What a thankless job that must be...I mean, not compared to my horrendous, cheap, and ultra shitty job, bust still. I feel like they have a pretty tough assignment, all things considered. They have to write scripts for people who are not actors, create storylines for fans who are probably 40% mouth breathing rednecks, 50% kids, and 10% internet nerds, nearly none of which have any overlap in what they would like to see. Not only that, but they produce at least 5 hours of TV each week, 3 of which is live. SNL is usually horrendous, and they are stocked with Ivy Leaguers, and they can't pull off an hour of compelling TV each week. And yes, I know SNL is an hour and a half long show. Add to that the politics, having to write around injuries, McMahon family whims, and network heads breathing all over their necks, and it's got to be an incredibly difficult position to be in. Again, not saying I wouldn't trade it immediately for my crappy job, but in terms of writing gigs, I don't think it would be considered "cushy".
I guess I'm just trying to say I thought the Daniel Bryan thing on Monday night was pretty rad.
Yeah, it's a thankless and miserable job, for sure. And it doesn't pay for shit, either. There's no question that shaving 4 hours or more of programming away from the system would help out a ton -- just look at NXT. One person booking one 45 minute show per week, and everything makes sense without things getting dropped for no reason. Ultimately, the writers aren't to blame for the biggest problems, Vince and now HHH are.
An off season would probably do wonders for the product and the performers but it would never happen.....
ReplyDeleteDc:Wonder woman,Justice league,league of america,forever evil,Swamp(rotworld storyline) thing,Animal man(I'm in the rotworld storyline),Green Arrow and Aquaman(best of new 52 and current badass of the DC universe)
ReplyDeleteMarvel:Superior spider-man and Hawkeye.
Image Comics:Alex + Ada.
Ugh, the offseason again.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for this. Also, the Batman '66 digital comic is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to a podcast with the guy who used to play Big Dick Johnson on tv. He said the exact same thing. He said said even if you pitched a great idea that was green lighted, it gets changed do many times as it goes up the chain of command that it's essentially a different storyline by the time it hits tv
ReplyDeleteThe writers are telling stories, but Vince doesn't like their stories.
ReplyDeleteWhich ones? And why?
ReplyDeleteGood point.
ReplyDeleteI'd gladly take a job as a writer for WWE. If that meant doing "favors" for HHH and Vince, then so be it. It would be an awesome job.
ReplyDeleteI actually think it's around 55k, but their travel and stuff is all paid for.
ReplyDeleteHaving big muscles isn't the same as being in shape.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Memphis usually alternate bookers every 12 months? Wasn't something like that a fairly normal practice during the territory days? I could see how it's hard to be part of a large group of writers, responsible for writing 3 hours of Ace television each week where the show is as important as the PPV, only to have the ideas get shot down or constantly tweaked, with no real end goal, would easily lead to burnout.
ReplyDeleteI will now do the obligatory bring up of how mother ducking tight the writing was in 2000 with word being that the writers had bulletin boards to sequentially map out storylines a la Vince Gilligan on Breaking Bad.
ReplyDeleteI hated WWF and WCW during that period.
ReplyDeleteThats kinda how the blog feels when you go into troll mode.
ReplyDeleteThat's about ten grand more than I make a year.
ReplyDeleteEven fuj?
ReplyDeleteWhat about him?
ReplyDeleteLet's be honest, it's the favors you're really interested in. The job is just the icing on top.
ReplyDeleteHe's part of the blog. Does he feel that way? What about Shough? And buckdiddy? And Gideon Stargrave? And Bayless? And comdukakis? Have you asked them, or are you just assuming?
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming the majority of people get tired of your troll posts. This is correct.
ReplyDeleteScott isn't someone?
ReplyDeleteYou know what they say when you assume?
ReplyDeleteWell I am an AssMan!
ReplyDelete100%
ReplyDeleteI don't get how anyone could hate WWF in 2000.
ReplyDelete2000 WCW was terrible. 2000 WWF was one of the great individual years any wrestling company has ever had.
ReplyDeleteChris Kreski was the head writer and I don't think the 'writing team' was nearly as big as it is now. It was probably easier for just one vision to come to fruition. Less obstacles and all that.
