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- Nov 12, 2013
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Hey.
I'm back, my last two posts that I put effort in to were both either ignored or weren't received very well. That was a tad demoralizing, have I lost my touch? When I first entered this very black and blue forum, my very first post was about a polarizing figure named John Cena. The response was fantastic, I felt great reading all of your replies! But these days, my desire to entertain with my wrestling related words has diminished, thus, my efforts have been weaker. I'm not guaranteeing anything this time around, this could be even weaker than the last two, but hey, it never hurts to try. Now, lets get to the... ROOT of this topic.
It's 2014 and people are sitting on their hands, chanting for commentators, pissing when they have to and talk about the past whilst the present is being displayed in front of them. The once powerful iron grip has now rusted, WWE has lost its audience. Shall we find out why?
Back in 2002, THE major example of WWE fans rejecting a wrestler that they shouldn't have, was The Rock. Everyone has seen the match, Rock and Hogan put on an entertaining and iconic match, but the wonderful fans in Toronto decided that their hero was going to be the heel of the match. The Skydome turned on The Rock and Hollywood Hulk Hogan became the hero, this wasn't something that was too common in WWE... was it? In 1991, The Undertaker pinned Hulk Hogan to win the WWF title... and he was cheered! In 1992, Sid Justice eliminated Hulk Hogan from the Rumble and was cheered! In 1996, Sid (popular guy) beat Shawn Michaels for the WWF title and was also cheered! There are smaller examples of this as well, but these are the major ones that I wanted to point out. What these moments have in common is that WWE lost control, they were unable to make the audience do what they wanted because the fans were simply fed up of that certain over the top babyface.
The reason I brought up Rock vs Hogan as THE major example is because Rocky was the first in a chain of events that leads us to today. Summerslam 2002, Brock Lesnar was literally only 4 months in to his TV career and he was cheered for defeating The Rock for the WWE title. Much like Undertaker and Sid were cheered for when they defeated Hogan, the only difference is Hogan went on to turn heel and redeem his fan base eventually. In 2003, The Rock appeared on screen to accept an award during the 10th Anniversary of RAW and once again, he was booed! WWE was essentially forced to turn The Rock heel (which was so awesome) and shockingly enough, he did end up winning the fans back. There was one problem, it was at the cost of Goldberg's tenure in WWE. Goldberg was over in most places but he got his fair share of lukewarm receptions over his year with WWE. At Wrestlemania 20, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar were both on their way out, the crowd in New York was well aware, so they ate them alive. A white rapper also received the second biggest pop of the night in the opening match of that show. The biggest pop of the night went to Shawn Michaels after he won the World Heavyweight title from HHH. Summerslam 2004, Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight title from Shawn Michaels... he was cheered.
From Summerslam 2004 until Wrestlemania 21, we had two heel champions on top, so no extreme crowd turns. Wrestlemania 21 happens, the WWE has officially undergone a make over and two younger stars win both top titles. Uh oh. Summerslam 2005 was the official birth of consistent split crowds. John Cena has been both booed and cheered at almost every single event he's wrestled at since, he officially pissed off wrestling fans. So what have we learned? Hulk Hogan was the noteworthy first, The Rock was the most recognized and Cena finally made WWE acknowledge it. With the combined efforts of the internet making the crowds smarter and the WWE insulting their older fans, WWE has lost their ability to dictate. They tried shoving Orton vs Cena as the next great feud, they're still trying 7 years later. Since they weren't able to get those two over to the point that they would have liked, when the supporting cast (Taker, HHH, Edge, Michaels, Jericho) that was over, started to move on from the top of the card or move on completely, they were fucked. The emergence of CM Punk, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio was nice, but all three of those guys were derailed by poor writing.
Poor writing is a result of WWE refusing to believe that the fans will reject their genius ideas. Before 2009, the only guy that was consistently not received as they wanted was John Cena. After 2009, the fans started to care less and less because they were being unsatisfied and their voices were being completely ignored. I'm not saying everything has been awful, we've been treated to a fair share of excellent matches and even a few great feuds, but lets face it, the show is boring and insulting. These past 5 or so years has been the era of boring crowds, which is why when a crowd is rowdy, they win a Slammy for not being boring.
We're now in 2014 and WWE is STILL refusing to give in, they are trying to replace that iron grip with titanium because IM VINCE MCMAHON DAMMIT! They are in such denial that we were treated to three John Cena vs Randy Orton matches over the span of three months... no one gave a shit. In fact, the Royal Rumble 2014 was unfortunate for those two men and WWE was once again punched in the face with reality, however this time the crowd took it to new heights by not caring for almost all of it. After it all, after all of the PG comedy segments, the horrible characters and repeated matches, the fans are only asking for one thing. Everyone is smart enough to know by now that booing part timers and booing the top guys isn't going to work, so they've... no we've decided to get behind one guy. Daniel Bryan. CM Punk quit and anything left of the era of over is winding down. Daniel Bryan is the last shot we have, WWE is currently in possession of a very talented under card. This crop is quite possibly the best we've ever seen, the only way they're all going to get over is if Daniel Bryan is given the ball as the top guy. If he is THE guy, the popularity will fizzle down to everyone else by interaction with various heels. We could potentially have a boom period on our hands, it all really depends on whether or not WWE does what is best for their future or what "best for business".
There is no controlling the fans anymore, we know what we want and WWE does as well. It's 2014, people don't want to be sitting on their hands, they don't want to have to cheer for Michael Cole, they want to wait until the divas segment only to go to the bathroom and most of all, WE all want to be talking about what's happening now.
Cheers,
Kooldip.
Also, I've been told that posts like these don't belong in this section. I don't see why though, it's a topic about WWE that can be discussed. If I'm wrong however, then let me know!
