The Truthiness

Bret really loved holdiing on to that prop.

At being carried by James Storm. The only good feud Booker T has been in since he came to TNA, is with Roode. The only time Eric Young was interesting is when he was Roode's lackey, and Traci Brooks was probably the most over KO in TNA when she was feuding with Roode. Roode is a good heel and a good worker. Yeah Storm is better, however that doesn't mean he's carrying Roode.

Roode is good.

It's interesting topic, people want to discuss the possibilities, this is a board for discussion. Crazy, I know.

Wow, EHME and I agree on something. Brody should be banned

He'll never leave the 'E, as he's Hunter's pet project, and is thus protected. Not to mention that he's one of the most over guys on the roster, and making easily double/triple what he could in TNA (after merchandising, royalties, etc. are factored in). But he's old, injury prone, and already talking about leaving the business. TNA offers a very light schedule and more time to pursue his dreams of being an actor. He could basically pull a check doing nothing, compared to what he's doing now, and I think he lives in Florida. So he wouldn't have have to travel much.

In a choice between between Curry Man and Daniels basically doing the Fallen Angel character again, I pick Homicide

James Storm is the best thing going in the company.

I could see Batista being in TNA for some odd reason.

Who gives a fuck about what kind of tights or clothes another man wears?

His feud with Val Venis over the IC title was good.

Please define "older crowd" for the purposes of this exercise. I'm not exactly "rabid" about Cena, but I like the guy; in fact, he's my favorite male wrestler on the roster right now. Speaking only for myself, I'm not a big fan of "edgy" characters, and didn't particularly care much for the Attitude era. If the kids that grew up in the Attitude era constitute the "older crowd," then what am I? I demand classification! I totally agree with you, Cena is my favorite wrestler, and I didn't really care for the attitude era, the 98-99 seasons anyway. I'm just saying most older fans are not like us. They hate Cena, because he's not Austin and Rock.

KOAB, I think that is exactly what they've been doing, and I think that's why he mostly gets booed by the older crowd. Cena isn't an edgy wrestler, like Orton, Edge, Jericho, Angle, or even DX. So when he feuds with them guys, the crowd splits, because those guys are still products of an era where anything goes, while Cena is ushering a era of being a genuine good guy, and the older crowd hates that. While kids and women love it, which probably why his reaction is so different than anything we've seen in wrestling. Jericho would have fit in perfectly in the attitude era, and most of his fans are people that remember from back then. They don't care that Jericho calls them idiots, long as he beats Cena ass, they couldn't care less about Cena defending them, and as a matter of fact they don't want Cena to defend them. These are the fans still hoping, for a return to the "Attitude Era", totally ignoring that it has been phased out for the last 2 years, but WWE still manipulates the crowd in to believing, that it can one day return to that style. The reality of the whole thing is they have no plans on ever going back that route, and they shouldn't. I find it somewhat comical, that Jericho’s current character is probably WWE’s clever way of calling the older fans out for being assholes to Cena. John is a good human being; nevertheless people hate him, because he doesn’t fit in with their idea of traditionalism. They will cheer the most obnoxious assholes, like Edge, Orton, and Jericho because those are the guys they came up watching, and that’s what they think a wrestler should be, an obnoxious asshole.

