For starters, by no means am I a wrestling historian, nor do I have the time to search through acre upon acre of archives...but something popped into my head today.
With the Rumble and Mania coming up in the next few months, I got to thinking. Mania itself is typically regarded as the end of the wrestling "season," where feuds get blown off and things kind of "reset" themselves.
Now, this very well may have happened in the past, but I was wondering...would it be possible in this day and age to run a year-long feud between two wrestlers/stables? Something that would, say, start right after Mania XIX and not reach a payoff until Mania XX, or are we so conditioned nowadays that the average wrestling fan can only handle short time spans?
Originally posted by BullittFor starters, by no means am I a wrestling historian, nor do I have the time to search through acre upon acre of archives...but something popped into my head today.
With the Rumble and Mania coming up in the next few months, I got to thinking. Mania itself is typically regarded as the end of the wrestling "season," where feuds get blown off and things kind of "reset" themselves.
Now, this very well may have happened in the past, but I was wondering...would it be possible in this day and age to run a year-long feud between two wrestlers/stables? Something that would, say, start right after Mania XIX and not reach a payoff until Mania XX, or are we so conditioned nowadays that the average wrestling fan can only handle short time spans?
Edge and Christian vs. Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz
That fued has existed for roughly 2 years. It however didn't quite end at WMXVII
In this day in age...and current political scenairio I could easily see an Angle vs Lesnar feud going along way.
This is why alternatives are a must these days. TNA may not be the best out there, but Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles have currently have a feud that'll last a VERY long time. They've been fighting for months and there's no end in sight.
Of course, I may have the term "feud" confused with "rivalry"
Don't look for year-long feuds with WWE anymore. Vince Russo destroyed that potential forever by shortening the attention span of every wrestling fan in the world. The only thing close would be...oh lord...Triple H and Shawn Michaels, which is running at 5 months.
Does THIS look like the face of a man with Testicles?
Because of the amount of tv shows to fill feuds have to be shorter..and that's isn't necesarrily a bad thing Imo. Also I guess that 'static' rosters have something to do with it..no more travelling around through territories etc puts a limit on how many times you can do something..
I don't think it started with Russo though. Think back to Hulkamania..a new fresh heel every few months..that's the beginning of shorter feuds for ya on a large stage.
And finally, I consider feuds to be working intensive programs with one another week in week out. Now I haven't seen Styles vs Lynn but do they wrestle one another every week really? If not, it is a rivalry, not unlike Benoit and Angle. They might not meet for a while and then they do and BLAMMO..they are in one anothers face.
The closest they have now is the on again/off again feud between Angle and Benoit, that started around Mania in 2000 and still has never been completely settled.
Please help control the McMahon population. Have your Triple H's spade or neutered.
And it never should end, IMO. The feud/rivalry those two have is fantastic, and is built around all the right things: competition. Benoit didn't spill coffee on Kurt, and Kurt didn't run over Benoit's dog or have sex with one of Benoit's corpse friends. That's good enough for me.
I think a year-long feud could be done... I thought Austin/McMahon was a pretty good example of a feud that carried over. How that translates to Wrestler A vs. Wrestler B, I'm not sure.
Then again, I just wish things went back to being the way they were when WrestleMania actually was the end of a booking season, and a whole new year's worth of long-term booking began. Ah... those were the days.
Well... even in Hogan's day, while he did have the new big monster opponent, he did have some long running fueds with people. You could say his real fued was with Heenan, as Heenan did try to throw whatever he had against him, be it Studd, Bundy, Orndorff or Andre. Orndorff and Andre were year long programs though, where Hogan would face other people for a short clip in between.
Another recent feud that no one mentioned was Benoit-Jericho. That lasted over a year. Started at WM2000 and kept going until they formed the unlikely partnership and Benoit got injured. If they're ever on the same show again, I could see them picking up again with it.
Angle-Edge has lasted awhile, and actually had a bit of backstory from the Edge & Christian/Angle days.
For the future... I don't think that RVD/Eddie was ever properly resolved. It had the makings of a great feud. "It's MY Move!!!" That's all you need. But it got cut short in my opinion. Eddie comes in, squashes Rob for all intensive purposes, wins the belt, then loses it the next month, and then loses a ladder match to him. Sayonara. Could have went on alot longer. Nevertheless, now they're on seperate shows too.
Well... Jericho/HHH is still burning, probably due to some real-life tension. I could see them going back to it at some point, even if they are both heels since they show a real dislike for one another. It's too bad how terribly booked the feud was last year.
I agree with shinstrife, Angle/Brock could go on for awhile, especially if the matches deliver.
It's too bad Kidman isn't at his old WCW level. Him and Rey were such a great team. I'd love to see the Guerreros vs. Kidman-Rey.
They gotta bring these back!!!: "talk to the hand because the man don't understand." - "The Crippler" Chris Benoit "...and that is the LAST WORD." - "The Big Nasty" Paul Wight and of course: "Don't hate the playa...HATE THE GAME~!" - WCW World Champion Booker T
I think a feud between two stables would be easier because of the different combinations of different wrestlers you could have on each show without having to do the same match over and over again. Also nobody has yet to mention injuries, a lot of people can't go an entire year without getting injured. So if you have two stables, one gets injured, you got other people there.
Of course the recent attempts at stables have either a) not been very good or B) were given the proper attention. So to give both stables the time they need is something I don't think the WWE would do.
Maybe their best chance at a stable feud is a Smackdown vs. Raw feud when they decide to get rid of the split. Although they'd probably ruin that like WWF vs. WCW.
Originally posted by cfgbTriple H and The Rock STILL don't like eachother. They've been at it since 1997.
It may not always be the focal point of the product, but Triple H and The Rock seem to always have some issue.
Now that is something I give the WWE credit for.. Most of the time their big names do not like eachother, no matter if they are face or heel. Triple H and Jericho teaming? Only after a long stare down. Rock and Angle, both as face? After the smiles & handshake the Rock holds Kurt's hand saying he STILL doesn't like him. Triple H and Austin teaming while Austin says that HHH is such an asshole that he rather have him on his side for once..Kurt and Benoit respect eachothers skills but prefer kicking the crap out of one another even when they tag..
It's something I have always enjoyed noticing.
As for the year long feuds, I forgot about Heenan, but maybe that too is considered more of a rivalry since he is a manager? If it IS a feud, we have the new version in Brock vs Heyman..
Continuing with that train of thought, dMp, there's always been some not-quite-buried hostility between The Rock and Steve Austin that dates back all the way to, I believe, 1997. They feuded over the Intercontinental Title when Austin was a face and Rocky was a heel. Since then, they've either been feuding or have had an uneasy alliance. Even when they've been tag-teaming with each other, you can sense the distrust between them. I love it.
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It is definitely interesting, but how can they expect Shane to be the babyface in all of this? AJ is going to have to do something major for this to play out the way they want it to.