big Thing (for real). Brawling with Bret/Ambuluance Highjack - Raw 1997 The war with Bret and The Hart Foundation gets more and more bitter as Stone Cold destroys Brets leg and then hijacks the ambuluance to continue the beat down. Great angle with everyone involved in the angle looking great and Austin looking like a killer! Stunning McMahon in the Garden - Raw 1997 After Owen nearly crippled Austin at SummerSlam an increasingly frustrated Austin can't get the WWF officals to let him compete again without a doctors clearance. In the weeks leading up to Raw in Madison Square Garden Austin has been taking out his frustration on WWF officals before finally hitting the top off the food-chain in owner McMachon. And the Garden goes crazy when Vince eats his first stunner. Awesome angle and this is the night I think they realised that Austin was a license to print money. Pull Apart Brawl with Mike Tyson - Raw 1998 The biggest, and most well put together angle in the WWF since the Megapowers exploded, sees McMahon introducing Mike Tyson as the baddest man on the planet and the special ringside enforcer for WrestleManin 14...and then the glass breaks and Austin walks out. He takes objection to Tyson being callded The baddest man on the planet, talks smack to Tyson face, flips him off with the double bird and the pull apart brawl is on! Extra bonus points for McMachon frantically screaming "You ruined everything" at Austin. "I can beat you with one-arm tied behind my back" - Raw 1998 After Austins big win at WrestleMania 14 an increasingly paranoid McMahon wants Austin to conform to being a corporate champion the easy way or the hard way. Austin picks the hard way, brags about beating McMahon with one arm tied behind his back and McMahon calls him out on it. Come match time with McMahon Austin gets his arm tied and the new Corporate Dude Love debuts and attacks one-armed Austin. Great setup, great angle and great ratings as Raw beats Nitro for the first time in 82 weeks. Back then an angle like this was really fresh. Nowadays it's a writing crutch. I belive the first Austin/Dude Love (that this match set up) did a really good buy rate, like 0.8 or something. Austin gets fired and hunts McMahon - Raw 1998 After special ref Austin messed up the Undertaker/Kane match for the vaccant title McMachon (in full on most evil boss ever mode) finally has the right to fire Austin and he does. The next night on Raw "Stone Cold" shows up in full hunting gear and stalks McMahon. Finally he corners his prey and pulls the trigger on a gun, out comes a flag that says "Bang 3:16" as McMahon pisses his pants. Great angle and it can be called a great angle based on the crowd reactions. So hated was McMahon and so beloved was Austin that the crowd was really hot for Austin pulling the trigger on him. Austin takes out the Alliance - Raw 2001 A conflicted heel Austin and where he stands in the WWF's battle against the Alliance is the back drop to an entire episode of Raw. It then culminates in one off the loudest crowds you will hear as Austin takes out the Alliance in the end and captains the WWF's team against the Alliance at Invasion. Invasion does huge WrestleMania like numbers and the WWF off course botches it with the second unwanted heel turn of Austin that year at the PPV. Stuff like this hurt Austin. But the initial angle was real great televison. I'm sure that there is some great angles that I'm missing but I don't know what. I don't remember Austin standing out in any of the Dangerous Alliance angles. While I liked the Flair/Arn feud with Austin/Pillman and the angles leading up to the match that stuff did bad ratings and can't really be considered that great. I'm drawing a bit of a blank on Austin in hot angles in WCW.