Wrestlemania thoughts
The tag match was ok, though it wasn’t anything special and I’m guessing that Carlito and Show didn’t get the belts because Carlito and Masters are set to split up soon and they’d rather have a team that is sticking together be the ones to get the belts. Not that it matters, because whoever do get the belts will be getting squashed within a month by a useless relative of someone in power.
MITB was pretty good but not as good as the MITB from last year. Shelton Benjamin was the star of the match, like last year, and did some great spots. The crowd was hot for RVD and they popped big for his win.
The Batista-Orton deal seems to foreshadow what, at least for this week, is the preferred main event for Smackdown at Wrestlemania 23.
Benoit and JBL was not the PPV quality match that they had been reportedly having at house shows, but they didn’t get a lot of time. It was decent, but that’s about the best you can call it.
Edge and Mick Foley had my MOTN with a great hardcore match. Lots of great spots and the finish will be in the WM highlight reel for years to come. It was far better than Foley’s match with Orton a couple of years ago because there was a lot more done.
The backstage deal with Booker T, Sharmell and the freaks was funny at first but it ended up feeling like a bad SNL skit. Ted DiBiase looked a lot like Jimmy James from Newsradio.
Skimmed most of Booker and Boogey Man, but I don’t think I missed a lot.
The women’s match was surprisingly good until the finish got blown beyond all hope. The real story was the crowd turning on Trish huge and Mickie becoming, for at least one night, a super over babyface.
Vince looked like a walking cartoon character.
The casket match appeared to be better than it had any right to be, and Mark Henry looked ok. Not good, but ok. Undertaker was feeling it, especially after his big running dive.
Vince and Shawn had a capable affair, but it certainly wasn’t as good as Vince and Hogan from 2003 and I don’t think it got as much heat as it should have done for such a strongly pushed program. They covered up as best they could for Vince’s weaknesses and the big finish capped things off nicely.
The SD main event had some “WTF?” booking with Angle getting a visionary tap out on Rey, which keeps Angle strong but kills Rey, especially after he tapped out rapidly on Smackdown last week. Angle looked tiny and his physical transformation over the last year or so is very sad but not unexpected.
The time of the match was totally unforgivable. Would it really have killed Vince and Hunter to shave 5 minutes off of their respective matches and give these three the time to have the great match that they seemed more than capable of delivering? The finish got a good pop which was a surprise considering that the crowd booed whenever Rey or Orton were on offense.
I skipped the Playboy match or whatever that nonsense was called.
Hunter and Cena had a far better match than I think anyone was expecting. With a minimal amount of gimmickry, Hunter and Cena had a really good match, excellent for Cena, and it had an incredible atmosphere with the pro/anti-Cena fans never staying quiet for long if at all. The finish was initially a surprise but it wasn’t much of when you stop and think about the turmoil and second guessing going into the WM weekend when it came to the top matches and their finishes. I’ll give Hunter credit for doing what I don’t think anyone predicted and tapping out clean. I know people want and can’t wait for Cena to turn heel, but Dan Wahlers made an excellent point in his latest column when he pointed out that a lot of the backlash against Cena is because it’s a rebellion thing and the fans are bucking against the system. Once booing Cena is the ‘correct’ reaction it’s not being cool or rebellious to boo Cena then it is likely that the reactions to him will stop being so loud and compelling. The best thing to do right now is to keep him babyface because it’s the ideal way to maintain the huge reactions he gets and to keep people wanting to pay to see Cena, whether it’s to boo him or cheer him.
Wrestlemania 22 was better than 21 because, while the peaks might not have been as high as last year, the valleys weren’t as deep, and the whole show was more solid. I don’t think it was worth $50, but it was a better PPV than most people thought it would be.
As the most viewed diary here, which is akin to being the most watched program on FSN, I'm wondering if there is anything specific you people want to see here?
I'm open to any reasonable, and most unreasonable, suggestions, if only to keep the content going, and to stir some sort, any sort, of talk.
People, the floor is yours.
What Will Eddie’s Death Ultimately Mean To Wrestling?
A man, a father, a loving husband who brought great love and compassion to his family, is dead. To his family he was everything and he gave them the kind of joy that you only get with true love and warmth. Eddie Guerrero was a tremendous human being who overcame incredible odds, fought back from death, and achieved the pinnacle of his profession, professional wrestling. That was Eddie Guerrero the person, and he will be missed by so many, but most of all he will be missed by his family.
But the point of this is not to talk about what Eddie’s death will mean to his family, because no article, no words, no book can truly convey the kind of loss that they are feeling right now. This is about what Eddie’s death will mean to wrestling.
Nothing.
Eddie’s death will ultimately mean nothing to wrestling. No, I’m not talking about the people in wrestling who knew Eddie and were friends with him. I’m talking about the business of wrestling, and, as sad as it is, as tragic as it is, Eddie’s death will mean absolutely nothing to wrestling. When Art Barr, Eddie’s best friend, died as a result of mixing drink and pills, it was sad, but it meant nothing to the wrestling business. When Brian Pillman, who also died in Minneapolis, and died to continued drug use despite having know heart problems, it meant nothing to the wrestling business. When Louie Spicolli, also a friend of Eddie’s, died from taking too many somas, it meant nothing to the wrestling business.
