Professional wrestling thread

Never been a fan of HHH, Jr., I mean Jeff Jarrett.

 

Wrestling hasn't been the same since they changed the name from WWF to WWE.

 

Wrestling's downfall started with the Fingerpoke of Doom, which was the killing stroke of WCW (even before Russo). Since that time, which was the beginning of the end of the Monday Night Wars, the WWE has slowly declined into the mess it is now.

And Harley, Jeff Jarrett is the most natural heel wrestling has seen in 15 years. Nobody is more hated than Double J when he's doing his shtick, not even Vince McMahon.

Whether it's X-Pac heat or not, it's real emotion the fans have always thrown at him. Nobody else in wrestling today, except maybe Samoa Joe during his ROH and early TNA run, get that kind of real emotion. That's why most of the crowds are relatively silent in WWE arenas now.

Regardless of the reason they hate him, the fact that they do makes him the best heel in the biz.

 

The heat Jarrett gets is real heat because he put the title on himself over and over again for so long.

HHH, Edge and Randy Orton are good heels, too, but people hate HHH legit for the same reason they hate Jarrett legit: He demands to hold the main strap whenever he wants it.

 

Times like these make me miss the pre-Fingerpoke WCW. Not so much Goldberg, but at least a solid Monday night contender to Raw.

For what it's worth, Trip and Jarrett are merely following the Hogan formula. How many times did he return to WCW and sling the belt over his shoulder/play it like a guitar/practically piss on it in front of the thousands in attendance...and the millions watching around the world?

Again — I don't mind HHH being a title contender this fall, as long as he's a monster heel aligned with no one but himself.

 

As much as I dislike(d) Hogan, at least he put asses in the seat and warranted long title reigns. But you're right -- he was a cancer in the locker room, him and Nash always looking at the book sheet and changing everyone's finishes.

Dusty Rhodes falls into that category as well. He didn't always wear the strap or change everyone's finishes, but he always booked himself at the top of the cards despite huge tits and little wrestling ability.

HHH can sell tickets and would be at the top of the roster despite being married to the Billion Dollar Princess. But he kept good workers from reaching the top and booked he and his friends (Shawn Michaels) to death.

Nobody takes Jarret seriously because he's nowhere close to HHH and Hogan as far as selling tickets. At least they can make an argument.

 

Hogan DIDN'T keep good workers from reaching the top? Why did Jericho, Guerrero, Mysterio, (looks around sheepishly, says quietly)benoit, (looks around again) etc. bolt at the first chance and all become champions under Vince?

I was always suspect of Hogan's post-1998 title reigns. They never seemed to come at a sensible time for WCW, while the Austin-centric WWF started to consistently slap Turner in the Monday night ratings.

It doesn't seem like Jarrett is able to do what Hogan and Trip do on a regular basis these days. That being said, Angle holding every belt is just ridiculous.

 

Woah. I never said Hogan didn't prevent good workers from being pushed. I just said he put asses in the seats.

Hogan was notorious for pushing his horrible friends (Beefcake, i.e.) ahead of more deserving wrestlers. He was also bad about refusing to drop the strap to guys smaller than him (see Hart, Bret).

Hogan, Nash, Jarrett and Rhodes are in their own little world for being complete assholes.

 

I don't know man. I think Jarrett unfairly gets a bad rap.

He had the belt a bit too much in TNA, that's true. But for most of the time he was champ, I can only think of a couple of guys, namely Styles, Daniels, and Samoa Joe, who were big enough names and over enough to put the belt on. He really wanted to push Jeff Hardy, but during his whole TNA stint, Hardy was his own worst enemy. Monty Brown, another guy they were grooming to take Jarrett's spot, never worked hard enough to get over.

The fact of the matter is, for the longest time, they didn't have anybody else who was main event worthy except for Styles, to whom Jarrett dropped the belt on three occasions, and maybe Raven. As soon as they finally had some other big enough names to carry the promotion, such as Christian, Sting, Angle and Samoa Joe, he bowed out. When he came back, everyone said he would try to take the main event spotlight back. What did he do? He immediately put over a young up and comer in Robert Roode.

In the past year he has put over AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Robert Roode, all up and comers. He has also put over Sting and Christian Cage. He had a great match with Jay Lethal that really put Lethal in the spotlight for the first time as a TNA guy.

He's done his best to give rubs to America's Most Wanted, Abyss, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams and the rest of Team Canada.

If Jarrett were to take the belt back now that they have other main eventers, then I'll admit he's the hog everyone makes him out to be. The fact is, for four years he and AJ Styles were the only really big stars among a group of young guys who were just barely getting their feet wet.

Six title reigns when there was nobody else in the company does not even put him in the same league as Triple H, Hogan and Nash, who were constantly putting themselves in the main event when there were dozens of other guys who could have taken it and ran.

 

I've never seen anyone refer to Robert Roode as an "up-and-comer."

 

The question now is: How long does Stone Cold remain in the plot?

Was this a one-time shot because it was Saturday Night's Main Event?

 

He still pops a decent rating and remains the most over individual they have.