I live in New Zealand so I am a few hours ahead of most of the world and it is closing in on 2016 with 45 minutes left to happy new year.
And I have work tomorrow (I volunteered stupid right?).
So it has been around 5 months since my return and overall I have really enjoyed most of what I have seen as I came in with very low expectations having read about crappy ratings, Roman failing as top dog (followed by his wellness violation) things like that.
I have also been watching the 1998/1999 AE as I missed it after 1997. And yeah HBK, Rock, Foley, Austin at WM 32 was kind of funny but it came off as wrong.
From what I can tell WWE has failed to develop new talent for the next "it guy". From what I can tell CM Punk and Daniel Bryan would have been them but things went wrong. This seems to be due to two main reasons.
1. Booking Cena like superman (his win % is almost 20% higher than The Rock/Austin) and.
2. To many old faces used.
In 1999 the WWF was wheeling out very few (if any) wrestlers from 1982 and the few that were were used as comedy (Fabulous Moolah).
I am sure the older (and popular) wrestlers are good for a short term boost to cash but they are not getting any younger and who is going to replace them. Even Cena is part time now.
The last few Wrestlemanias have in effect been headlined by around a dozen wrestlers basically Cena, Brock and AE leftovers.
And WM32 I thought was a disaster with the older talent as they effectively buried the younger talent. Hell just having them there was enough, they did not need to do that IMHO.
However I do admit I mark out when I see some of my old favourites (HBK, Undertaker, Goldberg) but I think there ios a better way to use them. And that is to enhance or work alongside the current roster even if they are to old to wrestle any more.
Contrast the following situations.
1. Charlotte vs Sasha RAW a month or so ago, Ric Flair raises Sasha's hand.
2. Rhyno and Heath in a tag team
3. Chris Jericho and Owens as best friends.
Vs
1. HHH crowning KO (and tainting his run right from the get go, weak champion etc).
2. Rock/Foley/HBK/Austin burying the others at WM 32. All those wrestlers are either gone from WWE or dead in the water.
3. Stephanie not putting over new talent (her dad did). In effect she is undermining her own workers/business. No wonder Smackdown is better and won the rating this week.
There was also the Goldbeg vs Brock ting but they are both older and are both part timers but see the reaction Goldberg gets cutting a promo when he returned and even I marked out watching Survivor series. Goldberg has never really been good at wrestling or cutting a promo but I thought he cut a good promo (not only you're next, you're last!!) but it was an old school Goldberg match- short.
Even Foley has been gutted and is a shell of his former self serving as Stephanie's bitch instead of the dude that took no crap. This is mostly a booking thing and one can only blame Vince, Steph or HHH as it is hard to know exactly who to blame.
Oh well 20 mins to go to the new year. 2016 in WWE land ended on a high note overall I think with recent PPV's and even RAW episodes being an improvement.
And I have work tomorrow (I volunteered stupid right?).
So it has been around 5 months since my return and overall I have really enjoyed most of what I have seen as I came in with very low expectations having read about crappy ratings, Roman failing as top dog (followed by his wellness violation) things like that.
I have also been watching the 1998/1999 AE as I missed it after 1997. And yeah HBK, Rock, Foley, Austin at WM 32 was kind of funny but it came off as wrong.
From what I can tell WWE has failed to develop new talent for the next "it guy". From what I can tell CM Punk and Daniel Bryan would have been them but things went wrong. This seems to be due to two main reasons.
1. Booking Cena like superman (his win % is almost 20% higher than The Rock/Austin) and.
2. To many old faces used.
In 1999 the WWF was wheeling out very few (if any) wrestlers from 1982 and the few that were were used as comedy (Fabulous Moolah).
I am sure the older (and popular) wrestlers are good for a short term boost to cash but they are not getting any younger and who is going to replace them. Even Cena is part time now.
The last few Wrestlemanias have in effect been headlined by around a dozen wrestlers basically Cena, Brock and AE leftovers.
And WM32 I thought was a disaster with the older talent as they effectively buried the younger talent. Hell just having them there was enough, they did not need to do that IMHO.
However I do admit I mark out when I see some of my old favourites (HBK, Undertaker, Goldberg) but I think there ios a better way to use them. And that is to enhance or work alongside the current roster even if they are to old to wrestle any more.
Contrast the following situations.
1. Charlotte vs Sasha RAW a month or so ago, Ric Flair raises Sasha's hand.
2. Rhyno and Heath in a tag team
3. Chris Jericho and Owens as best friends.
Vs
1. HHH crowning KO (and tainting his run right from the get go, weak champion etc).
2. Rock/Foley/HBK/Austin burying the others at WM 32. All those wrestlers are either gone from WWE or dead in the water.
3. Stephanie not putting over new talent (her dad did). In effect she is undermining her own workers/business. No wonder Smackdown is better and won the rating this week.
There was also the Goldbeg vs Brock ting but they are both older and are both part timers but see the reaction Goldberg gets cutting a promo when he returned and even I marked out watching Survivor series. Goldberg has never really been good at wrestling or cutting a promo but I thought he cut a good promo (not only you're next, you're last!!) but it was an old school Goldberg match- short.
Even Foley has been gutted and is a shell of his former self serving as Stephanie's bitch instead of the dude that took no crap. This is mostly a booking thing and one can only blame Vince, Steph or HHH as it is hard to know exactly who to blame.
Oh well 20 mins to go to the new year. 2016 in WWE land ended on a high note overall I think with recent PPV's and even RAW episodes being an improvement.
