Hall of faming ain't easy

Godfather as IC champ
Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Earlier in the week the Godfather was announced as the next member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016.  So far he and the legendary Sting are the two confirmed inductees.  I haven't seen the "leaked" list of others, so I'm limiting my thoughts to just the Godfather in this post.

Chad & Papa Shango

We started a conversation on Episode 66 of My 1-2-3 Cents the podcast about Godfather's induction.  The character was certainly over with the fans during the Attitude Era, myself included.  But I also liked the Papa Shango character Charles Wright (the man behind Godfather) played.  So is he Hall of Fame worthy?  The debate comes up each year.

While there are men and women who I think should be in the Hall of Fame sooner rather than later, I don't think anyone currently in should not be there.  Each Superstar, Diva and announcer is there for a reason.  Guys like Koko B. Ware, Junkyard Dog and Big John Studd may have never wore gold in the WWE, but each person enshrined has made some kind of impact on me as a fan through the years.  (I'm not going to comment on the Celebrity Wing.)

Chad & The Godfather

Another factor WWE considers is name recognition.  As Chad pointed out on the show, more fans today know who The Godfather is than say "Superstar" Billy Graham.  Remember, it's a business.  WWE will cash in with merchandise sales and a desire for fans to meet the new inductees during Axxess.  

On the more morbid side of things, there are a lot of greats who are no longer with us and may never make it into the HOF based on that.  It's been reported the company doesn't like to do a lot of posthumous inductions in the same year.  There's a growing list of worthy men who aren't in as a result.

Ho train
Courtesy: WWE

Final thought, is WWE being hypocritical by keeping Chyna out of the Hall of Fame because of her adult film past and inducting a pimp who was always accompanied to the ring by hos?  Share your thoughts here or on the Facebook page.

Rawful

Photo from WWE.com

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

It’s no secret amongst loyal readers or Facebook friends that I have not been too interested in what WWE has been presenting the last few months. After reading on Monday afternoon Vince McMahon had removed Brian Gewirtz from the position of Head Writer, I was curious to watch RAW and see if there was a noticeable change in the product. Obviously, I didn’t expect a complete change to occur hours after Gewirtz’s removal and I don’t know how much of what was already planned for RAW was changed after Vince made his creative decision. Maybe this was a stopgap show and the real changes will be seen either next week or after the Hell In The Cell pay per view.

One recurring thought I kept having while watching Raw was how almost every segment seemed to showcase what I currently find wrong with WWE as a whole. I expected once the show was over to read reactions that talked about how the show's horribleness exposed why Gewirtz got reassigned, or if it wasn’t his writing it showed he shouldn’t have been taken off the writing team. Instead I was reading comments about how it was the best RAW in months. If you liked the show, I’d really like to know why.  Since this is my blog, I’m going to go into what I hated about the show. Perhaps I’m just out of touch now that I have aged out of the target demographic. On to the show and what I disliked.

Team Rhodes Scholars wins
Photo from WWE.com

1)A few weeks ago WWE started a tag-team tournament to crown new number one contenders. A lot of people thought this was the sign WWE was serious about rebuilding the tag team division. Even though WWE had recently put the tag titles on two wrestlers thrown together as a team. After RAW, we’re down to the last two teams in the tournament and it’s two make shift teams. Granted, the team of Damian Sandow and Cody Rhodes has at least adopted a team name in Team Rhodes Scholars, but that doesn’t mean I should expect them to stay together after the tournament is over should they lose.

All the actual tag teams were eliminated early on in the tournament. After RAW went off the air, wwe.com had a video of R-Truth and Kofi Kingston dissolving their team since they lost in the tournament and have decided to re-focus on their singles careers. Former tag champions Primo and Epico were fed to Ryback in the build to his possible match with CM Punk. The Usos haven’t been seen in weeks. Huncio and Camacho must still be biking from venue to venue and showing up late.

Does anyone expect Kane and Daniel Bryan to be long term tag champs? Does anyone expect them to stay together once they lose the belts? While their, “I am the tag team champions” chant may actually put the tag titles in the spotlight, is it actually helping make the titles mean something or re-enforcing the Vince Russo philosophy that titles are nothing more than props?

The Miz is all wet, thanks to Shawn King
Photo from WWE.com

2) I know WWE likes to use mainstream celebrities to garner press, but did having Larry King on the show achieve anything positive? Having your Intercontinental champion getting punked out by an 80 year old man, who couldn’t even wait for Kofi Kingston to finish his big leap of faith before thanking the crowd and leaving, doesn’t make me want to see the IC champion in action. Why would I care about a guy who couldn’t go toe to toe in a verbal spat with a guy who probably didn’t know where he was or who was standing in front of him?

