boshealecta Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Yeah I don’t mind a triple threat but more than that just isn’t for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronSheik Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 I'm fascinated by Vince McMahon's alleged petty annoyances: 1. Wrestlers referring to the belt as the strap or the belt. He wants it called the championship. 2. Wrestlers putting their hands around their waist to insinuate the shape of a championship belt. Like pointing at another wrestler and making that movement allegedly drives him nuts. (I kinda find this one silly and old fashioned and agree with Vince) 3. Saying hospital. It's to be referred to as a medical facility only. 4. Wrestlers not defending their faces in the corner. (Makes sense) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 8, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted January 8, 2021 Not sure about the second one, but the others all make sense. Referring to it as a "championship" makes it sound dignified and important, a "belt" doesn't. "Medical facility" rather than "hospital" is a bit of a kayfabe-protecting thing; it stops fans phoning up the nearest hospital and asking after the injured wrestler. Better for the hospital to not have to field nuisance calls, and better for the company in that it doesn't expose them as lying about their talent being hospitalised. There's probably some element of covering their back insurance-wise or something there too. Not defending themselves in the corner I heard as Vince hating it when a wrestler is being choked in the corner and they just keep their arms hooked over the ropes, rather than trying to fight back. Makes perfect sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Yeah when you examine some of Vince's weird ticks in presentation and wording, they make a bit of sense and it just gets grouped into the Vince is a fucking weirdo pile. The WWE Universe is still one of the most gash phrases ever created in wrestling though. It actually somehow makes wrestling feel even more fake and daft than it is on the periphery.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 8, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted January 8, 2021 5 hours ago, BomberPat said: Referring to it as a "championship" makes it sound dignified and important, a "belt" doesn't. It makes sense when wrestlers talk about going for/defending the championship, but the context is key. When they talk about one wrestler hitting another with “the championship” or having to retrieve “the championship” to win a ladder match, it just sounds wonky. Call it what it is, a belt. I do agree that “strap” sounds old fashioned and corny and I have a mate that makes me cringe when he says “they’ve put the strap on Drew” etc. Vince must have lost his mind when Shawn and Diesel threatened to become “two chaps with four straps” in the build to the Triple Header In Your House. I think you’re giving him too much credit over hospital though. He’s just weird. His wrestlers aren’t wrestlers, they’re “Superstars.” They do “Sports Entertainment” rather than wrestling, have a “universe” rather than fans, have matches refereed by “officials” rather than referees, and when they get hurt they go to the “local medical facility.” Presumably if a Superstar needs to remove his jeans to have an injury treated at the local medical facility, when asked to remove their “belt”, they just stare back in confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I've always just assumed that the "WWE Universe" stuff came from them looking at companies like Apple and misunderstanding branding. Or they hired a consultant, paid him a million dollars to come up with "WWE Universe" and now feel like its the only way to create brand loyalty.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Of all the things Vince can be slated for, I really don’t think branding is one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sukhy Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 It's probably not petty, considering it's a huge part of the product, but Michael Cole. Can't stand him. I tried watching The Shield vs Wyatts 6 man, and I had to turn it off because of Cole constantly talking, and not letting the action tell its own story. It's definitely down to Vince that Cole commentate the way he does, I saw a clip from a new gen era match (think it was Bret vs Bulldog) and Vince does not stop talking, crazy how similar he was to Cole. The amount of times he says "new champion here and he's got him, no no" during a 2 count, is crazy. Cole was exactly the same during the streak matches "The streak is over, streak is over" every single time. Really takes you out of it, because even when watching those matches live, you knew it wasn't ending with Michael Cole shouting "streak is over" like an idiot. Cole even does his best to try and ruin Taker vs HBK at Mania 25, by constantly trying to talk over JR, and trying to crowbar in his shitty comments between JRs calls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I didn't even notice it until about a year ago but "championship opportunity" really does my nut in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSeaTiger Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Re-watching Mania 30. The beginning with Hogan, Rock and Austin was amazing as it should be. What pissed me off though was Jerry Lawler shouting “ special moment..special moment”. Yeah we get it Jerry, it WAS special. But TELLING us that takes us out of the moment and ruins it a bit. Stupid micromanaged bullshit. The fact they feel the need to force these moments on the audience (fuck the Universe catchphrase too), shows that they just can’t allow organic moments to happen. It’s just too polished now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeronimoJacksBeard Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 On 1/4/2021 at 9:03 PM, IronSheik said: 2. Wrestlers putting their hands around their waist to insinuate the shape of a championship belt. Like pointing at another wrestler and making that movement allegedly drives him nuts. (I kinda find this one silly and old fashioned and agree with Vince) My favourite example of this - in the early days of Progress, they had opted to try and be different by having their championship represented by a shitty Staff, rather than a belt. There'd been a MITB style angle where Mark Andrews won, then immediately lost said championship. The following show, when he comes out fans are chanting about him being the real champion, or something along those lines. In response Andrews nods and does the hands around the waist gesture...before quickly realising this isn't relevant or fitting to this situation or promotion and instead immediately, enthusiastically starts wanking off a big imaginary pole.  On the WWE Universe thing - I always thought the initial introduction of that was a marketing thing, coinciding with the launch of the network to have WWE thought of and put in similar brackets to that of Marvel, DC, Star Wars and so on. Similar principle with pushing of the 'Superstar' term. Just somewhere along the way 'Universe' became more a term for a reference to the audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP RULZ Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 1 hour ago, GeronimoJacksBeard said: On the WWE Universe thing - I always thought the initial introduction of that was a marketing thing, coinciding with the launch of the network to have WWE thought of and put in similar brackets to that of Marvel, DC, Star Wars and so on. Similar principle with pushing of the 'Superstar' term. Just somewhere along the way 'Universe' became more a term for a reference to the audience. The "universe" terminology was around long before the Network became a thing. Didn't it start when they launched there own Facebook type site as a branch off from WWE.Com and members were part of the WWE Universe. I remember signing up and having an account but cant recall much of what it was actually all about in general just it was the 1st attempt at a social media type platform that never took off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 10, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2021 12 hours ago, NorthSeaTiger said: Re-watching Mania 30. The beginning with Hogan, Rock and Austin was amazing as it should be. What pissed me off though was Jerry Lawler shouting “ special moment..special moment”. Yeah we get it Jerry, it WAS special. But TELLING us that takes us out of the moment and ruins it a bit. Stupid micromanaged bullshit. The fact they feel the need to force these moments on the audience (fuck the Universe catchphrase too), shows that they just can’t allow organic moments to happen. It’s just too polished now. “WrestleMania moment” can get in the bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted January 10, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2021 14 minutes ago, air_raid said: “WrestleMania moment” can get in the bin. And that looking and/or pointing at the sign shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEGABUCKS Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 56 minutes ago, air_raid said: “WrestleMania moment” can get in the bin. Can you imagine Gorilla Monsoon screaming "This is a Wrestlemania moment" during Macho Man and Elizabeth reuniting or Hulk slamming Andre. They become moments automatically if they mean something. But when they keep saying it like they have for the past 20 years then the moment does not feel like a genuine one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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