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Steve Austin comeback


EN090

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Austin wasn't ready to be a main draw by Wrestle Mania 13. Rock had only headlined a handful of ppvs before he headlined 15. HHH was still pretty unproven by 16. Cena and Batista had never headlined a ppv in a singles match before 21. It's time to let the new gen have the ball.

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Regarding part-timers at WrestleMania, I find it amusing that Vince seemingly looks at the roster when they sit down to plan out the show, says "What!  We can't expect people to buy our biggest show of the year to see Kofi Kingston wrestle.  We need real stars!  Quick.  Find me six guys still living who were over 10 years ago!"

 

It seems like Vince has relied on part-timers more and more in recent years.  I get why he does it and I tend to think guys like Undertaker and Rock pop the buyrate at least some, but I personally have very little interest in part-timers  Why should I get behind a Dolph Ziggler push in the fall if he's going to be pulled from TV and shoved down the card come winter/spring so Vince can build WM matches with the Rock, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker?  The UT WrestleMania appearances have been alright because they've basically booked him against part-timers and HBK (who was near retirement and was so over he had nothing to lose) and kept him out of storylines.  I'm mostly found UT's yearly SummerSlam appearances to be counter-productive since he typically showed up to kill the heat of some Smackdown heel who probably couldn't afford to lose momentum (Punk after the Hardy feud, though that obviously didn't hurt Punk much). 

 

I dunno.  Part-timers have their place if you're going to use them to build up full-timers or put new talent over, but that doesn't seem to be the way it works very often in the WWE.

 

Maybe the Network will eliminate the need for part-timers?  People probably won't pay $60 to watch the Miz wrestler Dean Ambrose, but they might be worth $9.99.

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Young workers need to be able to go out and fight each other in matches that are given time. Wrestlemania has the most eyes and it is the time to try and sell guys for the future. You limit potential match quality by having them go up against guys past their prime no longer able to deliver. The Shield squashing the New Age Outlaws and Kane was the right choice for the people that participated in that match. We all saw the greatness the shield brought to their ppv matches. Up until the show with the most viewers where the great match would have had the most benefit. People need to see what all these newer guys to the roster can do. Handcuffing them with someone physically washed up isn't helping. Giving them shorter match times so the washed up wrestlers can lay on the mat gassed for 30 minutes isn't helping either.

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Regarding part-timers at WrestleMania, I find it amusing that Vince seemingly looks at the roster when they sit down to plan out the show, says "What!  We can't expect people to buy our biggest show of the year to see Kofi Kingston wrestle.  We need real stars!  Quick.  Find me six guys still living who were over 10 years ago!"

 

It seems like Vince has relied on part-timers more and more in recent years.  I get why he does it and I tend to think guys like Undertaker and Rock pop the buyrate at least some, but I personally have very little interest in part-timers  Why should I get behind a Dolph Ziggler push in the fall if he's going to be pulled from TV and shoved down the card come winter/spring so Vince can build WM matches with the Rock, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker?  The UT WrestleMania appearances have been alright because they've basically booked him against part-timers and HBK (who was near retirement and was so over he had nothing to lose) and kept him out of storylines.  I'm mostly found UT's yearly SummerSlam appearances to be counter-productive since he typically showed up to kill the heat of some Smackdown heel who probably couldn't afford to lose momentum (Punk after the Hardy feud, though that obviously didn't hurt Punk much). 

 

I dunno.  Part-timers have their place if you're going to use them to build up full-timers or put new talent over, but that doesn't seem to be the way it works very often in the WWE.

 

Maybe the Network will eliminate the need for part-timers?  People probably won't pay $60 to watch the Miz wrestler Dean Ambrose, but they might be worth $9.99.

The Taker burial destroyed Punk until his 2011 push. After that feud he went from headliner to not even on PPVs, and his 2010 was beyond dreadful. Of course in WWE all it takes is one or two weeks of strong booking but most people wouldn't get those one or two weeks that Punk did. He was the ultimate jobber to the stas after that.

 

Yes it can work if they fight up and coming guys, but look at who everyone has faced, it's only Cena or HHH and then later on Punk. Brock Lesnar had 3 matches with Cena, 3 matches with HHH and one with Punk...the guys on the roster that could actually benefit from interaction with a megastar are just SOL. When they were wondering why Sheamus wasnt over as a face they could have tried having him and Lesnar go at it instead of feeding him to Cena right off the bat. When Barrett cost Taker his world title and buried him alive why did Taker not want retribution and instead faced HHH while Wade got squashed in an 8 man match in under 5 minutes?