3) Vince McMahon doesn’t make me interested in RAW. Vince McMahon makes me want to turn the TV off. As we discussed last week on From the Rafter’s Radio, one of my biggest wrestling pet peeves is the fact people can’t accept the Attitude Era is over and move on so that a new period can be born. When I see Vince on TV playing the beyond stale Mr. McMahon character, I want to smash the TV. Not only was it bad enough to see Vince tell fans Truth/Kofi/Brodus Clay weren’t worth watching then we got Vince telling CM Punk he isn’t in the league of past champions. You know, guys like Steve Austin and The Rock. Guys from the Attitude Era.

"What a maneuver!"
Vince McMahon vs. CM Punk
Photo from WWE.com

Last night CM Punk got to beat up, but not defeat, a 67-year old Vince McMahon.  How does that make me want to spend money to see Punk face John Cena (for the third straight month) or Ryback, a guy who hasn’t beat anyone of value?

I DON’T GET IT! 

WWE has done very little to elevate new talent in the past few years. The format for RAW hasn’t changed in 15 years and has become stale. Vince McMahon demands the creative team to come up with good shows yet from all accounts Vince is the be all end all when it comes to what makes it to television. If he doesn’t like a new fresh idea how can the creative team come up with anything different than having John Cena standing tall at the end of the show?

Hopefully the removal of Brian Gewirtz will lead to some fresh ideas and a new change in direction. I don’t have much faith since the guy at the top is still the same but something drastic needs to be done. I’ll continue to stick my thought that if the plan is still to have John Cena vs. The Rock II at Wrestlemania, that right there sums everything that’s wrong with the WWE creative mindset. 

As always, be sure to follow my123cents on Facebook and Twitter. 

Mania Memories: Attitude!

Austin wins (WWE)

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

I think Wrestlemania 15 may have very well been the peak of the Attitude Era for the WWF.  Wrestling was incredibly hot at the time, but because of the competition with WCW I feel like the product may have been damaged in the long term.  What?  How can I say such a thing, let me explain...

Obviously the big story out of 15 was Stone Cold Steve Austin regaining the WWF title from the Rock.  Rock and Mankind has ping pongee the title back and forth in the months leading up to Mania.  Rock won the belt at Survivor Series.  The title changed hands four times before his defense against Austin.  That in my opinion hurt the value of the title and showed fans that it was more of  a prop than a prestigious award for being the best in the business.  The title would change hands 7 more times that year after Austin won it at Mania, including a run with Mr. McMahon as champion and a one day title reign for Mick Foley.

Road Dogg vs. Val Venis

Need more proof about the chaos in the title situation?  Consider this then.  The Road Dogg defended the Intercontinental title in a fatal four way, beating Goldust, Ken Shamrock, and Val Venis.  That title ended up changing hands 11 times in 1999.  For some perspective, the IC title was won and lost 11 times over the first 8 years of its existence.  So you get the picture.  And let's look at the tag team title defense at Wrestlemania 15.  Champions Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett didn't defend against an established team, no way, not at the biggest show of the year.  Instead, they faced D'Lo Brown and Test.  Why?  Because the two were the last men standing after a battle royal on Sunday Night Heat to determine the new number one contenders for the belts.  Ugh.  Shane McMahon (nothing against him, but he wasn't really a full-time wrestler) was the company's European champion and beat X Pac to retain.

Undertaker vs. Bossman

The Big Show made his Wrestlemania appearance at 15, losing to Mankind by disqualification.  I think a lot of people had high hopes for the giant, especially after he made such an a strong first impression a month earlier at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.  Two big "better to forget them moments" from Wrestlemania 15 came when Butterbean knocked out Bart Gunn in about 30 seconds in their Brawl for All Match.  I think people expected it to be a bit more competitive seeing as how Gunn had beat legit tough guys like Dr. Death and Bradshaw to qualify for the match.  The other groaner of the night was the Hell in a Cell match between the Big Bossman and the Undertaker.  I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I do remember the Bossman being hung from a noose at the end of the match.

Tori vs. Sable

Sable beat Tori (not Torrie Wilson, but the former Terri Powers) to hold on to the Women's title, Hardcore Holly captured the Hardcore title, and Kane beat Triple H by disqualification in a match that saw Trips turn on his DX mates (along with Chyna) and join the corporation.

Six of the ten matches at Wrestlemania 15 were title matches, and only the world title changed hands that night.  The atmosphere that night was chaotic to say the least, and I remember actually thriving on that unpredictably as a fan.  It was what made Raw fun.  I know this post is somewhat negative toward the Attitude Era in general, but I do believe that the events 13 years ago have had a negative impact on the business today.  I also felt like the main event of Austin vs. the Rock was more about Austin's feud with McMahon than anything else.  Remember, I'm an old school fan.  I loved the long title runs for guys and a healthy diet of top contenders.  But no matter what era of wrestling, I have been and always will be a fan of it.

