2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

This settles it. I'm not buying WM.

By the way, why couldn't they bring Gerald Brisco out for a round of applause last night? Is he no longer on the road?

 

The Maria stuff is crap as well. Yes, we all want to see her tits, but don't bury the legit women wrestlers like Beth and Mickie.

I'm beginning to think that Mickie James isn't long for WWE. She's gone from champ to doing Heat in a pretty short span and is probably no better than fourth (Maria, Beth Phoenix, Melina, Candice Marie) in the company's current plans. The Maria act is wearing thin. She's hot, but an average in-ring performer who cheapens the Diva division with this storyline. I wouldn't be surprised if James isn't a heel to threaten Gail Kim in TNA by year's end.

WWE would be wise to learn from the one thing TNA clearly does better than them. TNA's Knockouts are wrestlers first, eye candy second. Nothing wrong with the other way around, but too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

 

Jeff Hardy is closing in on Scott Hall territory.

Every time he's getting ready to finally get pushed to the big-time, his personal life gets in the way.

It happened during his first WWE run. It happened in TNA. Now his second WWE run is in jeopardy.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

Haha, I knew I.R.S. was still alive because he did some cameo on Raw in '07, even at 15th anniversary show "almost" winning the battle royal and only to by paid off by Ted DiBiase.
But I didn't know he actually wrestled under his real name before Money Inc.

 

That was great. I miss seeing those two in the ring and would love to see both come back as manager some day. But I doubt that would happen.

 

Mike Rotunda/o (IRS to the youngsters) has always been a solid wrestler. He was also Michael Wallstreet in WCW. Barry Windham (the son of Blackjack Mulligan) was good back in the day, too. In fact, Windham is Rotunda's brother-in-law in real (not wrestling) life.

 

Money Inc. is how I remember Rotunda/IRS (guess I'm definitely a youngster) and a solid team...both he and DiBiase were solid in-ring guys who could generate plenty of heat from the fans. Sheik/Volkoff were fun to watch as well (I love it when Sheik would talk to 'Gene Mean' and go off about how 'Iran No. 1...Russia No. 1'). The tag-team division had momentum when these guys were around, and it was still hot for a while afterward...I guess my point is this: What the hell happened?

 

Good gravy, I remember Kendall Windham and Sam Houston teamed on one of the Mid-Atlantic syndicated shows. I swear their combined weight must have been 194 pounds. I'm assuming Baby Doll carried Houston over the threshold when they got married.

 

Ironically, Hardy's first-ever WWF match in 1994 was against Hall. Hardy was a teenage jobber at the time. Hall actually hurt Hardy's knee a bit, but apologized the next day.

I also enjoyed Rotundo's matches, and remember him trying to revive the U.S. Express with Dan Spivey, calling it the American Express. They used Springsteen's "Born in the USA" as their entrance theme. It didn't last long.

And who can forget Rotundo's stint in the Varsity Club. Great stuff.

 

Thanks for posting it. Here is the interview link for any of you who wanted to read Jake's first interview since entering rehab: http://www.thesportsinterview.com/jake.html

 

Excellent reset on the Varsity Club, Baron. Rotunda (Syracuse), Rick Steiner (Michigan) and Kevin Sullivan (can't remember his school, but I'm guessing Boston College is a good choice).

Rotunda was a very underrated wrestler who could have done so much more if pushed into a main event role. Still, his stint with the Varsity Club and Money Inc. are two memorable runs, much more than some will ever get.

Peeked about 5 minutes of Class AAA Wrestling (it does not deserve to be called ECW) last night and saw Elijah Burke job to (of all people) Festus. Burke has a ton of talent and the mic skills to deserve much more than what he's getting, especially jobbing to some bastardized version of Hillbilly Jim. He's another WWE performer who would fare better in TNA, but considering some of Russo's storylines of late, he might be better off staying where he is.