An Opinion of yours about Wrestling that 75%+ of the board wouldn't share

I agree. I argue that wrestling has always been for everyone, but to a much greater extent, has always been its most profitable when catering to children and families. It’s those same kids who’ll grow up and contribute to the business, either by getting involved or by creating new fans through their own children.

WWE, in particular, is structured as a variety show, so not every segment or match is meant to please every type of fan. It’s also why hardcore fans have it great these days, as there are so many more ways to access so many different types of wrestling than ever before.

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Yes, you’re correct, chap. Put it better than I did… It’s definitely for everyone, a variety show for the family, but if it isn’t predominantly for the ‘kids’ then they’ll have no future…

I hear a ton of folk my age (mid 30’s) complain that it needs to be more ‘hardcore’ that ‘PG has ruined wrestling’ or ‘Cena/Reigns suck’ but what they don’t realise is their opinion isn’t as important as the kids. And the kids will cheer Cena/Reigns all day. They forget that they were kids, when they got hooked, seeing the bright and colourful characters of the 80’s. If there’s no bright/colourful characters for the kids now, then there will be no audience for the generations to come…

the PG era is really ‘best for business’… no matter how much the older audience chant CM Punk!

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Michael Cole doesn’t get the respect he so richly earned. Nobody…and I mean nobody can do his job.

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Booker > Coachman!

Coachman is a bigger joke than anyone we’ve named

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While his yelling about what we just saw annoys me, I agree with this. Nobody could have done what he’s done for as long as he’s done it

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Edge was overrated as a performer. Never connected as a babyface and only ever got over because of the Matt Hardy/Lita stuff.

His MITB cash-in, while cool at the time, also paved the way for so many weak champions and has made so many first time championship wins mean nothing.

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I completely agree with that first paragraph. I hated his baby face run of 2002 -2004 as the world’s uncoolest man and he was floundering until the heel turn.

The Matt/Lita thing saved him and to be fair, he took the opportunity and ran with it. I’ll be honest, I took a dislike to Edge at that time as I went through a kinda similar break up around the same time and it hurt a bit watching someone benefit from that situation. Listening to the E&C podcast/show and seeing interviews with him now, he seems a cool guy and I’m glad all the issues have been put to rest.

I always preferred Christian to be honest. Better talker and could work both face/heel, in my opinion.

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Christian was ugly and skinny…he should’ve been a manager by all rights, but he was an overachiever and got more than he should’ve.

We’re on the same page, we want them to flesh out his character a little more.

What do you think of
IC Title feud 8 months.
Seth brags about being the supreme athlete on Raw, references the gauntlet match from a months ago. Finn disagrees, we get a series of matches to close Raw … both get a win; 1-1. At a PPV we get a 30 minute iron match ?
Ending: Seth has Balor in a submission and as the clock expires the match ends in a draw.

What are we achieving ?

  1. Give both some good mic time to show off their braggadocios personalities
  2. Allow them to do what they do well (which will get them over even more) - WRESTLE
  3. I reckon we could throw in a segment where one of them hits the other with a chair or is put through a table backstage (during a interview segment) to heighten the rivalry.

I enjoy the E & C Pod When Edge starts commenting about how to be a heel, etc, I always think what you wrote there. It’s pretty easy to get over as a heel when the audience knew what actually went on! After all that, I thought he did a pretty damn good job at pouring gasoline on the situation for the audience. Two other things I thought he was really good at were 1) he always did a nice little touch on his pins by nodding his head along for the 3 count. It just added a little flavor to it. 2) every wrestler has a ‘call for the finisher’ routine and I thought his ‘setting up the spear’ by acting like a pyscho maniac in the corner was incredibly entertaining.

Your heel point was spot on though!

(they did say on their last podcast (with Aleister Black) that they filmed quite a bit of Season 2 of their network show during WrestleMania week so I’m glad that’s going to be back)

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count me in on that! Save a chair for me!

I love the contrast he provides from 19 million (hyperbole) forearm exchanges on their cards.
Most of his matches his #1 goal is to get that damn turn buckle pad off. He moves like Usain Bolt to get that thing when he has the ref distracted. Always enjoy his ‘YTR’ (RVD point to the head thing, we need a name for that). One match I saw the opponent kept clocking him after the 2nd one so he never could get the whole chant in!

