Watching Survivor Series 91, which sows the seeds of the Rockers turn and it's amazing to think a year later Shawn was in the main event. When they decided to break the Rockers up, was Shawn always pegged as the future, or was it a case where Jannetty let the demons get to him? Were there thoughts Marty might end up just as big a star had he stayed clean? Or was the rocket just strapped to Shawn's back from the barbershop turn?
Well obviously once Shawn turned it was obvious which one was "chosen". I remember reading Herb Kunze's Tidbits on RSPW from 1990, where the suggestion seemed to be that Jannetty was going to get a singles push after WM6, but I have no idea if that held up via the WON at the time. That being said, once it became obvious who the colossal fuckup of the team really was, they were all in on Shawn being the guy to be the singles star. Now, whether or not that meant they saw him as the mega-star he eventually became, I have no idea. I would guess not, because the business was very different at the time he turned and things changed dramatically, leaving Shawn as the right guy at the right time despite his size.
Not plausible. I don't know that anyone could live with themselves if Dean had some sort of unfortunate accident and tripped over the new wiring setup and hurt himself.
ReplyDeleteThe gigantic wall of strobe lights help us tell our stories, damn it!
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't understand, you're just a damn millennial.
I always thought that, when said fast, "Herb Kunze" sounded like a dirty vagina.
ReplyDeleteThe match Marty had with Kurt 10 years ago or so certainly showed he could have had a much bigger career.
ReplyDeleteAt the time I always looked at them as equals in terms of work rate. Had Marty stayed clean and they do the whole Rockers split i think Marty would've gotten as much chances as a singles competitor. But i think Shawn would've eventually become huge due to his charisma. It's not like the Hart Foundation where you knew right away Bret would be the breakout star of the team
ReplyDeleteMore importantly they need to bring back those carts that would carry them down to the ring. It gives the wrestlers an aura of gladiators fighting in a coliseum
ReplyDeleteI liked during the brand split when JR and King were up by the entrance. JR must have hated being within shouting distance of gorilla but it looked cool.
ReplyDeleteNeidhart was the charisma in the early days of the Hart Foundation. Even fucking Bret admits that.
ReplyDeleteShawn and Bret are the two best cases of people being pushed because of circumstances that had nothing to do with them.
ReplyDeleteThat was one because Bischoff was GM and they wanted to make a subtle change like it was in WCW. But I really liked that.
ReplyDeleteEvery day that screen exists, Dean's life is endangered.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to judge anyone or their lifestyle, or anyone who is halfway mentally incompetent.. but I'm just saying...... Safety wiring -- look into it.
ReplyDeleteAt least put the commentators near the back again.
ReplyDeleteIf i never see a wrestler carefully disassembling the broadcast table again it'll be too soon.
Ron Garvin?
ReplyDeleteAgreed, commentators should be up in a box.
ReplyDeleteI loved the crappy New-Generation era video screen, where it was just a stylized graphic at first, and then later it moved into badly-done entrance videos.
ReplyDeleteYou have to admit though....The Wrestlemania 24 set was pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteLED lights cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a night to run?
ReplyDeleteNo, but the transportation and setup costs a ton.
ReplyDeleteAfter I knew what I wanted, I started talking to people about it. Most of people didn't take me too seriously. I didn't even know if my 'dream job" existed anywhere. Still, I made the decision to look for it. Then I met a man who worked at home, part-time and had done so for years. He told me how he did it and shared with me how to get started.http://GoogleProjects/Get/Position/now.3452.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a mark for the giant sets, but with the same homogenous one for the shows and PPVs, they should scale back to just one screen for the shows and break out the unique giant screen for PPVS. I miss watching Sunday Night Heat before a PPV and getting a glimpse at a cool new set; now they all look like the show, which looked cheap when TNA did the same thing in the Impact Zone
ReplyDeleteAwful lol. I hated it when they threw the wall in with the block logo
ReplyDeleteThat was during a time when they were creative with presentation
ReplyDeleteEach light represents a creative team member
ReplyDeleteI would assume WWE has to pay some sort of electric bill to each arena
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, that even the biggest arena looks small, if the entrance set uses 1/4 of the arena and they are loosing seats too which would also bring more tickets.
ReplyDeleteHow do people not know the difference between lose and loose? Or losing and loosing?
ReplyDeleteWhat is so loose about the seats?
Pat Patterson violated them.
ReplyDeleteA scaled back set would look infinitely better in HDTV, anyways, simply by eliminating most of the macroblocking errors caused by the amount of activity on the current sets.
ReplyDeleteI remember one of the "Legends of Wrestling" where JR extols the benefits of "working from the monitor"...to properly call the match that the viewers are seeing.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER...it totally takes me out of the whatever is happening on RAW or one of the PPVs when I'm seeing an angle from the handheld camera that shows something amazing happening...and also JBL, Cole & King ignoring what's happening right in front of them, while animatedly yelling and staring down at their monitors.
Having the announcers right there but not having them benefit from their proximity to the action kind of defeats the point.
Might be better to have them further away--especially if they're slightly above the action, so their sightlines in looking at their monitors aren't so obvious.
Probably alone in this, but I truly miss the Nitro and some of the WCW sets. Lighting during intros works so much better when the wrestlers aren't competing with a gigantic TV screen.
