Is 2008 the weirdest year in WWE history?
Apr 10, 2022 22:43:57 GMT -5
canceled4truth, thecrusherwi, and 1 more like this
Post by Celexa Bliss 54 on Apr 10, 2022 22:43:57 GMT -5
So, I'm up to this period in my Wrestling Wars fantasy booking and as I research and outline stuff, I'm noticing just how strange things got. In no particular order:
- The utter mess that was Smackdown's "main event" scene. At the start of the year, you had Edge as Champion, Rey as the token pre-Mania feud, with Batista and Undertaker as the two potential challengers for the big event. Then Rey got hurt and they did that weird stretch where Taker won the title, then was stripped, then Edge won it, then Undertaker went away and Batista stepped in, before Punk took the WHC to Raw. Then after the draft, you had Triple H as Champion, but Jeff Hardy was the only serious contender. Taker and Big Show were feuding with each other, and Edge was injured. And none of the other guys in the Unforgiven Scramble could be classed as main eventers. And then there was Kozlov lol you know it's dire straits when The Great Khali is slotted in as a challenger for the second biggest PPV of the year.
- Shawn Michaels had one of the weirdest years I can think of lol was feuding with Mr. Kennedy when the year began, then was chasing the WWE Championship on the Road to Mania. Ended up retiring Ric Flair, then became involved in a feud with Batista, which evolved into the amazing Jericho feud. But when that ended, HBK's next storyline was that he was broke? Like... how?? Did he and Big Show have the same investment advisor??
- The tag division was probably at it's all-time weakest. Rhodes and Holly were your champs on Raw for months, with the other teams including the on-their-last-legs pairings of Cade and Murdoch, and London and Kendrick, the jobber team of The Highlanders, and the random makeshift teams of Carlito and Santino, Umaga and Snitsky (now THAT'S a team for you) and Super Crazy and Jim Duggan. Then after the draft, Cody turned on Holly to team with Ted DiBiase, but the only other team around was Cryme Tyme. Again, you know it's dire when Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole get a friggin' title shot! And then there was the Punk/Kofi title reign, followed by a random house show loss to Miz and Morrison.
And it wasn't any better on Smackdown. Miz and Morrison beat the entire division for the first half of the year, only to lose the titles to Hawkins and Ryder in a 4-way at the Great American Bash. And then they did nothing with the titles until Primo and Carlito won them in October. And then they did nothing with them AGAIN until WrestleMania.
- The women's division was ravaged by injuries and people leaving. Right when they were giving Smackdown it's own title, too. On Raw, it was especially bad, with Mickie James as the only babyface, vs. a heel roster of Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, Katie Lea and Layla. No wonder they moved Kelly Kelly over and opted not to move Candice to Smackdown. Meanwhile, Smackdown wasted it's two best heels in Natalya and Victoria, while pushing Michelle McCool to the moon.
- This year also had the worst batch of debuts ever. Bam Neely. Braden Walker. Ricky Ortiz. Manu. Ryan Braddock. Scotty Goldman. Kizarny. Gavin Spears. DJ Gabriel. All gone within a year. And even the guys who had staying power had weird debuts. Ziggler was shaking hands and introducing himself. Primo got brushed off by Mike Adamle. Maryse did those weird Smackdown bumpers. Ezekiel Jackson was Kendrick's bodyguard. And R-Truth got the Jimmy Wang Yang treatment of having vignettes, then losing most of his matches. Only Swagger, Kofi, Bourne and DiBiase were brought in with any serious momentum.
- The releases. This was one of the last times they did the massive cuts prior to 2020 and... yeah. So many people who'd been there for years, like Stevie Richards, Val Venis, Shannon Moore and Nunzio were cut. Colin Delaney had just turned heel and seemed to be getting a push, then they cut him out of the blue. Super Crazy was released unexpectedly. Nobody who was lighting the world on fire, mind you, but it was quite sudden regardless.
- The injuries to top stars. Orton, Undertaker, Mysterio, Cena, Edge and Batista all went down with injuries that put them on the shelf for significant amounts of time. Plus, Jeff Hardy and Regal getting suspended, and additional injuries to reliable upper midcarders Umaga and Kennedy (who would both be gone the following year). People cite 2015 as an awful injury year, but 2008 was up there.
