This Day in Pro Wrestling History

[King Kamala]

I always Mandela Effect Undertaker and Jake attacking Macho Man as happening at SummerSlam '91 and not at some indeterminate time after the show. Probably cause it was on the SummerSlam '91 VHS as a Coliseum Home Exclusive.

 

[Valeyard]

I remember that airing on Superstars but completely forgot the specifics until I saw Summerslam in full years later. Gene introducing them as Mr. and Mrs. Macho was burned into my head, though, and I've never forgiven Taker for his involvement.

 

[King Kamala]

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Winning the Triple Crown in less than seven months has to be unprecedented. It’s too bad they botched his ‘95 so bad because they certainly set Nash up to be a phenom.

He is certainly happy to settle for being pro wrestling’s greatest wiseass.

 

[Epic Springs]

Angle did it in 10 months in TNA but yeah, Big Sexy holds the record.

 

[Valeyard]

If they'd let Diesel turn on Shawn with the violence Sid did, he'd have been a megastar.

 

[King Kamala]

Yeah, in retrospect, money was in Diesel as the big, nasty, snarling (but cool) heel and not a glad-handing superhero. He could've been a more naturally charismatic version of 2020s Roman Reigns.

 

[Valeyard]

If he'd been the late 95-into 96 tweener, which was more or less the same murder machine he was in 1994 but allowed to cut promos as himself, it goes so much better. He has the charisma to make the dogshit matches he was stuck with passable but he wasn't allowed, really.

And man they should've turned Razon and had them feud instead of Bulldog.

 

[King Kamala]

https://www.facebook.com/100027725754346/posts/1318612232406289

Speaking of dominant, less than one year runs.

 

[BruiserBrody]

If he'd been the late 95-into 96 tweener, which was more or less the same murder machine he was in 1994 but allowed to cut promos as himself, it goes so much better. He has the charisma to make the dogshit matches he was stuck with passable but he wasn't allowed, really.

And man they should've turned Razon and had them feud instead of Bulldog.

I think Razor was one of the few guys moving merch and they didn't want to ruin that.

Plus he had just come off a multi month, multi PPV feud with Razor when he turned and won the belt.

 

[King Kamala]

https://www.facebook.com/100066533002030/posts/789863513241408

‘01-‘03 WWE really did feel like ‘99 and WCW with how many fan alienating fans happened in quick succession.

Name change never bothered me that much but sooooo many people still call it WWF. Name change has to be in Top 5 reasons casuals cite why they stopped watching in the early ‘00s. It doesn’t help that the product was absolute dog shit in May ‘02.

 

[Valeyard]

The name change is shorthand, for at least. It's a super easy moment to pinpoint a huge downturn, literally down to being forced to blur or mute mentions of the better days. WWE is when it felt completely and totally bankrupt.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Some 50 year old on the east coast is still bitter that it isn't the WWWF yet

 

[King Kamala]

I wonder if the name change would have been better or worse if it happened a year or two earlier when WWE was more popular.

At the very least, it probably would have gotten more mainstream media coverage. Pro wrestling was back on the cultural dung heap in ‘02.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

The name change would have been better received if two factors were different:
1. The actual name change
Pick a word other than "Entertainment." That was, is, and always will be a shitty name. "World Wrestling Entertainment" doesn't flow like "the World Wrestling Federation" did, and breaks the trend of the company's name sounding authoritative.

Enterprise. Empire. Eminence. Evolution.

All better ideas than "Entertainment."

2. Booking
As we've all said for over 20 years now, the product was in the doldrums at that point. There's plenty of reasons that could be argued as to why (lack of competition, Steph in charge of creative, panic after the post-InVasion decline), but it's undeniable that shows around the change from the WWF to WWE were worse than they were six months prior, let alone a year prior.

 

[BruiserBrody]

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I like that he was working Florida dates for CWF and WWF dates in Florida in the same week. A direct little FU from Vince.