Official WWE/TNA Wrestling Thread

I saw no Colt Cabana sightings on Raw...ECW? Smackdown? I need answers man!

 

there ya go.

 

WWE is never going to use him properly. I hate the whole Scotty Goldman crap...

 

OTHER Spike Tv projects? That is code for a spot on Pros vs. Joes and being in the crowd of the next UFC event.

 

Question for you wrestling guys. I'm not a wrestling guy, but I loved it when I was a kid. I know that Sting was on TNA Impact for a while. Is he still doing that or is he retired. I know he found God and was saved or something or another also.

 

Sting is still there. He does the same song and dance. Sting is sting.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/48554-brock-lesnar-back-to-wwe-or-debuting-in-tna

 

Sting is still the reliable old Sting as enforcerfin said. He isa born again christian and was retired for a little while. The guy is simply a pro. I have always been a fan and wished that one day he would go to the WWE just for the sheer surrealness that would come with it. But that will most likely never happen.

 

Makes no sense why WWE would let Foley walk away, sorry he's a staple in WWE history. Love him or hate him, he has SOMETHING in his career that stands out for everyone. Something he has done, all be it, the hell in the cell, the I quit match, the hardcore matches, the exploding ropes, the barbwire matches, the bang bang, mankind, I mean I could do this all day. The man was an entertainer. And purists can say he was a glorified stuntman, all they want. He was, but he was also a great worker. His mic skills are second to none. And he writes best selling novels. For godsake's what more did they want him to do learn to cook them trouffels?

 

purists are idiots in that respect IMO. The man helped to revolutionize wrestling IMO. If you do watch his dvd though he does say that he and flair have a new respect for one another in that regards.

 

Purists also don't pay attention to his non-hardcore matches either. And let's not forget him being one half of my favorite, and probably one of the most unorthodox tag teams that graced the WWE, the Rock n' Sock connection.

Edit: I mean, do we have to mention the "This is your life" segment?

 

I guess I am considered a "purist." Although, in pro wrestling, I am not sure you can adequately define that.

i do know that I HATED the "this is your life segment," yet it is the highest rated segment in wrestling history so, shows how much I know I guess.

I am a HUGE fan of Foley's thoguh. One of my favorite wrestlers ever and someone who is to be admired in a business filled to the brim with lowlifes and scumbags (including people like Flair, Hoagn, Austin and other "heroes").

I suppose I am a purist in that, I would much rather see more wrestling action and sustained storytelling than the salacious storylines and over the top that appears to go on every show.

The Jericho-Michaels fued is a classic fued built around two guys who don't like each other. It got to the extremeness with HBK's wife, but it worked within the storyline. Had they started with that, it doesn't work.

Meanwhile, you get stupid fueds that make little to no sense and the wrestlers can't back it up in the ring (JBL getting 50 billion title shots despite losing everytime).

I suppose that is what a purist is in Pro Wrestling. I think a better term is a "throwback."

 

puro lucho libre.

 

I thought it was CLASSIC.

IMO, The Rock and Mick Foley/Mankind were a one of a kind tag team. Normally, when you get two wrestlers that are normally rivals and put them together as a tag team, they don't really last TOO long. (e.g. Matt Hardy and MVP, Shawn Michales and John Cena, etc).

But the Rock n' Sock connections, despite being made up of two wrestlers that (while on screen) are from opposite ends of the spectrum, stuck together and captured multiple tag team title reigns.

And I definitely agree about the "throwback" part.

 

I think the taker/foley hell in a cell is a classic match and one of a kind.

 

I enjoyed the Foley/UT HitC match, I remember I was blown away by it the first time I saw it live in 1997 but after watching it at least 15 to 20 times since then it has lost a bit of magic to me. I think people (not you Unlucky) tend to overrate the match because of the bumps Foley took but in my opinion the first HitC between HBK and UT was a much much better match in terms of storyline, moves and drama.

 

Agreed to an extent. The quality of the match was better, but from a historical standpoint, the Foley/Taker match wins it.

