Where are you at fan wise?

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Winner.

They put the title on him and even had him beat by far their biggest native draw Naito because of their desire to appeal to a foreign crowd. That's literally the same logic WWE did when they put a world title on Jinder Mahal.

That's all I'm saying. If people are fine with what NJPW are doing and also didn't have a problem with the reason why WWE strapped a rocket to Jinder, then fair play.

I say this as one of the few people who don't hate Jinder at all, but I think guys like Jericho and Omega have far more legitimacy to go along with deciding to put the title on them. What would an example of a foreign jobber in NJPW getting the title be, if any? Scott Norton? He was sorta legit too though, no?

Jinder gives me throwback vibes, which is probably why I don't hate him like most people do.

 

[The Burdened]

noone cared about the India thing

What was the sole reason Jinder was champion? Because of the India thing.

Inherently, people cared. If not for the India thing, would would not have had to suffer through a 6-month reign.

 

[Disclose]

literally okada just held he title for 2 years and dropped it to the most deserved star in the company. he might be canadian, but this guy lives and speaks japanesse culture.

either way its pretty damn stupid to compare Jinder's push to whatever NJPW is doing.

 

[The Burdened]

ayy lmao at people still thinking I'm talking exclusively about Omega. Omega has been chasing the title for 2-years I'm not talking about him.

Seems it's broken down to wanting to separate the intent behind the push vs. "well, this guy sucks so BOO -or- This guy is good so I'll allow it."

It's kind of like how some want to rightfully blackball Hulk Hogan because he said the n-word, but AJ Styles is still on a pedestal even though he is a known homophobe and has dropped f-word numerous times. Why? Bigotry is bigotry, ya? Why is one blackballed and the other the current champion? Why do people look the other way with some wrestlers but not with others?

It because people love AJ Styles and his work. They don't love Hulk Hogan and his work, so f*** him forever. People overlook NJPW doing the same practices WWE did with Jinder because NJPW can do no wrong.

 

[SeidoN]

What was the sole reason Jinder was champion? Because of the India thing.

Inherently, people cared. If not for the India thing, would would not have had to suffer through a 6-month reign.

ok, Vince McMahon and the WWE cared. the fans didnt really. they were too preoccupied with Jinder being an awful champion rather than an Indian champion

its been widely reported that the Jinder reign did basically nothing for the Indian market anyway

 

[The Burdened]

ok, Vince McMahon and the WWE cared. the fans didnt really. they were too preoccupied with Jinder being an awful champion rather than an Indian champion

I'm not saying fans shit on Jinder because he was Indian. That had 100% nothing to do with it we can both agree on that.

All I'm doing is comparing WHY Jinder Mahal had the belt in relation to WHY 4/4 of the top champions in NJPW are gaijins right before they came to the West.

 

[SeidoN]

All I'm doing is comparing WHY Jinder Mahal had the belt in relation to WHY 4/4 of the top champions in NJPW are gaijins right before they came to the West.

the key thing is that the gaijin reigns in NJPW dont feel that out of place, but I suppose thats a matter of opinion. Jinders was absolutely way out of place, im sure most would agree.

 

[BruinDust]

The product began to lose me at the start of the original brand split in 2002. Even then I was well past caring about who won or lost, I just wanted to be entertained.

Was slightly revitalized in 2011 with Punk and the intrigue around his story and contract expiring. But then WWE completely dropped the ball on what should of been a revolutionary angle and it's been completely downhill ever since.

Now we are presented with the worst WWE product since Vince bought the company from his father. Stale, boring, cookie-cutter, paint-by-numbers angles and plot devices. Generic wrestlers and gimmicks. Too many problems with WWE and their product to list here, I'd be here all day.

I'll flip on RAW if I'm home and there is nothing else to do and nothing else on. Gone are the days of RAW being anything resembling must-see TV.

SD I only catch sparingly. I'll go to a friends house to stream the Rumble and Wrestlemania, could care less about the other PPVs, rarely worth the time investment.

 

[BruinDust]

ok, Vince McMahon and the WWE cared. the fans didnt really. they were too preoccupied with Jinder being an awful champion rather than an Indian champion

its been widely reported that the Jinder reign did basically nothing for the Indian market anyway

Didn't help that the guy isn't from India, and anyone on the planet can google him on Wikipedia and see he's not from there.

Just shows how out of touch they are. This isn't 1994 where you can pass of a Samoan behemoth as a Japanese Sumo wrestler.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Didn't help that the guy isn't from India, and anyone on the planet can google him on Wikipedia and see he's not from there.

Just shows how out of touch they are. This isn't 1994 where you can pass of a Samoan behemoth as a Japanese Sumo wrestler.

Yeah the Indian market never really bought it. They had a case with Khali who was HUGE in India, but Mahal was a flop.

 

[CHGoalie27]

Yeah the Indian market never really bought it. They had a case with Khali who was HUGE in India, but Mahal was a flop.

