2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

Guess they figured they couldn't leave ADR off of the last PPV before 'Mania when he's going to be in a world title match.

Is it just me, or are there a ridiculous amount of non-title matches in WWE now? In my youth, I associated non-title matches with WCW, and I rarely recall WWF having them. Nowadays, it seems that 75% of the matches a champion has (especially IC/US) are non-title defenses. They job a lot of those matches.

 

See, I'm the opposite. I remember Nitro having a ton of title matches, even quite a few when jobbers would have "world title shots." At the same time, though, the other guys had much better chances of beating the champ in non-title matches (well, until the end of WCW, I'm sure).

 

I guess I meant early 90s WCW, prior to the Monday Night Wars.

 

I'm all for the non-title matches. In a way, (if it was real) it makes the guy earn a shot at the title by beating the champion.

It also makes the title worth something - more of a draw.

 

Yeah, but they don't really give the US/IC title matches top spots on the PPVs/major cards.

 

In the 80s and early 90s, and I'm assuming even before I started watching wrestling, the WWF champion rarely wrestled on a syndicated TV show. The only time I ever recall Hogan actually getting in the ring (from 1986 on) in a non-Saturday Night Main Event match was the couple of matches where Orndorff turned on him, a Memorial Day match against Randy Orton's dad, and maybe one other time.

That's why Saturday Night Main Event matches (and the two other ones he had with Andre and where Savage turned on him) were so special. You got to actually see Hogan in the ring, without having to order a PPV (which my parents never let me do anyways). I remember being pissed off as an Ultimate Warrior mark that, once he won the belt, he never wrestled on TV, and that I thought it was unfair that when Sgt. Slaughter won the strap, he was always on TV.

Early '90s WCW was more willing to show the champion wrestle on TV. If anything, from 1990 until Raw started in '93, WCW Saturday Night was much better than anything WWF offered (which was a million squash jobs). It wasn't until the Monday Night Wars started that the champion, for both groups, began to regularly appear in the ring on TV, and both companies would have a lot of title matches.

Now, the WWE only has the champion defend the belt on TV a few times a year, and I like it that way. It's a good happy medium, instead of having title matches every week, or just going back to the squash 80s. The champion does work on TV a lot, though, but I guess they do that because it would seem silly to not have one of the top ratings draws not appear.

The old WWF syndicated shows were also an hour long, so there wasn't as much time to show off all the wrestlers. That's why you wouldn't see a guy on TV each and every week.

But one thing I do wish the WWE would do more is emphasize the IC/US belts. Have them defended more on TV.

 

Baron, I think part of the reason the WWE shifted philosophies is that a guy like Hogan normally doesn't have the belt anymore. Hogan's actual in-ring work is nothing to write home about, so it makes more sense to have him do as many promos as possible and limit his ring work to the bigger events.

Contrast that to the title picture now. As much as some love to hate him, Cena is a good to very good worker, and most of the other guys usually in the hunt - HHH, Orton, Jericho, Taker, HBK, even Sheamus now - are credible in the ring. The last champ I can think of that was a huge dud in the ring was Khali, and that was more of an emergency move after injuries to Edge, Kennedy, Undertaker and others, I believe.

 

Anyone else watching Elimination Chamber? My TV's feed is absolutely horrible, so I'm wondering whether it's the WWE having problems, or just that Charter's HD PPV is taking a shit this evening.

 

Heck, does anyone have a link? (says the cheap bastard)

 

Even with as much charisma as he had, Hogan would be lucky to make it past the mid-card if he came along now. He'd be booed out of the building. His style was perfect for the 80s, when you could get away with 15 minutes of a 17-minute match being headlocks and other assorted rest holds.

 

So far in EC...
-Del Rio beats Kingston in the non-title match.
-Edge won the EC match for Goldie. Del Rio ran in afterward to attack Edge. Christian came out and just beat up Del Rio.

 

Two phenomenal matches to start the PPV.