- 7 weeks ago
Featuring something truly evil and abominable. And AEW's naff Devil.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00So people keep asking me this question, and of course, as a positive piece, I think it's crazy.
00:05All wrestling eras are awesome.
00:08Even though I think that's baloney, that would be really, really stupid.
00:11This is obviously a huge lie, because the thing with wrestling is that it never stops.
00:15It does go 365 days a year, and you get show after show after show.
00:19Nobody has that perfect of a bat average.
00:21Sometimes, you're going to knock it into the floor.
00:24What is the absolute rock bottom bow for each company?
00:27Let's find out.
00:28Now, there are seven main ones that we are going to go through, so your favorite may not be here.
00:32And let's start with the train that is never going to die, which pleases me, TNA.
00:37Now, we all know that all total non-stop action needed to do was be a good number two to WWE.
00:43Yet, over the years, until really the most recent era, they didn't know what they wanted to be.
00:48That was really confusing.
00:49Now, you can't say the promotion totally screwed it up, because again, they are still alive in 2024.
00:53But yeah, when we do go back to January 2010, it all kind of fell into the mud for a bit.
01:00And this is mostly because TNA did bring in Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.
01:03And the first thing they did was send Hulk to the ring, who was like, we're going to get rid of the six-sided ring, because the four-sided one is better.
01:10But the way he said this, it was so disparaging to what TNA had been doing before, it was almost like he was going, well, you all screwed up, and now I've got to sort it out.
01:20Hogan was also soon bringing in his friends, too.
01:22And at one point, Val Venus was even there, which didn't make any sense.
01:25And the real overwhelming problem seemed to be that Hogan and Eric hadn't really been keeping an eye on the modern day of professional wrestling.
01:32So they were just doing what they did before.
01:34That was never going to work.
01:36Years and years had passed.
01:37The following six months, two in terms of stories, saw Abyss get power from Hulk Hogan's magical Hall of Fame ring, and I'm not kidding.
01:44AJ Styles became Ric Flair's lackey, and people like Orlando Jordan were beating Samoa Joe.
01:50You tell me.
01:51Nigel McGuinness' Desmond Wolfe also was just involved in sometimes being there, and sometimes vanishing completely, and the Nasty Boys got a win over Team 3D.
02:00I don't get it.
02:01We also went away from the more longer TNA banger matches to really short ones, and of course, the core fanbanks.
02:07They didn't like that at all.
02:09The last people you want to annoy is those individuals that would turn up every week.
02:12So it was just too much of what we've seen before, because a lot of this was a bit like the dying days of WCW.
02:18Well, it didn't work then, and it sure as hell didn't work here.
02:21We shall move on to NXT after this.
02:23My word, it's been through so many changes.
02:26Now, depending on where you start as well, it actually goes from the strangest program you've ever seen in your life to one of the best ever.
02:33I mean, it's had so many different facelifts.
02:35Where do you even begin?
02:36Now, you're probably thinking I'm going to be talking about when it was an odd reality TV show, but the deal is it was meant to be an odd reality TV show, so it did exactly what it says on the tin.
02:46That's the same with NXT 2.0.
02:48It always pretended that it was going to be a bit campy, a bit over the top, and it was, and many a time, it was quite entertaining.
02:53Therefore, we do have to go for the Capitol Wrestling Center era, although this really isn't anybody's fault.
02:59But because of the pandemic, and because we were stuck in the Performance Center, my word, just try watching it now.
03:06It just feels so damn depressing.
03:07This was, of course, because it did have a dark, gritty aesthetic, and the matches were really good.
03:12I just think at that time, we needed some color, which probably explains why NXT 2.0 had the craziest palette ever.
03:19I think it's best summed up with Tommaso Ciampa versus Johnny Gargano's cinematic match.
03:22Like, that was a treat to watch, but after about 45 minutes, well, you just wanted it to finish, because, again, we weren't allowed to go outside.
03:31What else is there to do?
03:32So it really was a mission in trying to fill content, and actually, I think you can get something from every single era of NXT.
03:38But if you asked me to skip one, well, I'd probably pick this.
03:42And it's the one you've been waiting for next.
03:45It's WCW Thunder.
03:47I mean, my gosh.
03:48You want to come in here right now and say, Simon, there was no good era when it came to WCW Thunder.
03:53I totally agree.
03:54I mean, it's definitely one of the reasons World Championship Wrestling went down the pan, and the fact it came so soon,
03:59after the Sarkade 97 debacle with Hulk Hogan and Sting, was like a double slap in the face.
04:04Even Eric Bischoff knew this was a good idea, and was saying, I don't think we should do this,
04:09because we already had three hours of Nitro.
04:11Where the hell were we going to get the extra resources?
04:13If you do want to go to the bottom of the barrel, though, find the May 2020 New York episode,
04:19because it will blow your brain.
04:20It was classic Vince Russo 2, because the rules here was that we were going to continue the Millionaire vs. New Blood feud,
04:27but it was going to be so damn aggressive and over the top, we didn't even need referee.
