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Post by The Sexy Psychotic on Sept 14, 2020 13:38:49 GMT -5
Ok so I'm sure this has been talked about a lil bit in my 10years on the site but I've gotta pose the question one more time; why did they give us such a HUGE match on a throwaway Raw?
I've been reading a bunch of rumour sites from 98/99 (fascinating stuff btw), but one thing that was consistent till as late as July/August and early as January was that it was set as Austin/Wight at Mania2000. Why give it away so soon, why give your top match away on free TV and within 5weeks of Wight showing up?
Dont get me wrong, I feel the build to WM15 is one of the best ever but to have that match be as competitive as it was, just weird. Heck have it, but have it be a brawl, we didn't need a full match...did we?
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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 14, 2020 14:05:40 GMT -5
To me it was always Vince wanting to put the competition down, and despite Big Show being the first big star in that era to jump from WCW to the WWF, Vince wanted to show the audience that his guys were superior (a 180 to WCW where the invaders where always superior to the home grown talent).
I’m sure Vince said in passing during negotiations with Wright that he envisioned an Austin/Big Show WM main event, but who knows if that was ever the true plan (some rumors say it was in Show’s contract to main event a WM but I doubt Vince ever put that in anyone’s contract). I think it comes down to Vince wanting to break down an outsider and building them back up in “his vision.” We saw plenty of that in the early 2000s as more top WCW guys came into the company, and Vince probably felt giving it away on Raw would boost Austin’s credibility, hurt WCW, and start the rebuild of Wright under “Vince’s vision.”
Was this wrong? In the long run sure as Big Show became a joke within months of debuting. But outside of Show himself, I don’t see how it hurt the WWF at the time as they were on fire no matter what they did.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Sept 14, 2020 15:23:32 GMT -5
The supposed main event for Wrestlemania 16 is given to us for free on Raw a year prior.... I never saw Austin vs. Big Show as a possible main event at Wrestlemania. I remember fans said it, and the internet reports may have leaked that in 1999, which is how the rumour got started. But Austin vs. Show for free on Raw was no different than Hogan vs. Goldberg for free on Nitro. Just anything to keep the fans tuned in and keep those ratings up!
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Post by The Sexy Psychotic on Sept 14, 2020 16:26:38 GMT -5
To me it was always Vince wanting to put the competition down, and despite Big Show being the first big star in that era to jump from WCW to the WWF, Vince wanted to show the audience that his guys were superior (a 180 to WCW where the invaders where always superior to the home grown talent). I’m sure Vince said in passing during negotiations with Wright that he envisioned an Austin/Big Show WM main event, but who knows if that was ever the true plan (some rumors say it was in Show’s contract to main event a WM but I doubt Vince ever put that in anyone’s contract). I think it comes down to Vince wanting to break down an outsider and building them back up in “his vision.” We saw plenty of that in the early 2000s as more top WCW guys came into the company, and Vince probably felt giving it away on Raw would boost Austin’s credibility, hurt WCW, and start the rebuild of Wright under “Vince’s vision.” Was this wrong? In the long run sure as Big Show became a joke within months of debuting. But outside of Show himself, I don’t see how it hurt the WWF at the time as they were on fire no matter what they did. Oh no I get you, like I get why they did the match but for it to be actually competitive and for Show to lose decisively, just weird. As for the contract stuff, I'm reading that when Trips resigned in 98 that the big part of it was the promise of the Championship within 6-18months of signing. This was the point where Vince was starting to guarantee guys things, especially if he saw them as a big draw |
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Post by Kill Em' All on Sept 14, 2020 19:49:19 GMT -5
Some of Shows best work as performer was circa 2008-2013, big show in 1999 going against Austin is garbage imo. Honestly Big Show when he was good did not get good credit. His 08 program with Taker,Jeri Show, Sheamus program, and even his RR 13 match with Delrio are very entertaining highlights in his career
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 15, 2020 6:23:44 GMT -5
Very strange from Vince. He spent years saying Bischoff had no clue how to book Wight but when he got him? His 1st act was to make him look like a fool and hand Austin the match by mistake @ IYH.
