Ask Dames About Mania Weekend

[The Dames 0]

I've been giving as many details as I can about my trip but I figured id make it a centralized topic for those curious. I attended ROH friday, TNA saturday afternoon, Hall of Fame, Mania and Raw.

 

Ask away. If the topic needs to be moved, I understand.

 

Dames

[bob_barron 0]

How awesome is Nigel McGuinness?

[Dandy 0]

Dames, if this wouldn't be too much work for you, I'd like to have the relevant discussion in each folder. Would you mind starting one in TNA and Indies (for ROH) as well? No need to move this as there will obviously be relevant discussion about WWE and Wrestlemania.

 

Edit---I changed the subtitle to reflect only WWE-related items, Dames.

[The Dames 0]

I don't mind, the only thing is, im using my phone which is quite slow so its gonna take me a bit to create several topics, especially since since some bleed into each other (TNA stars at WWE fan access, etc)

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Since HOF had the most non-televised stuff, I'd like to hear more about that.

[Dandy 0]

Okay, start the other topics whenever you can. If it happened at the WWE event, it's cool to discuss TNA people there. Thanks for posting this stuff, it's always cool to get a first-hand account on how things went down.

 

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Eh, it's Dames. He's entitled to a catch-all topic.

[The Dames 0]

Well, Nigel IS awesome. But I've been out of the ROH loop for about 60 days or so at this point, when did he turn heel? He came across as a heel in his opening promo on Friday night, which of course got him a face reaction. Then he pretty much squashed Delirious.

 

I missed JBL's entire speech at the HOF trying to get food so I'll need to check that on DVD. Amazingly enough, I had the exact same seats for Raw and HOF except 4 rows closer for Raw. Same section, aisle seats.

 

They telegraphed Cryme Tymes return on Raw cuz when the fans entered the building, they had their new tron on the LCD that they never had when they were around. But not everyone was is on time, so a lot of people didn't see it.

 

I got to meet Kaz, AJ styles, so cal val and Salinas at universal. I saw lance hoyt and earl hebner walkin around but fuck them. I saw tracy brooks too. And literally about 500 feet in the opposite direction was the WWE fan access stuff with some people signing but no one important (Deuce, domino, cherry, teddy long, hacksaw) etc.

 

Dames

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

Mania got me hyped for wrasslin' for the first time in years, and the show was fuckin amazing to me.

 

1.) How close were you to the announce tables? I'm just wondering what HBK's moonsault of death looked like live and up close. That shit was bannanas, I thought dude was dead.

 

2.) Any interesting stories about and WWE guys that you met?

 

3.) The Flair match almost had me crying. I would have been bawling if I was there. Give me a breakdown of some of the best moments of the night.

 

4.) Your dope ass TNA weekly PPV reports at Lords of Pain are what brought me to this site, the only Wrestling related website I can tolorate going to. Props. It's cool to see you posting again, my nigga.

 

 

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Did it hurt when the fireworks burned you?

[King Cucaracha 0]

Well, Nigel IS awesome. But I've been out of the ROH loop for about 60 days or so at this point, when did he turn heel? He came across as a heel in his opening promo on Friday night, which of course got him a face reaction. Then he pretty much squashed Delirious.

 

Short answer, soon after he won the title. Long answer, not 100% sure.

 

Obviously the fans turned on him, mainly because he's been injured a lot (unfair) and he does too many lariats (pretty fair). He's been heeling it up more and more recently, which has of course made the fans like him again (*sigh*). I'm not sure if he turned at or before the 6th Anniversary show, but he was definately full-blown heel then against Danielson. He also did an interview on the website/videosite too where he pretty much ran through the fans complaints.

[The Dames 0]

I will answer all these questions and more as soon as I get some sleep. Today has been a hectic travel day...

 

Dames

[Guest ToughestManAlive]

Well, Nigel IS awesome. But I've been out of the ROH loop for about 60 days or so at this point, when did he turn heel? He came across as a heel in his opening promo on Friday night, which of course got him a face reaction. Then he pretty much squashed Delirious.

