Dark Ninja
Member
AND turns off TV
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September Wrasslin' |OT| because Triple H is good for business
- Thread starter Kaladin
- Start date
AND turns off TV
Fixed.
riskVSreward
Member
Has TNA gotten better or worse in the past two years? I honestly can't tell.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Well Bubba fucking Ray is the face of the company in two thousand fucking thirteen. So take your pick.
We all need Joker Sting back.
British Monsoon
Member
Finished Billy Robinson's book, wonderful little read that gives some great insight as to the origins of catch wrestling and how catch wrestlers were dealt with throughout the world of wrestling. I would have liked to see Billy talk about his time in Japan more, as he only devotes a handful of pages to what was one of the most successful periods of his career, but also the most readily available, in terms of match quantity and quality. He doesn't really bad mouth anyone, other than setting The Rock straight* and taking the time to call Superstar Billy Graham a pussy**, but there's some excellent stories in here regardless.
*Rock apparently mentioned in an interview that his grandfather bit an English wrestler's eye out during a street fight one time in Japan. Billy's version of the story is that Peter Maivia was drunk and wanted to fight, Billy restrained him, but Peter bit three holes into Billy's cheek, so Billy kicked him black & blue and left him in the hospital.
**Graham, then a college football player, apparently got his first experience of wrestling from Billy Robinson stretching him until he was in tears. Years later, when Graham signed for the AWA he would only do so after Verne agreed he would never wrestle Billy and if they were in a tag match or battle royale against each other, Billy wouldn't hurt Graham.
One of my favourite stories was about working with Frank Gotch in Minnesota to fleece lumberjacks of their wages - basically, Frank would send one of his guys to work in the logging camp, saying he's a wrestler and he's got a match with Frank next week that he needs to train for. So, the wrestler would work as a logger by day, then challenge the other loggers to spar at night. He'd pick the strongest guy there and wrestle him, giving the guy a little bit more each night, until right before the fight he would get 'injured' and have to back out, but then convince the logger that he's not only good enough to take on and beat Frank Gotch, but that all the loggers should bet their earnings on their boy beating Frank. They'd set the match up, the wrestler would return to Frank and tell him all the logger's strengths and weaknesses and then Frank would beat him as quickly as possible and they'd make off with their winnings before anyone figured out what had happened.
Reading Bill Watts' book at the moment. Seems pretty good so far, if somewhat preachy.
Mutoh selling up to Shiraishi has really badly affected them - the guy's a money mark who happens to be a huge fan of 80's All Japan and made lots of controversial statements, like how he wants to focus on strong style matches, not 'fake wrestling' like New Japan. He criticised wrestlers on the roster for engaging in comedy spots or entertainment over wrestling, yet tried to set himself up in a storyline authority figure role, which seems to go against what he was saying. Also, he says he wants to return All Japan to the vision Giant Baba had for the promotion, but the trouble with that is the people who have been going to All Japan shows over the past decade generally aren't the same fans who were fans of Baba's product. They're fans of Mutoh's AJPW.
As for the quality of the product, it hasn't been the best, but I'm sure I posted on here last year or the year before about how All Japan were turning things around - the tag division in particular was excellent at one point, with Sekimoto & Okabayashi from BJW kicking ass against Soya & Omori in an extended feud that lasted for much of 2011 & 2012. Meanwhile, this year the Burning guys have been the saving grace of AJPW. It's safe to say that without them, All Japan would be dead in the water.
Here's a few recent matches worth a watch, in spite of the small crowds;
Go Shiozaki & Jun Akiyama (c) vs Suwama & Takao Omori - World Tag Titles - (AJPW 08/17/13)
Suwama (c) vs Go Shiozaki - Triple Crown Championship - (AJPW 08/25/13)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs Hiroshi Yamato - World Jr. Heavyweight Title - (AJPW 08/25/13)
*Rock apparently mentioned in an interview that his grandfather bit an English wrestler's eye out during a street fight one time in Japan. Billy's version of the story is that Peter Maivia was drunk and wanted to fight, Billy restrained him, but Peter bit three holes into Billy's cheek, so Billy kicked him black & blue and left him in the hospital.
