WWE: The Content Years. Good, bad, eh?

[TheScarlettChad]

15 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Alex Riley was, at least, part of one of my favourite NXT feuds.

Part of why Kevin Owens was so exciting there was because of his ability to start a grudge and argument with anyone over the slightest possible thing. He then bullies Alex Riley relentlessly, leading to Riley coming out of retirement to stand up to him - at which point, Owens mocks him further, kicks the shit out of him, and he's basically never seen again.

Absolutely hilarious stuff, and really cemented Owens as a guy with a big future. He looked in another league altogether.

The PUSH RAGE sign showed him to be a massive wally before he got buried by KO. He thought a lad writing a sign for his WWE 2k game was meant for him and gushed on Twitter about it only for the guy to tell him uh sorry but I didn't mean you. Utter wally. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Was the yacht person Kairi Sane ever in a group with Tyler Breeze. Match made in heaven surely. 

[Ironic Indie Lad]

When Cole said "...hence her YACHT PERSONA" I honestly have never laughed so hard at anything. Maybe it was the middle of the night. Maybe it was the volume of caffeine and sugar coursing through my system. Who knows? I fucking snapped when he said that though. 

The product was absolutely dire during those years. Abysmal, revolting slop. I used to get together with the same group of guys only for the Rumble and Mania and even that was more than enough WWE for the entire year. 

I have never had a worse time watching wrestling than staying up for WrestleMania 32. About 12 hours into the show and the Rock is out doing terrible house show level mic work and then squashing Erik Rowan. I felt like I was losing my mind.

It's no wonder so many people got into the indies and New Japan during that time. 

[BomberPat]

20 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

I have never had a worse time watching wrestling than staying up for WrestleMania 32. About 12 hours into the show and the Rock is out doing terrible house show level mic work and then squashing Erik Rowan. I felt like I was losing my mind.

I definitely lost it right then. I had stupidly not booked the following day off work, but still stayed up to watch the whole thing live. Off the back of the Daniel Bryan match, I thought Triple H had finally learned that his job was to be made to look foolish by the babyface and to get his just desserts, so as the show ran longer and longer and longer, I was thinking "it's not all bad, because this means they're probably just going to have Roman Reigns steamroll over Triple H in the main event". Then, as the show hits the time it was due to finish, The Rock is still fucking about with a flamethrower. And then Triple H and Reigns go on to have the half hour Triple H match on top of that!

It was the absolute peak of "The Attitude Era is the most important thing, and so much better than the shit you're watching now" booking. Triple H going long in the main event, The Rock getting showcased at the expense of the Wyatt Family, The Undertaker wrestling Shane McMahon in a Hell In A Cell match where Shane is actually treated as a threat to the Undertaker at Wrestlemania, the Dudley Boyz somehow making it on to a Wrestlemania card in 2016.

Worst of all, though, was the League Of Nations vs. The New Day. The heels go over, not because there's any storyline reason for them to, but so they could get beaten up after the match by a retired Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin and Mick Foley. Three heels that are getting booked as floating around the upper midcard, sometimes even troubling the main event, and you're booking them to get battered by retirees with no pay-off. The absolute pinnacle of the era. Especially because, at that time, they also had (and here's a Content Years name for you), The Social Outcasts as a comedy heel jobber stable, who could easily have taken that battering and been none the worse for it.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Its crazy that they shifted so many tickets to Mania 32.

Crazier still that Shane coming back got an incredible pop and apparently led to a huge number of tickets being sold.

Just looked up the card to remind myself and ffs.

• Opening ladder match won by Zack Ryder
• AJ Styles making his WrestleMania debut and jobbing to Chris Jericho in an average at best match.
• Brock Lesnar crushing Ambrose in a match where he couldn't be bothered doing anything as he clearly already knew he was fighting Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in the summer.
• Baron Corbin last eliminating Kane in a battle royal.
• Triple going 27 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very, VERY bad content. 

[Chili]

The commentary Vince barked to Cole/JBL and whoever else was on the call for that Sting/Triple H match was some of the most petty, pathetic stuff you'll ever hear. The only positive was realising it was about 15 years after WCW shut up shop, they had a monopoly, but Ted Turner was still collecting rent from Vince's head.