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Regarding part-timers at WrestleMania, I find it amusing that Vince seemingly looks at the roster when they sit down to plan out the show, says "What!  We can't expect people to buy our biggest show of the year to see Kofi Kingston wrestle.  We need real stars!  Quick.  Find me six guys still living who were over 10 years ago!"

 

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and apparently true.  Building new stars who can headline is the exception to the rule nowadays and I'm positive your scenario, with Vince hitting the "old draws" panic button, is correct.  But damn, sometimes you have to just push forward. 

 

I'd be really into the spectacle of an Austin comeback, so I'm, being a hypocrite here, but come on.  Steve Austin was huge 16 years ago.  Vince didn't try to get Sammartino, Backlund or Graham for Mania 3, did he?  There were some really down Wrestlemanias in the early 90s when the company was trying to build back up between the end of the 80s era and the start of the Attitude era but they just went ahead with the guys they had instead of relying on cheap crutches.  Eventually, these old draws won't be able to do it anymore and then what will they have?

 

There was a rumor that there was some infighting regarding the main of the next Mania, with Vince wanting Rock vs Brock.  Sigh.

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I think some here are seriously overestimating Austin's popularity in 2014. The Rock is one of the biggest names in Hollywood. In the year 2014 Steve Austin isn't on the same planet as The Rock when it comes to star power. How many people who enjoyed watching Austin 15 years ago would shell out 60 bucks to see him wrestle at 50?

 

 

They don't have to. They can get the WWE network for just $9.99 a month. Or so I'm told.

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wouldn't a newer WWE superstar have an opening to essentially be the tune-up for Austin by taking the "1996 Austin" role while Austin becomes the "1996 Bret Hart making his return". There's not really a natural way to have Austin immediately become 1998 Austin without it seeming like a self-parody.

 

But they'll probably have Austin v. the Authority in an unexciting fashion. Perhaps they'll redo the "not medically cleared" late 1997 angles to have Austin on TV without wrestling to start off.

 

Or they can just mess over Ambrose and have Ambrose as the rebel face v. corporate heel Stone Cold Steve Austin. Have Austin show up doing his podcast shilling kind of approach. And eventually after the match, Austin is "snapped to his senses". But that probably doesn't work either.

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There are no legitimate active stars outside of Cena...blame whomever for this, it's fact. Vince sucks, Steph sucks, Triple H was never the guy and doesn't know how to make one, whatever.

Mania 3 had Andre/Hogan/Savage/Steamboat, first ballot all time greats. Bruno wasn't a consideration because they didn't need him. Fast forward, they don't even have a guy who can pop a Raw 3.0, much less a Mania main event in a stadium for hardcore fans. They have needed Rock, Taker, etc. and continue to. The current group of guys wouldn't have gotten over with Vince of 1984, much less 2014. No balls, no charisma. They need Austin and he'd draw more than anyone they have, end of story.

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They've spent 12 years of tv time pushing Orton, and even longer on Big Show and Kane, and neither of those 3 guys are in a position to put someone over in a meaningful way. Reigns' victory of Orton meant jack shit to his credibility or popularity. What I'd like to see is guys like Ambrose, Bray, Rollins, Reigns, Harper, Rusev, Cesaro, etc be given half the push Orton has got. I really don't buy the line that the current guys can't get over if given the ball. Bray could've been world champ by now feuding with Ambrose if Vince had any balls.

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Ambrose/Austin vs. Rollins/Lesnar

 

* - Ambrose can't beat Lesnar

* - Heyman tells Ambrose to take his bat and ball and go home like Austin did.

* - Ambrose appears to do so.

* - Ambrose instead spends weeks searching for 316 Gimmick Street in his van, trying to lure Austin out of retirement to be his back-up.

* - Austin shows up to accept/confront Lesnar, gets destroyed by Lesnar.

* - Query over whether Austin shows up to Mania, Ambrose agrees to take both of them on by himself.

* - Austin turns up at Mania. Wild brawl ensues. Rollins abandons Lesnar. Ambrose gets the visual pin on Lesnar, but only after eating 2-3 stunners from Austin.

