Smark Era..... Good or Bad?

[Wishbone]

Booking has EVERYTHING to do with it. Do you honestly believe that Brock and Goldberg would be over at all if they'd been booked as badly as everyone is today? If so you're daft. Ryback and Reigns falling flat are the most recent proof that size doesn't = success, and there's plenty of others that have proved this point as well. On the flip side guys like Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, etc are proof that a guy can be larger than life without being physical giants.

You're also not factoring in the cultural shift that has occurred outside of wrestling. People are leaning more and more every day toward more "realistic" and "relateable." In fact relateability has become a major selling point in most works of fiction these days. People want heroes that they can project themselves onto. Hell, even our action heroes are changing. You don't see many Schwarzeneggers or Stallones anymore. Even in comic books which are the closest thing to wrestling you are seeing fewer and fewer of the quintessential superheroes and more "average" characters. It makes sense that wrestling would make this shift too, especially given the current feeling toward steroids and whatnot.

Anyway onto the actual question. No, I don't totally enjoy the current era, but not because of the wrestlers involved. The talent is fine, and in fact I'd argue it's probably the best roster overall that WWE's ever had (note I said overall. This is because other eras have had a few guys like the Rock who beat out everyone, but outside of those few greats their rosters of peers were often meh in comparison.) The reason I don't quite enjoy wrestling today is because of the 50/50 booking, and the awful writing. It's like getting together an extremely solid cast of actors and then giving them the worst possible script and director.

All of that said I've come to terms with what's going on right now. I manage to find enjoyment in what wrestling is now even if it will never actually be legitimately good again. It's pretty much a guilty pleasure to me now. A Sharknado if you will. Yeah, it's bad, but there are certain moments that are legit entertaining sprinkled in, and even the bad such as Elsworth is so bad that it's hilarious.

[Stickman]

Originally Posted by Wishbone Booking has EVERYTHING to do with it. Do you honestly believe that Brock and Goldberg would be over at all if they'd been booked as badly as everyone is today? If so you're daft. Ryback and Reigns falling flat are the most recent proof that size doesn't = success, and there's plenty of others that have proved this point as well. On the flip side guys like Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, etc are proof that a guy can be larger than life without being physical giants. You're also not factoring in the cultural shift that has occurred outside of wrestling. People are leaning more and more every day toward more "realistic" and "relateable." In fact relateability has become a major selling point in most works of fiction these days. People want heroes that they can project themselves onto. Hell, even our action heroes are changing. You don't see many Schwarzeneggers or Stallones anymore. Even in comic books which are the closest thing to wrestling you are seeing fewer and fewer of the quintessential superheroes and more "average" characters. It makes sense that wrestling would make this shift too, especially given the current feeling toward steroids and whatnot. Anyway onto the actual question. No, I don't totally enjoy the current era, but not because of the wrestlers involved. The talent is fine, and in fact I'd argue it's probably the best roster overall that WWE's ever had (note I said overall. This is because other eras have had a few guys like the Rock who beat out everyone, but outside of those few greats their rosters of peers were often meh in comparison.) The reason I don't quite enjoy wrestling today is because of the 50/50 booking, and the awful writing. It's like getting together an extremely solid cast of actors and then giving them the worst possible script and director. All of that said I've come to terms with what's going on right now. I manage to find enjoyment in what wrestling is now even if it will never actually be legitimately good again. It's pretty much a guilty pleasure to me now. A Sharknado if you will. Yeah, it's bad, but there are certain moments that are legit entertaining sprinkled in, and even the bad such as Elsworth is so bad that it's hilarious.

I have said on here before and I don't see Ryback as a giant or anything. The guy has huge muscles but is short(er) and doesn't seem strong; he seems to struggle with basic power moves. Also, Hbk, Y2J and Angle were huge compared to guys today. Even though Guerrero was short he was juiced to the gills and was larger than the guys today. They were comparatively small back then but they are still stars today and ohysical size playes a role.

[Wishbone]

Originally Posted by Stickman I have said on here before and I don't see Ryback as a giant or anything. The guy has huge muscles but is short(er) and doesn't seem strong; he seems to struggle with basic power moves. Also, Hbk, Y2J and Angle were huge compared to guys today. Even though Guerrero was short he was juiced to the gills and was larger than the guys today. They were comparatively small back then but they are still stars today and ohysical size playes a role.

You sound confused about what you yourself even believes is "big." You say that Ryback isn't big because he's short, but then say that it's not the height it's the muscles when talking about guys like Guerrero and Angle. I realize that I too was a bit vague here, but you're outright contradicting yourself.

Also, Ryback is 6' 3'' tall. Are you seriously calling that short? The Rock is only 2 inches taller, Steve Austin is 2 inches shorter, and John Cena is 3 inches shorter. Ryback is exactly the right size to be considered the prototypical WWE superstar. Same applies to Reigns. Anything over 6' is well above average height and will look like a beast next to your average man.

As for Guerrero and company being much more ripped, yes, they most certainly were, but as I stated in my previous comment muscle isn't really that relevant anymore. Those sort of physiques aren't looked at in a good light anymore by the general public. In fact most people immediately jump to say that anyone with any amount of "big" muscle is on steroids. I have literally never seen anyone argue that that sort of physique was attractive outside the wrestling world in well over a decade.

Now I'll agree that muscle tone definitely does play some roll. A guy that looks like Randy Orton or even AJ Styles (who is in great shape compared to normal people) are going to have a much easier time of looking like larger than life characters than a Kevin Owens or CM Punk, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible, nor does it mean that the guy looking like Orton will actually be perceived that way. That sort of look is just icing on the cake, not a necessity. Like I said before people gravitated to the Rock, HBK, etc because of their personalities, not because of their physiques. Looks can help catch someones eye, but they can't keep them around.

Also please note that I'm not saying that looks aren't important, just that you're looking at looks in the wrong way. Lean, athletic builds are what people see as the ideal these days. Our movie stars, professional athletes, and even pop culture characters reflect that. If your assertion that the muscles and size were what was selling these guys then Brock and the like should have been pulling in massive audiences that dwarfed what the current roster does. They should have been able to pull in tons of casuals and non-wrestling fans with the "mystique" they exuded. Instead they caused slight bumps in buy-rates and that's about it. That's because even this larger than life men with bodies like Greek gods only brought in old wrestling fans who'd stopped watching. They brought in casuals who already had an interest in wrestling and likely tuned in not because they saw two monsters on a poster but because they saw their childhood heroes on said poster. It's the nostalgia, not the muscles that sold them, and that's the biggest mistake I see people here making. A lot of you seem to think that wrestling still has the ability to be as popular as it once was, and I'm sorry to say that it doesn't. Wrestling is a niche product for a nerdy subculture and children. Mainstream adults will NEVER look at wrestling as cool again and no amount of musclebound giants will ever change that.