RavishingRickRudo

This is what happens when you have a woman on top of the writing team.

Fuck it, goosebumps.

What are the odds this guy tried out of Rock Star: INXS? Certainly playing to his strengths though. I almost spit out my drink at one point... oh lord the cheese. THE EYES! THE EMOTING!

Ok, so what are the odds Simon drops the Vegas/Broadway line?

What Paula and Randy are saying about this dude I think is pretty off (they say him being effortless is a good thing), because I think that, while he is very good, he lacks a certain amount of polish. Which I suppose will improve during the course of the competition.

Gideon~! He talks like an orator, but he was solid. Does anyone else think everything Paula is saying is just plain dirty and she's hitting on the contestants?

Wreckless Abandon??? That was anything but wreckless. It looked like he was just praying he'd get through the song. He should have grown some balls and went all out.

I hope a small breeze doesn't enter the studio because it would blow him over.

I still think Patrick is the best singer of the group and I think he could blow the roof off if he picked the right song. I don't know what that song is, right now, and I dunno if he will ever sing it, but the potential is there. Paula hears "age isn't anything but a number" and perks up.

Just when I say they don't play to their strengths, DEAD OR AFUCKINGLIVE.

I thought Sway was pretty bad, but he took a risk and I respect that. However, the Guys of American Idol seem to be like the WWE - they do not play to their strengths at all. When it comes to the first impressions, they seem to be doing a pretty bad job. Do this stuff later on in the competition when the fans expect one thing and get a nice surprise instead.

WOOOOOW, I didn't expect that that from Bucky. That's hilarious. And pretty bad.

I think Dave wasn't very good at all and I think he hammed it up a lil too much. But I agree with what Simon said about the tv audience digging him.

He's trying to be Ray Charles. Taylor that is. Fuck yall, Patrick is great. Bad song selection, though.

I'm starting this thread cause I need an outlet to talk about this stuff. I love the shoot-style. When it's done right, there are very few things better. Once upon a time, when there were stretchers, hookers, and shooters, wrestlers used to be considered pretty dangerous guys. You wouldn't fuck with a professional wrestler. Then along came Gorgeous George and the like and eventually this breed of wrestler pretty much died out. Each generation of North American wrestler got watered down and so did their legitimacy. Today, professional wrestling is a joke, wrestlers are cartoons. The legitimacy simply isn't there. However, a select few carried the torch, trained by guys like Billy Robinson and Karl Gotch. Wrestlers such as Takada, Fujiwara, Sayama and Maeda. They started up the UWF in the 80's which was the starting-ground for the promotions to come, promotions like RINGS, SHOOTO, and UWF-i. The next generation of professional wrestlers that resulted from this pro wrestling mindset were the likes of Funaki, Tamura, and Sakuraba. In the spirit of Antonio Inoki in the 70's, Martial Artists from around the world were brought in to compete. A particular wealth of talent came from Russia and Volk Han was generally considered to be the best grappler not only from that country, but in the world. The fall of the shoot-style would have to be with shoots themselves. Inevitably, the desire for real fights became too great. By the time PRIDE started up, the tide started to turn and worked shoot companies pretty much died out and embraced real fighting. Today there are a few companies like U-Style that promote the shoot-style, but it's nowhere near its peak like it was in the 90's. In this thread I hope to relive those glory days plus check out some of the newer stuff. I just got done watching Frank Shamrock in a shootstyle match and enjoyed it immensely. I think modern fighters could have more success performing in shootstyle than workers shoots, and I hope that the trend continues in the future. But until then, here is a swank match between Kiyoshi Tamura and Volk Han from 1995 with my review below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILDFKwY6CfE&search=tamura Volk Han is a member of the Russian Top Team, formerly the home of uber-fighter Fedor Emelianenko. LordoftheCurry and I have always called the Russian top team "The Accountants" because they do not look like fighters at all. They are every day guys, there is nothing really impressive about them, physically. Their hair, their physiques, the expressions on their faces... they're accountants. Now, I loves me some Fedor, but all this time I did not know that Volk Han used to be "that guy" in Fedors corner. He's the tall accountant. And he's like the second coming of Karl Gotch in the way he works the crazy ass submissions. Kiyoshi Tamura might just be the greatest worked shooter of all time. His work in UWF-i is tremendous, his matches with Vader and Takada are some of my favourites. The guy is just really, really, really good at making things look real. The match starts off with Volk Han grabbing a standing keylock on Tamura and picking him up by his one hammerlocked arm and walking around the ring with him. That just may be my new favouritest move. The action gets taken down to the mat with Han still holding on to the arm, trying to hook his legs across Tamuras body for the cross-arm breaker, which Tamura scoots around and grabs Hans leg for a heelhook, and then Han stands up and crosses Tamuras legs together and falls back down for a sorta figure four cross heel hold... this is all in, like, 20 seconds. I won't do PBP for the rest of the match, because as you can read it's very complicated stuff and very hard to describe. The moves come very naturally and the two feed holds to each other throughout the match. These counters are logical, but the pace itself is sped up from what you'd normally see in a shoot. There isn't the premium placed on positioning or scoring points as you'd see in grappling matches at ADCC, so they go for holds a lot quicker than usual. The matwork is very fluid and there is a diversity of moves, even if they centre around armlocks and leglocks. This is technical wrestling. Where this differs from traditional wrestling is that there is no story to it. Two guys trading holds, trying to get the better of each other, until one finally sinks in for the finish. That's it. Each guy is trying to beat the other. It's not grand. There are little theatrics. None of these guys pander to the crowd, or rally their support. They don't work limbs. They don't really build towards the finish, or have pay-back spots. The standard wrestling conventions simply aren't there. The excitement comes from the subtleties in the work, it comes in the movement and holds. It comes from the personalities, as well, in that you want one to win and the dramatics come from how close they are to winning or losing. Tamura is especially excellent at conveying danger, anticipation, importance, etc. of various moves and submissions through his body language and his facial expressions. My favourite moment in the match is about 3/4's of the way through (around the 8 minute mark), when -after all this mat wrestling and trading of holds and rope breaks and the like- the two are standing after Tamura frantically gets a rope break, and he levels Han with a kick to the solar plexus which puts him down immediately. The swings in the match also help create the excitement, as the fans are very into the "near fall". The selling by both guys is tremendous after this move. Han has his arms on the ropes, trying to catch his breath. Tamura is horny and anxious. Like, that dude just wants in there right away so he can finish the job. He sees the opportunity and he doesn't want Han to recover. Han is very sluggish in his movements while Tamura is frisky and perhaps over-anxious. Eventually Han gets back in control of the match and is able to get the upper-hand on Tamura standing. From watching his matches with Vader, Takada, and now Han, I don't think anyone plays "dazed and woozy" better than Kiyoshi Tamura. The finish is fitting for the match. It comes after a near fall/10 count spot when Tamura gets knocked down by Han after a flurry. They end up on the ground where Han has a keylock (or maybe an Americana) on the arm and traps Tamuras leg with his so Tamura can't roll out of it. They were able to catch the crowd when they were still hot after the near fall and it came at a point where the trading-moves didn't become repetitive. This is a truly great grappling match, I haven't seen many that can rival it, certainly none in North America. This is what mat wrestling is, not the Eddie/Dean pinning sequences or the armdrag and headlock crap you get on the indy scene. It was logical, it was well performed, and it worked. It should be required viewing. As an aside, I would love to see MMA guys work this style as I think they could do it very, very well. They could mix it up on the ground and standing, which would be an absolute delight. **** ~!