* - Ambrose lays out Austin after the match, anticipating the kick-wham-stunner, and essentially taking over the DTA mantle.

* - Lesnar spends the next 2 months seeking revenge on Rollins.

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I want Austin vs. Bray Wyatt.

 

So long as Austin doesn't come in and do whatever it was that Jericho thought he was doing to get Wyatt over with the lame face-to-face interviews and shit.  Just Austin comes out for whatever one week, lights go out, Wyatts beat his ass.  Austin says he's coming for revenge.  WWE shows a bunch of highlights of Austin wrecking shop.  They have a wild brawling match at WrestleMania.  Harper/Rowan can eat Stunners, Wyatt can pick up the win.  Can even bring Austin back for a tag against The Wyatts a few months later.

 

Or do that with Sting and Wyatt.

 

I could also watch Sting/Cena/Ambrose/Reigns vs. The Authority at Survivor Series.

 

And Sting and The Usos vs. The Dust Bros. and a partner.  Maybe Bo Dallas or Cesaro.  Or maybe even Rusev.  But only if they bring in Dusty to cut a promo on his kids for aligning with Mother Russia.

 

What I don't want is any old guy coming in for a one on one match against Cena or Lesnar.

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JR on Austin's "comeback"

Talked with Steve Austin, whose podcasts on @PodcastOne are killing it, on Monday night and was kidding him about him 'training for a comeback,' which most fans thought meant Steve was returning to the ring, and, subsequently, 'taking a bigger role within WWE in 2015.' I jokingly asked Austin that if he was going to be taking a bigger role if he could get a brother some work because a man's got to eat!

Bottom line is that Steve was talking to a man who used to train with 'Arnold' back in the day at the Gold's Gym in Venice and Steve said he was training to prepare to return to Gold's Gym to train. They were talking about training, not wrestling, and how working out at Gold's in Venice wasn't for everyone. When the fans heard Austin say that he was "training for a comeback" they assumed that he meant to the ring which in turn means WrestleMania 31.

While Steve always keeps an open mind on returning to the ring for one last match, that's not an immediate goal of his or even on the back burner. If many factors involved in that process were in place, I could theoretically see Steve doing it but the chance that all the stars aligning to his satisfaction are slim plus the window of opportunity as it relates to Father Time is beginning to close as well.

Austin would never return to the ring to go through the motions and he would likely need a solid four months of in ring work/training to be in the condition that he would demand of himself to headline a major event like WrestleMania. If I were WWE, I'd more likely look at WM32 in Dallas and begin discussing that sooner than later for the Texas Rattlesnake. That's merely my personal opinion but selling 100,000 tickets in his home state might interest Steve the most if the money, the opponent and the creative were all on point.

Austin just finished another season of Redneck Island for CMT and is getting ready to tape another run of the Broken Skull Challenge for CMT in a few weeks. After that it might be challenging to find him unless you can make your way to South Texas where the deer grow large on the Broken Skull Ranch.

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This is why WWE needs the legends...Rock comes back and pops the crowd more than anyone the whole night, delivers a better promo than anyone as well. Meanwhile, crickets chirp during the Ambrose promo.

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This is why WWE needs the legends...Rock comes back and pops the crowd more than anyone the whole night, delivers a better promo than anyone as well. Meanwhile, crickets chirp during the Ambrose promo.

What show were you watching?

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I think Big Fresh has it right, teaming Austin with someone you want to push (Ambrose and/or Reigns) versus The Authority would be a great way to get Austin in a match.  You'd basically be having your cake and eating it too as you could cover for any possible physical imitations Austin might have and give some people a rub in the process.

I think The Rock's return in a tag match showed that probably won't work. I don't think there are nearly as many people who will pay to see Austin in a tag match as there are people who would pay to see him in a singles match with another big star.

 

I also enjoy the hysterics and overly dramatic hand wringing "BRINGING BACK GUYS IN THEIR LATE 40S IS GOING TO LEAD TO SOMEONE DYING IN THE RING!~" The Wrestler was just a movie you guys. We don't even know if Randy The Ram died or not, it was an ambiguous ending! Guys have wrestled into their late 40s/early 50s for a long time. Without all the doctors and testing that they do now. It's like you guys have never heard of the AWA.

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