Rico Posted January 3, 2019 Posted January 3, 2019 5 hours ago, B-Man said: Flair is the greatest! RIP Meeeeeeean Geeeeeeeeeeene!
Bills4everNY Posted January 3, 2019 Posted January 3, 2019 7 hours ago, JoeF said: RIP Mean Gene..... ? WWEVerified account @WWE 2h2 hours ago WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Gene Okerlund, the most recognizable interviewer in sports-entertainment history, has passed away at age 76. He deserves a lot of credit for being able to keep a straight face during those promos/interviews. RIP Mean Gene. 1 1
Seasons1992 Posted January 3, 2019 Posted January 3, 2019 My thoughts to Mean Gene and his family. He was a large part of my childhood. 2
Tierlifer Posted January 3, 2019 Posted January 3, 2019 40 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said: My thoughts to Mean Gene and his family. He was a large part of my childhood. Same here man. This was some sad news to hear today.
njbuff Posted January 3, 2019 Posted January 3, 2019 Mean Gene opened the door for a lot of interviewers, but to this day, no one even comes close to measuring up to him. Mean Gene is the Gold standard and no one can ever come close to him. 2
Fr. Jerk Posted January 8, 2019 Posted January 8, 2019 I heard the man is going to be on RAW tonight.
shrader Posted January 8, 2019 Posted January 8, 2019 Good lord, just about everyone in the tribute video is dead.
tbarg12 Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 Has anyone seen what’s going on with AEW (All Elite Wrestling)? Looks pretty awesome with Cody Rhodes, Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Chris Jericho, and PAC (Neville). Possibly Kenny Omega since his contract will be up January 31st with NJPW. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2814681-recap-of-aew-double-or-nothing-rally-including-chris-jericho-neville-signings
Koko78 Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 9 minutes ago, tbarg12 said: Has anyone seen what’s going on with AEW (All Elite Wrestling)? Looks pretty awesome with Cody Rhodes, Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Chris Jericho, and PAC (Neville). Possibly Kenny Omega since his contract will be up January 31st with NJPW. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2814681-recap-of-aew-double-or-nothing-rally-including-chris-jericho-neville-signings Well, if they can consistently put on a good show, they should be alright. They've got a metric crapton of money behind them with the Khans. 1
tbarg12 Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 1 hour ago, Koko78 said: Well, if they can consistently put on a good show, they should be alright. They've got a metric crapton of money behind them with the Khans. Yeah I saw that, be interesting to see who else they sign.
apuszczalowski Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 it will be interesting to see what happens, for the good of Professional wrestling, WWE needs some quality competition like WCW was back in the day But its probably more likely that it becomes another TNA promotion that looks promising but gets crushed by the giant (WWE) over time
billsfan89 Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 3 hours ago, Koko78 said: Well, if they can consistently put on a good show, they should be alright. They've got a metric crapton of money behind them with the Khans. I have been an on and off again wrestling fan since my childhood, right now I just check out the big shows from WWE but man does wrestling need something new to happen. It seems like the last big stars they created were John Cena, Batista, and Brock Lesnar. Even those three lacked the true crossover power of a Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock (And to a lesser extent Goldberg.) I hope that Khan a deep pocketed billionaire who much like Ted Turner has a passion for the industry is able to both put the money into the company and get the right people in charge. TNA for a window of time was throwing out the money but they didn't have the right management. ROH had some decent people in place with some solid talent but their owners never had the money. It just seems like AEW could be just what is needed to actually push wrestling in a new direction.
apuszczalowski Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 5 minutes ago, billsfan89 said: I have been an on and off again wrestling fan since my childhood, right now I just check out the big shows from WWE but man does wrestling need something new to happen. It seems like the last big stars they created were John Cena, Batista, and Brock Lesnar. Even those three lacked the true crossover power of a Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock (And to a lesser extent Goldberg.) I hope that Khan a deep pocketed billionaire who much like Ted Turner has a passion for the industry is able to both put the money into the company and get the right people in charge. TNA for a window of time was throwing out the money but they didn't have the right management. ROH had some decent people in place with some solid talent but their owners never had the money. It just seems like AEW could be just what is needed to actually push wrestling in a new direction. Yeah, WWE taking over WCW was one of the worst things to happen to the Pro Wrestling industry because it left them no real viable competition and allowed them to just do what they wanted because they were the only big dog left. ROH has had talent, but doesn't seem to have the financial backing to get it to the next level so that talent ends up leaving and they look more like a farm/minor league promotion TNA was probably the closest, but they seemed to run into issues with control/ownership and faded away. Billy Corgan of the Band the Smashing Pumpkins almost owned/ran it before he was screwed over and bought another small promotion. TNA started out innovative but then sort of fell back into the typical mould and never gained enough traction This new promotion will need finances to get it off the ground and will need to put out a good product to get any type of foothold to compete with the WWE. Seeing as how there are some names as part of this, it will help possibly bringing over some bigger talent to attract the fans.
