Jump The Shark Moments

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I understand both decisions. But in both cases, they were the wrong decisions.

As far as Austin goes, I get turning him heel as a wrestling character, opening up other opportunities. But there are intangibles being drastically ignored in all of it, namely that Austin wasn't just a wrestling character to a lot of people. At the time I even agreed with the move, but something about it killed the heart and soul of the company. Not just the bad luck of it all, but everything else as well.

Regardless of what stars you had, you can still book a decent angle instead of McMahon-athon. And slowly but surely, they could have signed more stars.... hell, they signed the nwo in 2002 not much long after the invasion was over.

What the problem was and still is, is a lack of patience and foresight.

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Gorgeous Dale Newstead I understand both decisions. But in both cases, they were the wrong decisions. As far as Austin goes, I get turning him heel as a wrestling character, opening up other opportunities. But there are intangibles being drastically ignored in all of it, namely that Austin wasn't just a wrestling character to a lot of people. At the time I even agreed with the move, but something about it killed the heart and soul of the company. Not just the bad luck of it all, but everything else as well. Regardless of what stars you had, you can still book a decent angle instead of McMahon-athon. And slowly but surely, they could have signed more stars.... hell, they signed the nwo in 2002 not much long after the invasion was over. What the problem was and still is, is a lack of patience and foresight.

But like you said you thought turning him was a good idea. It was an era where everything moved quickly. Austin wasn't going to have a 10 year run on top as a babyface like Hogan. As it was they had maybe 2 years left with him. Again in hindsight it was a bad move. But I also remember reading the sheets and being on places like this and reading "its getting stale, glass breaks, stunners, austin vs vince". I think it didn't work primarily because Austin didn't have enough babyface stars to work with.

Sure they signed guys when their contracts were up or at a point where signing them wouldn't upset the applecart. It's all tied into the Invasion angle. How do you realistically put a WCW crew led by Booker T and DDP over guys like Austin, Rock, Taker, Hunter, etc. Not to mention the guys on the next tier like Jericho, Angle, Hardys, Benoit, etc. The only way to create a believable story was to utilize characters the audience already saw as stars (Austin, Steph, Shane, etc) and then hope a few of the new WCW talent would get over. Really it ended up only being Booker T who stood out as a legit upper mid card talent.

And even when they brought in guys slowly, you saw their warts. Steiner was a disaster. Scott Hall was a wreck. Hogan had to be sheltered. Goldberg was great but had limited dates and never seemed to like the business. They got a little bit of mileage out of everyone and it, but none of those guys really made a huge difference. It wasn't until Cena came along a few years later that the company was saved from spinning their wheels. I'm just not sure booking wise how you turn guys like Lance Storm and Kanyom into guys who could hang with Austin and Rock.