**Graham, then a college football player, apparently got his first experience of wrestling from Billy Robinson stretching him until he was in tears. Years later, when Graham signed for the AWA he would only do so after Verne agreed he would never wrestle Billy and if they were in a tag match or battle royale against each other, Billy wouldn't hurt Graham.
One of my favourite stories was about working with Frank Gotch in Minnesota to fleece lumberjacks of their wages - basically, Frank would send one of his guys to work in the logging camp, saying he's a wrestler and he's got a match with Frank next week that he needs to train for. So, the wrestler would work as a logger by day, then challenge the other loggers to spar at night. He'd pick the strongest guy there and wrestle him, giving the guy a little bit more each night, until right before the fight he would get 'injured' and have to back out, but then convince the logger that he's not only good enough to take on and beat Frank Gotch, but that all the loggers should bet their earnings on their boy beating Frank. They'd set the match up, the wrestler would return to Frank and tell him all the logger's strengths and weaknesses and then Frank would beat him as quickly as possible and they'd make off with their winnings before anyone figured out what had happened.
Reading Bill Watts' book at the moment. Seems pretty good so far, if somewhat preachy.
Mutoh selling up to Shiraishi has really badly affected them - the guy's a money mark who happens to be a huge fan of 80's All Japan and made lots of controversial statements, like how he wants to focus on strong style matches, not 'fake wrestling' like New Japan. He criticised wrestlers on the roster for engaging in comedy spots or entertainment over wrestling, yet tried to set himself up in a storyline authority figure role, which seems to go against what he was saying. Also, he says he wants to return All Japan to the vision Giant Baba had for the promotion, but the trouble with that is the people who have been going to All Japan shows over the past decade generally aren't the same fans who were fans of Baba's product. They're fans of Mutoh's AJPW.
As for the quality of the product, it hasn't been the best, but I'm sure I posted on here last year or the year before about how All Japan were turning things around - the tag division in particular was excellent at one point, with Sekimoto & Okabayashi from BJW kicking ass against Soya & Omori in an extended feud that lasted for much of 2011 & 2012. Meanwhile, this year the Burning guys have been the saving grace of AJPW. It's safe to say that without them, All Japan would be dead in the water.
Here's a few recent matches worth a watch, in spite of the small crowds;
Go Shiozaki & Jun Akiyama (c) vs Suwama & Takao Omori - World Tag Titles - (AJPW 08/17/13)
Suwama (c) vs Go Shiozaki - Triple Crown Championship - (AJPW 08/25/13)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs Hiroshi Yamato - World Jr. Heavyweight Title - (AJPW 08/25/13)
Marvel
could never
Haha! brilliant.
I actually agree. I want to watch it....and the wrestling isn't bad....and Austin Fucking Aries...but I just can't muster up the interest in that product right now. Aces & Eights went on way too long and the product looks like a busted attempt at WCW redux and it feels like WCW 2000 without the entertaining trainwreck properties WCW 2000 had.
the mark in me is really hating seeing Daniel Bryan ending 6 consecutive shows on his back looking like a pussy, and I have been burned by WWE booking before, but I'm continuing to stay optimistic because the product has genuinely improved recently. I came back the E about a year ago after a LONG hiatus, and since then I've noticed much more wrestling on the show, a better quality of wrestling, and less screwy finishes, bad acting and whacky segments. there are still aspects of WWE that don't appeal to the purists or the puro gaijins, but they are definitely taking steps to broaden their appeal back to fans of wrestling rather than late 90s/early 00s sports entertainment. just remember how much of this HHH promo stuff is aimed at smarks rather than marks. I won't accuse them of burying D-Bry until he's actually buried.