Why did those deaths, and the deaths of so many others like Rick Rude, Hercules, Curt Hennig, Larry Cameron, and even Eddie’s own near-death experience, end up meaning absolutely nothing to the wrestling business? Because despite all of the pain, misery and sadness that all of those deaths and many like them caused, the same roads that led to those deaths end up getting taken by wrestler’s time and time and time again. Even though the results of the excess and the partying and the drinking get seen for all to see, people in wrestling still end up taking that road, and inevitably some of them, a lot of them even, wind up at the same place as all those other names I mentioned; dead.
Why would someone keep doing all that stuff, the drinking, the pills, the steroids, if they have seen first hand what the effects of that insane lifestyle can be?
There are a lot of reasons. A lot of it comes from the sense of invincibility that wrestlers have, where they think they can’t get hurt and that even if they do get it hurt it was just a fluke and it wouldn’t happen again. A lot of it comes from flat out denial. A total refusal to acknowledge that the drugs drink and steroids had anything at all to do with the deaths. Even when Davey Boy Smiths autopsy showed that heavy long-term steroid use was a factor in his death, there were people who refused to accept that, and insisted that steroids had nothing to do with it. Can steroids kill you? If you abuse them they can, and Davey abused them, but even though they knew this, some people still refused to accept that steroids had anything to do with his death.
But the biggest reason, the underlying reason is far more simple, but very chilling. The wrestlers know all the side effects, they know the reactions, and they know what can happen when they take any one or even all of these substances and do so for an extended period of time. But the wrestlers take them anyway.
Why? Because it’s demanded of them. It’s demanded of them by promoters and by fans. The promoters demand it because they don’t think the fans will accept a top guy if he’s not got a certain physique, the kind that you can’t get without taking some kind of drug, and also because they themselves have the mindset that only big tough guys can be top guys. The fans demand it because they’ve been conditioned to accept that only big guys with that drug-aided physique can be top guys. The promoter knows what it takes to get that kind of body, and a lot of the fans also know what it takes to get that kind of body. They should, having watched big guy after big guy from their childhood drop dead in their 40s. But despite all of that, despite knowing what it takes to get that kind of body and knowing the consequences, neither the promoter nor the fan cares enough to do anything about it.
If the promoter cared enough to do anything about it, he would stop giving the top spots to guys that, has hard as they’ve worked out in the gym, have had to take drugs to get that freaky physique that the promoters have demanded and obsessed about for years. The promoter would stop determining the top spots based solely on size and muscle mass, and would base it on talent and ability. But he doesn’t. Why? Because he cares too much about making money and filling his bank account to care about the cost that the wrestlers he hires and employs go though to get the kind of look that demands and wants out of his top guys.
If the fans cares enough, they’d stop cheering and popping for every jacked up stiff that walks out from the curtain. They’d stop looking all awestruck at the latest generic looking stiff to get brought up from training about two years too soon. Instead, they’d start cheering and popping for the guys who have trained, who do work hard in the ring, and who can wrestle for more than five minutes before becoming exhausted. Once in a while the fans do act like this, and someone like Chris Masters, even with a non-stop nine month push, gets treated with silence. But that is the exception, and not the rule. For every Chris Masters you get a Batista, and all credit to Batista for working out, but we all know what he’s taking to get that type of physique. Batista has torn his triceps twice, maybe three times, and only days ago tore his lat, and badly. Those kinds of repeated tears don’t happen on someone who hasn’t overdeveloped their muscles, and we all know how, why and what Batista took to get to that point. Because the promoter wants it, and because the fans cheer for it, and because Batista knows he has to take those kinds of risks to get the top spot.
Vince McMahon doesn’t flat out tell his guys to take steroids and jack themselves up as large as they can. But when you look at the type of guy who consistently gets the top spot, and the type of guy that gets called up from developmental ahead of far more talented guys, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you have to do, because you can’t do it naturally, to get that top spot or to get called up the main roster and make the kind of money you can really live off of. Take a look at The Dicks, the recent call up from OVW. They are far from ready for prime time, and yet here they are. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why The Dicks are here, and why Johnny Jeter, Matt Capotelli, and other more talented and more ready, if maybe not totally ready, guys are still toiling away in OVW.
It’s because the promoter demands it. It’s because the fans, fans like you, demand it.
So, when the next Eddie Guerrero happens, and you’re asking why it happened, do two things; take a look at Vince McMahon, and then take a look in the mirror. Because you’ll be looking at the two main causes, whether you can accept that or not.
Lately, I’ve been watching:
The 16-man elimination match and the mask vs. mask main event from the CMLL PPV from March of 2000. The elimination match is good, and there are some typically goofy Lucha holds in there, but it could have been better with about five minutes cut off. The mask vs. mask match still holds up, and is great stuff with one of the most emotional reactions you’ll ever see. When Villano III loses and is being interviewed in the ring prior to taking his mask off, you see shot after shot of various women in the crowd crying at the emotion of Villano losing his mask.
The Ted DiBiase shoot. I’m half way through it, and it’s been really interesting stuff. Ted talks about growing up being a ‘wrestling brat’, liking it to being an army brat where he moved constantly. He talks about breaking into the business, working in Japan, and jokingly bemoans about being in line to be UWF, NWA and WWF World champions and then losing out at the last minute every time. He talks about The Ultimate Warrior, and says he told Vince it was a mistake putting the belt on Warrior and that he said to Vince that he thought he was creating a monster, with Vince saying that “he’ll be my monster”, and that he could control him. DiBiase says that when Warrior tried to demand more money at Summerslam in 1991 he could have walked up to Vince and said “I told you”.
