THE WRESTLING THREAD

[ACamp1900]

back to the "kicking and punching" style too you have to remember this form of wrestling is fashionable in Japan where the likes of Nakamura and Fergal Devitt came through from. WWE has many dudes who came through from different backgrounds now just amateur wrestling so there's going to way more diversity in styles nowadays

Yeah, but even so, the guys I listed, including Nakamura do WAY more than just punch and kick... at least what I've watched of them in the last couple years.

 

[wizards8507]

Since you guys mentioned him, Shinsuke Nakamura was the lone bright spot for me last night. Some other guys were talented in the ring, but he's the only one who I thought was actually interesting. I found AJ Styles to be talented but extremely dull.

 

[ACamp1900]

I disagree. The problem isn't explosiveness or action. Brock Lesnar suplexed or F5ed Roman Reigns over a dozen times last night (six German suplexes, five F5s, at least two belly-to-belly suplexes) and nobody cared. Because nobody cared about Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns. Absolutely zero mic skills from either of them and no compelling storyline behind the match.

I agree here... they both suck... it was one of the reasons I decided to pass last night. I'm guessing the Styles/Nakamura match up was much better and had way more energy tho???

 

[ACamp1900]

Since you guys mentioned him, Shinsuke Nakamura was the lone bright spot for me last night. Some other guys were talented in the ring, but he's the only one who I thought was actually interesting. I found AJ Styles to be talented but extremely dull.

gotcha.. I can see that too, Styles is amazing in ring but he's not the Rock on the mic. Zayn and Owens can usually carry a show too but from what I hear they were basically there just to push Bryan's return... shame. Also, I know I'm going to get killed here but one of my fav guys from this era is Miz... he can carry the show mic wise and he's well above average in ring, he makes a GREAT heel imo

 

[wizards8507]

I agree here... they both suck... it was one of the reasons I decided to pass last night. I'm guessing the Styles/Nakamura match up was much better and had way more energy tho???

It was better but underwhelming. I did a little bit of reading over the last few days (as I said, I haven't watched wrestling since junior high) and I was expecting this:

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It was good, but overhyped. Nakamura turned heel at the end though, and that was pretty dope.

gotcha.. I can see that too, Styles is amazing in ring but he's not the Rock on the mic. Zayn and Owens can usually carry a show too but from what I hear they were basically there just to push Bryan's return... shame. Also, I know I'm going to get killed here but one of my fav guys from this era is Miz... he can carry the show mic wise and he's well above average in ring, he makes a GREAT heel imo

Me: I think I'm going to watch Wrestlemania tonight.

My wife: OOOH is The Miz in it? He's married to one of the Divas but she's not going to be there because she's due with a baby.

Me: .....

 

[ACamp1900]

haha, that's awesome....

 

[ulukinatme]

Worst finisher of all time has to be The Ultimate Warrior's generic splash:

Yeah, but before the Big Splash he did a Gorilla Press. I still Gorilla Press and drop my kids on the bed to this day. That's staying power.

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[ACamp1900]

lol... Warrior v Hogan has to be the most overrated thing in American Pop Culture history... they both kind of sucked imo

 

[ulukinatme]

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I'd probably still be watching if they had matches like this today. They occasionally happen, but they're too few and far between. Rey and Michaels probably could have gone another 10 minutes easy, it's crazy to think they just threw that match together impromptu after Eddie death. It's so odd seeing Michaels as the bigger guy.

 

[wizards8507]

I'd probably still be watching if they had matches like this today. They occasionally happen, but they're too few and far between. Rey and Michaels probably could have gone another 10 minutes easy, it's crazy to think they just threw that match together impromptu after Eddie death. It's so odd seeing Michaels as the bigger guy.

And that was just a RAW. Better than anything they had last night on freaking Wrestlemania.