- Just the general throwing of crap against the wall to see what stuck. Kozlov's main event push. Knox's push. Kane's heel turn. The Jamie Noble/Layla/Regal angle. All the above-mentioned debuts.
Has there ever been a stranger year than this??
- The utter mess that was Smackdown's "main event" scene. At the start of the year, you had Edge as Champion, Rey as the token pre-Mania feud, with Batista and Undertaker as the two potential challengers for the big event. Then Rey got hurt and they did that weird stretch where Taker won the title, then was stripped, then Edge won it, then Undertaker went away and Batista stepped in, before Punk took the WHC to Raw. Then after the draft, you had Triple H as Champion, but Jeff Hardy was the only serious contender. Taker and Big Show were feuding with each other, and Edge was injured. And none of the other guys in the Unforgiven Scramble could be classed as main eventers. And then there was Kozlov lol you know it's dire straits when The Great Khali is slotted in as a challenger for the second biggest PPV of the year.
- Shawn Michaels had one of the weirdest years I can think of lol was feuding with Mr. Kennedy when the year began, then was chasing the WWE Championship on the Road to Mania. Ended up retiring Ric Flair, then became involved in a feud with Batista, which evolved into the amazing Jericho feud. But when that ended, HBK's next storyline was that he was broke? Like... how?? Did he and Big Show have the same investment advisor??
- The tag division was probably at it's all-time weakest. Rhodes and Holly were your champs on Raw for months, with the other teams including the on-their-last-legs pairings of Cade and Murdoch, and London and Kendrick, the jobber team of The Highlanders, and the random makeshift teams of Carlito and Santino, Umaga and Snitsky (now THAT'S a team for you) and Super Crazy and Jim Duggan. Then after the draft, Cody turned on Holly to team with Ted DiBiase, but the only other team around was Cryme Tyme. Again, you know it's dire when Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole get a friggin' title shot! And then there was the Punk/Kofi title reign, followed by a random house show loss to Miz and Morrison.
And it wasn't any better on Smackdown. Miz and Morrison beat the entire division for the first half of the year, only to lose the titles to Hawkins and Ryder in a 4-way at the Great American Bash. And then they did nothing with the titles until Primo and Carlito won them in October. And then they did nothing with them AGAIN until WrestleMania.
- The women's division was ravaged by injuries and people leaving. Right when they were giving Smackdown it's own title, too. On Raw, it was especially bad, with Mickie James as the only babyface, vs. a heel roster of Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, Katie Lea and Layla. No wonder they moved Kelly Kelly over and opted not to move Candice to Smackdown. Meanwhile, Smackdown wasted it's two best heels in Natalya and Victoria, while pushing Michelle McCool to the moon.
- This year also had the worst batch of debuts ever. Bam Neely. Braden Walker. Ricky Ortiz. Manu. Ryan Braddock. Scotty Goldman. Kizarny. Gavin Spears. DJ Gabriel. All gone within a year. And even the guys who had staying power had weird debuts. Ziggler was shaking hands and introducing himself. Primo got brushed off by Mike Adamle. Maryse did those weird Smackdown bumpers. Ezekiel Jackson was Kendrick's bodyguard. And R-Truth got the Jimmy Wang Yang treatment of having vignettes, then losing most of his matches. Only Swagger, Kofi, Bourne and DiBiase were brought in with any serious momentum.
- The releases. This was one of the last times they did the massive cuts prior to 2020 and... yeah. So many people who'd been there for years, like Stevie Richards, Val Venis, Shannon Moore and Nunzio were cut. Colin Delaney had just turned heel and seemed to be getting a push, then they cut him out of the blue. Super Crazy was released unexpectedly. Nobody who was lighting the world on fire, mind you, but it was quite sudden regardless.
- The injuries to top stars. Orton, Undertaker, Mysterio, Cena, Edge and Batista all went down with injuries that put them on the shelf for significant amounts of time. Plus, Jeff Hardy and Regal getting suspended, and additional injuries to reliable upper midcarders Umaga and Kennedy (who would both be gone the following year). People cite 2015 as an awful injury year, but 2008 was up there.
- Just the general throwing of crap against the wall to see what stuck. Kozlov's main event push. Knox's push. Kane's heel turn. The Jamie Noble/Layla/Regal angle. All the above-mentioned debuts.
Has there ever been a stranger year than this??
