10 Things You Learn From Rewatching LAST Time WWE Raw Lost In Ratings War
5. So Many Stars In The Wings
In hindsight its easy to pinpoint which wrestlers of 1998 were always destined to become the next major stars to lead the then-WWF forward, but even at that time in '98 we could all see certain stars were being groomed for superstardom.
With Austin in the midst of his legendary rivalry with Vince McMahon, and the Undertaker paired off with Kane, the Rock and the absent Triple H were two names at the time who so many had high hopes for. Obviously those hopes would come true, and both stars went on to have Hall of Fame careers.
Away from that, though, and there were numerous other talents who were positioned in a way that had you thinking that they, too, could be the next big thing. Ultimately, they might not have gone onto achieve that anticipated success, but WWE made sure to deliver these names on TV in a fashion that led you to buy them as potential main event acts, even if they never truly went onto become main event acts.
A prime example of this is Ken Shamrock, who found himself in the main event against Steve Austin on this episode of Raw. It wasn't just being in the main event with Austin that made Shamrock feel special, for the overall presentation of Kenny throughout this Raw offering meant you would every bit buy Shamrock as a bona fide main event player in WWE opted to pull that trigger on him down the line.
Compare that to WWE programming today, and it's embarassing how few current wrestlers are served up to audiences in a way that makes them believable if and when a main event spotlight comes knocking.