WWE booked Hogan to near-perfection in 2002 I thought. Of course that's one stretch of time when he did not have any "creative control" clause in his contract.

So it's been a few years. How about Bruce Prichard? Raw has been absurdly terrible with him at the helm. Smackdown also saw almost instant improvement with his departure. 

We have the eye angle. People turning on each other and back to teaming within weeks. The show just makes no sense. 

I'm going currently with Shuji Ishikawa in All Japan. They had some buzz with Shotaro Ashino and the rest of Enfant Terribles coming in. They had a good build coming in being the invaders and beating everyone but when it was time to pull the trigger and put the belt on Ashino beating Suwama he didn't. Not only that all of the members of Enfant Terribles lost their big matches making them look less special. Also this year's Champion Carnival has been a bust, most of these matches has been cold and stale. A major change needs to be made asap.

1 hour ago, Mad Dog said:

So it's been a few years. How about Bruce Prichard? Raw has been absurdly terrible with him at the helm. Smackdown also saw almost instant improvement with his departure. 

We have the eye angle. People turning on each other and back to teaming within weeks. The show just makes no sense. 

With Prichard, there's no reason to think he's doing anything but giving Vince exactly what he wants no questions asked. Come to think of it, Vince McMahon absolutely belongs in the conversation for worst bookers, although certainly not the worst. Vince the booker is a far cry from Vince the promoter. Booking and promoting are two distinct skills, and it's rare for someone to be brilliant at both. Vince's biggest successes have come when actual wrestling minds had significant input into the booking. When left to his own devices, the results have been embarrassing.

So who is in charge of Smackdown these days? 

Also Bruce.

 

Agree that Ishikawa has been dogshit for All Japan recently. How hard is it to push the heel outsider, give him the belt and then have your ace feud with him?

When did Vince retire?

Obviously, it's all on Vince at the end of the day. There's definitely been an increase in bad, dated tropes since Bruce's return though, with loads of cartoon gimmicks and comedy from 90s kids tv. Shorty G, King Corbin, dog food, The Viking Prophets and all that. His return last February also coincided with the hot women's division falling off a cliff. Then there's the bickering tag partners, the endless rematches, the feuds that go on forever. The chronic inability to build a hot heel. It's got lazier than ever since his return.

Who's in charge of Smackdown by the way?

48 minutes ago, Badlittlekitten said:

Obviously, it's all on Vince at the end of the day. There's definitely been an increase in bad, dated tropes since Bruce's return though, with loads of cartoon gimmicks and comedy from 90s kids tv. Shorty G, King Corbin, dog food, The Viking Prophets and all that. His return last February also coincided with the hot women's division falling off a cliff. Then there's the bickering tag partners, the endless rematches, the feuds that go on forever. The chronic inability to build a hot heel. It's got lazier than ever since he's return.

I guess he's there to just indulge Vince's BS and play to his shitty comedic tastes as opposed to fighting the losing battle and squeezing some good stuff through to the TV.

I agree it falls on Vince but we have seen other bookers pull watchable stuff out of those limitations. Bruce's stuff on Raw has been almost unwatchable. He also came in and started booking it like someone that hadn't watched wrestling in 5 years. 

35 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

He also came in and started booking it like someone that hadn't watched wrestling in 5 years. 

Because he probably hadn't.

But he had been back with the company for 5 years before taking over Raw. I get that if he was coming in cold but he had been with the company long enough that he should at least be pushing some younger guys. 

I thought Pritchard returned to the fold at most only a couple years back, well after his podcast took off, no? 

I think it was right before they divided up responsibilities and brought Bischoff in. My guess is he's been back around a year and a half. 

8 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

But he had been back with the company for 5 years before taking over Raw.  

1 minute ago, Mad Dog said:

My guess is he's been back around a year and a half. 

I'm confused...

 

Sorry, that came out wrong. I meant to type he had been back a year before taking over Raw. 

He had also been doing some work in wrestling while not with WWE (I know he was doing at least some production stuff with MLW in 2018).

Bruce runs both brands as said.

But there's been several stories about Shane McMahon gaining more influence and that the Raw brand might be handed over to him to take a load off Bruce. Bruce is 57, very overweight and has heart issues. He's not just writing 5 hours a week of TV on Vince's time and he's doing it when talent can be pulled due to COVID anytime. It isn't sustainable and a productive creative environment situation. 

Has Shane done anything on the creative end ever? 

To my knowledge, he has before he left the first time in the mid 2000's but if I remember correctly, a lot of his ideas was considered a bit over-the-top to creative's liking. Some made more sense though as he wanted the ECW relaunch to be an online show rather than being on TV, possibly to keep the essence of what the original brand was but that never happened.

From what I remember from different accounts, Shane was pretty involved in at least putting the shows together with Vince and few other close inner circle members back in the pre-writer days when a lot of creative was done poolside at Vince's mansion or in hotels on the road. Not sure how involved he was from say 2000 onwards