The match on Raw is even weirder...Austin is said to have been against it and said that Vince was pulling the trigger on it too soon and hurting his new arrival(he was right) when Vince was questioned on it by a few guys apparently the response was " Dont worry it will make sense in a few weeks". 25 years on Im still waiting for it to make sense...LOL. At the very least he could have been a PPV opponent for SCSA in May....
Show should have been booked to annihilate someone credible to atone for his mistake at IYH. Better yet? Change that piece of booking at IYH altogether.
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Sept 15, 2020 10:28:53 GMT -5
Austin famously called for him to kick out of 9 stunners at a house show around this time.
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Post by cordless2016 on Sept 15, 2020 20:02:32 GMT -5
Very strange from Vince. He spent years saying Bischoff had no clue how to book Wight but when he got him? His 1st act was to make him look like a fool and hand Austin the match by mistake @ IYH. The match on Raw is even weirder...Austin is said to have been against it and said that Vince was pulling the trigger on it too soon and hurting his new arrival(he was right) when Vince was questioned on it by a few guys apparently the response was " Dont worry it will make sense in a few weeks". 25 years on Im still waiting for it to make sense...LOL. At the very least he could have been a PPV opponent for SCSA in May.... Show should have been booked to annihilate someone credible to atone for his mistake at IYH. Better yet? Change that piece of booking at IYH altogether. Comes down to Vince’s ego being too big for him to book Show properly. It was all about making sure the fans knew that his home-grown guys were better than the competition. Sad because Show could have really been an attraction if booked properly. He should have been booked to only have matches on PPV. Have him dominate his opponents too so that when someone like Austin did beat him it meant something. Instead, we got a face turn about a month after his debut, joined the Union for a cup of coffee, then turned heel again to be Taker’s storyline b****. |
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 16, 2020 5:22:09 GMT -5
Very strange from Vince. He spent years saying Bischoff had no clue how to book Wight but when he got him? His 1st act was to make him look like a fool and hand Austin the match by mistake @ IYH. The match on Raw is even weirder...Austin is said to have been against it and said that Vince was pulling the trigger on it too soon and hurting his new arrival(he was right) when Vince was questioned on it by a few guys apparently the response was " Dont worry it will make sense in a few weeks". 25 years on Im still waiting for it to make sense...LOL. At the very least he could have been a PPV opponent for SCSA in May.... Show should have been booked to annihilate someone credible to atone for his mistake at IYH. Better yet? Change that piece of booking at IYH altogether. Comes down to Vince’s ego being too big for him to book Show properly. It was all about making sure the fans knew that his home-grown guys were better than the competition. Sad because Show could have really been an attraction if booked properly. He should have been booked to only have matches on PPV. Have him dominate his opponents too so that when someone like Austin did beat him it meant something. Instead, we got a face turn about a month after his debut, joined the Union for a cup of coffee, then turned heel again to be Taker’s storyline b****. Ive said before...but the CONSTANT flipping of Heel/face heel/face with Show was devastating to crowd interest in 99/00 IMHO. In the year spanning Feb 99-Feb 2000 he was: Heel(intro) Face(union big mistake..should have been left Corporate Ministry) Heel( with UT) Face(champ) Heel (McMahon/Helmsley regime) A guy will NEVER connect with the Audience that way. Seriously sh*tty booking. |
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Thunder Chunky
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 1, 2010 21:57:30 GMT -5
Posts: 4,494
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Post by Thunder Chunky on Sept 16, 2020 18:40:20 GMT -5
Vince has never had any idea how to book giants, going back to Andre. The only time that Big Show was booked correctly was his ECW run in 2006.
