I couldn't give proper commentary on
Smackdown!, because I botched up my VCR recording. As a result, I could only read results online. Same with
Backlash, but one of the results spilled over into this week's
RAW, and I wanted to comment on it, along with an event on that show.
I've seen a few events now that show how Vince McMahon only thinks of the short-term business decisions, when the longterm ramifications of them are not so good.
First, let's look at the major situation:
Hulk Hogan is World champion.
In the short-term, it makes sense. This gets the full terms of his contract (on both shows for two years) possible.
- but it means Hulk Hogan is the champ.
In the short-term, it adds to the idea of this being his 'farewell run'.
- but it still means that Hulk freaking Hogan is the bloody champ!
Granted we Internet pundits are in the minority, but who was almost unanimously the winner in the Worst whatever polls on RSPW? You guessed it, Hulk Hogan.
Who has the worst matches? Yup, him. Who gives the worst promos? Ditto. Who, facing the Undertaker next month will result in (to paraphrase Rick Scaia) the oldest combined age of a wrestling main event? Ditto again.
Fans are cheering the nostalgia now, but they'll grow sick of it very soon. Old school PPV main events will result in falling buy rates, as they don't interest buyers. Also, how important is the Unified Title now, if a nearly 50-year old holds it again? (Vince McMahon was the last one).
Ironically, Triple-H did the J-O-B for both - but here he'll lose a great deal of lustre. He spent nearly a year on the shelf, and only held onto the title for one PPV? Not to mention, lost it to someone his major ring inferior?
Now the other poor judgment: The Big Show joining the nWo (again).
This too makes sense in a short-term way: with Nash out, they need another big guy on the team. He needed a storyline desperately, so this fits.
Longterm problems:
1) he already was a member of the nWo. Several times. In none of his stints was he over.
2) has he topped the Lex Luger "light-switch fast face-heel turn" rankings yet? I think he's well beyond it by now. Fans no longer care which side of the fence he's on.
3) putting him in is lazy booking. Because it's been done, it offers no surprises at all. There are other people who'd make for surprise additions (like Undertaker. Like his match against Austin read in reports, he doesn't make an interesting match very often anymore, but he would be a surprise addition).
So, I think that choices were made for short-term gain that'll hurt the WWF more in the end.
