The Wrestling Thread's got...needs - Part 216

[PyroChamber]

Regis Philbin? Does he even remember being involved in wrestling at all?

 

[runawayboulder]

With the exception of the Freebirds that is the worst HoF class ever. I can't wait to turn off my TV when JBL is announced.

 

[OnTheAir]

Jacqueline is an interesting choice.

Jim Ross has been speculating that she could be an inductee since Mania is in Dallas. I think she's deserving.

 

[nite-owl]

Regis Philbin? Does he even remember being involved in wrestling at all?

He did commentary for the main event at WrestleMania VII.

 

[Wheels]

Jim Ross has been speculating that she could be an inductee since Mania is in Dallas. I think she's deserving.

I like her quite a bit from a performance standpoint but she didn't get a chance to shine that much in WWF or WCW.

 

[cabel]

Jim Ross has been speculating that she could be an inductee since Mania is in Dallas. I think she's deserving.

Same here. Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't she one of the first prominent black female wrestlers. I honestly can't think of any others Pre 2000's.

I like her quite a bit from a performance standpoint but she didn't get a chance to shine that much in WWF or WCW.

True, though women like her and Ivory did give the division some depth while bridging the gap from the attitude era to the Trisha/Lita era.

In terms of WWE's self contained bubble, I'm fine with JBL. I think his run in 04 is a bit underrated. He had some good to great matches with Eddie, Angle, and Cena. Great on the mic when he needed to be. I was also ringside when he won the title, so there may be some rose colored glasses there.

Regis is a known superfan and one of the better options for a celebrity inductee than some.

Godfather....eh. Fun character during a fun era.

 

[famicommander]

Celebrity hall of famers is a staggeringly stupid concept. I hate when any wrestling promotion throws pop culture stars into their shows. It was dumb in WCW, it was dumb in TNA, it was dumb in WWE.

Guest hosts were the single worst thing that ever happened to WWE programming. Worse than the shift to three hours or TVPG.

 

[Wylie Times]

Celebrity hall of famers is a staggeringly stupid concept. I hate when any wrestling promotion throws pop culture stars into their shows. It was dumb in WCW, it was dumb in TNA, it was dumb in WWE.

Guest hosts were the single worst thing that ever happened to WWE programming. Worse than the shift to three hours or TVPG.

Celebrities are often wrestling fans too.

It never hurts ANY promotion to bring some extra attention to their product. It's also something that's been done in wrestling since before any of us were born....

 

[famicommander]

I don't care. When you put people like Stephen Amell or Karl Malone or Donald Trump or David Arquette in a wrestling ring it makes the actual wrestlers that have been honing their craft for most of their adult
lives look ridiculously incompetent.

And even when the celebrities don't wrestle it portrays the notion that these stars are more important than the center piece of their shows. It's just another way that WWE goes out of their way to distract fans from the fact that the product they're selling is professional wrestling.

 

[Pink Ranger]

It never hurts ANY promotion to bring some extra attention to their product. It's also something that's been done in wrestling since before any of us were born....

Speak for yourself. I was there the day Lou Thesz piledrived Charlie Chaplin for the Inter-gender Championship.

 

[runawayboulder]

Sunny's porn vid is out. Hopefully HHH's kids don't google her name anytime soon.....

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Mike Tyson gave a massive rub to Steve Austin and DX and the Attitude Era with his WrestleMania 14 appearance. Even Trump and Floyd Mayweather's WM appearances did massive numbers. So outside celebrities can be useful.

I didn't like the guest host era of RAW because I thought it cheapened the use of celebrities. And for every good one that was great you had ten **** ones that either didn't want to be there and sucked or were d-list and had no relevance in the modern era (John Lovitz and Dennis Miller in 2009, really?).

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Sunny's porn vid is out. Hopefully HHH's kids don't google her name anytime soon.....

If this were 1996 what was the Internet back then would've been destroyed trying to download it.

Twenty years later its a different story.

 

[Pink Ranger]

If this were 1996 what was the Internet back then would've been destroyed trying to download it.

Twenty years later its a different story.

I see what you mean. We have greater bandwidth these days. t:

 

[nite-owl]

 

[SpideyVille]

Sunny's porn vid is out. Hopefully HHH's kids don't google her name anytime soon.....