Koko78 Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 2 minutes ago, billsfan89 said: I have been an on and off again wrestling fan since my childhood, right now I just check out the big shows from WWE but man does wrestling need something new to happen. It seems like the last big stars they created were John Cena, Batista, and Brock Lesnar. Even those three lacked the true crossover power of a Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock (And to a lesser extent Goldberg.) I hope that Khan a deep pocketed billionaire who much like Ted Turner has a passion for the industry is able to both put the money into the company and get the right people in charge. TNA for a window of time was throwing out the money but they didn't have the right management. ROH had some decent people in place with some solid talent but their owners never had the money. It just seems like AEW could be just what is needed to actually push wrestling in a new direction. They need to avoid what TNA did. Money is great, but if you're not putting out a consistently good product with good writing and storytellers, it's all for nothing. I actually liked TNA matches better than WWE matches, but their storylines got terrible. I turned them off for good when they ran an angle where one wrestler held a knife to the throat of another wrestler with kids in the audience. Of course it was scripted - and I'm not easily offended - but that was too much. Apparently it got far worse when they started letting Hogan and Russo write the show. AEW is going to have to spend a few years building up the brand. Khan using his financial muscle to sign established stars and get a TV deal will help, but they have to show that they can keep churning out engaging storylines for all of their performers to make any headway. Rhodes as the eternal champion is going to get old, fast - like the early days of TNA as Jeff Jarrett's ego trip. Hopefully they can get Omega in the fold and build the single's division around Cody, Omega, PAC, and Jericho while they grow/develop some of their own stars. They also need to avoid, in the short term, direct competition with the WWE shows. They're not winning that battle anytime soon.
Koko78 Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said: Yeah, WWE taking over WCW was one of the worst things to happen to the Pro Wrestling industry because it left them no real viable competition and allowed them to just do what they wanted because they were the only big dog left. I always thought McMahon should have brought WCW back as its own promotion after they did the invasion/merger storylines. Keep the promotions mostly separate (other than the rare crossover/invasion angle when it makes sense), and let the shows compete against each other - sort of like the brand extension, without the co-mingling, constant references to each other and yearly 'shakeups'. WCW had a hardcore fanbase and rich history to tap into. Hell, ~20 years later they're still trying to resurrect some of the old WCW brand events as super house shows or NXT shows to cash in. WWE was at its creative best when it was against the ropes. Might have been worth a try to create competition. Regardless of which promotion 'won', McMahon/WWE still wins. 1
apuszczalowski Posted January 9, 2019 Posted January 9, 2019 11 hours ago, Koko78 said: I always thought McMahon should have brought WCW back as its own promotion after they did the invasion/merger storylines. Keep the promotions mostly separate (other than the rare crossover/invasion angle when it makes sense), and let the shows compete against each other - sort of like the brand extension, without the co-mingling, constant references to each other and yearly 'shakeups'. WCW had a hardcore fanbase and rich history to tap into. Hell, ~20 years later they're still trying to resurrect some of the old WCW brand events as super house shows or NXT shows to cash in. WWE was at its creative best when it was against the ropes. Might have been worth a try to create competition. Regardless of which promotion 'won', McMahon/WWE still wins. It's tough to own both and still try keeping them running as rival promotions against each other. It doesnt usually work very well. It may have worked if they changed things between the 2, like used TNAs octagon ring for one promotion, or made one of them and extreme promotion similar to ECW and the other a PG13 promotion. There would have to be some significant difference to them to work, otherwise it's just another 'brand' like they made Smackdown and Raw into.
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