The General Wrestling Thread

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The answer, larry, is Steve Austin. That's who the biggest star and the top guy in wrestling was during the biggest five year peak in the history of the business.

Vince handed Bret to WCW a few months before they gave the ball to Austin. The company took out loans to pay Mike Tyson. I don't think you are grasping where wrestling was before Austin exploded. I'm not sure why you are trying to jump through hoops to discredit what he meant.

I'm not. I think you are jumping through hoops to discredit everyone else and you underrate the direction wrestling as a whole was headed before WrestleMania XIV. Like I already said, Starrcade 97 drew a comparable number to WrestleMania XIV just four months prior. The marketshare and viewership had grown over triple in 1997 alone. Wrestling was on its way back...the WWF was already starting to build back up in the middle of 1997, Summerslam and the lead up to Survivor Series 1997 (was their highest purchased PPV of the year) started the influx of viewers back into the WWF due to the increased interest in the overall product of wrestling. WCW already got the ball rolling gaining national interest in the product, the WWF was starting to see the rise in it...but shit doesn't happen over night lol...by the end of 1997, wrestling was starting to boom...WCW got their huge buyrate and rating boom...WWF would get theirs four months later. Stop it with this "it was all Steve Austin" bullshit, that just isn't true.

The answer was NOT simply "Steve Austin"...that is about as awful an answer as I could possibly see...because its simply not true. It is what a typical WWE DVD would tell you. The buyrates and ratings were as high as ever WITHOUT Austin in 2000.

[EmpireWF]

[SHOGUN]

Ryback's theme always reminds me of the Terrible Thunder Lizards

You're really taking me back with that one.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm not. I think you are jumping through hoops to discredit everyone else and you underrate the direction wrestling as a whole was headed before WrestleMania XIV. Like I already said, Starrcade 97 drew a comparable number to WrestleMania XIV just four months prior. The marketshare and viewership had grown over triple in 1997 alone. Wrestling was on its way back...the WWF was already starting to build back up in the middle of 1997, Summerslam and the lead up to Survivor Series 1997 (was their highest purchased PPV of the year) started the influx of viewers back into the WWF due to the increased interest in the overall product of wrestling. WCW already got the ball rolling gaining national interest in the product, the WWF was starting to see the rise in it...but shit doesn't happen over night lol...by the end of 1997, wrestling was starting to boom...WCW got their huge buyrate and rating boom...WWF would get theirs four months later. Stop it with this "it was all Steve Austin" bullshit, that just isn't true.

And who was the catalyst for the WWE turning around business during that time? How are you not grasping this?

The Austin push began in 1997. Steve Austin main evented his first non In Your House PPV in February 1998. We all know what happened at WrestleMania that year.

-Wrestling attendance was in the shitter until 1997

-PPV buyrates were shit until 1997, and exploded in 1998

-TV ratings in the WWE were shit until 1997, exploded in 1998, and never looked back

-1997-2001 were the most profitable years in WWE history, and the most successful period in wrestling history, period.

Gee, what happened in 1997 and 1998 that could have caused this massive upturn in business? I guess it was the collective. Undertaker vs Big Bossman third from the top.

The answer was NOT simply "Steve Austin"...that is about as awful an answer as I could possibly see...because its simply not true. It is what a typical WWE DVD would tell you. The buyrates and ratings were as high as ever WITHOUT Austin in 2000.

Austin was gone for less than a year, and assumed the top spot as soon as he came back. This is a serious reach if you are arguing against Austin based on eight months or whatever where he still had a presence on TV during some of that time.

[krulmichael]

Or they'll can Beth in a pointless nobody cares matter. Typical WWE.

[JayDizzle]

I think this is Beth's last WWE match of her contract...so I wouldn't be surprised for AJ to go absolutely ape shit on her.

Welp.

You were half right.

Punk's little piece on the side is now on the free agent market.

[Warner2BruceTD]

LOL, the biggest TV ratings, the biggest PPV buyrates, the highest attendance, all of these things happened after 1997 when Austin got his push, and all of these things cycled back down after the heel turn, not to mention Austin is the biggest merch pusher of all time, and you want to downplay his impact and spread the credit.

I'd think you were trolling if I didn't know any better.

1996, shit. Austin push from 1997-2001, biggest boom period ever, every business record broken or shattered. Austin heel turn and later retirement, business cycles down.

C'mon man. Get lost with this Triple H/Undertaker/Goldberg shit. None of them touch the impact Austin had.

[JayDizzle]

Kids get to see Rey Jr. and Sin Cara while Rhodes and Sandow keep their heat with the win.

Nice.

And now Heyman and Foley dust off the old promos.

Nice touch by Paul E. to use Foley's double guns on the way out.

[SuperKevin]

Kaitlyn would be so much hotter if she wasn't so big

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

And who was the catalyst for the WWE turning around business during that time? How are you not grasping this?

The Austin push began in 1997. Steve Austin main evented his first non In Your House PPV in February 1998. We all know what happened at WrestleMania that year.

-Wrestling attendance was in the shitter until 1997

-PPV buyrates were shit until 1997, and exploded in 1998

-TV ratings in the WWE were shit until 1997, exploded in 1998, and never looked back

-1997-2001 were the most profitable years in WWE history, and the most successful period in wrestling history, period.

Gee, what happened in 1997 and 1998 that could have caused this massive upturn in business? I guess it was the collective. Undertaker vs Big Bossman third from the top.










Austin was gone for less than a year, and assumed the top spot as soon as he came back. This is a serious reach if you are arguing against Austin based on eight months or whatever where he still had a presence on TV during some of that time.

So, Steve Austin popped a huge Starrcade buyrate? Steve Austin took 3.5M viewers on Monday Night in 1996 and turned them into over 7M by the end of 1997? Buyrates actually started to grow in late 1997 across the board. Exploded with Starrcade and it continued into WrestleMania.

What happened in 97 and 98...WCW had their hottest angle (Sting/Hogan...the precursor to any success the WWF had)...the WWE hired Mike Tyson for WrestleMania...Steve Austin and The Rock took off...Goldberg would be as big as anyone in the middle of 1998.

You are so lost in this conversation its sad.

[JimLeavy59]

https://twitter.com/BullyRay5150/status/263104602587664385

[IamMedellin]

Kaitlyn would be so much hotter if she wasn't so big

elaborate

[SuperKevin]

At least the WWE Divas division being dead. Isn't the TNA Knockouts division just a series of Tara vs Miss Tessmacher matches

[SuperKevin]

elaborate

Too muscular for my liking

[EmpireWF]

elaborate

She's a bodybuilder