I'm back, my last two posts that I put effort in to were both either ignored or weren't received very well. That was a tad demoralizing, have I lost my touch? When I first entered this very black and blue forum, my very first post was about a polarizing figure named John Cena. The response was fantastic, I felt great reading all of your replies! But these days, my desire to entertain with my wrestling related words has diminished, thus, my efforts have been weaker. I'm not guaranteeing anything this time around, this could be even weaker than the last two, but hey, it never hurts to try. Now, lets get to the... ROOT of this topic.
It's 2014 and people are sitting on their hands, chanting for commentators, pissing when they have to and talk about the past whilst the present is being displayed in front of them. The once powerful iron grip has now rusted, WWE has lost its audience. Shall we find out why?
Back in 2002, THE major example of WWE fans rejecting a wrestler that they shouldn't have, was The Rock. Everyone has seen the match, Rock and Hogan put on an entertaining and iconic match, but the wonderful fans in Toronto decided that their hero was going to be the heel of the match. The Skydome turned on The Rock and Hollywood Hulk Hogan became the hero, this wasn't something that was too common in WWE... was it? In 1991, The Undertaker pinned Hulk Hogan to win the WWF title... and he was cheered! In 1992, Sid Justice eliminated Hulk Hogan from the Rumble and was cheered! In 1996, Sid (popular guy) beat Shawn Michaels for the WWF title and was also cheered! There are smaller examples of this as well, but these are the major ones that I wanted to point out. What these moments have in common is that WWE lost control, they were unable to make the audience do what they wanted because the fans were simply fed up of that certain over the top babyface.
The reason I brought up Rock vs Hogan as THE major example is because Rocky was the first in a chain of events that leads us to today. Summerslam 2002, Brock Lesnar was literally only 4 months in to his TV career and he was cheered for defeating The Rock for the WWE title. Much like Undertaker and Sid were cheered for when they defeated Hogan, the only difference is Hogan went on to turn heel and redeem his fan base eventually. In 2003, The Rock appeared on screen to accept an award during the 10th Anniversary of RAW and once again, he was booed! WWE was essentially forced to turn The Rock heel (which was so awesome) and shockingly enough, he did end up winning the fans back. There was one problem, it was at the cost of Goldberg's tenure in WWE. Goldberg was over in most places but he got his fair share of lukewarm receptions over his year with WWE. At Wrestlemania 20, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar were both on their way out, the crowd in New York was well aware, so they ate them alive. A white rapper also received the second biggest pop of the night in the opening match of that show. The biggest pop of the night went to Shawn Michaels after he won the World Heavyweight title from HHH. Summerslam 2004, Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight title from Shawn Michaels... he was cheered.
From Summerslam 2004 until Wrestlemania 21, we had two heel champions on top, so no extreme crowd turns. Wrestlemania 21 happens, the WWE has officially undergone a make over and two younger stars win both top titles. Uh oh. Summerslam 2005 was the official birth of consistent split crowds. John Cena has been both booed and cheered at almost every single event he's wrestled at since, he officially pissed off wrestling fans. So what have we learned? Hulk Hogan was the noteworthy first, The Rock was the most recognized and Cena finally made WWE acknowledge it. With the combined efforts of the internet making the crowds smarter and the WWE insulting their older fans, WWE has lost their ability to dictate. They tried shoving Orton vs Cena as the next great feud, they're still trying 7 years later. Since they weren't able to get those two over to the point that they would have liked, when the supporting cast (Taker, HHH, Edge, Michaels, Jericho) that was over, started to move on from the top of the card or move on completely, they were fucked. The emergence of CM Punk, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio was nice, but all three of those guys were derailed by poor writing.
Poor writing is a result of WWE refusing to believe that the fans will reject their genius ideas. Before 2009, the only guy that was consistently not received as they wanted was John Cena. After 2009, the fans started to care less and less because they were being unsatisfied and their voices were being completely ignored. I'm not saying everything has been awful, we've been treated to a fair share of excellent matches and even a few great feuds, but lets face it, the show is boring and insulting. These past 5 or so years has been the era of boring crowds, which is why when a crowd is rowdy, they win a Slammy for not being boring.
We're now in 2014 and WWE is STILL refusing to give in, they are trying to replace that iron grip with titanium because IM VINCE MCMAHON DAMMIT! They are in such denial that we were treated to three John Cena vs Randy Orton matches over the span of three months... no one gave a shit. In fact, the Royal Rumble 2014 was unfortunate for those two men and WWE was once again punched in the face with reality, however this time the crowd took it to new heights by not caring for almost all of it. After it all, after all of the PG comedy segments, the horrible characters and repeated matches, the fans are only asking for one thing. Everyone is smart enough to know by now that booing part timers and booing the top guys isn't going to work, so they've... no we've decided to get behind one guy. Daniel Bryan. CM Punk quit and anything left of the era of over is winding down. Daniel Bryan is the last shot we have, WWE is currently in possession of a very talented under card. This crop is quite possibly the best we've ever seen, the only way they're all going to get over is if Daniel Bryan is given the ball as the top guy. If he is THE guy, the popularity will fizzle down to everyone else by interaction with various heels. We could potentially have a boom period on our hands, it all really depends on whether or not WWE does what is best for their future or what "best for business".
There is no controlling the fans anymore, we know what we want and WWE does as well. It's 2014, people don't want to be sitting on their hands, they don't want to have to cheer for Michael Cole, they want to wait until the divas segment only to go to the bathroom and most of all, WE all want to be talking about what's happening now.
Cheers,
Kooldip.
Also, I've been told that posts like these don't belong in this section. I don't see why though, it's a topic about WWE that can be discussed. If I'm wrong however, then let me know!
