I gave up on WWE a long time ago, but the USA netowrk homecoming suckered me in by having the old guys on.
Can anyone who has been following WWE explain to me why HHH might have decided to beat the crap out of Ric Flair?
Like you, got suckered in, but I’ll still take a shot at answering your question:
They needed a quick, cheap way to turn HHHHHHHH heel. No easier way of doing that than having him make Flair wear the crimson mask. Flair’s a living legend at this point, and even when he’s trying to be a heel the crowd’s behind him, so kicking the crap out of him will firmly make you a heel.
But there’s got to be a storyline reason, doesn’t there? Oh wait, this is the WWE. HHH was screaming at Flair about something.
I would have loved to see a couple of the visiting legends help Flair out. Would have been better than the segment they did do. I mean, how am I supposed to believe Arn Anderson would just stand by and let that happen? Oh wait, this is the WWE. They don’t care about things like that anymore.
I was surprised to see Flair had the Intercontinental belt. I suppose this is just a way of moving the belt from him to HHH.
Yeah, lets have HH show how great he is by challenging Flair to a “New Blood” match. Hx3 vs. Flair and one other “legend” of Flair’s choice, anyone he wants.
The suspense builds, no one knows who Flair will pick . They tease us by suggesting lots of people. HHH keeps running down the old guard.
Finally the big day arrives. HHH goes to the ring and gives a long speech about how everyone will remember the day HhH beat 2 "Golden Oldies. He makes several “Old” jokes. Flair walks in, looking confident if a little nervous.
HHH screams at him, and asks who his partner is; Flair just smiles and says his partner has come out of retirement for one final match…first comes out Shane McMahon, and everyone laughs. Then Shane introduces Flair’s real partner:
Just because he’s a tough S.O.B. and I wanna see HhH punished (even though i’ve been out for a while).
I’ve been watching WWE for a long time, and I don’t see the logic behind the HHH turn on Flair at this point either. They’ve been having Flair complimenting HHH for weeks now. A while back, when Batista was fighting HHH, they teased that Flair was gonna turn on HHH, but they never had it happen.
My only theory is they want to keep HHH out of the World Title picture for a while, but since he’s married to the boss’s daughter, he refused to stay out of all the titles’ pictures, so he is being set onto the Intercontinental belt…
I do have to say that no one does a crimson mask better than Flair. He has gotta be the best blader in WWE, no doubt…
HHH hasn’t been on TV in a couple of months because he’s so overexposed and everybody’s sick of him. A good heel is somebody you love to hate, not somebody you hate to see. When HHH decided he should hog enormous amounts of screen time, constantly hold the title, and refuse to put anyone else over, I think he lost a big chunk of the audience’s interest and respect.
Word. I hate the WWE because of the overexposure and constant pushing of glory-hounds, backstage politicians, “hosses,” bullies, washed-up ex-superstars, and no-sellers: Undertaker, JBL, Kane, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, and to a lesser extent (even though I still dislike him), Bob Holly. Of course I also despise Jerry Lawler and I think Vince McMahon lost his touch several years ago, and is running his company into the ground.
Word to your mother, BBVL. Have you seen TNA’s show over on Spike TV? Now there’s some wrasslin’. They innovate, they push their cruiserweights, and their hour-long timeslot only gives them time to tell stories IN THE RING WHILE ACTUALLY FIGHTING, as opposed to lengthy promos and boring backstage dramas. Oh and TNA gives its contracted performers health insurance, unlike WWE.
I feel so bad for all the talented folks at WWE who are spending their best years hoping MAYBE to get a match on Velocity because HHH or JBL need 20 minutes to talk about how great they are. Again.
I saw my first TNA Impact ever on Saturday night, their first show on Spike TV. I missed A.J. Styles’ match in the beginning, and I’m not too fond of Jeff Jarrett, the not-Dudleyz, or Big Poochie, but I loved everything else. I have every intention of becoming a loyal TNA viewer, and I wish them all the success in the world. If anything, I hope they become a legitimate threat to the stale and boring WWE.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but my favorite people in the WWE will never get a fair chance to rise to the top of the company, no matter how good they are: Paul London (AMAZING), Hurricane, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Brian “Spanky” Kendrick (newly rehired, yay!), Billy Kidman (underrated and recently fired), Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero. As thrilled as I was for Benoit and Guerrero winning the two top belts a couple Wrestlemanias back (the closest I’ve ever come to being a true mark), I know that probably won’t happen again any time soon.
