Is the WWF on the ropes?

[The Mad Hatter]

I'm not a wrestling fan, but I figured those of you who were could get some mileage out of this article from respected news magazine Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/03/19/wrestlemania/index.html

So, what do you think? Is WWF in trouble?

[TheScarecrow]

Yep, it is in trouble, and nothing will get fixed until the WWF admits the real problems and solve them instead of using a quick fix storyline every three months that they screw up anyway.

[The Penguin]

The WWF was in trouble in 1996 and they did some reinventing and they came back bigger and better than before. I don't see any way that they would get into so much trouble we would be looking at massive cuts and things like that, but everything has it's down time and then it rises from the ashes better than before. I don't know if the WWF roster split will be the answer, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[Memphis Bleek]

If WWF continue to put on crappy matches and use the same old storyline every month then the WWF is in trouble. The WWF has become too predictable. The wrestlers of the wwf focus too much on their five minutes monologue than they do on performing a good match. Rock and Hogan have about eight move between them. Almost all of wwf wrestler have about 5 or 6 moves in their repetoire. The wwf spends so much time hyping up matches and not enough time preparing to made a good show.

[langden alger]

well...the wwf has been on the ropes lots of time before..if your a wrestling fan, you've got to be into roller coaster rides..that's just what it's all about. just like with any other tv series, you've got your good and bad seasons and your good and bad eps...there's always going to be some kind of audience for wrestling..i don't think we're going to get another ratings explosion like you had with the nwo inception,austin vs.vince and dx days...quite simply because there's not even an envelope to be pushed anymore...it's pretty much been pushed off the table itself...just about everything's been done...breaking tables and falling from the tops of cages hardly raises eyebrows anymore...pregnancies, beating up old people, fighting your boss, fighting your lover, your dad, your brother or sister, hell in a cell, kennel in a cell, nickstick on a pole, pink slip on a pole, street fights, bar fights, amusment park fights....street fight inside a bar inside a hell of a cell with a pink slip on a pole match...... just about everythings been thought up ever since the big ratings battles of the mid nintites...the wwf does still have a shot though. right now all the cards are in place. you have the old, long forgotten fans who gave up because none of they're old favorites were around anymore...almost all of them have come back to see guys like mr. perfect, golddust, hogan, hall nash and ric flair..they're back, combined with the smaller crowd of young fans...so we're kinda halfway there...the wwf is going to be in this slump again for i think a pretty long while..it's going to just take that same spark..some kind of idea that breaks all of the boundaries that exist now in order for the wwf to take a strangle hold on the whole entertainment world once again..the wwf just needs that same spark that comes from the risks taken in the late ninties..if there's any bold, creative mind that can take that kind of risk, it's the mind of vince mcmahon..as long as he puts it to work, i don't doubt that the wwf can get off the ropes again..could even be by next week..who really knows.

[DarkAngel]

Originally posted by TheScarecrow
Yep, it is in trouble, and nothing will get fixed until the WWF admits the real problems and solve them instead of using a quick fix storyline every three months that they screw up anyway.

What do you think brought this about? The loss of competition? Or maybe Vince is getting too arrogant and cocky with all the success he's had and thinks anything he does in wrestling is brilliant. I'm hoping the roster split will bring about a mentality of competition and get each show to try to better the other. That might be what's needed to get a better quality product.

[BLACKHEART]

Vince McMahon will never fail when it comes to wrestling. He'll do what it takes. Now football on the other hand...

[Sheamon]

Well, what do you expect when you make 2 collossal mistakes? (XFL and buying WCW) Vince gambled and lost big time.

Frankly, things have gotten too predictable and lazy. By spending so much time on the XFL and by eliminating the insentive to make better storylines by buying up the competition, the WWF screwed itself over. While I love wrestling, the storylines are always the biggest thing for me. And you have to admit the storylines are nothing compared to the WWF's peak in the 1998-1999 period. Back then everyone had storylines, even the mid to low cards. As time went on, many mistakes were made, including:

1)laziness setting in.
Example. Making the McMahanon Helmsley era way too long.

2)things got redundant
Ex. Having HHH retain the title at Wrestlemania instead of having Foley win it, which on its own wouldn't be too bad, but considering this was Foley's last real match and HHH had the title for 3+ months already, it did unrepairable damage. I haven't bought a PPV since then.

3)Smackdown
Yeah, it was great for a while, but in the long run it diluted the storylines incredibly. I liked it better when there was just RAW.

4)Just plain stupidity
Having the Rock have the same exact gimmick for lets see... 3 years now? C'mon, use some brains!!!

5)Too much talent.
Think back to 1998. Austin and the Undertaker were pretty much the only big names. HHH and the Rock were slowly working their way up at this point and were fine at mid-level. Now not only do we have those 4, but also Booker T, Angle, Rob Van Dam, Jericho, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Big Show, etc... as a result not only to these guys don't get the level of use that they atleast think they deserve, but also most of the lower level wrestling has been eliminated.

