QueenOfThorns
Member
Vince Mcmahon is the owner of the WWE. Both storyline wise and in real life. On TV he played a different character, an evil boss. Which isn't much of a stretch, depending on who you listen to!
So like how does Pro Wrestling work?
- Thread starter Krejlooc
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Vince Mcmahon is the owner of the WWE. Both storyline wise and in real life. On TV he played a different character, an evil boss. Which isn't much of a stretch, depending on who you listen to!
Yes he actually owns the WWE. He's not an actual wrestler but did participate/wrestle in the late 90s/2000s. He also personifies a character of the evil boss which created one of the best storylines/feuds in wrestling with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Yes it's the same person. He played the part of an announcer earlier on with some other guys Tunney/Monsoon playing the figureheads of the company. That later changed.
How old is this dude? Sting is 57? They have actual senior citizens in these shows? I thought the top wrestlers were like 24 and on steroids. How can they possibly have a 57 year old guy compete?
Is Vince MacMahon even in shape?
Reading this sounds like a soap opera. Hilarious
Vince McMahon is legitimately that Chairman and CEO of WWE. He does play a character on TV, based "loosely" on himself.
WyndhamPrice
Member
Vince McMahon has always been the owner, but in the 90s he took a more active role as an onscreen personality and would be referred to as "Mr. McMahon" when acting in that capacity.
He eventually actually wrestled as part of an ongoing feud storyline with Stone Cold Steve Austin and it was amazing
It's all choreographed and fake so yeah older guys wrestle too. Just not at the same rate they were doing as their young spry selves. They tend to avoid the hard hitting moves but it wasn't the case in his last match which ended up injuring the clown.
Injuries.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
No, he had neck injuries from a botched piledriver which severely curtailed his career. He went on for years after the injury (and indeed those were his most popular years), but he was in a lot of pain.
That's because a lot of guys didn't do it very well. Ric Flair bladed every night of his life for like 20 years straight and his head isn't too bad looking.
Sometimes they put their hands up to help block it, sometimes they just take it full on. From what I've heard, it can be very painful. It really depends on who is giving/receiving the shots.
On a side note, if you want to see a show through the eyes of a wrestling fan (at least some of them), then I highly recommend checking out the lads from OSW Review. They do video podcasts of wrestling shows, and are very funny and entertaining (WARNING: they are Irish).
All their videos on vimeo (Anything after episode 20 is when they really hit their stride)
Some of my personal favorites are Episode 30 - Wrestlemania IX and Episode 46 - Halloween Havoc 95 (very funny show).
WyndhamPrice
Member
He injured his neck really badly around 97-98 and was out for a while. Then he came back for a few more years before riding off into the sunset. He's come back occasionally since then.
His podcast is actually really damn good if you're interested in hearing wrestlers tell their stories about the business.
Many injuries including a famous broken neck in a match against Owen Hart (rip)
Neck injuries cause a lot of early retirements
mm, I'm sort of running out of questions to ask.
Give me an example of a wrestling storyline. I've never actually seen wrestling regularly, so how do they play out? How long is an "arc"? Is it like anime, where they are months long?
What are their plots like? As in, detail for me an actual wrestling storyline. What is the motivation? When that one wrestler died from falling from the roof, I remember reading that another wrestler who was supposed to be "dead" at the time had to break character to go to his funeral or something like that.
Give me an example of a wrestling storyline. I've never actually seen wrestling regularly, so how do they play out? How long is an "arc"? Is it like anime, where they are months long?
What are their plots like? As in, detail for me an actual wrestling storyline. What is the motivation? When that one wrestler died from falling from the roof, I remember reading that another wrestler who was supposed to be "dead" at the time had to break character to go to his funeral or something like that.
He suffered a broken neck in 1997, just as he was starting to get really popular. He would miss large stretches of time through the rest of his career (nearly a year between 1999 and 2000 for example), and retired in early 2003. He isn't anywhere near as talented as the Rock acting wise, but he's had some big roles (he was one of the main bad guys in the first Expendables movie, for example)
They could have left out guys like Luger and Jarrett, neither of which had a shot of going back over, and still had a commanding size of an invasion. Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Scott Steiner, DDP, Booker T, Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Buff Bagwell, and of course Sting. Even throw in Bischoff.
The Bagwell-Booker T match was set up to fail. It was filled with WWF/E fans who did not pay to see WCW guys, of course it was going to receive negative reactions.
Either way, it became about the McMahons most of it and that is the primary reason it failed. Not acquiring every big name from WCW was a big issue, as was many of them getting buried pretty quickly in (DDP), but the primary reason was Vince and his giant ego.