 

[ulukinatme]

lol... Warrior v Hogan has to be the most overrated thing in American Pop Culture history... they both kind of sucked imo

Yeah, as workers they both pretty much sucked. Even at that time Hogan was slow and hard to watch. Warrior was sloppy. The Gorilla Press was pretty awful by any standard. Don't know if it's because Hogan was so big or Warrior was gassed, but he doesn't so much press and drop him as he just kind of...let him go. Neither guy could really carry a match, Hogan was always better at getting beaten up for 10 minutes and then Hulking up and destroying the other guy. Warrior was kind of in the same boat. It's a shame because the match had a good story to it. They built it up well and they had a huge Skydome crowd behind them...just kind of a lame match in retrospect.

 

[ulukinatme]

Funny that decades later the Rock would get a much better match out of Hogan at the same Skydome venue. That crowd was lit, and it was pretty funny to see them turn on the Rock and cheer for Hogan playing the heel.

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[ulukinatme]

So that was the first wrestling I've watched in 15 years. Maybe it's just me being 28 instead of 13, but wrestling suuucks now. Where are all of the good characters? We used to have a single dude (Mick Foley) who played three characters better than any one character I saw last night. Zero star power, and the closest thing I saw to a compelling storyline was a hot Avril Lavigne-looking chick who fat shamed The Rock's cousin.

I've watched about half the matches now, at least the ones that were highly considered verses the throw-a-ways. Asaka vs. Flair was definitely the match of the night. It's amazing to see how far the Women's division has come from where it was years ago, but at the same time it's disappointing that the Men's division has fallen so far. The Rollins/Balor/Mix match was probably the best one for the guy's, but it wasn't as entertaining. In the same token the Styles/Nakamura match was pretty good, but still didn't didn't compete. The Rousey fight had some good spots, but it was overhyped...for a Tag match it had some great elements and entertainment, but Angle has noticeably lost his edge and as great as Stephanie was at playing mind games, she was always mediocre (Or worse) in the ring.

Sadly, the Undertaker match was pretty bad...had all the usual spots an Undertaker match has, but I think he should have hung them up after the HBK Wrestlemanias. At least they kept it short, that was the right move. The Brock vs. Reigns match was absolutely atrocious too. After the 5th Superman punch and 6th German Suplex I skipped to the end. Reminded me of a completely boring match turned out by HHH and Booker T around 2003...or it might have been the Goldberg vs. Brock match from about the same time. I think people chanted "boring" during that one too. Does Brock even draw? He can't speak, and he's lost the energy and luster he had during his first WWE run.

these guys are on the road 365 days a year though, their bodies wouldn't hold up if they had to wrestle like they do on PPV's every other night. They'd end up broken in no time.

Nobody wants to see the old rest holds anymore dude. They want action. WWE is trying to compete for the attention with the UFC. It has to be explosive, where a match could be over at any second ala MMA knockouts

Disagree. Rest holds and reversals are fun, and they help tell a story. You've got to have pacing in a match. 12 Superman punches are lame and predictable. All you need to know is that the best matches of the night had actual wrestling and were unique in their movesets, and that's not my opinion, those are what the fans voted. Even the Rousey match, which was pretty choreographed and had HHH blatantly calling out spots, was fairly entertaining compared to the bullshit that Brock and Reigns turned in. That match had plenty of action, but it was finisher spams, Superman punches, and German Suplexes. There was nothing unique about it, action without substance or variation is boring. I will agree with one thing though, WWE is trying to compete for attention with the UFC, you can see it as more and more Superstars are using submission finishers these days as oppose to slams.

Also, as someone who went to house shows from 2000-2007, those were often more entertaining than PPVs. You got to see stuff there that they'd never show on TV, stuff that don't have time for I mean. They often had plenty of actual wrestling because they had more time to fill. The most entertaining match I ever saw was a goof dark match after RAW about 13 years ago. It wasn't a great technical match, but it had stuff you would never see normally and that's what made it fun.

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I still die watching HHH getting into the fight with the little kid, and the delayed bump was hilarious in real time.

