Wrestling Discussion Thread

He seem thrilled to have a DVD out that celebrates him instead of slandering him - I think he'd be contented that his legacy won't be overlooked now in WWE. I watched Macho Man vs Ultimate Warrior and Hogan vs Warrior to honour his memory.

I stuck on a few matches of his last night too - vs. Savage (WMVII), vs. Hogan (WMVI), Vs. The Dream Team at Survivor Series '90 and, of course, vs. The Honky Tonk Man at SummerSlam '88. I think they're some of the best matches of that era. I quite like his match with Savage at SummerSlam '92 as well.

The Savage match at WMVII is brilliant - the best match on that card for sure.

Fired up Smackdown Shut Your Mouth on the PS2 the other day there, and I'd forgotten how laughably bad the commentary on that game is.

Some examples:

Vs The Rock: "You better watch out for THE ROCK'S! The Rock Bottom!"

Vs Steve Austin: "Now there's a good Texan."

Vs William Regal: "Uh-oh, William Regal's going for his... SUBMISSION HOLD!"


Here's an amazing example.

I think the commentary was the highlight of that game. "Look at him - he's pissed" made its way into general conversation between my friends and I for a while. I remember being well gutted that I completed the season mode in about half an hour, and that it had none of the Invasion guys, like RVD and Booker T. Those eight-man Battle Royals were magic though.

~

Here's something we missed - TNA have a new heavyweight champion:



I don't really follow TNA, but the impression I get from the clips on YouTube is that Young's championship chase started and finished in one taping. No build-up, no obstacles to overcome, no anything like that. Wooft. They just hotshotted months of TV because they wanted to replicate the Daniel Bryan upset title win on the week of WrestleMania. I've always thought Young was a really good hand, but he's been a comedy character for so long, and he won the title in a way that I'll struggle to remember in a week's time. I also think this projects that they're not expecting their biggest stars to stick around for long, like Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray. This promotion is on it's arse.

I think once Jeff Jarrett's new promotion kicks off TNA will really die a slow death - expect former WWE guys like Hardy, Angle and the Dudley Boyz to be snapped up by WWE and most of the other talent to go to Jarrett.

Someone who watch's TNA as the most the wrestling is better.

But on EY, it's been happening for about the last month of so the build up by adding the park storyline and world title together. It did of course all happen quickly like you said to copy WWE with Bryan but that impact was the one after Mania and the ratings were rather good (didn't I say they would be) and TNA will want to keep those people watching. So if that means putting the title on EY now instead of sacrifice, then it has to be done.

About it being on it's arse it's not doing great but Jeff was resigned to 2015 and is doing his Willow the Wisp thing, The American Wolfs were signed, Bobby Lashley and MVP of course with a few others also signing new deals. So they can't think there going any where but does need better direction with it and maybe investment to get a Kurt Angle type star again.

On Double J's promotion he's said he want's to be number 2 which would be TNA's spot and I think he can do it but most of the TNA talent is in deals like I've said above, so to start with it will be nobody's mainly which isn't a bad thing but will people watch it knowing there's TNA and even ROH to watch.

Smackdown, Main Event, Extreme Rules:

I think Jarrett's already snapped a few of the American guys working in NJPW, so it's not going to be nobodies. The problem is TNA is haemorrhaging a lot of its star power at an alarming rate - Bad Influence are likely out the door, they lost AJ Styles, Austin Aries could be gone soon too... not looking great.

BI have gone, I don't know what's happening with A double there was rumors of him going WWE and Style of course been gone a while now but like I said wolfs in for BI, Lashley & MVP in for A double and styles which isn't a good deal. They have brought in two new X division guys but that division is pretty much dead though and a few knockouts.

I think the Wolves were a good signing - WWE passed up on them, and they even had a match on NXT. Lashley... ehh... if it was 2007, maybe.

See if I was Dixie, I would drive to Chicago with a blank contract letting Punk sign for what he want's but it won't happen.

Punk's still under contract till June/July though. I don't think TNA could afford him either.

Punk would become 'just another guy' in the space of three TV tapings, much like Ric Flair, RVD, Hulk Hogan and a whole list of others arguably did. Jeff Hardy was the hottest star in pro wrestling in 2009, not so in TNA in 2010.

Well Hogan was part of the same team as Eric, so it would be his fault how he was handled.

Also on Hardy, I think it was his own fault like turning up out of his head which lead to that 20s world title match against sting.

Why I said about blank contract, I would let Punk to decide what he's want to do.

JayMoyles wrote:

I think the Wolves were a good signing - WWE passed up on them

Davey Richards (of the Wolves) insists that he wanted to sign with TNA over WWE, which is honestly a load of bollocks.


