WrestleMania Rewatch Thread 2024

[Valeyard]

In hindsight it probably is the one match you can point to as being the one that saved things. I hate the word "saved" here but I'm not coming up with a better one.

 

[King Kamala]

If you had to pick one match that saved WWF, it’d be Austin Vs Bret at 13. I just think it’s a dumb concept.

If anything, if I har to pick a pendulum swinging moment for WWF in ‘97, it’d be the RAW at MSG or the Montreal Screwjob.


Wacko Walrus: if it’s such a dumb concept, why do you keep thinking about it?

 

[BruiserBrody]

I'm not sure how to properly write this but 1997 was kind of over rated. It stabilized the business and laid the ground work, but I'm not sure anything matters other than Austin being kept strong until the Mike Tyson angle could light the fuse. Vince could have turned heel Jan 1st 1998 via a different angle and pretty much everything goes the same way. Bret was a great feud but Austin could probably roll with Vader, Shawn, Shamrock, etc in 97and the end game is the same. It does feel dirty to say that given my warm feelings for 97 RAWs.

Rock's slow turn towards stardom, DX's embryo stage w/ NAO, Sable's tits and Taker/Kane all carry over but the end game was going to be riding Austin/McMahon to billions of dollars.

Most of the millions of fans who watched in 1998 weren't on board for even the Montreal incident.

 

[King Kamala]

Sure, I think you're right, to an extent. It's interesting. 1999 is the most popular year for WWF and most longtime wrestling fans think that sucks.

 

[Valeyard]

1997 had great stuff but none of it was in the midcard, and what was was really thin. When WWE 24/7 was around and I watched 1997 Raws every chance I found, I realized how much I glossed over in my memory. Now my memories are everything great with Bret and Austin or whoever on side and then the rest just is Gang Warz.

 

[King Kamala]

Episode 431: WrestleMania 2000 - Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard

If you've always wanted to know what the real story was behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard will finally give you the real answer. A terrific storyteller, Bruce has done and seen it all and now he's going to share it all with you so sit back and...

pca.st

“Conrad, it doesn’t matter what Meltzer and the dirt sheet writers said, the fans wanted to see a REDACTED in every corner.”

 

[Valeyard]

Steph was the only McMahon I ever wanted to see regularly. She was dreamy.

 

[King Kamala]

Shane was the only McMahon I ever wanted to see regularly. He had cool punches.

 

[Valeyard]

You know who should've managed Shane? Fonzie.

 

[Hawk 34]

Shane with sleazy Francine also works if we are using ECW talent.

 

[King Kamala]

Shane with Joel Gertner could have been so annoying that it might have turned into being endearing.

Shane and Sinister Minister…don’t worry, @Laz , I don’t think the concept really works.

 

[snuffbox]

You know who should've managed Shane? Fonzie.

Honest to god, I thought you meant Henry Winkler

 

[Valeyard]

The only Winkler I'd want with Shane is Barry Zuckercorn.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1770664469519061053

Can we get Dan on here to revive the MMA forum?

 

[BruiserBrody]

Honest to god, I thought you meant Henry Winkler

"Celebrities who should have been at Shea Stadium Showdown 1980"

 

[BruiserBrody]

"Celebrities who should have been at Shea Stadium Showdown 1980"

Wait - Fuck that..... "Celebrities who should have been at Wrestlefest '88 in Milwaukee"

James Lofton can return in a heel corner. Mossy Cade shows up but leaves when he realizes Buck Zumhofe isn't booked.

 

[snuffbox]

"Celebrities who should have been at Shea Stadium Showdown 1980"

And Wrestlefest '88 at old County Stadium!

 

[King Kamala]

I remember rewatching this a bunch in ‘02/‘03. Boy, a lot of the build to this show was dumb. All of the nu-metal performances didn’t really age well although ‘00s are coming back so maybe people will reevaluate this show positively.

 

[Valeyard]

The show was better built than 17 was, though. 17's build was godawful and is (righfully) forgotten outside of "My Way." 18 had every match get a build except for maybe the hardcore title, but it's the hardcore title.

Hogan/Rock is everything great about wrestling, regardless. The initial contfrontation (the promo only) is one of my favorite things ever. I remember being psyched even though it should've been Austin and the internet was gonna tell me it wasn't great.

 

[King Kamala]

“I’m gonna cripple his ass nWo style!” is not really a great build except for unintentional comedy purposes.

I agree though that Hogan/Austin could never work in the same way that Hogan/Rock did. Even putting Austin and Hogan’s own personal backstage politics issues aside, Hogan/Rock is the more natural matchup. The Rock took off from the foundation Hogan built but far surpassed him, IRT mainstream success.

Austin’s spiritual predecessor is more Piper and I guess we got that at WrestleMania too even if it wasn’t a match. Probably thankfully considering a ‘05 Piper/Austin match would have ruined a lot of memories.

 

[Valeyard]

Austin just is the right move and it's a shame it didn't work out. The biggest names of their eras, pop culture icons. But no it would've have worked the way the Rock match did (although the crowd would've been crazier). At the time, and to an extent still, Austin getting Hall while Rock got Austin feels incredibly intuitive in a lot of ways. But it worked out beautifully for Rock/Hogan so no complaint I have needs to be entertained seriously.

But now you got me wondering how WWF President Roddy Piper would handle Austin in 1997.

 

[Hawk 34]

I’m imagining a corporate lackey Piper dealing with DX and Austin slowly but manically losing his fucking mind until he boils over and then we get crazy old Piper and Vince in some garbage shit.

 

[Valeyard]

That's exactly how Flair/Vince should've been booked tbh.

 

[King Kamala]

It is kind of crazy we never got Piper Vs Vince, For all of his faults, Vince isn’t stupid and in the back of his mind, he’d have to be scared of Piper going into business for himself and eating his lunch.

 

[Valeyard]

Piper not jumping from WCW is kinda weird, really.

 

[King Kamala]

I’m kind of surprised Piper didn’t jump earlier given how unhappy he was with cash and creative during his recurring appearances from ‘92 to ‘96. Hell, he came close to jumping to WCW in ‘89.

Bischoff has always spoken super highly on Piper and gave him more creative freedom than anyone other than Hogan and maybe Nash (I COWER OVER NOTHING)

 

[BruiserBrody]

Yeah, Vince actually liked turning profits so he wasn't giving Piper anywhere near what WCW did to work 3-10 times a year or whatever.

And remember, when Hot Rod finally came back, he fucked it up for himself pretty quickly by not sticking to PR when being on real interviews.

Now I'm wondering if Piper would have eaten a stunner as Pres Piper knowing he won't get his heat back.

 

[Valeyard]

I see Piper jumping back as more of a way to help is own brand than anything. The WWF is still the WWF and he's still Piper, and he'd just do like he pretty much did every post-WCW appearance and be more about himself. He'd bail and come back multiple times, of course.

Piper/Vince and Piper/Foley are huge missed chances but whatever. Great promos and ***ish matches at the absolute best happen all the time.

 

[Hawk 34]

Zero chance that some point in the summer of 2000 or perhaps the fall of 99, Hunter doesn’t do a short program with Piper.

 

[Gert]

In fairness, I don’t think Piper-Austin ‘97 goes that well because I think Piper goes into business for himself too much.