The Super Junior Cup 2nd Stage which was held in WAR. I’ve watched the first four matches so far, and they’ve been ok. The best on has been Ultimo Dragon versus Shoichi Funaki (yes, that Funaki). The opener was a comedy match between Damian and Gran Naniwa, with Damien being is usually funny self by calling out spots from people like Choshu, Muta, Tenryu and Kudo.
UFC:
Best knockout from a punch: Brad Kohler on Steve Judson at UFC 22
Best knockout from a kick: Yves Edwards on Josh Thompson at UFC 49
Best submission: Matt Hughes on Frank Trigg at UFC 45
PRIDE:
Best knockout from a punch: Igor Vovchanchyn on Francisco Bueno at PRIDE 8
Best knockout from a kick: Gilbert Yvel on Gary Goodridge at PRIDE 10
Best submission: Ryo Chonan on Anderson Silva at PRIDE Shockwave 2004
Ultimate Fight Night 6: Round-by-Round
Josh Koscheck vs. Jonathan Goulet
Koscheck totally controlled the fight and was never close to being in danger. Koscheck continues to show that he could be a title contender down the line. Guess I’m going to have to wait a while for Josh to finally get the shit kicked out of him.
Dean Lister vs. Yuki Sasaki
A very slow start but it turned into a good round. Lister controlled the direction of the fight and clearly won the round, but Sasaki put up more than enough of a defense to avoid being blown out, so I have it 10-9 for Lister.
Round two was again controlled by Lister who tied Sasaki up in knots on the ground, but Sasaki somehow weathered the storm and escaped to get things standing for the last few seconds. The question is does Lister win 10-8 for such dominance, or does he only win 10-9 for not being able to finish? I’ll go with 10-9, making it 20-18 for Lister going into the third and final round.
The third round saw Lister gassed out from trying to put Sasaki away in round two, but Sasaki was equally gassed and was unable to take advantage. 10-10 round, so I have it as Lister winning 30-28.
All three judges give it 30-27 to Lister. There was very noticeable booing from the crowd to that, probably from Lister actively trying to stall during round three.
Chris Leben vs. Jorge Santiago
Round one was even, and neither guy did enough to make me give them the nod so I have it 10-10.
Round two was slow standing up until Leben hit home with a great left hand knocking Santiago out cold.
They showed the punch a couple of times in slow motion and it hit Santiago right in the face and he was out before he hit the ground.
Joe Riggs vs. Jason Von Flue
It went to the ground and Riggs controlled Von Flue en route to a great triangle choke. Von Flue flipped the bird and then quickly tapped out, which was funny.
Karo Parisyan vs. Diego Sanchez
Round one was very heated with the crowd being loud and noisy. Sanchez was awesome with how easily he was able to get Parisyan’s back. Parisyan was cut under one of his eyes, so that may give the round to Sanchez with the judges, but Parisyan was able to take Sanchez down with some excellent judo throws, so I score the first round even.
Round two was all-action and Diego again showed tremendous agility with his ground game. He was able to effectively neutralize Parisyan and dominated the round so I give the round to Diego. It’s 20-19 for Diego on my scorecard.
Round three was exciting with a hot crowd who never let up. Diego was again in command with Karo trying to hang in there, getting limited respite. Karo did get a throw in there, but Diego was just dominating in this round and I’d give it to him 10-8. With that, I have him winning the decision 30-27.
The judges gave it Sanchez with scores of 29-28. 29-28 and 30-26.
An awesome fight, and a real FOTY candidate.
UFC 63 Hughes vs. Penn II - Round-by-Round
Joe Lauzon vs. Jens Pulver
Wow. Lauzon stunned Pulver, and most of the MMA world with this one. Lauzon caught Pulver early, and didn’t give him a chance to mount any offense. I think a combination of Lauzon trying to end it early, which was his best chance of winning, and, it seems, Pulver taking his opponent lightly, led to this most stunning of upsets.
Jason Lambert vs. Rashad Evans
Rashad controlled the first round, and while Lambert did fight for a kimura, and somewhat got it, Rashad was never in any real trouble while Lambert was backing up a lot. Rashad wins this 10-9 for me.
Rashad dominated Lambert and took him down easily, en route to a brutal TKO win. Lambert’s biggest problem was that he didn’t appear willing to take the fight to Rashad and was waiting to play counterfighter and it cost him big.
Gabe Ruediger vs. Melvin Guillard
Guillard completely dominated the first half of the round, to where I was anticipating a 10-8 round. Then, things slowed down and Ruediger wound up turning the tide in his favor and was very close to upsetting Guillard. Guillard controlled for longer than Ruediger, but his easing up, and then coming close to losing, makes this round even for me. 10-10.
It started slow and then Guillard struck with a hard right to the solar plexus. A second one soon followed and Ruediger crumpled into a heap and it was all over. Quite the finish to this one.
Mike Swick vs. David Loiseau
First round was pretty methodical, with neither man really advancing forward, but Swick did pick things up in the second half the round and for me he did enough, just, to win the round. 10-9 for Swick.
Round two was very boring round, with neither fighter seemingly willing to be the one to get things going. Swick did try and do a few things late on and while he did give Loiseau a small but, it wasn’t enough for me to give him the round, so I scored it even, 10-10, with Swick ahead 20-19 going into the third and final round.
