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Nostalgia pops


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At what point will the nostalgia pops for guys like Austin, Rock, Foley and HBK die off? 5 years from now? 10 years from now? Never? As soon as WWE actually starts booking current wrestlers above the nostalgia acts?

 

When the group of guys who currently receive huge nostalgia pops fade away or are no longer used, will WWE have new nostalgia acts to replace them? Fifteen years down the road, will Jericho come out to a huge pop at Wrestlemania and beat up a current worker? Will Cena be able to generate the loudest cheers of the night just by standing in the middle of the ring and smiling like Rock does today? How long will Daniel Bryan be able to get an arena full of people to chant "YES!" ?

 

Will anybody give Randy Orton or HHH a nostaliga pop 15 years from now? Or will we call their reactions nostalgic indifference?

 

Edit: For the record, I'm not complaining about the nostalgia acts receiving such big pops. I love the fact that Austin and Rock are still around. It helps suck back in lapsed fans like me who no longer can stomach the current product. I'm just generally curious how long people think the nostalgia pops can last for these guys.

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I don't think it will ever stop -- in part because people usually pop for stuff that reminds them of their childhoods, and in part because the old guys are still second to none at working a crowd. I think the onus is more on WWE to show some discipline. There is no hard indicator that says that this type of thing has a detrimental effect, but when you see that for the most part WWE has a roster full of midcard acts, little things like how they book Wrestlemania add up. It won't change until Vince decides to sacrifice a few Manias to build up the current guys, and he'll never do that so there we are.

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When those guys aren't physically able to do anything anymore It's going to be funny when they have to rewrite their history narrative to "remember how great things were in the mid 2000's?"

 

Surprise Royal Rumble entrants Carlito and John Morrison

 

The hot new tag team on the block calling out legendary former champions Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase

 

Shelton Benjamin, one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time

 

And so on

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Objectively, this is hardly a new phenomena in wrestling. Look at the ovation Bruno got at the first WrestleMania, just for being in his son's corner. The AWA, NWA and it's territories did it all the time as well. What's different now is the fact that the guys we're talking about now were household names on a different level because of how Vince changed pro wrestling's national profile.

 

Where I get worried is how much the nostalgia pop in turn belittles and diminishes the newer talent. If Vince can find a way around that (hell, if he even wants it to happen), then I won't mind any of it done further from now.

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