What are your thoughts?  Am I too harsh with my comments?  Share here or on our Facebook wall.

What If: Austin 3:16

Austin 3:16

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

Since Kevin is busy with his Black History Month series, and since there’s not much going on in the current world of wrestling that has me motivated to hammer out 1,000 words on a daily basis, I’ve decided to resurrect a previous concept around here, the What If?  This week I’m going to look at different scenarios that changed the wrestling landscape and how the world of wrestling as we know it may not exist if events played out differently.

The first installment involves an ad-libbed throwaway line that help usher in the biggest boom period in wrestling over the last 25 years. A line that, had booking plans not been changed, may have never been uttered.

The day was May 19, 1996. The location was Madison Square Garden. On the show that day, Razor Ramon battled Hunter Hearst Helmsley in an undercard match while the main event was a steel cage battle between Diesel and WWF Champion, Shawn Michaels. After the main event was over, with Shawn successfully defending his title, Razor Ramon came to the ring to celebrate with the champion. The reason for the celebration was this was the last WWF appearance for Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall and Kevin “Diesel” Nash. About two weeks later, Scott Hall would show up on WCW’s Monday Nitro program, followed a few weeks later by Kevin Nash in the start of the nWo angle.

The Kliq says goodbye

Shortly after Razor entered the ring, Hunter came out to celebrate as well and Diesel joined in the celebration.  It was no secret the four men were friends outside the ring, but this was when the Internet was still in its infancy and wrestling still was mostly presented as “real.”  Therefore seeing both good guys and bad guys celebrating in the ring was a shocking event. After footage of the incident got out to the public, Vince McMahon decided someone had to be punished for the incident. Hall and Nash were on their way out of the company, Shawn Michaels was the top guy, and the punishment fell on the shoulders of Triple H.

At the time, Hunter was being positioned to be pushed up the card and was penciled in for the finals of the King of the Ring tournament in June. Because his punishment led to Triple H being removed from the tournament someone else had to be put into the finals match. I don’t know who Triple H’s opponent was originally planned to be, but the final of the King of the Ring tournament eventually came down to Jake “The Snake” Roberts and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Austin 3:16 is born

Austin, while a rising star in the company, had only a month before King of the Ring gotten rid of his manager, Ted Dibiase and was forging a career path of his own.  After winning the tournament, during his coronation speech, Austin brought up Jake’s newfound Christianity by mocking Jake.  Talking about Jake quoting scripture, Austin now famously said, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"  Austin 3:16 soon became synonymous with the WWF’s Attitude Era. The question is what would have happened had Austin not uttered this famous catchphrase?

Had Triple H not broke character and gone on to win King of the Ring as he was scheduled to do, what would have happened to Steve Austin? Without a victory over Jake Roberts, “Austin 3:16” wouldn’t have been said. Without that catchphrase for the fans to plaster on signs and WWF to make t-shirts of, would Austin have risen to be the most popular character of the Attitude Era?

I think the Attitude Era would have still happened due to it being directly influenced by ECW’s style and WCW’s rating dominance over WWF. However, I don’t know if Austin would have become the superstar he did.  Triple H’s ascent to the top was delayed a year due to his punishment. Without that hiccup, Triple H would have been higher up than Austin and could have possibly been put into the title match at Wrestlemania 14 so Shawn Michaels could pass the torch to his best friend. 

At the same time, Rocky Miavia was slowly morphing into The Rock. Even though Rocky and Austin feuded over the I-C title, had Austin not been in the position he was in after the King of the Ring, his side of the feud could have been given to someone higher up on the card. Austin could have been stuck in the mid-card waiting for the one spark to light and launch him to the next level.

Hart vs. Austin

At the same time, Austin might not have been put into the position of trash talking Bret Hart back into the WWF or being the antagonist to the Hart Foundation during the early half of 1997. No Hart Foundation feud means no match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam.  No match means Austin doesn’t suffer a stinger due to a botched piledriver and then doesn’t have the neck injury that leads to an early retirement.

Think about it, had Austin not coined “Austin 3:16,” there’s a possibility Austin would be healthy enough to face CM Punk at Wrestlemania

I really think had “Austin 3:16” not been coined, the Attitude Era would have been different and Austin, while still becoming a star, wouldn’t have gone above the number 5 spot on the roster, if that high. I attended a house show the week before King of the Ring. The third match on the show was Austin vs. Duke “The Dumpster Droese.  Austin came out first to a smatter of applause. Even after the match was over most fans were more interested in when the Smoking Gunns were going to fight instead of cheering or booing Austin.

