Savage/Honky/Dibiase Wrestlemania deal?

[Maple Leaf Wrestling]

Well the stuff became unpopular b/c you can only be on top for so long maybe say for stupid reality base tv shows like American Idol or Survivor and as well as professional sports leagues as everyone follows their favourite team or league year in and year out but the WWF that wasn't the case as since it was acting as opposed to real competition the people saw so many great things in the great 80's that there was not much more to watch in the early 90's as the WWF couldn't match what they have accomplished b/c it was too great.

I remember when the same kids in school whom I chatted about wrestling about in the 80's were bashing the stuff by the early 90's and made fun of people who still followed as by the 90's the young folks were into stuff like hit teen tv shows or comedy shows or any other regular scripted shows or even music bands and all that stuff.

That is true you can only go on so long. Id probably say the reason why they fell down was because alot of the stars we had grown up with were gone. Demolition, Nasty Boys, LOD, Bulldogs, Jake, Warrior, Hogan had all gone by the time 1993 was here even though Hulk and Brutus came back for the odd match but it just didnt feel the same to me.

To this day Ive still no idea how NBC managed to pull off bringing in practically half the american audience to watch Hogan and Andre in 1988.

I think the product started to slip before the stars left as it started slowly slipping in the spring/summer of 1990 and into 1991 as even when Hogan was getting ready for his 3rd title reign it didn't get the same fan interest as in previous years as Hogan vs Slaughter didn't draw much fan interest on a nation wide basis. I think 1991 was the transition year as when the fans really stopped caring to set aside time to watch the WWF as it wasn't important as say making time to watch the NFL all day on Sunday's.

As far as the NBC ratings for The Main Event in 1988, well Hogan & Andre had the biggest match in the history of the WWF the previous year at WM3 and that wasn't free so when you have a re-match of the greatest match ever hyped on free tv then you are going to get the same people who purchased the product to go along with the ones who didn't get a chance to pay for WM3 and hence you get all the ratings. You got to remember that Hogan's name in the 80's was just like Michael Jordan's name in the 90's with regards to selling power as when they were on tv everybody watched b/c it was must see tv.

[/quote]

Well it wasn't Vince's fault that the fans didn't cling to Warrior the same way they did Hogan b/c Warrior's character wasn't as catchy and it was rather rudundent for fans to cling to Warrior fending off those monster heels the same way Hogan did to them. Fans by that point had already been there and seen that but that were really few options at the time b/c the stuff was so great in the 80's you couldn't get any better and thus it was a given that it was going to go downhill b/c people were moving on.

As for the Hogan/Andre match at The Main Event, well they didn't hype it for a year as they starting the hype after the Jan SNME in 1988 and then in the weeks leading up to the match they hyped Hogan/Andre on national tv but didn't give the specifics as to what network and what time as you had to check your local listings for that and then when the TV guide came you knew it aired on Friday at NBC @ 8:00 PM.

As for the 3rd match b/t Hogan & Andre, well that match wasn't on national tv as it was on WM4 and thus you had to pay for it and it was not as big as the WM3 match b/c it was part of a tournament and it was a bye into the second round and fans hadn't seen anything like this before. Overall though going into WM4 the Hogan/Andre match was the most talked about match that was set, but everyone was humming over which 2 men would face off for the WWF title and whom would win.

[Maple Leaf Wrestling]

Well there are alot of rights that existed in the WWF in the 80's to trump all of the wrongs that exist in today's era or even the 90's & 00's eras.

The 80's was the era that put the industry on the map as not only did it drive up the WWF's popularity it also made the NWA and later WCW as well b/c those promotions were made famous in their attempt to compete with the WWF. The impact of the WWF's popularity in the 80's was just remarkable as the trickle down effect was immense as it forced the NWA to go national and consoladate all their mickey mouse territories into 1 big one that competed with WWF. I remember when I first got hooked on WWF and when I got a glimpse of the NWA and AWA programming I would casually watch those programs just to see how they compared to the WWF and I knew the WWF trumped those shows it was the WWF who played the defacto role in introducing me to the NWA & AWA promotions.

If it wasn't for Vince's plan to go national in the 80's the TV exposure in the 80's would not have been there and even Ted Turner wouldn't have come up with the idea to purchase the NWA.

So in reality the trickle down effect was huge with regards to what occurred in the 80's as without today's industry would still be local and not national and not that national means anything special today.

[wrestlevessel]

Martel pinned Beefcake at MSG Dec 1989.

[Maple Leaf Wrestling]

Martel pinned Beefcake at MSG Dec 1989.

It wasn't nationally televised or a PPV so it doesn't count as the only people who knew about that result was the fans at MSG or the people who had access to the MSG network.

[MeanMike]

Well the stuff became unpopular b/c you can only be on top for so long maybe say for stupid reality base tv shows like American Idol or Survivor and as well as professional sports leagues as everyone follows their favourite team or league year in and year out but the WWF that wasn't the case as since it was acting as opposed to real competition the people saw so many great things in the great 80's that there was not much more to watch in the early 90's as the WWF couldn't match what they have accomplished b/c it was too great.

I remember when the same kids in school whom I chatted about wrestling about in the 80's were bashing the stuff by the early 90's and made fun of people who still followed as by the 90's the young folks were into stuff like hit teen tv shows or comedy shows or any other regular scripted shows or even music bands and all that stuff.

That is true you can only go on so long. Id probably say the reason why they fell down was because alot of the stars we had grown up with were gone. Demolition, Nasty Boys, LOD, Bulldogs, Jake, Warrior, Hogan had all gone by the time 1993 was here even though Hulk and Brutus came back for the odd match but it just didnt feel the same to me.