Already? Last I heard yesterday, she was considering offers and selling off her HOF ring.

 

[SpideyVille]

I don't care. When you put people like Stephen Amell or Karl Malone or Donald Trump or David Arquette in a wrestling ring it makes the actual wrestlers that have been honing their craft for most of their adult
lives look ridiculously incompetent.

And even when the celebrities don't wrestle it portrays the notion that these stars are more important than the center piece of their shows. It's just another way that WWE goes out of their way to distract fans from the fact that the product they're selling is professional wrestling.

The MNW documentary really helped put this into perspective, but let's put it like this. WWE, both now and 30 years ago, was not very popular. Yes, there were a strong core of fans, but overall, there was the stigma that this is something silly to the general public.

The same can be said about comic books, which wrestling shares a comic thread to. Now let's say you're a young male in a relationship, and you meet someone who thinks both are silly , not from experience, but just because of what they heard or seen from afar. Now image this girl's favorite actor is cast as Superman. That is enough incentive to have her say she's interested in checking out the movie with you, and ends up becoming more interested in the character of Superman because she enjoyed the movie. Next thing you know, she's opening up to the comic world a little more. She watches Arrow/Flash with you, or goes to conventions. Suddenly, she's a fan, and she's buying merchandise and watching more movies, all because she watched one movie because of the actor in it.

That's basically what the WWE wants. They want celebrities, some of who may be fans themselves, to appear on their shows and hopefully attract their fanbase as a way to have more people interested in their product. After all, you'll never grow your brand if you don't expand your audience.

Now, I agree, it looks embarrassing when these "superior athletes" lose a fight to a smaller, untrained person. But on the flip side, if they had never done this at all, we would have never gotten people like Ken Shamrock or Mark Henry, who ultimately made it possible for people like Kurt Angle or Brock Lesnar to believe that they can succeed in this business.

Yes, it's silly when David Arquette wins the title, but that's an example of poor writing and use of resources. When done right, celebrities can add a lot to the actual programming, and also contribute to some growth of the company overall.

 

[Dr. Evil]

If it is Regis Philbin, will David Letterman induct him?

 

[Dr. Evil]

With the exception of the Freebirds that is the worst HoF class ever. I can't wait to turn off my TV when JBL is announced.

Taker is not going in this year and neither is the Rock, both of whom will appear at Mania.

The Rock's appearance makes no sense to me.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Jacqueline is an interesting choice.

On Twitter she was asked if she'll ever return to the WWE and her response was "never say never."

It would not surprise me at all if she signed a Legends deal with WWE.

 

[TX85]

I kinda liked Jaqueline but I actually enjoyed her the most in TNA. I'm guessing she'll now be a playable female legend in new wwe games like Lita,Trish and now Alondra Blaze

 

[SuperBatman]

Meh I just think Roman winning the Royal Rumble is too preditable and WWE has a chance to not be predictable I mean if they really want HHH vs. Roman at WM does that really need to be for the title? Have HHH screw Roman out of the rumble and that match is set. As for who should win the title and who he should face I would be all for Bray Wyatt winning the title even though he really hasn't beaten anybody n his feuds except Daniel Bryan. However that hardly means anything when we had MITB winners lose matches to jobbers before they ever won the title.

 

[Wylie Times]

I don't care. When you put people like Stephen Amell or Karl Malone or Donald Trump or David Arquette in a wrestling ring it makes the actual wrestlers that have been honing their craft for most of their adult
lives look ridiculously incompetent.

And even when the celebrities don't wrestle it portrays the notion that these stars are more important than the center piece of their shows. It's just another way that WWE goes out of their way to distract fans from the fact that the product they're selling is professional wrestling.

WWE isn't the only promotion that does this....Every major promotion has done it to some degree or another, the ones that haven't likely can't bring in a celebrity of any type.

 

[Wylie Times]

Taker is not going in this year and neither is the Rock, both of whom will appear at Mania.

The Rock's appearance makes no sense to me.

People will pay money to see the Rock and he brings mainstream attention.

 

[SuperBatman]

FOr those of u Interested the Royal Rumble Prediction Card is up if there is a way to get the 2016 Thread Sticky in place of the WWE 2014 Edition can somebody do that for me thanks.