Round three was mostly slow but both fighters picked up the pace halfway through. Loiseau seemed ready to pounce as Swick appeared to gas out badly, but he never really took advantage and Swick was content to let time run out. Swick got a takedown right at the end, but I don’t view it as enough to win a very even, and none too exciting, round. 10-10 draw, so I have Swick winning 30-29.
The judges all scored 29-28 in favor of Swick.
David Lee vs. Tyson Griffin
Lee tried to start big and it wound up costing him in a big way, as Griffin got him down and kept him there. Eventually, Griffin was able to get a rear naked choke on, and Lee did try to work his way out of it but to no avail and was forced to tap out.
BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes
Hughes tried to take Penn down almost right away, but Penn showed excellent takedown defense and blocked it. Penn managed to tag Hughes a couple of times, and Hughes’ face reddened up a bit. The poke to the eye was unfortunate, but it didn’t take away from a round that Penn clearly won, through great defense and solid offense. 10-9 to Penn, and Hughes really needs to try something new.
Round two was incredible. Hughes was finally able to take Penn down after a struggle, but things managed to got worse for Hughes after that as Penn fought him off Hughes and was able to get his back. Penn had Hughes in trouble with a rear naked choke but Hughes fought out of it only to get trapped with a triangle choke and armbar combination and he was damn near close to being choked out but he was able to hold on to the end of the round. Penn wins round two as well, and I’d say it was enough to make it a 10-8 win, meaning I have Penn up 20-17 so far.
The third round saw Hughes turned things around in a big way. He got Penn down again and managed to slip past Penn’s guard, grab side control and tie up Penn’s arms. This left Penn open to a barrage of punches, and Penn had no way to escape and eventually John McCarthy had to stop the fight to give Hughes the TKO win, in a fight that he came very close to losing.
As a fight, the main event was really good, but as a story it was incredible.
Eddie Sanchez vs. Mario Neto
The first round was relatively uneventful, and while Neto did get some offense in, it wasn’t enough to win a very sedate round. 10-10
The second round didn’t last long before Sanchez nailed Neto with a strong left hand and, after a couple more strikes on the ground, it was all over.
Overall: This was a pretty solid card of action, with a relatively strong undercard and a main event that more than delivered, which is what you really want out of a PPV. It was better than UFC 62 and was obviously streets ahead of UFC 61, but I don’t know that I’d call it a great PPV. If you judge a PPV by the overall quality, then it was good but great, but if you judge a PPV by how well the main event delivers, then it was off the charts.
Yves Edwards vs. Joe Stevenson
A good first round, which I’d give to Edwards. He did a good job of fending off Stevenson for the most part, and he scored with a great looking high kick.
Stevenson totally dominated round two, but the real story was the bleeding from Edwards off the cuts to his head. The canvas was splattered with Yves blood, and was a sight to see.
Going into round three, I have it 19-18 to Stevenson.
The doctor stops the fight, though, and Stevenson gets the victory. No complaints with the stoppage, because that was a cut that just wouldn’t stop bleeding and it was going to impair Yves’ vision.
Frank Mir vs. Dan Christison
Christison did just enough to win a very boring round.
Mir was totally blown up and did very little. Neither did Christison, but he did get an armbar on Mir that came close, so I’d go with Christison again.
Not a very lively round, but Mir did more than enough to win it, but it won’t save the fight for him with me.
I gave it 29-28 to Christison. Mir won it 29-28 with all three judges, and it’s not a decision I really agree with.
Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz
This has the atmosphere of something special. Hopefully, we’ll see a special ass kicking from Ortiz.
Ortiz wins by ref stoppage in 1:18. I’m not a fan of Ken, but that stoppage was way too premature. A terrible decision by Herb Dean, and I’d be chanting “bullshit” too.
Dana White calls out Wanderlei Silva and then Chuck Liddell and announces that, if Liddell gets past Sobral, which is likely, it will be Silva vs. Liddell in November. Holy shit, I am there.
Josh Neer vs. Josh Burkman
There were some good exchanges in what was a very even round.
Burkman did enough, including a great takedown, to win the round. It goes into round three 20-19 for Burkman.
Third round was even, but Burkman, I think, did enough to win the round and the fight.
I have it 30-28 for Burkman. Burkman wins it by unanimous decision.
Andrei Arlovsky vs. Tim Sylvia
The first round was mostly action, with Arlovsky doing more than enough to win the round for me.
There was a lot of back and forth action in round two, but I don’t think either man did enough to win it.
The third round was dangerously close to being without any merit. Sylvia did get decent punches in, but they didn’t win him the round in my eyes, though. It’s 30-29 for Arlovsky so for in my book.
Round four = snooze. No winner. 40-39 so far on my card.
More of the same in round five.
I have Arlovsky winning 50-48, but I’d hardly call him a winner based on his performance. The judges have it 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47 for Sylvia. This fight was beyond boring as shit. Round-by-round, I had Arlovsky winning, but if I were to judge the fight based on overall performance, I’d call it a draw. Neither man did anything to warrant being called the UFC Heavyweight Champion, and the heavyweight division needs a lot of rehab to overcome this debacle.
Overall Outside of the terrible call in the Ortiz vs. Shamrock fight, the announcement of a possible Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell fight in November, and Yves Edwards bleeding like crazy, there was absolutely nothing of note on this PPV, and it had the least merit of any UFC PPV for a long time.
