I really think you are taking an unfair shot at the current WWE, especially after seeing the overrun or “tail end of RAW”.
Look, first of all, booking is supposed to be predicable. Predicable booking gratifies the audience. Sure, good twists are always there, but not too common. You can’t leave the audience confused as hell all the time.
And you gotta understand a couple other things. Vinnie Mac is a mark himself and is really into WMXX. If he could have Hogan and Hart and everyone else there, he would. It is going to be some historical event in his mind. I mean, it IS going to be an entire 5 hours long!!!
And secondly, about the Rock, you have to understand, he’s in the movie business now. He is making TONS more money there. He only returns to wrestling around Mania time for a couple months. They really can’t do all that much with him. Plus the fans love him, no one has stepped into his place as the New Rocky. And until new wrasslers replace Stone Cold, The Rock, and Mick and the whole gang, we will continue to see them.
And to top it all off, Mick Foley has been behind the writing of his angle with Orton. So don’t bitch out the writers, bitch out the Hardcore Legend.
I think you people are nuts. The Foley-Orton angle has been the best angle in years. Evolution has tremendous heat on them, Orton and Batista are getting over, and Foley has really only wrestled once. That promo he did last week was one of the best since Flair in Greensboro. I bet everybody in the arena last night went home happy because they got to sing along with the Rock and see the People’s Elbow.
The way they are using Foley and the Rock is just right. It gives an extra special feel to Wrestlemania and Orton and Batista will get the rub from being in the ring with them. Rock will do the job like he does every year and all the fans will be happy because they got to see the Great One one more time.
HBK has been great since he has been back. He is still the best in the ring and there is no ego to ruin things like in his first run. His tag match with Benoit last night was so well done. He does the little things better than anyone since Steamboat in his heyday.
I have not always been this much a fan of their product, but they have been on a great run over the last six months, with the exception of the misuse of Matt Hardy.
They can, as I understand it (and IANAL), use the old block WWF logo. The scratch logo, however, was part of the settlement with the Worldwide Fund for Nature. And that ruling really only applied in Great Britain. However, to avoid the hassles of having to rebrand everything outside the U.S., they just changed the logo all together.
Why they cut the F off the logo as opposed to making it an E, I don’t know.
WMXX is coming up, and Vinny Mac wants to bring in some of the old superstars for a final shot before an audience, as a tribute to the fans that got WWE where it is today. Yeah, Rock and Sock connection was a short lived story line, but it involved two of the most likeable stars the WWE ever had. Their mic skills alone are tops in the WWE, and it is no wonder that they have both moved on to bigger and better. Bringing them back is a touch of class, it is a smart move for ratings, and it is what the fans wish to see for the biggest Wrestling event ever arguably.
I am glad they are back. When all of the old stars leave within the next year (Austin, Michaels, Foley, Rocky, Undertaker, etc) the new guard will have their big chance to shine. To have them around the last year makes their involvement in WMXX believeable for the most part, and also allowed the old school to show the new talent how to get things done by telling stories in the ring as well as on the mic. It was a good gamble for Vince, and hopefully over the next year, we see more in-ring product telling a story coupled with more fantastic mic work. Also, I think Heyman should move over and write for Raw for awhile.
Technically, the company name was World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. They just took out the “Federation” part, hence the “get the F out” campaign.
Personally, I’ve been enjoying Raw more than Smackdown lately. Now that they took the belt off of Lesnar that may change, since I find him painful to listen to on the mic, no matter how good he is in the ring.
I think bringing back the Rock fits nicely. I think a few months ago when Foley was co-GM and the Rock “dropped by to visit” him they were setting this up. The Rock is off in Hollywood, but he just had to come help out his old buddy.
Besides, Foley was the one who helped make Rocky what he is. If you’ve read either of Foley’s autobiographies, he talked about how in order for the Rock to really reach the absolute top, he had to show a soft side. Mankind was the one who brought that out of him.
I will always think Foley is the greatest wrestler ever (yes, even better than Flair), and I still really like the Rock, so long as I only get him in small doses. I think I’m really going to like WM20.
He was the WWE Champion two years ago and was with the federation up until a year ago when he and McMahon got into some sort of dispute and he was released. He’s now working for TNA, a small bush league federation that is attempting to replace WCW as WWE’s archrival, I believe.
There was talk about Hogan working for TNA, and he even did a commercial or two for them. But there’s been some problem with his knee, and they kept pushing back the date of his first appearance. From what I’ve heard, they’re just using Sting to bring in the old WCW fans. I think Hogan is done, unless he tries to start his own wrestling company again.