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Tbh all the wrestlers from the 80's sucked in ring, but they had great personas.
This right here is why WWF>WWE
- Thread starter smokehouse
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Tbh all the wrestlers from the 80's sucked in ring, but they had great personas.
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Sure, but you need more than just a good persona. The WWF conditioned fans to accept shit by trotting out steroid-addled, 1 dimensional wrestlers who couldn't wrestle their way out of a paper bag. When you look for the best matches the WWF had, it's easy to skip through most of the late 1980s. At the end of the day with pro wrestling, it's about what happens inside the ring.
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Tanooki
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I can't watch the WWE stuff, it's gotten so stupid. Well in an annoyingly unfun manufactured stupid way. The old stuff had more character, even when they were yelling and going crazy, it was just crazy enough but still I guess tame? You didn't have all the hardcore risque bullshit, everyone going out like a tattoo board of bad life decisions, all the other loud fluff bullshit going on and other random garbage. I can't really put it well to words as I just can't stand much of the new stuff at all, it has no character or feeling to it at all, definitely lacks a good personality to it too and the classic cheese. It's almost like the modern gen stuff cares more about looking fashionably presentable and hot, a model for a picture, than entertaining in the old ways of the WWF.
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Nah, it's entertainment, man. Who cares if they can't wrestle for shit, as long as people are entertained.
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E C W
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The WWF in the final few years before the name change -- end of the 1990s -- is better than the WWE is today. The company is public now and they've tamed stuff way down to be acceptable to a much younger audience and so as not to be the least bit offensive to even the most sensitive soccer mom.
But if you mean the WWF from the 1980s, fuck that shit. Other than a few key guys cutting hilarious promos, the '80s sucked.
But if you mean the WWF from the 1980s, fuck that shit. Other than a few key guys cutting hilarious promos, the '80s sucked.
JohnnyFever
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I watched Summer Slam the other night, and it pissed me off to no end. Everything is so scripted. The finishing moves are so fake they don't even try to make the look real. "Grab my arm." "No, grab my other arm." "No, grab that arm with your other arm." Ridiculous. Also, these guys look like they're more ready to model their jockeys than wrestle. None of them look particularly tough or mean or rugged.
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This is the point. Wrestling is sports entertainment...like the Harlem Globetrotters or something. The WWF of the 80's got this, and entertained. The over the top personalities were simply entertaining. The good guys, the heels...it was all fun to watch. Today's WWE is all telephone tough guy...too cool for school. Tits, ass, and toughguys. It's just not my bag.
I'd also argue that some of the wrestlers of the 80's were quite athletic. Macho Man was a good example. He performed 110% in the ring and it showed.
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Cool video. WWF was my childhood. I never cared for WWE even though it was essentially the WWF and WCW combined. I think part of the WWF's appeal was how horribly wrong it could be in the depictions of stereotypes.
Macho Man looked like he literally walked off a Village People video.
The Iron Shiekh was the heel in the face of the Iranian conflict.
Nikolai Volkoff wasn't even Russian, but played the part because of the Cold War.
And the other characters were hilariously hyperbolic. Brutus the Barber Beefcake, the British Bulldog, the Mountie, and Big Boss Man, who would later join the forums as Vanilla Thunder.
Macho Man looked like he literally walked off a Village People video.
The Iron Shiekh was the heel in the face of the Iranian conflict.
Nikolai Volkoff wasn't even Russian, but played the part because of the Cold War.
And the other characters were hilariously hyperbolic. Brutus the Barber Beefcake, the British Bulldog, the Mountie, and Big Boss Man, who would later join the forums as Vanilla Thunder.
Tanooki
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Well said, better than I put it last night. That's why I can't watch the stuff. Once it got into a different form of scripting, lame thug looks with the lame ink, the whore oggling(which there are better venues for anyway), faux tough guys, prepped up garbage, all of it ...bleh. You're probably right the older ones were more athletic in a different way, perhaps not as fit as those now trying to look like some abercrombie junk, but I'd imagine the 80s/earlier 90s guys could in their prime wreck these more modern clowns.
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From time to time, there are guys who still seem to get "it". Although I really never watched him wrestle, the Rock seemed like he understood the theatrics side of professional wrestling. Another one that I enjoy watching highlight clips of his career is Daniel Bryan. He too was a "character" that was uplifting and fun vs the typical toughguy bullshit most of them are.
Pasky
Fug:DDDDD,
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I think the last time I was entertained by WWE was during the Kurt Angle vs Stone Cold fued where Kurt came out with a fucking milk truck and sprayed Stone Cold down with milk in his signature fashion which usually involved beer. That shit had me rolling.
