It's a sad state of affairs....

[Fabien Barthez]

When we are all so buzzing about Mania and the prospects, sheerly because it is the only show of the year where we are likely to see a prolonged period of good matches on one card?

I know that's kind of the point.... But it seems like 44 weeks of shit booking and short, crappy matches, then The Rumble, then better TV, but still crap wrestling matches and it is Mania time.

I am not interested in a list of good matches on TV over the last 12 months, or on PPV. My point is its so sporadic, and even the good ones are under 15 minutes by and large.

Something should not be considered the best, purely because the rest is intentionally worse.

[Legend Killer]

This year was one of the greatest years in character development though Fab. Randy Orton became the Heel everyone wanted him to be, Jericho became one of the greatest of all time, Cena finally got fans back, and Edge is now one of the greatest heels of all time. Oh yeah and J.R. went to Smackdown, creating better broadcasting and such for some of the best wrestling on television.

Hell even The Miz and Morrison went from being, well maybe not Morrison, but The miz went from being a jobber to one of the company's top stars.

I shall remember this year as a YEAR OF TURNING POINTS FOR FUTURE GREATS.

[Londoner]

Wtf are you on about Fabien? You clearly haven't been watching.

[screech]

Talking about almost any other year I would agree with you, but this year has been drastically different in my opinion.

[Jeritron]

Yea gotta disagree Fabien. Shit has been excellent for a while now. The last half of 07, and especially 2008 were really huge improvements in my opinion.
The current product and wrestlemania build is both interesting, eventful, and unpredictable. It's also shaping up to be more quality wrestling.
I mean, No Way Out is usually the throwaway of the year, and it was the best PPV I've seen in ages.

[FourFifty]

So we haven't had the second coming of Austin or Christ in the industry yet. It's still a great product to watch. Future stars are being groomed, top talent is steady, we've had some awesome matches over the last year, killer promos, and if you're bitching about 44 weeks then stop watching.
If you don't like the smell of coffee, don't go to starbucks.

[Jeritron]

Last time I checked, the Jericho vs Michaels and Taker/Edge fueds were in the past 44 weeks. There's nothing shitty, short, or boring about that

[BigDaddyCool]

Also Vince's on air role has been greatly reduced. That helps with the watchability of the product greatly.

[Legend Killer]

So we haven't had the second coming of Austin or Christ in the industry yet.

You just compared Stone Cold Steve Austin to Christ.

[Afterlife]

This year has been damn near epic in terms of overall good programming.

[Fabien Barthez]

I'm talking about the wrestling though. Actual good matches. Like I said, ECW has been putting out decent matches, but scaresly over the 7 minute mark. Smackdown is getting better, but still very few matches, with any real length. Most TV matches are entrances and then the finish. they leave the match out completely! regal/Punk for instance from 2 weeks ago.

I think athough storylines and character development has been better than the majority of the last decade, good wrestling matches have been thin on the ground.

[Cuzziebro]

I think since the WWE decided to lengthen alot of storylines everything within the company became a whole lot more interesting and entertaining in terms of character development, promos, and overall programming.
ECW only has one hour to fill, thus they can only put on short matches and while still trying to build some type of storyline.
I cant comment on Smackdown as I don't watch just because of the time it is on. However from the results I read it doesn't seem as bad as the last few years.
And Raw well its just Raw how can you complain when you have HBK, Y2J and Orton. All three have/had awesome storylines and their character development has been amazing. Also add Santino, The Legacy, The In Crowd, even to an extent CM Punk and Regal. I just dont see how you could complain.
Just my opinion however.

[thedamndest]

I see where Fab is coming from, but short matches on tv are nothing new. I wish they would take some risks and book some longer ones from time to time. If it means cutting out a Kelly Kelly match, so be it.

It's kind of a give and take process. Backstage segments don't cover anything except one or two guys, but they increase your character development in ways a match can't. If Virgil had gotten more backstage segments, he'd probably be a 2-time World Champion right now.

[RatedGSuperstar]

Matches from the Attitude Era were usually very short, and almost never were interrupted by commercials as a result, IIRC. One thing I did like, though, is that they made sure to get all their commercial obligations out of the way before the main event. I could deal with short matches and a ton of ads in the first hour or so if I got to see a 10-15 minute main event that didn't get interrupted at some point.