That's the bottom line!

The bigger question than where Austin would have ended up on the card is how his non-star would have affected the wrestling landscape. WCW would have eventually self-imploded due to egos and bad booking but would WWF have been able to draw a significant amount of fans away from WCW? I don’t think so. I think the Monday Night Wars would have fizzled out. While The Rock became a bona fide superstar, and Mick Foley has success on the literary charts, neither they nor Undertaker nor Triple H had the same level of mainstream popularity as Steve Austin. Without that popularity to draw in casual fans, WWF would basically be where WWE is right now. Successful enough to be profitable but not cool enough to be popular.

That’s my123cents on a fantasy scenario. What do you think? Would wrestling have suffered without Steve Austin’s famous quote? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

What If: Austin 3:16

Austin 3:16

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

Since Kevin is busy with his Black History Month series, and since there’s not much going on in the current world of wrestling that has me motivated to hammer out 1,000 words on a daily basis, I’ve decided to resurrect a previous concept around here, the What If?  This week I’m going to look at different scenarios that changed the wrestling landscape and how the world of wrestling as we know it may not exist if events played out differently.

The first installment involves an ad-libbed throwaway line that help usher in the biggest boom period in wrestling over the last 25 years. A line that, had booking plans not been changed, may have never been uttered.

The day was May 19, 1996. The location was Madison Square Garden. On the show that day, Razor Ramon battled Hunter Hearst Helmsley in an undercard match while the main event was a steel cage battle between Diesel and WWF Champion, Shawn Michaels. After the main event was over, with Shawn successfully defending his title, Razor Ramon came to the ring to celebrate with the champion. The reason for the celebration was this was the last WWF appearance for Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall and Kevin “Diesel” Nash. About two weeks later, Scott Hall would show up on WCW’s Monday Nitro program, followed a few weeks later by Kevin Nash in the start of the nWo angle.

The Kliq says goodbye

Shortly after Razor entered the ring, Hunter came out to celebrate as well and Diesel joined in the celebration.  It was no secret the four men were friends outside the ring, but this was when the Internet was still in its infancy and wrestling still was mostly presented as “real.”  Therefore seeing both good guys and bad guys celebrating in the ring was a shocking event. After footage of the incident got out to the public, Vince McMahon decided someone had to be punished for the incident. Hall and Nash were on their way out of the company, Shawn Michaels was the top guy, and the punishment fell on the shoulders of Triple H.

At the time, Hunter was being positioned to be pushed up the card and was penciled in for the finals of the King of the Ring tournament in June. Because his punishment led to Triple H being removed from the tournament someone else had to be put into the finals match. I don’t know who Triple H’s opponent was originally planned to be, but the final of the King of the Ring tournament eventually came down to Jake “The Snake” Roberts and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Austin, while a rising star in the company, had only a month before King of the Ring gotten rid of his manager, Ted Dibiase and was forging a career path of his own. 

Austin 3:16 is born!

After winning the tournament, during his coronation speech, Austin brought up Jake’s newfound Christianity by mocking Jake.  Talking about Jake quoting scripture, Austin now famously said, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"  Austin 3:16 soon became synonymous with the WWF’s Attitude Era. The question is what would have happened had Austin not uttered this famous catchphrase?

Had Triple H not broke character and gone on to win King of the Ring as he was scheduled to do, what would have happened to Steve Austin? Without a victory over Jake Roberts, “Austin 3:16” wouldn’t have been said. Without that catchphrase for the fans to plaster on signs and WWF to make t-shirts of, would Austin have risen to be the most popular character of the Attitude Era?

I think the Attitude Era would have still happened due to it being directly influenced by ECW’s style and WCW’s rating dominance over WWF. However, I don’t know if Austin would have become the superstar he did.  Triple H’s ascent to the top was delayed a year due to his punishment. Without that hiccup, Triple H would have been higher up than Austin and could have possibly been put into the title match at Wrestlemania 14 so Shawn Michaels could pass the torch to his best friend. 

At the same time, Rocky Miavia was slowly morphing into The Rock. Even though Rocky and Austin feuded over the I-C title, had Austin not been in the position he was in after the King of the Ring, his side of the feud could have been given to someone higher up on the card. Austin could have been stuck in the mid-card waiting for the one spark to light and launch him to the next level.

Hart vs. Austin

At the same time, Austin might not have been put into the position of trash talking Bret Hart back into the WWF or being the antagonist to the Hart Foundation during the early half of 1997. No Hart Foundation feud means no match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam.  No match means Austin doesn’t suffer a stinger due to a botched piledriver and then doesn’t have the neck injury that leads to an early retirement.