"WE WON AGAIN." Fuck off!

Edited December 9, 2024 by Chili

[BomberPat]

Sting/Triple H was just baffling to watch live, Sting's mates the nWo running in to help him out, because Vince knows two things about WCW, and Sting getting a big Japanese drum entrance because Vince seemingly thought he was The Great Kabuki or something. Y'know, face-painted lads. All after Sting did a great promo on RAW about how it wasn't about WWF vs. WCW!

It's hilarious watching it in hindsight, when you're no longer invested in any of the storytelling, to just see a daft nonsensical match, but it was infuriating at the time.

A mate of mine always tells me about how when he was watching it with mates, after the Triple H Terminator entrance, his friend just stood up and applauded, saying, "fair play, that's the shittest thing I've ever seen".

[Ironic Indie Lad]

HHH in those days was basically like a big band who went "we are going to self produce this next record!". Nobody there in the studio to tell them that their ideas are fucking crap. Hugely needed Torbin Ulrich in Titan Towers saying "delete that" on a daily basis. 

That Terminator entrance was genuine laugh out loud funny stuff because you just knew HHH was thinking it was the coolest shit of all time.

[gmoney]

I unironically love the Sting v HHH match, insane entrances and completely illogical story beats. A daft laugh.

[DavidB6937]

15 minutes ago, gmoney said:

I unironically love the Sting v HHH match, insane entrances and completely illogical story beats. A daft laugh.

Yeah, viewed as a one off out of context mad Mania match, it's pretty fun for the spectacle. I just remember watching it at the time and thinking it was a fever dream or something because there was no way I ever thought it was going that way.

[Devon Malcolm]

Scott Hall bumping like he was still in the Manhattan Centre was amazing to watch.

[Chili]

Oh god yeah, I watched that with some mates and when the Terminator entrance came on we all absolutely lost it for a few minutes. Triple H has some of the best worst special entrances ever commited to the history of wrestling. I can't think of any where he didn't look like a right fanny. The Conan Wrestlemania 22 entrance where it suddenly cut to him sat in that big chair like he was Father Jack Hackett in the three stages of Elvis bit from Father Ted always pops me. A fantastically insecure man and at times it pays off wonderfully.

Edited December 9, 2024 by Chili

[Chris B]

Wasn't it also their first major attempt at cross-branding promotion in a while too? I remember there'd been talk around this time of how they were looking to be more involved with concerts, etc, so there was an element of B2B marketing going on as well. And it was just hilariously shit.

[BomberPat]

42 minutes ago, Chili said:

Oh god yeah, I watched that with some mates and when the Terminator entrance came on we all absolutely lost it for a few minutes. Triple H has some of the best worst special entrances ever commited to the history of wrestling. I can't think of any where he didn't look like a right fanny. The Conan Wrestlemania 22 entrance where it suddenly cut to him sat in that big chair like he was Father Jack Hackett in the three stages of Elvis bit from Father Ted always pops me. A fantastically insecure man and at times it pays off wonderfully.

His entrance at Wrestlemania 30 was so over the top that I genuinely thought it was meant to be self-parody, that he was clinging to this image despite being an executive, and that it was supposed to be a contrast between him and Daniel Bryan as the no-nonsense everyman. But then he just kept doing them every year. Which year was the motorbike? Was he just jealous of The Undertaker?

[Chili]

10 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

His entrance at Wrestlemania 30 was so over the top that I genuinely thought it was meant to be self-parody, that he was clinging to this image despite being an executive, and that it was supposed to be a contrast between him and Daniel Bryan as the no-nonsense everyman. But then he just kept doing them every year. Which year was the motorbike? Was he just jealous of The Undertaker?

It wasn't a motorbike, it was a big nazi tricycle thing. Was that they year he had like some sort of police escort as part of it. 

I'm also trying to remember which one had Stephanie McMahon doing some big speech on a high raised platform like she was at a rally. God he doesn't do himself favours with the imagery does he.