Wrestling Discussion Thread II

When I watched the clip with Shane O Mac back on Raw, it did actually give me goosebumps. If its the case he doesn't jump off the Hell in a Cell at least a few times I would be pretty gutted. Back in the day he was a ruddy idiot for doing things like that, but that's why I enjoyed watching him. Mind you, if he does that little side ways dance then I'm sure he'll get a great reaction regardless of how well he actually wrestles.

He also had THE best chair shots ever!

I think some folk forget that wrestling can just be more of a spectacle than a technical showcase & some of the best HiaC matches have been just that.

Here's the original NXT roster Superstars page from the NXT website in 2012.

Nick Rogers as Johnny Cage.

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Quite mad how different some of them look especially Baron Corbin, also you wouldn't think Jake Carter is the son of Van Vader.

Weird: Big E feels like he's been on the main roster forever.
Also: Oliver Grey! Me and Muss saw him wrestling in the Superstar Wrestling at Butlins. Poor bloke...

drunka wrote:

Weird: Big E feels like he's been on the main roster forever.

4 years now though he's been with WWE since 2009 which is just crazy when you think about it.


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Also I completely forgot that Memo Montenegro (Del Rio's younger brother) was signed to NXT, I was actually interested to see if he'd make it.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Also: Oliver Grey! Me and Muss saw him wrestling in the Superstar Wrestling at Butlins. Poor bloke...

COME ON

MASON!!

MASON!


wut?

The numbers Mason......the numbers

~

On another note, I though Jacqueline would have been in the WWE Hall of Fame before now, if only for all of those amazing wardrobe malfunctions that happened to her back when I was in primary school. Capital Carnage '98 remains my favourite PPV of all time.

TCK wrote:

On another note, I though Jacqueline would have been in the WWE Hall of Fame before now....

I thought the exact same thing when The Big boss man popped up for this year as well.

You were thinking about Capital Carnage '98 like the rest of us, ya whoremeister. That's the only reason she deserves to be in the Hall of Fame - she did nothing Hall of Fame-worthy in her entire career.

First African American to win the women's title, got to be the main reason also can't be many decent women left to go in and she's still better than likes of Koko B.Ware who are already in the HOF.

Koko B. Ware was the first man to carry a parrot to the ring.

Also:

Jacqueline's going in because she is a local legend - most notably her work in the USWA in the 90s where she was 14-time champion. I remember JR saying she was a legitimate bad ass in one of those roundtable discussions they used to do on the WWE 24/7 channel. She was a veteran when she came to WWE (at 34).

They always like to stack the HOF with wrestlers from wherever that Mania is being held. Think that's why she's in.

I'm just looking at the WrestleMania 32 card after watching a load of RAW highlights from the last month. It doesn't look all that great on paper, but hopefully it'll surpass expectations. Few points, match by match:

• I'm not sure how Triple H Vs. Roman Reigns will pan out, in the sense that I don't know whether the match will be up to much or not. The crowd will obviously just have to play a part for sure, and that's a really regrettable thing. I can see them ruining a perfectly decently match. That said, it isn't one that really captures the imagination: there's only one winner here. Hope Reigns is given a good angle soon, seeing as he hasn't been since The Sheild split up.

• I hope Lesnar Vs. Ambrose isn't more of the 'Suplex, Repeat' stuff that's been going on for the last eighteen months. It's had it's day. Hoping for some blood and aggression. Could be the best thing on the card. I hope that they keep The Wyatt Family well away from this: they're finished, typecast as losers, and they can't be salvaged.

• The Hell In A Cell match sounded amazing six weeks ago, but the build has been wasted on Shane McMahon. I'm not convinced, and suspension of disbelief is just too impossible. I can't watch anything he's involved in without thinking about the way he demolished Randy Orton with punches that were miles away off of him back in 2009. I still expect it to be good though.

• The Ladder Match is the best telltale sign of all that WWE has been really badly knackered by injuries. Throwing together a bunch of undercard guys in a ladder match doesn't make for an interesting match in my opinion - it didn't work in SmackDown Vs. Raw 2006's GM Mode and it doesn't work at WrestleMania 32. Still, it just goes to emphasise that more should have been done to build some of these guys up, instead of demean them with pointless 50/50 booking. I can't believe that Stardust is still a thing.

• The New Day have had some shocking material to work with as of late. Them Vs. The League of Nations seems like an odd pairing, but they're all valuable workers, and - given the time - it could be decent.

