Things that made the old school better than today

[Essential1]

What things stand out in mind for you and why is nostalgia so awesome?

Everything in the wrestling world was so much simpler, but at the same time the drama and surprises were there. We had theatre and sport mixed together and as kids we were none the wiser. The whole package was so good without alot of the stuff they ended up adding later.

Wrestling today, well WWE is great with it's high production values and Twitter talk but I do think they should try to tone things down a bit. The massive HD sets for starters....why not make a change with something a little smaller. I always loved the old school MSG sets. Why not gives us more reason to be excited each week....we might be older but I know for sure I've marked out and have been excited many times as an adult. It just seems to happen less in this current era.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

The results of matches actually mattering.

[britishbulldog]

For me it was the fact that everyone on the PPV was a big deal. People stood out and were different.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

The existence of territories made wrestlers have to get over with different places every time they relocated. This gave them the necessary skills for getting over through experience which most of today's wrestlers sorely lack.

[britishbulldog]

Dec 16, 2012 23:52:53 GMT -5 BoilerRoomBrawler said:

The existence of territories made wrestlers have to get over with different places every time they relocated. This gave them the necessary skills for getting over through experience which most of today's wrestlers sorely lack.

Very good point

[molson5]

The WWE always left me wanting more in the 80s, they were such a tease. Jobber squash after jobber sqaush on TV every week, with the occasional midcarder v. midcarder match that seemed SO important. And then PPVs - forget about it, all that star power in the ring at one time at the Survivor Series and I nearly lost my mind. Today, the WWE holds almost nothing back, so it's much, much, harder to reach that "epic" level.

[molson5]

Dec 16, 2012 23:52:53 GMT -5 BoilerRoomBrawler said:

The existence of territories made wrestlers have to get over with different places every time they relocated. This gave them the necessary skills for getting over through experience which most of today's wrestlers sorely lack.

I didn't personally have access to any territories growing up, but this is so true from a new talent standpoint. The WWF could pluck main event-caliber, ready-to-go, great on the mic and great in the ring guys from all over the country, who had already main-evented and been on TV for years, it was really unbelievable. Today, they can't bring in anybody new who's ever worked in front of more than 500 people. It's a huge difference.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

For the record, I didn't grow up knowing a wrestling world with territories either.

That said, for a few years I have come to believe that WWE needs more than FCW. It needs to do business with at least four territories - one per quadrant of the continental US. No wrestler gets called up until they are confirmed to get over in all four developmental territories or at least three of the four.


Anyways, other reasons old school was better...

Wrestling was more... Manly back then. This stems from wrestlers paying their dues longer than today before they got over so they felt less like your older brother and more like your Dad and when you're a kid, who takes care of business; your older brother or Dad? Today's wrestlers are often pushed at too young an age or else have too youthful a look.

Wanna know one reason Batista got so over? You didn't notice it, but your brain did. Why do Cena and Orton just not seem the same as Hogan, Warrior, or even Austin or HHH? You didn't notice it, but your brain did.

[suave]

Dec 17, 2012 0:17:48 GMT -5 BoilerRoomBrawler said:

For the record, I didn't grow up knowing a wrestling world with territories either.

That said, for a few years I have come to believe that WWE needs more than FCW. It needs to do business with at least four territories - one per quadrant of the continental US. No wrestler gets called up until they are confirmed to get over in all four developmental territories or at least three of the four.


Anyways, other reasons old school was better...

Wrestling was more... Manly back then. This stems from wrestlers paying their dues longer than today before they got over so they felt less like your older brother and more like your Dad and when you're a kid, who takes care of business; your older brother or Dad? Today's wrestlers are often pushed at too young an age or else have too youthful a look.

Wanna know one reason Batista got so over? You didn't notice it, but your brain did. Why do Cena and Orton just not seem the same as Hogan, Warrior, or even Austin or HHH? You didn't notice it, but your brain did.

Good point. I don't really get why Vince Always wants the same look with guys. With a wider variety of body types, gimmicks, and overall looks, everyone stands out, which made getting over easier.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

Here's a subtle one: that many probably don't notice because they have no knowledge or experience of television production, but try to think about this the next time someone comes out. There is a director telling the sound tech to cue the music for an upcoming "run-in" and then they tell the Technical Director to switch camera angles at certain times. Someone is cueing these Titantron videos to accompany the music. Think of that and the implications of it and see how the false reality of wrestling crumbles to dust.

