Wrestling

[steophonic]

Yeah, I've always loved the Undertaker because the gimmick is so cool, but who can forget two of the worst WM matches ever also involved him; vs Giant Gonzanles & vs Big Boss Man!

I kinda like the situation where the big names just seem to do Mania and no other shows - it makes it feel like a bigger event. But at the same token, I don't know where the future stars will come from.HHH, Taker, HBK, Flair, Rock & Stone Cold all seem like a different league from everyone else in terms of star quality.

Cena has pretty much beaten the rest of the current roster blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back, which hasn't helped matters...

Yeah, part of me hopes that was his last moment; a fitting visual end and also I'd like to see him go out on top at 20-0 undefeated.

[Shorty]

Cena has pretty much beaten the rest of the current roster blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back, which hasn't helped matters...

Yes, but that's not John's fault. He doesn't make the decisions on who he's gonna beat. He just does what he's told. If tomorrow they told him to lose to some random, he'd do it. He's that kind of guy.

John's fanbase generally is mostly women and kids, but he also does have quite a few male fans. The last couple of Raw's and WM itself had more guys then usual wearing John's gear in the crowd, and the initial 'Let's Go Cena' chants during the John/Rock match came from men, they were all low instead of high pitched, I was quite surprised haha

And yeah most people love Punk too, it's cos he's such a badass lol. He speaks his mind, stands up to people and doesn't take crap from anybody. He's awesome

I'm out of the loop with older WWE/F cos I couldn't watch WWF in the 90's. It wasn't even airing in NZ at that point! The only way I could watch it was through tapes from the video store The first WWE show I ever watched was the 1998 Royal Rumble It was cos of that Stone Cold became one of my all time favourites, plus it also had that awesome casket match with HBK and Taker

And Wayne, first you say you hate John then you say you admire him? How you can hate somebody but also admire them? I'm confused

(also woo for this topic actually having some life!)

[Wayne]

Well, I do hate him or rather, what he's turned the industry into - an industry catered to children. But I admire his work ethic.

Vince a while back asked reporters not to call it wrestling, but instead a global media company. That's the nail in the coffin.

I hope Triple H sees sense and guides the company back to its former glory. Something a bit like TNA but on WWE's scale.

[Shorty]

TNA? TNA is frigging terrible lately. Last week's show was so half arsed, I almost fell asleep halfway through lol. In fact, I pretty much gave up right after the final tag team match. It's like they figured nobody cared about TNA that week cos of WM, so they phoned the show in. And they wasted half an hour on Hogan deciding whether to become the new GM, when everybody already knew he'd take the job.

And I like Sting, but I'm not sure if I want him back as a full time wrestler. He's 50, not some young guy. Hmm

And Vince telling people not to say wrestling anymore is funny cos in the last couple of weeks both John and Punk have referred to themselves as wrestlers (Punk actually hates being called a 'superstar' and always calls himself a wrestler ). So hopefully we're steering away from this 'wrestling is a dirty word' thing.

And I also think WWE is going away from PG slightly, half the stuff that's gone on lately isn't PG whatsoever. Rock and John trading lines that aren't PG whatsoever, Punk dropped the F bomb the other week... lol.

[Wayne]

TNA? TNA is frigging terrible lately. Last week's show was so half arsed, I almost fell asleep halfway through lol. In fact, I pretty much gave up right after the final tag team match. It's like they figured nobody cared about TNA that week cos of WM, so they phoned the show in. And they wasted half an hour on Hogan deciding whether to become the new GM, when everybody already knew he'd take the job.

If TNA had a bigger crowd, everything would improve. I think Dixie is worried that by moving around the country a bit, she'll lose her core TNA fan base. But WCW Nitro started off in the same was as Impact did - it used to have a minimum number of fans [in the hundreds rather than the thousands] - within a year, it moved into small arenas and by 1997, it was packing 40,000+ into the Georgia Dome, JUST for a Nitro.

The storylines in TNA are actually very good. The wrestling can be superb. I mean TNA have pushed acts like Bubba Ray Dudley & Jeff Hardy to the moon, and that's something WWE never did [though they did begin to see the potential of Jeff Hardy in the end]. One thing I do agree with is the time they allocate to segments - I love seeing Hogan every week [side note: did you know that TNA pay Hogan $35,000 for every appearance he makes = $2m+ per year? Nothing on what he earned in WCW, but still, I'd say only Triple H and John Cena earn more these days], and I think Dixie just wants her money's worth, but whilst TNA have gained more fans than they've ever had, they've lost some die hard ones too. Bring it back to the TNA homegrown talent, add in the WWE/WCW talent that TNA have built up themselves, and gradually pull Sting/Hogan/Flair etc out of the mix [though keep Hogan in his current GM role].

And I like Sting, but I'm not sure if I want him back as a full time wrestler. He's 50, not some young guy. Hmm

Like Hogan, I love seeing Sting each week. He can still go with the best of them.

And Vince telling people not to say wrestling anymore is funny cos in the last couple of weeks both John and Punk have referred to themselves as wrestlers (Punk actually hates being called a 'superstar' and always calls himself a wrestler ). So hopefully we're steering away from this 'wrestling is a dirty word' thing.