General Interest Questions 1. Who are you and what's your business here? Feel free to not answer this if you don't want to. Basically, if you wish, let us know what your deal is and how you came across TSM Forums. I was looking for a MOTYC comp. 2. When did you discover an interest in wrestling? What year/era? Perhaps it was the Showa era? Maybe the Heisei era? 1993? Attitude era? (You get the idea). What angle, match, or wrestler/character do you vividly remember as your first wrestling experience? When I was about 5 or 6 maybe younger, because I remember watching wrestling way before Mania 3., my grandfather and father use to take me to shows when I was younger. My dad was a WWWF mark, my grandfather liked more of the old school wrestling, the 1st match I ever seen, was a cage match was on WWF, I think it was Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine. 3. The Company Line: A. Which companies have you actively followed in your tenure as a wrestling fan? I have enjoyed WWF, NWA/WCW, and ECW Mid- South/UWF, USWA, ALL Japan, Noah, NJPW, and War in my 22 years as a wrestling fan B. What have some of your favourite companies been? NWA was my favorite wrestling company, until Flair showed up on WWF TV. Then I became a WWF die hard for life. I loved everything about the company, since then. When Flair left I was kind of disappointed, but by this time Bret, HBK, Perfect, Bam Bam, Razor, Taker, Owen, and Diesel was becoming the focal point of the show, Hogan was slowly getting phased, out and would be completely gone by 1994, which made me really fucking happy, look I loved Hulk Hogan like every other kid in America, but sometimes he would come off like a complete asshole, after he fucked over SID at The Rumble, I was finally like fuck him. I was a bit of an Ultimate Warrior mark also, his promo's was awesome. I still kept up with NWA/WCW, because Barry Windham was at the time my favorite wrestler. But after Flair left, he seemed a little off, he still had awesome matches. But I always felt he got slighted in the company after Flair left, but by 1993 he had clearly let himself go, and just wasn't the same. WCW was becoming a chore to watch though, I would keep up with the PPV's, because we got them for free, and all the Clash of the Champions, but I wasn't staying home at 6:05 to watch wrestling on a Saturday night, after becoming a teenager. But WWF always had the perfect times for wrestling shows, Saturday Mornings and Monday nights, Got in to ECW around 1995, I had been reading about it in Apter Mages, and got my 1st taste of it after a visit with my cousin in Philly. Who tried to convince me it was real; he had some video tapes of the shows. Because he used to record them, and man I thought it was the best thing ever. Blood, Table smashing, cursing, and guys talking about wrestlers in WWF/WCW being pussies, it was awesome. I had read about Shane Douglas, PE, Sabu, Funk, and Cactus Jack. So too see all these WWE/WCW rejects doing all this insane shit, I had to see more, after watching a few hours of tapes, my uncle came and told us come on, and he dropped me and my cousin off at this shitty building, and left us. I went inside seen the ring, and I knew what time what us, it was the best birthday present I had gotten at that point, didn't matter it was nearly 2 months late. I was not only going to finally see some ECW on TV, I was going to see ECW LIVE! 1st time (of what would be many times) I seen Benoit Live, and he instantly became my favorite wrestler, up until 2004 when Eddie would take that title, and become my all time favorite wrestler (Another guy I would see live for the 1st time that night,) Sabu was the guy, I really came to see and he delivered, but Benoit was such a pleasure to watch live, that I had to see more. Which lead me to getting interested in finding more of his work, I bought a lot of Video Tapes that night, and I still have them all until this day. Some kind of way, I got a booklet at that show from some creepy looking guy, which had a list of a ton of video tapes you could buy, with wrestling from all around the world. I took that Newsletter home that Sunday night, started cutting grass, got a work permit from school that year, and went on to give RF video Thousands of dollars, from 1995-2004. Because my RF connect I would find more awesome work, from Benoit starting with of course with the legendary Super J cup in 1994. I then became familiar with Japan stars like Liger, Sasuke, and my personal favorite Hayabusa, I seen something called Death Match Compilation, and it had all these weird matches, liked Barbed wire, exploding cage matches and shit like that, so I bought it, and it was a little too over the top for my taste, but Hayabusa delivered in a big way, so I watched anything I could get of him,. Good thing Feinstein was good for comps, because that's how I got in to a lot of Puro. He had a comp called the best feud ever or something, and it was Misawa vs. Kawada, and the matches seemed kind of boring in the beginning, but by time I finished the comp, I knew I was going to get more. So that's what I did, and little by little I became familiar, with Misawa, Kobashi, and Takada. I had knew most of the NJPW guys because they as coming to WCW by this time, but the LL Japan guys was my favorites of the genre, their matches seemed more epic, then those of NJPW, even though Muta, Chono, Choshu, and few guys over there were awesome, and had more of a spectacle. I liked the more sports vibe that AJPW delivered, and plus I was Dr. Death and Gordy fan from, their WCW and UWF days, so that was the brand I watched a lot of, I basically just liked the juniors in WCW, but since they was on Nitro most of time, I didn't have to pay for that. After early 1997 though, I grew tired of it, and felt WCW, ECW, and WWF/E was doing more than enough, to keep me interested, I didn't have to spend money on wrestling tapes as much anymore. ECW was on PPV, and I now was in Florida and had a channel that would show ECW every Friday night. Even back then Heyman would basically give you the whole show for free, and you wouldn't have to buy the video tape, ECW was also entering the PPV world, and seeing as Prime star satellite had a glitch and you could use a card to get free ppv's, I don't think I ever paid for ECW again, until One Night Stand 2005. Which was cool with me, the company jumped the shark with Barely Legal. Mid-South/UWF was on its last legs when I started watching it, but it was awesome. I remember my 1st dose of it, was the Freebirds breaking Dr Death's arm, The Hot Stuff/Shane Douglas/Sting angle, and the concession stand brawl. Being part of the DVDR 80's project, made