2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

Tyson Tomko signed with WWE. Not a surprise. He has the size and look Vince loves. This is just another sign that Christian is on his way.

 

When the WWE originally had the brand separation, the champion (I think it was The Rock at the time) did try to have two separate feuds over the belt, but that ended pretty quickly because it was too awkward.

The separation works when each brand is kept separate. Around 2003, it was actually pretty good to watch because you had Angle and Undertaker, among others, on Smackdown and they didn't go to Raw. Problem is, the WWE has had too many times when wrestlers appear on both shows, or they magically get moved from one show to another every other week (i.e., Snitsky). Keeping them on one show, and only one show, allows them to build a following for their fans.

Problem with ECW is, fans thought they were receiving the old hardcore ECW of the 90s. When they didn't, they hated it. Thing is, it actually is a good show, but having it titled 'ECW' hurts.

 

Thought Jericho was the champ when the brands split? After all, he was the first undisputed champ ...

 

No, the title didn't split at that point. If I recall correctly, the titles were split when SmackDown "signed" exclusive rights to Brock Lesnar, who was the undisputed champ.

That led to Bischoff bringing back Goldie on Raw, and just handing it to Triple H to be the World Heavyweight/Raw champion.

 

I don't recall who the champion was, but when the Raw/Smackdown split went effective, the WWE Champion was the only person able to travel from show to show whenever he liked.

 

Yeah, I think all us original ECW fans held out hope that the show would feature some "hardcore" wrestling. It obviously didn't, but it's currently a consistantly good show full of in-ring action and a strong mix of established talent and up-and-coming superstars. DJ Gabriel (the Alex Wright of this decade) is starting to grow on me. Matt Striker may be the best color commentator in wrestling.

I agree that it's much better when the brands are kept seperate. A good example of not sticking to it is Miz/Morrison rotating shows recently. I wouldn't mind seeing some "trades" here and there between the three programs. There should be some consistency regarding random roster changes.

 

As for split brands, I think the one thing that should stay consistent is the three world champions should stay on their respective shows as far as wrestling goes and if they are going to appear on another show, it should be "special" and not necessarily to wrestle (this way they could use his appearance to hype a match on the regular show of the champion in question).

 

Special, huh? Ha! When was the last time the ECW Championship was defended? If there was ever a PPV where either the WWE Title or World Heavyweight Title wasn't defended, fans would be asking for a legitimate reason why. I can recall a couple instances where the WWE Title wasn't defended in the past, but this goes to show how unimportant the ECW Title really is to WWE.

 

Having Matt Hardy as ECW champ should say enough about it's status. The dude is fat, out-of-shape and not the high-flyer he was during his tag team days. He's boring to watch. But I guess I only see him when I stream PPV's and when he occassionaly shows up on RAW. I don't watch SD or ECW (loved the mid 90s hardcore).

 

Trust me; you don't have to watch Matt Hardy a lot to know that he's really not the Matt Hardy he used to be. He's only 34 years old, but he wrestles like hes 45. The guy really doesn't have the energy anymore to be the high-flyer he used to be.

Don't get me wrong, Matt Hardy is still a great wrestler and will go down as one of the best in the business along with his brother, Jeff, but he seems to be on the decline of his career.

 

Matt's certainly not as exciting as Jeff in the ring nor does he seem to make the same connection with fans, but he has become a very solid in-ring wrestler since his debut about a decade ago. The fans also love him. He had one of the best feuds of 2007 against MVP (who should be in the main event right now, but that's another story). And he's tough as nails, wrestling on that recent European stretch extremely banged up.

 

I think the Hardy/Finley match in Europe from a couple of weeks ago was a title match. Matt won to keep the title.

Matt Hardy was never really the high-flyer. He usually left it to Jeff. He was more in the Marty Jannetty/Robert Gibson supporting tag-team partner role, where Michaels/Morton/Jeff would be more the emotional star of the team.

Also, there are a lot of wrestlers who, once they become established, they dial down their move sets. Part of that is to preserve their bodies (Foley used to say that he received more of a reaction from pulling a sock from his crotch than dropping elbows on concrete). Also, injuries play a factor. Guys aren't going to kill themselves night after night when they are hurt.