2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

I was hoping for a new stable there at the end involving Sheamus, Rusev and Barrett. Would've been interesting. We'll see if they keep that going somehow.

 

The only issue I would have with that is that things are a bit sensitive internationally, so I don't know if they'd want to do some foreign heel heat stuff.

Not that it hasn't stopped Vince before, though.

 

They can have Zeb Colter smuggle Daivari in through a back entrance, let him cut a babyface promo about how great it is to be in the land of opportunity that is WWE, and then have the international heels beat the shit out of him.

 

Better yet, he should sneak in, cut the promo with a woman and children that he can say is his family, and have a group led by Zeb beat him up because they think he snuck into the country illegally to destroy the WWE.

 

For someone who's so run-of-the-mill as a wrestler, Xavier Woods has to be one of the top "performers" (regardless of wrestling ability) the WWE has right now.

 

Happy Thanksgiving. Here's a blast from the past.

 

I got a new Apple TV and took it for a spin watching Attitude Era stuff. 'Twas a simpler time of chair shots to the head, violence toward women (or just Stephanie McMahon) and casual attempted murder (Austin tried to ram a pickup truck into Rikishi and into a stone wall but the cops showed up to block the truck and Austin was arrested).

I also caught a fantastic Triple H/Chris Benoit match from fall 2000. Those guys put on a clinic in psychology. Every move made sense and added to the story they were telling. Triple H worked Benoit's knee, and Benoit worked Haitch's shoulder. They weren't running around trying to get in their high spots through the ropes or over the top rope or whatever. They also looked like they were beating the shit out of each other, a far cry from some of today's matches. We think Brock vs. Roman looked brutal, bit that was damn near a typical PPV undercard match with some of the really hungry performers. For all the shit people have given Hunter over the years for whatever, they forget that the motherfucker could WORK.

Of course, commentary was much better. There was more play by play back then, but Ross and Lawler were still telling a story. But they way they told it made everything so intense. Shit was about to go down, and people's well being were at stake. Three guys are too many now. They're trying to get their shit in, and it's all lame. There's no natural-sounding passion to anyone's voice, even if it's there. Cole and Saxton and whatever suit wearing guy they'll find next ... They're too polished as professional talkers. They're so slick they're boring. I'd much rather have Tony Schiovane and Mike Tenay. (My favorite team was Ross and Heyman, but I also love Gorilla and Ventura. Or any team with Ventura.) I feel that way about a lot of sports broadcast teams. I grew up listening to Keith Jackson, now I suffer through Gary and Verne. I do like Herbstreit. But it all feels so watered down in an age where everything offends everybody so no one takes any chances to entertain the audience.

Sure, there was a lot of crap on those Attitude Era shows as well, but the top guys' work stands the test of time. It's what I imagine how some older guys feel about watching Flair and Rhodes or those other greats I wasn't alive to see in their prime.

 

I'd heard about that years ago, but had never seen it.

So much shitty awesomeness in that dying days of the AWA segment. There's no fans, but there are cops. Why?

 

I'd heard so much about that match, but this was the first time I'd seen it. It was so funny to watch, but as someone who used to watch the AWA when they had Hennig, Hall and the Midnight Rockers, it was a bit depressing at the same time.

And also, Col. DeBeers actually won that match -- he got the turkey off the pole and then the Milkman took it from him as he was walking out of the ring and the ref declared Milliman the winner. Must have some kind of stipulation I wasn't aware of.

 

Or the ref just had his back semi turned in one of those horribly acted scenes.

One funny thing about it. DeBeers was the heel, but Milliman, for whatever reason, was a member of Zbyzko's team in the ill-fated Team Challenge Series. So technically, Larry was in the corner playing a baby face for that.

 

Give me Heenan-Monsoon over any team in the history of wrestling.

(sorry for not isolating the part I'm quoting - my browser doesn't let me delete quoted text)

 

Was that Trips/Benoit match when the Radicalz jumped from WCW? That was one of my favorite nights in wrestling. It literally was a series of dream matches.

Today, of course, the E would have sent the Radicalz down to NXT, changed their name, had them learn the WWE style, waited a year and a half, brought them up, had them job to Cena, then spend four years in the midcard fighting for the IC and US titles.