*Official* Pro-Wrestling Thread II

[sledger]

There was serious talk about Regal, Goldust, and D'Lo Brown all being given major (i.e. main event) singles pushes around 2007/08 iirc. Never really happened for any of them obvs, but they each had periods on RAW around that time whilst they went on a run of wins for several weeks before just disappearing from TV.

 

[Athlai]

Its a long time ago, but I remember Regal been really over as a heel before he failed a drugs test. Not impossible that he may have got a brief run as champ or at least headlined a PPV against Trips (I think) who was champ at the time.

Yeah it's a shame so much of his talent was wasted due to drugs and alcohol, but I'm grateful he seems to have gotten it all together and is helping with the next generation of wrestlers. Could've easily been another untimely death.

 

[Athlai]

There was serious talk about Regal, Goldust, and D'Lo Brown all being given major (i.e. main event) singles pushes around 2007/08 iirc. Never really happened for any of them obvs, but they each had periods on RAW around that time whilst they went on a run of wins for several weeks before just disappearing from TV.

Wait D'Lo Brown was around in 2007/2008? WTF?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Speaking of shows about wrestling, what do you guys watch/listen to?

I catch most E and C podcasts, Botchamania, Being the Elite, some of the Cultaholic stuff (mostly just their reviews of PPVs and the odd podcast with Maffew from Botchamania).

Stone Cold/Jericho/Prichard podcasts have been listened to in the past year but I don't make a habit of any of them.

Wrestling Omakase
ThROH the Years
Eastern Lariat
Lucha Talk
PWO Match of the Week
Burning Spirits
Eggshells Companion Podcast
Bryan and Vinny
POST Puroresu
NOAH Archive
Everything Evolves

There's probably a few others but I can't remember.

 

[sledger]

Wait D'Lo Brown was around in 2007/2008? WTF?

Yeah randomly reappearee, had s run on RAW for about 2 months or something, won nearly all his matches and then just went away again

 

[sledger]

The E under pressure to nix their Crown Jewel event.

Will be interesting to see what happens (even though we know they will run it because of the $$$$$$$)

 

[andmark]

Yeah, I saw that. They'll never cancel it, because, as a YouTuber put it, they'd make Kim Jong Un champion if the offer was right. They will have known what they were getting in for when doing deals with the Saudi Arabian government.

 

[Athlai]

If Fox say jump, WWE will say how high, Saudi money be damned.

 

[Manee]

Main roster is so dire.

 

[sledger]

The use of it is dire. The roster itself is filled with loads of great talent.

 

[Manee]

The use of it is dire. The roster itself is filled with loads of great talent.

Yes but it is all so bloody wasted. Three hour Raw is unwatchable. No matches are special because they have all happened 300 times. Etc.

If Raw was back to one two-hour show every week (and then NXT on the side as a one hour show), then you could have something truly special. You could have the cruiserweights rotate in and out, it would be special when attractions like Reigns and Strowman appear and you could even create proper female stars outside of Charlotte and Rousey. There can be some good storylines which are possible to follow. And they could have viewerships up around AE levels.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, I know what you mean, but I doubt RAW would be any better if it went back to 2 hours tbh. All the other problems not associated with the length of the show would still plague it.

Bad as 3 hour RAW is, the problems run far deeper. AE viewer levels are absolute pie in the sky. Those days aren''t ever coming back.

 

[Manee]

Yeah, I know what you mean, but I doubt RAW would be any better if it went back to 2 hours tbh. All the other problems not associated with the length of the show would still plague it.

Bad as 3 hour RAW is, the problems run far deeper. AE viewer levels are absolute pie in the sky. Those days aren''t ever coming back.

Disagree. I think the zeitgeist is still there. Things like Game of Thrones show that you can capture a huge amount of the people with a compelling product.

I remember an old colleague of mine talking about turning on WWE Raw (several years ago) and seeing these three guys in black taking on these three hillbillies and it being incredibly cool. Compelling characters, easy to follow storylines, shorter matches - I think one can rationalise the amount of content in exchange for doubling or tripling audience share. Naturally, a larger audience share would create numerous benefits in areas like merchandise sales, for example.

 

[sledger]

Yeah but the E's merchandising revenue is off the charts as it is. They are absolutely raking it in. They are literally more successful now, financially, than at any other point in their history. But wrestling just won't ever have mainstream appeal like it did in the late 90s/early 00s. It just won't. The fact that people watch other TV shows is neither here nor there.

 

[Manee]

Yeah but the E's merchandising revenue is off the charts as it is. They are absolutely raking it in. They are literally more successful now, financially, than at any other point in their history. But wrestling just won't ever have mainstream appeal like it did in the late 90s/early 00s. It just won't. The fact that people watch other TV shows is neither here nor there.

It is a short-term strategy, imo. Lots of the fans started watching in Attitude Era. They'll be a monumental drop-off in about 5-10 years without a great change. For a listed business, I think this type of long-term planning is salient and important because value is largely driven about speculation on the future (e.g. Amazon).

 

[Manee]

Or maybe I just want more people to watch it with.

 

[sledger]

Yeah sure, but that sounds more like an argument for why there will be fewer fans in the future, not more.

The point I am making is that the people the E sells things to, and who watch it, are already fans. What typified the attitude era is that it appealed to people who weren't. That, imo, won't ever happen again. For various reasons.

 

[sledger]

Or maybe I just want more people to watch it with.

Ha, me too.

 

[andmark]

As it happens, Game of Thrones does kayfabe amazingly. Almost everyone feels like a main character somehow and so it causes great twists when one of them dies. I don't think 've felt the same way about WWE for maybe a decade.

 

[Dan]

I think the key point that often gets overlooked a little bit is that, if you're analysing professional wrestling on the internet, the WWE main roster is not for you. You are literally not the target audience in the slightest.

WWE knows this -- they've got NXT and 205 Live and tournaments and UK Specials and other cool archive/out-of-character stuff for us (and, conveniently enough, they're all behind the WWE Network sub paywall because we're the ones who'll pay for it).

Raw and Smackdown are T20 cricket -- brightly-coloured, glitzy presentations with low barriers to entry that lack real substance but generate a lot of revenue. A complete outsider to professional wrestling can watch an episode of Raw and 'get it' far more easily than a NJPW show.

Also the Attitude Era was trash. Thank **** that's gone.