This is another reason so much rings false today that didn't then. It's subliminal overproductionthat spills today's product more than you think. Old school, when a wrestler came out, they often had to seize your attention because no one had a jumbotron video (not even Hogan) and many didn't even have music.

And speaking of music, a lot of entrance music sounds too similar and tries to convey character vaguely through lyrics instead of through sheer sound. Old school entrance music, when original, tended to be more variable and tended to match the wrestler persona better than today.

[chazraps]

Cheaper popcorn.

[dlg3000]

Heels were the true bad guys..the cheaters, cowards, douchebags, etc.

Babyfaces were truly role models and not cheaters, cowards, douchebags or didn't do douche-y things on a regular basis. In other words, they were far more rootable than some of them are today.

My point is, at least you can tell who are really the heels or who the faces are. There were no tweeners.

[TGM]

If we're talking about WWE, then less PPVs is something I've always enjoyed.

Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam and Survivor Series. You can push a guy to looks strong in the Rumble, give him a big win at 'Mania, have him win the KOTR, face the champion at Summerslam and then have thir two teams battle at Survivor Series. I love this idea of booking, instead of the stop start crap we get today.

[kingoftheindies]

too young to remember territories but from reading books and watching clips, you had to work to get over in other areas and it allowed different people to be on top. Somebody who was a draw in Portland may not be in Memphis while somebody who made money in Calgary may not in Florida.

[willywonka666]

Dec 17, 2012 1:04:19 GMT -5 BoilerRoomBrawler said:

Here's a subtle one: that many probably don't notice because they have no knowledge or experience of television production, but try to think about this the next time someone comes out. There is a director telling the sound tech to cue the music for an upcoming "run-in" and then they tell the Technical Director to switch camera angles at certain times. Someone is cueing these Titantron videos to accompany the music. Think of that and the implications of it and see how the false reality of wrestling crumbles to dust.

This is another reason so much rings false today that didn't then. It's subliminal overproductionthat spills today's product more than you think. Old school, when a wrestler came out, they often had to seize your attention because no one had a jumbotron video (not even Hogan) and many didn't even have music.

And speaking of music, a lot of entrance music sounds too similar and tries to convey character vaguely through lyrics instead of through sheer sound. Old school entrance music, when original, tended to be more variable and tended to match the wrestler persona better than today.

Absolutely. I have noticed and there were times where I thought-that would have been more realistic had their music not played.

One thing that really stood out to me is when Lawler walked out years ago and Paul E replaced him, which was supposed to be a total shock, within 5 minutes of him sitting down he was talking about how some restaurant was sponsoring that segment of Raw.

That and the president only showed up when something big was going on-not every week making matches on the fly. i really thought that would have died out about 10 years ago

I don't care about today's wrestlers. I think CM Punk is an absolute dick on tv and not the kind I want to watch for weeks to see him lose the title, just a guy that I will quit watching until the night of Wrestlemania when he does lose.

[The OP]

That's a good point, they should not be cuing up entrance music for run-ins. They also used to do interviews with Mean Gene and things like that. Nowadays they are more likely to do a segment that's filmed just like a normal TV show without any consideration to why the camera is there and who is filming. For this reason, even though I think WWE's production values are much better than TNA's on a general level, I think it was a clever idea on TNA's part to start doing that "hidden camera" style footage of what goes on in the back.

Back in the 80s you would occasionally see segments on shows like Tuesday Night Titans that really made wrestling look fake, like Roddy Piper doing comedy skits with George "The Animal" Steele. Generally speaking though, they mostly tried to present it the way you would present sports, but just jazzed up and made more entertaining. It seems like little by little WWE is starting to try to get back to basics in some of these respects. Not as much as I'd like them to, but I've seen some signs of it.

[molson5]

There was more roster turnover for every promotion back in the day. Promoters were really concerned about guys getting stale, they would book around arrivals and departures to make sure the fans wouldn't tire of anyone. We've had at least one Kofi Kingston match every week on TV for what seems like 250 consecutive years. That would never, ever happen years ago.

[Deleted]

Me being younger and far more naive.

[MichaelMartini]

Better characters, more protected booking, better ring psychology. Guys looked like they were fighting, not dancing. I really hate how everyone spends so much time telegraphing their big moves. HBK used to do it and now everyone has to do it because he's WWE's archetype of the perfect wrestler when it should be Hogan.

[thegame415]

Less TV. Just as little as 15 years ago, WWF only had 4 hours of new programming per week (Raw, Heat and Shotgun). Now, we 3/4 of that it one night.