Hey Scott,
First want to pass on some exciting news for your readers. Of course that is that you will be returning to the Place to Be Podcast this Thursday as we discuss the wrestling landscape in the first half of 2001! We're real pumped to have you back on again and we'll be sure to share the link with your readers once it is released.
Some other very cool stuff:
Andrew reflects on the career and recent dismissal of Chris Hero from the WWE:
The Place to Be Podcast covered WrestleMania x-7 in the recent Vintage Vault. A monster pod on one of the greatest shows of all-time:
Will and a number of esteemed guests from the IWC break down what the WWE Network could look like:
Jordan reviews Lex Luger's book "Wrestling With the Devil":
Brian Shields joined the PTB Podcast to discuss his wrestling fandom and the WWE Encyclopedia he wrote:
The Titans of Wrestling break down the Bruno/LarryZ feud of 1980:
The latest written Vintage Vault covers One Night Stand 2008:
Thanks Scott!
Wrestling really has come a long way in terms of racial stuff. Over the last 10 years, there have been quite a few black world champs (Mark Henry, booker t, the rock, ron killings (tna)), asian world champs (rock, great khali, samoa joe) and latino world champs (del rio, rey, eddie). It is also not unusual to see them fighting in main events of ppvs and nobody making one peep about their race because it happens so often (examples are r-truth at survivor series, del rio numerous times, rock numerous times and mark henry at mitb).
ReplyDeleteExcellent read. I can think of a few more instances of racism in wrestling, one of them being Hulk Hogan labeling Tony Atlas as a "brown clown"
ReplyDeleteThis interview is coming Thursday but we have some of the raw quotes from our conversation with Rashad Evans up now:
ReplyDeletehttp://placetobenation.com/evans-you-put-me-in-a-cage-someplace-and-im-going-to-beat-that-ass/
I feel honored, in a strange, "Uncle touched me THERE" way.
ReplyDeleteIt has come a long way...but before we pat ourselves on the back too much let's remember that "it's been less than 5 years since Umaga last wrestled for the WWE. It's been less than 10 years since the Mexicools came to the ring riding lawnmowers.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's a lovely John Cena rap on Eddie Guerrero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nDsz7St-Yk&list=PL0419A6CB22E6BBD8&index=15
I doubt it had an effect. WM is basically rotated around the same 7-8 stadiums that get the Super Bowl. I'd imagine they'll be back there for WM 31 or 32 no matter what.
ReplyDeleteIt was an example of a 'step backward for every step forward'.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but for some reason I sort of wish they both went heel for WM 29, just to completely flip the build and see two guys trying to be the biggest asshole around.
ReplyDeleteMania XXVII: Cena vs. Miz
ReplyDeleteMania XXVIII: Cena vs. Punk
Mania XXIX: Cena vs. Lesnar
The podcasts are boring.
ReplyDeletePunk definitely has the most significant change. Would the pipe bomb have even happened? Part of his gripe in the promo is the fact that Rock comes back and just waltzes into the main event without a hitch.
ReplyDeleteTo really put in perspective what would have happened had Event X never taken place, all you need to do is look at what changed because Event X DID take place.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, nothing. Rock came back for one two-year run to put John Cena over and officially pass him the Attitude Era torch. He did that, it didn't further legitimize Cena in anyone's eyes, the people that hated him still do and the people who loved him already did.
It got the WWE a little bit more mainstream press, but the Rock wasn't out there with the belt on Leno or promoting the WWE at every turn, so that's questionable, too.
Punk had no more mainstream appeal than any other guy on the roster and a big part of that is that he HATES doing PR appearances/autograph signings/etc.
ReplyDeletePunk's reign was really him being lucky enough to be in the right place when they needed to keep Cena and the title apart to follow a year-long storyline.
I honestly don't see a ton of Bryan merch in the crowds, so I'm thinking the "he sells a ton of merch, so they should push him" thing is just a fabrication of the pro-Bryan set. There's no way he even comes close to touching Cena or Punk.
