Posted February 23, 200619 yr comment_4557954 I'm trying to think but I'm drawing a blank. When did it become common practice in the WWF to intentionally expose the weaknesses of their workers?
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4558133 When people in charge or people with power decided that their agendas are more important than making money.
February 23, 200619 yr Author comment_4558161 So somewhere between the Invasion angle and the HHH push in 2002?
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4558644 So somewhere between the Invasion angle and the HHH push in 2002? You mean widespread or on occasions? If you mean on occasion, it started with a lot of the Mark Henry stuff (the tranny, Mae Young). If you mean widespread, it is still around that same timeframe... Late 1999 when they put the house on Triple H and started elevating him by making everyone else look like fucking morons and making him look good in comparison.
February 23, 200619 yr Author comment_4558685 I thought the Mark Henry stuff was an attempt to make him quit so they wouldn't have to pay his contract.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4558954 So what are some examples of WWE doing this? I think this would be a good place to compile all that anyone can think of. Here's the ones that I can think of off the top of my head: Making Henry's weight problems into an angle with D-Lo Having Lita tell Rey that he's the inspiration for the Smackdown midget division (sure, everyone knows he's small, but it's best not to point it out in that manner) Vince making fun of Orton's size during his injury Ummmmmm.......I'm kind of drawing a blank here, even though I know there are loads more examples. Keep in mind I'm referring to what I feel are examples of intentionally exposing weaknesses. Stuff like giving Matt Morgan a stuttering gimmick when he has good mic skills, I don't put that in the same category. I don't think that they intentionally sabotaged him, just that they didn't use him to his potential and they unintentionally ruined his chances for success by trying to be funny rather than trying to create a good wrestling show.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4558969 Along those lines, I don't consider the stuff with Mark Henry (the tranny and Mae angles, etc.) to be exposing a weakness. Just supremely bad writing.
February 23, 200619 yr Author comment_4558995 Making Scott Steiner work a long match with HHH at the Royal Rumble in 2003. About every HHH promo over the last 4 years has mentioned the weakness of another worker. Having Goldberg go long and sell for the Rock at Backlash 2003 Having Brock Lesnar and John Cena going really long on PPV in 2003 despite how inexperienced both were. A lot of Shawn Michaels comments towards Hulk Hogan. Having Goldberg doing comedy skits and talking a lot during his entire run. Fertig debuting as a singles wrestler after having spent most of his OVW time as a tag team wrestler. Not letting the Heart Throbs talk. Rob Van Dam's title match with HHH in 2002. Encouraging fans to chant boring at Lance Storm. That's just off the top of my head.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4559057 Having Goldberg go long and sell for the Rock at Backlash 2003 I think merely programming Goldberg against the Rock in his first program in WWE was exposing his weakness intentionally.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4559084 Ironically, putting HHH in LONG world title matches has exposed him in some ways.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4559673 I think a lot of WWE's problems can be traced back to Vince deciding to only pay attention to the main eventers. It's been said that he only wants to hear about plans for the top guys, apparently not realizng that today's midcarders and jobbers are where tomorrow's main eventers come from. I think that's why guys get stupid gimmicks that have short lives, or are badly misused, they figure Vince isn't paying attention so who cares? By the time guys get on Vince's radar they've probably been damaged by poor writing.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4560314 Am I the only one who thought that chanting "boring" at Storm was a good idea? Honestly, they never gave a shit about him before. If they gave the crowd a chance to do anything that was interactive with him, he would be elevated after he finally snapped a few weeks later. At the time of that angle (summer of 2003), any reaction was a good reaction. The only RAW guy getting a consistent reaction at that time was Austin, who started the angle. Hunter calling that abomination of a match he had with Van Dam at Unforgiven, has to be the start of the current trend. There were ways that Hunter could've gone over without exposing Van Dam the way he did. They should've worked RVD's match and had Hunter hold on for dear life, with the same Flair turn at the end to save the title.
February 23, 200619 yr comment_4560354 Making Scott Steiner work a long match with HHH at the Royal Rumble in 2003. About every HHH promo over the last 4 years has mentioned the weakness of another worker. Having Goldberg go long and sell for the Rock at Backlash 2003 Having Brock Lesnar and John Cena going really long on PPV in 2003 despite how inexperienced both were. A lot of Shawn Michaels comments towards Hulk Hogan. Having Goldberg doing comedy skits and talking a lot during his entire run. Fertig debuting as a singles wrestler after having spent most of his OVW time as a tag team wrestler. Not letting the Heart Throbs talk. Rob Van Dam's title match with HHH in 2002. Encouraging fans to chant boring at Lance Storm. That's just off the top of my head. What he said, really. It's an appalling business model- the equivalent of a baseball team hiring the best pitchers in the game and then forcing them to play with their other hand.
