Moments So Contrived

[Big Green 0]

How about the night when Austin kidnapped Vince McMahon for an entire episode of Raw, and then eventually brought him out to the ring and shot him with the "Bang 3:16" gun?

 

I was already growing tired of Austin by that point, but I'm pretty sure that episode was the one that made me just completely hate him.

 

That wasn't contrived, that was just Austin being a sadistic bastard.

 

He wanted to make Vince think that he had finally gone over the edge and was willing to murder him live on national TV. In the end, it turned out to be a sadistic mind game that caused Vince to piss his pants (adding to the embarrassment).

[fazzle 0]

It wasn't contrived that Austin was flat out threatening to murder someone over an entire two hour period and nobody else was trying to do anything about it?

[Big Green 0]

It wasn't contrived that Austin was flat out threatening to murder someone over an entire two hour period and nobody else was trying to do anything about it?

 

Within the context of pro wrestling? No.

 

We've seen numerous crimes committed on the air in pro wrestling and no one has done anything about it. Why weren't Harley Race or Triple H arrested when they put out a bounty? Why wasn't Austin arrested when he broke into Brian Pillman's home? Why weren't the Horsemen arrested for assaulting Dusty Rhodes in the parking lot? Why wasn't The Undertaker arrested for kidnapping Stephanie McMahon? You could go on and on.

 

Wrestling is a lot like soap operas. You can commit a horrific crime and law enforcement doesn't bat an eyelash.

 

If you don't buy that then you could argue that Mr. McMahon was just really unpopular backstage and no one gave a crap about him. Of course, Austin wasn't threatening to murder him for the entire two hours. He had just kidnapped Vince, he didn't bring up murder until he brought out the gun in the ring. Are YOU about to approach a gun wielding, recently unemployed psycho?

[Chazz 0]

 

If you don't buy that then you could argue that Mr. McMahon was just really unpopular backstage and no one gave a crap about him.

 

 

IIRC, I believe Vince ended up insulting all the police officers that were supposed to be protecting him, so they all just ended up leaving.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

And as far as contrived spots, and "tower of doom" spot in ROH/TNA multiman matches where 16 people all hit some sort of suplex/power bomb/whatthefuckever at the exact same time,

The most overdone sequence in wrestling is the cradle reversal series first seen in the Guerrero/Malenko. It was a unique at the time and was great, but since then you see it in every other Indy match out there and it comes off like an exercise in self-congratulatory masturbation over the fact you can choreograph a sequence first seen almost 15 years ago.

 

The most contrived sequence is another one you see a lot of in Indy matches, usually between spot monkeys, where one guy will sweep the legs of the other guy and go for the cover but then roll himself off, get up, and then the other guy will do the sweep/roll off part, and then they'll both kip up and stare at each other while the fans clap like obedient Pavlovian dogs.

[Diamonddust 0]

And as far as contrived spots, and "tower of doom" spot in ROH/TNA multiman matches where 16 people all hit some sort of suplex/power bomb/whatthefuckever at the exact same time,

The most overdone sequence in wrestling is the cradle reversal series first seen in the Guerrero/Malenko. It was a unique at the time and was great, but since then you see it in every other Indy match out there and it comes off like an exercise in self-congratulatory masturbation over the fact you can choreograph a sequence first seen almost 15 years ago.

 

The most contrived sequence is another one you see a lot of in Indy matches, usually between spot monkeys, where one guy will sweep the legs of the other guy and go for the cover but then roll himself off, get up, and then the other guy will do the sweep/roll off part, and then they'll both kip up and stare at each other while the fans clap like obedient Pavlovian dogs.

 

The same goes for the early mat-wrestling/reversal seequence at the start of the match that will end with the audience clapping. This might be the same as what you're talking about, but it instantly came to mind in terms of being contrived.

[Richard 0]

There was at least one time during the Undertaker-Stephanie angle where Vince called the cops but they thought it was all an act and pointed out that they could see him on tv.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I'm sorry, but Maria probably didn't find The Condemned to be a lot of fun.

 

That's okay, though - Santino was hilarious in that whole series.

[zappafrank 0]

The most contrived sequence is another one you see a lot of in Indy matches, usually between spot monkeys, where one guy will sweep the legs of the other guy and go for the cover but then roll himself off, get up, and then the other guy will do the sweep/roll off part, and then they'll both kip up and stare at each other while the fans clap like obedient Pavlovian dogs.