appreciate the company more. Like I said it was at the end of its run, when I started watching it, but seeing how it all linked together, was a great experience. Your least favourite? (In theory, your answer can be the same - if you were growing up a fan of the technical wrestling WCW brought to the table but thought the end of the line for them was some of the worst television this side of My Mother The Car, that's cool). TNA, I've never seen anything with so much money, such a good time slot, and such awesome roster, yet they produce such a horrible show. C. What is your favourite company right now? Any reason why? WWE, I think WWE is awesome, and has been since 2006. I think Cena made the shows seem special when he came to Raw, and when Edge broke in to the main event scene, everything has been either good-awesome. Yeah, they still do goofy things, but for the most part Cena made it work. His run in 2007, was a thing of beauty too me, from January to October of that year he put on one of the best single year performance wise, as anybody I have ever seen, I liked it more than HHH in 2000 honestly. Cena was putting out very good to great matches guys like Umaga, Khali (how he pulled to back to back, good matches, with Khali is achievement in itself), Lashely, an awesome series with Michaels, and ended his run with a brilliant feud with Orton, and helped make Randy finally live up to his potential. I also loved the Benoit/MVP series, it was cool to see Benoit give so much to a guy, that people thought would "future endeavored" 6 months after debut. MVP came out of that feud a star, and went on to have an even better feud with Matt Hardy. Jeff Hardy had stepped it up a lot, and was having great matches with Umaga and Nitro most of the year, by December, he would have the best feud in the company, with an improved and motivated, Randy Orton. The feud was set up perfectly, and took both guys to a new level; they had a criminally underrated match at The Royal Rumble in 2008. The Hardy remembered he was Jeff hardy, and fucked up…again. 2008 was awesome storyline wise; Flair's retirement was awesome and was a vehicle for 2 awesome feuds, one being the feud of the year. The Batista/HBK storyline was booked perfectly, Then Jericho entered and he and Shawn went on to have one of the best feuds in the history of the business. Taker/Edge went on a little too long but, it was still good, and Taker really showed more vulnerability then he had in years. It did get repetitive at times, but Edge did some of the best heel work ever the last 3 weeks leading up to the Hell in the Cell match at summer slam. Cena coming back at The Rumble was the best swerve in years, and came off perfectly. The Age of Orton angle was awesome, especially when he won at mania. I hated that Triple H ruined it at Backlash. Punk rise to the top was a joy to watch, it was cool to see a guy I once road to a show with in Indiana back in 2003, winning the Big Gold Belt on Monday Night Raw. Steven Regal snapping after he won the KOTR, while being The GM was just a thing of beauty. I will never forget how he just cut RAW to black, in a middle of a World title match between HHH/Orton. Then the next week, how he made the fans shut the fuck up, like some kindergarteners, by threatening to cancel the show, or cut arena light on and off all night. That was just an awesome angle, and I will never forgive Regal for fucking up such a push. Vince's Million Dollar Give away was hilarious. The Anarchic Raws, after Vince got destroyed by his own set. How people would just go out and do what the fuck they wanted for 2 hours. There was one Raw, where Stephanie was begging that the guys behave, and when she finished her speech, Raw opened up with Jericho/HBK beating the shit out of each other. JBL using his money to take over Raw, declaring Martial Law, Thus making Cena and Cryme Tyme form a clique to go up against, the corrupt Millionaire. Mike Adamle as GM was one of the most fun angles the company has ever done. I mean if you read between the lines, it was a brilliant storyline. Adamle just out the blue making a Cena/Batista match was fucking awesome, because it all played in to him being a moron and not understanding the wrestling business. He seen 2 big guys the fans liked, and said fuck it let them battle, that was just tremendous. This was just a great year, had Cena been around more it might've been better then 2007, but like I said before, WWE just isn't the same when The Champ isn't around. 4. (Not So) Favourites: A. Who were your favourite wrestlers (or gimmicks) growing up / when you first started watching wrestling? Barry Windham was my favorite wrestler growing up, I always thought he was going to be the guy that knocks off Flair, and then Flair left in 1991, and that dream, never came true, and 2 years Later Barry would become a fat ass and fizzle out if the business. Flair was always one my favorites, when Barry joined The Horsemen, I was a happy little kid. Now my two favorite wrestlers could terrorize Luger, Sting, and the rest of those dopes. I was kind of sad Barry never beat Naitch, but hey, being in the Horsemen at the time was big deal, and only the elite was in that faction. Jake Roberts was my favorite WWE wrestler coming up, I loved the DDT, and thought it was fucking brutal especially when he dropped Steamboat's dome on the cement. I remember when Honky bashed his head in with the guitar, I was pissed off, I hated Honky anyway, and now he had killed Jake with Betty Sue. I couldn't wait for Jake to get his revenge and when he did at mania 3, I marked out. I appreciated Warrior more than most, I think more because he wasn't Hogan. Like I said above though, his promos was bat shit insane, and his entrance was pretty damn awesome. Bret Hart would become my favorite wrestler in the mid 90's long with Benoit, Bret was just masterful in the ring, and he made all his matches seem like a big deal. I don't think anybody in the big 2 has had a better stretch of awesome matches then Bret had from 1992-1997. B. Who were some guys you couldn't stand? HBK, Jericho, Angle, and Samoa Joe, I have explained this enough. I have learned to appreciate Michaels more in the last 2 years, then I have any other time in his career, I simply think he sucked and was overrated, most of his career. I think he relied on gimmick matches to get over, and never really was that special at doing anything. I didn't like him back in the days, he was good promo guy and was hilarious in 1997, probably because he was high as shit most of the time, but in the ring, nah, he was mediocre at best and above average when a gimmick was involved. C. Who are your current favourites (if