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March Wrasslin |OT| Road To WrassleMania

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V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
Lunchbox said:
fuck that guy, he insults fans.

finkel told me, "go listen to your favorite band, TOOL" on wwe.com chat after i called him a sell out
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You should be thanking Howard Finkel for not only acknowledging your presence, but announcing you by your proper name.

God, what a honor. You're a lucky guy, Tool.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
Oh Kurt....

I don't get twitter.I Love tweeting What I feel-or responding to idiots. But I'm Supposed to be"Politically Correct" w/ My tweets?Forget It
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182472255643729921

Sometimes I have a Blast With My followers. I may Say Crazy Stuff - that's what Makes It Cool. Twitter is not just Promotion,its personality
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182472765260042241

And if I can't give You All Personality, I don't want to tweet Anymore. Give Me an RT if You Agree! And an Amen!
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182473111260766208

I Do Want to Apologize to Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin for My Comment.Without them I Would Have never had my Opportunity in Pro Wrestling
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182517419334569984

You Know, When I think About It, Regardless of What Others think, I'm Very Blessed to Be in Tna. They treat Me Well! Thank You Dixie Carter!
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182586974908055553

Looking forward to My Match Against @JeffHardyBrand at #Lockdown. This Will Be the Best Match Of the Year. #itstrue
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182596533206790144

Tna #impactwrestling. Tna #impactwrestling. Thur nite 9/8c on Spike Tv. Hogan is rumored to Coming Back. Yesssss
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https://twitter.com/#!/RealKurtAngle/status/182597544432508929
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
sf2fanatic said:
Lilian was a trooper when she was in the ring. The Raw show when she got smashed on by 3MW. She went flying


http://youtu.be/eik0nYtfg9s


lol @ toilet paper hitting one of the 3MW
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Must've been cut out of the UK version back in the day. I already respected Lillian, she really improved over the years, but I had no idea she'd taken a bump like that. What other non-wrestler has taken as devastating a move as that? I mean, Bubba used to put women through tables, but he was protecting them and taking the bump mostly himself. There's no way for Lillian or 3MW to protect her on that colossal samoan drop.

The being knocked off the ring apron by Charlie Haas thing was both their fault. He should've been watching where he was running, she should have been watching Charlie hit the ring.
 
F

funkystudent

Member
djsandman said:
Oh Kurt....

(drunk twitter bullshit)
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Man.... That Kurt.

The wrestling business took that gold medal winning athlete and turned him into a babbling drunken shell of a person.


I would feel worse for him but I still think the way he left WWE for TNA was just kind of depressing and soured me on him ever since. If he just went to rehab back then maybe he would be in a better place now.
 
dream

dream

Member
djsandman said:
This thread is dead tonight.
Click to expand...


The firing last week of Ty Bailey was the first of many steps in the changing of how the system is going to work.

The long-term plan is to build a much stronger developmental territory, with more than just a gym and small television arena, but an advanced state of the art facility, similar to the current top MMA gyms. The gym would include not only wrestling training and promo training facilities, but also hired non-wrestling coaches and more structured training regimes, similar to that of a real sport. Currently the talent that is into lifting usually train at John Cena’s gym, and Cena does have his personal trainer working with some of the talent, but it’s something the ones into it do on their own and not something required and regimented and the trainer isn’t a WWE trainer. Cena’s gym, shown in a video clip on the Elimination Chamber, is small, not equipped for a large group training at the same time and not on location. They want everything together like a real sport would do. A lot train for physique, some for power and physique. But the key would be training programs that would include flexibility and injury prevention along with creating a marketable physique and tailored programs that would have more structure.

If there is a move to Stamford (and with the exception of the WWE rep telling Bright House about Stamford, others we’ve spoken to in WWE that have said something is up, nobody has mentioned Stamford, but several sources have said things are happening, nobody is sure what they are and the WWE reaction was just to put out fires before Mania because nothing was in place), even if it is just temporary, it’s going to be tough for the wrestlers, not just all having to relocate. The cost of living in Stamford is far higher than that in Tampa, and starting salary in FCW is $24,000 per year. That’s a cause for concern of everyone, not just cost of living but Florida also has no state income tax. That’s always been a cause for concern when there have been talks in the past of doing developmental out of Stamford.

