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Re: The Wrestling thread
The worst thing to ever happen to WWE announcing was the decision to turn Jerry Lawler into a face. That's like making Bobby Heenan a face. I think he brings down the telecast big time, imo. You need a real heel. Not Michael Cole.
I would say the problem isn't lawler as a heel, and it isn't necessarily Cole's heel character. It's the fact that they don't have a real play by play guy for the person doing a character to just play off of.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Wrestlers are allt eh same nowadays thats' the problme. Even the big stars liek Orton are exactly the same as Cody Rhodes. They all look the same, they all act the same, the all go by their full names. Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Zigler, John Cena, Mark Henry etc etc etc.
The Miz has got the right idea. catch phrase, nickname etc etc,
back in the day it was "HBK, Triple H, Edge. The Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, Razor Ramone, Big Daddy Cool/Disel
and thats' only the 90's . Wrestlers past had good gimmicks and had distinguishable nicknames. These days it's a company made up of dime a dozen talent and it's reflected in their names as lame as that sounds. I may be simplifying it a bit but I believe that's huge problem. There is no "Character" in the characters these days.
As for announcers Michael Cole is the worst shit I've seen in WWE/WWF. Fucking aweful. My favorites were always Bobby Hennan and Jesse Ventura.
Wacth the clip of the Rockers breaking up and listen to Bobby Hennan's commentary. It's hilarious. So awesome how he flips back and forth and how he calls Janetty a coward for trying to dive through the widnow.
[youtube]3zbQj9fZLtI&feature=related[/youtube]
"One without the other isn't any good... oh I knew he was gonna do that!" 
Re: The Wrestling thread
Wrestlers are allt eh same nowadays thats' the problme. Even the big stars liek Orton are exactly the same as Cody Rhodes. They all look the same, they all act the same, the all go by their full names. Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Zigler, John Cena, Mark Henry etc etc etc.
The Miz has got the right idea. catch phrase, nickname etc etc,
back in the day it was "HBK, Triple H, Edge. The Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, Razor Ramone, Big Daddy Cool/Disel
and thats' only the 90's . Wrestlers past had good gimmicks and had distinguishable nicknames. These days it's a company made up of dime a dozen talent and it's reflected in their names as lame as that sounds. I may be simplifying it a bit but I believe that's huge problem. There is no "Character" in the characters these days.
[/youtube]"One without the other isn't any good... oh I knew he was gonna do that!"
I'd have to disagree, to some extent, I think there are plenty of guys on the roster now who character- some might not have good character, some might have a character who is stale- but they have a character.
John Cena- Essentially, his character is he's a modern day Hulk Hogan, granted it's gotten pretty stale since it's been his only gimmick since 2005 but it's a character none the less.
CM Punk- A renegade who wants change, before that he was a messiah trying to turn people away from drugs, before that he was tbh just a cookie cutter babyface who said "drugs bad". Regardless he has some character
Cody Rhodes- This is one on the list that confused me the most. This is one of the guys on the roster with the biggest gimmick of em all. First he becomes an over the top narcissist who is ridiculously protective of his face, then his face get's damaged and he becomes a twisted psychological mess who believes everyone in the world is disgusting and he wants to hide their ugliness. Now that he's been demasked he's a mix of both. He's still deranged but his arrogance is back, he seems to switch between the gimmicks- one second talking about how great he is the next laughing maniacally. He definitely has character.
Mark Henry- He's just recently become an absolute monster. He has character. And has catchphrases e.g. Hall of Pain, Somebody gonna get their ass kicked.
Randy Orton- ... Ok I'll give you that one, this guy is boring as mud and if it wasn't for the fact that he does at least make his finisher look so good I doubt I'd even care about him at all.
Alberto Del Rio- He has a character- Mexican Aristocrat- Shame he is boring though 
Zack Ryder- Has a gimmick, catchphrase etc etc. He fits the mold of crowd loved babyface perfectly.
I could list more, but the assertion that EVERYONE on the roster has no character seems a bit harsh.
The major problem is the building of new stars- THEY HAVEN'T DONE IT really. And it's really beginning to show with lots of the old guys retiring.
They also need better booking, I'm tired of angles just getting dropped e.g. WHO THE FUCK WAS THE ANONYMOUS RAW GM.
They need to stop heavily scripting people's mic time as much and need to build up some new stars who aren't boring vanilla John Cena clones. They need people with a bit of edge, and Punk does bring that a little, but they need more.
Re: The Wrestling thread
The best chance Vince had at a throwback "Attitude" wrestler was CM Punk.
And he totally mishandled him.
