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[Heroman]

In 9 months the smackdown of today will not exist.

 

[Lothar]

Exactly what I'm saying. Things don't change that quality I mean unlike what the WWE wants people to think, the Monday Night Wars weren't instantly won when WCW said Foley was winning the belt. It didn't have a huge shift when Austin beat HBK. DX and the tank didn't suddenly give them a huge rating's boost. It takes time.

It actually was kind of instant. When Austin beat HBK, two weeks later they beat Nitro for first time in 80 weeks. Immediately from mid 3s to mid 4s. When Foley won the title, ratings exploded and that marked the time WCW would never again beat them in the ratings. No one cared about DX driving a tank. That was just history WWE later invented, because HHH wanted to believe he played a huge part in winning.

 

[Barrage]

In terms of ratings for Smackdown-September 2016's average viewers (2.44 Million) was much higher than Sept.2015 (2.06 Million). It was still lower than Sept.2014 (2.63).

I think,in addition to somehow stopping the bleeding on RAW, if WWE could get Smackdown to 2014 levels they'd be happy.

 

[Tagyhag]

That was an anomaly. How many great matches did Stone Cold or The Rock or anybody have in 1999?

The matches they had at Wrestlemania and Backlash that year were also fantastic.

But if we're talking about ratings alone, it was just a different era.

If you put '99 RAW in TV today, people would think "The fuck is this edgelord trash?"

 

[British Monsoon]

What an absolutely bizarre assortment of talent haha;

 

[Barrage]

The matches they had at Wrestlemania and Backlash that year were also fantastic.

But if we're talking about ratings alone, it was just a different era.

If you put '99 RAW in TV today, people would think "The fuck is this edgelord trash?"

There is no era of WWE or WCW television that would please the Smarks of today.

 

[BaltimoreLarry]

I finally put both feet back in to the pool and got the WWE network. So you can't watch Raw or Smackdown replays on it for the most recent ones?

 

[cordy]

It actually was kind of instant. When Austin beat HBK, two weeks later they beat Nitro for first time in 80 weeks. Immediately from mid 3s to mid 4s. When Foley won the title, ratings exploded and that marked the time WCW would never again beat them in the ratings. No one cared about DX driving a tank. That was just history WWE later invented, because HHH wanted to believe he played a huge part in winning.

Not really. You can check the ratings and see that Raw was getting higher gradually and then Austin's win and the direction put WWE over the top. Even still, Nitro came back and either tied or won some afterwards. Like I said in my post, everything happened gradually. It wasn't like they were losing for so long with no hope, Austin won and then all of a sudden it was them from that point on. Even with Foley's title win it was a gradual build in the ratings and then those specific moments changed this.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...Ratings.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20101227162814

That was the point of my SD post. SD is getting better and it's building like WWE was then. They can have specific moments that put it over the top in the future but they're building like the WWE was then. Without that build, it would be a different story.

 

[Brian_FETO]

I finally put both feet back in to the pool and got the WWE network. So you can't watch Raw or Smackdown replays on it for the most recent ones?

They get added 30 days after broadcast, so you're never out of the loop!

 

[Lothar]

The matches they had at Wrestlemania and Backlash that year were also fantastic.

But if we're talking about ratings alone, it was just a different era.

If you put '99 RAW in TV today, people would think "The fuck is this edgelord trash?"

Some would. Some did say that. WCW fans said that all the time. But I bet the ratings and interest would be high.

Nothing fantastic happened at Wrestlemania 1999. The main event was alright. I'd rather rewatch the Miz's last PPV match.

 

[Tagyhag]

There is no era of WWE or WCW television that would please the Smarks of today.

No lies detected.

Smackdown (And to a lesser extent RAW) has been putting up some of the best wrestling shows that we have seen in a loooooong time, and smarks will still whine about "The good ol' days".

 

[Mahonay]

According WNW, Roman Reigns got heat and schooled when he came back through the curtain this past Raw. He was told, as a face, to hit Rusev across his back, but decided to sit down before doing what he was told. Vince and Triple H both agreed that what Roman did was 'dumb'.

But Vince, this is your guy.

 

[avengers23]

What an absolutely bizarre assortment of talent haha;

I would pay to see Doug Williams give Hornswaggle the Chaos Theory suplex.