I'll agree that the product has definitely been very good as of late. I pretty much stopped watching WWE altogether from about 2003/2004 until about Mania time last year. My interest was renewed with a flurry of unexpected good TV. While Punk's title reign was mostly a disappointment, the night he cashed in and won the title was the first time in awhile that I actually marked out watching WWE TV.

They've been picking up momentum lately, which seemed pretty unthinkable a few years ago.

[Theo Dious]

While Punk's title reign was mostly a disappointment, the night he cashed in and won the title was the first time in awhile that I actually marked out watching WWE TV.

I cried that night. :mad:

[Kane Knight]

The Attitude Era had many a night where they took commercial breaks in the ME slot. They just did it before the action picked up. There were plenty of breaks in other matches, too. They had the shit after the ads where they'd show what you missed. Just saying.

[RatedGSuperstar]

The Attitude Era had many a night where they took commercial breaks in the ME slot. They just did it before the action picked up. There were plenty of breaks in other matches, too. They had the shit after the ads where they'd show what you missed. Just saying.

Then I'm probably remembering wrong...wouldn't be the first time. :lol:

I guess taking so many mid-match commercial breaks makes it seem more "real" because not everything is neatly packed into the blocks between the breaks, but I just really hate hearing Michael Cole scream "OHMIGOD~! WHAT'LL HAPPEN NEXT!?!" as a tease heading into the 10th ad for Monk on the night.

[4 knuckles up]

You know when any match on a PPV Fit Finlay is in is considered the worst, something good is happening...

[Kane Knight]

Then I'm probably remembering wrong...wouldn't be the first time. :lol:

I guess taking so many mid-match commercial breaks makes it seem more "real" because not everything is neatly packed into the blocks between the breaks, but I just really hate hearing Michael Cole scream "OHMIGOD~! WHAT'LL HAPPEN NEXT!?!" as a tease heading into the 10th ad for Monk on the night.
It's worse on Smackown...Like we're supposed to forget it's taped or something?

[Innovator]

It's even better when the commercial break during the main event spoils the ending

[Rammsteinmad]

How has Cena got the fans back? I don't mean this in a "Cena sucks" way, but because I don't watch much so am curious as to whats being done.

[Ruien]

They basically made him into a normal person. No special gimmick, no more "You can't see me", just a regular person.

[Rammsteinmad]

Really? That's cool. Does he still do that lame salute when he makes his way to the ring?

[screech]

Yes he does.

[Krimzon7]

he also doesn't make as many poopy jokes. And he actually loses.

[The Optimist]

it's not intentionally worse the rest of the year, it just is

[DaVe]

You just compared Stone Cold Steve Austin to Christ.

Is that so wrong?

[Krimzon7]

Yes, it is wrong. Christ didn't manage to roll up Owen Hart to retain his IC Title with a Broken neck! christ didn't create this awesompe piece of Television with The Rock either.

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1:18 mark is classic Austin!

[Anybody Thrilla]

I know how you mean Fabien, but to be fair, the first two PPVs this year were The Royal Rumble (which included the Rumble match) and No Way Out (which included TWO Elimination Chambers). If you take out those specialty matches that take up a ridiculous amount of time and just book a card of mostly singles matches, I think the results may be a little different. All of the singles matches on the first two PPVs just seemed to be padding for the real main events.

[Loose Cannon]

don't want to sound like a broken record, but I am loving the product more then ever right now compared to the last 5 years. Looks like they finally hit a money angle with Randy Orton. I was a little scared at first that the angle would be pretty shit with the McMahons involved and I was gasping when Shane beat the shit out of Legacy that one RAW. But they have rebounded nicely from that and really put Orton over.

The Tag Title picture is very awesome right now. Miz and Morrison remind me a lot of the New Age Outlaws back in 98. Then you have that ultra babyface team in Crime Tyme, Legacy of course and a couple other solid teams to round it out.

Throw in guys like Punk, Kofi, Rey, Jericho and others to carry the mid-upper mid card and you've got a solid show. I always been a fan of entire shows focusing on one angle throughout the night and rounding it out with decent matches and other small angles and it seems they are doing that now.

With your comment about the matches. I dunno. If you were to ask me which era has the most exciting, fast paced matches, I would tell you watch WWE today. But, I think a lot of the matches today lack the pyschology, character development, and emotion that you had back then. So to an extent, I agree with you. I have never been a fan of Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Money In the Bank and those kinds of matches where it's just move after move after move. I'd rather see a match that has a good story behind it and a ton of emotion and heat behind it.

[Anybody Thrilla]

LOOSE CANNON!!!! Where have you been?