Think about it, had Austin not coined “Austin 3:16,” there’s a possibility Austin would be healthy enough to face CM Punk at Wrestlemania

I really think had “Austin 3:16” not been coined, the Attitude Era would have been different and Austin, while still becoming a star, wouldn’t have gone above the number 5 spot on the roster, if that high. I attended a house show the week before King of the Ring. The third match on the show was Austin vs. Duke “The Dumpster Droese.  Austin came out first to a smatter of applause. Even after the match was over most fans were more interested in when the Smoking Gunns were going to fight instead of cheering or booing Austin.

That's the bottom line!

The bigger question than where Austin would have ended up on the card is how his non-star would have affected the wrestling landscape. WCW would have eventually self-imploded due to egos and bad booking but would WWF have been able to draw a significant amount of fans away from WCW? I don’t think so. I think the Monday Night Wars would have fizzled out. While The Rock became a bona fide superstar, and Mick Foley has success on the literary charts, neither they nor Undertaker nor Triple H had the same level of mainstream popularity as Steve Austin. Without that popularity to draw in casual fans, WWF would basically be where WWE is right now. Successful enough to be profitable but not cool enough to be popular.

That’s my123cents on a fantasy scenario. What do you think? Would wrestling have suffered without Steve Austin’s famous quote? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

PG Attitude: Part 3

Austin vs. McMahon

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

For the conclusion of my comparison between the Attitude Era and the current PG rating WWE aims for, I’m going to list some of the reasons I dislike the Attitude Era and why I don’t think it was as great as most people seem to remember.

I’m not going to deny the popularity of the Attitude Era or the stars that rose to fame during that time. Similar to how country music became popular due to the success of Urban Cowboy, and then quickly faded back into the background of pop culture, I think the Attitude Era happened to all the stars being aligned perfectly for a short period of time and then when wrestling became passé the majority of the new “fans” moved on to the next cool thing. The Attitude Era didn’t create wrestling fans. An analogy might be made that the Attitude Era is similar to the grunge or even boy band phase of popular music.  A fad that connects with a lot of people for a short period of time until something new comes along. I’m not saying there aren’t any fans who started watching during the Attitude Era still around.  I am willing to bet though the percentage of fans that became true wrestling fans during this time is pretty low. I should also clarify in my opinion there is a difference between wrestling fans and WWE fans. Wrestling fans have the sickness and will seek out and watch any wrestling they can find. WWE fans feel if a guy isn’t on the WWE roster the wrestler obviously isn’t any good and only WWE is worth watching because all the other wrestling shows take place in smaller venues in front of a handful of fans.

Now that I’ve stepped fully onto my soapbox, getting back to the subject at hand, the first two examples of why the Attitude Era wasn’t great are the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble in 1997, 1998 and 2001. In 1999, Austin was the last man eliminated by winner Vince McMahon. Austin did not compete in the 2000 Royal Rumble due to being out of action with an injury.

The 1997 victory wasn’t originally supposed to happen. Vince Russo, then known as WWF Magazine writer Vic Venom, appeared on the live WWF Saturday morning program Livewire and said the Shawn Michaels would regain the WWF title and Bret Hart would win the Rumble to set up a Wrestlemania rematch.  Vince McMahon then asked Russo why he gave away the results on live TV. Russo, who wasn’t part of the creative team, said he didn’t know the results but that was the predictable outcome. Plans were then changed to give Austin the victory and postpone Bret getting a title shot at Wrestlemania by setting up the main event for the February Pay Per View in a four-way match between the last four men in the Rumble.  Even though 1997 is a year before the Attitude Era really began, I’ve included it here for the point I’m getting around to making.

Austin-McMahon at the 1999 Royal Rumble

Even though Austin didn’t win the 1999 Royal Rumble, the match was all built around his feud with Mr. McMahon. Austin and McMahon started the Rumble as numbers one and two. Going off of memory here, after brawling for a few minutes, Vince tried to get away from Austin by running all over the arena. While they were fighting outside the ring, the ring filled up with mid-card acts that everyone knew didn’t have a chance of winning. During this time, the cameras kept cutting back to Austin and McMahon thus making the Rumble match seem unimportant. Finally after they returned to the ring towards the end of the match, there were several main event talents in the match. The match eventually ended, I believe, when the Rock’s music hit distracting Austin long enough for Vince to toss Austin over the top rope and earning a shot at the WWF title at Wrestlemania.  Vince would go on to lose his title opportunity to Austin at February’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Pay Per View.