I don’t know much about gourmet cooking or the finer nuances of baseball, so I don’t go to the folders that cover those subjects and act like I know what I’m talking about or like my opinion on the various machinations in those areas carries any kind of weight. So what is it about the wrestling folders that sees them almost infested with people who do just that? What is it about wrestling that causes people to ignore the fact that their knowledge and understanding of the subject at hand is highly limited and act like they know what they are talking about?
Lord Of The Curry recently made a post, though he may have been not entirely serious, that there are 15 people in the WWE Folder who “bring the content”. Whether he was joking or not, he has a point, though he probably overestimated the number of people who “bring the content”. There are exceedingly few people who post in the WWE Folder, and the wrestling folders as a whole, who come across like they really know what they are talking about. I know there will be people who will scoff at that one, and accuse me of being arrogant and ‘elitist’ or whatever, but I’m right, and so is everyone else who has denigrated the quality of poster in the wrestling folders as of late. The majority of posters in the wrestling folders, to be honest, do not know what they are talking about. People can bring up “everyone is entitled to their opinion”, and while people are entitled to an opinion, that doesn’t mean that the people who do know what they are talking about have to suffer the opinions of people who don’t.
I’m all for different opinions and divergent points of view, but people, put some intelligent and rational thought into those opinions. Actually think about what you have to say, or people will just ignore whatever it is you are saying, and any point you were trying to make will get lost in the shuffle.
Given the intelligence, or lack thereof, displayed in a lot of the posts made here, I’m often wondering how the people behind them have the capability to breathe, let alone operate a computer.
TEW Demo
TEW 2005 Update #3
Download and install the demo. Download the update, and use the .exe it gives you to replace the .exe that came with the demo.
The demo version allows you to play for one month of in-game time per save slot.
Has anyone else downloaded this yet? What do you think of it? There will be real life data coming out in a week or so, in time for when you can purchase the game, though you can still use the real life data with the demo version. If you buy the game and are going to use the real life data, what will you be trying to do? Improve WWE? Make TNA a true player?
TNA's Bound For Glory 2006
X-Division Battle Royal:
At least Austin Starr's gimmick has a chance of letting him stand out, I can say that much about it that's positive. I think Kevin Nash endorsed his own mic, because it couldn't work without help. An X-Division battle royal with a non-X Division wrestler, a one legged man, a woman, a midget and a referee who decided to take part just for the hell of it; yes, Vince Russo is indeed back with TNA. Booking aside, at least this thing got the crowd warmed up.
Four-Way Tag match
Too short to be bad but also too short to be any good. With The Naturals getting a tag title shot, why didn't they win so that, A) They look strong going into their title match, and B) the tag titles are being challenged for by losers. What does it say about the belts that losers are getting a title shot? And if The Naturals gimmick is that of losers, would it not make sense for them to win, have Shane Douglas get excited for them getting into their stride heading into their title shot and then beat them and set up the split with Douglas? I can see them not beating AMW because they are about to turn babyface, and I can see them not beating Team 3D because they just returned, but were the James Gang of such high importance that they couldn't lose? Well, Jeff Jarrett is meant to be teaming with them in some fashion when he turns babyface, so I guess we know why they couldn't lose.
Samoa Joe vs. Raven vs. Abyss vs. Brother Runt
Or Joe versus one person he shouldn't ever wrestle and two guys he shouldn't be in the ring with until he gets the NWA Title. If it's Anything Goes, why does it matter if Joe was in the ropes? You can smack someone across the back with a chair but you'd better make sure he's not in the ropes. Joe beats Raven after Jake Roberts DDT's him. And Joe couldn't win clean because...? Jake was going to use the snake on Raven after the match anyway, so why not leave the DDT until then? That way, Joe wins clean but Jake still gets to lay Raven out. The match was just there, with the only real heat coming when anything crazy happened and when Joe did, well, anything really.
Eric Young vs. Larry Zbyszko
Two weeks ago, Eric Young lost a match that he had to win or he would be fired. Now, here he is wrestling a match where he has to win or he will get fired. Don't forget, the selling point of the main event is that Sting has to win or he'll have to retire. And people wonder why stipulations mean nothing anymore. Very short, not very good, complete with a ref bump after about 90 seconds. Eric wins after using Larry's own foreign object. Again, is there any reason Eric had to win thanks to a ref bump and foreign object? Was there a brilliant reason he couldn't win clean?
Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle brawl again
Ok, here we go. This was pretty much the exact same thing they did on Impact. An angle, I might add, that a lot of people, in their rush to ignore the stupidity of giving away the first Joe/Angle confrontation on FREE TV with zero hype, were proclaiming would get people to buy the PPV to see Joe and Angle go at it. Well, anybody who did just that isn't going to be happy, because they just paid $34.95 to see the same thing they saw for free three days before. Bear in mind, that the people who insisted the angle was great did so because they felt it would get people to buy the PPV to see Joe and Angle collide again. Well, there was what those people paid to see. Can you imagine being happy with that?
Chris Sabin vs. Sen Shi
Now this was damn good. I'd say it was in the ***1/2 range.
