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Post by Mister Yummy on Dec 2, 2007 3:09:14 GMT -5
I think it would be great if, in the event Smackdown and/or ECW is cancelled, the WWE brought back shows like Wrestling Challenge, Superstars, and even Prime Time Wrestling. It would be easier on the talent, as these could be taped all at once weeks in advance, and it would be good for us too, as we'd get more wrestling every week. They could have RAW live monday night on USA, with a taped Prime Time on Tuesday or Friday, and syndicate Wrestling Challenge and Superstars at one hour each to local stations all over the country, primarily for weekend mornings. They could even do a third syndicated show, or bring back HeAT and/or Velocity.
These shows would, like they did back in the day, consist mostly of jobber squash matches, with one or two random feature matches with indecisive finishes. This would build talent much more effectively than they are built with todays TV schedule, where people like Jim Duggan and Super Crazy rarely get singles wins or TV time. If they beat a jobber every week, and a random heel by countout every now and again, they'd be much more over.
This would also have the benefit of bringing younger kids, who watch alot of weekend morning television, back to wrestling. RAW and ECW are on after alot of kids have to go to bed, so they don't get much chance to see wrestling.
What do you guys think of this? Who would you pick to host Prime Time, and would you do it 1991 style with a live crowd in a studio, or 1989 style with two commentators in a studio? What about the interveiw segments for the syndicateds? Would The Brother Love Show and The Barber Shop make comebacks?
If you think it's a bad idea, please explain why. Personally, I think todays style of TV wrestling, and the style that's been prominent since 1997 or so, has slowly killed the heat it generated. Listen to the crowd for a 1991 Hacksaw vs. Random Jobber match against a 2007 Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton WWE Title match. Hacksaw got the bigger pop, didn't he.
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Post by destrucity on Dec 2, 2007 3:12:50 GMT -5
It's a bad idea due to the changes in the TV industry. Most of the independent local stations of the '80s that typically featured wrestling are now part of some conglomerate.
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Post by badantoineaccid on Dec 2, 2007 3:15:16 GMT -5
I grew up watching Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. I remember after WM12, they stopped showing it and made me believe that Wrestling was officially cancelled... I missed the Attitude era cause of that... Oh well, good thing my local video store has all those taps that i needed to catch up on. I remember when I saw Wrestlemania 13, I was like, "Who the hell is Stone Cold?" and then Wrestlemania 14, "Why the hell is Tyson in wrestling?".... yup... good times lol..
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wwerules60
El Dandy
"Bring what? a vomit bag? a fig newton?"
Posts: 8,999
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Post by wwerules60 on Dec 2, 2007 3:25:55 GMT -5
Squash matches will NOT work anymore. This idea comes up every week.
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Post by Mister Yummy on Dec 2, 2007 3:47:52 GMT -5
Why would they not work anymore?
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wwerules60
El Dandy
"Bring what? a vomit bag? a fig newton?"
Posts: 8,999
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Post by wwerules60 on Dec 2, 2007 3:49:08 GMT -5
Why would they not work anymore? Because people are smarter then back in those days and will not watch a bunch of boring one sided matches.
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Post by Dick Foley on Dec 2, 2007 4:45:57 GMT -5
I think people in here have forgot about the fine shows such as "Jakked" and "Saturday Night Shotgun".
Doesn't WWE have enough TV now? Do we need to add more when the ratings are low?
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Post by Loki on Dec 2, 2007 6:05:54 GMT -5
Why would they not work anymore? Because people are smarter then back in those days and will not watch a bunch of boring one sided matches. I still think with a smart marketing strategy, and a new generation of fans, the lost art of squash matches could take off again. Stop spoiling the crowds with quasi-PPV matches on a weekly basis, and they'll accept whatever you throw at them, and the PPVs will get better buyrates and reviews
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Post by Mister Yummy on Dec 2, 2007 7:44:18 GMT -5
This idea would be for if and when Smackdown and/or ECW gets cancelled. Right now, they do indeed have enough TV, though I'd make better use of the AM Raw timeslot. On the same note, TNA should fill the saturday night timeslot with origional material instead of arepeat of Impact.
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Hiroshi Hase
Patti Mayonnaise
The Good Ol' Days
Posts: 30,755
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Post by Hiroshi Hase on Dec 2, 2007 7:49:44 GMT -5
It'd be really hard to go back to squash matches, especially in the bigger markets like NYC and Chicago who'll completely crap all over it.