applicable / different from A.) John Cena, Orton, Morrison, and I must say Triple H Triple H is better than a lot of people give him credit for, but I just want him to take a little tome off. I love his work in cage matches, and feel he does a tremendous job, of building to a hot finish. Something he was lacking from 2002-2005. But after the Batista feud, he seemed to become a better worker and showing signs of the guy he was in 2000, I think this year he has proved he still very capable of having great matches, I just think he overexposes himself. No doubt in my mind, that he has a love for the business, and that he's probably the only guy on the creative team, outside of Vince that understands the industry, but please go away, we'll miss you, I promise. D. There was a 4th question here, but it basically ripped off the entire premise of a thread (or more than one thread, in theory) that already exists in General. Specific Questions about your Interest 5. How would you gauge your current interest level in the product?Do you still get butterflies of excitement that make you look forward to upcoming PPVs? Did you ever? Do you watch every televsied wrestling program live, or just a few - and FF'd via DVR at that? If you consider right now to be the most interested in wrestling you've ever been, the rest of the questions in this section can be skipped over. I watch every Raw live if I can, I Tivo Smackdown, and I watch every episode of ECW, but since the Shield is gone, I might start putting ECW on the TiVo, and find something to do on Tuesdays. As far as PPV's go, I can totally ignore then to like 7:57 pm on a Sunday, then I always get an urge to hit the buy button, even it's a TNA PPV. When it comes to WWE, well I pretty much have ordered every Mania 23 the last 2 years, before then, I would just wait for the DVD, but I came in tome money last year, so I can afford the shows now. 6. At what point in wrestling history (if it's not now) would you consider your interest to have been at its peak? When were you compelled to watch every second of televised wrestling AND shell out money on PPVs, get excited about the release of video games, have TV/PPV parties with friends, etc. 1997, I loved the whole Bret/Hart Foundation vs. Austin/McMahon/Michaels/USA feud. Everybody seemed to hate each other in WWE at the time, and it came across that way on TV. Bret really stepped it up when he became a heel. For a guy, people say couldn't cut promos; I'd say Bret absolutely smoked everybody with the exception of Austin on the mic that year. You can tell he meant every world he said about the fans, and at time he seemed actually kind of hurt at how the fans forced him to go bad. Montreal was the perfect ending for that whole angle, and Vince coming out of it the biggest heel the business has ever seen was tremendous. 7. At what point could you tell your interest was dipping and why do you think this happened, or what specific event(s) triggered the decrease?Was there anything even specific? Just a gradual interest loss of interest? Retirement (or death) of a favourite? A boring title reign on SmackDown in the Summer of 2004? 2002, I just hated that year; Summer Slam is the only good memory I have of wrestling that year. 8. Have you ALWAYS stuck with wrestling even during times of low interest, or are there any lengths of time you stopped watching for a period only to come back at a later date? Yes 2004, Brock was leaving, and I figured Benoit and Eddie holding The Championships of both brands at the end of mania, was a fitting way for me to stop watching the shit. I had seen these 2 guys go from wrestling in a filthy bingo hall, to winning the top 2 titles in the industry at Wrestlemania 20, live at MSG. It was almost 9 years to the date, that I had seen them both live in ECW, and would go on to follow them through WCW and WWF, I loved that moment, and thought it was no way WWE would take them seriously as top guys, and I didn't want to sit and watch them get booked to fail. I indeed stopped watching, and then I happen to see high lights of Smackdown around June, and Eddie and some dude was bleeding like pigs, so I wanted to check that out, and when I seen it was fucking Bradshaw! I was like what the fuck, and I then downloaded the match, and once again I was hooked. I ordered the GAB PPV, and after Eddie lost. I stopped watching until about January of 2005. 9. If applicable, at what point did you decide to pack in the wrestling fandom? Interesting Questions of a Somewhat Random Nature 10. What style of pro wrestling best resonates with your personal tastes? Has it always been this way, or have your tastes changed over time? I like the WWE style, simple, tells a good story, and builds to a hot finish. 11. Where do you "draw the line" with the whole "suspended disbelief" deal? Do you tell critics to "relax because it's just wrestling and you should enjoy the matches" (aka TNA fans about everything that happens on Impact!), do you come up with solutions that the writing team didn't bother to think about but you figure "it's there if you read between the lines" (aka "WWE Apologists"), somewhere inbetween, or do you take your greatest joy in watching wrestling to deconstruct everything that makes no sense? I hate guys like Bix, who tries to make a conspiracy out of every fucking thing, and link it back to Benoit. I think he's a smart guy, don't get me wrong, but the way he goes on the defensive for shit like "Ring Of Hell", or tries to make something huge out of a Taker's voice sounding funny, after doing his 1st live promo in about a year, and all the everything in Memphis was awesome bullshit, it gets annoying. 12. Do you attend live events? And more specifically, do you get a thrill out of big arena shows, do you prefer the smaller 'intimate' settings of the local Indy show, or would you rather forget the whole thing and watch everything unfold on your HDTV without dealing with 'the marks'? Yes, I've been to hundreds, I prefer big arena shows, gives sort of an epic feel, if the crowd is in to it. 13. If applicable, what are the best and worst experiences you've had going to a show live? I usually have good experience, I hate the douches who chant shit like "You can't wrestle" at guys like Khali. 14. What are your favourite matches, moments, or events? My favorite moment was Vince showing up on Nitro, declaring victory of the MNW 15. Freestyle Add any closing remarks you feel are absolutely necessary to letting TSM know your thoughts on wrestling. Again, just have fun with it. If it comes off as lame, I apologize, but I'm hoping it brings the "wrestling sections" of the board closer together instead of further apart