And I also think WWE is going away from PG slightly, half the stuff that's gone on lately isn't PG whatsoever. Rock and John trading lines that aren't PG whatsoever, Punk dropped the F bomb the other week... lol.

Well maybe, hopefully Triple H is bringing about change!

[Shorty]

I definitely agree with you about TNA utilising their homegrown talent. Guys like AJ Styles, Alex Shelley (can't wait for Chris Sabin to come back this week and for them to be the Motor City Machine Guns again ), Austin Aries (I used to hate him but he's growing on me lately), Booby Roode (brilliant heel, absolute asshole but in a good way ), James Storm etc are the people TNA should concentrate on, as most of them are amazing talents.

They should get rid of Eric Bischoff as an on screen character, he's annoying and pointless and the storyline with his son has gone on WAY too long. Get rid of Ric Flair too, he was past it a long time ago, maybe back in WWE. Keep Hogan in his new role as GM, but make sure he's not taking up too much screen time. As for Sting, keep him wrestling if he can keep up with the younger guys, otherwise scale back his participation. And get rid of Bully Ray, I hate him lol. He's the most annoying person in TNA, he's not even entertaining

They also need to work on the format for Impact, atm it's completely wrong. Too many pointless video packages/backstage interview segments and not enough wrestling. There was practically an entire 45 minutes last week without a single match.

[GetBack]

Oh my god! I am so happy to have found this thread!

[oasisbobo]

Loved wrestlemania on sunday! The Rock's and The Undertaker's matches were amazing!

[aaliyahman]

So glad to have someone who watched it parallell to myself! I knew btw that would be the Chyna video lol.

I remember one match where she was against two weak as hell ring announcers/managers. They even tried to throw flour in her face and she whooped both of them!

Oh that wasn't ring announcers - that was Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson! lmao. THIS match. Its OUTRAGEOUS what they do to Chyna in this match - you'd never see this in modern day WWE. Chyna was so "over" with the fans - they loved her! I love it when Sable comes down in the Chyna vs Brisco/Patterson match - Sable was another amazing diva!

Such good memories watching it.

I even remember Rey Mysterio when he used to wear baggy jean shorts and no face mask in WCW. When he entered WWF with the mask, people were like 'wow I wonder what he looks like'. I was so smug that I knew!!

Ah, yeah. I can still remember the night Kevin Nash first beat him and forced him to unmask - it was an amazing moment. Around 1998 IIRC, when Nash was still in the Wolfpac with Lex Luger, Sting etc.

Also I agree, people don't appreciate or even see a wrestler's rise through the ranks as it doesn't happen so much in such an epic way.

Although there is a lot of hate for Randy and John, those two, at least have had some kind of steady rise. I mean right about the time I stopped watching WWE, those two were doing things and now they still are.

I admire Cena and Orton, especially the latter; Orton is a third generation superstar and he had big boots to fill. He's become bigger than his father and grandfather ever were, combined. As for Cena, I admire his work ethic and I admire that he's a good wrestler inside of the ring - much better than he was at first. I can remember when he won the US title from Big Show at Wrestlemania some years back - awful match. But I knew Cena would go onto win the main title, and he did.

Aaliyahman - have you ever seen the WWF Desire video? It actually makes me emotional to watch this now, a lot of stars in that video I grew up with, have no passed on, or we don't see anymore. Wrestling stopped being great, back in 2004/2005/2006.

That vid was magical!!

Such a shame I grew up and it changed.
Sable was awesome I always remember her, to me she seemed like an 'older' woman lol.

All those gimmicks they used to use were so funny.

What was Undertaker's crew called, when he had Edge and Christian and Gangrel as Disciples. That was so funny.

[aaliyahman]

Also, they have pushed Bobby Roode too far now, he just doesn't have the charisma IMO. When he's ranting it's like, who cares, especially with that frazzle hair he has.

I love Magnus as he trained down the road from me. Fat Joe is horrendous though!

I'd love to see them make more of the knockouts and actually have some stables. It's always alternating tag teams in TNA rather than say DX or the Human Oddities. I love groups like that.

[Shorty]

What was Undertaker's crew called, when he had Edge and Christian and Gangrel as Disciples. That was so funny.

The Brood! Although they feuded with Taker, not teamed up with him, cos Taker was in the Ministry of Darkness.

And lol about Bobby Roode's hair I was cracking up at the footage from Victory Road when his hair dried and it went completely frizzy, he looked so weird

Fat Joe? You mean Samoa Joe, right? And Magnus is cool, I like him. I think he looks like Hugh Jackman

So, what about Brock Lesnar returning to WWE, eh? I haven't seen Raw myself yet (it doesn't air till Friday in NZ), but it was all over Facebook so I couldn't avoid it. I'm not as thrilled as everybody else, as I was never a huge fan of his, but meh as long as it gets Rock away from John, I'm happy.

I'm more here for the Chris Jericho/CM Punk feud, it looks like it's continuing wooooo

[Wayne]

What was Undertaker's crew called, when he had Edge and Christian and Gangrel as Disciples. That was so funny.

