Jump The Shark Moments

[Liam O'Rourke]

So for this weeks podcast, we are going to be talking about classic "Jump The Shark" moments in wrestling history, and as always, we want your nominations for ones in your own wrestling viewing experience.

The question of course, is what moment was the straw that broke the camel's back that made you either stop watching a certain promotion, stop watching in general for a period of time, or that turned friends of yours off the world of wrestling, and why? Feel free to elaborate. 

As always, the best contributions will be read on the show and you'll be credited accordingly. So what moment stands out for you as when a wrestling company jumped the shark?

 

EDIT - The show discussing Jump The Shark Moments in wrestling history, and your nominations, is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/5yzejn/SCGRadio61-JumpTheSharkMoments.mp3
 

[herbie747]

Grado. He was like "oh, look at this chubby jolly guy - he's amusing" for around 5 mins - then it wore thin very quick.

[Undefeated Steak]

Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe. Could've been the match that took TNA to the next level (Joe and TNA were doing so many things right around that time). Their classic headbutt pull-apart brawl was perfect. But they hot-shotted the match within a month or so. It should've been built up over 6 months at least. Kurt should've had classics with AJ and the rest of the roster while Joe kept his undefeated steak, sorry, streak going. They should've just teased and teased that match. The whole company felt a bit flat after they had their match though.

[air_raid]

For me, I stopped paying as close attention to TNA after Lockdown 2009. The company had once seemed progressive and at that show took a gigantic leap into the past with Sting losing the World title to fat part-timer Mick Foley (in 2009!!!!) and the tag belts going onto the Dudley Boys who were also fat and knackered at the time. I had just about forgiven them for Joe losing the belt to Sting but to go all the way to becoming a 2000 WWF tribute fed was just too much for me. You can make the argument for Team 3D still having something to offer if you want, but for a company that was trying to make a go of being a serious #2 to put their big belt on Mick Foley in 2009 was laughable. The only time I've been more dismayed with TNA was a year later during the Hogan/Bischoff run when they thought it was a good idea to put the Dudleys, 10 years past their prime, in the ring with the Nasty Boys, 20 years past their prime, on Pay Per View. The fucking Nasty Boys! On Pay Per View! In 2010! The fuck.

 

Oh, and in addition, two proper nouns that tell their own story - SmackDown, JBL.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I've never been the type to stop paying attention completely but I think the biggest eye roll came when Vince's limo blew up.

 

I mean, that's awful right from the start because NOBODY is suspending their disbelief far enough to think that he's just been killed on screen. Additionally, the thing is so far fetched that it just doesn't work set against any other element of the show. Also, the whole idea is awful.

 

Then you get them doing fake tributes and investigations and things like that, which is in poor taste for a start and so far removed from what people watch a wrestling show for it's unbelievable.

 

Then Sensational Sherri ACTUALLY DIES and they try to respectfully pay tribute to a deceased Hall Of Famer while keeping this piece of shit dead Vince story going. That did not sit well.

 

The fact that it took a double murder suicide to put an end to the storyline... We'll never know how it might have ended but if it hadn't jumped the shark before then it certainly would have by the finish.

 

 

 

Compared to this, Rikishi running over Stone Cold makes perfect sense.

[DraxSpago]

I didn't give up watching completely but December to Dismember made me realise I only really wanted to watch Raw from then on and even then I flitted in and out of watching that from 2007 to around about when the Nexus turned up, if it was upto me ECW would've been binned off after that PPV and you may as well have got rid of the brand split too for all I cared about SmackDown

[Ambulance Chaser]

The only time I stopped watching WWE in any capacity really was when JBL was the Champion. I had about an 18 month period of not seeing hardly anything at all.

 

I stopped watching TNA in 2011 I think at some point after seeing the 95th RVD or Mr Anderson match, I literally couldn't take any more, and had to drop some programming as I was struggling to fit everything in during a week, trying to maintain my WWE watching, along with ROH, PWG and NJPW, I sacrificed TNA as I had just had enough.

[Wasteman]

NXT.

[DavidB6937]

NXT.

I love how insightful your posts are.

[gadge]

I was a collector of ROH on DVD - I still have almost ten years of shows from the beginning in 2002 to the middle of 2011 - but the Sinclair broadcasting takeover that summer combined with Davey Richards winning the ROH World title killed my interest.

 

After three or four years without watching it, I'm back on the ROH train now though, albeit just watching the weekly TV show via the website. It's usually a fun hour.

[unfitfinlay]

I've got an obscure one. Jamie Noble and Billy Gunn vs The Bashams on, I think, Superstars. If I remember right Noble beat Gunn for the right to have sex with Torrie Wilson (because women are objects obviously) which somehow progressed into Noble, Nidia, Billy and Torrie all sleeping together.

 

So I'm watching this match on Superstars and it suddenly hit me that I was spending my Saturday morning watching Swingers wrestle Gimps, that I obviously wasn't part of WWE's target audience anymore and I should probably do something productive with my life. That last part didn't work but it did stop me watching WWE for ages after it.

[bobby dazzler]

The nWo jumped for me the moment Virgil joined. Cool as fuck with Hogan, Nash and Hall doing their stuff, still tolerable with Dibiase, the Giant and Syxx but fuck me when Vincent joined that opened the flood gates for all kinds of shit. A lot of good stuff happened after that with the nWo, dont get me wrong, but it was never as "cool" once old Virgil got involved and for me the shark had jumped.

 

its like on Diff'rent Strokes when they brought in the ginger kid and we still watched just for a few good Arnold moments. The Ginger Kid is Virgil, Arnold is Hogan.

[Linus]

Grado. He was like "oh, look at this chubby jolly guy - he's amusing" for around 5 mins - then it wore thin very quick.

Yes, but when was his jump the shark moment?

[JNLister]

ECW Living Dangerously 98's main event for me. There was always going to be a bit of a comedown after Barely Legal because ECW getting on PPV was the promotional equivalent of a wrestler winning a first world title and no longer having the climb/chase to the top. Hardcore Heaven 97 had the shit production and November 2 Remember the infamous Sabu-Sandman debacle, but there was still potential.

 

Then you have this PPV with a main event of Chris Candido & Shane Douglas vs Lance Storm & Al Snow, which on paper should/could have been a 30 minute highflying/technical wrestling/workrate classic that put the other promotions to shame. Instead it went about four minutes in a ring full of styrofoam heads, with one corner blocked off with police tape because Bigelow and Taz had left a massive hole and half the match was shot with spinning cameras. In hindsight it was the first real sign of the combined effects of the roster being crippled and Heyman losing his creative touch.

[Undefeated Steak]

TIL what jumping the shark means. I still remember my primary school teacher telling the class it was when something was given away too soon. You can ignore my earlier post then.