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Post by celtics543 on Jan 30, 2023 14:04:06 GMT -5
In British Bulldog's defense he may have been the strongest guy on the roster at the time. He was only 5'10" but he was also 5'10" when he laying down. Guy was built like a refrigerator.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 26, 2023 11:06:41 GMT -5
I think it goes on last because a face usually wins while a heel usually wins the title match. End the show on a good note and send people home happy.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 25, 2023 13:53:28 GMT -5
I give Bischoff a lot of credit and I tend to think if he and Vince switched places (and pocket books) then Bischoff and the WWF still win the war. WCW got cancelled because AOL/Time Warner killed them. The creative was poor in the end but WWE creative has been poor for a long time, they just don't have a huge conglomerate that owns them and is willing to kill them off.
Bischoff did a lot of stuff first. He went with live Nitro every week. He had shades of gray characters that were based on real life. He presented cruiserweights as legitimate. He gave out guaranteed contracts and started the process of making pro wrestling a legitimate field with an HR department.
Did he have issues? Of course he did. His own ego got in the way but so did Vince's. The difference is that Vince owned his private company and could shop around to tv networks. The network owned WCW and didn't want anything to do with it once Turner was out.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 24, 2023 14:26:19 GMT -5
They should've had Orton and Batista turn on Flair/HHH after Orton won the title. Give the whole "Evolution, has passed you by" speech and become uber-heels. HHH and Flair disappear for a while and maybe come back as faces or leading some other heel stable.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 18, 2023 8:33:38 GMT -5
Pretty much the only smidgen, like a tiny speck of optimism i can find that if those two poor kids hopefully make it, the industry will absolutely make sure they're forever taken care of. it's not much but it's something when you read something like that that makes you want to scream by how unfair life tends to be. If there's one thing I wholeheartedly believe in, it's that those kids will want for nothing in the material world as long as Tony Khan walks it
And it's that heart that makes me never want to trash Tony Khan because he gets excited or hugs people. Thoughts are with Jay's kids, hoping they come out okay. Thank God his wife is alive. As a dad and husband if I'm involved in an accident with my family and there's going to be a fatality, I hope it's me and not them. I'm sure Jay felt the same way.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 18, 2023 6:00:37 GMT -5
I think he's passed away but I was always shocked Pedro Morales never came back for anything of note.
As for guys still alive, Gerry Brisco was a legend in two ways, one as a wrestler and one as a stooge but he's never really around these days.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 17, 2023 13:41:23 GMT -5
At this point Bruce Prichard is Lucius Malfoy. Just trying to keep both sides happy and side with whoever has the most power while trying not to get fired.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 16, 2023 8:25:15 GMT -5
The factor that changes everything is that DX was only the top heels for a little while because Shawn got hurt. No matter how many times they want to rewrite history, DX was clearly an upper midcard face stable after Shawn got hurt. HHH, Xpac, and the Outlaws could be booked in the main event but none of them individually was going to be a serious world title contender until HHH broke out years later.
After Wrestlemania 14 I think Bret becomes the top heel contender for Austin's new title. They can main event Summerslam and then Bret can move on to something different. At that point you have new guys starting to come in like Kurt Angle, Jericho, the Radicalz, and finally the entire invasion angle. There would be some great stuff Bret could do with a lot of those guys.