Mahal being a flop, like almost every other case is bad booking. Then again, and at the end of the day, I think they're trying their best to stay away from the racist/nationalist heel situations. Bad for business if the American company wants to go to India or Saudi Arabia after making bad guys of their representatives.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Mahal being a flop, like almost every other case is bad booking. Then again, and at the end of the day, I think they're trying their best to stay away from the racist/nationalist heel situations. Bad for business if the American company wants to go to India or Saudi Arabia after making bad guys of their representatives.

It’s bad booking for putting him in a position he never should have been in. He’s not particularly good at anything and was painfully boring.

 

[CHGoalie27]

Didn't help that the guy isn't from India, and anyone on the planet can google him on Wikipedia and see he's not from there.

Just shows how out of touch they are. This isn't 1994 where you can pass of a Samoan behemoth as a Japanese Sumo wrestler.

I mean I know someone born in Brazil that speaks Portuguese, but her parents were from Poland and she grew up in a Polish speaking household while looking and sounding like a Polish person, even her English accent is Polish not Portuguese. If she said she was from Poland...

 

[CHGoalie27]

It’s bad booking for putting him in a position he never should have been in. He’s not particularly good at anything and was painfully boring.

No arguement there, plus looking like he just left a 90s baseball trainer's office didn't add much merit either. If anything they should've made him a true good guy and champion of the country he represents, basically where pre-hawk-Sheamus was at-always down to fight whatever bad guy attacks...otherwise we got what we got I guess.

 

[BruinDust]

I mean I know someone born in Brazil that speaks Portuguese, but her parents were from Poland and she grew up in a Polish speaking household while looking and sounding like a Polish person, even her English accent is Polish not Portuguese. If she said she was from Poland...

What's your point? If she said she was from Poland can you go on Wikipedia and verify if that is true or not?

What I'm saying is in today's era you can't pass off guys as being from other countries and expect it to sell like promoters did years ago when wrestlers could be hailed as from anywhere if they looked and acted the part.

You can try it, but it won't have nearly the same effect as if that person was actually from that particular country. Far too easy for fans to look it up on the internet and know the difference.

 

[CHGoalie27]

What's your point? If she said she was from Poland can you go on Wikipedia and verify if that is true or not?

What I'm saying is in today's era you can't pass off guys as being from other countries and expect it to sell like promoters did years ago when wrestlers could be hailed as from anywhere if they looked and acted the part.

You can try it, but it won't have nearly the same effect as if that person was actually from that particular country. Far too easy for fans to look it up on the internet and know the difference.

My point and what I'm saying is why the hell can't you?? We have the mayor of Knox County passing off as a demon from Hell!

 

[BruinDust]

My point and what I'm saying is why the hell can't you?? We have the mayor of Knox County passing off as a demon from Hell!

Yeah and if the Kane character debut here in 2018 and folks could go Wikipedia that the wrestler portraying Kane is running for the mayor of a county, it would never sell the way it did back then in 1997 when kayfabe still existed.

Folks accept it now because the curtain was lifted off the Kane character literally over a decade ago, now he's just another part-time legend from an era many look upon very favorably.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I agree. You're trying to get over a location by selling a guy not from said location. You can lie about where you are billed from there is nothing wrong with that, but when you make that the main wrestlers selling point, you're probably going to have a bad time.

 

[Deen]

Wrestling was always fun to watch because it was either edgy or ridiculous. Everything they do now is just bland and treading water. I tape it and zip through it. It's frustrating because it could be so much more than it is. I am hoping they grow up with their target audience at some point and go to PG-14.

 

[iamjs]

I'm at the lowest I've been since I started watching again in 2011. I cancelled my WWEn subscription, which I would previously just ride out until one of the big PPVs. RAW? It's on in the background and I peek my head up for certain segments. Unfortunately, more often than not, there's more segments that make me grab for the remote.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Wrestling was always fun to watch because it was either edgy or ridiculous. Everything they do now is just bland and treading water. I tape it and zip through it. It's frustrating because it could be so much more than it is. I am hoping they grow up with their target audience at some point and go to PG-14.

We’ve been saying/hoping for that last sentence to come true for nearly a decade now. It’s not happening.

 

[iamjs]

If you were to put it on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being not even looking at message boards and 10 being never missing an episode of WWE/ROH/NJPW/etc, buying all things wrestling, etc., where would you say you are?

I still read this board and a wrestling subforum on another board, and I still turn on RAW despite watching very little of it. I'm probably at a 3, maybe even a 2 on some weeks (you know, kinda like RAW's ratings.)

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

A 3 since I usually still watch PPVs at least in the background. Also, gonna start getting into NXT more and will watch the newest episode tonight most likely. Raw and SD are dead to me. I am usually too lazy to find NJPW and indie stuff unless I hear about a great PPV or Match by word of mouth then I will look for it. I do lean on ease of accessibility.

I find myself using the network to watch older stuff, if that counts.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

New Day 'indifferent' to Hulk Hogan's WWE return

I agree with New Day.