Can Old School Booking Make A Return???

[Schlomey]

I mentioned in an active thread this morning about how I feel the WWE "jumped the gun" having CM Punk return so fast after his pipebomb. Many other posters and after watching a few shoots from "old timers" feel the same as me. They had something special. Something that they could have really drawn out. Yet they jumped the gun and had CM Punk return almost immediately and headline a minor PPV.


The old school formula where a feud or a storyline could drag out over the course of an entire year and not get old COULD have worked in this instance, IMO. Maybe not an entire year but way longer than a few weeks.

Is the idea of "old school" booking just that, a thing of the past? Or do you think they could be creative and find a way of inserting long term storylines that would make old school fans froth at the mouth?




My personal opinion is: No. Sadlly of course. The amount of TV hours per week and the short attention span of the current audience is enough to assume "old school" philosophies are dead and gone. 3 weeks off of WWE TV seems like an eternity due to the amount of broadcast hours and variety of shows every week.

What do you think TPWW?

[James Steele]

His first match back was SummerSlam. SummerSlam isn't a minor PPV.

[James Steele]

If the whole deal would have happened in May instead of July, it probably would have been different.

[Savio]

How would one extend this "Pipe Bomb" controversy while still making money for the company? It'd be cool storyline wise to have him gone for longer than 1 raw but it would not be making them money.

[James Steele]

Also, the idea of CM Punk showing up at random indy events with the WWE Championship is ridiculous. They did plenty fine by having him tweet a pic of the belt in his fridge, having him show up at that convention, and showing up to confront Cena after Cena won the tournament.

[Lock Jaw]

Is the idea of "old school" booking just that, a thing of the past? Or do you think they could be creative and find a way of inserting long term storylines that would make old school fans froth at the mouth?

http://theoclardy.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/cena-rock.jpg

http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2013/047/d/7/cena_vs_rock_twice_in_a_lifetime_by_omarison-d5v4q2f.png

[James Steele]

That's sweet. Cena and Rock swimming together in The Rock's NYC penthouse.

[DrCrawford]

yeah I think they really dropped the ball with punk post MITB. same with nexus. the cena/rock thing is a bad example, because I lost interest in both a few days after they were announced

[Savio]

The tag line for this WrestleMania should be called "Twice in a Lifetime"

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah, Cena and Rock's feud has been pretty old school. It's because Rock is only there a few months out of the year and isn't even there every week in those few months so it gives them the ability to not focus on them every Raw and Smackdown for an entire year.

Lesnar and Triple H has had a nice length too. Again, because of the forced part-timer aspect.

With the full-time guys there's a shitload of TV to build up and the competition of the Monday night wars basically raised the bar to where you've gotta have your main guys featured every week since that's what everyone became accustomed to. Before that, you could have an IC Title match main event Raw and it would be just fine. Nowadays, you've gotta end Raw with either two main guys facing off every week in some sort of tag match or angle. And without good, well thought out long-term booking, feuds are gonna wear thin quickly.

[dingdongyo]

I mentioned in an active thread this morning about how I feel the WWE "jumped the gun" having CM Punk return so fast after his pipebomb. Many other posters and after watching a few shoots from "old timers" feel the same as me.

for what it's worth. i disagree, like, a lot. punk's return was easily the most genuinely shocking moment of that year that i can remember. with all the other returns and the new wwe title match main event that happened in the same night, it really felt like the show was attempting to move on and i never saw it coming. it's also the most i ever cared about cm punk. dragging it out would have done nothing but lose punch.

that said, i think slower paces can work. it just depends on the story that's being told.

[Schlomey]

not every thread can be as good as a Naitch thread :P


I was so hot for Punk and WWE at that time I don't even believe half the shit I typed..>I was all over it like a black guy on 3 large backed stolen televisions.

[Bad News Gertner]

Hogan in the NWO was booked very old school when he was champ. He rarely wrestled on Nitro and when he did it was a big deal. Friggen loved WCW during that era. Watched every week. His feud with Sting was amazing,but they kept Hogan busy by having shorter feuds with Piper and Luger. That's how old school booking could work. Have the big match lurking in the future, but having the combatants in mini feuds with others.