2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I have known Arda Ocal for years, since he was a volunteer working for the local community cable station on junior hockey broadcasts. Great to see him take his love for wrestling from a Raw and Smackdown "post-game" show (where his co-host was Renee Young) on The Score to a job with WWE.

 

It's probably triple when you count the Raws.

 

Well, PPV. They also had the figure for non-singles matches (tags, triple threat, elimination chamber) at 13, but I wasn't sure if that meant 9 + 13, or 9 + 4.

 

Watched an old Smackdown last night featuring the in-ring debuts of John Cena and Batista.

I almost forgot that Cena could indeed wrestle a little bit.

 

I had just re-watched the Cena debut on Youtube a couple of days ago because I was bored, and I remember watching it the night it aired. It was a really well-told story. Cole and Tazz did really well with it.

Funny thing was, when I saw it years ago, my mother, by no means a wrestling fan, was over visiting, and ended up watching the match. She got a little involved in the story. Next week, Cena came out again, and, for whatever reason, my mom was over at the house again, saw him, and said, "Oh, it's that young guy."

Multiple years go by, and one night, I'm watching wrestling and my mom is over, and she says "I remember watching a match with you with this young guy. Whatever happened to him?"

Me: "He's the biggest star in the business,. He's today's Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino."

Mom: "You're kidding."

 

He ended up fighting Jericho on the next Smackdown and incredibly they didn't have him tap to the Walls. Instead, Jericho used a reverse, falling neckbreaker (can't remember what they called it) to get the pin.

 

Wacky roll-up guy.

 

I got the new Jericho book this week and tore through it in about three days. Another good job by Y2J.

The book seems to me to have more devoted to his WWE adventures than in "Undisputed," although there is some stuff on his Fozzy adventures and a chapter devoted to his "Dancing with the Stars" stint. I also enjoyed his chapters on working with the various guest hosts they had on Raw.

Simply put, if you enjoyed his first two books, you'll definitely like this one.

 

R.I.P.
Ox Baker.

http://www.tmz.com/2014/10/20/wrestling-legend-ox-baker-dead-dies-escape-from-new-york/

 

That Price Is Right clip is awesome.

Ox had a long and very eventful career. His big move was the heart punch. During one match, opponent Alberto Torres died. It was from a ruptured appendix, but Baker would use it to claim that his heart punch killed him. A short while later, promoter and wrestler Ray Gunkel also died after a match with Baker of a heart attack. There has always been discussion about whether the heart punches did cause the heart attack or not. Either way, Baker could claim two deaths.

A few years later, Baker caused a riot in Cleveland during a match when he continually gave Ernie Ladd heart punches. Ladd allegedly was supposed to take one or two, then make a miraculous comeback, but instead sold them as if he was getting killed. The crowd there chairs and chased Baker back to the locker room.

RIP.

 

WCW Thunder TV Taping - Fort Wayne, IND - Nov 10, 1999

WWE Raw - Fort Wayne, IND - Nov 7, 2005

WWE Armageddon - Richmond, VA - Dec 17, 2006

WWE Smackdown/ECW Taping - Hampton, VA - Dec 19, 2006

WWE Raw House show - Toledo, OH - Mar 25, 2007

Easy answer for best match was the four way tag ladder match from Armageddon.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zsadSDbSPdg

Here is the clip of the Ox Baker riot. It is awesome.