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Post by k5 on Sept 17, 2020 9:21:37 GMT -5
I think it was such a political time, which Austin being a legit rattlesnake about holding his top spot, and a lot of hungry guys for it, and undertaker being heavily judging of other, especially bigger men's, ring work - I just don't think Paul Wight was the best advocate and politician for himself. it only takes a few mistakes with a character to damage it, and he let himself be walked all over just like how WCW had done to him.
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Post by theoutlaw1999 on Sept 17, 2020 18:47:33 GMT -5
Comes down to Vince’s ego being too big for him to book Show properly. It was all about making sure the fans knew that his home-grown guys were better than the competition. Sad because Show could have really been an attraction if booked properly. He should have been booked to only have matches on PPV. Have him dominate his opponents too so that when someone like Austin did beat him it meant something. Instead, we got a face turn about a month after his debut, joined the Union for a cup of coffee, then turned heel again to be Taker’s storyline b****. Ive said before...but the CONSTANT flipping of Heel/face heel/face with Show was devastating to crowd interest in 99/00 IMHO. In the year spanning Feb 99-Feb 2000 he was: Heel(intro) Face(union big mistake..should have been left Corporate Ministry) Heel( with UT) Face(champ) Heel (McMahon/Helmsley regime) A guy will NEVER connect with the Audience that way. Seriously sh*tty booking. Even his debut was a huge fail. He comes though the ring, throws Austin through the cage, winning him the match as a bloody Vince looks on. Booking wise it made him look like a fool by botching his attack on Austin. He was a former WCW champion and a huge signing so a monstrous debut where he obliterates Austin would've made him look a serious threat. |
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 18, 2020 10:50:15 GMT -5
Ive said before...but the CONSTANT flipping of Heel/face heel/face with Show was devastating to crowd interest in 99/00 IMHO. In the year spanning Feb 99-Feb 2000 he was: Heel(intro) Face(union big mistake..should have been left Corporate Ministry) Heel( with UT) Face(champ) Heel (McMahon/Helmsley regime) A guy will NEVER connect with the Audience that way. Seriously sh*tty booking. Even his debut was a huge fail. He comes though the ring, throws Austin through the cage, winning him the match as a bloody Vince looks on. Booking wise it made him look like a fool by botching his attack on Austin. He was a former WCW champion and a huge signing so a monstrous debut where he obliterates Austin would've made him look a serious threat. His debut was a shocker...from a booking point of view? It made no sense. He should have came through the crowd & obliterated Austin AFTER he beat Vince. His intro should have been a surprise to Vince..and Wight offers him his services there & then. But his intro was huge foreshadowing....Vince should have been losing the cage match straight up to Austin. They weren't gonna wrestle again? so what was the point of this at all? His debut just shows you what he really thought of Show.... |
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TheXtremisT
Main Eventer
10 Year Member
This is the way
Joined on: May 3, 2008 8:03:15 GMT -5
Posts: 3,883
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Post by TheXtremisT on Sept 19, 2020 18:07:21 GMT -5
Vince has never had any idea how to book giants, going back to Andre. The only time that Big Show was booked correctly was his ECW run in 2006. Or Heyman's time with the pen in 2002/3 when he booked Show as a big heel against Lesnar (tanktop and slacks era) Even his debut was a huge fail. He comes though the ring, throws Austin through the cage, winning him the match as a bloody Vince looks on. Booking wise it made him look like a fool by botching his attack on Austin. He was a former WCW champion and a huge signing so a monstrous debut where he obliterates Austin would've made him look a serious threat. His debut was a shocker...from a booking point of view? It made no sense. He should have came through the crowd & obliterated Austin AFTER he beat Vince. His intro should have been a surprise to Vince..and Wight offers him his services there & then. But his intro was huge foreshadowing....Vince should have been losing the cage match straight up to Austin. They weren't gonna wrestle again? so what was the point of this at all? His debut just shows you what he really thought of Show.... Literally my thoughts exactly. I was thinking similar to Booker T coming into the WWF, where he attacked Austin post match. Albeit with the shock and destruction you mentioned. |
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Hogan VS Flair