Ironically if Bret had never left. Maybe Wrestlemania 14 is a triple threat? Maybe Shawn doesn't get hurt at the Royal Rumble? Who knows what happens in that butterfly effect.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 13, 2023 7:08:57 GMT -5
I like the image of Tony Khan buying WWE and telling Vince that now they're partners and hugging him the same way Ric Flair hugged Vince back in 2001. Vince pulling the ear and everything.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 13, 2023 7:07:04 GMT -5
I think Bret was enough of a professional and cared enough about the future to be a positive in that era. He'd put Austin over and when the time was right he'd put Rock over too. Austin was already over, so it wouldn't make a difference if Hart decided to lose to him. I just genuinely don't see any value in having Hart or Michaels around given this was now the Austin era, and it would have really been tough to see him share the main event with these guys, because...let's be honest, neither of them were going to be shuffling down the card, and in Hart's case, he's made it abundant in numerous interviews and even his book that he was a title mark, so I always like to think who would be forced down the card in order to make Hart champion again? Neither guy was going to be the veteran whose job it was to get over the new guys. Both had egos that needed to be stroked, and at a time when your trying to get over a new batch of guys, you don't need that waiting in the wings. I'll reiterate that WWF in 1998 was way better without Hart or Michaels, and didn't need either of them to put over the new talent. We'll agree to disagree. I think Bret was a belt mark but he was also a business guy who enjoyed putting guys over and giving them great matches. Shawn was a malcontent who wouldn't put anyone over. 1998 WWF was better off without him but Bret would have been an asset. You can easily re-write history with the Hart Foundation in place of DX and it doesn't actually change much in the lead-up to Wrestlemania 14. After that Bret takes a little vacation until he comes back away from titles. Maybe a Mick Foley feud. Mick was doing nothing at the time apart from the weird Kane feud/tag team. Deadly Games tournament works out the same way with Rock winning the tournament. Rock and Austin headline Wrestlemania 15 with Bret/HHH on the undercard perhaps. That's off the top of my head but with some more time I think you can easily work Bret into that time period with his attitude than you can HBK. The way it worked out was great and clearly neither were needed for it but I think Bret adds some things. Plus a year or so later you get Bret/Angle, Bret/Benoit, Bret/Jericho, Bret/Malenko etc. Then he rides off into the sunset in 2003 or so.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 12, 2023 13:37:21 GMT -5
Would've been interesting if Vince let Shawn leave and used the money to keep Bret. In hindsight if Shawn had hurt his back at the 1997 Royal Rumble instead of 1998 then maybe that's what would've happened. Vince loses a locker room headache, Bret never gets his career ended by Goldberg, and things probably still play out the same otherwise because Austin was clearly on the rise and Bret had no issues putting him over. That seems like very wishful thinking. In all honesty, WWF was better to be rid of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Ushering in a completely fresh era with new stars was better than to try to find room for one of these guys, especially when you had breakout stars in Austin, Rock, Mankind and Triple H. Having either Hart or Michaels around jeopardizes the future of those guys. Add in Kane and Shamrock, and you definitely know someone is getting pushed off to the side. Undertaker already filled the role of the legendary vet. As a WWF fan, 1998 was such a breath of fresh air by not having the old guard around anymore, and I say that as a fan of both Hart and Michaels. I agree to a point. I think Bret was enough of a professional and cared enough about the future to be a positive in that era. He'd put Austin over and when the time was right he'd put Rock over too.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 12, 2023 11:21:04 GMT -5
Would've been interesting if Vince let Shawn leave and used the money to keep Bret. In hindsight if Shawn had hurt his back at the 1997 Royal Rumble instead of 1998 then maybe that's what would've happened.
Vince loses a locker room headache, Bret never gets his career ended by Goldberg, and things probably still play out the same otherwise because Austin was clearly on the rise and Bret had no issues putting him over.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 12, 2023 11:08:44 GMT -5
This was the one I came to say. My expectations were low but this was way better than it should've been.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 11, 2023 7:15:56 GMT -5
I pretty much stopped watching a while ago when other priorities made it hard to watch but was still watching the big ppvs. I'll be done with those and I have all the physical media I would ever need from the era I loved watching so no need for Peacock, so not even supporting them that way.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 11, 2023 7:10:51 GMT -5
So the same guy who came out and did a live show two days after 9/11 and bragged about the resilience of the American people took his classic American company, which has been family owned for 3 generations and sold it to the Saudi government is unreal. All this time I've defended Vince's humanism (not that he isn't a scumbag for the sex payments and potential rape stuff) but I always thought he respected his dad and grandfather so much that he would keep the company in the family.
Ironically from a company perspective he's Hulk Hogan selling the world title to the Sheik, what a heel turn...
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 10, 2023 8:58:57 GMT -5
I quite enjoyed in NXT when his character was that he really hated indie guys Telling Apollo Crews to "go back to ROH" was some incredible heel work for NXT I also loved that character. Basically he's playing real life Braun Strowman on tv.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 9, 2023 12:24:19 GMT -5
I'd say nothing changes except that they're now in the WCW position of being at the mercy of the network that owns them. I'd assume NBC or Disney or whoever would just have the company go on as normal and things only get bad if they start losing money.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 6, 2023 13:29:28 GMT -5
And we thought 2022 was a year of shocking twists. Just wait until 2023 when Vince takes back WWE in a hostile takeover, sells to NBC, gets reinstated as the CEO, and HHH and Steph end up working for AEW.
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Post by celtics543 on Jan 6, 2023 8:38:08 GMT -5
He's definitely showing up on Raw. Most of the fans are going to bow down to him and cheer for him. He'll talk about how it's him against the world and he's a fighter and they'll never get him to retire.
Basically it's going to be just like when Ric Flair shows up.
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Post by celtics543 on Dec 31, 2022 17:15:47 GMT -5
You'd be stupid not to have been. I'm guessing he spoke really highly of his sources and that was the magazine that everyone was reading. Especially back in the day a good review from Meltzer could help you a lot.
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