Another issue is that with no television, that means out of sight, out of mind when it comes to talent being discussed, plus if wrestlers show improvement, none of the decision makers in the company will see it.

There is also the feeling that there have been a lot of problems in Tampa, including developing so few stars on their own after being in operation for nearly five years. Last week’s issue showed the complete imbalance between the star production of FCW as compared to the previous OVW system. It was also noted that the company had spent more money on FCW with less results than they had ever spent with OVW, Deep South or any other program.

Also of concern has been that there have been so many DUIs (although many of those have also been main roster talents who live in the Tampa area where a lot of wrestlers like living because of the lack of state income tax, the beaches, the weather and the night life). One person who worked at times with the program noted to us that while Tampa made sense because so many wrestlers live in the area, there were so many distractions for talent, with the nice beaches, the area being known for strip clubs and a lot of bars that stay open until 3 a.m.

There had been a lot of conjecture as to what would happen to developmental. The company had done some experimental television tapings late last year at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL, about an hour from Tampa, which came across better than the tapings currently in the gym because of a better setting, bigger crowd and much better crowd reactions. But that was also based on having mostly students from the school coming for a one-time thing, which might be difficult to maintain interest among college students if they come back every three weeks. There had been talk that the tapings would move out of the gym/studio they use in Tampa, to that location, even if FCW was kept. The current location has been tough because it’s such a dead crowd so it appears nobody knows how to work for a reaction and thus makes it difficult to evaluate talent past who is mechanically sound.

There was also talk about the FCW crew becoming the NXT crew at some point with the NXT crew (Derrick Bateman, Maxine, Titus O’Neil, Percy Watson and Darren Young) being moved to Smackdown, or perhaps Raw in a few cases. This change was talked about to coincide with the advent of the new network, but that’s in November, and it doesn’t make sense to pull television now for a move in November. In addition, putting developmental on the network goes against the company’s philosophy on developmental from day one, that they didn’t want it on television anywhere but the local market because they didn’t want people seeing guys as non-stars and they could debut them to the general public for the first time when they were ready. But nothing was official and nobody seems to know what the future is other than long-term they hope to have a bigger and better facility.



All Japan Pro Wrestling ran its biggest show of the year on 3/20, where Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Jun Akiyama retained the Triple Crown beating Keiji Muto, before a half-house of 5,500 fans at Tokyo Sumo Hall.

The show, said to be featuring mostly good matches, was loaded up by company standards and with Muto and Akiyama being two of the most enduring stars and the idea of All Japan’s aging top star trying to win the company’s top title back, the attendance had to be a disappointment. It becomes a question as to how viable it is for them to continue to run big shows at the building.

Short of a legend retirement, it’s going to be difficult for them to put on a main event featuring stars known to the mainstream at the level of Akiyama and Muto with the storyline that has usually been effective in Japan of the promotion’s top star trying to win the main world title from an outsider. In fact, the show, and the promotion this year, has been built around four title matches, all held by wrestlers outside the promotion, and with All Japan guys trying to get them back.



aw on 3/20 did a 3.10 rating and 4.38 million viewers. It was the highest rated show on cable for the night. The only sports competition was the NBA on TNT which did 1.75 million viewers for the Chicago Bulls vs. Orlando Magic.

Viewers were down 10% compared to last week and very slightly lower than the other shows of the past month. For whatever reason, the Mania build is not resulting in audience build this year. Again, I don’t believe that indicates a bad buy rate because we’ve seen over the years a lack of correlation between ratings and subsequent buy rates. But for a company that rests so much on ratings, this number two weeks out from Mania on a show so loaded with the old stars has to be frustrating. The same show two weeks out from Mania last year, where Rock wasn’t there live, did a 3.35 rating and 5.13 million viewers.

The audience was 69.2% male. The show did a 2.4 in Male teens (down 4%), 2.7 in Males 18-49 (down 13%), 1.0 in Girl teens (down 23%) and Women 18-49 did a 1.1 (down 15%).

