4real
Wade Wilson
Posts: 27,951
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Post by 4real on Dec 10, 2022 10:37:53 GMT -5
2004 I guess.
WWE lost Brock & Goldberg (losing Brock in particular left a big hole in the Smackdown main event). Big Show & Angle also got injured so Smackdown after Mania was gutted. JBL won the title and carried Smackdown through the year.
Cena & Batista would become the focal points in 2005 but 2004 was all about getting them there. Cena was probably ready but got a midcard run first (similar to Austin going for the IC belt in 97). Batista took a while longer to get there until the HHH feud tease in late 04.
Edge had just come back from injury after Mania and was struggling to get the fans behind him as a face even getting booed in Toronto at Summerslam. Later in the year we got the heel turn though and Metalingus and the first glimpses of the Rated R star main eventer we would get.
Taker had also just come back as the Deadman character and was trying to find himself again. The Orton feud in 05 felt to me like him back at his best but it took a while to get there.
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
FAN Idol All-Star: FAN Idol Season X and *Gavel* 2x Judges' Throwdown winner
Tribe has spoken for 2024 Mets
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Post by fw91 on Dec 10, 2022 18:24:14 GMT -5
97. Watch a WWF show from each third of the year. I swear it’s like three different companies
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Dec 10, 2022 18:50:00 GMT -5
97. Watch a WWF show from each third of the year. I swear it’s like three different companies Meanwhile, WCW was pretty much the same show throughout the entire year, with 96 being their transitional year.
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
FAN Idol All-Star: FAN Idol Season X and *Gavel* 2x Judges' Throwdown winner
Tribe has spoken for 2024 Mets
Posts: 39,167
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Post by fw91 on Dec 10, 2022 19:15:08 GMT -5
97. Watch a WWF show from each third of the year. I swear it’s like three different companies Meanwhile, WCW was pretty much the same show throughout the entire year, with 96 being their transitional year. Yeah agreed.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Dec 10, 2022 19:38:14 GMT -5
I'm also going to put 2022 forward for WWE and AEW, but in AEW's case not for some weird over-honeymoon strawman weirdness. WWE is undergoing the radical shift of having someone else in charge for the first time in about forty years, and the transitional aspects are clear as Triple H gets more of a handle on his role and he slowly moves pieces into position. But AEW's going through a lot, too. For one, it built up a new top guy only for him to blow up and get shitcanned, and along with a rash of injuries and troubles, it's run into a lot of bumps in the road. The ROH buyout has had a weird effect on TV that Tony has now goneo n record as saying is going to be different moving forward.
Except both companies are in very big upheaval positions as it relates to talent. AEW reaped a lot of benefits out of WWE's trigger-happy firings. A lot of those people are now going back out of the main wrestling ecosystem, whether AEW or elsewhere, to return to a Triple H-booked WWE where they'll get their shot again. William Regal just got cut loose after being a big figure in one of the show's year-spanning top stories to go back to WWE. THat's a massive turnaround, and the narrative instability is pretty clear. But it's a temporary one. The upheaval will slow, everyone will settle back into their zones again, and rather than AEW being an erratic climb of new names showing up, it's going to have a known, stable roster and be able to tell its stories without huge bursts of big new signings and players. That's ultimately a good thing, and if it loses some more notable acts that's still honestly probably a good thing overall.
Both companies are going to come out of this stronger, but for now there's still a lot in flux.
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Post by wildojinx on Dec 14, 2022 1:22:34 GMT -5
Everyone says wwf 1997, but I'd say the real shift started happening in 1996, with Austin 3:16, Mankind's hardcore style, the Pillman Gun incident, and the Sid/Shawn Survivor Series match (and said crowd reactions) being the main signs things were changing.
ECW 1994 comes to mind as well, 1992-93 ECW was basically a typical indie with a few bigger names like Terry Funk coming in, but 1994 was a shift from that to the more extreme style, basically codified once Shane threw down the NWA belt.