Christian Cage vs. Rhino
This had some terrible psychology. Rhino started out the big babyface and the crowd wound up not only booing the guy but cheering the heel for BEATING THE HOMETOWN BABYFACE HERO, which itself was bad booking. Someone, anyone, tell me how any of that is a good thing? Whether Christian had to be kept strong for Sting or not, and now he might not even be wrestling Sting for a couple of months, someone defend the psychology of a match that turned the hometown babyface hero into a heel. There was some decent brawling here, I won't deny that, but the psychology was all fucked up and I guarantee a number of wrestlers backstage were shaking their heads at that.
LAX vs. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels
Another good match, but since when have the rules of the match been disregarded because the referee said so? When Daniels used the fork in retaliation for Homicide using it, the referee went to stop him but let it go. Why? Because Daniels said the heels used it first. Aren't referee's meant to only call what they see? And if all it takes is claiming your opponents used the fork first to get the rules changed in mid-match, why don't the heels just claim that to begin with? Then they wouldn't have to hide it.
Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett
Tenay claiming this could be the last time we see Sting could carry more weight if TNA hadn't already established that stipulations can be ignored at will if they feel like it. Why is the heel outwrestling the babyface? Since when does it make sense for the heel to cleanly outwrestle the face? If they're going to use the storyline of Sting not wrestling for two months as a reason, fine, but can the heel at least cheat seeing as that is how heels are meant to outdo babyfaces? Why is Kurt Angle getting bumped? Kurt shouldn't be put in a position to sell until the match with Joe. That must have been one hell of a crossbody, because both guys would have been TKO'd if not for Angle attacking the referee. Can Jeff at least make it look like he's raising his shoulder on a cover rather than just lifting his arm up? Jeff should not be using the ankle lock. That spot should have been saved for Joe when he faces Angle. In any event, it would make more sense for Jeff to use Sting's hold, because it would be more insulting for Jeff to retire Sting using Sting's own hold, and Sting is the one he's wrestling. The match and heat was disappointing until Sting no-sold the guitar shot. I know Jeff's turning babyface soon, but couldn't they have held off on praising him so much until Impact? Shouldn't they focus on pushing Sting, the guy who just won the World title and avoided being forced into retirement?
All in all, Bound For Glory had some good action for the most part and the crowd had a good time. The major problems, as always with TNA, were with quality control and the attention to the little details that TNA seem happy to let slide. I know some people, most people actually, here will dismiss them and tell me not to be so negative, but you can't hide from the facts forever. It's those little details that slowly chip away at a company. Stipulations are ignored and devalued when the main event is being sold on one. Guys meant to be pushed strong have to rely on interference to beat a virtual midcarder and someone who need not be protected. The specialness of the first Joe vs. Angle match is lessened slightly each time they brawl. The big hometown babyface not only loses but the match is worked in such a manner that the heel gets cheered as the match goes on and the crowd pop for him winning. Rules get changed in mid-match, simply because a wrestler said so. And Kurt Angle sells for a minor bump when he shouldn't be leaving his feet for anyone who isn't Samoa Joe for a very long time. On their own, they might not be major, but together these small details add up and until someone in TNA actually bothers with attention to detail, then TNA will not achieve the heights they want to and have the talent to reach.
I hate idiots. I despise them with a purple passion. If someone is so badly not up to speed on something that they’re going backwards, then they need to get the fuck out of my way and pollute somewhere else with their idiotic, asinine and downright retarded opinions, because I don’t want them anywhere near me. If someone is open that they’re don’t know about something but are willing to learn, then fine, I have no problem with people like that. In fact, I like people like that, because they’re open to learning. But I hate people who clearly don’t now what the fuck they’re talking about wandering around and stinking up the place with every brain fart that they feel the need to inflict on people.
I hate people whose blind, sycophantic, bordering on pathologically obsessive devotion to a certain person leaves them unable and unwilling to be objective. Instead of verbally fellating these people at every turn and making people think you’re hopelessly in love them, which is undoubtedly true in certain cases, why don’t you sad inadequate people try opening up your mind a little ? Why don’t you try, just try a little, to open your tiny little minds to the possibility that the love of your life does not does have the sun shining out of their ass. Try opening up your mind to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, your hero isn’t much of a fucking hero. They’re human, not a god, and they’re not this perfect being that you imagine them to be. Oh sure, they might seem to acquiesce on a point or two and seem to acknowledge the failings of their loved one, but you know full well that they’re just paying lip service, and that in the back of their minds they’re constantly convincing themselves that they are right and everyone else is wrong. People like this need to either get a goddamn life, or find the nearest bridge and taking a fucking swan dive off of it.
I hate religion. I think that any belief system that tells you that you can go to a so-called heaven but only if you believe in this or that particular deity, or give all of your money to a person or other conglomerate, is an absolute joke, and I really think that if people find the need to believe in a mystical being to give their lives meaning or order really need to examine themselves. Let me clue you in on something folks. The only faith you need is a faith in yourself. Not in some mystical being high in the sky. Not in some ‘prophet’ from 2000 years ago or whenever. Just yourself. If you want to believe that some mystical force is guiding your actions and leading on a path of ‘righteousness’, then go right ahead. But if you wake up and realize it’s all one big con game don’t come crying to me, expecting me to give a shit. I tried telling you what the score was, but you were too interested in believing in someone that isn’t there rather than someone who is, that being you.
Can someone give me any reason to believe that this angle has any potential upside?
