Jump The Shark Moments

[Judy Bagwell]

I forget the match but it was in THE WCW Brother when Randy Savage dropped a top rope elbow on Hulk hogan to activate Hulk smash mode

but the triple cage of doom where Hulk and Savage had to beat 6 monster heels jumped the shark multiple times in the same match

Z Gangsta anyone?

[goodhelmet]

This angle did it for me. I had been a WWF/WWE fan since the early 80's, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was a long time coming, and there were plenty of things that led up to that point, but prior to that I had always maintained an interest in the WWE product, watched Raw and Smackdown, and pretty much all the PPV's. I can honestly say that since the Triple H/Booker T angle, WWE hasn't gotten nickel one from me that I can recall, and if they ever have, it has never been anywhere NEAR the money I used to spend on them. I paid for every PPV, tons of home video releases, live event tickets and merchandise for years and years, and all of that stopped with this angle.

 

I'm not one of those thin skinned easily offended types, nor am I a knee jerk liberal who takes offense or sees a double meaning in every nickname or catch phrase. It wasn't JUST the blatant racism that offended me about this angle, although that was a large part of it. It was the fact that the WWE later actually tried to claim this story was good storytelling, and stating in an article on their website written by some jackass named Brian Solomon (which later vanished) that it was good vs. evil during which good would triumph. Anybody who knows how the eventual Triple H/Booker T match went, knows how "good" won out in this story. Then they tried to claim the story wasn't actually about race for a while, that was classic. The whole ordeal was just so wrong headed (as opposed to nappy headed, as Triple H called Booker T) that I just gave up.

 

I encourage anybody who forgot or didn't see that angle to click the link I provided. I know it's from Wrestlecrap, but they actually did a good job of documenting how bad that angle was - with sound bytes to prove the case, no less.

i have a friend who's name rhymes with Donnie Borrow who tried to defend this stupid angle to me during a phone conversation one time. He was drunk.

[Mad Dog]

Wait... I thought he was always drunk...

[Loss]

Here's my favorite reason I've heard for someone stopping watching wrestling;

 

A friend of mine in 5th grade saw the stereo sunset flips the Southern Boys did to beat the Freebirds at Clash XII. To him, it was so fake looking and he hated it so much that he stopped watching until the Monday Night Wars.

[SlingshotSuplex]

The twin referees angle 2/88 on The Main Event was the last straw with me and the WWF for several years. I was already an NWA loyalist but was still pretty enthusiastic about the WWF through at least Mania III. Here was the most watched pro wrestling match in US history, and it ends in what I found the silliest, most intelligence-insulting thing I'd seen in years with Hogan's insinuation DiBiase "paid for the plastic surgery" when I"d seen both Earl and Dave on TV for years. I was suprised to, in recent years, discover that Meltzer loved the angle and thought it was a creative way to get the belt off Hogan, so there you go. Hogan v. The Butcher as a Starrcade main event was enough to end my days as a WCW loyalist. I walked away from WWE again during the Orton/Cena years but re-immersed myself in the indies.

[artDDP]

Something about "Attitude-era" WWF in the fall of 1998 turned me off for a long time. I was a teen but I didn't care if I saw boobs or not on my wrestling program. The WWF completely stopped presenting wrestling altogether and I just quit watching, opting instead for Nitro at that time. And those three-hour Nitros in late 1998-mid 1999 were a chore most of the time.

 

WCW 2000 when Vince Russo won the title. I had a visceral distaste of Russo dating back to the previous paragraph and seeing what WCW was becoming was enough for me. I did wind up tuning back in just before they died, though.

[Judy Bagwell]

Something about "Attitude-era" WWF in the fall of 1998 turned me off for a long time. I was a teen but I didn't care if I saw boobs or not on my wrestling program. The WWF completely stopped presenting wrestling altogether and I just quit watching, opting instead for Nitro at that time. And those three-hour Nitros in late 1998-mid 1999 were a chore most of the time.

 

WCW 2000 when Vince Russo won the title. I had a visceral distaste of Russo dating back to the previous paragraph and seeing what WCW was becoming was enough for me. I did wind up tuning back in just before they died, though.

the attitude era was essentially getting your first hand job, it was breathtaking at the time but doesnt hold up well after youve worked your way through the Kama sutra

[Al]

Muhammad Hassan and the piano wire angle. It had nothing to do with it airing the day of the London bombings. It just felt so uncomfortably close to something horrific in real life that i couldn't stomach it any longer.

[MikeCampbell]

When Vince McMahon "fired" Eric Bischoff as RAW GM in 2003, and spent the whole show promising that he'd name a new one at the end of the night. Right before the end, JR tells Vince that Austin is set for No Way Out, and Vince announced the new GM of RAW. . . . Eric Bischoff!

 

I wasn't even excited the prospect of Austin's return. I was just dumbstruck that they'd basically wasted the whole two hours and did a bait and switch on the payoff. I was in my second year of college and felt like I'd just wasted two hours of my life. I kept up with the goings on, by reading results and stuff, but, it wasn't until the next year that I'd started watching again.

[fxnj]

Benoit offing his family considerably dropped my interest until the yearbook project started, and even then, it was Benoit killing his family combined with all the other ugly stuff it exposed about wrestling.

I stopped watching in early 2010, when there was enough information out there about the harmful effects of concussive blows and even non-concussive blows that it became apparent that Benoit was just the most obvious of many wrestlers who were making harmful and permanent changes to their brain through wrestling, and I felt uncomfortable supporting the industry as a result. Then a year later I popped in Kawada/Kobashi 6/12/98 on a whim and decided, "Fuck it, I can't stop these guys from doing this shit so may as well watch it."

[JaymeFuture]

I want to thank everybody for the contributions, we got to read many of them on the show, which is now available at the following link:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/5yzejn/SCGRadio61-JumpTheSharkMoments.mp3

Join us as we talk about Jump The Shark Moments in Wrestling History! Taking your nominations, we discuss the incidents on screen that turned you or your friends off a company, or even the whole business. Moments such as Katie Vick, Austin's Heel Turn, Aces & Eights, Claire Lynch, The Fingerpoke of Doom, Vince McMahon's Exploding Limo, Crazy Ric Flair, Justin Credible as ECW Champion, The Higher Power, Fritz Von Erich's "heart attack" and many, many more are looked at in depth, a really fun show this week as we look back at some baffling moments, check it out!

[Memphis Mark]

I had supported TNA wrestling all during the weekly PPV days. I turned the other way when all the WCW washouts showed up in Florida. I held my nose every time Russo appeared on my TV set. I was still getting some decent wrestling . However when Gail Kim was signed and started working as Jarrett's and AMW valet that the beginning of the end of the interest in TNA.

 

I have nothing against Gail Kim . However when AJ Styles started selling for her I thur in the towel. There is no way anyone would believe that Gail Kim could move AJ one inch , Styles is built like a tank.. Yet there was Styles selling her flying head scissors , Her constant interference in the AMW vs. Daniels/ Styles matches really was just unbelievable. I stopped watching TNA at this point and switch over to ROH.

[Laz]

So do you have trouble believing that Rey Mysterio Jr. or (insert smaller male talent) could move somebody slightly larger than him?

[Judy Bagwell]

Hogan vs Butcher 94 Starrcade

setting a record for back rakes, rest holds and atrocious selling. This is the point when all the goodwill toward Hogan in THE DUBYA C DUBYA evaporated as it became crystal clear that left to his own devices the ego of the hulkster was going to run wild over quality control.