Andre The Giant ripped the golden crucifix and shirt from Hulk Hogan's body. The big man walked away, leaving Hogan with a bloody chest and a broken heart. This was an unforgettable edition of the Roddy Piper-hosted "Piper's Pit". It was followed up the next week, with Piper asking Hogan point blank, "Tell me! Yes or no?! Are you going to fight [Andre] at WrestleMania 3?!" Hogan turned to his Hulkamaniacs and screamed, "Yessss!" The crowd erupted.Roddy Piper - Hulk Hogan - Piper's Pit The most anticipated match in WWE history (at the time) was set up through multiple editions of the infamous talk show, Piper's Pit. This was par for the course during the late '80s and early '90s. The hottest angles were featured on some iteration of a superstar-hosted talk show. This cannot be further from the truth with today's WWE programming. What was once a tried and true means of storytelling has since become a relic. Over the last several years, the talk show format has become stale, repetitive, and ultimately useless.

Why WWE Talk Shows Used To Work

Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty

On Brutus Beefcake's The Barbershop, Shawn Michaels raised the hand of his teammate Marty Jannetty, much to the delight of the fans. Seconds later, Jannetty was on the receiving end of Sweet Chin Music. Michaels then threw his former partner through a glass window. This critical moment in WWE history was a catalyst for Shawn Michaels' historic singles career.

RELATED: Highlight Reel: Ranking Every Wrestler Talk Show Segment

For a company that prides itself on "creating moments," countless examples came from the talk show format. As cheesy as some of the show concepts were, they demanded the attention of the audience. During the spooky segment, The Funeral Parlor, the wrestling industry's two biggest stars Ric Flair (who had just made his move from WCW) and Hulk Hogan, went face to face for the first time on national television. The moment fans salivated over for years came to fruition on a WWE talk show segment.

Decades later, WWE still had some creative gas left in the tank. Chris Jericho's The Highlight Reel was a well-crafted talk show. Jericho would eventually use the show to set up his heel turn and ignite his rivalry with Shawn Michaels, where he smashed Shawn's face through the glass monitor (brilliantly alluding to the moment Shawn created in the early 90s). Given the clout and history of Jericho, the show was worthy of WWE's biggest stars and angles. But when Jericho left the company, out walked one of the few great talkers the company had gone.

Jericho - Shawn Michaels - Highlight Reel

The Talk Show Format Doesn't Work In Today's WWE

Over the last decade, the writing team has gotten significantly worse, and the company is stingier about letting its stars go off-script. What fans are left with is talk shows that contain a train of bad jokes and boring segments. The latest attempt at a WWE talk show is Happy Talk, hosted by Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss. The segment involves the two men telling the worst jokes imaginable while attempting to bury mid-card babyfaces (keyword being attempting). Ultimately, the segment exists to kill time. It also happens to kill the audience. You can look at the crowd during these segments and find a sea of bored, disengaged faces.

The mundane format of Happy Talk is identical to other recent WWE talk shows. Bayle's Ding Dong, Hello, and John Morrison's Moist TV were the same show with different wrestlers and altered sets. WWE programming is already desperately lacking the amount of in-ring runtime, and these monotonous and repetitive shows don't do much to help their critical reception.

RELATED: 10 Wrestlers You Totally Forgot Had Their Own Talk Show

AEW also dipped their toe in the talk show format. The Britt Baker-hosted show, The Waiting Room appeared on a few episodes of Dark and one episode of Dynamite. The segment was not well received, and fans haven't seen it (or missed it) since.

The Future Of Wrestling Talk Shows: Vlogs

Multiple AEW superstars have thriving vlogs that garner millions of views. The Young Bucks' vlog, Being The Elite, is the most successful and storied example of this online medium. Segments of that YouTube show have led to legitimate storylines on Dynamite. BTE offers inside jokes and in-depth character work for fans willing to put the time in to watch. Since the success of BTE, Sammy Guevara and Thunder Rosa have also started their own vlogs.

The vlog format allows the wrestlers to spread their wings creatively. If WWE were to adopt this formula, they'd have to be willing to share some creative freedom with their talented wrestlers.

Bayley - Ding Dong, Hello

It seems that the best days of the wrestling talk show are behind us. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Both the industry and its fanbase have evolved. When one door shuts, others open. There are other ways for WWE to fill time, tell stories and engage their audiences. The question is: are they willing to grow with their audience?