Essentially, during the Attitude Era, the Royal Rumble only had one winner. Royal Rumble 2000 is the anomaly due to Austin’s injury. Who knows if Austin would have been champion going into the Rumble or if he’d be trying to earn another main even spot at Wrestlemania had he been healthy.  Speaking of Wrestlemania, the main events during the Attitude Era shine another light of the flaws of the Attitude Era.

Austin-Rock Wrestlemania 15

I’m going to first say I think Wrestlemania should be the culmination of storylines. Wrestlemania should be the previous year’s climax. Maybe I still have an old school mentality and treat Wrestlemania the way I did when there were only four Pay Per Views, but I truly believe Wrestlemania should be something special. For that reason, I was irritated when Undertaker and Shawn Michaels fought on two consecutive Manias, and really don’t want to see ‘Taker and Triple H fight again this year. Look at the main events from Wrestlemania during the Attitude Era; Wrestlemania 14: Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin. Wrestlemania 15: Rock vs. Steve Austin. Wrestlemania 2000 (16): Rock vs. Big Show vs. Triple H vs. Mick Foley.  Wrestlemania 17: Rock vs. Steve Austin. Again, Austin was injured during 1999-2000 so he missed Wrestlemania 16. I was going to include Wrestlemania 19 as that also had Austin/Rock, but I figure that could be seen as more of an ending to the Attitude Era so it made sense for the two biggest stars of that time to fight each other. Even though it was the third Wrestlemania match between them.

The point I’m trying to get to is the Attitude Era was built around Steve Austin and while there were some other side players (HHH, Foley, Rock) the majority of the attention was given to Austin. I have two critiques about that. The first is even though Austin was seriously injured prior to becoming world champion, WWE rode him as long as he could go without an eye for the future when Austin would be done wrestling. It didn’t help them with The Rock becoming an in demand actor and retiring from wrestling sooner than anyone would have expected. Mick Foley “retiring” in 2000 also took away a main even star. Again, not saying there weren’t other stars or guys ready to step up.  And I won’t deny the popularity of Austin or say he didn’t deserve the top spot. I will say, given the number of characters that became popular during the Attitude Era, WWF did a poor job of elevating talent and establishing several main event talents.

Cena's first WWE title win (2005)

Flash forward to 2012. John Cena has been the face of WWE for seven-eight years. John Cena has been in the main event of seven Wrestlemanias. The only opponent he’s faced more than once is Triple H, once in a one on one match and once in a triple threat match along with Randy Orton. During the time Cena has been on top, there have been no repeat Royal Rumble winners.  While there is still a problem of “stop and go” pushes with some of the younger talent, WWE has at least tried to put more than 2 or 3 guys in the main event picture over the past few years.

Sure there are some flaws in my comparisons. WWE has two brands now instead of one as they did during Austin’s heyday. That leads to more wrestlers getting airtime. I’m sure people will also say “Stone Cold” was a better character than John Cena therefore the Attitude Era was better. Well, I guess that is just a matter of personal taste.

I could also include how the Attitude Era led to the trend of short title reigns, crash TV and hotshotting matches and angles for the sake of ratings. Most of the things people complain about in the current wrestling landscape, besides the PG mindset, have their roots in the Attitude Era.

Guess this is another prime opportunity to mention if you think PG is the reason why WWE isn’t good, go watch AAPW or Chikara and you’ll see that all PG means is the show will be fun the entire family, not just a small section of the crowd.

Thoughts? Comments? Share them with us on our Facebook page.  

PG Attitude: Part 2

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

Last blog looked at the one element from the Attitude Era that is missing in today’s wrestling product that I think needs to make a comeback. This time, I’m going to point out a few items that came to prominence during the Attitude Era that need to be done away with for the betterment of the product.

During the Attitude Era, or Monday Night War period to be more exact, due to competition the trend of putting Pay Per View caliber matches on free TV started to be the norm. Not only in the main event slot, but the entire show was filled up with matches that would have normally been saved for a paying audience. The role of the Jobber was phased out with their spot taken over by guys on the low end of the mid-card. Guys who may get the occasional win and therefore had name value, but you knew they would never hold a major title. This trend continues today and I feel it’s part of the reason for declining Pay Per View buy rates.

Ziggler vs. Punk...again (WWE)

Take the Royal Rumble for example. Scheduled for the undercard is a WWE Title match between CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. These two have fought in four matches in the last five weeks on TV with Dolph winning three times. Why would I want to pay money to see them fight again? WWE has added Johnny Ace as the special referee and have built up speculation he’s out to screw Punk out of the title. I guess this is supposed to add intrigue, but why would I want to pay money to see a title match end in a screw job? If there is no clear-cut winner it means there will more than likely be a rematch at the next Pay Per View. More on that in a moment. After Wrestlemania 3, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant weren’t in the ring together until the first Survivor Series eight months later. Because they hadn’t fought each other, when they stepped into the ring for the first time the crowd was on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what was going to happen. Wrestling bookers/writers need to learn how to build up matches without putting guys in the ring with each other every week. I’m guessing someone will point out how television is different now with live weekly shows so the booking has to be different. I’ll address that theory in Part 3.