ThreePiMatt
Member
You can watch the movie "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke. They generally plan the big spots and a lot of the in-between stuff is on the fly. In certain circumstances if the crowd is quiet and the ring mics a bit too hot you can hear the wrestlers call for specific moves.
And to be fair, not all wrestling is fake. Certainly we haven't forgot the WWF Brawl for All competition.
UberTag
Member
Listen to this if you want to understand why grown-ass men care about wrestling:
http://www.radiolab.org/story/montreal-screwjob/
http://www.radiolab.org/story/montreal-screwjob/
It usually goes on for a month but could go on longer depending on if they didn't write enough material for the future or the fans are receptive to it.
A guy feuds with another guy.
Decides to have sex with the corpse of his dead ex high school sweetheart (iirc).
Kills a wrestlers dog and feeds it to him.
Cuts of a pornstars penis after he has an affair with one of the manager's wives.
An undead guy eventually becomes a biker and then goes back to being undead again.
A genetic freak decides to throw one legged kid in a wheelchair down some stairs.
Lots of great stuff.
Nah, you're conflating two separate tragedies there.
Owen Hart died when his safety harness malfunctioned during a ceiling descent/pratfall routine. The trick needed a quick release harness and the person doing it completely fucked it up. That was in 1999.
In the mid 2000's Vince Mcmahon did an angle where his limousine blew up with him inside of it.
That week Chris Benoit murdered his son and wife before killing himself. But before that news came out fully they did a tribute show for him and he appeared on it, dropping that storyline. This event killed their business for about three years.
is this all one big storyline?
Nah, you're conflating two separate tragedies there.
Owen Hart died when his safety harness malfunctioned during a ceiling descent/pratfall routine. The trick needed a quick release harness and the person doing it completely fucked it up. That was in 1999.
In the mid 2000's Vince Mcmahon did an angle where his limousine blew up with him inside of it.
That week Chris Benoit murdered his son and wife before killing himself. But before that news came out fully they did a tribute show for him and he appeared on it, dropping that storyline. This event killed their business for about three years.
So how do you come back from that? Did they just reboot the story or whatever? Just stop mentioning that he was supposed to be dead? Was this in the middle of a story arc? Did the arc just go unresolved?
And, a bit more - why was his limo supposed to blow up? Would he have come back to life or something in the story?
bloodyroarxx
Member
lol no those are various storylines from years passed.
Vince came on camera in an empty arena, I believe, and basically said his character was suppose to meet his demise, but something real happened and mentioned Chris Benoit being dead. His Mr. McMahon character came back later on, but not in an active role on camera.
bloodyroarxx
Member
Vince wanted to be off television for a very long time that was their solution to that, when he came back they would of made up some explanation how he got out.
If an arc is unpopular or has a reason it had to end THEN they just drop it or find a way to resolve it right away.
I wish.
Krejlooc said:
Yeah they just cancelled the entire storyline altogether. Probably regretted it after they found out the dead wrestler murdered his wife and kid. But it wasn't a good storyline to begin with so nothing was lost. Yup they just tossed it under the rug.
He walked into his limo and it blew up after a sad little walk backstage. No one really knows where they were headed with the storyline.
It was something to do with an illegitimate son making a power play on his business interests and shit going too far. Think Dallas or any other primetime soap show.
They dropped it immediately because of what happened with Benoit and the guy who was supposedly the son got in major trouble by being the first person to violate their new drug policy so they eventually redid the son thing later on with the aforementioned leprechaun.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Owners and specific employees hired to plan storylines called bookers decide who wins/loses based on storylines, petty jealousy and popularity of the wrestlers.
Depends on the organisation, but mostly it's like boxing - champions will fight whoever is hot at the time.
They almost never acknowledge it on screen. There is a growing trend of acknowledging it offscreen, such as the podcasts a lot of former wrestlers have.
After the eighties, mostly.
Totally different sport.
Wrestlers getting tired of real prowrestling in the 1920's mostly (which was non scripted ameteur wrestling + illegal hook holds which could really put paid to your shelflife)
You mean pro-wrestling? I don't know that you'd call a sport 85 years old (or thousands of years old in the traditional sense) a phenomenon.
Yes
There are tons of different organisations which sometimes come together for shared shows. Bookers decide who is a face (good guy) or a heel (bad guy).
Doesn't wrestle anymore, but nobody cares because he was crap. Also ended bret hart's career with a botched kick.
WyndhamPrice
Member
They pretty much just dropped it, yeah.
Slavish attention to continuity has never really been a priority. From what I remember Vince did kind of recede into the background of the organization for a while while his wife was trying to (unsuccessfully) run for public office.
In recent years Triple H and Vince's daughter Stephanie (who are married in real life and hold executive positions) have been the onscreen face of the company.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Doink passed away two years ago.