04:31It meant that it was the wrestlers that had to do their own counts, and have a guess how many people did a fast count,
04:36or tried to screw over their opponent.
04:39None of them.
04:40They called it down the middle.
04:41I mean, what are we doing?
04:43Fights then magically became table matches for no reason.
04:46And I'm going to have to read this, because it's so complicated,
04:49but the best part, this is all true, is when Ric Flair defeated Billy Kidman,
04:53when Kevin Nash hit a powerbomb on Mike Orson.
04:57I don't know what to do.
04:59It's 2 plus 2 equals potato.
05:01And the absolute worst extra is that WCW did all this non-Centical stuff all the time.
05:06So don't pretend that WCW just died.
05:08No, it didn't.
05:09They were responsible for a lot of it.
05:11And as we are talking about World Championship Wrestling,
05:13let's get to the good stuff.
05:15Nitro, and then you know the name of this video,
05:18let's instantly go back to the bad stuff.
05:19Now, it is a proper game changer when you do go through the whole thing today.
05:22I mean, they were doing things that just made you go, wow.
05:24And of course, if you want to talk about negative Nancy elements,
05:28God, let people go to the year 2000.
05:30I actually believe it all fell apart, though, in the first quarter of 1999.
05:34And that's the reason one year later we were scrambling,
05:37because we'd done the damage, back here.
05:39I mean, the January 4th episode was the dreaded finger poke of doom,
05:42and we all know what happened there.
05:43And actually, if you jump forward four weeks, you can believe it, it got even worse.
05:47Because during a terrible show-long storyline,
05:49Eric Bischoff and the NWO had turned on Ric Flair
05:53and driven him to the desert,
05:55because they wanted to bury him in the sand.
05:58And, oh yeah, let's not pretend,
06:00Bischoff was pretending to be Ric Flair's driver during all of this.
06:04So the whole time he was doing faces like this,
06:06because you were meant to know he was going to double-cross him,
06:09was shit.
06:09Somehow, Flair returned at the end,
06:11so who the hell saved him, we were never told.
06:13And what happened when he got to the ring?
06:15The New World Order kicked his ass again.
06:18What a crappy babyface.
06:19Now, one of the reasons WCW did this
06:21is because they were watching Raw,
06:22going, well, they have show-long storylines,
06:24so we better do the same thing.
06:26And we've already talked about this,
06:27we'll talk about it again.
06:28That's not what the core fan base wanted,
06:31so it was a thumbs down.
06:32It also meant that one of WCW's major calling cards
06:35was totally marginalised,
06:36because we were doing this,
06:38meaning the undercard matches,
06:40which were always great,
06:41they just got thrown out the window too.
06:43Perry Sam was also told to wear a dress
06:45so he could lose to Jerry Flynn.
06:46Bret Hart was facing Will Sasso in comedy matches,
06:49and Tory Wilson was involved in a horrible angle
06:52regarding a hotel.
06:54The less said about that, the better.
06:55It's offensive.
06:56We could go on, but just remember,
06:57within two years, WCW was gone.
07:00I've said it once, I'll say it twice.
07:02This didn't just happen.
07:04A lot of people were responsible for it.
07:06Let's jump forward to the future now, though.
07:08AEW Dynamite.
07:09Now, the fact it's only been going five years
07:11means we don't have that much to choose from,
07:13but actually, if you do do a quick straw poll of the fans,
07:17most people point to 2023.
07:19Now, this would be the latter half of the year
07:21when AEW was trying new things,
07:23and of course, one of the big ones,
07:25I mean, it kind of ties in, I suppose,
07:26is they want to do a big old storyline
07:28featuring the big question,
07:30who was behind the devil's masks?
07:33No need to do that with my hands.
07:35Now, instantly, a lot of individuals saw this as a portrayal,
07:37because this is not what AEW was born out of.
07:40Why are we trying to do these things?
07:42Now, I actually give them a little bit of a pass,
07:44because again, they are a brand new company.
07:46If you don't throw anything at the wall,
07:48you don't know what's going to stick.
07:49We also had a lot of matches
07:50that just kind of came from nowhere.
07:52There is another asterisk here.
07:54All Elite Wrestling did lose loads of major players
07:56when it came to the MJF Adam Cole thing,
07:59so then they had to keep retroactively trying to fix it.
08:02Now, for a while, it didn't make much sense.
08:04MJF took a lot of flack for that as well,
08:06and people weren't massively into everything
08:07that Kenny Omega and Don Callis were doing.
08:10But even Tony Khan heard this one,
08:12and what did he do at the latter end of this?
08:14He went, oh, hey-ho, let's do the Continental Classic,
08:18and everybody was happy again.
08:19You do have to admit that a lot of the audience
08:20was a bit slapdash when it came to The Devil's Henchmen 2,
08:23mostly because somehow they kept shapeshifting every single week.