 

[Mahonay]

There is no era of WWE or WCW television that would please the Smarks of today.

I don't know, CWC was pretty fucking good.

 

[Nekofrog]

I just want more wrestlers taking into the camera backstage like the old days. Such a simple but effective way to "get"who the person is when they do that instead of the awkward staring off camera

I don't know, CWC was pretty fucking good.

For those of us old enough to have been around that watched the first hour of nitro exclusively then flipped to the wwf, we'd have been creaming our pants for the cwc back then.

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

But Vince, this is your guy.

From what I've seen on WNW (the source of it) it's not the most credible place so I'm gonna take this with a very large grain of salt.

 

[avengers23]

Or, at least book this guy:

Or these guys:

 

[Mahonay]

For those of us old enough to have been around that watched the first hour of nitro exclusively then flipped to the wwf, we'd have been creaming our pants for the cwc back then.

I wish I knew about that opening hour of WCW as a kid. I was a die hard WWF fan all the way to the death of WCW, so I only watched it very occasionally. I didn't watch all of those great matches until I got a bit older.

From what I've seen on WNW (the source of it) it's not the most credible place so I'm gonna take this with a very large grain of salt.

It's probably complete bullshit but it's a hilarious story to imagine.

Or, at least book this guy:

Or these guys:

Vince's fetish with little people always skeeved me out, even as a kid.

 

[Bluekaveli]

Or, at least book this guy:

Or these guys:

That OwensIsNow

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

A great story and characters like the Miz will get far more people interested in the product again compared to whatever Cesaro's x Cedric Alexander is doing.

I think it's weird you'd pick out Cesaro and Alexander as issues with RAW when they get some of the better reactions on the show. The issue with RAW isn't that they have a couple of great competitors who draw in an audience despite being giving shit to work with in regards to story and character. It's that the other 2 hours 30 minutes is abjectly awful TV in every regard.

 

[FlammableD]

I just found the best opening gif for the flipvember OT on willy's instagram

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

Bayley 86

Charlotte 86

Sasha Banks 86

Becky Lynch 83

 

[Fox318]

Listening to Lapsed Fan Fox Edition and wow this really feels like history repeating itself. I didn't watch much of this era but a lot of things are being brought up that feel similar:

- Brand split
- Smackdown beating RAW
- Ratings of 3.1 being considered terrible
- Authority/Haitch
- Bringing belts into the brand split for the sake of pushing wrestlers

I didn't realize until after I picked the show just how much they are fucking things up all over again.

And just how much the company is centered around inflating the egos of a McMahon or a HHH.

Fox, your interview on Lapsed is cracking me up.

Olympic shoot catch-as-catch-can wrestler RVD.

The vito part killed me

All true.

I thought RVD was a shoot wrestler like an Angle, Benoit, Eddie, and Brock.

 

[Bluekaveli]

I didn't realize until after I picked the show just how much they are fucking things up all over again.

And just how much the company is centered around inflating the egos of a McMahon or a HHH.


All true.

I thought RVD was a shoot wrestler like an Angle, Benoit, Eddie, and Brock.

He is a shoot wrestler!

 

[sf2fanatic]

Why are we comparing a jobber like miz to the rock or stone cold?

So that's how bad the business is when Miz is being compared to those two.

 

[Brian_FETO]

I thought RVD was a shoot wrestler like an Angle, Benoit, Eddie, and Brock.

Supposedly RVD and Sabu weren't actually told it was a work at first while they were training, they thought it was all real

RVD is a shooter via circumstance

 

[SallyIsNow]

That OwensIsNow

I thought RVD was a shoot wrestler like an Angle, Benoit, Eddie, and Brock.

 

[Uno Venova]

I think it's weird you'd pick out Cesaro and Alexander as issues with RAW when they get some of the better reactions on the show. The issue with RAW isn't that they have a couple of great competitors who draw in an audience despite being giving shit to work with in regards to story and character. It's that the other 2 hours 30 minutes is abjectly awful TV in every regard.

I picked them to show that a great character has a much higher ceiling than high workrate, Cesaro, Cedric, and another example, Apollo, will always get a nice pop, and they will get ohhs and ahhs during their matches, but without the other components that will always be it for them.

Now this Cesaro/Sheamus does have great potential, I hope they do right by them.

