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Hi guys, glad to see you guys have been turning out frequent podcasts lately. I hope the book sales are going well, Liam, and Karl is feeling better, on the hole.
1. I had not yet entered my smarkiest of stages, but I knew the Invasion was bad. The turns of Austin, Angle and even Jericho were all pretty flat. I was enjoying wrestling, but I knew it wasn't good stuff. Triple H's return somewhat marked a possible return to form. The hype videos were good, and people seemed happy to see him back, but the good vibes ended pretty quickly.
I'm not a big Triple H apologist. I even criticize the modern narrative about wrestling suddenly getting better when he takes over. I hate that he's still "putting guys over" at WrestleMania, just for them to open the show the following the year while he still gets his Triple H match. But I don't think I can put the blame on babyface Triple H fizzling out as quick as it did on Triple H himself, in any other sense than Triple H was a horrible babyface. Actually...fuck that. Yes I can: Triple H was a horrible babyface.
His stuff with Pedigreeing Vince and breaking up with Steph reeked of "we need to distance Triple H from all the heel stuff that made him Triple H," and it felt awkward even to someone not looking at the product critically at the time. By the time WrestleMania came around, I can't remember what I was looking forward to, but I remember it was not Jericho vs. Triple H.
2. I had seen one episode of Nitro at this point in time. All I remember is Scott Steiner was yelling at a coffin or something. That, in particular, was tremendous, but I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The nWo coming in seemed interesting, because the WWF needed something. My general feeling was that all three were past it, but I had heard of Nash and Hogan even before I got into wrestling, which made it feel like a heavyweight announcement. I think my expectation was that it would be something, so you can imagine my disappointment.
3. WrestleMania X-7 was the first WrestleMania I ever saw, so I was a bit spoiled there. I was mostly fine with the under-card at the time, and it's only in retrospect that I realize what a waste it was. I never got into Van Dam as much as everyone else at the time, so him being in the opening match against William Regal seemed like fine placement. DDP made me laugh -- I liked him and Christian together. Nothing really hit the spot though, and when I think of Manias that could have used a card re-shuffling, this one comes immediately to mind.
Was Jericho the best choice as champion heading in? I think Austin would have been a better option, even ignoring where they were heading in 2001 before Triple H got hurt. Kurt Angle's anti-Canada promo on the way to the ring would have worked better if he was getting beaten by Edge in Toronto, and not barely beating Kane. I liked Kane at the time, however (sorry), so it didn't actively bother me as much as it all just felt pieced together at the last minute.
4. The brand extension actually got me excited, because there's something about ordering and categorizing that is just fun. I had no clue who was going where, what the angles were going to be, what effect politics were going to have -- it actually, in this way that the split isn't now, felt like something that even the talent kind of took a little seriously. That the shows could have this different feel, and that certain talent wouldn't be seen on one of these staples of wrestling television felt like a deal at the time. Maybe not a huge deal, but a deal. The constant drafts, roster jumps, random swaps, unifications and re-split have colored that, retroactively, and it's hard to remember that feeling of the unknown. Whereas, you can almost predict the path this split is going to take by simply looking at the last one and observing how this one follows it almost exactly, only in fast-forward.
The draft show itself only sticks out in my head for Brock Lesnar F5ing someone. I should go back and watch it, but I think that emphasizes I was more interested in what the future would bring.
The first three questions really betray a malaise the product was facing for the first quandrant. It felt like things were happening, but there was no power behind the punches (except for Regal's). Here's Triple H -- isn't that great? Here's the nWo -- aren't they great? Taker is a heel now -- ain't it great? Nothing felt like it had any momentum or any really plan behind it. The roster split helped give focus to some things, specifically with Heyman at the helm.
A promo from Q1 2002 I'd like to give a shout-out too though: Edge had just beaten someone (I think it was the Big Bossman), when Regal appeared on the titantron. Regal cut one of my favorite promo from this quarter when he educated Edge on the history of the British and their barbarism, subverting the goofy gimmick he had been playing for the year or so previous. Even a me who didn't truly appreciate Regal to the fullest at this point in time took notice and thought "Hold on -- that was bloody good."
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