2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

Warrior also spoke with WWE.com about his career.

http://www.wwe.com/videos/ultimate-warrior-talks-about-his-legendary-career-wwecom-exclusive-july-19-2013-26133462

Maybe there will be a return?

 

Read this the other day.
Ted DiBiase: Not an Ultimate Warrior fan.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_72116.shtml#.UexIo42TiXw

 

I think the Million Dollar Man is just vocalizing something that's been out there forever, and I think it's kind of hard to argue. Warrior was never even a passable guy in the ring - While he's compared to guys like Batista and Goldberg, both of them were much more rounded, kind of like the evolution of Warrior. He was basically always face, and except for that match with Hogan, never showed the ability to "work" more than a 10-minute match. You can also contrast him with Sting, who was allegedly just as raw as Warrior when he debuted in the business, but who has managed to improve.

 

In another part of that interview, DiBiase touched on that. Apparently he and Warrior have been feuding over comments DiBiase made on the Ultimate Warrior DVD that came out in 2005. DiBiase basically said, "Look, there were a dozen guys interviewed separately for that thing, over the course of months. We all said the same thing. Figure it out."

 

Speaking of DiBiase, I'll be meeting him on Wednesday. So stoked.

Now I'm just debating what to wear ... do I find a sequined vest and bow tie? Or do I get the red suspenders and tie to go along with my hallaberton briefcase?

 

See if he'll pay you $100 to kiss his foot.

There was an ESPN.com interview with Teddy Jr. a while back in which he said he used to take the Million-Dollar Belt to school for show and tell. He said other kids would bring in little toys in paper bags, and he'd haul out the briefcase and open the belt. He added that he had a lot of girlfriends when he was little.

 

SmackDown musing ... what if the segment between Vickie and Ryback (upon Vickie's firing) and Vickie's elevation to SmackDown GM lead to her granting Ryback at WHC shot against eventual champ Ziggler sometime in the fall? I have no idea why the hell the segment was set up, other than to have Vickie stay on TV by managing Ryback (which I'm glad didn't happen). I dunno, just trying to make sense of random segments and writing that goes nowhere.

 

I always wondered you guys opinions on this. Who was more important in wwf between hogan and Austin. Thoughts?

 

I've wondered how close WWF really was to going under in the mid 90s....or if that's just something Vince says to get out of the Bret contract and to make his comeback to vanquish WCW more impressive/romantic/whatever. Obviously WCW had more money but with TV deals and live gates, unless they were under water on property or from the steroid thing, I can't imagine the company might have actually folded?

If it was going to I suppose you'd have to say Austin because that danger never really existed during Hogan's run. Austin's run, and the Rock's to a degree, helped them take the company public and make who knows how much money.

 

Vince likes to talk about how he had put it all in the first WM, and if it had failed, he would have been done. But there really wasn't much of a threat by another company to go national. The NWA was still the collection of regional companies, the AWA was still stuck in the 70s in the midwest, and World Class, while they had a bit of a national presence, was still mostly a Texas company. Had WM failed, McMahon probably could have scaled back from the national scene and remained a regional promotion. That is, unless the NWA decided to start a better rival group out of spite for him trying to take them over.

Compare that with the 90s, when there was a legitimate threat to his company to get swallowed up, especially with the early-decade slump and the steroid scandal, I'd say that Austin was more important to WWF's survival than Hogan was. McMahon could have found another Hogan (in one WWE mag interview, he had said he considered Rhodes and Graham originally), but in '96, he'd just lost two of his big stars, and was battling against Hogan as well. He needed that big star, otherwise, he'd have been swallowed up.

 

Hard to compare Hogan and Austin based on this discussion. One really built the brand and the other sort of saved the brand. Had the roles been reversed, who knows it would have worked out.

 

I think Austin would have struggled to survive in the 1980s, at least without significantly changing his act. And that's also part of the reason why he was so explosively popular, him and The Rock - they were defying wrestling traditions about "babyfaces" and heels and what not.

As far as Hogan vs. Austin, Hogan is just the 80s version of John Cena to me. I think that's the comparison that makes the most sense, whereas Austin is in a whole other group when it comes to classification. If anything, I think Austin has more in common with Ric Flair - both were great in the ring and on the mic, and they could thrive as a face or a heel. Although Austin doesn't have the money problems that Flair has, their "luck" with women out of the ring is also similar.