Random Wrasslin' thoughts.....

JamieHP

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Don't know what YouTube channel I saw it on but they talked about an off season but suggested something like the roster could be divided into four(A,B,C,D) and you give roster A time off and that leaves you with the other three to use and when A comes back you give B time off etc etc and the only time all four rosters are together is for Wresltemania season.

This!!

jaykhunter

This makes me sad as what's best for wrestlers (less tours, off season etc) is the opposite of what WWE are planning. They're creative more TV, and trying to get a fourth touring brand in the cruiserweights/UK wrestlers maybe. It's not the bumps that kill wrestlers, it's the travel. It's more manageable for stars who can afford tour buses (I remember CM Punk saying Kofi was on his private bus, and a great road wife, lol). The house show schedule sounds so demanding, it's a wonder more wrestlers aren't on drugs to get 'em through it

jaykhunter

Actually I think WWE will never do an off season because it will teach people that it's OK to not watch wrestling. I think WWE are terrified to have people tune out so every show they're plugging multiple shows (sd, next ppv, venue for future ppv, next other brand-ppv...)

colmufc

jaykhunter wrote: »

Actually I think WWE will never do an off season because it will teach people that it's OK to not watch wrestling. I think WWE are terrified to have people tune out so every show they're plugging multiple shows (sd, next ppv, venue for future ppv, next other brand-ppv...)

This is exactly why it will never happen , I think the best thing to do would be like the abcd idea but not so obvious, in fairness there are alot of guys you could take off tv for 2 weeks and it would be unnoticed, so twice a year give them 2 weeks off tv and no house shows or even for the big names no house shows and only appear in pre record segment on tv , no harm in a few back stage segments , better than all the close up fan shots were getting lately

Lithium93_

It's weird listening to Lana speak with her American accent..

CastorTroy

Yeah she's great at doing the American accent. You wouldn't think she was Russian

Itssoeasy

Talking of the WWE schedule being bad. Charlotte always posts her schedule online and this week it's from tonight until the 25th of February as it's a German tour from 22-25 of February. So thats tonight until raw on Monday and then Germany on Wednesday. I suppose with two rosters it's easier to do.

diusmr8a504cvk

Adam Cole is awesome and I personally think it's a matter of when and not if he'll join the WWE/NXT.

Chain Smoker

Taylor Gray Physician wrote: »

Adam Cole is awesome and I personally think it's a matter of when and not if he'll join the WWE/NXT.

Hasn't he repeatedly turned down offers? Between his size, age and level he's at atm, he's just been in no real rush. Better for him to head in closer to 30 and not getting trapped like guys who had promise such as Crews by the bottleneck there's there atm just below the tip top levels. There's about a decade's worth of the very best wrestlers from around the world like Nakamura, Joe, Devitt and Reigns, to me if you're young enough you'd be better making money outside of WWE for a bit until all those guys get stuck in their roles.

PTH2009

Did The Rock ever appear in Dublin ???

How come WWE didn't tour Dublin in the attitude era ???

chopperbyrne

We didn't have a suitable venue for the size of crowds they drew back then.

PTH2009

chopperbyrne wrote: »

We didn't have a suitable venue for the size of crowds they drew back then.

Thinking about it now Did they even do overseas house show tours then ??? Remember they did the pointless UK PPV twice a year where only the European title changed hands

leggo

WWE were terrible for international stuff until recently. I did a report for the site I wrote for like back in around 2004 where we got data from different countries outside of US/Canada that showed WWE weren't really providing stellar coverage despite their claims they were a worldwide company. Sure we had to wait until Friday/Saturday just to get the weekly shows until around 2005, and the UK is one of their biggest markets!

PTH2009

leggo wrote: »

WWE were terrible for international stuff until recently. I did a report for the site I wrote for like back in around 2004 where we got data from different countries outside of US/Canada that showed WWE weren't really providing stellar coverage despite their claims they were a worldwide company. Sure we had to wait until Friday/Saturday just to get the weekly shows until around 2005, and the UK is one of their biggest markets!

Ah yeah Raw Friday Nights and SD Saturday mornings/nights. Werent they changed a few years after Raw was moved to Thursday night and SD was Friday night ???

Raw only Live on Sky Sports around 2006/7 and SD recently

SureYWouldntYa

We got a fairly big house show at the RDS in 2005 when Cena was on Smackdown

Stone Cold was the guest ref in the main event match for the WWE title between Cena, Angle and JBL

Personally started an asshole chant at JBL when he started trashing the Irish flag or something to that effect, I was 10 too :pac:

martyos121

PTH2009 wrote: »

Ah yeah Raw Friday Nights and SD Saturday mornings/nights. Werent they changed a few years after Raw was moved to Thursday night and SD was Friday night ???

Raw only Live on Sky Sports around 2006/7 and SD recently

The funny thing about Smackdown was that before they moved to Thursday nights (well before their most recent move to live on a Tuesday) we actually saw the show before North Americans, and Australia saw it before us. Think it was because WWE advertised it as Friday Night Smackdown and since it was taped on Tuesdays, they could give it to every country on the same night, only separated by time difference.

