Paranoid Rattlesnake
12-08-2003, 09:24 AM
Well I don’t know about you lot but I’m still a little shocked at what was one of the best WWE PPVs I’ve seen in years, Survivor Series 2003.
I’m just amazed that Vinny finally put on a show for the fans rather than just for the pleasure of certain WWE talent (*cough* Triple Dick *cough*) and that he finally realised that it is I, PR, who has the real vision in this industry. I’m expecting a phone call from Titan Towers at any minute, considering it was pretty much my show that they tanked.
As the WWE is currently in my good books, I’ve decided to take things a little easier on them in this column. But don’t expect it to last long, because I’m sure I’ll be back to my disapproving self soon.
As I said before, the WWE have finally wangled their way into PR's good graces, so this week we’re going to concentrate on the good rather than the bad, as we take a look at the positive differences between today’s product and that of yesteryear.
I’m just like the rest of you. I love to remember back to the days when spoilers didn’t exist, Hulk Hogan WAS immortal, the Bushwhackers made you laugh and Shawn Michaels’ mullet was too cool for school.
But were things really that good back then? And are things really that bad now?
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and compare old with new, to find out if things really were better back then.
Top Superstar:
There really was only one man for me when I just kiddie and that was The Hulkster. He was glamorous, passionate, tanned, and bald… what a guy. And of course, it didn’t hurt that he used to beat absolutely everybody in a superhuman manner.
Today, however, I’m not sure there is one man who stands out over everybody else. A few years ago we might have just been mentioning Stone Cold or The Rock, but since then several performers have come into the limelight.
Kurt Angle must be praised as my absolute favourite, but we’ve also got Goldberg (who looks like the formidable champion RAW needs), Brock Lesnar (who has looked almost superhuman himself in certain matches) and Shawn Michaels (I don’t care what anybody says, this guy is still one of the most talented and charismatic performers in the business - just listen to the crowd). That’s not even mentioning the elder statesmen of the WWE - Steve Austin and The Undertaker.
I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that surely the WWE is better off with five or six pinnacle superstars than just the one. What would have happened if Hogan had suffered a long-term injury in 1985? Wrestling history would have been so different.
Top Storyline:
Okay, I’m going to forget the Katie Vick debacle, as it was quite a while ago now. Instead I’m going to concentrate on what we’ve been seeing in the past month or so.
Christian and Chris Jericho have found themselves on new ground. These two fantastic heels have been lumped together with Lita and Trish respectively, but in a face capacity. Obviously the crowd have been waiting for Y2J and Christian to do something dastardly… but it hasn’t come yet(well not quite). I absolutely love this idea - a heel who becomes a face around a certain person. It’s the future.
From a writing point of view, you need characters the audience can empathise with (whether they are hated or loved is irrelevant), and that means that heroes must have flaws (see Steve Austin), and villains must not be entirely bad.
And now back then. Three letters conjure up some cringeworthy memories for me. U-S-A! U-S-A! When I was 10 I had posters of Hulk Hogan plastered all around my huge… wait for it… Stars and Stripes flag. What??? I’m not even American, yet I still jumped on the Uncle Sam bandwagon. That’s how much they shove it down our throats. You might say that things haven’t changed that much with the recent hate campaign against the French (La Resistance), and Hogan’s alter-ego, Mr. America. But things don’t seem quite as blinkered as they once were. The WWE even allowed the arrogantly clever Chris Nowinski to debate the nation’s penchant for war mongering, with muscle man simpleton Scott Steiner.
I just want the writers to be slightly cleverer about things. It’s not the 80’s anymore, and even kids seem slightly more clued up about who they like. They have to give us more than blind patriotism to keep us interested… and I think that nowadays they do.
Overall:
I will always enjoy slapping WrestleMania III into my expensive video recorder and marking out in a huge way for Hulk Hogan slamming Andre, but it’s definitely just a nostalgia buzz, because let’s face it I can turn SmackDown on every week and see the Big Show getting F-5’ed from Lesnar or F-U’ed from Cena.
