WWE: Missed Opportunities.

[Technico Support]

I just don't understand why they wasted it on house shows.  Was it a test run?  Were they just desperate to pop house show business?  Was the idea that, as I've read, "Flair was known to wrestling fans, Hogan was known to everyone?" so they thought maybe Hogan/Flair wouldn't draw on the big stage?

[supremebve]

20 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Counterpoint: sad sack, no roids, bodysuit-wearing Savage is the worst Savage.  

I feel like sad sack, no roids, bodysuit-wearing Savage fighting for his woman is the only version that works in that program.  Ric Flair comes in with his feathered robes, alligator shoes, and flying on a Learjet.  Savage lost his woman, was wondering if he still had it, and this douchebag came in talking about exposing naughty pictures of the love of his life.  Prime arrogant Savage doesn't work for that story, but Wrestlemania 8 Savage was perfect.

[Technico Support]

1 hour ago, supremebve said:

I feel like sad sack, no roids, bodysuit-wearing Savage fighting for his woman is the only version that works in that program.  Ric Flair comes in with his feathered robes, alligator shoes, and flying on a Learjet.  Savage lost his woman, was wondering if he still had it, and this douchebag came in talking about exposing naughty pictures of the love of his life.  Prime arrogant Savage doesn't work for that story, but Wrestlemania 8 Savage was perfect.

Absolutely.  It's just that it's an evolution of his character that I just didn't personally enjoy.  Babyface tiny Randy getting pushed around by heels like Jake and Flair is his "Elvis playing Vegas" years for me.  Everyone's mileage may vary.

[zendragon]

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I just don't understand why they wasted it on house shows.  Was it a test run?  Were they just desperate to pop house show business?  Was the idea that, as I've read, "Flair was known to wrestling fans, Hogan was known to everyone?" so they thought maybe Hogan/Flair wouldn't draw on the big stage?

I've always wondered if it was an attempt to pop some houses and it just didn't work

[Ace]

12 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I just don't understand why they wasted it on house shows.  Was it a test run?  Were they just desperate to pop house show business?  Was the idea that, as I've read, "Flair was known to wrestling fans, Hogan was known to everyone?" so they thought maybe Hogan/Flair wouldn't draw on the big stage?

Back then, house shows were the primary moneymakers.

[zendragon]

I think in the Flair 30 for 30 Hogan says something that it was an attempt to draw without bothering to do any TV build. I kinda wonder if they had started doing more on TV for the feud maybe it would have drawn better

[twiztor]

4 hours ago, zendragon said:

I think in the Flair 30 for 30 Hogan says something that it was an attempt to draw without bothering to do any TV build. I kinda wonder if they had started doing more on TV for the feud maybe it would have drawn better

i get it's Hogan, and grain of salt and all that, but let me take this at face value.

question one: WHY? you have a television program. Your business is entirely in live gates. You've been using said TV program to increase gate size. Why take that away? Mattel never said "man, these He-Man action figures are starting to see declining sales. Let's try creating a bunch of new characters but not put them on the cartoon and see if that helps."  Because that's a stupid business idea.

OF COURSE it would have been helped by building the feud on TV. Relying solely on word-of-mouth is a fool's errand. 
Methinks this was Hogan trying to retroactively explain why the shows didn't draw to expectations and shifting the blame to somebody else. It couldn't be his fading starpower, afterall...

[Mister TV]

2 hours ago, twiztor said:

i get it's Hogan, and grain of salt and all that, but let me take this at face value.

question one: WHY? you have a television program. Your business is entirely in live gates. You've been using said TV program to increase gate size. Why take that away? Mattel never said "man, these He-Man action figures are starting to see declining sales. Let's try creating a bunch of new characters but not put them on the cartoon and see if that helps."  Because that's a stupid business idea.

OF COURSE it would have been helped by building the feud on TV. Relying solely on word-of-mouth is a fool's errand. 
Methinks this was Hogan trying to retroactively explain why the shows didn't draw to expectations and shifting the blame to somebody else. It couldn't be his fading starpower, afterall...

I went to the Hogan-Flair match in Pittsburgh, it was held on November 1st and it looks like they didn't do any real interaction on tv with Flair & Hogan until mid November. This was also a time when WWF was only doing 6ish house shows a year at the Civic Arena, the August 2nd show with Undertaker vs. Savage(day of sub for Warrior) in a Body Bag Match drew 5,000, Hogan vs. Flair on November 1st drew 10,800 and on December 15th they drew 2,500 with Savage & Duggan vs. Jake & Undertaker, so they popped a bigger house than what the WWF was normally getting in the Steel City. 

Also, remember the WWF wasn't as popular as it once was in 1991, American Gladiators was the new cool thing that either competed against WWF syndicated shows or bumped those shows to a worse time slot or lower level local channel, the exploitation of the Gulf War earlier in the year turned a lot of people off to the product, and the economy in the fall of 1991 was legit in the toilet.

Edited November 7, 2024 by Mister TV

[twiztor]

3 hours ago, Mister TV said:

the exploitation of the Gulf War earlier in the year turned a lot of people off to the product

how quaint, in retrospect.

Edited November 7, 2024 by twiztor

[Technico Support]

Damn, Hogan and Flair had a lot more matches than I thought they did.