I remember Lance Storm making a comment that some wrestlers wouldn't know how to handle the off time. Like they are so used to the non-stop travel that they would be lost without it. So he hinted strongly that a good percentage of the wrestlers themselves are fine with things the way they are.
ReplyDeleteThe person who hates 2000 WWF probably also hates pizza. There's always one.
ReplyDeleteProbably the guy who wouldn't fuck Brooke in the ass too.
ReplyDeleteIcing is the pun inside the pun.
ReplyDelete"constantly tweaked"? "burnout"? I didn't see anything up there about Jeff Hardy.
ReplyDeleteJesse probably thinks Vince is part of the "vast conspiracy".
ReplyDeleteThough to be fair, even then a big miss here or there is possible a la KOTR 2000.
ReplyDeleteBrooke Hogan? That would be me then.
ReplyDeleteWhy would Jesse endorse linda? He's nowhere close to her politically
ReplyDeleteI'm actually not that big on pizza the older that I get.
ReplyDeleteIt was the Blue Blazer that said to drink your milk. How did that work out for him again?
ReplyDeleteYou can count Hulk out of that one.
ReplyDeleteCome ONNNN, my assistant makes (a fair bit) more than that and she doesn't do shit.
ReplyDeleteOh without question. It certainly wasn't a perfect year.
ReplyDeleteTry the blue pill.
ReplyDeleteHates 2000 WWF= you need to get yourself a head exam.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't into the whole Attitude Era. It seemed all very sloppy and unrealistic to me. Matches were short, title changes galore, it just seemed like a big mess.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Attitude Era matches didn't aged that well,but 2000 was the shit.HHH,Benoit,Jericho and plenty of other guys working their asses every week,it's my favorite WWF year by far.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mister_E_Mahn has a job opening for you.
ReplyDeleteThere was some prayer and training involved to.
ReplyDeleteAnd believing in yourself. But that didn't start until the 90s. Maybe if he believed in himself in the 80s he would be in better shape now.
If Sting doesn't get hurt in 1990, you'd probably figure Sting and Flair do a schomz at WrestleWar to probaby set up the for real win at Capital Combat (or maybe even the Bash anyway). Once Sting is done with Flair, he'd need a strong heel to feud with, and who better than Luger for that role? Luger probably drops the US title back and forth with some other plucky babyface during this time frame as well.
ReplyDeleteI think I've mentioned this before on here, but...
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they split up each of those 5 hours to different writing teams? This writing team handles this hour, which is dedicated to these wrestlers. This writing team handles another hour with a different set of writers.
Each hour/team is given a championship (which I THINK would work out, especially if the world and mid-card belts stay unified) and more or less carte blanche to do what they want ala the NXT team. Obviously, as one team needs certain wrestlers (or one gets promoted to main event), you mix and match.
We've seen on multiple occasions - and most recently with NXT - how well not having too many cooks in the kitchen works in favour for the overall product. I don't see why they don't do essentially a brand split in the writer's room.
Totally. Gene identified him as such.
ReplyDeleteHe was transformed by the power of a ceremonial trash can.
See, I think the Attitude Era ended sometime between Russo jumping to WCW and the Radicalz showing up on Raw. No one agrees with me on this, but late 99-2000 WWF is when they started putting the focus on good wrestling again, and man, it showed.
ReplyDeleteJohn is right, if you hate 2000 WWF, you need a head exam.
Yeah, I loved it. It had issues in syndication in the 90s due to music - apparently some music was cut or replaced with generic tracks, and dialogue had to be re-dubbed.
ReplyDeleteThe first season eventually made it onto DVD, but they had to do something similar with the music there as well. I don't think seasons 2-4 ever made it onto DVD.
I loved that show as well. "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly" is one of the funniest TV lines of all time.
I worked shit jobs for years, it just surprises me that anyone in a salaried position for a company of that size would make so little.
ReplyDeleteThat's like 16 bucks an hour.
Really? Can I be your assistant? I make about 20k, and to me I'm doing pretty well at 20k.
ReplyDeleteNo. But if you're ever in Toronto I'll smoke a joint with you.
