Biggest downgrades ever

[tiger_rick]

Chuck anything you like in the thread. Wrestlers, matches, rosters, etc. Anything you consider a massive downgrade.

I was watching a compilation video someone put together recently of Open Challenges. A really recent one came on and the absolute state of the WWE Raw ring and everything being black was just the shittest thing. What an incredible downgrade. And if we're honest, it was already a downgrade on the incredible look it had in the late 90s and early 2000s.

AEW Dynamite could definitely fit in here too. They manage to avoid looking like corporate America took a big shit in the ring but they've downgraded massively on the beauty and vibrancy of early AE-dub.

Not an original observation but WCW going from this:

to this:

and then this shit:

was some beautiful symbolism.  

[Supremo]

It certainly speaks to how plastic and overproduced everything has become that I had to zoom in and double check if that second image of the Raw set was real or a WWE2K screenshot.

Anyway; Champion of the Fuckin’ World to Mate of a Fuckin’ Nonce.

[SuperBacon]

97 WWF Bret into 97/98 WCW Bret.

I know, I know, it's been discussed until the cows come home, but it still annoys me how the hottest wrestler in the world became an irrelevance so quickly.

Also, the Raw Is War theme tune (IN YOUR EYE) to any of the subsequent shit ones they had for Raw.

[tiger_rick]

2 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

97 WWF Bret into 97/98 WCW Bret.

I know, I know, it's been discussed until the cows come home, but it still annoys me how the hottest wrestler in the world became an irrelevance so quickly.

August 1997 Bret to October 1997 Bret is already an incredible downgrade. He walked out of SummerSlam looking like the biggest star in the world off the back of a great spring/summer and an incredible match. Before Survivor Series, he was like an old man, yelling at clouds and being framed as a racist. It feels deliberate with hindsight. He then goes into WCW as a bloke who the business is passing by and who has just had his heart broken. Slightly in their defence, he didn't want to be there and I can't imagine he inspired anyone. Then you add in the politicking and jealousy and you've got a right mess.

Great shout that.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

5 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Also, the Raw Is War theme tune (IN YOUR EYE) to any of the subsequent shit ones they had for Raw.

This made me imagine In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel as the RAW theme. That would have been shit I reckon. 

[tiger_rick]

14 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It certainly speaks to how plastic and overproduced everything has become that I had to zoom in and double check if that second image of the Raw set was real or a WWE2K screenshot.

Anyway; Champion of the Fuckin’ World to Mate of a Fuckin’ Nonce.

Absolutely depressing, this one. Supes and Bacon mentioning the two biggest bummers of my life as a wrestling fan back to back. Got an email about Dynamite in Glasgow last week. Had a fantastic time last year. Haven't even considered it this year. They've downgraded Glasgae.

[Supremo]

Yeah, Bret’s downgrade happens instantaneously at Summerslam in 1997. He’s already the WCW version of himself by the time he’s pissing about with The Patriot and having a worthless Flag Match on the undercard to Undertaker and Shawn’s Hell in a Cell.

In retrospect, he shouldn’t have ducked when Shawn swung the chair at Summerslam, hitting The Undertaker instead. That’s his Sliding Doors moment. The momentum of the entire business moves to Shawn, Taker and The Fed. He never gets it back.

Edited May 19 by Supremo

[The Reverend]

Going to go old school - Survivor Series. 87, 88, 89, 90 - proper teams, with cool names (89,90) and opponents who had a reason to match up against each other - to 91 and beyond when it just became a mixed bag of odd teams and singles matches. There was a bit of a return to form in the mid-90s, but after that it just became another PPV. 

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

 And if we're honest, it was already a downgrade on the incredible look it had in the late 90s and early 2000s.

 

For me, this was a downgrade. Fucking hate these entrances. A classic case of more not necessarily being more. Over-produced, corporate, empty media glitz. Fine for WM, not for regular TV.

[Chico Torres]

WWF first half of the 90s to second half of the 90s

WCW first half of 1994 to second half of 1994

Maxx Payne to Man Mountain Rock

Heel Doink to Babyface Doink

[DavidB6937]

51 minutes ago, The Reverend said:

Going to go old school - Survivor Series. 87, 88, 89, 90 - proper teams, with cool names (89,90) and opponents who had a reason to match up against each other - to 91 and beyond when it just became a mixed bag of odd teams and singles matches. There was a bit of a return to form in the mid-90s, but after that it just became another PPV. 

Reminds me of the disappointment of the VHS covers too.

Fucks sake.

[Supremo]

A huge downgrade is going from television shows opening up with pyro and ballyhoo, huge explosions and a top star’s music immediately hitting, to what we get now. Wide shots of arenas, soft music dubbed over footage of wrestlers in street clothes, arriving with luggage, all whilst the commentators whisper over it like they’re calling a golf tournament.

[LaGoosh]

2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Also, the Raw Is War theme tune (IN YOUR EYE) to any of the subsequent shit ones they had for Raw.

Easily the best show theme ever. None since have even come remotely close. 

[air_raid]

Not to be Captain Obvious, but three time tag team champions Demolition (Ax and Smash) with their killer entrance, having outgrown and proven to not need Mr Fuji… to Smash & Crush, crap theme, never getting a sniff of the title again, and managed by Mr Fuji.

Kendall Windham as a quasi Horsemen is up there, as egregious as Paul Roma but far less remembered.

[The Reverend]

Following on from @air_raid above - just Tag Teams as a whole. Matching attire, styles that contemplated each other, team names - now it's just any two randoms paired up for a short time. When was there a Tag Team that lasted any great time, had a good look, looked like they could've fitted in with the stellar tag division of the 80s and 90s and that anyone really cared about?