I think this roster thing will turn out very well as long as they stay true to form and actually keep the wrestlers on only one night. No invasion, no crossovers, no nothing. Do it this way and things can be handled almost perfecty, and will eliminate not only the wrestler dilution but the storyline dilution as well.

[BLACKHEART]

No cross-overs? That will last a week

[The Green Hornet]

they dont want crossovers because flairs show is gonna be used to showcase mid-card and lower-card talent

WWf's real problem is lack of competition

it worked HARD to beat WCW/NWO and once it did everyone stopped working so hard


austin needs an attitude adjustment too-- i hear he skipped RAW and SMACKDOWN b/c he didnt like whom he was booked with in WM18

as it stands i honestly think that they need one more good announcer-- TONY SCHIAVONE from WCW-- he was great

i like JR and all but hes getting a bit stale (AWW MAH GAWD! NO NO NO ! -- how many times have i heard this??)

maybe the WWF needs GOLDBERG too--

i think the nWo can really be awesome in the WWF if they let it work and now allow SCSA to beat them all up at once =P

oh well

[Sheamon]

i like JR and all but hes getting a bit stale (AWW MAH GAWD! NO NO NO ! -- how many times have i heard this??)


I like how he proclaims every match, RAW, Smackdown and PPV the greatest in the history of wrestling. -_-

[gddiehl]

I think they are in trouble but they will come back strong. I hope . i mean they have good wrestlers `but sometimes the stroylines stink.

[BLACKHEART]

I think it's time Raven gets a world title push. Think about what that will do for the ratings.

[pencilsharp]

Slipknot wrote...
I think it's time Raven gets a world title push. Think about what that will do for the ratings.

Oh, I think all WWF fans can imagine that. Push Raven or the terlet handle, it will add up the same.

I don't see what Vinny Mac is up to with this split. If he really does put his lower-tier talent on Flair's SmackDown! as insinuated earlier, it will only serve to tick off UPN. Hey, I like the Hurricane fine, but do I really want to see him for 20 solid minutes in a monologue?

Well, mebbe once, but not every week.

Problem as I see it (for all that's worth) is that the writers are just darned tired. Four hours of TV handling dozens of characters at once just wears you down. Soap opera writers do that, and look at their results (such as a 4-day 'afterglow'). Still, Vinny has put the call out to the public looking for new writers before, so maybe he needs to start searching outside the industry for some new blood.

Speaking of which, I give Holly (Hogan) two more eps before he whomps the Rock upside his head. And Hall will last three before he comes in to work with a hangover.

As for SCSA skipping Raw and SD! because of his mad-on regarding his WM match, I wouldn't be surprised per se, but I would be disappointed. Austin has carried this company for a long time (along with Rock and 3H; The Underoo don't count, he couldn't carry water with a sponge...) that such an action would probably represent more his frustration with the current level of product than any single match.

Anyways, I'll sit thru some more Raws and SD!s, just out of habit. But Vinny Mac, the nWo angle would get a lot better with just one addition:

Eric Bischoff. :eek:

Think about it. Make the Bisch Flair's equal on Raw and watch the marks salivate...

[BLACKHEART]

If RAW is WAR lived up to the name WAR things would get better. Give Paul E. RAW is WAR. Let him right the stories and angles for the show Give him the smaller guys. Give him Angle, Jericho, Al Snow, Benoit, Taz, Raven, RVD, ok you see a theme.

Let Smackdown host the nWo and Rock. I don't watch it that often. I do like Hall, but put him on RAW as Razor Ramon, now that would be entertaining

[The Flash]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
So, what do you think? Is WWF in trouble?

I'd say so! I'm no WWF fan, mind you. ...and I didn't read the artical, but a month ago they dumped their Funny Car operation. Many of you might not know that they were the main sponsor on a Funny Car team in the NHRA (Drag Racing). We all thought it was dumped because the team started to .....err..... suck last year. Guess that wasn't the case, huh?

As a side note: They had some wild paint jobs going, but around summer time it was changed to a plain black car with a WWF logo. That was also when the team started to do bad. ...less money? ;)

[JohnStewart-GL]

Originally posted by SLIPKNOT
If RAW is WAR lived up to the name WAR things would get better. Give Paul E. RAW is WAR. Let him right the stories and angles for the show Give him the smaller guys. Give him Angle, Jericho, Al Snow, Benoit, Taz, Raven, RVD, ok you see a theme.

Let Smackdown host the nWo and Rock. I don't watch it that often. I do like Hall, but put him on RAW as Razor Ramon, now that would be entertaining
Thats a good idea. Paul E is really great with sadistic storyline(rembers some of the things done in ECW)