ReplyDeleteIf you're ever in Buffalo I'll burn one with you. I'll definitely be up in T.O. sometime in the summer.
ReplyDeleteIt's about even these days.
ReplyDeleteLook for RR,No way out and Backlash 2000,All have great matches.
ReplyDeleteThreadjack: Copped Superior Spiderman and it sucks because I know what is eventually gong to happen.
ReplyDeleteThreadjack
ReplyDeleteSome artist drew the logos for every NFL team if they were designed by hipsters. Funny stuff
http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2014/01/nfl-logos-hipsters.html
Demolition's theme was written and performed by Rick Derringer. He may have retained the royalties for it, he had been around the music business long enough to understand the value of royalties. He also wrote "real American'.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the deal is with Grab Them cakes or the Country Boy.
Lots would say that WM17 was the end of the Attitude Era, but... Yeah, late 1999 makes sense too. The roster definitely increased in an insane way too. In the span of a few months: Tazz, Dudleys, Benoit, Eddie, Malenko, Saturn, along with the emergence of Edge/Christian/Hardys into major players. No more need for "Russofied smoke and mirrors" at that point.
ReplyDeleteSadly the age of Octavius is ending.
ReplyDeleteWhen you get the WWE Network go watch most of the WWF PPVs from 2000 and tell us if you still feel this way. Spoilers: You won't!
ReplyDeleteRR 2000 has a Hardy Boyz match that I actually like on it, that's how good it is. And hey, lets watch that match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3T-UQ7OPFg
ReplyDeleteNo, Tessmacher.
ReplyDeleteTrue 'extras' : the guys just standing in a crowd, walking down the street, walking in the back of the office, etc. don't get paid shit. Hell, in many cases you can find locals who will do it for free just so they can appear in a movie for 5 seconds.
ReplyDeleteI think if they gave Russo one of the current WWE shows, let's say Smackdown, it would be fun.
ReplyDeleteYeah, depending on how you define the Attitude Era, that's a pretty fair statement. From about Armageddon 1999 to WM 17 or so the wrestling was absolutely top notch for the most part.
ReplyDeleteRusso may write crap,but is not boring.
ReplyDeleteDisqus hates everyone
ReplyDeleteEverything was spot on in that year,Main event,midcard,tag teams.but it did had some bumps i.e:WM 2000,I do enjoy the show,however it could have been miles better.
ReplyDeleteI was going to do the whole icing/cum thing, but my brain died on me and I couldn't find the right way to structure the joke.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read much of the Infinite Crisis stuff, but I thought Villains United was great.
ReplyDeleteHe only did that for Season 2.
ReplyDeleteDude, if I was running for office I would pay Jesse Ventura to not endorse me. I would want him as far away from my campaign as possible.
ReplyDeleteWithout revealing anything they are going all out with this.
ReplyDeleteLOL @ Pats logo
ReplyDeleteWhich is crazy. If you want people to take Linda seriously as a successful businesswoman and serious candidate, the last thing you'd want is Jesse Ventura hanging around your campaign.
ReplyDeleteStoryline-wise, I'd agree that WM17 (I refuse to use X7 because it's stupid) is the end of the Attitude Era. But to me, the words "Attitude Era" mean shitty angles with shitty 2 minute matches and 20 minute promos. Once Russo got bounced we still had the shitty angles and 20 minute promos, but as far as match quality goes that was damn near the best 18 months in wrestling history.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it to be honest. There's really no financial incentive to do so. We all complain about music, but is anybody really going to not watch something or not purchase the channel just because overdubbed "Eye of the Tiger"?
ReplyDeleteDVD releases have a different royalty structure than streaming videos.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you.
ReplyDeleteKind of like Foley's story to Vince in 2006.
ReplyDeleteYou watch wrestling wrong
ReplyDeleteI'm kidding obviously but I've never heard anyone say that about 2000-01 wwf
ReplyDeleteSo what was YOUR favourite year then?
ReplyDeleteCome on, out with it!
Posters with gimmicks will say that to troll people.
ReplyDeleteIt was Russotastic!
