Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 22:50:06 GMT -5
Couldn't they have gotten a new interview from Steve about King of the Ring? It's amazing how much pull quote footage they have gotten out of that one Austin interview from 10 years ago.
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cosmo
Samurai Cop
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Post by cosmo on Feb 16, 2020 23:21:33 GMT -5
Couldn't they have gotten a new interview from Steve about King of the Ring? It's amazing how much pull quote footage they have gotten out of that one Austin interview from 10 years ago.
Still doesn't beat that one Bischoff interview that they've recycled for damn near everything.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 0:52:26 GMT -5
So... Episode 1... off to a rough start, in my opinion. I expected WWE to shuffle all the uncomfortable and awkward things that did not work out or were detested from that time period quickly under the rug and hoped that nobody would ask questions about them since they went "this thing sucked, moving on" since WWE uses the Network documentaries as corporate propaganda to extol how great everything is. The reality is, I would have liked it if they spent an episode on this documentary on the skeletons (at least the ones that aired) that are in the closet historically. Certainly we wouldn't get Katie Vick, but at the very least, Billy & Chuck deserves some kind of mention given that WWE took a metro-sexual influenced gimmick and decided to go full "gay" into it for the publicity, only to swerve at the last moment and pissed off everyone.
The Invasion, which was the unfortunate aftermath of the Monday Night Wars where years of WCW's incompetence caught up with them and they were out of a TV deal on Time Warner networks, effectively being forced to reluctantly accept Vince's offer of a buyout, is also swept under the rug where the main argument was "Well... we couldn't pay the contracts for all the big names at the time, and all we had were the pathetic jobbers that couldn't cut the mustard". Except, WWF did bring in a few people that had name value (not major name value, but if you gave them time and wins over people that mattered) like Lance Storm and Booker T, and also lucked out when Diamond Dallas Page accepted a contract buyout, and proceeded to book those people as poorly as those pathetic jobbers. That image of Mike Awesome with the Hardcore Championship was one of the few times a non-WWF wrestler won a WWF belt during the Invasion angle. The argument about television time is also a bit convoluted, since while the WWF had fewer hours and a revolving door of filler programming for opening act talent, their roster wasn't nowhere near the bloated behemoth it was today and they were still operating loosely with "crash TV" in mind. Heck, before the Invasion, I think they had already gotten rid of a few wrestlers like Tiger Ali Singh, Just Joe, Chaz, and Haku that would have not even made it on the show anyway, Invasion or not. 20 or so WCW guys would seem like a steep influx, but if the whole thing wasn't treated as a means for Vince to stroke his ego, the talent would have likely seen larger paydays in any other scenario.
The most laughable part, however, was WWE changing it's name from WWF due to "a change in attitude". We all know why they changed their name; they lost a lawsuit to the World Wildlife Fund since the other WWF felt like Vince's company made them look bad, and rather than pay them, Vince chose to change the company's name and spent a decade having their most popular era blurred to hell and back in video compilations, which was likely more expensive in the long run.
Ultimately, episode 1's purpose was to set the stage for the rest of the series; introduce us to the conflict (no outside competition with no ECW or WCW and obviously a combination of the WCW wannabes like XPW or WWA being non-starters and ROH/TNA in their infancy) plus the main cast of characters (the OVW Four as well as Triple H, Kurt Angle, and maybe Undertaker), but it just has that same formula that the Monday Night Wars series had where anything they say can be countered easily with hard evidence.
So... 2/10.
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Post by eJm on Feb 17, 2020 5:45:45 GMT -5
Did Smackdown ever get a better rating than a Raw? Believe it or not, yes. Multiple factors (network television, better wrestling, Triple H's Reign of Terror) allowed for SmackDown to get higher ratings for a period of months in late 2002 through early 2003, I believe. It was one of the reasons Smackdown kept getting raided in the draft lotteries, I believe.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 9:11:39 GMT -5
Believe it or not, yes. Multiple factors (network television, better wrestling, Triple H's Reign of Terror) allowed for SmackDown to get higher ratings for a period of months in late 2002 through early 2003, I believe. It was one of the reasons Smackdown kept getting raided in the draft lotteries, I believe. Like I said, every time SmackDown started doing better, they got put in their place as punishment. Instead of having two viable programs, the company firmly wants one viable program and one program that exists for revenue purposes. Who can forget the 2004 Draft that was meant to "help" the blue brand deal with losing Lesnar and soon some other men by giving them Rene Dupree?
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Post by eJm on Feb 17, 2020 9:48:43 GMT -5
The funny thing about the WWF/WWE name change thing?
The story at the time was so big, it got covered on Newsround.
Long story short, Newsround was (and is somewhat) a show on BBC's kids block CBBC where news stories were basically made easy to understand for kids, giving them a showcase of what was going on in the world without it feeling overwhelming.
So this story was such a big deal that, even for the few seconds they covered it, they felt necessary making it easy to understand for children.
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Post by The Rick Jericho on Feb 17, 2020 11:21:26 GMT -5
STOP BURYING WCW.
IT'S YOUR LEGACY BRAND NOW. TREAT IT LIKE ECW.
HOLY MAN.
/rant
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 12:18:08 GMT -5
STOP BURYING WCW. IT'S YOUR LEGACY BRAND NOW. TREAT IT LIKE ECW. HOLY MAN. /rant No! They kicked our ass, so they must be buried! Dammit! /Vince
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Post by Andee9001 on Feb 17, 2020 19:36:51 GMT -5
It was one of the reasons Smackdown kept getting raided in the draft lotteries, I believe. Like I said, every time SmackDown started doing better, they got put in their place as punishment. Instead of having two viable programs, the company firmly wants one viable program and one program that exists for revenue purposes. Who can forget the 2004 Draft that was meant to "help" the blue brand deal with losing Lesnar and soon some other men by giving them Rene Dupree? To be fair it was a pretty big non event for Raw too. Raw got Shelton and Edge who went on to do some good but they also got Nidia, Tajiri, Rhyno, Chuck and A Train who did a whole lot of nothing. Smackdown at least got Booker, RVD and the Dudleys out of it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:15:38 GMT -5
John Cena was a failure for a few months, then became a success... then technically became a failure again.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:16:50 GMT -5
"You suck, John Cena!"
-Kid in 2002
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:17:39 GMT -5
None of us have heard of Velocity because WWE won't put it on the Network!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:21:06 GMT -5
That's a great way to tell the wrestler, "Wow, you suck on the mic; we're never pushing you again."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:27:56 GMT -5
Hey, Big Show as US Champion; how come you only defended it once before WrestleMania?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:30:55 GMT -5
John Cena: "Ooh, 'General'."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:31:21 GMT -5
Hey, Goldberg left, too!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:32:36 GMT -5
There's a Photoshop right there.
"JBL Yells at Cloud."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:33:26 GMT -5
The debut of a hideous belt.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:33:58 GMT -5
"Bland looking"?!
The Undisputed Championship was great!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2020 23:34:51 GMT -5
Kids and stupid people loved that thing, but now we are in the "oh, he's controversial" phase.
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