 

RVD, we're looking at you.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I was at the RAW with the Austin/McMahon gun thing (it was in Milwaukee). The crowd went nuts for it, but I remember later thinking that the Austin character was starting to get a little tiresome.

[alfdogg 0]

And speaking of sponsors, I always got a kick out of the faux-excitement J.R. would show when having to shill for something.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

The most contrived sequence is another one you see a lot of in Indy matches, usually between spot monkeys, where one guy will sweep the legs of the other guy and go for the cover but then roll himself off, get up, and then the other guy will do the sweep/roll off part, and then they'll both kip up and stare at each other while the fans clap like obedient Pavlovian dogs.

 

RVD, we're looking at you.

 

This was a great bit, but the well's been visited a few too many times.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

And as far as contrived spots, and "tower of doom" spot in ROH/TNA multiman matches where 16 people all hit some sort of suplex/power bomb/whatthefuckever at the exact same time,

The most overdone sequence in wrestling is the cradle reversal series first seen in the Guerrero/Malenko. It was a unique at the time and was great, but since then you see it in every other Indy match out there and it comes off like an exercise in self-congratulatory masturbation over the fact you can choreograph a sequence first seen almost 15 years ago.

 

The most contrived sequence is another one you see a lot of in Indy matches, usually between spot monkeys, where one guy will sweep the legs of the other guy and go for the cover but then roll himself off, get up, and then the other guy will do the sweep/roll off part, and then they'll both kip up and stare at each other while the fans clap like obedient Pavlovian dogs.

 

I hate that too.

[Chazz 0]

This happened on Raw last night, but it's been done a ton of times in pro wrestling over the past several years to be fair.(Mostly during the boom era) Wrestler A has Wrestler B arrested for something or other. When the police have wrestler b in cuffs, wrestler a takes the opportunity to cheapshot wrestler b. Instead of arresting wrestler a for committing assault right in their presence, the cops just push wrestler a away and take wrestler b to jail. You don't have to be a criminal law major to see that doesn't make any sense.

[Optimus Esc 0]

The reaction on commentary to Undertaker's intention to embalm Austin alive seemed very contrived. With such an extreme angle its always good to include some kafabe bending back at the arena such as Jim Ross calling the police and leaving the announce position and possibly showing a shot of him with a bunch of faces in a car racing to save Austin, leaving a confused King apologising for technical difficulties like it was a shoot.

 

When they came back from commercial with everyone at the arena still just watching what was going on you knew Austin was going to be fine.

 

"Bah Gawd that looks like a funeral home! Are they going to go through with this King?" or words to that effect.

 

[Retard Girl 0]

but isn't wrestling really just a sequence of contrived spots? everything has been done before. not just in wrestling, but music and TV and movies... very little originality all around. i'm not saying there isn't originality in wrestling, but just like everything else in the world, there's very little originality and a whole lot of repetition.

[StrapFinlay 0]

Bad/lazy writing, someone getting into someone's ear, a joke that fell flat, a sponser that had to be appeased... We've all seen it. I was thinking back to "The Rock, This Is Your Life" from 1999, a segment full of awkwardness and obvious joke set-ups. Between various actors pretending to be real live people from The Rock's past (and spending three or four minutes to get the pay-off of a middle-of-the-road one-liner insult), to Triple H struggling to free himself of the balloons, to the commentators remarking that the sticker Yerple had was a condom (Geddit? Sex is EDGY!), this is one cringe-inducing half-hour of television that barely had any payoff.

 

Contrived, perhaps, but wasn't that the highest-rated segment of Monday night wrestling ever?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Bad/lazy writing, someone getting into someone's ear, a joke that fell flat, a sponser that had to be appeased... We've all seen it. I was thinking back to "The Rock, This Is Your Life" from 1999, a segment full of awkwardness and obvious joke set-ups. Between various actors pretending to be real live people from The Rock's past (and spending three or four minutes to get the pay-off of a middle-of-the-road one-liner insult), to Triple H struggling to free himself of the balloons, to the commentators remarking that the sticker Yerple had was a condom (Geddit? Sex is EDGY!), this is one cringe-inducing half-hour of television that barely had any payoff.

 

Contrived, perhaps, but wasn't that the highest-rated segment of Monday night wrestling ever?

The highest rated non-wrestling segment ever, yes. It also meant absolutely nothing in the long-run.

