Whatever you want to call it, WWF/e from around 1997-2004 was the best television ever made. I can get lost for hours and hours watching promos and old matches etc. UFC are finally making the promos more WWE like and it's working
The music, the characters, the storylines. It really was just brilliant stuff.
I'll never understand why people say 'how can you watch it, it's fake?' weird mindset. I absolutely love the Sopranos, Lost, GoT etc, never once sit there and think 'oh, shall I actually be enjoying this as it's staged?'
That period where we had Stone Cold, Jericho, The Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, Kane, Angle, Mankind etc will never be replicated again. WCW was also great, remember every Friday after primary school having such a buzz to get home and watch it in the evening
They were the main players when I started to watch WWE when I first came to Thailand, mainly because there was bugger all else worth watching on TV. Went to a Smackdown show in Bangkok around that time as well, seeing the likes of Big Show (did they have to buy him two seats on the plane?), Kane, Kurt Angel, Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Brock Lesnar. I rarely watch it now as internet based TV gives me a rather better choice of programmes but on the odd occasion I'll watch in the morning when RAW and Smackdown are live here.
AEW could challenge WWE. My only worry with AEW is that they'll end up signing all the old wrestlers WWE no longer want in the same way WCW did & the product will go stale.
NXT Is a glimpse of what WWE coild be in the future if Triple H takes over & it's exciting
Anyone ever met any of the WWE/WWF/World of Sports wrestlers before.
I met Braun Strowman (Current WWE guy). I was with my mate who about 6ft 3 and a big lad. Braun made him look absolutely tiny. Don’t see many 6ft 10 people but what a scary looking bloke in the flesh.
Met Yokuzuna at a wrestling event in Crawley back in 1999. 45 Stone of muscle and lard. Had to use 3 plastic chairs to sit at a table signing autographs. He died a year or so later.
Modern wrestling, probably the last 5 to 10 years, is much more like choreographed gymnastics.
Wrestling up until the mid 80s was much more like the simulation of a real fight.
I don't watch any of the current product but I still watch stuff mainly from the 80s and 90s and listen to pod casts about it.
To answer the question the fact that there is real prospect of wrestlers joining the screen actors guild is a give away. I can't imagine busier brody doing that!
I don’t think that’s quite accurate. The standard of wrestling has gone up massively in the past few years. The quality of the product itself isn’t brilliant but the wrestlers are going longer in matches and delivering a lot more in terms of hits than they used to. Just the other day one of the women got her front teeth kicked out because the former MMA fighter kicking her went for it a bit too hard. There’s a lot more wrestlers willing to give each other a proper kicking to make it look good than back in the day. There’s plenty of Bruiser Brody types knocking about happily kicking people in the face and getting dropped on their necks every week
The "quality" is obviously personal taste but now it's so far away from the stimulation of a proper fight.
Every match seems to have a dive to the outside, once everyone else happens to just be standing in the right place to catch them.
Every match has about 5 false finishes and goes on for about 20 minutes. Every move has been devauled to the extent there are no finishers, of note. A DDT, running power slam, delayed vertical, top rope moves, knocking someone's head off with a chair is a 2 count.
Every TV match is trying to be the main event of starcade or wrestlemania. No one is over, no one has heat, the booking is all over the place. Everyone is small. The special effects are well over the top.
If you like the modern product fair play.
But I'll stick to Flair v Steamboat, Brett Heart, the road warriors, the midnight and rock and roll. Even DX and the NWO. I would rather watch "the best of Al Snow" (that's a joke for the kids) than the current product. For the above reasons.
PS I didn't even mention Orange Cassidy or Joey Ryan!!
You seem to know a fair bit about what happens in every match for someone who doesn’t watch any of it?
Fair point. I probably should expand on it. I used to watch Raw every week, Smackdown most weeks but about 3 or 4 years ago I started to find it almost unwatchable.
I still watch bits but I haven't watched a full RAW for a long time. Apart from a couple of the anniversary shows. I still watch and listen to podcasts and YouTube shows that talk about it.
I was really looking foward to FTR going to AEW but that hasn't really turned out like I hoped. I watched there recent match v the jarassic express...........
Of course there is still some good stuff. I thought Walter v Dragunov was superb. NxT is probably my favourite brand and a lot of the stuff finds its way to you tube and does give me hope that once Vince finally calls it a day the WWE product will improve with HHH in charge.
If you like the current stuff brilliant, I am not saying your wrong, I am just saying why I don't. As some one that's been a massive fan for 30 odd years.
Anyone ever met any of the WWE/WWF/World of Sports wrestlers before.
I met Braun Strowman (Current WWE guy). I was with my mate who about 6ft 3 and a big lad. Braun made him look absolutely tiny. Don’t see many 6ft 10 people but what a scary looking bloke in the flesh.
