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Originally Posted by The CyNick
Here's the deal ont he Kurt-HHH deal in 2000:
If you were following ratings at that time (which I was) you would know that the whole love triangle thing was doing big numbers. They culminated with that bit where Angle planted a kiss on Steph just before a PPV match. But rather than going with the logical story of Angle stealing Steph and having HHH turn baby, they totally squashed the angle.
Angle and HHH ahd a one on one match, and the big climax to the program was HHH telling Steph wto choose and she kicked Angle and HHH got the win. Angle did go on to win the title the next month, but the message had been sent that HHH was bigger and better than Angle, and Angle was just a mid crad guys holding the World Title. Angle did get a win over HHH at the Rumble in 2001, but it was one of those deals where Angle didn't really do anything to beat HHH, it was outside interference that won the match.
But the main point is that they "missed the boat" on putting Kurt with Steph, which was the only logical finish to that program. I dont know that HHH was worried about people talking about Kurt and Steph being together al the time, but I do know he didn't want to be a face and more importantly didn't want to be booked to look liek Angle got one over on him.
To prove the point they basically repeated the same mistake in 2002 when they could have used Hunter's injury to get a story where Jericho was banging Steph on the side while Hunter was recovering. Then Jericho could have taken credit for putting Hunter on the sidelines. They dropped the ball on both accounts and went with the much more thrilling dog poop angle.
As for other missed opportunities:
1) Jerihco in 1999. When Jericho jumped he had the big entrance and it was clear he was over enough to be on the same level as Rock and Austin. But another guy with long blond hair was on pace to get a World Title push at the same time, so coincedentally Jerihco ended up in programs with X-Pac and Road Dogg.....yeah Road Dogg. That was a missed opportunity to make Jericho a true main event player.
2) Angle in 2000 (see above section)
3) Benoit coming in in 2000 as WCW champ. They had Benoit coming off WCW TV and the World Champ, instead of making Benoit on par with the then champion HHH, they had him JOB right away and put him in the mid card spot he still holds down today. Surely they could have at least got on major PPV match out of the WCW champion facing the WWF Champion.
4) Turning HHH face after WM 17. They needed a strong babyface to make up for Rock leaving and Austin's heel turn. Instead of building off a strong match Austina nd HHH had in February of that year (which HHH won) they kept HHH heel, and the fans had nobody to get behind.
5) Invasion (do I need to expand on this one?)
6) Re-turning Austin in July '01. Austin was a failure at the box office as a heel, with the Invasion they had a chance to undo their mistake, but not only did they no undo the mistake they swerved the fans with an Austin face turn. Bad move, and I'm sure that pissed off more than a few fans.
7) Tazz during the same time. He could have also been pushed a lot better right formt he start, but again like RVD, the fans wanted to get behind someone, and he could have been major if only they let him choke out Austin.
8) RVD also during the summer of '01. Lots of teases that went nowhere.
9) Angle as a badass babyface after 9/11. Seemed like a logical thing to do, but Angle is comedy, and that why he cant draw.
10) Lesnar as a long term dominant champion. Again, this had a lot to dow ith Hunter. Hunter didn't want to be the IC champ, so they created a new World Title and it made Lesnar look weaker. To make matters worse, they had Lesnar drop the title after only 3 months.
11) RVD in 2002 after HHH was handed the World Title. Last chance for RVD to be anything more than a mid carder.
12) Eric Bischoff -- Why did he have to hug Vince?
13) Goldberg -- Beginning to end
14) Benoit and Eddie never getting the chance to actually carry the company.
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It's the only "logical finish" because it's what you were expecting. I say that of the many, many unfinished stories the WWF has been famous for in its time, this does not fall in that category. Additionally, the logic was fine.
As for the ratings, I'm sure you work in the television industry.
Ratings are overrated anyway, as they only take the results from people that are involved with them.