Arena Pro Wrestling Discussion

I want Eddy, Benoit and Jericho to all be maineventers. The rest is just details.


Damon, your rosters and the positioning of the wrestlers is essentially no different than the current status quo for both shows, especially where Raw is concerned. With the exception of RVD everyone on your list are already Raw main-eventers or as close as they're going to get, excluding Jericho, who we all know floats around between the upper and mid-cards.

As far as SD goes, I think the main eventers should be Angle, Benoit, Eddy, Brock, and when they're ready at some point down the road, Matt Hardy, John Cena, and possibly even Sean O'Haire, although the jury's still out on him at this point.

Unfortunately alot of this is little more tha wishful thinking since old timers like Hogan and Piper get regular airtime while young up and comers are pushed further into the background.

 

Yes, Jericho is the best thing on Raw anymore, with only RVD, Chris Harvard, and Christian being anywhere near as interesting.

 

Here's my ideal Main Event/Upper-Mid organization for both shows(with no trades)

Raw
Main Event
Rob Van Dam (face)
Booker T (face)
Goldberg (face, Like it or not, he's here and gets a reaction.)
Trips (heel, like you said, if he cuts the backstage stuff)
Jericho (heel)

Upper Midcard
Hurricane (face)
Stiener (face, mainly to put over younger guys)
Goldust (face)
Test (face)
Lance Storm (heel)
Chris Nowinski (heel)
Christian (heel)
Randy Orton (heel, once he gets back)

Managers who sometimes wrestle in main event tag matches
HBK (face)
Ric Flair (heel)

Smackdown
Main Event
Brock Lesnar (face)
Chris Benoit (face)
Eddie Guerrero (face)
Edge (heel, once he gets back)
Kurt Angle (heel)
John Cena (heel)

Upper Midcarders
Brian Kendrick (face)
Rey Mysterio (face)
Chavo Guerrero (face)
Rhyno (face)
Charlie Hass (heel)
Shelton Benjamin (heel)
Matt Hardy (heel)
Kanyon (heel)

 

Yes, Jericho is the best thing on Raw anymore, with only RVD, Chris Harvard, and Christian being anywhere near as interesting.

You got that right.

 

Imagine how bad Raw would be if both Jericho and Christian were never moved ?



*shudders*

 

And when Jerico is interesting, it's intreiging.

 

Damon, your rosters and the positioning of the wrestlers is essentially no different than the current status quo for both shows, especially where Raw is concerned.

Right-o, and the problem with that is...?

Maybe that indicates that the problems with the WWE are less about the positions of the current talent and more to do with the booking and storylines.

And, for example, Booker T is not treated like a main eventer on Raw. Getting a PPV title shot every 6 months or so doesn't help him get out of the upper card. I'd want him firmly in the title picture most of the time, as a good worker with schtick that the crowd loves.

I'm also not daft enough to relegate HHH to jobbing boy. The guy has a definite role to play, he's just taking advantage of it way too much at the moment.

 

You'd think McMahon would learn, but apparently not:

Pierre Carl Ouelette told In The Ring radio that the Road Warriors are headed back to WWE soon. He claimed that the Road Warriors told them they would be going back to WWE shortly after their May 10th indy match in Montreal.

All signs do indicate that WWE is interested in the Road Warriors. Vince McMahon has wanted to bring them in to work a dark match for awhile now, but it is unknown if they are officially heading back to WWE as Ouelette claims.

They were awful the last time they were in the WWF. Why would McMahon think they'd draw now, when they're older and even fewer fans remember them?

Amazing.

 

Aaahh. So the note from WWE that said "Warrior" and "nostalgia" wasn't the Ultimate Warrior. It was for the Road Warriors. hmm

 

The Road Warriors?!
It's like '96 WWF all over again. Is Jake The Snake gonna be signed next?

 

"OOOOHHHH WHAT A RUSH!!........*sigh*"

Please Vince, try and realize that the WWE circa mid nineties is NOT what we want to see played out again. The Road Warriors, whether they be the Legion of Doom or any other incarnation, are past their prime. I also hope we don't get that stupid ventriloquist dummy again. But, if Vince thinks it will get ratings, then...

Sad thing happening with Elizabeth. I remember seeing a house show in 1986 that had Macho Man w/Elizabeth and Junkyard Dog. While I was only nine, she was even more stunning and beautiful in person than I could have ever imagined. Were she and Randy Savage ever a true item, or was that all storyline? Either way, she was the original diva, and there's no denying it.

 

Savage and Liz definitely were a real-life item. You should try looking up some of the backstage stuff between him and Hogan because of it... Especially WMIX.

 

Ohhhhhhhhh what a rush!

Ha, I can only imagine how bad they must look. Remember the last time they were in the wwf and they did at stupid "Hawk is a addict" angle where Droz was his supplier. And then in one of the most famous raw moments Hawk fell, or maybe jumped, off of the titantron.

Well if they do end up on tv I hope they go to raw simply becuase Smackdown has more of the nostalgia guys.