Your stepdad wasn't too far off.

Thanks, I was wondering why Santino got a 3 month title reign, and was heavily featured on RAW every week.

I was wondering why the WWE was having a #1 contender tournament for the IC title.

He was really good during the Coalition era, but I basically agree with KOAB.

My Father and Grandfather loved it, but they hated each other taste as far as styles was concerned. My Grandfather loved the NWA (He got kick out of Dusty and Flair), and most of the old school territories. My Father was more a fan, of the spectale known as the the WWF. Fortunately for me, I was able to attend a lot of shows from both companies, when they came through DC, MD, VA, or NC.

I really hate that Edge is back to the same character he was before the last Taker feud. I thought he killed the chapter of his career, and would develop into a darker character; hopefully he is planning to get ultimate payback on Vickie, after he gets rid of Jeff/HHH. I love Vickie, and I think Edge is cool(even though I don't think he brings much in the ring, but makes up for it in charisma), but I have no interest in seeing them back together as a couple. I think that angle they shot of them before they hugged on Smackdown, was a foreshadowing of Edge spearing Vickie, it looked like he was thinking about it before he gave her the hug.

Nice to know you (and Punk by proxy) are keeping that weird "ALVAREZ IS JEALOUS BECAUSE PUNK FUCKED MARIA" thing alive. You really don't take criticism of your friends well. Nah,. Alvarez is a just a douche, Who Punk is fucking is none of his business. The guy is a moron.

I can't believe I just read Mickie James is overrated.

I'm kind of glad Triple H forgot to put the rematch clause in his contract, I get tired of that loophole.

I laughed.

Ronnie was an accessory to a few murders also.