08:26I suppose they were proved right as well,
08:28because again, as we already touched upon,
08:29Tony Khan did go back to the old way,
08:32or the 2021 way, I suppose,
08:34and that has to set them up for a very good 2024,
08:38but again, just go on message boards and read.
08:41People weren't massively fond of 2023.
08:44We then go back in time again next, though,
08:46to SmackDown 2011.
08:48Now, this has happened a few times over the years.
08:50This was the first one, so it is the worst,
08:52because around this time, WWE just went,
08:55well, we don't really want to do two shows,
08:57and we love Raw,
08:58so SmackDown is just going to become like a highlight show
09:02for what we did on Monday nights,
09:04and you'd watch it and be like,
09:05there's nothing to take away from this.
09:07And there were some diamonds in the rough,
09:08in the sense that Mark Henry was doing his Hall of Pain run,
09:11and the Christian versus Randy Orton feud was very good,
09:13but otherwise, it was so dedicated
09:16to telling you what happened on Raw,
09:18why would we even bother watching?
09:20All the matches are bizarre, too,
09:21because look at this.
09:22Now, fair enough, on a September show,
09:24the big show did defeat Randy Orton,
09:25but you also had Ryback versus Tensai,
09:28Chris Masters versus Vladimir Kozlov,
09:30and MVP versus Festus.
09:32Now, those last two matches didn't even happen,
09:34but did you know that?
09:35Did it click into your brain?
09:36It probably didn't,
09:37because once again, 2011 SmackDown,
09:40well, it's basically pointless.
09:41So that still makes me sad,
09:42because it was such a waste,
09:44and look how well we're doing now,
09:45given that we have talked about Raw.
09:47Let's get into that, too.
09:49Now it's been going so long,
09:50there are definitely a bunch of years
09:51that you can call out,
09:53such as 2002,
09:55when we did the Katie Vick storyline.
09:57Now, this was so long ago,
09:58some people don't know about this,
10:00and trust Uncle Miller,
10:01you do not want to look it up.
10:032020 will always be bad,
10:04because again,
10:04we've already talked about the pandemic
10:06that ruined everything,
10:07but I actually think
10:08when you get into the nitty gritty,
10:112019 was pretty damn rubbish.
10:13I mean, don't forget,
10:14there was a reason that this was the period
10:15when AEW was able to find an audience,
10:17because you watch Raw,
10:19and it did that awful thing.
10:20It wasn't great,
10:21but it wasn't bad.
10:22It was just so drab,
10:25and in the middle.
10:25There was also a time
10:26when we would humiliate people
10:27as best as we possibly could,
10:29especially if they were in the hometowns.
10:31Vince McMahon got obsessed
10:33with two out of three Falls matches,
10:34and do you know why he booked this?
10:36Because he thought it worked well
10:38with the ad breaks.
10:39Now look, what do I know?
10:40Nothing.
10:40I'm an idiot,
10:41but I'm pretty sure
10:42if you have a creative show,
10:44don't shape it based on your commercials.
10:46Seth Rollins also had to totally change his character,
10:48because we nerfed him
10:49at the Hell in a Cell.
10:50Otherwise,
10:51nothing happens.
10:52Like, some stories do begin,
10:54but then you tune in the next week,
10:56we're just not talking about him anymore.
10:58We also had the fallout
10:59of not making our mind up
11:00what we wanted to do with Roman Reigns
11:01over the previous years,
11:03so it's just,
11:04well, it's a bit of a directionless mess.
11:06I mean, you can honestly tune in
11:07any given Monday,
11:08watch that episode,
11:09forget about it for six months,
11:11and tune into another one,
11:12and it's like they existed
11:13in separate worlds.
11:15There was no connective tissue at all.
11:17Crowds around this period
11:18also felt fatigue,
11:19and also numbers were dwindling too,
11:21so you wouldn't even get
11:22the mad adrenaline rush
11:23of thousands of people going,
11:24oh, I can't believe it.
11:26Seriously,
11:27I sat down to try and watch
11:28a few of these,
11:29just to put my mindset back in it,
11:31and it ain't great,
11:33because nothing really happens.
11:34So now you know what not to watch,
11:35although with the WCW stuff,
11:37you probably should,
11:38because it will make you laugh out loud.
11:39But again,
11:40I'm a massive moron.
11:41I don't have the answers.
11:43There's a comment box down there.
11:44Tell me what you think
11:46about all of this.
11:47Also, click the video on the screen,
11:48which is 10 exact moments
11:49WWE stories lost us,
11:51and again,
11:51there is a reason for that.
11:53Otherwise,
11:53like the video,
11:54share the video,
11:54and subscribe.
11:55Thank you for joining me,
11:56my friends.
11:57See you soon.
11:58Viewer to the video.
Recommended
11:44
|
Up next
10:32
10:12
10:54
10:12
9:44
11:26
10:36
10:24
8:26
9:53
8:35
9:35
11:24
16:53
10:06
3:52
2:25
Be the first to comment