• I'm expecting the typical Chris Jericho match at WrestleMania 32: it'll be a solid 7/10 and absolutely nothing more. Afterward, Jericho will publicly crow about how it was 'the best match on the show' and 'an all-time classic'.

• Kalisto and Ryback are two of my favourites, but I'm as confused as anyone as to why they're fighting each other in a singles match at WrestleMania. Fair enough. I'd have had them in bigger singles matches against two of the wrestlers on the injured list (Cesaro and Randy Orton, natch)

• I've got Uso fatigue, and I don't even watch RAW, SmackDown, the other stuff or the PPVs. It seems that they've been exactly as they were since about 2004. The Dudleys, likewise, have been exactly as they were since about 1856 B.C.

• Still not arsed about Diva's wrestling. Sorry!

I'm a right cynical bastard.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'm just looking at the WrestleMania 32 card after watching a load of RAW highlights from the last month. It doesn't look all that great on paper, but hopefully it'll surpass expectations. Few points, match by match:

• I'm not sure how Triple H Vs. Roman Reigns will pan out, in the sense that I don't know whether the match will be up to much or not. The crowd will obviously just have to play a part for sure, and that's a really regrettable thing. I can see them ruining a perfectly decently match. That said, it isn't one that really captures the imagination: there's only one winner here. Hope Reigns is given a good angle soon, seeing as he hasn't been since The Sheild split up.

Yeah I can't remember a main event at Wrestlemania being so underwhelming in the build-up. Roman Reigns just feels mistreated as a character. He still comes out to that plodding Shield music. He still wears that Shield get-up and comes out through the crowd. It's as if Ambrose and Rollins both grew from The Shield, and Roman refuses to move on. They don't know what to do with him, except rely on his look. Pretty much every crowd seems to give him "the Cena" response. The major problem WWE has is that he is unconvincing on both mic and in the ring, which will be tough to change without a heel turn. If there is an Ambrose vs. Reigns feud soon, then Reigns needs to reach the levels Ambrose has reached, which is more than a few notches above at current.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• I hope Lesnar Vs. Ambrose isn't more of the 'Suplex, Repeat' stuff that's been going on for the last eighteen months. It's had it's day. Hoping for some blood and aggression. Could be the best thing on the card. I hope that they keep The Wyatt Family well away from this: they're finished, typecast as losers, and they can't be salvaged.

This is the one big Wrestlemania match on the card. It's had a good build up and both wrestlers are great television. Ambrose feels like the star of the show these days, which is evident from his heavy workload. This should hopefully be carnage and I wouldn't mind a Wyatt Family interference as it would draw a line under the Royal Rumble shenanigans, as well as open up an Ambrose vs. Wyatt angle that could carry the company through 2016.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• The Hell In A Cell match sounded amazing six weeks ago, but the build has been wasted on Shane McMahon. I'm not convinced, and suspension of disbelief is just too impossible. I can't watch anything he's involved in without thinking about the way he demolished Randy Orton with punches that were miles away off of him back in 2009. I still expect it to be good though.

This seems such a random match, when you consider that the fans LOSE either way. Shane wins and Undertaker leaves, which we don't want. Taker wins and Shane doesn't get Raw, which we don't want. This will go either one of two ways: 1. Taker wins and Shane is quickly forgotten about, and we accept the match for what it was, an emergency booking to cover all the injuries. 2. A no contest (double knockout or something) that leaves the story to continue on Raw. I'm hoping for the latter, and that Kurt Angle returns (he's confirmed he is in Dallas this weekend). I can't see Sting getting involved any more.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• The Ladder Match is the best telltale sign of all that WWE has been really badly knackered by injuries. Throwing together a bunch of undercard guys in a ladder match doesn't make for an interesting match in my opinion - it didn't work in SmackDown Vs. Raw 2006's GM Mode and it doesn't work at WrestleMania 32. Still, it just goes to emphasise that more should have been done to build some of these guys up, instead of demean them with pointless 50/50 booking. I can't believe that Stardust is still a thing.

I didn't even realise this was a match, probably because I fast forward 90% of Raw these days. I'm getting tired of the whole MITB ladder thing, it needs a shake up.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• The New Day have had some shocking material to work with as of late. Them Vs. The League of Nations seems like an odd pairing, but they're all valuable workers, and - given the time - it could be decent.

I quite like this feud. Big fan of all of these guys (except perhaps Del Rio) although Big E looks like he could be the breakout star of The New Day. The tag division has gone back to being a bit shite actually so I don't really care who wins this one.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• I'm expecting the typical Chris Jericho match at WrestleMania 32: it'll be a solid 7/10 and absolutely nothing more. Afterward, Jericho will publicly crow about how it was 'the best match on the show' and 'an all-time classic'.