Kevin Nash is one of the most selfish, lazy and unproductive individuals that wrestling has ever seen, and that covers a lot of ground. Everyone knows how arrogant and self-centered he is, and yet TNA, for some reason that defies all logic, is using Nash in angle that essentially buries the X-Division. How does that make any kind of sense?
“Ah, but it’s going to end with Nash putting Chris Sabin over?”
Has nobody seen Nash’s idea of ‘putting someone over’? If you want to see a prime example of how Nash ‘puts someone over’, go and watch a tape of Rey Mysterio pinning him on Nitro a few years ago. Did that help Rey at all? Did it get Rey any more over than he was before? No, it didn’t. It buried him even further and he wound up getting pinned by Nash clean anyway just a few weeks later, so if Rey got anything out of that it was all for nothing anyway.
How is this angle getting over the X-Division, when it seems to involve Nash coming out every week and burying the X-Division? While the weaknesses he points out do have a grain of truth to them, the absolute last thing you ever do to a division that is the cornerstone of your promotion, or at least meant to be, is have a guy portrayed as a superstar, and a heel at that, bring them up and talk about them at length. For one thing, it’s beyond stupid to bring up and highlight the flaws of any of the wrestlers that are meant to be a major part of your company, and it’s also stupid for a heel to say anything that the fans, deep down, know are true. Heels are meant to lie. They aren’t meant to say things that the crowd, however reluctantly they might want to, have to admit are true. But that’s just typical Nash; playing the cool heel, saying all the hel things but doing it with a wink and a nod and getting the people to cheer him. Heels are not meant to do that sort of thing, and Nash is supposed to be a heel.
And let’s even assume that, by some freak occurrence, Nash really does put Sabin over. So what? All he did was a beat someone who openly and proudly admits to being mediocre and past it. How is beating someone like that meant to do anything for Sabin or anyone else? And even if Nash could somehow still go, what does beating him really do to get someone over to any degree, especially after the burial his division has suffered leading up to the ‘big’ moment? Beating Nash doesn’t do anything for anyone, and this angle is just so insufferably stupid and inane that I can’t believe that TNA are going through with it, as they have enough people on staff who watched this same bullshit happen in WCW to know what the end result will be, and I can’t believe that there are actually people out there who think this angle is a good angle to run.
Already part of another entry, I thought this match deserved its own thread:
Hulk Hogan v The Warrior – Halloween Havoc 1998
Billed as an ultra important rematch that the people have been waiting 8 years for, this is actually an exercise in ego placating that has been 8 years in the making. Warrior beat Hogan at Wrestlemania VI back in 1990, and this is Hogan’s chance to get his win back, and all it cost for this ego trip was about $3m, which is what WCW paid Warrior for this match, and maybe a couple of others, before letting him sit at home for the remainder of his deal due to Warrior being totally useless.
This match was straight out of the 80’s, with slow and plodding brawling, if what these two did can even be called brawling. Indeed, the blows that these two men exchanged were so weak, that you’re left wondering why they bothered to sell any of them, when they had all the force of a tortoise’s fart. In the midst of all the sloppy brawling, they squeezed in a few notable spots from their Wrestlemania match, the three main ones being:
1: Nick Patrick getting bumped by Hogan off a criss-cross spot, but in a very comical manner, due to Hogan barely even touching Patrick, and Patrick throwing himself almost halfway across the ring.
2: After more bad brawling, and the N W O B Team of Giant, Stevie Ray and Vincent running in to play pinball for Warrior’s bad punches, Warrior covered Hogan, even though he could clearly see the referee was still down. This allowed Warrior to check on the referee and, and stop me if you’ve seen this before, allow Hogan to sneak up from behind and hit a belly-to-back suplex.
3: Warrior hitting two double ax handles off the top rope, which Warrior was kind enough to warn Hogan about beforehand, as Warrior was heard telling Hogan, “I’m coming off the ropes.”
Somewhere in all this mess, Hogan’s weightlifting belt came into play, with both men using it, and Warrior using it as a makeshift knuckleduster, and getting a little juice from Hogan.
This led up to that spot, where Hogan tried to throw a fireball at Warrior, but totally botched it up in such a laughable fashion that the crowd groaned badly, and it was around this point, or maybe even beforehand, that pretty much all the heat vanished from the arena. Not that the crowd were molten for this abomination to begin with, but what heat this match had had evaporated into nothingness by now.
Remember at the beginning how I said the match was straight out of the 80’s ? Well, so was the finish. Eric Bischoff hit ringside, and jumped up onto the apron and grabbed the referee in a side headlock, which allowed Horace Hogan, who Hulk had beaten down on the previous Nitro, to hit the ring and turn heel by giving Warrior a very gentle chair shot to the back, which Warrior sold like he’d been hit with a shotgun at close range. Hogan made the cover, hooked the tights, and Eric let go of the referee who counted the pinfall, giving Hogan his win, his ego boost, and ending this absolute disaster of a ‘match’.
The Horace Hogan turn on Warrior, when he had just got beaten up Hogan and the B Team the week before, was explained the next night on Nitro as tough love or some other such nonsense.
So, what did Eric Bischoff and WCW get out of paying Warrior $3m so Hogan could get his win back ?