ReplyDeleteIt was mentioned in one of the footnote footnotes.
ReplyDeleteWCW is owned by WWE.
ReplyDeleteI read the book. Quality read. Nothing earth shattering was divulged
ReplyDeleteSo did you buy Summerslam?
ReplyDeleteI love the plethora of obviously incredible athletes who leap all over a guy who has been training since his teens for doing roids when there's pretty much zero evidence to this at all.
ReplyDeleteI see someone doesn't run a business.
ReplyDeleteShawn Michaels turned himself heel.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bryan has not been receiving universal massively over crowd chants! I've been watching these shows man! =)
Not trying to be contrary but all of the facts and numbers I see are that Bryan is not the mover and shaker people want him to be.
"the most mainstream fans would say that Daniel bryan has tons of personality."
ReplyDeleteJust challenging you here - what is this statement based on?
"Why does the blame get put on Bryan and not Cena or Orton?"
ReplyDeleteWWE is a pretty sophisticated machine in terms of the amount of statistics they track. Cena and Orton have both been put on top in different situations over a longer period of time. I have no doubt that they are considered to be fairly consistent "draws" with different characters given their years of carrying the PPVs. The weight is on the wildcard variable (much like how the wrestlers would judge how good a guy was by the opinion of X-Pac and later Kurt Angle), not the proven commodity.
This is how things work in business all the time - you promote the guy who is basically already doing the job you're going to promote him into. You very rarely if ever push a guy into a position you're not sure of because you just "want to give him a chance"...that's an immense risk and not worth it to an already successful business.
No, but I would have had my roommate/wrestling buddy not flown to LA to see it live.
ReplyDeleteI love that naivety! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how iconic a simple oddball start time for a show is for us long time fans. Maybe that Turner guy knew something.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I wanna see that, or just a wrestling show built more like a sport with standings and competition and tournaments and stuff, but I don't know that i'd want that to be all that wrestling is. maybe ROH should lean into that concept more (since they can't do anything exciting with characters anyway) and see how that goes.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm guessing correctly Scott saw most of those on tapes sent to him from the Eastern time zone.
ReplyDeleteFor the Power Hour when I was a kid on Saturday mornings the tail end of Captain Planet was always the lead-in. I'll remember that theme song forever.
ReplyDeleteGoing by Beyond The Mat, it seemed that while he was sufficiently supporting his family and owned a nice ranch, he was still in that situation of "I gotta keep doing this shit."
ReplyDeleteIt's no different to seeing 65+ year old Italians who are still on their hands and knees working with concrete and bricks.
Ah, so he's surviving, but he still had to work.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, construction is one of the businesses you do not quit.
I think it was just a typo.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to watch different shows with different styles, you can always watch TNA. :-D
ReplyDeleteWhich was my point. You can't expect the guy to draw when he's getting buried out there. As you said they never would have booked Austin this way. Vince was always willing to show ass and it paid off big time for him. Trips isn't. I'm kind of surprised Scott didn't get that point.
ReplyDeleteExactly and Scott has to acknowledge this. None of this would be an issue if the company was actually making an effort with the guy.
ReplyDeleteRight. HHH just isn't the same character as Vince, especially in the corporate role. Personally, I think they should have had Vince be the one opposed to Bryan's reign, trying to bring back the roid monsters and corporate pretty boy champs. Have HHH and HBK be the progressive, rebellious influence trying to push WWE in a new direction by supporting Bryan/Punk against the old McMahon regime. Have COO HHH in his more DX-style character, endorsing Bryan as the future and Vince as the dinosaur who won't get with the times. You can always have HHH get jealous down the road and turn on Bryan too. I just think HHH is miscast in this role, if only because it hurts everyone else and helps no one at all
ReplyDeleteThat would have worked much better and made a triple h turn more effective if you ask me.
ReplyDelete