 

Short answer, soon after he won the title. Long answer, not 100% sure.

 

Obviously the fans turned on him, mainly because he's been injured a lot (unfair) and he does too many lariats (pretty fair). He's been heeling it up more and more recently, which has of course made the fans like him again (*sigh*). I'm not sure if he turned at or before the 6th Anniversary show, but he was definately full-blown heel then against Danielson. He also did an interview on the website/videosite too where he pretty much ran through the fans complaints.

 

Nigel uses too many lariats? He uses them because they work and get the job done. I loved his answer to that when answering all the fans' questions. I understand why some people can be against too many lariats but this does bring up an interesting problem when discussing wresting.

 

These people are not viewing the match or the matches they watch as kayfabe and instead are watching them as complete smarks. They're not letting themselves get lost in the moment. Granted, it's almost impossible not to watch a match as a smark. Also, I believe it is important to do so at times. However, when people start ripping Nigel for using too many lariats I think people are crossing the border too far into smarkville and are not allowing themselves to truly enjoy the product.

 

Than again with ROH you almost have to do "antismark" stuff to get heel heat. I just don't think that's proper. Anyway, Nigel definitley derseves to be ROH champ. He is a great heel.

 

 

Dames, I have a question for you. Did your perspective change on anything from viewing everything in person?

[The Dames 0]

Dames, I have a question for you. Did your perspective change on anything from viewing everything in person?

 

TNA, absolutely. They're so ass backwards with some of the things that they do that it boggles my mind that there are fans down there who legitimately think they're way better than WWE.

 

I'll explain in a bit.

 

Dames

 

[King Cucaracha 0]

Nigel uses too many lariats? He uses them because they work and get the job done. I loved his answer to that when answering all the fans' questions. I understand why some people can be against too many lariats but this does bring up an interesting problem when discussing wresting.

 

These people are not viewing the match or the matches they watch as kayfabe and instead are watching them as complete smarks. They're not letting themselves get lost in the moment. Granted, it's almost impossible not to watch a match as a smark. Also, I believe it is important to do so at times. However, when people start ripping Nigel for using too many lariats I think people are crossing the border too far into smarkville and are not allowing themselves to truly enjoy the product.

 

Than again with ROH you almost have to do "antismark" stuff to get heel heat. I just don't think that's proper. Anyway, Nigel definitley derseves to be ROH champ. He is a great heel.

 

Apologies to keep discussing non-WWE stuff, but I agree, he's a much bigger asset to the company as a heel. The problem I personally have with the lariats isn't that it doesn't make sense, it's just that it cheapens what is a move which people *buy*. People buy the Jawbreaker Lariat as a finisher, because it's been built properly... and the fact it broke a couple of people's jaws helped too. The problem is, that's his big finish and yet he's using at least 5 variations of it during the match. The only difference between his finisher and a move he uses here there and everywhere is that he leans through the ropes before his finish.

 

I know he's got the arm submission now and I think things are better for it now. But with the Lariats, it's a simple case of over-saturation, for me. Seems like Nigel found something that was successful, and decided that since it was successful he'd do it more, rather than go the other way and use it less to make it special. I feel the same way about JBL's clotheslines. I don't think it makes their matches *worse* per-se. I just think it cheapens their finishes. Kobashi uses HUNDREDS of chops a match, but he doesn't finish people with one. KENTA uses HUNDREDS of kicks a match, but he doesn't finish people with one.

 

Maybe that is a bit of a 'smark' view looking at it. Like I say, I don't neccessarily dislike watching Nigel's matches because of it.

 

 

 

Uh, desperate attempt to turn discussion... Dames, what was the reaction like live for Cryme Tyme. I'm a big fan of them personally. Was it a case of 'oh hey, welcome back' reaction or were they generally just over with people, do you think?

[Dandy 0]

Apologies to keep discussing non-WWE stuff

Don't worry about it. I was initially wanting to spread it out over other folders to try and help thos folders get more active. However, al was right about it being Dames, and no one has been posting in the other folders anyway.