HHH has never and will never be the superstar that the Rock or Stone Cold is. he will never be the legend that Ric Flair or Hogan is. he will never be the wrestler that Eddie Guerrero, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, HBK or
is/was. but the guy is AVAILABLE TO THEM. he is cheap, he's not filming movies, he's not an alcoholic, a burnout or a liability. he's smart, dedicated and B+ talented, and he's 100% WWE in every way, so he will be portrayed as a legend on TV over and over whether anyone likes it or not. what are they supposed to do, acknowledge he's basically a giant also-ran but the guys better than him are too busy or uninterested? marks love HHH too, because we always need to remember that the paying majority of wrestling fans are marks and drink the koolaid the WWE serves them - people still bring Miz signs to RAW after all.
I'm going to trust that this is long term booking until Daniel Bryan is back in the midcard. maybe it's hard to see when you're so invested in the product and have been watching RAW every week for 15 years, but there is a distinct change in the WWE's attitude towards booking and wrestling in 2013, and being all snarky and smarky about it is pretty short-sighted to be honest. the crowd hasn't given up on Daniel Bryan yet, if they start to lose interest you can bet there will be some hasty re-writing to make him look strong. we're only 3 weeks removed from him winning the WWE title to one of the biggest crowd reactions I can remember seeing since the attitude era, he gets Stone Cold Steve Austin pops multiple times across the TV tapings, the ratings are up and they simply can't just fall back on John Cena if they get scared by the new direction. keep some faith and maybe you'll be rewarded.
HHH has never and will never be the superstar that the Rock or Stone Cold is. he will never be the legend that Ric Flair or Hogan is. he will never be the wrestler that Eddie Guerrero, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, HBK or
Chris Benoit
I'm going to trust that this is long term booking until Daniel Bryan is back in the midcard. maybe it's hard to see when you're so invested in the product and have been watching RAW every week for 15 years, but there is a distinct change in the WWE's attitude towards booking and wrestling in 2013, and being all snarky and smarky about it is pretty short-sighted to be honest. the crowd hasn't given up on Daniel Bryan yet, if they start to lose interest you can bet there will be some hasty re-writing to make him look strong. we're only 3 weeks removed from him winning the WWE title to one of the biggest crowd reactions I can remember seeing since the attitude era, he gets Stone Cold Steve Austin pops multiple times across the TV tapings, the ratings are up and they simply can't just fall back on John Cena if they get scared by the new direction. keep some faith and maybe you'll be rewarded.
I love how when they're long-term booking without an instant pay-off, people start complaining about not getting the pay-off right away, but when they rush storylines to get the short-term pay-off like (for instance) they did with Punk in 2011, people complain they rushed the storyline.
Isn't that the weirdest thing?
Isn't that the weirdest thing?
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
GWF Observer:
Ex-GWF star Laserfrog has been hospitalized with multiple injuries. GAF Observer urges everyone to send Laserfrog their best wishes. He is currently recuperating at home with his family.
Soulplaya was questioned, and declined to comment on the issue.
Ex-GWF star Laserfrog has been hospitalized with multiple injuries. GAF Observer urges everyone to send Laserfrog their best wishes. He is currently recuperating at home with his family.
Soulplaya was questioned, and declined to comment on the issue.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
Don't talk mess about Bully. Dude is doing the lords work for that company right now.
I don't mind Bully in that spot. It's something new. It's not poops in bags or ManGod in the spot for the umpteenth time. They need to get Hogan out of there, and it's probable he'll end up leaving anyways, which is a big step in the right direction.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
It would take Panda Energy selling it and getting rid of Bischkoff, Hulkster and Trixie to save that sinking ship. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen.
I found his entire run until I stopped watching a month ago entirely forgettable.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
His run has been way more entertaining then Sabins, Geoff Harveys, Bobby Rooos, Drain Storms and at least as equally as entertaining as Aeries.
Its hard to be an intimidating leader of a stable when his backup is Wes Briscoe and Garrett Bischoff.
