Technico Support Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Anybody ever read the Vonnegut short story "Harrison Bergeron?" It's about a future where everyone is finally equal because nobody is allowed to be exceptional (ballerinas wear masks and weights so they're not pretty or graceful, etc). That's how WWE booking feels to me. The longer people are around, the more almost everybody gravitates to a clogged-up midcard where nobody gives two shits about you. All WWE Superstars (tm) are equal in their mediocrity. Look at Sami Zayn, who was incredible on the indies. Great worker, charisma for days. Now he's a lower midcard joke. Bayley was the most over act in NXT, a can't miss, mass appeal face. Now she's on the main roster getting booed. People thought she'd be the female John Cena for fuck's sake. Guys like the aforementioned Dean Ambrose who were over like crazy a short time ago now play to crickets. The longer you're on TV, to more their bland booking machine pushes you to mediocrity. What's the cause? Plain old overexposure makes fans like you less and less until they're just apathetic? Really shitty writers who absolutely lack the ability to get someone over? They're doing it on purpose because getting someone over like Hogan or Austin was means that person is bigger than the brand and we can't have that? Vince has the attention span of a gnat and tires of new people very quickly, so strong pushes just die as he moves his attention to something new? And then the only guy they do push can't get over to save his life. Among other reasons, probably because we've been trained not to invest in anybody since they'll be trading meaningless wins with the rest of the roster before long. I can't wait for Nakamura to join the .500 club. I give it six months and that's being generous. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 It's all of the above, but #3 is crucial. We have to remember we live in the Brand Era. WWE as a brand is more important than building actual superstars. Because Vince's way of thinking is that if someone develops their own unique brand within his system, they won't want to be part of his system for long or will make demands that he doesn't want to give into anymore. He doesn't want anyone to become that important these days. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zev Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 10 minutes ago, Technico Support said: Look at Sami Zayn, who was incredible on the indies. Great worker, charisma for days. Now he's a lower midcard joke. Vince has the attention span of a gnat and tires of new people very quickly, so strong pushes just die as he moves his attention to something new? If Vince is half the weird, crazy, volatile, sneeze hating, big man fetishist that we perceive him to be thanks to a million posts and comments, can you really see him letting Zayn, who injured himself in his ring entrance prior to that "star making potential" Cena match, be the proverbial big dog? For all we know, Vince may think he's doing the guy a favor by not just sticking him on 205 Live every week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo Necro Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 We're lucky Vince doesn't rename it 305 Live and create a hoss division. Actually, take that back, would watch. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 God fucking damn it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godfrey Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 That sucks but a couple of months isn't too bad. Hopefully it won't stall their momentum too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 1 hour ago, Ultimo Necro said: We're lucky Vince doesn't rename it 305 Live and create a hoss division. Actually, take that back, would watch. I'm holding out for 410 Live (or, hell, even 410 Taped). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 21 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said: God fucking damn it. What the hell! And Dawson just showed off the Monday Night Revival shirt. This blows. I suppose if there's a silver lining to this, maybe it's that Dawson can further rehab his knee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS81177 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 They could cover it in storyline by having Angle suspend them for breaking Kofi's ankle. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 38 minutes ago, Craig H said: What the hell! And Dawson just showed off the Monday Night Revival shirt. This blows. I suppose if there's a silver lining to this, maybe it's that Dawson can further rehab his knee. Now is the time for Dawson to go out and find himself a Tully until Dash comes back. Love the act, but both guys want to be Arn. I guess, as a stopgap, they could bring in an old, bitter, out-of-touch ex-carnie to be the Ole, but i don't think Cornette wants to work for Vince again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Ultimo Necro said: We're lucky Vince doesn't rename it 305 Live and create a hoss division. Actually, take that back, would watch. No hour-long time format, just endless hoss matches with increasingly larger guys until they do the superplex imploding ring spot. Every week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 32 minutes ago, Horton Hears a Wooo!!! said: Now is the time for Dawson to go out and find himself a Tully until Dash comes back. Love the act, but both guys want to be Arn. I guess, as a stopgap, they could bring in an old, bitter, out-of-touch ex-carnie to be the Ole, but i don't think Cornette wants to work for Vince again. The problem is that he has never really been a singles guy in NXT. He has always been in a group setting whether it was the Revival or that thing with Sylvester Lefort and Russev before it. When he was doing singles stuff, it was in a jobber role. So it will be a challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandonr4s Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Man...Jerry Lawler might be the most underrated wrestler of all-time. When you speak to "casual" (typically meaning used to be) wrestling fans, he's just a tubby clown who did commentary for WWF. You don't have to have a great body or be a champion for Vince to be a great wrestler. It's like some of these "wrestling" fans don't even know what wrestling is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Is making Scott Dawson the new TV champion out of the question? 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 4 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said: Is making Scott Dawson the new TV champion out of the question? That was a beautiful post. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I cant be the first person to say this on the board, but if you squint hard, the revival could be Old School Empire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 59 minutes ago, brandonr4s said: Man...Jerry Lawler might be the most underrated wrestler of all-time. When you speak to "casual" (typically meaning used to be) wrestling fans, he's just a tubby clown who did commentary for WWF. You don't have to have a great body or be a champion for Vince to be a great wrestler. It's like some of these "wrestling" fans don't even know what wrestling is. Considering how many people I know consider Lawler to be the greatest of all time - using the word "underrated" with him seems wrong. However - I do understand what you are trying to say. It is very much a generational thing as the "casual" fans (ie: us old people) would know Lawler at least from the Andy Kauffman stuff. I happened to be thinking about a similar concept today in regards to Sgt Slaughter as you are getting to the point where there are fans who don't even remember him from being a Vince stooge/random commissioner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 When they cycled back in guys like Sarge and Rude during the late 90s as onscreen characters they did excellent career retrospective video packages reintroducing them to the new audience. That's how I became familiar with them initially and it felt like a big deal that they were back in some capacity. I don't know if they've ever done anything like that to get across Lawler's importance (maybe during the Cole feud?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 it was interesting to hear on the Schiavone pod this week that Flair and Rude had heat. Flair's side (told by Conrad) is that Rude thought Flair was holding down his push and Flair didn't like working with Rude due to his "demons" (aka drug issues). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Being fair, it's now really two full generations of wrestling fans that, unless they had USWA on their cable package in 90's, likely never really saw Lawler as anything but the announcer who occasionally wrestled. He started commentating for Vince in what, '93? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph2112 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 5 hours ago, Technico Support said: Plain old overexposure makes fans like you less and less until they're just apathetic? I believe this to be true and it got me thinking about guys that would have been better back in the territory days. Kane is a guy that immediately pops into my mind for a guy that is versatile for many different characters and could be scary as hell, but after so many turns and changes to one audience, it just becomes "meh". The crown gets kind of sick of him and there's not much else people want to see without a "uhg, Kane" reaction. If the guy could have rotated in and out during his career, it wouldn't have gotten nearly as stale. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 So either the Raw creative team or Miz clearly read this board. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Okay now I think you're right someone is reading the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zev Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 7 hours ago, Ultimo Necro said: We're lucky Vince doesn't rename it 305 Live and create a hoss division. Actually, take that back, would watch. They have that division this year, I think it's called the RAW Universal Title. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, zev said: They have that division this year, I think it's called the RAW Universal Title. What's the Universal Title? I haven't seen it since Mania. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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