I’m glad the 80’s and 90’s happened but I’m equally as pleased with the technically superior product we’re watching now.
Here’s to another 15 years!
Also this week i have put together MY TOP 10 POPS
Ever since first clapping eyes on the World Non-Panda Wrestling Federation, I've always been a sucker for a decent pop.
The hot-tag, the run-in, the falling-off-the-ring-apron; they come in many forms. So after pondering over some of the crowd reactions from yesteryear, I have compiled my own personal list of the top 10 pops I have witnessed as a WWF/E viewer. The countdown runs from number 10 all the way to the greatest pop of all-time!
(Note to A-Train fans. Your interest may very well drop off from here. Bye now!)
10) Steve Austin returns at Backlash 2000
At Survivor Series 1999, Steve Austin was suspended for 10 months for recklessly getting in the way of a moving car and rightfully so, says I. He was also injured too, but nobody knew about that.
Anyway, skip forward to Backlash 2000 and the Rock was feuding with Triple H for the WWF Championship. Due to face each other at the April pay-per-view, in typically clichéd style ‘the cards were stacked against’ Rocky. With Vince McMahon in his corner and son Shane as special referee, the matriarch of that particular family, Linda, decided to name somebody to watch the Rock’s back. As Gary Coleman was busy, she nominated Austin to get things done, much to the fans’ delight.
Austin blew up the D-X Express prior to the event but didn’t show at Backlash until he sauntered down the ring with chair in hand. Waffling Triple H, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Shane and Vince with a salvo of chair-shots, Austin brought the crowd to their feet, something which he notably struggled to do himself before standing above a fallen Vince to trash-talk him.
This was one of the last truly big pops that the poster-boy of the WWF Attitude era was ever to receive. After a post-match beer with the new champeen, Stone Cold didn’t appear again until four months later. After the initial ‘good-to-have-you-back-Steve’ reaction had died down, it was clear that the ‘Rattlesnake’ had grown decidedly stale. He was to turn heel later, before turning face again as he rode the crest of the ‘What?’ wave, but it was never really the same again.
I’m just amazed that Vinny finally put on a show for the fans rather than just for the pleasure of certain WWE talent (*cough* Triple Dick *cough*) and that he finally realised that it is I, PR, who has the real vision in this industry. I’m expecting a phone call from Titan Towers at any minute, considering it was pretty much my show that they tanked.
As the WWE is currently in my good books, I’ve decided to take things a little easier on them in this column. But don’t expect it to last long, because I’m sure I’ll be back to my disapproving self soon.
As I said before, the WWE have finally wangled their way into PR's good graces, so this week we’re going to concentrate on the good rather than the bad, as we take a look at the positive differences between today’s product and that of yesteryear.
I’m just like the rest of you. I love to remember back to the days when spoilers didn’t exist, Hulk Hogan WAS immortal, the Bushwhackers made you laugh and Shawn Michaels’ mullet was too cool for school.
But were things really that good back then? And are things really that bad now?
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and compare old with new, to find out if things really were better back then.
Top Superstar:
There really was only one man for me when I just kiddie and that was The Hulkster. He was glamorous, passionate, tanned, and bald… what a guy. And of course, it didn’t hurt that he used to beat absolutely everybody in a superhuman manner.
Today, however, I’m not sure there is one man who stands out over everybody else. A few years ago we might have just been mentioning Stone Cold or The Rock, but since then several performers have come into the limelight.
Kurt Angle must be praised as my absolute favourite, but we’ve also got Goldberg (who looks like the formidable champion RAW needs), Brock Lesnar (who has looked almost superhuman himself in certain matches) and Shawn Michaels (I don’t care what anybody says, this guy is still one of the most talented and charismatic performers in the business - just listen to the crowd). That’s not even mentioning the elder statesmen of the WWE - Steve Austin and The Undertaker.
I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that surely the WWE is better off with five or six pinnacle superstars than just the one. What would have happened if Hogan had suffered a long-term injury in 1985? Wrestling history would have been so different.
