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Random thoughts thread v2 *NO NEWS ITEMS*


tiger_rick

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It's not even happening during WWE's most popular period either, just that initial year or two of the era. By 2000 the crowds looked much better and were just as big and loud. Nobody ever dissects that much but I reckon things like Rock on SNL had a lot to do with it. The initial wave of the Attitude Era seemed built off burnouts and that redneck fuck-your-boss arc. By 2000 it was the closest it would ever get to complete acceptance as trendy entertainment television. Everyone was invited along.

 

Good shout that. Maybe it was the necessary switch from Austin to Rock for the first 9 months of the year. The whole aesthetic of the company feels a lot less hard edged in 2000. I love watching stuff from that time.

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Did Austin do TV shows like the Rock did? Can't recall it being promoted at all like Rock's were in 2000. 

 

I think with the insertion of the tag teams, Radiacalz, Jericho and Angle etc they had good workers who could also portray and carry a gimmick. Lots of stuff in 97-mid 99 that got over on the undercards were from people that were not exactly super worker or if you look back just didn't have that it factor like the second half of the era did. When I think back they were lucky to get such a crop of new blood in that could be shit hot within a year/18 months

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According to Austin's IMDB, aside from a run of six episodes of Nash Bridges and guesting 19 times on Celebrity Deathmatch, he seems to have mainly stuck to making loads of straight to DVD action films.

 

Makes you wonder who the biggest star out of the two really was considering what both have gone to do afterwards. Austin seems happy enough with what he has going on, but Rock is very much part of the Hollywood A-List

Edited by WyattSheepMask
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If you're talking actual promotional appearances during his run on top honestly all I can think of is that Regis & Kathy Lee thing before WrestleMania with Tyson because it was on the free for all on my tape of it. He's just such a wrestling guy isn't he. There was just so little you could do mainstream appearance wise with him during that run. He takes his character dead serious. Even look at his podcasts now when he's more mellow than he has ever been.

 

The WWE's official party line has objectively been that Austin is the biggest superstar ever for years now. It makes sense because even though the both parties have has their troubles Rock is still the one that left and went on to be hugely successful in a 'proper' medium by the wider publics standards. You'd wonder though. 2000 was their biggest year. Rock's way more of a global star. I'm guessing Austin has the merch and was alligned with the timeframe that saw them outpace Nitro but apart from that?

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Austin was on Regis a few times, had a spot at the MTV Billboard Music Awards, Celeb Deathmatch, but he was so publicised as the face of the wrestling boom - on the cover of TV Guide, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, etc...in 1998. Rock has obviously gotten a ton of play when the movie career began, but in terms of the real world treating him like a supernova, Austin for that two years was covered more than Rock in 2000 (though Rock was everywhere too) - just not on a ton of talk shows.

Edited by Liam O'Rourke
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Cool! Way more than what I thought. I forgot all about that Celeb Deatchmatch thing. That was quite the crossover actually, wasn't it. Perfect match up. I wonder how many people watched it and thought "wrestling alright now?"

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Rock has obviously gotten a ton of play when the movie career began, but in terms of the real world treating him like a supernova, Austin for that two years was covered more than Rock in 2000 (though Rock was everywhere too) - just not on a ton of talk shows.

I dont know. I remember the Rock in 2000, and you couldnt get moved for him. They used to have a segment on Sunday Night Heat about WWF wrestlers media appearances that week, and the Rock was doing all the cool shit. Like TRL on MTV and SNL. I dont think Austin was on the type of shows the Rock appealed to.

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The Rock was far more mainstream than Stone Cold then and now. He had the perfect look for it as the women loved him and guys thought he was cool and funny as fuck.

 

Austin just looked like a wrestler making an angry face.

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Cool! Way more than what I thought. I forgot all about that Celeb Deatchmatch thing. That was quite the crossover actually, wasn't it. Perfect match up. I wonder how many people watched it and thought "wrestling alright now?"

 

I remember being slightly amused that the "announcers" set seemed heavily reminiscent of the Nitro one used at the time, and you had Austin and McMahon in the ring.   .  

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Did Austin do TV shows like the Rock did? Can't recall it being promoted at all like Rock's were in 2000. 

 

I think with the insertion of the tag teams, Radiacalz, Jericho and Angle etc they had good workers who could also portray and carry a gimmick. Lots of stuff in 97-mid 99 that got over on the undercards were from people that were not exactly super worker or if you look back just didn't have that it factor like the second half of the era did. When I think back they were lucky to get such a crop of new blood in that could be shit hot within a year/18 months

 

Yeah, I think that was the problem.   The matches were all about "ooo look, he's got some birds with him/he's in porn/he might be gay"   so while King digs into his joke book, Ross is all about "whats going to happen tonight when the thing we talked about at the start is on?"  

 

Having said that a guilty pleasure of mine is the Brawl for All.   You can almost hear the strop in Ross' voice when Doctor Death takes a battering from Bart Gunn.  

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Watching some random Network tonight and on the October 6th 1997 RAW Faarooq cuts a promo at Steve Austin that is inadvertantly hilarious. After calling him a 'honky' he goes on to say that Austin isn't tough despite him having 'tattoos on each arm' (he hasn't got any on either arm) and that Faarooq is tough as his siblings cried on Christmas morning because they 'didn't get their bicycles', then explaining the way he and the Nation 'use the word ass'. At least that's what I think he said.

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