To this day Ive still no idea how NBC managed to pull off bringing in practically half the american audience to watch Hogan and Andre in 1988.

I think the product started to slip before the stars left as it started slowly slipping in the spring/summer of 1990 and into 1991 as even when Hogan was getting ready for his 3rd title reign it didn't get the same fan interest as in previous years as Hogan vs Slaughter didn't draw much fan interest on a nation wide basis. I think 1991 was the transition year as when the fans really stopped caring to set aside time to watch the WWF as it wasn't important as say making time to watch the NFL all day on Sunday's.

As far as the NBC ratings for The Main Event in 1988, well Hogan & Andre had the biggest match in the history of the WWF the previous year at WM3 and that wasn't free so when you have a re-match of the greatest match ever hyped on free tv then you are going to get the same people who purchased the product to go along with the ones who didn't get a chance to pay for WM3 and hence you get all the ratings. You got to remember that Hogan's name in the 80's was just like Michael Jordan's name in the 90's with regards to selling power as when they were on tv everybody watched b/c it was must see tv.

Well it wasn't Vince's fault that the fans didn't cling to Warrior the same way they did Hogan b/c Warrior's character wasn't as catchy and it was rather rudundent for fans to cling to Warrior fending off those monster heels the same way Hogan did to them. Fans by that point had already been there and seen that but that were really few options at the time b/c the stuff was so great in the 80's you couldn't get any better and thus it was a given that it was going to go downhill b/c people were moving on.

As for the Hogan/Andre match at The Main Event, well they didn't hype it for a year as they starting the hype after the Jan SNME in 1988 and then in the weeks leading up to the match they hyped Hogan/Andre on national tv but didn't give the specifics as to what network and what time as you had to check your local listings for that and then when the TV guide came you knew it aired on Friday at NBC @ 8:00 PM.

As for the 3rd match b/t Hogan & Andre, well that match wasn't on national tv as it was on WM4 and thus you had to pay for it and it was not as big as the WM3 match b/c it was part of a tournament and it was a bye into the second round and fans hadn't seen anything like this before. Overall though going into WM4 the Hogan/Andre match was the most talked about match that was set, but everyone was humming over which 2 men would face off for the WWF title and whom would win.

Well they certenly were hyping a eventual rematch between the two for almost a good year. A good thing the internet wasent around then with wrestling sites as I recall the commentators were censored from talking about on tv what happenned. For me I think they would of been better off making the Hulk/Andre match not even in the tournament so you get a clear cut winner.

Warrior was almost a clone of Hogan in that the way he would kick out of finishers that would rejuvienate him where he would then beat the moster opponent. It was more obvious that after the match the fans were more interested in Hogan than Warrior's victory. Maybe it was a bad idea for Warrior to go over and who knows if they would had they known the outcome.

[MeanMike]

Well there are alot of rights that existed in the WWF in the 80's to trump all of the wrongs that exist in today's era or even the 90's & 00's eras.

The 80's was the era that put the industry on the map as not only did it drive up the WWF's popularity it also made the NWA and later WCW as well b/c those promotions were made famous in their attempt to compete with the WWF. The impact of the WWF's popularity in the 80's was just remarkable as the trickle down effect was immense as it forced the NWA to go national and consoladate all their mickey mouse territories into 1 big one that competed with WWF. I remember when I first got hooked on WWF and when I got a glimpse of the NWA and AWA programming I would casually watch those programs just to see how they compared to the WWF and I knew the WWF trumped those shows it was the WWF who played the defacto role in introducing me to the NWA & AWA promotions.

If it wasn't for Vince's plan to go national in the 80's the TV exposure in the 80's would not have been there and even Ted Turner wouldn't have come up with the idea to purchase the NWA.

So in reality the trickle down effect was huge with regards to what occurred in the 80's as without today's industry would still be local and not national and not that national means anything special today.

Funnily enough if you try to explain that to youngsters or teenagers they refuse to listen to it and give some bullshit about Austin & Rocks era being better.

[MeanMike]

Martel pinned Beefcake at MSG Dec 1989.

It wasn't nationally televised or a PPV so it doesn't count as the only people who knew about that result was the fans at MSG or the people who had access to the MSG network.

As far as wrestling fans are concerned Beefcake ended the feud at the survivor series.

[Maple Leaf Wrestling]

Martel pinned Beefcake at MSG Dec 1989.

It wasn't nationally televised or a PPV so it doesn't count as the only people who knew about that result was the fans at MSG or the people who had access to the MSG network.

As far as wrestling fans are concerned Beefcake ended the feud at the survivor series.

I didn't even remember they had a feud at that time as I always thought Martel was feuding with Tito in a meaningless feud.

[MeanMike]

I didn't even remember they had a feud at that time as I always thought Martel was feuding with Tito in a meaningless feud.

The event centres kept hyping it and plus how can you not have a feud when Martel interferes in your matches on TV in retalliation to the Barber cutting up the models fasion clothes on Superstars.

[Martelfan]

How did he get banned

My love of Martel really gets his goat doesn't it? Every threads turns into the Martel show.

As far as Rick Martel goes, well he was so popular that when he returned in late 1986 to the WWF they didn't even acknowledge his prior WWF stints as WWF tagteam champion. I also laugh when someone who didn't even watch Rick Martel when he held the tag title boast about how Martel was a former tag champion but won't even state that it occured when the WWF was still a territory and not on a national mainstream basis.

LOL - So - do we discount Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Morales, etc etc ?

And as for Martel and Santana's feud being 'meaningless' - I thought it was a pretty enjoyable feud in 89, but lost its way by 90. Santana became a proper jobber at that point.