Top Storyline:
Okay, I’m going to forget the Katie Vick debacle, as it was quite a while ago now. Instead I’m going to concentrate on what we’ve been seeing in the past month or so.
Christian and Chris Jericho have found themselves on new ground. These two fantastic heels have been lumped together with Lita and Trish respectively, but in a face capacity. Obviously the crowd have been waiting for Y2J and Christian to do something dastardly… but it hasn’t come yet(well not quite). I absolutely love this idea - a heel who becomes a face around a certain person. It’s the future.
From a writing point of view, you need characters the audience can empathise with (whether they are hated or loved is irrelevant), and that means that heroes must have flaws (see Steve Austin), and villains must not be entirely bad.
And now back then. Three letters conjure up some cringeworthy memories for me. U-S-A! U-S-A! When I was 10 I had posters of Hulk Hogan plastered all around my huge… wait for it… Stars and Stripes flag. What??? I’m not even American, yet I still jumped on the Uncle Sam bandwagon. That’s how much they shove it down our throats. You might say that things haven’t changed that much with the recent hate campaign against the French (La Resistance), and Hogan’s alter-ego, Mr. America. But things don’t seem quite as blinkered as they once were. The WWE even allowed the arrogantly clever Chris Nowinski to debate the nation’s penchant for war mongering, with muscle man simpleton Scott Steiner.
I just want the writers to be slightly cleverer about things. It’s not the 80’s anymore, and even kids seem slightly more clued up about who they like. They have to give us more than blind patriotism to keep us interested… and I think that nowadays they do.
Overall:
I will always enjoy slapping WrestleMania III into my expensive video recorder and marking out in a huge way for Hulk Hogan slamming Andre, but it’s definitely just a nostalgia buzz, because let’s face it I can turn SmackDown on every week and see the Big Show getting F-5’ed from Lesnar or F-U’ed from Cena.
I’m glad the 80’s and 90’s happened but I’m equally as pleased with the technically superior product we’re watching now.
Here’s to another 15 years!
Also this week i have put together MY TOP 10 POPS
Ever since first clapping eyes on the World Non-Panda Wrestling Federation, I've always been a sucker for a decent pop.
The hot-tag, the run-in, the falling-off-the-ring-apron; they come in many forms. So after pondering over some of the crowd reactions from yesteryear, I have compiled my own personal list of the top 10 pops I have witnessed as a WWF/E viewer. The countdown runs from number 10 all the way to the greatest pop of all-time!
(Note to A-Train fans. Your interest may very well drop off from here. Bye now!)
10) Steve Austin returns at Backlash 2000
At Survivor Series 1999, Steve Austin was suspended for 10 months for recklessly getting in the way of a moving car and rightfully so, says I. He was also injured too, but nobody knew about that.
Anyway, skip forward to Backlash 2000 and the Rock was feuding with Triple H for the WWF Championship. Due to face each other at the April pay-per-view, in typically clichéd style ‘the cards were stacked against’ Rocky. With Vince McMahon in his corner and son Shane as special referee, the matriarch of that particular family, Linda, decided to name somebody to watch the Rock’s back. As Gary Coleman was busy, she nominated Austin to get things done, much to the fans’ delight.
Austin blew up the D-X Express prior to the event but didn’t show at Backlash until he sauntered down the ring with chair in hand. Waffling Triple H, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Shane and Vince with a salvo of chair-shots, Austin brought the crowd to their feet, something which he notably struggled to do himself before standing above a fallen Vince to trash-talk him.
This was one of the last truly big pops that the poster-boy of the WWF Attitude era was ever to receive. After a post-match beer with the new champeen, Stone Cold didn’t appear again until four months later. After the initial ‘good-to-have-you-back-Steve’ reaction had died down, it was clear that the ‘Rattlesnake’ had grown decidedly stale. He was to turn heel later, before turning face again as he rode the crest of the ‘What?’ wave, but it was never really the same again.