ReplyDeleteEven the Thunder set (as awful as Thunder was) felt distinct and different with it being much darker. Smackdown might as well just be RAW-switched-to-blue.
Their themed PPV sets had a lot more personality too. Bash at the Beach and Halloween Havoc both come to mind.
This is one of the things I appreciate more about NXT. I'm not sure if it's intentional or just a byproduct of them budgeting to save money on their lesser show, but I like that it doesn't look or feel like the same old tired shit.
This guy gets it.
ReplyDelete12 or 13 semis every week from what I've heard. I'd actually be relieved if that's wrong and it's less.
ReplyDeleteThey were showing it on a YouTube show a few months back. It's crazy how much setup and transport costs them.
ReplyDeleteWould it kill them to play the theme music every week?
ReplyDeleteI don't normally watch Smackdown but I made a point to watch it last night.
They have an opening theme and video package. Wow what a concept!
The LED set is stupid because it takes away the ref's excuse that he didn't see any outside interference...especially when he is making a count while facing the screen.
ReplyDeletePlus, and this should be common sense, doesn't that giant clusterfuck LED thingie take away seats from the arenas that they go to?
ReplyDeleteThe screws.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again...
ReplyDeleteBRING BACK THE SMACKDOWN FIST!!!
*shakes walking stick at youngsters with their Lite Brite wall and their Nintendos and Cigarettes*
When you look back at the NWA/WCW in around 89-90-91 you'd see that on the tv shows like World Championship Wrestling, the Power Hour, the Main Event, etc. they'd just have a curtain for the wrestlers to come out through and a little interview area with the logo. And then on the ppv's and eventually the Clash's they'd use a stage with a ramp and a banner and other accoutrements. That helped distinguish between tv and the bigger shows and gave the PPV's and Clash's a special big event feel to make them feel more special. Now, however, that's all gone out the window.
ReplyDeleteNow they use the same basic setup for RAW, Smackdown and the ppv's with only small cosmetic differences. Thus it's nearly impossible to tell the shows apart. And as a result the ppv's feel less special as a result (no pun intended). This robs them of one of the easiest ways to make them stand out, which was already getting difficult when there's 12 of the damn things per year.
Of course this is all due to the change in the business where RAW is the big bread winner and everything else is secondary. Once that dichotomy changed in favour of RAW that was the end for any big innovations in the look of the show. TV viewers want consistency. It's the reason The Simpsons, Family Guy, NCIS, etc. are able to go on so long because they never mess with the basic look and formula of the show. We may all say we want change, but in the end the masses what things to stay the same. This is all compounded by the wwe going public. Once you get stakeholders above and beyond the company and the network you will have to fight a long battle in order to enact even the smallest of changes to the format.
My own preference is to see the look and feel shook up every few years. But given that RAW has had the same look since the very first 'RAW is WAR' rebranding of the show I'm not holding my breath.
Just look at the uproar when Family Guy killed Brian off to try and freshen things up. The masses don't want change. They want their tv to be comfort food. Never changing. Never evolving.
ReplyDeleteI just looked it up and I was wrong: it's FIFTEEN production trucks! Per the "Thank You" video WWE did around WrestleMania.
ReplyDeleteBecause I'm lost in translation. ;)
ReplyDeleteI liked it when WCW would create custom titantrons for each pay-per-view. Like SuperBrawl IX had the wrestlers posing in a black room, Starrcade 1997 had Nitro clips filtered in black and white with rain surrounding them to go with the Sting/Gothic theme. The worst might have been Starrcade 1998: It's literally just the wrestler's name written on a piece of paper set against a static background. Goldberg and Kevin Nash come out for their match and you see someone's handwritten "GOLDBERG" sign on the TVs.
ReplyDeleteA ton of pennies, maybe.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about the quality of the shows, but at least Halloween Havoc, The Great American Bash, Bash at the Beach, and Uncensored had different LOOKS. Now, even the PPVS are just reaaaaaallly long, really BORING episodes of RAW.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they don't do it near full sail. It's right near Disneyworld, right? You could see the hall of fame, catch an NXT taping maybe, or if they're not taping, tour the set. A nice cheap alternative for the Disney Week family who maybe want Wednesday to be a bit more low key.
ReplyDeleteI blame Earl Hebner.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered how (I believe most attendance numbers aren't kayfabed) WrestleMania X-8 set the Skydome attendance record over WM 6, when that elaborate entrance stage (which really wasn't necessary, it was a giant Erector set) took up the entire side of the arena, and WM 6 had no stage at all.
ReplyDeleteIf my memory is correct, they sold a lot of last minute standing-room only tickets for the sole purpose of beating the attendance record at the SkyDome.
ReplyDeleteI hated it, because it was too WCW-ish. Though I also hated WCW for much of it's existence.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I liked about WCW. They gave ever pay per view a different tone. And even if it was crap, at least they tried. Plus, I'm sure a giant inflatable pumpkin and some fog machines cost a lot less than the garish screens WWE uses.
ReplyDeleteLol, no one is buying those seats anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think that WrestleMania should be the only time they have giant sets like that.
ReplyDeleteI miss it just being a regular table with a black cloth over it. I don't know what the fuck this thing they have is supposed to look like now. It looks like something from Star Wars.
ReplyDelete