Undertaker has a fight next month!
Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Bam Bam Bigelow, Yokozuna, Doink the Clown, and Lex Luger.
Bret Hart: Had to retire in 2000 after one too many concussions. Semi bitter old man, but with good reason to be so bitter.
The Undertaker: Has a fight next month!
Shawn Michaels: Retired only a few years ago after taking the late 90's and early 2000's off, kicking his drug problems, and making a miraculous return.
Razor Ramon: Alive, though god only knows how. He's finally kicked his substance abuse problems and appears on tv every now and then but has been retired for a few years. There's a heart breaking 30 for 30 on him.
Bam Bam Bigelow: Went to japan and was mega over. Also did tours in ECW and WCW. Famously rescued some people from a fire. Had lots of legal troubles including drugs and domestic violence. Died a few years back from drug related issues.
Yokozuna: Left the WWF in late 1996 because he just couldn't keep his weight down. Tried to become the fattest wrestler ever at 900 lbs. Died at the age of 34.
Doink the Clown: The gimmick moved between various wrestlers over the year but the original Doink died a few years back.
Lex Luger: Retired years ago. Major substance abuse problems and some run ins with the law. Looks nothing like he used to but is still alive.
he and the undertaker were my mains in that game.
Was he a good guy or a bad guy? What about razor ramone? Or brett heart?
lol thats amazing. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? His schtick in the game was that he was actually dead, right? He was supposedly the only character in the game with a fatality, although he could only do it in the PSX and arcade versions.
The Benoit incident was one of the few times they dropped all pretenses and just had Vince come out and drop the storyline.
https://youtu.be/zTmGzTfyC5g
http://youtu.be/Ri7ZdIahMJg
Milly Osworth
Member
Why is the word "like" in the title?
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
As a long-time wrestling fan, I love this thread so much. It's so amazing to see someone "on the outside" suddenly be hit with years and years of ridiculous, amazing pro wrestling storylines.
Razor, aka Scott Hall, was in very bad shape for a very long time due to years of alcoholism (among other factors) until very recently when DDP basically saved his life through his DDP Yoga program. Bret Hart was forced to retire for good after a bicycle accident caused a mild stroke. He's mostly fine now, and even did some limited wrestling in WWE a few years back, but his career's done with.
Razor, aka Scott Hall, was in very bad shape for a very long time due to years of alcoholism (among other factors) until very recently when DDP basically saved his life through his DDP Yoga program. Bret Hart was forced to retire for good after a bicycle accident caused a mild stroke. He's mostly fine now, and even did some limited wrestling in WWE a few years back, but his career's done with.
Hulk Hogan - just got caught as a huge racist and probably wont be seen in a ring for a long time
Macho Man Randy Savage (from the slim jim commercials) - dead
Yokozuna - dead
Razor Ramon - drug addict/alcoholic for quite some time. finally got clean and hes doing okay i think
Doink the Clown - dead
Bam Bam Bigelow - dead
Bret the Hitman Heart (all from WWF Wrestlemania the arcade game) - retired, injured from a botched kick by Goldberg
the rock - making movies
goldberg - retired, rumors of a return
stone cold steve austin... and that's about it. All those are WWF, right? - retired/injjured
this is kind of fascinating. But wait - this dude killed his wife, right? Did they catch flack for honoring a dude who murdered his wife and kid?
WyndhamPrice
Member
I recently mainlined all of the Monday Night Wars documentary series on the WWE Network and have been rewatching some episodes with my girlfriend so it's nice to finally have a space to try and get it all down for someone else!
They didn't know at the time, that news didn't surface until just after that broadcast.
Thats pretty depressing. Did they die of strange incidents?
nope just years of drugs, roiding, wrestling
yokozuna was just too fat
that's just a small fraction of all the dead wrestlers today
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Like almost anyone who's been wrestling for as long as he has, both. He went from heel to face, back to heel in the late nineties, returned after injury as a face, turned heel later with a new gimmick, then retuned to being a face with his old gimmick.
Currently he is being booked as a heel BUT because of his long term popularity people are responding to him mostly as a face.
WyndhamPrice
Member
Wrestlers from the 80s were notorious for all kinds of substance abuse, steroids, and generally speaking poor body maintenance. Many of them weren't "athletes" the way wrestlers today are. They were bodybuilders or otherwise big dudes who had to maintain being a big dude while being on the road constantly for not a lot of pay most of the time.
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
Nah, for the most part it was years of steroids/drugs that did most of them in. Fortunately modern wrestlers take much better care of themselves than the guys from the 80's/90's did.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
Usually health issues related to wrestling and/or drug abuse.
People fucking hate Hogan now. Even before the racism stuff emerged.
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