 

[sf2fanatic]

That gif never gets old

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

That gif never gets old

The day I found out he was a plant was the day my happiness ended.

 

[FlammableD]

My favourite part of that gif is cut out, the dad holding his daughter just s'ing his h

 

[Fox318]

The day I found out he was a plant was the day my happiness ended.

Wrestling... a work?!

 

[sf2fanatic]

The day I found out he was a plant was the day my happiness ended.

He's a plant and we only have one great gif from him? Weak sauce for a plant

 

[Syder]

What an absolutely bizarre assortment of talent haha;

This is happening 30 minutes away from me...

 

[klonere]

I picked them to show that a great character has a much higher ceiling than high workrate, Cesaro, Cedric, and another example, Apollo, will always get a nice pop, and they will get ohhs and ahhs during their matches, but without the other components that will always be it for them.

Now this Cesaro/Sheamus does have great potential, I hope they do right by them.

I actually think there's a higher ceiling for Cedric. His work is insanely crisp, he fits into any match and actually has a pretty great personality. He's proven he can play an unbelievable babyface in the CWC and has some solid heel work on the indies. Hell, he can even cut a promo, its rough but with some refinement, he could be a real gem.

 

[Bluekaveli]

You mad bro

 

[Rhaknar]

KO bombing hard as champion? ;_;

 

[Zach]

Heel Rikishi getting that main event push against Austin is killing me.

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

Bad Man was too good a theme to be wasted on Heel Rikishi.

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

Zach, were you able to guess the man who ran Austin over was Rikishi? If so, how about him doing it for... The Rock?

 

[Data West]

spoilers

 

[Bluekaveli]

Bad Man was too good a theme to be wasted on Heel Rikishi.

Wasted..... Shut the hell up Bats.

 

[Fox318]

Zach, were you able to guess the man who ran Austin over was Rikishi? If so, how about him doing it for... The Rock?

he did it...for the people

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

Wasted..... Shut the hell up Bats.

Would you call him a.... Bat man?

 

[BewareTheBatsie]

Wasted..... Shut the hell up Bats.

That's a theme for a constant main-eventer. Not a guy who couldn't even have his own evil scheme and had to have been Triple H's errand boy.

 

[spindashing]

Bad Man was too good a theme to be wasted on Heel Rikishi.

Usos should have a remix of that theme

 

[Heroman]

I picked them to show that a great character has a much higher ceiling than high workrate, Cesaro, Cedric, and another example, Apollo, will always get a nice pop, and they will get ohhs and ahhs during their matches, but without the other components that will always be it for them.

Now this Cesaro/Sheamus does have great potential, I hope they do right by them.

Saying what will make someone have higher celling is kinda impossible to tell. Im mean Daniel Bryan wasn't some amazing character that made him it was due his amazing in ring work was able to become the biggest baby face in the modern era.

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

I didn't realize until after I picked the show just how much they are fucking things up all over again.

And just how much the company is centered around inflating the egos of a McMahon or a HHH.


All true.

I thought RVD was a shoot wrestler like an Angle, Benoit, Eddie, and Brock.

It was a good pick because I noticed them having a lot more revelations through the recording. I don't listen to the show as much you do, but this was the first one other than Over the Edge where I felt like a lot of stuff was "blowing their mind". Not in the matches that is.

 

[Bluekaveli]

Would you call him a.... Bat man?

Woah! Woah! Woah! I had to re read that.

That's a theme for a constant main-eventer. Not a guy who couldn't even have his own evil scheme and had to have been Triple H's errand boy.

Fuck Hunter. I would've preferred Billy Gunn to be the guy Kishi was working for lol

 

[Uno Venova]

I actually think there's a higher ceiling for Cedric. His work is insanely crisp, he fits into any match and actually has a pretty great personality. He's proven he can play an unbelievable babyface in the CWC and has some solid heel work on the indies. Hell, he can even cut a promo, its rough but with some refinement, he could be a real gem.

I like Cedric a lot and hope the division he's in gets through the growing pains.

Saying what will make someone have higher celling is kinda impossible to tell. Im mean Daniel Bryan wasn't some amazing character that made him it was due his amazing in ring work was able to become the biggest baby face in the modern era.

I think before he turned face for the last time he was a pretty good character, his stuff with AJ being the heel asshole boyfriend, and team Hell No.