|
|
Post by dxbang on Aug 6, 2016 16:27:58 GMT -5
I've been watching some of the older Raws on the network and one thing that has stood out is the fact that they consisted of about three squash matches and a sub par main event.
I've seen Pierre vs. Lex Luger, Scott Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga, 1-2-3 kid vs. HBK, and matches of that caliber as the main event. Not only that, but a lot of these matches don't end clean...Steiner beat Borga by DQ when The Quebecers interfered.
With that said...the shows were all entertaining (generally speaking) and did a great job hyping the pay per views. I don't recall if Raw was an hour or two hours long at the time, but they did a good job mixing these squash matches with vignettes (Double J, Sparky Plugg), interviews (Owen after he started his turn at the Survivor Series), and these main events that aren't even "big" matches.
|
|
|
|
Post by jason1980s on Aug 6, 2016 16:56:47 GMT -5
Brings back memories, the three squashes with absolute jobbers and one main event. The years gradually got better with bigger matches, 1994 and 1995 but generally the absolute jobbers made way for the lowest gimmick guys like Aldo Montoya or Sparky. 1996 transition with more of the mid card guys in the opener matches and by 1997 we got all star matches. I kind of miss the earlier Raws, that's what I grew up on (having taken a few months off from WWF between when it was Prime Time and Raw).
|
|
|
|
Post by cabbageboy on Aug 6, 2016 17:36:23 GMT -5
The amusing thing about that formula is that the same format that wasn't anything especially to write home about circa 1993-95 is now being raved about with NXT doing similar stuff.
|
|
auph10imitated
Dennis Stamp
Sigs/Avatars cannot exceed 1MB
Posts: 4,951
|
Post by auph10imitated on Aug 8, 2016 5:07:00 GMT -5
The amusing thing about that formula is that the same format that wasn't anything especially to write home about circa 1993-95 is now being raved about with NXT doing similar stuff. Its one of those things that at the time, when it is all you are used too, you enjoy it. However then we got spoiled too much with the Attitude Era and RAW going 2 hours and all the matches being more "name" matches, but as time went on and RAW became three hours (in fact it was before then to be fair) it just became overkill, we got TOO spoiled and it became so much harder to keep track of, and when there is too much to digest you just zone out from it - then now you have NXT which takes you back to the old school formula, which is so easy to watch, its simple times made more modern and I think thats great. Its so much easier, especially when your older when you have a job and a life, you dont have the time to watch 3 hours on a Monday, 2 hours on a Tuesday, 4 hours PPV's, now they are going to be twice monthly as well, it is too time consuming. |
|
|
|
Post by HMARK Center on Aug 8, 2016 8:01:17 GMT -5
What made it and shows like it (e.g. WCW Saturday Night, stuff like that) work was that they were made with a goal in mind: promote house shows and pay per view cards. Yes, the weekly show itself wanted to draw in ratings, as well, but everything was built to serve the purpose of hyping up whichever feuds were going to be headline the house show circuit, or getting you to SummerSlam or whichever other PPV was around the corner, with everybody looking strong going into it.
Sadly, yeah, it's a formula that we can never really go back to after how much the Monday Night Wars era gave away, and 2-3 hour shows need to stay interesting to keep people from changing the channel, but the actual weekly shows for almost every wrestling company out there are in a tough spot where they don't serve the single purpose of building up events they want you to actually buy tickets for, they also need to take the weekly show itself and make it an event, and thus the goal and purpose of the show is now divided rather than single-minded.
|
|
|
|
Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Aug 8, 2016 10:20:25 GMT -5
The amusing thing about that formula is that the same format that wasn't anything especially to write home about circa 1993-95 is now being raved about with NXT doing similar stuff. I think this is about the talent quality though, because '93-'95 weren't exactly golden years for the WWF talent pool. Plus, it's an ancient, hackneyed structure, yes, but that is remarkably fresh in the modern era 'authority figure drones for half an hour, the same main event happens yet-a-f***ing-gain' slog that Raw had become. Also, NXT works a little like big budget dramas in that the squash-heavy shows tend to build up to TV episodes that have genuinely great matches. |
|
|
|
Post by HMARK Center on Aug 8, 2016 11:55:04 GMT -5
The amusing thing about that formula is that the same format that wasn't anything especially to write home about circa 1993-95 is now being raved about with NXT doing similar stuff. I think this is about the talent quality though, because '93-'95 weren't exactly golden years for the WWF talent pool. Plus, it's an ancient, hackneyed structure, yes, but that is remarkably fresh in the modern era 'authority figure drones for half an hour, the same main event happens yet-a-f***ing-gain' slog that Raw had become. Also, NXT works a little like big budget dramas in that the squash-heavy shows tend to build up to TV episodes that have genuinely great matches. In addition, the "jobber squash and one featured main event" format at least gives the pretense of the pro wrestling you're watching being a "real" show; the "authority figure drones on forever and we book a main event out of thin air" format gives the vibe that they have these huge 2-3 hours shows that nobody books anything for in advance, making the whole enterprise feel phony and pointless. Consider the difference between all the opening tag matches that occur on a given puro touring card and a "tag team match, playa" Teddy Long special on Smackdown: constant tag matches can feel annoying, but on a puro card they're treated in a real sports sense, like "this is just how cards are structured and what we open shows with", so it's expected and the wrestlers can play into it. A random "you two guys are feuding, you two guys are feuding, TAG MATCH NOW!" has, again, that phony feel to it, like you're watching a show where everything is made up on the fly, which is an insane concept to suspend your disbelief for. That's not me saying people would rather watch squash matches or opening tags than a Rollins/Zayn main event or something, but there's at least a purpose behind the former, not enough behind the latter, and that does have a subconscious impact on the audience. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2016 12:19:39 GMT -5
I've been watching some of the older Raws on the network and one thing that has stood out is the fact that they consisted of about three squash matches and a sub par main event. I've seen Pierre vs. Lex Luger, Scott Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga, 1-2-3 kid vs. HBK, and matches of that caliber as the main event. Not only that, but a lot of these matches don't end clean...Steiner beat Borga by DQ when The Quebecers interfered. With that said...the shows were all entertaining (generally speaking) and did a great job hyping the pay per views. I don't recall if Raw was an hour or two hours long at the time, but they did a good job mixing these squash matches with vignettes (Double J, Sparky Plugg), interviews (Owen after he started his turn at the Survivor Series), and these main events that aren't even "big" matches. Welcome to classic WWF TV. Superstars and Wrestling Challenge operated like that (3-4 squash matches, midcard-level main event) for years. Raw started off with more name vs. name people matches, but fell back into that older format for a while. |
|
|
|
Post by johnnyk9 on Aug 8, 2016 17:29:37 GMT -5
It was great back then but that was a different time
|
|