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Post by bogussting on Dec 14, 2022 5:09:42 GMT -5
Everyone says wwf 1997, but I'd say the real shift started happening in 1996, with Austin 3:16, Mankind's hardcore style, the Pillman Gun incident, and the Sid/Shawn Survivor Series match (and said crowd reactions) being the main signs things were changing. Also: -Billionaire Ted skits -NOD -Jim Ross' worked shoot promo and commentary -Worked shoot segments on Livewire -Sexy Sunny videos/disclaimers before shows
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Post by kingoftheindies on Dec 14, 2022 10:05:37 GMT -5
2022/2023 In WWE it's still a hybrid of Vince stuff and Triple H stuff. I don't think we will be able to fully see were it is heading under the new regime until this time next year. In AEW the honeymoon period seems to be over and most people seem to realize that it is isn't the perfect wrestling company many made it out to be in the beginning. I've only really kept up with AEW through clips and on here so I might be way off, but I think AEW have had arguably the best first two years of any company prior. You could say that the first couple years of WWF once they went national were more successful, but it depends on if that counts. Anyway, no doubt the pandemic hurt the company, but it seemed they handled it very well, and the came out of the pandemic with the ultimate catch.. CM Punk. A year removed from his wrestling return, however, and it seems most of the industry have turned on him. As a result Tony Khan looks like a chump and a mark. As for the product itself, for various reasons the company seems to lack direction. Part of that IS the whole CM Punk debacle, but I think a big part is them having spent the two years or so before that hammering through massive matches, and a lot of them on free TV. That along with huge spots, blood, weapons and gimmicks on a near weekly basis, as well as the influx of former WWE guys... Where do they go from there? How do they remain fresh and new? This really needs to be a period of transition for them right now. Tony needs to learn from the mistakes and situations that have presented themselves over this last year and make an effort to change direction a bit. Whatever that direction may be. There are a few things with AEW too to remember. The big thing is Punk. Both him getting injured as well as the meltdown. From all accounts the meltdown caused them to throw out a main angle they had been working towards... but that's not the only thing. AEW was in a holding pattern with another big angle of the Undisputed Era vs the Elite waiting for Kenny to be healthy enough to compete. Then both Adam Cole and KOR got long term injuries so another big thing angle they were building had to get thrown out. There were other injuries/issues that caused things ti get thrown out which led to a large stretch of the year feeling like AEW was treading water. Things seemed to be improving around Grand Slam and the show has gotten back on track in the last month or so. To add to that TK's mom had 2 strokes so he was stretched thinner than normal, but Tony has also hired people like Mike Mansury and Jeff Jarrett to help backstage as well as promoting some people in late August to higher roles so there has been a huge transition for AEW Also to note I don't use that as a defense for AEW either as I was very critical of what seemed to be a treading water approach
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nate5054
Hank Scorpio
Lucky to be alive in the Chris Jericho Era
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Post by nate5054 on Dec 16, 2022 21:40:46 GMT -5
93 is the year that comes to mind, mostly because it was the last of Hogan there for many years. Granted, to me he was pretty much WWF so when he left it just felt really different.
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mc74
Samurai Cop
Posts: 2,410
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Post by mc74 on Dec 16, 2022 22:08:23 GMT -5
Towards the end of 1992 when Bret won the WWF title would've been an interesting one to cover had the transition been actually successful and not went the way it did thanks to the WWF being stubborn in their ways. Whenever I look back at that period, I can't help but to think of what could've been if the WWF fully embraced the way wrestling was evolving at the time.
The most famous one I can fondly remember is the WWF's slow transition from 1996-1998 as it became more & more edgier with its content in the midst of the Monday Night war. The other notable time being WWE's transition to the Ruthless Aggression Era with the brand split.
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sfvega
Grimlock
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Member is Online
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Post by sfvega on Dec 16, 2022 22:35:16 GMT -5
Arguably 1992. 1993 felt pretty New Generation-y and was in full swing by 1994. I think it was definitely 93/94. Hogan was still around in 93, Savage wrestled his last match early in 94. By mid-94, the stars that you came to see previously were no longer on the active roster and the ball was fully in the hands of Bret, Shawn, Razor, Diesel, and Taker. Then Hogan and Savage sign with WCW so there really was no going back. It was also a lot more realistic (by Vince's standards anyway) than his cartoony 80s/early 90s shows.
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legendkiller1985
Don Corleone
If I'm going to have a past, I'd prefer it to be multiple choice
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Post by legendkiller1985 on Dec 16, 2022 23:29:48 GMT -5
2004 I guess. WWE lost Brock & Goldberg (losing Brock in particular left a big hole in the Smackdown main event). Big Show & Angle also got injured so Smackdown after Mania was gutted. JBL won the title and carried Smackdown through the year. Cena & Batista would become the focal points in 2005 but 2004 was all about getting them there. Cena was probably ready but got a midcard run first (similar to Austin going for the IC belt in 97). Batista took a while longer to get there until the HHH feud tease in late 04. Edge had just come back from injury after Mania and was struggling to get the fans behind him as a face even getting booed in Toronto at Summerslam. Later in the year we got the heel turn though and Metalingus and the first glimpses of the Rated R star main eventer we would get. Taker had also just come back as the Deadman character and was trying to find himself again. The Orton feud in 05 felt to me like him back at his best but it took a while to get there. Plus you saw The Rock leave for 7 years to make movies and Austin left as a full time character after WrestleMania XX. The Diva Search era began and unfortunately became the template for an unneeded long period Orton, JBL, Guerrero, Benoit, and Shelton really broke out on their own and became big stars that year
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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 17, 2022 13:46:17 GMT -5
Everyone says wwf 1997, but I'd say the real shift started happening in 1996, with Austin 3:16, Mankind's hardcore style, the Pillman Gun incident, and the Sid/Shawn Survivor Series match (and said crowd reactions) being the main signs things were changing. Also: -Billionaire Ted skits -NOD -Jim Ross' worked shoot promo and commentary -Worked shoot segments on Livewire -Sexy Sunny videos/disclaimers before shows I only said 1997 because that's when the change was most apparent. December of 96 still looked alot like January of that year. You still had gimmicky characters like Duke Droese, Bob Holly, TL Hopper, The Goon etc etc. However if you want to go back even farther, the earliest seeds of the Attitude Era was in late 1995 with Goldust's androginest character and Diesel becoming a tweener(before going full heel) the night he lost the WWF championship to Bret Hart at Survivor Series. I won't call 1995 a transitional year the same way I would with 97, or even 96, but it certainly was a sign of things to come.
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