[The Dames 0]

As for how close I was to the ring for Mania, there was a big screw up on WWE's part for many who arrived, myself included, who bought seats that ended up being completely obstructed by the metal pillars holding up the stage. To say that people were complaining was an understatement. Luckily, I was one of the first people to complain about the TOTALLY OBSTRUCTED view and made enough of a stink to get upgraded to front row on the floor before the battle royale started, but it was a section behind the take home seats that was created specifically to appease those who were pissed. Still, an awesome view and as the night went on, that section kept getting filled with people who said something.

 

I felt REALLY bad for this woman who waited up until Batista/Umaga to finally speak up and she was in tears with her whole family demanding her money back and talked about how she flew so far and it was a disappointing experience so far and they put her in our section. Personally, I think she should have spoken up the moment she got there, but I think many people were just under the assumption that the place was sold out and there was nothing they could do.

 

I was close enough to see the ring clearly, but whenever people stood up (which is what happens when most people anticipate a high spot), I'd have to look at the screens to make sure I caught it all. So, yeah, I got the same view as you for HBK's moonsaults.

 

I didn't really meet any WWE guys, but I did get to see AJ Styles, Kaz, So Cal Val, Salinas, Lance Hoyt & Earl Hebner walking around at Universal Studios. AJ & Kaz were just trying to get back to the sound stage and it seemed like they were getting stopped every 6 inches until 45 mins later they stopped taking pics. Still, I'd say that they were more than nice enough to accomodate everyone they could. So Cal Val and Salinas were hangin out and had food in their hands and after taking one or two pics with some young fans (including some in wheelchairs), they cut it short. I feel bad asking for pics and stuff when I know that they just want to eat their food before it gets cold.

 

Lance Hoyt didn't want to stop for pics but would be willing to take one if you walked with him. Earl was more than glad to take pics until he started getting You Screwed Bret chants and then he left.

 

There were tons of cool moments at Mania, too many to list right now, but Flair/Michaels was definitely the highlight for me and Orton winning was a close section because I got to yell at everyone in my section who was heated that I was wearing a Legend Killer shirt and telling me there's no way he wins. My girl and I went as Rated RKO, she wore her Edge shirt.

 

To give you a better indication of how absolutely stupid TNA can be sometimes, you've got about 75000 people coming into town for Mania and the whole point of running shows this weekend was to get more exposure for your product to new fans, right? Well, after standing in line for HOURS to get into the taping, they first let in about 700 people who were considered VIP's (family and friends) and probably only about 200 real fans who stood there for hours, turning away about 1000 to 2000 people. Then, I found out later that these "VIP's" were just people who signed up to be a VIP on Myspace. Which basically means, they're all familiar with the product already. Completely mind boggling and turned off a lot of people on the line who waited in the hot blazing sun for nothing.

 

One of the things that bothered me the most this weekend was during the Hall of Fame, the LCD's at the top of the arena actually read "Applause" and "Standing Ovation", which thankfully, they only used once, during Rocky Johnson's speech. However, I felt it was almost disrespectful to have to tell us who and when people deserve a standing O.

 

As for Cryme Tyme, they telegraphed their return by having their new logo on the LCD's a half hour before Heat started, but not too many people were in the building or realized that meant they were coming back. Even though I saw it, I figured they were just testing it using other people's stuff to not give away too much about the show, but when they did re-debut, they got a genuine pop. The people immediately started a "Money, Money, YEAH YEAH" chant in my section.

 

Dames

[The Dames 0]

Also, before I forget, at HOF, Flair made it a point to name and thank all of the agents/producers and included Jamie Noble. All of a sudden, everyone started looking at each other and going "Holy shit, Jamie Noble's an agent!?"

 

Dames

[The Dames 0]

...and also, the way it worked was in order to get to the Citrus Bowl, unless you took a cab, most people took free shuttle buses from the Amway Arena to Citrus.

 

On my bus...with no one saying anything to him, was Teddy Hart. And a camera man following him around and doing some sort of a documentary but NO ONE CARED.

 

Dames