 

[wizards8507]

You see the reports that Vince and Brock may have had an IRL fight after the match? Something about Brock possibly going off script?

 

[ulukinatme]

Fixed the link.

 

[ulukinatme]

You see the reports that Vince and Brock may have had an IRL fight after the match? Something about Brock possibly going off script?

Hopefully he got himself fired, because he's awful to watch. Brock was fun when he was doing crazy stuff, like F-5ing the Big Show or throwing a clothesline from a forklift. Now he's in his 40s and just German Suplexes his way to victory. He's become Scott Steiner, but he's somehow worse on the mic.

 

[Irishnuke]

McMahon’s decision to push Reigns and squash CM Punk pretty much ruined the WWE.

 

[ACamp1900]

Hopefully he got himself fired, because he's awful to watch. Brock was fun when he was doing crazy stuff, like F-5ing the Big Show or throwing a clothesline from a forklift. Now he's in his 40s and just German Suplexes his way to victory. He's become Scott Steiner, but he's somehow worse on the mic.

Yeah he's aweful... I have actually always thought so...

 

[wizards8507]

So I guess I'm a wrestling fan now. Watching Raw on the DVR and this Samoa Joe impressed me on the mic.

 

[ACamp1900]

He's pretty cool, he'd have made it in the attitude era too...

 

[ulukinatme]

Console game night at my buddy's and we had RAW on the TV in the background. The AJ Styles/Daniel Bryan match was pretty damn good. It may have been better than either of their separate matches the previous night on Wrestlemania.

 

[wizards8507]

Console game night at my buddy's and we had RAW on the TV in the background. The AJ Styles/Daniel Bryan match was pretty damn good. It may have been better than either of their separate matches the previous night on Wrestlemania.

That was SmackDown fool. But yeah, there were several matches between RAW and SmackDown that were better than Mania. There's a new lady wrestler that got called up from NXT, Ember Moon. She's legit terrifying.

 

[ACamp1900]

My best man has a major fanboy thing for AJ Styles... lol

 

[Blaise]

Best thing about Smackdown and its not even close. Australian to boot! Instantly become top 5 females on the mic

 

[wizards8507]

I've been making the most out of my WWE Network free trial, rewatching a bunch of Attitude Era pay-per-views. Holy cow there was a lot of bad that went with all of the good. The mic skills of legends like The Rock and Steve Austin are well documented, but the sexual content and brutality of the violence really jump out when you're re-watching this stuff as an adult. I watched the 1999 Royal Rumble last night and the ten(!) chair shots that The Rock put on Mankind in the "I Quit" match would be a multi-million dollar CTE lawsuit if it happened today.

Also, the signs! Spotted:
- Suck my dick!
- Show us your penis, Chyna!
- Rocky is a fag!
- Austin 420:69
- Vince is a homo!
- I like head.
- Buttsex

Literally, one sign just said "buttsex."

 

[ACamp1900]

Haha 99 rumble, it was a glorious time to be in college, I'll tell you that much...

 

[ACamp1900]

If I remember right Rock had his title taken by Mankind shortly there after during a super bowl halftime match where Rock was pinned by a forklift.... you read that right.

 

[wizards8507]

If I remember right Rock had his title taken by Mankind shortly there after during a super bowl halftime match where Rock was pinned by a forklift.... you read that right.

Spoilers, dawg!

 

[ACamp1900]

Spoilers, dawg!

lol... 20 years later... don't worry, it's worth watching still for a few factors, it's reasonably short (it fit a halftime show) The Rock was hilarious during it and it had one of the more asinine endings to a match ever... and just in case you're serious... if that really does ruin anything, eh, it was a very strange one-off thing, not a PPV main event or anything.

 

[Irish#1]

You call this a wrestling thread with no mention of the passing of one of the all time greats? You punks!

https://www.theringer.com/2018/4/19/17259488/bruno-sammartino-wrestling-obituary-brian-koppelman

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