In the segment-by-segment, Kane vs. Show lost 125,000 viewers which is less than usual for the second slot. David Otunga vs. Santino Marella with the John Laurinaitis/Teddy Long conflict, plus the Rock interview in front of the Rocky statue in Philadelphia gained 205,000 viewers. Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder lost 418,000 viewers. John Cena vs. Mark Henry with Rock coming out gained 327,000 viewers to a 3.20 top of the hour, which is again a weak gain for that slot. Sheamus vs. The Miz lost 279,000 viewers, which is less of a drop than usual. The Randy Orton interview and Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler lost 151,000 viewers. And the final segment with HHH, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in the overrun gained 597,000 viewers, which is below average, but at a 3.32 overrun was still the highest rated thing on the show. The final segment gain was 2.2 to 2.5 among male teens, 2.5 to 3.2 in Males 18-49 (key because that is your most likely PPV buying audience so that audience was into this dynamic), 0.6 to 0.5 among women teens (that’s as low as I can recall for that demo at the end of the show, so it doesn’t indicate they care at all about this program) and 1.1 to 1.2 among Women 18-49.


Stacy Keibler, 32, is close to getting her biggest career break as she is in talks about either being the host or a judge on the popular TV show “X Factor.” It’s gotten a lot of gossip play. The Simon Cowell reality show, popular worldwide, debuted in 2011 in the U.S. on FOX. After the first season, judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Shwerzinger were fired, as was host Steve Jones. There are two judge positions and a host position open and Brittney Spears was their first choice, and was offered $10 million for the season, but talks slowed down when she asked for $20 million, and it looked at press time like that had fallen through because she had a much better paying offer to play Las Vegas. Much of the speculation is that Keibler would be a host and not a judge because Cowell was looking for a very famous singer and a very famous actor for the two open judging spots. Since Keibler also has no history in music, that would be better suited for her as host. The show is all about good looking people. The New York Post quoted a source close to the show as saying that Keibler looks great and they feel she has great television charisma. But she also has no experience hosting a show like this and you need to keep the show moving and cover for people since it’s live television. Darren Criss of “Glee” was offered a host position but turned it down.


If you’re wondering what the company thinks with the benefit of hindsight of the one-year build for Cena vs. Rock, this will tell you. Right now they want to come up with next year’s Mania main event and announce it within a few weeks, most likely on the Raw after Mania. The belief is the Raw after Mania will be the highest rated episode of the year (good chance that’s the case even with the disappointing ratings of late). Right now they are talking about Cena, Rock, Austin and Undertaker as the potential key guys for next year’s show, or at least as the guys to potentially put in the main event. Austin was not committed to the show. Austin will be 48 at the time of the show and I have no doubt for one match he could do it, but the hourglass of time for him to make one big Mania comeback is starting to run thin. Rock vs. Cena II is not a dead issue for next year. I think they would need a big thing with it, whether that be Undertaker vs. Austin (which in a sense doesn’t make sense to me but it’s two huge names) or Undertaker vs. Lesnar if they are going in that direction.
 
dream

dream

Member
Regarding Flair and the Hall of Fame, TNA and WWE are in negotiations to work out a deal. Everything is being kept secretive regarding terms. Joey Styles wrote something about how people want WWE to announce Flair as coming from TNA or being there as a deal with TNA or some type of thing where TNA would be mentioned and wrote that it’s not going to happen. We have confirmed that is something that TNA has asked for. There are other deal points that are really quite minor. TNA seems to be making it an easy as possible without just laying down and coming off as WWE’s bitches about it. If this deal doesn’t happen or Flair can’t talk or be in the DVD and it’s only over WWE refusing to mention TNA, that would be kind of pathetic. Really, had WWE just called TNA a week before, told them the plan, asked for permission to use Flair, there is a very good chance TNA would have just said fine and been happy with it. And if not, again, how much would they have held over WWE’s head. It was WWE announcing it, putting tickets on sale, almost selling out in one weekend and then TNA having to open up talks is the only reason there is any issue at all at this point. Keep in mind that even if there is no deal, Flair is virtually certain to be there. He’s told his friends to come, including Kevin Greene, the former NFL star who did some pro wrestling with WCW and now coaches with the Green Bay Packers.