Yeah Jericho used to be capable of fantastic matches, but he's rather formulaic lately. Big fan of AJ Styles, so it's good to see he has a match at Wrestlemania, but the way these two were behaving like best buddies and Jericho suddenly turning back the clock to 2012, it feels a bit dumb compared to the more sophisticated storylines (if you can call it that) elsewhere on the card.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• Kalisto and Ryback are two of my favourites, but I'm as confused as anyone as to why they're fighting each other in a singles match at WrestleMania. Fair enough. I'd have had them in bigger singles matches against two of the wrestlers on the injured list (Cesaro and Randy Orton, natch)

I've lost all interest in lucha libre style wrestling and Ryback's gimmick is boring at this point.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• I've got Uso fatigue, and I don't even watch RAW, SmackDown, the other stuff or the PPVs. It seems that they've been exactly as they were since about 2004. The Dudleys, likewise, have been exactly as they were since about 1856 B.C.

Same. Dudleys feel like embarassing dads at a wedding. They deserve to be there, but they haven't changed their schtick in 15 years. Interesting to see them beating up Roman Reigns though on Raw.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

• Still not arsed about Diva's wrestling. Sorry!

Couldn't disagree more. I hated the Divas stuff from Trish through to the Bellas, but the Sasha Banks/Becky/Charlotte stuff I've really enjoyed. They are pretty without feeling like sexual objects, and more than capable of putting on excellent matches. In fact the one annoying thing about this feud is Ric Flair, simply because I worry he's about to keel over. He looks too old to be near the ring at this point.

Over the course of this wrestling season I've transitioned from Reigns skeptic to fan. His mic work is lacking, and I think he does need to work on selling injuries - especially since the WWE persist in portraying him as an 'underdog' so often. However, I think his overall ring work has really improved over the past several months and some of the matches he's put on have been top work. I think the biggest problem with his wrestlemania matchup is that Dean should have gone over against Trips in the Royal Rumble. I wish the WWE had just embraced having Dean as this surprise spanner in the works, rather than portraying him as that guy who could legitimately hold the belt but we just don't want to put it on him yet. If the members of the Shield are all future headliners, why not start them headlining the big one against each other? Hell, Rollins is about ready for a comeback - there could have been fireworks. Instead we'll get a bloody good match where between Hunter and Roman, they'll both work bloody hard, but I don't think many people will care about it and that's a shame.

I always look forward to the ladder matches because it's one of the few times where mid/undercard guys get to showcase the fact that they can all absolutely go, and Stardust is awesome and he's going to win  

All that being said though, I'm not super pumped for this year's Mania. I'm sure most of the matches will be good, but I can't say I'm super excited about any of them. The Hell in the Cell match intrigues me, and I think Dean and Brock will put on a show, but even so there's just something about the card that doesn't feel like it has Mania quality.

I'm fairly excited for Mania. I want to see the New Day cut an amusing promo, then see solid matches from Styles and the women, then see Shane jump off something big, then for the last two hours just that Ambrose/ Lesnar match. That'd do it for me.

gjones wrote:

he is unconvincing . . . in the ring

I'd disagree there. Reigns always puts on a good fight. I do think a heel turn would do him good; he's a huge, imposing bloke, he has that smug smile... he could do well at it, and if crowds are gonna boo either way, they'd do well to roll with it.

See, one of the things I'd love to happen post Mania with the New Day - and not necessarily right after Mania, but over the course of the season - is for Big E to start contending with the big boys, with Xavier Woods/ Kofi supporting him, while the latter continue to work in the tag division. Let's have some factions that aren't The Authority or the Wyatts

drunka wrote:

I do think a heel turn would do him good; he's a huge, imposing bloke, he has that smug smile... he could do well at it, and if crowds are gonna boo either way, they'd do well to roll with it.

I have a big feeling that the folk who boo him now would just start cheering him & it wouldn't move him past the negativity but aye he done a bit of heel work in NXT and he was good.

They'd just have to feud him with popular faces. A heel roman against dean would see both sides of the audience cheering the "right" way

I'm not sure if true but HitC is the last match on, as I guess they don't want WRESTLEMANIA ending in a chorus of for when Roman likely wins.

Who cares about mania when you have


And all the other matches on the card for Takeover Dallas which looks far better.

I'm excited for both events, like it or not they just offer something a bit different because they're aimed at 2 different audiences & I reckon the hardcore wrestling fans would be much happier if they just stuck to NXT.