[The Dames 0]

And as far as contrived spots, and "tower of doom" spot in ROH/TNA multiman matches where 16 people all hit some sort of suplex/power bomb/whatthefuckever at the exact same time,

The most overdone sequence in wrestling is the cradle reversal series first seen in the Guerrero/Malenko. It was a unique at the time and was great, but since then you see it in every other Indy match out there and it comes off like an exercise in self-congratulatory masturbation over the fact you can choreograph a sequence first seen almost 15 years ago.

 

The most contrived sequence is another one you see a lot of in Indy matches, usually between spot monkeys, where one guy will sweep the legs of the other guy and go for the cover but then roll himself off, get up, and then the other guy will do the sweep/roll off part, and then they'll both kip up and stare at each other while the fans clap like obedient Pavlovian dogs.

 

I hate that too.

 

This seriously happened at every single indy show I went to circa 2001 to 2004, which is why I dubbed it the "INDY APPLAUSE STANCE~!" in my old reviews.

Low Ki and the Amazing Red, I look at YOU.

 

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Bad/lazy writing, someone getting into someone's ear, a joke that fell flat, a sponser that had to be appeased... We've all seen it. I was thinking back to "The Rock, This Is Your Life" from 1999, a segment full of awkwardness and obvious joke set-ups. Between various actors pretending to be real live people from The Rock's past (and spending three or four minutes to get the pay-off of a middle-of-the-road one-liner insult), to Triple H struggling to free himself of the balloons, to the commentators remarking that the sticker Yerple had was a condom (Geddit? Sex is EDGY!), this is one cringe-inducing half-hour of television that barely had any payoff.

 

Contrived, perhaps, but wasn't that the highest-rated segment of Monday night wrestling ever?

The highest rated non-wrestling segment ever, yes. It also meant absolutely nothing in the long-run.

I believe that it was due to the audience thinking a really big payoff was coming. Like Abdullah the Butcher coming out from under the cover and a Foley heel turn. The one time a swerve made sense, and Russo didn't do it. Go figure.

[Eugenius 0]

Contrived moments...how about Triple H, this past Monday Night, stalking around Randy Orton's house. That shit looked worse than most c-level horror movies I've seen.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Undertaker giving his opponents the last ride off of the 'ten punches in the corner' spot.

[Angle-plex 0]

Jericho's return a few years ago. Especially with the backstage segment before he came out and then Ross screaming "What a moment!" made the entire thing feel forced.

[Chazz 0]

Anytime there is a competitive match between 2 wrestlers and a pin/submission comes out of nowhere, that person's theme music starts playing immediatley after the ref's hand hit the canvas for 3, or as soon as they signal for the bell.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Anytime there is a competitive match between 2 wrestlers and a pin/submission comes out of nowhere, that person's theme music starts playing immediatley after the ref's hand hit the canvas for 3, or as soon as they signal for the bell.

I think of it as the production guy in the back is watching the match, and just cues up the music as soon as the fall happens.

 

One time I can think where it was used to good effect was at the 1988 Royal Rumble...Rick Rude's music was playing, as he thought he won the match...but then the referee revealed he had DQed Rude in favor of Steamboat.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Anyone else remember the ending table spot for the Edge/Undertaker TLC match? The table stack got messed up and Edge had to take time to set them up again while the Undertaker recovered on the floor. Of course if Undertaker was that hurt on the floor, why didn't Edge just climb the damn ladder?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Undertaker giving his opponents the last ride off of the 'ten punches in the corner' spot.

 

This is another one that worked the first time he did it, but becomes contrived when it happens repeatedly. A similar one was people reversing Austin's Million Dollar Dream by walking up the turnbuckle. It worked at Survivor Series 1996, but was overused after that.

[cabbageboy 0]

Rey's setups for the 619 of late on Raw have been wildly contrived, like against Mike Knox or Kane. Guys way too big for him to get in that position.

 

Here's the difference between RVD doing those wild reversals and a typical indy match. Those RVD/Lynn matches basically set the template for all these indy guys and the early X Division. When they did it in 1999 it was unbelievable....but too many guys did it to the point where it became watered down.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I cannot remember ever seeing that again since. The Million Dollar Dream counter, I mean.

[Big Green 0]

I cannot remember ever seeing that again since. The Million Dollar Dream counter, I mean.

 

I can only remember The Rock doing it at WrestleMania 17.