Regarding the Hall of Fame, as it turns out based on what we’re told, there will be no women inducted this year. As noted, there was an unsaid rule that they wanted one woman induction each year. Yokozuna will be announced before you read this (scheduled for the morning of 3/21 and it was announced in the building at the 3/20 tapings in Newark) and still no word on who will be inducting him. We were told over the weekend that Yokozuna would be announced on Raw, but it was likely a time constraints issue and he was announced on the web site instead. The rest of them are Edge, who will go on last and be the main event induction, presumably but not officially inducted by Christian; The Four Horseman of Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and J.J. Dillon inducted by Dusty Rhodes, HHH and Shawn Michaels; Ron Simmons (presumably inducted by John Layfield); Mil Mascaras (inducted by Alberto Del Rio presumably) and Yokozuna. They’ve really toned down the promotion of the event as aside from the first week to sell tickets when they announced Edge and The Horsemen, the only other name announced on television was Simmons and most week’s on Raw and Smackdown, they haven’t even made mention of it even in passing. I have no idea why since it’s been a significant event for both them, a portion of their fan base and people in the company ever since it was made part of the Mania weekend.



Curt Hawkins has been the main guy training with Rock to get him in ring shape for his match with Cena.


It was noted that an indication of the respect and aura Undertaker has within the company is that even though nobody made any directive, not one piece of talent brought up publicly his messing up the date of Mania in his interview on the 3/12 Raw show. He said 4/21 instead of 4/1. It was noted that had it been anyone else, several people would have jumped on it and made fun of them.
 
D

DMeisterJ

Banned
dream said:
In the segment-by-segment, Kane vs. Show lost 125,000 viewers which is less than usual for the second slot. David Otunga vs. Santino Marella with the John Laurinaitis/Teddy Long conflict, plus the Rock interview in front of the Rocky statue in Philadelphia gained 205,000 viewers. Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder lost 418,000 viewers.
Click to expand...

YES YES YES

John Cena vs. Mark Henry with Rock coming out gained 327,000 viewers to a 3.20 top of the hour, which is again a weak gain for that slot.
Click to expand...

More proof that no one cares about the Wrestlemania Main Event. Good going WWE.

And the final segment with HHH, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in the overrun gained 597,000 viewers, which is below average, but at a 3.32 overrun was still the highest rated thing on the show.
Click to expand...

Triple H Wrasslin month continues
 
S

Shadowlink

Member
dream said:
It was noted that an indication of the respect and aura Undertaker has within the company is that even though nobody made any directive, not one piece of talent brought up publicly his messing up the date of Mania in his interview on the 3/12 Raw show. He said 4/21 instead of 4/1. It was noted that had it been anyone else, several people would have jumped on it and made fun of them.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mess with The Undertaker. The man can send someone straight to hell!
 
L

lessthananth725

Member
I don't know if there are any other WrassleGAFers in the pittsbugh area but there is a local indie promotion called KSWA running a show this weekend. Tickets are only $5 if you're interested, it should be a fun show.

PM me for more details.
 
T

TheNatural

My Member!
I didn't watch RAW this week and apparently didn't miss much. I probably got three shows in me, next weeks RAW, Wrestlemania, and RAW the night after before I go into Undertaker "part time" mode as far as wrestling is concerned. It's amazing how much they've fucked up the build to this show with all the meaningless talking and not really progressing ANY of the feuds. It's like instead of trying to get people to watch by stacking shows with interesting things, they're all 2 hour paid programming repeats. Next year's Wrestlemania should be sponsored by Time Life. Forget RAW's, just run one hour blocks of paid programming on Lifetime.
 
S

Soup Bar

Member
CM Punk was just on the shoot the punk contest at the Blackhawks game. Too bad he didn't get a shot in. I have a feeling this will only add to the feud with Jericho, because Jericho would have put every shot in blind folded.
 
Z

zychi

Banned
Punk doing shoot and score during Blackhawks intermission, little kid owns him and wins 500 bucks. Awesome stuff just now
 
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