Personally, if I heard Raw was coming to town and it was going to be 2 hours of squash matches and one main event match, I'd be less inclined to buy a ticket. Also,the crowds are way smarter now than they were in the 80's, just can't go back to that time. Plus the internet is out and about, so people can easily attain spoilers and see the results of the show in advance, and more than likely avoid it if they hear the card has "Orton vs. jobber, Cade/Murdoch vs. Jobber".
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Post by Mister Yummy on Dec 2, 2007 7:57:21 GMT -5
Raw would still be pretty much the same. The syndicated shows would be mostly squashes, but the tapings would be like 5 hours of wrestling for a cheap ticket. Plus, they could throw in random matches taped at house shows on occasion to spice things up. It wouldn't be ALL squashes.
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EJS
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,857
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Post by EJS on Dec 2, 2007 8:01:18 GMT -5
Five hour tapings = super dead crowds.
If they syndicate anything, it should be a classics program. Similar to MSG Classics, but not as specific.
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Post by wildojinx on Dec 2, 2007 9:54:25 GMT -5
I wouldnt mind them bringing back jakked or heat, where midcarders got the chance to shine (FUNAKI got wins on those shows, FUNAKI). Sadly, it would be relegated to 1am or later, behind reruns of 24 and dead zone.
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OriasPool
Samurai Cop
May the power protect you
Posts: 2,381
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Post by OriasPool on Dec 2, 2007 10:50:13 GMT -5
Squash matches will NOT work anymore. This idea comes up every week. may not work, but they still do it. Have you forgotten when Umaga debuted? Or when Snitsky re debuted? That's all they did was squash matches against some random jobber to build them up as monsters. It wasn't for a while that they got into some type of fued. Heck, even now Umaga gets squash matches against some random jobber when in between fueds or to feed Vince's ego. He just had one a few weeks ago that Vince was taunting and had Umaga destroy him.
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Post by leemir on Dec 2, 2007 11:58:26 GMT -5
Cause WWE are competing with all the top tv shows out there so who's gonna watch a boring card of squashes during primetime.
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Post by Flying Leg Kicks on Dec 2, 2007 12:09:35 GMT -5
I still think they should do a show similar to the old ECW show which would consist of matches from different house shows. Maybe they should do that with the Raw AM show and remove the long Raw clips.
Dump ECW and make Smackdown and Raw three hours each consisting of more wrestling matches.
Just my $.02.
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Post by dh03grad on Dec 2, 2007 12:41:37 GMT -5
Because people are smarter then back in those days and will not watch a bunch of boring one sided matches. I still think with a smart marketing strategy, and a new generation of fans, the lost art of squash matches could take off again. Stop spoiling the crowds with quasi-PPV matches on a weekly basis, and they'll accept whatever you throw at them, and the PPVs will get better buyrates and reviews It would be a terrible idea. WWE is now trying to sell 14 pay per views. Every Raw,Smackdown and ECW that airs has to build up to a PPV since it is always only a few weeks away at any part of a year. There are still squash matches here and there to build up monsters like Umaga,Snitsky, BDV but this isnt the 80s where the next PPV was months away and you had all the time in the world to build matchups up.
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Post by dh03grad on Dec 2, 2007 12:45:36 GMT -5
Squash matches will NOT work anymore. This idea comes up every week. may not work, but they still do it. Have you forgotten when Umaga debuted? Or when Snitsky re debuted? That's all they did was squash matches against some random jobber to build them up as monsters. It wasn't for a while that they got into some type of fued. Heck, even now Umaga gets squash matches against some random jobber when in between fueds or to feed Vince's ego. He just had one a few weeks ago that Vince was taunting and had Umaga destroy him. While I agree that squash matches can assist in building up people slightly, Umaga's first match was squashing Ric Flair. The new Snitsky has been around 10 months squashing jobbers and you can the whispers in the audience when he comes out.
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Post by Cap'n Crud on Dec 2, 2007 14:51:20 GMT -5
Squash matches will NOT work anymore. This idea comes up every week. I really doubt people are going to go out of their way just to watch Umaga and Great Khali squashing local indy guys and then watch the feature match end in a schmozz or disqualification. People had already gotten hip to that one 13 years ago. They hated it then and don't want it now either. WWF was damn near on their deathbed after years of that shit. If you don't like them giving away quasi pay per view matches on free TV don't watch `em but in case you forgot you gotta sell the weekly show too. USA network ain't in it for charity. Ain't no free TV on that side of the screen.
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AriadosMan
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Your friendly neighborhood superhero
Posts: 15,620
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Post by AriadosMan on Dec 2, 2007 15:05:51 GMT -5
Smackdown won't be cancelled any time soon due to the writer's strike.
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