I think when Stone Cold left the first time it got real stale and I've never been able to watch it anymore, like others have said the wrestlers today seems to be just models that turned to wrestling or some shit. I loved WWF in the 80s and 90s but this soap opera for men shit they have now just isn't my thing.
I think when Stone Cold left the first time it got real stale and I've never been able to watch it anymore, like others have said the wrestlers today seems to be just models that turned to wrestling or some shit. I loved WWF in the 80s and 90s but this soap opera for men shit they have now just isn't my thing.
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Yes, Brutus was one of my other favorites! I didn't care for the popular guys like Hulk Hogan, I liked Bam Bam Bigelow and Brutus the Barber Beefcake. I remember thinking he was cool because of his stupid fucking hedge clippers, lol.
I never got to watch much wrasslin because my parents hated it. My uncle would put it on for me when I went over his house though.
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My fave heel was Ted Debiase & his manslave Virgil. I really like the Demolition minus Crush for the tag team.
Best theme song probably goes to Akeem!
Best theme song probably goes to Akeem!
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Wrestling at it's absolute best was always about what happened in the ring. The outside ring stuff was a way to give background to why the men in the ring were fighting each other.
It's far more nuanced than simply saying "it's entertainment". Yes it's entertainment, but to say that is to only look at it skin deep.
If they can't wrestle for shit, it makes for a dull product, and the supposed end result payoff of the storyline is all for shit if the two wrestlers can't put on a good match. The story is also told through the match itself. The best wrestlers build upon things they've done together in previous matches. Guys like Hogan, Warrior, etc. could never do that. If all I want are stories, I can watch Netflix.
Sports entertainment was bullshit Vince McMahon threw out there in the 90s that everyone parroted since.
The world of wrestling also was far bigger than the WWF, and if you only ever watched the WWF, you'd have only a rudimentary understanding of what can be be done in the ring to tell a story that far exceeds outside the ring.
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The other thing being missed is that the WWE is awful for storylines now because there is no pacing. There's too much TV they have to fill on a Monday night, so you can't hold back matches the way they used to in the 90s. You could develop a storyline and play it out for over a year 20+ years ago. Look at the job they did with the Bret vs. Owen storyline that really began in late 1993 at the Survivor Series. That story didn't really "conclude" till 1995.
The WWE wastes so many storylines and matches because they have to fill 3 hours of garbage TV. It's the exact same problem WCW had when they expanded Nitro to 3 hours. Everything eventually becomes all fluff and filler. The real substance is lost.
Try watching a promotion where one storyline payoff took 6 years to happen! That's how you create tension and drama during the matches. Blowing your nut 1 minute in ruins everything.
The WWE wastes so many storylines and matches because they have to fill 3 hours of garbage TV. It's the exact same problem WCW had when they expanded Nitro to 3 hours. Everything eventually becomes all fluff and filler. The real substance is lost.
Try watching a promotion where one storyline payoff took 6 years to happen! That's how you create tension and drama during the matches. Blowing your nut 1 minute in ruins everything.
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I don't know, bro... I think WWF got bigger than all the rest because it was more entertaining than technical. The money and popularity speaks for itself.
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Was this meant to be insulting...I'm kind of confused.
Either way, I think "sports entertainment" pretty much fits the bill. It's entertainment...involving sport. Would you rather "Entertainment sport"?
I think you're missing the pot where I mentioned I liked the WWF. I didn't watch anything else or even consider myself a fan of wrestling. I was a fan of the 1980's WWF brand and the form entertainment sports it made. Rudimentary understanding or no...my cat like watching shit fall of a table when he smacks it off, I liked the WWF as a kid. Simple, dumb, rudimentary...doesn't matter. We're both entertained. Sports-entertained.
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I thought that was a termed he used to get around drug laws...
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Athletic commissions. WWF was banned from NJ at one time in the late-80s, early-90s because of the whole "wrestling is real" belief. They wouldn't submit to the athletic commission. Vince pretty much destroyed kayfabe to get past all that.
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Doesn't make for a better product is more of what I am getting at. WWE's NXT promotion outshines the actual WWE because the wrestling is far better as are the wrestlers.
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...in your opinion.
I don't remember you being such a damn aspie man. It's a fucking show, first and foremost. If the costuming and bullshit rhetoric between these guys didn't clue you in, nothing will I guess. That's what brought in the crowds, not technical wrestling. Nobody watches actual professional wrestling.
I don't remember you being such a damn aspie man. It's a fucking show, first and foremost. If the costuming and bullshit rhetoric between these guys didn't clue you in, nothing will I guess. That's what brought in the crowds, not technical wrestling. Nobody watches actual professional wrestling.
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I dunno, man... I've always enjoyed watching guys like Benoit and Malenko. Ability trumps theatrics for me, for sure.
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Exactly this. If you have an amazing character but then you're shit in the ring then it's all for nought imo.