They got the single worst match in WCW/NWA PPV history, and the worst match to ever take place during the WCW v WWF rivalry. This total joke of a wrestling match had absolutely no redeeming features at all. Not even watching Hogan botch a spot in such a monumentally incompetent fashion could give this stinking pile of shit any value. I know why this match took place, but quite why anyone would think fans would give a damn about this match, when the clamor for a rematch had died out almost as soon as the first match had ended, I don’t know. Even if every single demeaning and negative word in the English language was wheeled out, you would still fail to accurately describe this utter shambles of a match.
Rating: Absolute Suck.
The announcement of Samoa Joe versus Jushin Liger for TNA certainly provoked a reaction over at Strong Style Spirit.
It's almost enough to make you long for more posts from the likes of Fishyswa and Iggy.
Sometimes, so-called ‘smart fans’ get so caught up in being smart, that they become so very dumb, and lose sight of the point in being a wrestling fan in the first place. The point of being a fan is to have fun with what you’re watching, enjoy what you’re watching, and have enough fun and enjoyment that you come back the next time to have more fun and enjoyment. It’s such a simple concept that it flies right over the heads of some ‘smart’ fans, who are so busy trying to be smart that they forget about actually being fans. They get so caught up in being ‘smart’ and showing everyone else how smart they are, that the only thing they show people is how dumb they are, and how they’ve missed the point in being a fan.
Try being a fan again. You might like it more than being ‘smart. And you might actually become smart once again.
With Vince McMahon’s obsession over Montreal, do you think that even if Bret was somehow convinced to do an angle to put a storyline closure to it, that we’d see an end to the obsession? Would Bret getting involved and Vince getting, in his mind, the absolution he’s been after for so long, finally put an end to Vince bringing Montreal up every year?
How many buys do you think WM will get, both domestically and internationally?
For comparison's sake, last year's did around 1,000,000 buys total, but only about 650,000 buys, which is very low for WM, were domestic. Do you think international buys can carry the WM brand again, or will the international scene be just as low as the domestic level?
What I'd like to see you do is put together a card made up of the best matches that you've ever seen. That means no fantasy booking; just matches that you yourself have seen and think highly of. There are a few rule to follow:
1. The card should have seven to nine matches, depending on their length.
2. No wrestler can wrestle on the card twice UNLESS he is part of a gauntlet match that you really want on there. Round Robin tournaments don't count as a gauntlet match, so you can't put the Christopher Daniels/Low Ki/American Dragon trilogy from the second ROH show on and then bring all three back later for singles matches.
3. There can be only one world title match, one world tag title match, etc. So, if you are defending the Triple Crown, do not have Ric Flair defend the NWA title on the same show. However, if you have a U.S. tag title match, you can still have a world tag title match. Keep in mind that regional titles such as Memphis's Southern title and Mid South's North American title should be considered World Titles since they were the top belt in their respective promotions.
4. Please explain why you picked the matches you did and why you placed them in their position on the card.
5. You can choose from any promotion in the world. If you want a AAA match next to a WWF match next to a New Japan match, so be it.
6. Try and list the date and location of the match. If you just put down Misawa vs. Kawada, they've wrestled each other so many times that we won't know what match you're talking about.
7. Make it good
I shall be posting my dream card later. Credit for the idea goes to goodhelmet.
“Mark”, “smark”, and “smart” are three of the most prevalent labels given to groups of fans that gather online to talk about wrestling. We’ve seen them for years, we’ve all used them at one time or another and I hate all of them and every label like them.
To me, the only label a wrestling fan should be given is “fan”. There’s no such thing as a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart” fan. There is either a good fan or bad fan. A good fan either knows what he’s talking about, or admits to not knowing much about the subject at hand and accepting that there are people who know about some things better then he does. A bad fan doesn’t know what he’s talking about and cannot or will not admit to this and refuses to accept that their knowledge of the subject at hand is limited. A good fan will be open to different points of view and will listen to disparate opinions and respond with a well thought out and reasoned response that intelligently puts across their point of view and, hopefully, intelligent discussion is the result. A bad fan will get very angry and irritated at having their faults pointed out. They’ll get defensive, will probably start insulting people, and drag the discussion down in a vain attempt to maintain the illusion, if only in their own mind, that they really do know what they’re talking about.
You can keep making comparisons between good fans and bad fans, and the differences between the two should be obvious, but there is a better reason to stop labeling people as a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart” fan than the fact that any such label is inaccurate. The moment you label a person or a group of people with a tag like “mark”, it instantly becomes easier to dismiss their opinion or point of view out of hand because you’ve distanced yourself from the fact that the person with that opinion is a person with a mind and could have the intelligence to bring a reasonable point of view and instead have grouped them in with a segment of people that, to you, don’t have an opinion that matters as much as other people, and that’s a dangerous thing to do when you want an intelligent discussion. Dismiss people for being bad fans if you want, because bad fans are just that, bad. But don’t dismiss someone because you think they’re a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart”. You never know what you could be missing out on.
So I put in a tape of the 2000 Royal Rumble because I wanted to see Tazz’s debut, and I get to Kurt Angle calling out his ‘mystery opponent’ for the night, and one thing stands out like a sore thumb; Kurt sounds like he’s barely made it through puberty. Go back and listen to this again, and Kurt’s voice sounds almost like a pre-teen when compared to how it sounds now. And it’s not just Kurt’s voice that has changed in the last five years. His facial structure has changed considerably, his physique has morphed from rounded and smooth to hard to angled, and his back has more craters than the surface of the moon.
If you’ve got this Rumble on tape, check it out for yourself, and the difference is remarkable.