For those who don’t know the whole story…
A few years ago, Flair turned heel by managing HHH. He said he wanted his last good run to be with “the best in the business”, which he decided was HHH. Then they created Evolution together.
Evolution was all about keeping the belt on HHH. When he lost it to Benoit at Wrestlemania 19, Randy Orton, another member of Evolution, was the one to win it from him at Summerslam later that year. The rest of the group turned on him, and HHH got the belt back at the next PPV.
He held it for a while, until Batista (the fourth member of the group) got tired of him, won the title shot stipulation at Royal Rumble, and challenging HHH, who he beat at Wrestlemania 20. They had several PPV matches, until Batista “took him out” in a Hell in a Cell match, which they used to take HHH off TV for a while.
While he was out, Flair beat Carlito to win the IC belt, and has been talking up HHH the whole time. Looks like they’re going to blow their wad on HHH vs. Flair instead of waiting until Wrestlemania 21, like I thought they should.
I stopped watching a year or two back, largely because all the promising newcomers kept getting released, all the while bringing back Hogan, Flair, Piper, and other people long past their prime for extended runs.
When did HHH turn face in the first place? And how? I mean, I understood it when he came back from the blown quad, but since then, I can’t imagine a believable face turn. What’s he going to do without his trademark “long storyline buildup of behind the scenes manuevering and cronysim that ultimately leads to…a sledgehammer”?
Paul London - Amazing to watch, no charisma, small.
Rey Mysterio - Amazing to watch, charisma, tough to sell due to size (small, even by cruiser standards).
Chris Jericho - Recently retired. Charisma. Casualty of politics, (relative) size, and piss-poor “creative” writing. Did reach the top with wins over The Rock and Steve Austin, which should have given him a good ‘rub’, but “creative’s” follow-up destroyed it.
Brian Kendrick - Amazing to watch, slight charisma, small.
Billy Kidman - Was amazing to watch until injuries interfered, black hole of charisma (can’t figure what Torrie sees in him).
Chris Benoit - “Creative” team dropped the ball big time on him. Has a different sort of charisma that they simply can’t capitalize on. What separates Benoit and Angle is that Angle’s charisma is overt and easy to work with.
Eddie Guerrero - Has it all, but my understanding is that his own demons (past and present) stand in the way of him being consistently in the top spot. Not being backstage, I can neither confirm nor deny that.
Chris J, Chris B and Eddie have something most of the others you listed don’t. They know ring psychology. Rey has a bit of it, but he’s not in their league. It’s a dividing line between good and great. On Monday night, you had Angle vs. Michaels and Edge vs. Hardy. Four top notch performers who put on excellent matches, but the former was a better match (IMNSHO) because Angle and Michaels both work the crowd much better.
(For those not in-the-know, “creative” is Vince McMahon, his daughter Stepanie, and their sycophants. Stephanie, the head of creative, is severely unqualified for the job, and if rumor is true, is horrible at listening to ideas that conflict with her own.)
Jericho’s going to be back within a year or so. He didn’t sign a contract extension so he could go on tour with his band Fozzy (and, I imagine, so he can see if TNA’s worth his time.)
He’s stayed on good terms with Vince and JR, though, because JR was still talking him up in the Ross Report last week. I think they let him go without a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth because they don’t really have anything for him right now.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back as quickly as the Rumble. Make him a surprise entrant, let him eliminate whoever gets the Diesel push and then push him as a serious title contender.
Am I hearing this right? HHH vs. Ric Flair? I havent watched wrestling in quite some time, for this reason mainly; I can suspend my disbelief, just not THAT much. How anyone could consider Flair vs. HHH a well matched contest is beyond me. I can only imagine what a train wreck this match will be.
HHH vs. Ric Flair will only work if HHH tempers his ego. When his ego is in check, and especially against an opponent he respects, HHH can put on a top notch match. Ric Flair, at 526 years old, is still in the top quartile of WWE talent because of charisma and his understanding of ring psychology.
Now, if you said JBL vs. Ric Flair, then I’d agree with you.