Vince doesn't take risks anymore, which is his biggest problem.
Why is that? Because what is there to risk? He hasn't risked anything since WCW, because no one is a threat. Vince can produce the "post grunge rock" of wrestling, and hammer out singles basically that sound the same (the same wrestler gimmick), because no one forces him to change. He can just streamline his product which is what he's done.
It won't change until someone like TNA gets enough heat and builds enough promise that Vince starts getting nervous and feels forced to change it up.
Re: The Wrestling thread
I'd have to disagree, to some extent, I think there are plenty of guys on the roster now who character- some might not have good character, some might have a character who is stale- but they have a character.
John Cena- Essentially, his character is he's a modern day Hulk Hogan, granted it's gotten pretty stale since it's been his only gimmick since 2005 but it's a character none the less.
CM Punk- A renegade who wants change, before that he was a messiah trying to turn people away from drugs, before that he was tbh just a cookie cutter babyface who said "drugs bad". Regardless he has some character
Cody Rhodes- This is one on the list that confused me the most. This is one of the guys on the roster with the biggest gimmick of em all. First he becomes an over the top narcissist who is ridiculously protective of his face, then his face get's damaged and he becomes a twisted psychological mess who believes everyone in the world is disgusting and he wants to hide their ugliness. Now that he's been demasked he's a mix of both. He's still deranged but his arrogance is back, he seems to switch between the gimmicks- one second talking about how great he is the next laughing maniacally. He definitely has character.
Mark Henry- He's just recently become an absolute monster. He has character. And has catchphrases e.g. Hall of Pain, Somebody gonna get their ass kicked.
Randy Orton- ... Ok I'll give you that one, this guy is boring as mud and if it wasn't for the fact that he does at least make his finisher look so good I doubt I'd even care about him at all.
Alberto Del Rio- He has a character- Mexican Aristocrat- Shame he is boring though
Zack Ryder- Has a gimmick, catchphrase etc etc. He fits the mold of crowd loved babyface perfectly.
I could list more, but the assertion that EVERYONE on the roster has no character seems a bit harsh.
The major problem is the building of new stars- THEY HAVEN'T DONE IT really. And it's really beginning to show with lots of the old guys retiring.
They also need better booking, I'm tired of angles just getting dropped e.g. WHO THE FUCK WAS THE ANONYMOUS RAW GM.
They need to stop heavily scripting people's mic time as much and need to build up some new stars who aren't boring vanilla John Cena clones. They need people with a bit of edge, and Punk does bring that a little, but they need more.
I think you missed my point completely. Of course they all have gimmicks and they all have character. I also never said the entrie roster is void of it. The point is the majority of it sucks these days. Nobody grabs ya the way guys used to. Nobody gets the same pop when their music hits as they did back when The Rock or HBK or Hogan or Stone Cold etc etc etc came out. NOBODY. The imagination is gone. Like you said the booking is a problem but so is the talent. Where's the diamond in the rough? CM Punk maybe but Cody Rhodes? No, I don't see it. Boring. My point is there are no legit Superstars anymore. They are all forced superstars cause it's all they have to work with which is why in 2011 the only guy who can legitimately carry a story line in my opinion is Triple H. CM Punk and Wade Barrett are the closest to having that ability in my opinion.
Take the superstars from the mid/late 90's line'em up against the superstars of the last 6 years and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. This era is extremely vanilla and extremely dime a dozen when it comes to the overall package of a wrestler's talent.
Axlin made a great point when comparing it to post grunge. In the 90's the Superstars in wrestling were Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, STP, etc etc the superstars today are the equivelant to Creed, 3 Doors Down, Theory of a deadman, Nickleback, etc etc etc.
Re: The Wrestling thread
I agree that the current roster is vanilla but I only think that might not be the case if these new guys had been booked better, had been given the chance to really take the ball and run with it and were actually pushed, instead they've built virtually no new stars. I think there are plenty on the roster who have the talent but aren't given the opportunity and that's why we aren't see these new stars.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Shelton Benjamin is a classic case of a guy who's career fizzled due to terrible booking. But at the same time back in the day you could see superstars in the making even as undercard guys, even when booked wrong. I don't see that today. The only real new superstar to stick since the Attitude era is Cena really. the WWE has pretty much gone an entire decade without creating a legit HOFer. That's a long, long time.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Just watching lots of old clips on youtube tonight. Triple H has always had the best music in my opinion.
My Time
The Game
[youtube]QbtTgkdIOiM&feature=related[/youtube]
Bow Down to the King
I thought it was pretty deadly(pun intended) that Undertaker started using this last year. Best Undertaker entrance music ever.