BTW, there was a ninteresting article on Kurt Angle having a crazy stalker who got arrested. She claimed she was pregnant with his baby. Don't know if this is new or not but still interesting.

 

Any links to a site where I can find some behind the scenes stories about Randy, Liz, and wrestling in general?

 

Savage and Liz were married for years, well before their SummerSlam wedding, and for the entire time they were together in the WWF. They were divorced about a year or two after the SummerSlam wedding.

Amazing.

 

Savage used to be utterly paranoid about the other guys, thinking that they'd steal her away from him. He did stuff like lock her into the dressing room or cupboards during shows sometimes.

And Hogan wrestles with a nice black eye during WMIX, as Savage bopped him one because he thought Hogan was hitting on Elizabeth.

I'm sure some others can help fill out my sketchy knowledge about this.

 

This is off topic, but I have been doing a lot of reading on the 'net about the history of wrestling. What really caught my eye was the statement that Vince made during the '97 problems with Bret Hart. In that statement Vince said that the fans wanted to have stars that showed and worked in a "grey" world where heroes and villains were not so clear cut. He said that fans want to have the extra racism, sex, swearing, and other foul acts in the product rather than a "good vs evil" story line. Vince says he knows best.

I think that Vince still thinks this way and that it is because of this reasoning that he so badly screwed up the WCW and NWO Invasion angles. It seems like he begins what has potential to be a good story with good vs evil, and then he switches the heels and baby faces around quicker than you can start to cheer on your new hero. So what I am wondering is whether or not any of you agree with Vince? Do you think people now days don't want a "good vs evil" story line in wrestling? I personally think that they do want good and bad guys. That's why WWE is doing so poorly lately.

Let's look at it this way, what are the most popular movies that come out? X-men, LOTR, Star Wars, Matrix, and etc are. These movies all have the "good vs evil" plot line. So where does Vince get the idea that we don't want that? IMO Vince is horrible at the entertainment industry and I really wish that someone more in tune with society were in charge. Some of you may knock it, but you have to admit that it was during the mid '90s and the NWO vs WCW angle that wrestling really hit its peak. Now it is just dying a slow death. The last Raw I watched, and I used to be an avid wrestling fan, was when Goldberg came back. That Raw sucked so bad that I have absolutely no desire to ever watch it again. The only thing that could even remotely catch my interest would be the return of Sting, but I hesitate because I know that the WWE will screw that up royally too.

I weep over the dying soul that is called "Professional Wrestling".

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Hogan's last Wrestlemania until 18 part 8 in 1993? If I recall correctly, that was when Hogan had a black eye, and, according to him in his book anyway, it was due to a jet ski accident. Hogan left WWF in June of 1993 at the first ever King of the Ring after dropping the belt to Yokozuna. It was due to the steroid scandals that he was forced out, only to turn up in WCW in the summer 0f '94.

 

I thought he got that black eye from Savage?

 

Wrestlemania 9 was in 1993 (this year was 19). It was Live from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas - with Good Ol' JR calling his first WWF PPV in a toga.

This was the one where Hogan had the big black eye.

I wouldn't trust anything in Hogan's book as being true.

 

That's the one where Bret dropped the title to Yoko, and it was then hot-shotted to Hogan 30 seconds later becoming the shortest title reign in history. Hogan refused to drop the title back to Bret and was later released.

 

Road Warriors do not deserve to comeback to WWE especially after the Drunk Hawk incident.
Why hasn't WWE released a Ric Flair DVD? they have a hogan, HHH, Rock, Austin, but no nature boy? is that fair to flair? one of the best ever.
Speaking of one of the best ever, WWE should release a veterans DVD with stories about Harley Race, Jack Brisco, Jake the Snake (who will never come back to WWE as he is well past his prime) Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivera (sp.) Ricky the Dragon Steamboat etc.

Speaking of Flair and the Dragon, their iron man matches they had 3, 1 of those is one of the best matches you would ever see, i have it on tape, and once i get a better vid card, i will be transfering from video tape to my HD, i will have 58 video's to transfer accross, just so i can keep the matches for a long long time. Once done, i'll let you know when its uploaded to my ftp site, and you can download at your leisure.

 

Road Warriors???

Somebody please tell me that's a bad, bad joke.

 

Interesting points Vezner about "Good vs. Evil" in professional wrestling. I liked how you mentioned the popular movies that use this theme, and how Vince hasn't picked up on how much people like those stories.

I'd love it if they returned to that style of storylines. Good guy hates bad guy and they feud for three months. Give the workers enough time to either get the crowd behind them or against them. One of the biggest problems in WWE is that no one seems willing to be hated. When Rock went heel he was still funny and entertaining, HHH is still seen as the cool "cerebral assassin" by some, and even Sean O'Haire who is supposed to be "evil" hasn't done anything particularly evil.

 

Too bad long term feuds seem to be a thing of the past for mid-carders.

Nowadays the fans are lucky if a good, interesting feud lasts for two PPVs.