Met Yokuzuna at a wrestling event in Crawley back in 1999. 45 Stone of muscle and lard. Had to use 3 plastic chairs to sit at a table signing autographs. He died a year or so later.
He died in Liverpool on that tour.
WCW '97 is my favourite ever period. WWE was good 98 to 01 but if you watch it back now it looks dated and is pretty cringey and a lot if it wouldn't make TV these days. I don't think i would be a good promotor but 100% believe i could have done the invasion angle better, look what WCW did with just 2 coming over.
Can we get the thread title changed FFS? It's a question a person who thinks wearing a mask is an invasion of their rights would ask.
Anyone ever met any of the WWE/WWF/World of Sports wrestlers before.
I met Braun Strowman (Current WWE guy). I was with my mate who about 6ft 3 and a big lad. Braun made him look absolutely tiny. Don’t see many 6ft 10 people but what a scary looking bloke in the flesh.
Met Yokuzuna at a wrestling event in Crawley back in 1999. 45 Stone of muscle and lard. Had to use 3 plastic chairs to sit at a table signing autographs. He died a year or so later.
He died in Liverpool on that tour.
WCW '97 is my favourite ever period. WWE was good 98 to 01 but if you watch it back now it looks dated and is pretty cringey and a lot if it wouldn't make TV these days. I don't think i would be a good promotor but 100% believe i could have done the invasion angle better, look what WCW did with just 2 coming over.
Can we get the thread title changed FFS? It's a question a person who thinks wearing a mask is an invasion of their rights would ask.
There's an excellent documentary that's been put on the WWE network recently about Yoko's career. Would highly recommend.
Dark of the ring, on all4, will help form views about the original question. A great documentary series for both wrestling and non-wrestling fans, there’s some seriously screwed up stuff. Suppose you’ve got to be a bit nuts to do it!
Dark of the ring, on all4, will help form views about the original question. A great documentary series for both wrestling and non-wrestling fans, there’s some seriously screwed up stuff. Suppose you’ve got to be a bit nuts to do it!
Beyond the mat is on Netflix as well. Although it is over 20 years old now a real good behind the curtain look, from wrestling school, through the indies to the wwf main event.
A lot of the boomers on here will sneer at wrestling while mentioning Big Daddy or Giant Haystacks, but as a Xennial the real golden age of wrestling was the late 90s early 2000s. Steve Austin, The Rock, DX, the NWO, DDP, Sting, Goldberg, more adult storylines, less flippy jumpy styles, real personalities, every match had heat. Wrestling will never be that popular ever again.
Dark of the ring, on all4, will help form views about the original question. A great documentary series for both wrestling and non-wrestling fans, there’s some seriously screwed up stuff. Suppose you’ve got to be a bit nuts to do it!
Beyond the mat is on Netflix as well. Although it is over 20 years old now a real good behind the curtain look, from wrestling school, through the indies to the wwf main event.
The Louis Theroux weird weekend episode at WCW is a similar vintage and a great watch too. Think it’s dropped off netflix recently having been on there at Christmas
I haven't read every post so forgive me if this has come up, but it's well worth seeking out John Oliver's piece on WWE and the boss, Vince McMahon. The way he treats his employees is utterly despicable, and I cannot imagine choosing to continue watching it after knowing what Oliver tells about it all.
I don’t know a single person above the age of 10 who believes it’s non fictional.
Many fans will watch it and suspend their disbelief for the sake of enjoyment - but that’s no different from the way people will watch any storyline driven TV show.
Comments
They were the main players when I started to watch WWE when I first came to Thailand, mainly because there was bugger all else worth watching on TV. Went to a Smackdown show in Bangkok around that time as well, seeing the likes of Big Show (did they have to buy him two seats on the plane?), Kane, Kurt Angel, Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Brock Lesnar. I rarely watch it now as internet based TV gives me a rather better choice of programmes but on the odd occasion I'll watch in the morning when RAW and Smackdown are live here.
NXT Is a glimpse of what WWE coild be in the future if Triple H takes over & it's exciting
WCW '97 is my favourite ever period. WWE was good 98 to 01 but if you watch it back now it looks dated and is pretty cringey and a lot if it wouldn't make TV these days. I don't think i would be a good promotor but 100% believe i could have done the invasion angle better, look what WCW did with just 2 coming over.
Can we get the thread title changed FFS? It's a question a person who thinks wearing a mask is an invasion of their rights would ask.
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/91264/wrestling-thread/p1?new=1
(starts around 8.53 if the link doesn't land you there).
PS Darts is definitely not a sport.
How is Mcmahon getting away with his treatment of the wrestlers and the contractor situation.
Jessie the body (or govener) has been banging on about it for years. That's why there is a idea floating that they can join the screen actors guild.
Vince fired JR, on air, for real once.
Many fans will watch it and suspend their disbelief for the sake of enjoyment - but that’s no different from the way people will watch any storyline driven TV show.