mcstoklasa
Hank Scorpio
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Post by mcstoklasa on Mar 2, 2024 18:31:19 GMT -5
Whilst heel Austin was entertaining and he did have some dynamite matches, I deeply wish he never turned.
He wasn't getting stale at all. He had only been back for six months after being gone a year, the fans loved him, and after turning heel he didn't have many top guys to work with other than Taker yet again (yawn).
If he would have stayed face he could have fought off the invasion and still had great matches all year.
It's a shame because whilst he reverts face again at the end of the year, it was never quite the same. Sure we got some awesome moments like the supermarket fight, he was never quite the same.
And it's sad because his run on top was so short. I wish we would have had top face Austin 98-99 and also top face Austin late 2000 and all the way through 2001. Perhaps he could have turned in 2002, though 2002 was pretty much a write off for him anyway.
Austin and Rock were really young (Austin was only about 38 when he retired) and their runs were so brief, it's unreal.
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Renslayer
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
every time i come around your city...
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Post by Renslayer on Mar 2, 2024 23:35:03 GMT -5
Whilst heel Austin was entertaining and he did have some dynamite matches, I deeply wish he never turned. He wasn't getting stale at all. He had only been back for six months after being gone a year, the fans loved him, and after turning heel he didn't have many top guys to work with other than Taker yet again (yawn). If he would have stayed face he could have fought off the invasion and still had great matches all year. It's a shame because whilst he reverts face again at the end of the year, it was never quite the same. Sure we got some awesome moments like the supermarket fight, he was never quite the same. And it's sad because his run on top was so short. I wish we would have had top face Austin 98-99 and also top face Austin late 2000 and all the way through 2001. Perhaps he could have turned in 2002, though 2002 was pretty much a write off for him anyway. Austin and Rock were really young (Austin was only about 38 when he retired) and their runs were so brief, it's unreal. Starting from no way out 2001, it felt like Steve was going 3 million miles per hour
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mcstoklasa
Hank Scorpio
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Post by mcstoklasa on Mar 3, 2024 16:10:58 GMT -5
Starting from no way out 2001, it felt like Steve was going 3 million miles per hour He was on fire in the ring
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Post by "Cane Dewey" Johnson on Mar 3, 2024 16:38:08 GMT -5
WWF's main issue was they had no f***ing babyfaces for him to work against In defence of the heel turn, this statement can go the other way: "WWF's main issue was they had no f***ing heels for Austin to work against" had Austin stayed a babyface in early 2001. I remember reading on the internet IWC dismay at how long Triple H/Austin went. So doing that again, but with heel Triple H chasing a champion babyface would have sucked. Rikishi had no credibility after his mini-feud with Austin, and he went down in the tag division pairing with Haku. Austin vs. McMahon was so stale at this point. Nobody would have wanted to see that again. I guess Angle could have become the top heel, but I don't think he would have been over as the top heel as he was as the top babyface the summer of 2001. Benoit could have moved up too, but he wouldn't have had the credibility at that point in time. It was too soon for the Undertaker to turn heel, and Kane had already flip-flopped back-and-forth a lot by that point that he couldn't be the top heel of the copy. As with Kane, ditto for the Big Show. Barring Booker T and DDP, none of the top WCW stars were willing to jump to the WWF in 2001. And I don't think Booker and DDP could have been the top heel of the time either. I also remember some rumblings about the Rock being stale as a babyface in 2001. Those feelings deepened in 2002 when Toronto booed the Rock at Wrestlemania 18, and the Summerslam fans cheered Brock Lesnar beating the Rock for the WWE title. I also remember people being bored by Austin's act when he went back to being a babyface in late 2001. From that time until the Sheriff Austin stuff, it was classic Stone Cold Steve Austin but it was also past the expiry date. There's a sort of dopey magical thinking, especially from people in the business like Jim Ross and Jim Cornette, that babyface Austin in 2001 could have kept printing money forever, which I don't think is true at all. Heel Austin gave him a new coat of paint, new people to work with, made him work differently in the ring, and he stayed fresh as a result. Heel Austin extended his career much longer than "same old shit" babyface Austin would have had he stayed a good guy throughout 2001.
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