WWE- Mr. McMahon Dead?

[grendel]

Maybe I'm from a different era but I remember going down the road to my friend's house to watch the WWF every Friday night. This was long before the WCW, WWE, Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, and all the rest of it.

It was the time of Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ultimate Warrior, Ravishing Rick Rude, Jake The Snake et al. You'd watch one of the stars batter the **** out of some piece of **** called Randy Johnson every week and look forward to the main events like Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series.

Those were good times - Andre v Hogan, Hogan v Warrior. It's rubbish nowadays - no characters or rivalries, over-saturation, and too much bull**** storylines like the one here. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic but give me the late eighties / early nineties any day over this rubbish.

[Dhav]

Yeah, I liked Kurt Angle too...

"I am an Olympic Gold medalist....."

Kurt was brilliant. He had such a smug, self-serving attitude, it was hilarious.

[kurtangle01]

Knowing WWE they'll probably wheel out a Bin Laden look alike as they guy who blew up the limo and have an Al Quieda / Taliban style story line...

[spud_gun]

Knowing WWE they'll probably wheel out a Bin Laden look alike as they guy who blew up the limo and have an Al Quieda / Taliban style story line...

I think they've already done that

[DeeGame]

Yeah, I liked Kurt Angle too...

"I am an Olympic Gold medalist....."

you can see him wrestle for TNA now

[DeeGame]

I also never liked WWF because I like "less talking, more fighting". I once watch it and The Rock had more than 30 minutes long promo. Thought I was going to die in front of TV ...

It might have been less fighting back then but there is nobody and most likely nobody ever gonna have better microphone skills than The Rock. He had the fans eating out the palm of his hand no matter if he was a babyface or heel.

[cobain]

Maybe I'm from a different era but I remember going down the road to my friend's house to watch the WWF every Friday night. This was long before the WCW, WWE, Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, and all the rest of it.

It was the time of Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ultimate Warrior, Ravishing Rick Rude, Jake The Snake et al. You'd watch one of the stars batter the **** out of some piece of **** called Randy Johnson every week and look forward to the main events like Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series.

Those were good times - Andre v Hogan, Hogan v Warrior. It's rubbish nowadays - no characters or rivalries, over-saturation, and too much bull**** storylines like the one here. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic but give me the late eighties / early nineties any day over this rubbish.

Those were the days. I was too young back then, but I've watched some videos from that era on youtube and it was awesome. You just don't see that anymore. Today, it's all about talking and mic skills, which is bull**** if you ask me. And there's no tradition whatsoever! I mean ... John Cena is the WWE champion, Edge is the World champion ... WTF?!

Also what I liked at WCW that WWF (WWE) never had was the Cruiserweights! Luchadors from Mexico. Those were probably the most entertaining matches after main events. The likes of Rey Mysterio jr., Juventud Guererra, Psychosis ... They all had awesome matches with such a pace that if something went wrong, someone was probably gonna die.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se9zC5jjBFc

[Bob]

Wrestling is BAWS, always was always will be.

[FatTony]

Although no body was found so could just be a storyline.

I think he's alright!

[cobain]

It's all a kayfabe

[anfieldpurch]

wrestling is fake

WTF r we goin on about now? storylines? Its not a ****ing soap opera

[Alex]

wrestling is fake

WTF r we goin on about now? storylines? Its not a ****ing soap opera

Did you just say wrestling is fake?!?!

Why do you question the storylines part. They have writers that write a script for a show, wrestlers that are feuding with each other are ina storyline. Whats difficult about that.

I think everyone knows its fake mate.

[cobain]

wrestling is fake

WTF r we goin on about now? storylines? Its not a ****ing soap opera

Professional wrestling is all about kayfabe!

Though it's obvious that those punches are fake (they look real, but they aren't that powerful), the wrestlers are all great atheletes.

Sometimes wrestling is more real than you know (with all the injuries, deaths etc.) ... example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lXfs6JuVq8

All in all, if a storyline is good, it's fun and entertaining to watch. That's what sports entertainment is all about. And like I've said, WWE don't have good storylines anymore and are boring as fcuk.

Breaking kayfabe

The most popular example is the Montreal Screwjob (also called the Montreal Incident) in which Bret Hart (WWF Champion at the time) was going to wrestle Shawn Michaels for the championship. The agreed finish was to have Hart walk away with the title that night and come on Raw the next night to give up the championship. Hart had already signed a deal with WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and was rumored to leave Survivor Series 1997 and go directly to Nitro. Vince McMahon, fearing that his championship would appear on his rival's TV show, felt that he needed to change the agreed finish without telling Hart. Vince went out and told the ring crew to ring the bell and say Michaels won the championship. Hart, very upset, spat on Vince (later punching him in the dressing room) and wreaked havoc on equipment around the ring. It was long thought that Michaels had nothing to do with the change, but it was later found out he was in on it as well. The incident was recreated as a storyline to "screw" Mankind. The same finish was recreated on the March 18, 2006 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, where McMahon screwed Shawn Michaels in a match with his son Shane in order to build up the feud between the two leading up to their match at WrestleMania 22.

In 1996, the MSG Incident occurred, in which real-life friends Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Diesel (Kevin Nash), and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) broke kayfabe by embracing in the ring at the end of a match between Michaels and Nash. Nash and Hall were on their way to rival promotion WCW, and the incident was a farewell from Michaels and Triple H. As punishment for breaking kayfabe, Triple H was relegated to working lower card matches and was booked to lose to Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the King of the Ring 1996 tournament, having previously been booked to win it.

Real life issues → storyline

Sometimes a real life issue that a wrestler is involved in outside of kayfabe will be used as a storyline.

The end of The Mega Powers, the alliance between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, was inspired by real-life tension between the two men over Randy's valet (and real-life wife) Miss Elizabeth.

In October 1990, WWF president Jack Tunney placed Ravishing Rick Rude on "indefinite suspension" following crude remarks Rude made about the Big Boss Man's mother. The real life reason for this was because Rude's contract with the WWF was about to expire and they couldn't come to terms on a new contract. Rude eventually signed with World Championship Wrestling in late 1991.

In the build up to Hulk Hogan's match with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX, real life tension between the two men following McMahon's steroid trial was added to the storyline to generate interest in their match.

Shoot comments were a popular tactic of Vince Russo, who would often blur the line between kayfabe and reality. WCW, in its declining years of the Monday Night Wars (a term used to describe the time when the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling were in direct competition), would use real life incidents the wrestlers had as material for storylines, even though they could be seen as tasteless at times. A prime example of this is when Sid Vicious suffered a severe leg break in a match against Scott Steiner from a botched 2nd turnbuckle kick. In subsequent weeks, Steiner claimed responsibility for the injury and went around "breaking" the legs of backstage crew members saying, "Say hi to Sid for me!"

In 2005, Matt Hardy and Edge feuded after Hardy's real life girlfriend Lita cheated on him with Edge. Though Edge and Lita were not an item on-screen, fans who knew about the real-life events reacted by booing both at WWE events. The two were eventually paired up on-screen and references were made to Hardy. Hardy was eventually rehired and returned to feud with Edge.[1]

Ric Flair and Mick Foley's real life issues were also built into a storyline, which used the real criticisms of each man against the other in their respective books as fuel for the storyline.

King Booker and Batista had a backstage argument which changed to a brawl during a SummerSlam commercial which involved various WWE Superstars to break the fight. Later that year, the two embraced a remarkable feud over the World Heavyweight Championship by the end of the year, despite the differences they share.