ReplyDeleteHas there ever been a gimmick here where a poster had the name troll and had a troll face avatar who would always troll?
ReplyDeleteI'm still shocked they gave that away on a free Raw.
ReplyDeleteThey could have had the WM 29 redemption with Cena/Rock II, then Punk could come out the following night saying "You have redeemed yourself partially, but the one thing you still have not been able to do is to defeat me when the WWE title is on the line." BOOM, huge main event for the next PPV, huge buyrate, 5 star match.
Yes, Punk was about to take a break, but throw a few more dollars at him to make him stay 1 more month, just like Batista after WM 26. Plus even with Punk on a PPV losing streak, he still, as mentioned, has the mental edge over Cena in title matches. (ok, fantasy booking is over)
Agreed on all points.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Tennessee?
ReplyDeleteA Shawn Michaels Rumble win would have been pretty cool here, epecially being in San Antonio. You could still get to Batista-Taker easily enough.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying Hogan's in amazing shape. I'm saying he's not in bad shape for a 60 year old man who's wrestled for half of those years.
ReplyDeleteThe idea isn't business exposing, the execution was.
ReplyDeleteNot a big fan of most of the match (too much logjam in the ring for most of it) but that last 15 minutes is pure delight. We will never see an ending sequence like that ever again. 2 stars putting on a mini show.
ReplyDeleteThe crowd was split down the middle but i was cheering for Undertaker and was thrilled when he won. Besides HBK had to put Flair down at WM so he had no time for title shots at the time but we still got that classic Y2J vs HBK fued for the title so it all worked out.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great ending and i agree that it will NEVER be duplicated
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more about the dullness til the ending sequence.
ReplyDeleteThat blue one he wore toward the end of his career was awful too
ReplyDeleteI know people brought up the leg drop alot, but don't forget that Hogan's style was "quick start, get the piss beat out of him, rally, win." So he probably bumped alot more than you think he did.
ReplyDeleteBenoit drew both #1 and #2, he had another early early (9 or 10) in 2006 and then he was #16 in this Rumble.
ReplyDeleteThere was some website that used to chart Royal Rumble entries over the years, and it was interesting seeing just how 'random' some of the entries seemed. Obviously Hogan always got numbers in the lower third since he couldn't do any sort of iron man run, whereas guys like Benoit, CM Punk, Bret Hart or Mysterio often got early numbers as a way of carrying long stretches of the match.
The 'iron man run' has been devalued in recent years, however. Both Miz and Ziggler went from #1 and lasted until after #30 had hit the ring.
Cole: "RVD is gumby-like"
ReplyDeleteLawler: "What do you mean RVD is gumby-like"
JBL: "I deal with this every week."
It wouldn't get much better John.
HBK fought Cena for the title at Mania in the main event. HBK v. Flair and the Y2J feud was next year
ReplyDeleteReally, the purpose of Piper's "THAT'S TONY ATLAS!" spiel seemed mainly to be setting up Vince to zing him with a line about wearing a kilt.
ReplyDeleteI concur
ReplyDeleteGood thing Fandango loses all of his matches now and doesn't have to do the leg drop.
ReplyDeleteSince we're playing "if": If Magnum doesn't have his car accident, he can be the second face. Then, for balance, put in 1990 Barry Windham on the heel side and let the four of them pass the US title around. Not a bad match in any of those four heel/face combos IMO.
ReplyDeleteI think it was called Python Powder.
ReplyDeleteI remember as a kid thinking two things about Hogan: Why did he sweat so much, and how could he do the legdrop without intense pain in his tailbone. I concluded the latter was due to the bounciness of the mat, but maybe he suffered every single time. As for the sweating, I guess it was being under those hot lights, brother.
ReplyDeleteHogan's major injury occurred at Wrestlemania 3 when Andre died in the middle of the match and Hogan lifted up his 1300 pound corpse for the slam. After that he was able to fight through the injury but kept aggravating it from all he the sex he was having with other people's wives.
ReplyDeleteYou're a year off on that one. HBK vs. Cena for the WWE Title and Batista vs. Taker for the WHT was the Wrestlemania 23 main event picture.
ReplyDelete