|
You brought up some interesting points about Austin that I think is worth expanding on:quote:- To the guy in the thread talking about the analysis of Stone Cold Steve Austin being an everyman, I don't know. That's a strange interpretation, he says "Steve Austin does what he wants when he wants". If we're going to go with highbrow analysis, I would say he's a power fantasy and thats about it. "Wouldnt it be cool if I BEAT THE poo poo OUT OF EVERYONE AND GOT AWAY WITH IT ALL THE TIME? HEH HEH" kind of attitude, not some kind of special commentary on worker-boss power structures. I can see why there was that guy whining at austin for wearing a mask a few weeks ago - on screen austin would probably beat up Dr. Fauci or something, I dunno. hard to say. Austin's character growth was actually way slower and more complex than people might think -- especially if you're new to wrestling and your only image of Stone Cold is the bald redneck who drank beer and beat up his boss. For most of 96 through early 97, Austin worked heel as a violent psychopath tormenting Bret Hart. In fact, his famous "Austin 3:16" promo after winning King of the Ring 96 was actually supposed to be a heel moment, burying Jake Roberts for being a phony Christian and promising to destroy the rest of the roster. But fans started getting behind this crazy, charismatic badass who walked the talk, and in a rare moment of WWE properly reading the room, they leaned into it as he got more cheers. This culminated in the Bret/Austin Submission Match at Mania 97, with the legendary finish where a bloody, valiant Austin passed out in the Sharpshooter without ever submitting, and is often credited as the best double turn of all time. So Austin was now a face, but not really a "good guy" -- he still kept up much of his violent crazy traits while feuding with the Hart Foundation throughout the summer (this is why he went full heel in Canadian Stampede, and why it worked so well with that crowd as you just saw). So that's about where you're at with your rewatch, where Austin is a cool tweener but not quite the face of the company yet. That would come in 98, along with the Vince feud that cemented his "rebellious everyman" image. I won't say more out of spoiler courtesy -- just enjoy the ride, because it's one of the best slow burns WWE has ever done. Benne fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Jul 8, 2020 |
#
¿
Jul 8, 2020 08:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 16:11 |
|
|
The Undertaker was extremely lovely for most of the 90s, don't let WWE propaganda fool you otherwise. He didn't start having good matches until the 97-98 period when he feuded with Shawn/Foley/Austin. Everything before that was absolute garbage.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2020 12:45
|
|
|
Jiro posted:Whenever the Mania that had Bryan win the titles, and I believe was one of the last numbered Manias. Taker vs Brock the first time. He's wearing red as a hood and coat, AND he's loving burned to a crisp on his skin for some stupid loving reason. Was the TomatoTaker. Yup, the Mania 30 match with Brock. That match was so loving boring that before the finish his red skin was the only thing people were talking about.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2020 01:19
|
|
|
If you wanna know why the Cactus Jack reveal was such a big deal, it helps to know Mick Foley's history a little. Mankind was created when he went to WWF, as sort of a kid-friendly version of his previous persona. He still leaned into the masochistic psychopath stuff, but it was clearly toned down by 97-98. Dude Love was actually a character Foley created when he was a child, basically an uncool guy's vision of what he thinks a "cool ladies man" is supposed to be. It was always meant to be ironic comedy and that's how Foley played it, to great effect later on. But Cactus Jack was the purest, most dangerous version of Foley. That's the name he used in WCW, ECW, and Japan, places where he became notorious for violent brawls and deathmatches, having no regard for either his body or his opponent's. Nobody expected him to actually bring that persona or style to WWF, so when it got revealed on the Titantron and he came out with the trash can of weapons, it makes perfect sense why the crowd lost their poo poo and HHH looked scared for his life. Benne fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Jul 11, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2020 12:32
|
|