Henry vs. Big Show...again (WWE)

Going back to Pay Per View rematches, simply put, they need to stop happening. Just recently, Big Show and Mark Henry fought on three consecutive Pay Per Views. That’s about $130 from the paying costumer’s wallet. In addition to that rematch, including the Night of Champions Pay Per View, which happened before the first Henry/Show match, there were at least three other matches that happened more than once on the four consecutive shows. Not counting Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania because of their history and prestige, in the last year, only the Money in the Bank and Night of Champions shows had better buy rates than in 2010. Money in the Bank was helped by the intrigue of whether CM Punk would win the WWE Title and leave the company as champion. Other than those shows, less people are buying the Pay Per Views. WWE management and cynics will argue the rise in illegal streaming is to blame for the lower numbers. I tend to disagree. I think for the most part, people who watch online are people who wouldn’t normally pay for the show anyway, but if they can watch it for free and they have nothing else to do, then why not watch.

The bigger problem is having to consistently pay to see the same match or matches over and over. Not only from one Pay Per View to the next, but also the same match the fans just saw on Monday or Friday for free. Writers need to learn how to build up a match without simply putting the two guys in the ring together. A few months ago I was watching some old NWA wrestling. I can’t remember who the wrestler was; for sake of argument lets say it was Stan Hansen. Stan beat up a jobber than did an interview segment talking about an upcoming match with Dusty Rhodes. By the time Stan was done speaking, I was interested in seeing the match with Dusty. Had Stan and Dusty fought and then Stan talked about a rematch, I probably wouldn’t have been as interested. But because the match with Dusty was something I hadn’t seen, there was an aura around the match.

Thought I had more points. Oh well. The next installments will be deal more with personal reasons instead of business ones on why I don’t think the Attitude Era holds up well and shouldn’t be seen as the glory days of wrestling.

We’re always interested in your feedback. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page.

PG Attitude: Part 1

Attitude vs. PG (from Baltimore Sun)

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

The Question of the Day on our Facebook page today asked what fans miss about the Attitude Era that makes them feel the current WWE product is worse now than during that time. I asked this because it seems on a daily basis between the Facebook page and other wrestling blogs or message boards someone is bemoaning the current state of WWE and wishing they’d lose the PG mentality and develop an Attitude. Personally, as I look back, I am not a fan of the Attitude Era and at first thought this was going to be a blog about how bad the Attitude Era was and how the current product, while not great, isn’t THAT bad. But the more I started thinking about it and formulating the different points I wanted to make, I realized there were several elements of the Attitude Era missing in today’s shows that would help make the shows better.

One of the biggest elements I attribute to fans missing the Attitude Era is the lack of star power. Currently there is no larger than life persona like The Rock or “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. John Cena has been the face of the company for almost seven years. While he is the biggest star within the wrestling bubble, his popularity hasn’t really transcended to mainstream appeal.  The lack of a mega star isn’t something that can be blamed solely on WWE. After Hulk Hogan’s drawing power diminished and he left for WCW, it took five years for “Stone Cold” and Rocky Miavia to step in and fill the boots he left behind. One also has to remember that both guys had to take charge and create their personas otherwise they may not have become the stars they are today if they’d waited on the WWF creative team to give them a star making scenario.

Austin 3:16 is born

If I’m not mistaken, Austin’s usage of the phrase, “Austin 3:16” was an adlibbed moment during his King of the Ring coronation after beating Jake Roberts who at the time was being presented as a born again Christian. “Austin 3:16” wasn’t developed by a marketing team or a writer. It just happened. Not to mention the fact that if the Kliq hadn’t staged the “curtain call” event at Madison Square Garden for Kevin Nash and Scott Hall’s last appearance, Triple H would have won King of the Ring instead of Austin. Had that happened who knows if “Stone Cold” would have gotten the chance to become the beer drinking hell raiser fans loved.

While finding the next big Superstar isn’t a simple task, I do feel WWE currently hinders wrestlers by scripting promos. Wrestlers should have the freedom to get the points across in their own manner instead of trying to memorize lines written by someone else. This assumes that everything I’ve read about WWE scripting promos is true. If you look at some of the best promo men from the past, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Austin, Rock, Hulk Hogan, all of them got over by being themselves. WWE needs to have the wrestlers display some individuality so fans can relate to the person.