Plus this was memorable:
Spirit of Jazz
Banned
Smackdown sounds great apart from this.
Why on earth would she team with women worse than the total divas? It's so dumb that they reward her for cutting one of the best womens promos in WWE history by making her petty and jealous instead of the supercilious heel which she clearly is. Summer hasn't made her in ring debut yet but AJ's seen her perform on NXT and this would be a pretty appropriate time to do it "You've had matches in development better than these Divas have had in their careers, don't you think you deserve better?" or something to that extent. AJ should not be going up to the two worst wrestlers on the roster and asking for their help, just like the two worst wrestler on the roster should be cognisant that everything she said to Nat, Naomi, and Brie applied to them ten times over.
BronsonLee
Member
Since the XBox One release date is now out...
It gives me another excuse to post this
(November) 22?! AW MAN
It gives me another excuse to post this
(November) 22?! AW MAN
The answer is simple:
She is using them for personal gain. AJ's a heel, she's playing them to get backup. Not to start a stable or for sharing the spotlight with anyone. She's going into a 3-on-1 title match, she needs the help.
Because it's about Total Divas, and its story for next season.
Spirit of Jazz
Banned
I'm fully aware of that
I mentioned that Fox/Aksana should be aware AJ hates them just as much as the total divas so it makes them look stupid for one. As for AJ, it breaks her character. She shouldn't be getting the weakest wrestlers on the roster to back her up in a fight (why would anybody do that?) if this was about her thinking the total divas are less talented than her, she should be getting the weakest wrestlers on the roster if this is just about her being jealous and petty like the commentary team is pushing and it has nothing to do with divas ability because they're all equal.
I'd just rather she get better back-up for the feud she's having with like 20 divas or she should do it alone because she's so cocky. It just takes away from the story line for me, it's one of the worst directions they could take it in like the end of the last RAW for the Bryan/corporation feud, luckily the end of Smackdown looks much better.
I'd just rather she get better back-up for the feud she's having with like 20 divas or she should do it alone because she's so cocky. It just takes away from the story line for me, it's one of the worst directions they could take it in like the end of the last RAW for the Bryan/corporation feud, luckily the end of Smackdown looks much better.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Man, I didn't even know he'd written one, will have to pick it up. Does he address the rep he has with people for stretching them for no reason, specifically what happened with the iron sheik?
I'm a New York Knicks fan, a Philadelphia Eagles fan and I watch WWE
all I know is disappointment. I can't help but be cynical
Perspicacity
Banned
Serious question: Are you a Bella twin?
British Monsoon
Member
He mentions the Sheik incident briefly and sort of explains it away, and other incidents where he was challenged, as protecting the image & reputation of himself and the Wigan catch wrestlers. With Sheik specifically, Billy mentions that he had been bragging that no one could roll him from the mat to his shoulders because of how muscled he was, so he 'tweaked' his hip to get the hold.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Ah, cool.
Looking forward to reading this. I was intrigued with what Thesz had to say about Assirati in Hooker so it'll be interesting to see Robinson's take on it as he actually knew him.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Ambrose is out of shape and ugly
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
it does, doesn't it. And Reigns looks ridiculous. They photographed him from his non-exotic angle.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Lambda Pie
Banned
Black has a small head.
It's incredible, from the normal ring angle he looks like a Roman god and from straight on he just looks like some dude you know.
FallingEdge
Member
Ambrose is out of shape and ugly
Ambrose always reminded me of one of the McPoyle twins from It's always Sunny.
EVERY week he had something different. Classic Rude mustache, early 90s mustache, stubble, clean shaven, mutton chops, full beard, goatee, handle bar, mustache with the ends coming to points. And then he'd mix and match.
But all I could think of when he came out with that on his face was when Gomie grew his facial hair and Hank said it looked like a dog's asshole.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Damn, didn't know she had been engaged to Michael Clarke Duncan. Well, I know what kind of guy she likes.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
Push for Titus
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Omarosa was alright in Surreal Life