Nerdkiller1991

I don't like how they call Bailey's tube men "Bailey Buddies" now. Two words away from the full Family Guy reference.

Lithium93_

It's Bayley, not Bailey

/Pedantic :pac:

DM_7

Only realised the similarity in Rock's Just Bring It shirt and Nike's Just Do It branding

SureYWouldntYa

Baron Corbin hits the End of Days on The Rock

Or does Baron Corbin get Rock Bottomed by The Rock? Be funny to see

oneilla

I can't tell you why WWE didn't tour Ireland during their hot period of 98-2002 but they did tour Europe (England, Ireland, Spain, Germany) extensively in the very late 80s and through the mid-90s. Bret Hart mentions in his book on how Vince McMahon discovered a "goldmine" in Europe when business was declining post-Hogan . They definitely visited The Point from 1991-1995.

During the late 90s/early 00s boom years it could've been an economic decision but IDK. THe brand split in 2002 made it easier for split tours.

Britain and by default Ireland was definitely a big market as they drew their largest attendance record for years in Wembley for SummerSlam 1992. Their deal with Sky, catalogue merchandising and Silvervision was a boon to them.

thehistoryofwwe.com/91.htm is a good source for dates, results and attendance where available. (Just change the 91 date to some other year to find what you're looking for.)

oneilla

PTH2009 wrote: »

Ah yeah Raw Friday Nights and SD Saturday mornings/nights. Werent they changed a few years after Raw was moved to Thursday night and SD was Friday night ???

Raw only Live on Sky Sports around 2006/7 and SD recently

The In Yoyr House Pay-Per-Views only aired live on sky Sports in April 1997 with IYH 14 Revenge of Taker. IYH 5 Season's Beatings and IYH 12 It's Time were shown in highlight form as Xmas specials presented by Dik Hendrix/Michael Hayes. Afaik WrestleMania 6 was the first PPV shown live on Sky Movies before Sports started.

I think some WWF programming aired on Eurosport in the late 80s early 90s prior to the Sky deal. POwerslam magazine started in 1991 as Superstars of Wrestling.

leggo

WWE died a death in the US after the Hogan era when the steroid scandal was at its peak, and Bret, Bulldog etc became huge draws in the UK and Canada just as WWE were looking to expand into different regions just to recoup their losses. It's a different scale but not 100% dissimilar to how TNA tried to expand to the UK, India etc when they were at their lowest ebb, eventually it becomes about making any money in any region however possible.

But, like yourself, I'm at a loss to explain why they'd scale back on that as business boomed again in the Attitude Era. My best guess would be that they're ultimately a US company first and foremost so wanted to focus all of their efforts on dominating there, as that's where the competition they needed to fight was (so, for example, taping Raw in the UK hours before it aired, as they do now, could be damaging as it then tells WCW exactly what they have to compete against). They also only floated the company on Wall Street around 1999 so you have to consider that maybe they didn't have the resources to be the global touring force they are now around then, despite their ratings success.

Riddle101

After that awful Emmalina segment last week, i'm starting to wonder if Emma will end up becoming the female Lance Storm. It would be funny considering how she was trained by him. But I don't know if WWE will get behind her.

I'm not sure what to think of Emma though. She's hot I suppose, and I like those photo shoots she's been doing. As a wrestler I think she's grand, and I have a soft spot for her. I want to see her succeed. But I remember hearing Vince Russo saying he doesn't think she has charisma. Now I know it's just Russo's opinion and it doesn't mean it's true. But the more I watch her, the more I start to see things that makes me think she'll most likely be an afterthought in the division. She kind've awkward when talking or showing personality. When she was teaming with Dana Brooke, Dana always came off to me as being the personality of the duo, while Emma was the wrestler. I don't know, I want to see where her return goes from here before I make my final judgement of her.

Omackeral

oneilla wrote: »

I think some WWF programming aired on Eurosport in the late 80s early 90s prior to the Sky deal.

I'm fairly sure that was Japanese wrestling. I distinctly remember boxing style turnbuckles in the ring i.e. the single long pad rather than the three separate ones. I also recall seeing Jushin Liger flying around.

CastorTroy

It's got to the point now where I have to check if there was a PPV last night or not.

Itssoeasy

CastorTroy wrote: »

It's got to the point now where I have to check if there was a PPV last night or not.

I was thinking the exact same this morning.

beakerjoe

Omackeral wrote: »

I'm fairly sure that was Japanese wrestling. I distinctly remember boxing style turnbuckles in the ring i.e. the single long pad rather than the three separate ones. I also recall seeing Jushin Liger flying around.

Liger, Road Warriors, a young Chris Benoit were all knocking around. I was convinced it was real as a wee lad.

Snakeweasel

I remember something on eurosport from a little later that freaked me out, I thought it was called bushido but when I look that up I see that it is a Pride event. The thing I saw was wrestling but it looked like the guys were really fighting not to be suplexed. I was in my late teens so would have known wrestling was "predetermined" and had seen Japanese wrestling so was aware of strong style (not the name, but the difference to WWE) , but this looked brutal, I just remember cringing a lot thinking someone was going to break their neck.

Nerdkiller1991

Eurosport, Eurosport...I remember when I would watch sumo wrestling on there.