Funkasaurus (from WWE.com)

Speaking of personality, something that has been missing but looks to be on the comeback is the lack of characters.  For the past several years it seems most of the wrestlers WWE has tried to make into stars all fit a particular type. Short hair, six-pack abs, bland personalities were the norm for body types. Personalities were either sarcastic, chicken heels or cheesy pandering faces. Everybody was interchangeable. I know several fans have spoken out against Brodus Clay’s new character, but in my opinion, the Funkasaurus helps separate him from just another big guy. The gimmick may be detrimental to Brodus ever achieving main event status, but I think that all depends on how he is used.  A few years ago, fans were claiming Dolph Ziggler was a stupid name and gimmick and he would never get over. Now he’s fighting for the WWE title. There needs to be more unique character traits besides, Big Pale Ginger, Big Englishman, Lanky Tattooed Guy Who Hears Voices and Lanky Tattooed Guy Who Makes Shoot Comments.

The fans love CM Punk (WWE)

Along with personalities, catch phrases are missing from today’s product. The lack of sing-a-long chants for the crowd results in them having to chant, “What” during every promo so they can feel they’re part of the show. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but I can think of no other reason why fans still chant the most obnoxious chant of all time. Seriously though, fans want to be a part of the show and they do that by chanting.  Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any current standard catchphrases besides The Miz’s, “I’m Awesome.”  Well, I guess there’s, “You can’t see me,” but how often does Cena use that in a promo? WWE needs to but the fun back into wrestling.

After thinking about it, the only thing missing from the Attitude Era that I’d like to see brought back is more individuality and wrestlers who don’t appear to be going through the motions or trying to remember a script. In the next installment, I’ll discuss the traits of the Attitude Era I don’t miss or wish weren’t still part of the wrestling landscape.

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12 Days... Classy Claus

"Classy" Freddie Blassie as Santa

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

Here's another Christmas moment, courtesy of the world of professional wrestling.  Through the years, Santa has been played by a whole host of wrestling personalities.  We'll look at a few of them over the next 10 days.

Today's submission is from the Attitude Era of the WWF.  Remember, the company started using more sexual references and the hardcore title was introduced too.  But for their holiday commercial, they brought back a blast from the past.  I think the spot sums up where the company was at that point, obviously things are a little more family friendly now, which is something I don't mind one bit.

Without further ado, I give you "Classy" Claus.

Greatest Stars of the 21st Century

From WWE.com

By Chad Smart
@ChadSmart on Twitter

I made a comment on the My1-2-3 Cents Facebook page during Raw that I don’t think was interpreted the way I meant it. So I’m going to try and clarify it here. The comment was based around the commercial for WWE’s new DVD “Greatest Stars of the 21^st Century.” I will admit I have not seen the DVD. I was going to wait until I saw it to write this, but it’s not a DVD I’m going to go out of my way to see so by the time I would have seen this topic would be past it’s freshness date.

The comment I made was, “Should Stone Cold be featured on the DVD since his in-ring career was mostly over by 2002?”  In no way need I mean to imply Stone Cold wasn’t worthy of being considered in the Greatest Stars category. My query was does a two-year active wrestling stint qualify him for inclusion as greatest for an entire decade. Would Austin be considered a Greatest Stars of the 80s even though he only wrestled in 1989? I agree with his inclusion on the Greatest Stars of the 1990’s. Since he was a semi-major player in WCW in the early ‘90s and then the run at the top of WWF in the late ‘90s. Steve Austin is truly a star of that decade. 

However, even with his run at the top during 2000-2001, I don’t feel he should be included on the new DVD. Again, not taking anything away from Austin’s accomplishments.

My dislike for Austin being on the DVD may also be rooted in a problem with how WWE treats wrestlers who made a name for themselves in the post-attitude years. As I wrote in a past article,  WWE has the tendency to make current stars look inferior whenever a former star is around. True the current stars may not be as big of a draw as the former stars and they never will be if they’re treated on-air as second rate.

Austin in 2007

I looked over the chapter listing for the DVD and it does seem to include several guys who rose to main event status during the first decade of the 21^st century. I simply think Steve Austin (and the Rock as well) shouldn’t be on the DVD as they were already stars and their time inside the ring was limited. That’s all I meant with the comment. Not saying Austin wasn’t a part of the decade. But showing up randomly and stunnering guys who were trying to get over with the crowd, doesn’t make him a “greatest star” in my eyes. Actually that made me dread every time he showed up. But that’s another rant.

I hope this has cleared up any confusion my comment made. Again, not downplaying the significance of Steve Austin’s career, just limiting the focal point of said career.

If you agree or don’t agree let us know on Facebook or Twitter. Come up with suggestions for the YouTube channel. And tell your friends about us. We have big plans in store and no one should miss them.