I disagree. Americans will vote for him to make themselves feel better about not being superficial and judging primarily on talent. This will take him far, but not to the finals.

Hicks, Patrick, and Jose, fuckaz.

Jose is Filipino, sez so in his video interview on the site. This has to be the oddest male group yet in terms of freaks and geeks.

What are the odds this guy has posted this at half a dozen other message boards?

I think Arrested Development was a few years ahead of its time, somewhat, though it may have been too smart for its own good to reach a mass audience. I think the next sitcom revolution will be pushed by the internet. Theres much funnier shit on line than there is on TV. When you look at the popularity of the Lazy Sunday or the Chuck Norris jokes or the Brokeback Mountain spoofs, I think all this stuff will extend to television in the relative near future. Like Comedy Clubs in the 80s were to finding and developing talent, the internet will be in 00's and beyond.

Remember all the stuff Christian said about Cena last year? HHH is going to say it this year, cept there will be more smarm and he'll get a push out of the reaction the crowd gives him for saying what they're all thinking.

What current state of television are you talking about? Look at the top rated television shows - all hour long dramas, ensembles, most of them are smartly written. Very intense stuff, melodramatic, which people are digging right now. This was in response to the reality-tv craze that happened a few years ago. The trend is "people like something a lot, people get sick of something and look for something different". What indication that in two years wrestling can connect with the fans? Because eventually people will get tired of watching these shows because the television execs will keep watering down the market with knock-offs and the popular shows will jump the shark. I say two years because we're already a year or two into the fall of reality-tv and the rise of the hour long drama. A television trend tends to last 3 or 4 years, 5 at best. Then there will be a fall-out and the audience will get tired of the melodrama and want something fluffy, something that won't have they using their heads all the time trying to figure out all the plot points, something which wrestling can provide. That's my POV. I'm sure there will be a rejection of HLD's in the next few years, but it may not go exactly that way. The publics taste could go in another direction, depending on what sprouts up in the next few years. It could go back to the sitcoms era.

People want someone to cheer for. Someone who they either admire and look up to (Hogan) or relate to and live vicariously though (Austin). All it takes is one person who enough people attach themselves to and a supporting group of guys who fill the time well. People will come and pay to see that one guy if that one guy has that connection with the audience. However, for any of this to happen the WWE has to build trust with its audience. Who is going to invest time in a company that fluctuates and goes from doing one stupid thing to another? There needs to be stability and consistency so someone can feel safe telling their friends "hey, you gotta check this out" and when that person checks it out, both guys feel like it was time well spent, like the effort was well made. There needs to be that foundation to build from. Wrestling is not cyclical and certainly a wrestling company isn't. However, there is a window of opportunity that opens up every few years where the publics taste and desires are along the lines of something that wrestling can provide. I think that time is coming soon (not this year, but within the next 2-3 years) given the current state of television. Whether or not the WWE will be game enough to fill that void is the question. I don't think so. Not with Stephanie at the helm of creative. Personally, I see UFC being more likely to fill it.

I'd rather have Benoit/JBL and Taker/Henry. I'd rather have Benoit go against Taker at a non-mania event so he won't be added to the highlight reel.

Rey vs. Orton vs. Angle - a better match, at least. I couldn't care less about any of it. Taker/Benoit would go something like Taker says no one can tap him out, Benoit comes out and says for years there was an unspoken understanding between the two that they wouldn't cross each others paths because of the mutual respect they have for each other, but Taker making that claim Benoit sees as a bit of disrespect, because Benoit makes his name on tapping guys out. Unfortunately there is no epic deal between the two, the only thing they have in common is that they are old and grizzled. The sell would just be in two old fuckers beating the shit out of each other.