I got an idea for us: add Hunter to the Casket Match then have Rusev shove HHH and Taker into the casket!

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Rusev beating both 'Taker and HHH in a casket match? :grinning: There’s more chance of winning the lottery every week for a year!

Giggling at Yano stuff now. It’s just the way he shouts “Break!” and hides between the ropes. As you say, his comedy breaks things up a bit and it’s always fun to see how his opponents deal with him, especially in G1s. I loved his G1 matches with Omega and AJ Styles over the past few years…

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I like the idea of Balor and Rollins in the IC title picture. My issue is that both of them are babyface characters right now. WWE isn’t great at building a story around two babyface guys trying to be the best. That was what I found fishy about their feud with The Miz, he was a lone heel against two faces and it didn’t feel right.

I am down with a slow build, over months and but there needs to be more inclusion from heels. Maybe a Owens or Zayn program (though I see them being inserted into the tag team picture to legitimize the belts again)

Having Balor prove he can go the distance would do a lot for his character, using the gauntlet and the rumble in their respective promo’s would go a long way to showing their chops. If they can build to it, through a number 1 contender program with some heels that Balor would have to push through I would be behind it.

I am not a fan of the IICONICS, I find them extremely cringy and generic heels.

If it weren’t for their accents, they’d be unwatchable. Which is an oxymoron cause I think that accent adds to the cringyness.

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There’s some fun to be had with your idea.

Let have him run through Jordan,Elias and Corbin (giving them a few wins along the way, and valuable in ring experience with a legit pro), but in the end have Balor come out on top. In the feud ending matches, everytime he wins by something a little heelish, a roll up, feet on the ropes, a low blow behind the refs back (something to give him that edge - that win at all costs edge). Eventually he has enough and says he wants a #1 contenders shot, the rest is history.

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I really miss Jason Jordan

Interesting. I wouldn’t go that far.

Feels like WWE were holding, and holding and holding with him before he got injured.

Is his return something like… Kurt’s giving a backstage interview and JJ just blasts him out of nowhere with a chair ? JJ is bitter cause Kurt didnt come visit during his rehab etc etc. These attacks happen every 3-4 weeks (not back to back, make it random-ish). Builds upto just one big match at a PPV…?

Honestly I would just love Kurt to low key keep pushing his kid like a father/coach and Jordan starts acting like an entitled prick until Angle fully just goes Ric Flair 99 as WCW president and Jordan is David Flair…with actual charisma and athleticism.

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We don’t agree on much at all, but we agree BIG time on this. Jordan is PERFECT especially in the role he was in and this guy is going to be fucking MASSIVE in no time at all.

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5 time, 5 time opinion of mine on this thread (off to a slow start Cobra, that line didn’t work)

I think this would get to 75%+ against: I don’t buy into the concept of ‘believability’ in a sense that it needs to be ‘believable’ that one wrestler could beat another wrestler. An example would be ‘the fans’ would not think it believable that say a Sami Zayn could beat Brock Lesnar. This could also be known as the Hogan Squashing Potential Opponents Clause (HSPOC, pronounced hispock). He would go to a promoter with the ‘well that’s not believable if I lost to him’. Obviously these ‘fan opinions’ on these matchups would be based on size, or muscle, or in Brock’s case, success in MMA.

Uh, who cares who could actually whip who in a real fight when it comes to winning a pro wrestling match. No, I’m not expecting Heath Slater to go ‘toe to toe’ with Braun Strowman, but there’s a myriad of wrestling moves and different attacks and submission holds and speed and stamina aspects in which a smaller dude could defeat a larger one in a pro wrestling environment. I would go as far to say as besides Lesnar, fans might not have any idea on which wrestlers could actually whip the roster in a real fight. Perhaps Kyle O’Reilly would have a ridiculously high winning percentage in ‘real fighting’. Good for him.

I think most fans want a champion to ‘look’ like he could win real fights. I disagree that this is that important as 1) most fans don’t actually know who could beat who (not saying I do either), and 2) pro wrestling has so many more ‘weapons’ at a wrestler’s disposal to inflict damage so every man with two hands has a … never mind. :wink:

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