The Brood! Although they feuded with Taker, not teamed up with him, cos Taker was in the Ministry of Darkness

Well Undertaker brainwashed the Brood, and they eventually joined his Ministry of Darkness.

Then following that, it got really silly - Vince McMahon was revealed to be the "higher power" and they formed the Corporate Ministry!

Just talking about it makes me happy!! So many feuds inside the company were sh!t hot - I was excited for them all, be it Val Venis/Mark Henry, Corporate Ministry/Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley/The Rock, Kane/X Pac etc. So many great feuds.

I used to love how Kane was cast as the monster; I can remember one Raw when X Pac was scheduled to face the Big Show. Just as the referee rang the bell, BOOM! Kane's pyro and he came walking down and pulled X Pac away and went for the Big Show [Kane was X Pac's partner at the time]. Before X Pac gave Kane a kick. X Pac used to be amazing back then!

[Wayne]

The Brock Lesnar news doesn't phase me; he used to get paid a £1million downside guarantee + bonuses, and to this day I don't understand why - he didn't draw a dime.

The modern day Sid Vicious; great physique, awesome to watch his power displays and he had some really great matches - but on the whole, he was greener than grass.

[Shorty]

^ LOL yeah true, by the time Vince got involved that storyline got ridiculous. Not that it wasn't ridiculous to begin of course

LOL nice to see I'm not the only person jumping up and down at the thought of Brock Lesnar in WWE! I find him quite boring.

And there's all these rumours of Rock and Brock (lol rhyming names!) going for the WWE Championship I find this a terribly stupid idea, yes WWE let's give the company's top title to either one of two guys who even been in the company the last 8 years. Brock is only going to make 2 appearances a month or something and Rock won't be around that much either, he's making movies. Stupid, stupid idea, I hope they ditch that plan.

[aaliyahman]

lol Vince their higher power. For all his downsides, any of the old story lines with Vince in were so funny, he's such a great/awful actor.

I'm not bothered about Brock, for me I just thought he was uncharismatic, and boring.

Val Venis was funny. I remember the Godfather and the hoooooooooooooo train or was that WCW?

[Shorty]

Val Venis was funny. I remember the Godfather and the hoooooooooooooo train or was that WCW?

Nah, he turned up in WWE on occasion Usually at the most inappropriate and inopportune times

LOL I loved Val Venis too Helloooooooooo ladies

One of Vince's worst storylines was when he went against Shawn Michaels and "God" in a tag team match That storyline really crossed the line, I'm surprised Shawn even agreed to it really! But it evolved into DX reforming so at least something good came out of it

[aaliyahman]

lol gotta love Vince. Has anyone got any clips of Vince's 'performances'? I need a laugh!

[Wayne]

Watching THIS as we speak.

If you're a fan of the inside of the wrestling, you'll understand some of the inside gags. Its BRILLIANT.

^ Greatest manager of all-time, right there folks - Bobby Heenan!

[Wayne]

Shorty, watch this match when you get 10 minutes, and let me know what you think about it! I am intrigued by what you think about that era.

It took me back to my childhood!!!

[Wayne]

CM Punk has been Tweeting support of gay marriage recently, and has ended up telling a fan to "kill himself"

[Shorty]

CM Punk has been Tweeting support of gay marriage recently, and has ended up telling a fan to "kill himself"

Hahah he ended up apologising cos people apparently can't take a joke

Over The Limit tomorrow Not much buildup, but Punk vs Bryan is going to be AWESOME! Two of the best indie wrestlers going at it

John Cena vs John Laurinaitis is going to be a trainwreck of epic proportions, but entertaining at the same time! I have no idea how Laurinaitis is going to do in the ring, as he hasn't wrestled since the mid 90's. But I think it's quite obvious Big Show will interfere considering he got fired on Raw

Sheamus vs Jericho vs Orton vs Del Rio should be great also, but I wish Del Rio wasn't in it, cos he sucks and is boring Triple Threat without him would have been better!

As for TNA, are they EVER going to take the title off Bobby Roode? He's sooooo boring I hate listening to him ramble every week about how great he is. Shut up Bobby! But Open Fight Night is a great concept and I'm looking forward to next week's show.

Oh, also they're moving Raw in NZ, it's going to Tuesday night woohoo Now we won't be 3 days behind!!

[stollar]

Be sure to watch "No Way Out" tonight:)

[Dennis2910]

god i seriously love the Divas and Knockouts division lately lol

[Shorty]

god i seriously love the Divas and Knockouts division lately lol

...Why?! The Divas division is absolute crap lately. It's thin and they get no storyline development whatsoever. Layla vs Beth for the title at NWO tonight has no buildup and I almost forgot about it until Smackdown the other night Bring back Kharma is what I say!

As for the Knockouts, they're better then the Divas that's for sure, but still not that great. Brooke Hogan in charge of the division? What? And I like Brooke Tessmacher but she's not that great a wrestler IMO...

[Wayne]

Just watched the Roddy Piper/Cyndi Lauper segment on Raw from last week, and loved it.

So many good memories!