TNA couldn't afford Punk, nor would he go there, the guy is done with wrestling.

Dusty Knackers wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

I think the Wolves were a good signing - WWE passed up on them

Davey Richards (of the Wolves) insists that he wanted to sign with TNA over WWE, which is honestly a load of bollocks.

Never actually knew that. I bet Richard's has taken a look at the likes of Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Cesaro and went 'naw, f**k that for a pish laugh'. He'd give his right bollock to be in Evan Bourne's position, let alone any of them.

I think Davey only said that because WWE didn't need/want him, or Eddie Edwards. No idea how true it is, but Triple H apparently said of Richards and Edwards "we have enough Tyson Kidds".

The disappointing thing about that is, when given the opportunity, Kidd himself is genuinely a superlative talent and one of the best in the company. Maybe WWE does have enough Tyson Kidd's, but they could be doing infinity more with them.

They'd have been a solid and credible addition to a lacking tag team scene in WWE. How many tag teams are there right now? Let's run through them:

• The Usos, natch
  
• Cody Rhodes and Goldust, who seem to be only sticking around for a breakup match at Summerslam
  
• Ryback and Curtis Axel, who've been treading water since last year
  
• Los Matadores, comedy team
  
• 3MB, comedy team
  

Have I missed any? I'm not counting the Shield or the Wyatts in that because I don't see them dipping into tag team action any time soon.

It's even worse down in NXT where you have The Ascension and a weekly rotation of jobbers for them to murder.

For all the chat about a revitalised tag decision, it's all a bit bare bones. I'm sure they'll have The Real Americans 2.0 or something (in that they'll couple someone up with Jack Swagger), and The Ascension can't be too far off. But what else after that? The New Age Outlaws pad it out a bit, but for all the television WWE broadcasts in a week I think they could be doing with doubling the size of their tag division. Fair enough, I'm happy enough without Tons of Funk or The Prime Time Players, but keep R-Truth and Woods together, bring back Air Boom, couple up a half-dozen guys who are treading water (off the top of my head, Ziggler/Miz, Sandow/Fandango and Ryder/Gabriel, perhaps?). There's so much WWE could do without subjecting us to 3MB Vs. Los Matadores twice a week.

The Prime Time Players was a weird split, considering they were just starting to get over. Why Air Boom hasn't returned yet, I don't know - Kofi has nothing to do besides "cool battle royal elimination spot guy" and Evan Bourne surely isn't STILL injured? There's a couple of guys down on NXT that I think would make perfect tag partners for Sandow and Fandango - Aiden English is scarily similar to Sandow and Tyler Breeze and Fandango would go together quite well. Goofy tag teams can definitely work - Too Cool exemplify that, hell, even Team Hell No were pretty damn goofy - but plain stupid comedy tag teams like Los Matadores don't.

I think what's knackered Los Matadores is the classic WWE stop-start push. I'm sure they were winning matches in October, but as WWE seemed to I'd all but forgotten about them by November. I wish WWE would get behind more of their acts in the manner they have with The Shield and The Wyatt Family.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

...couple up a half-dozen guys who are treading water (off the top of my head, Ziggler/Miz, Sandow/Fandango and Ryder/Gabriel, perhaps?)

Ziggler and Ryder would make most sense, they seem quite chummy out of the ring, plus have a similar story (got over with the crowds, pushed a little, lost momentum, forgotten about). I remember Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel were teaming up about a year ago, people seemed to like that pairing, no idea the status of that team now though.

JayMoyles wrote:

Evan Bourne surely isn't STILL injured?

I hear he's cleared now, been really unlucky with injuries in the last few years, plus he breached the Wellness Policy a couple of times.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I wish WWE would get behind more of their acts in the manner they have with The Shield and The Wyatt Family.

Seems like WWE only get behind guys with an interesting story to tell, they need to start giving us a reason to give a stuff about people. For example, what's Rybaxel's story? The last interesting thing that happened to them is that they were both ditched by Paul Heyman, and that seems to be a basis for a tag team(!)

Ryback and Curtis Axel could work if they tap into the personality Ryback shows on his absolutely golden YouTube channel he has.

I make no bones about it; I still think Ryback is the absolute man. With a decent story I still maintain hope that he could go further up the card. I think he'd excel as a proper dickhead heel - as Jim Ross alluded to recently, there's not enough of those sort of guys. Punk was the last heel that had any purpose as an antagonist (as well as a cheat and a coward), in my opinion. Am I supposed to boo Alberto Del Rio because he beats Big E Langston with superior skill and craft?