I liked the Michaels/Taker match for a couple of reasons. A: You clearly see HBK blade before getting slingshotted into the cage. It was a nasty slice that traveled from his hairline down to the base of his nose. He bled like a stuck pig.

and B: even though he was only supposed to be a three month character, the debut of Kane at the end of that match also happened. 11 billion years later and he is still here...

 

Well yeah the Foley/Taker match had those insane bumps that really made Foley's career. He went from main event/mid card crazy brawling jobber to the stars into a legend.

Everything about HBK/UT match was great from the set up of HBK using a camera man to escape from the cage, to the climb up, HBK's bump, and probably one of the only times in wrestling that a screw job ending worked with Kane.

 

I know the all knowing Samphin knows this but, did anyone else know Maven is on HSN now? Jeez he sux at that too....

 

He should sell his eyebrows as blankets. Those things are massive. He actually wasn't a bad wrestler, but he had a stigma attached to him that was hard to shake off and ultimately doomed him.

I haven't seen him on HSN, so I will defer to your judgement on the level of his sucktidue.

 

Highlight of his wrestling career was the year prior to him eliminating Taker from the Rumble when he thought he once again eliminated Taker and was jumping up and down all over the ring and Taker stomped him, IMO.

 

He was technically sound in the ring. The problem is, fans are so smart though, that when they see you win a contest like that, you never are given the credibility you need once you step foot in front of the camera.
He couldn't be anyone other than Maven.

Take, for example, if the man who plays the Undertaker had won that show. Do you think he can come out the next week and be "The Undertaker?" No. He would get laughed out of the arena.

Same applies for Maven. He could never be given a good character because everyone knows who he already was.

Unlike someone like Steve Austin, The Rock or Even Mick Foley who were able to govern which parts of their personality could come out and work within the gimmick they established, Maven wasn't spotted that opportunity.

Its a shame too, because, like I said. He had a decent look and was sound in the ring. Probably the best way to have gone would to have had him lose a bunch early on, but still be the upbeat kid just happy to be here. Have a manager/fellow wrestler get into his head until he snapped and then bring him into some type of group to hide his weaknesses and allow hi to be identified with something other than Tough Enough. You do that, and you have a guy who may still be working in the industry today.

 

that's why they created masks. Christopher Daniels has managed to get Curry Man over on two continents now!

 

True...but Daniels was over as himself too. In fact, I would venture to say he was MORE over and taken more seriously as himself than as Curry Man.

I have a great road story that involves Daniels and myself and how he got the original ring wear for his Fallen Angel gimmick.

Remind me to tell it sometime.

 

Daniels was over as himself, no doubt at all.

and hey, no better time than the present dude! this i gotta hear!

 

Samphin, you brought up some of the big name guys in the biz you aren't fond of, all of whom have character issues in one form or another, but i won't ask you to elaborate on them, obviously.

but i am curious who in the business you found or heard to be good character people, or stand up guys in a positive way, or just helped the young guys out... using whatever criteria you want.

and by the way, i am completely certain that the overwhelming majority of people in the wrestling business are just that; good citizens, and normal, decent people who have a job that comes with stresses that the average joe could barely fathom.

so as a lifelong wrestling fan, i am just wondering who, in your mind stood out?

 

Good question. Often times it is easier to pick apart the ones you don't like rather than the ones you do. I spent a rather small amount of time training and having professional wrestling matches (two years) so my sample size is small but from what I experienced, here are some of the "good guys," in the business.

-The Great Khali/Dalip Singh. I used to trian and spar with this guy and he was the best. The funny thing is, he is actually much better in the ring than the WWE lets him be. Perhaps having a more hectic lifestyle than he led previously has led to him not performing as well IN the ring.

Out of the ring however, the dude is a riot and one of the nicest guys ever. In fact, you can make an argument that he saved my life one night. Anyhow, he used to do a hilarious Jim Ross impression. At least it was funny at 3 in the morning, driving back from an indy show. Just a funny, smart, giant of a man. One time, he chopped me so hard that I started bleeding form my chest in practice. He stopped training, apologized and went and got a towel to help me clean up. I told him to keep going but he insisted on helping.

-Christopher Daniels. I met him a couple of times and he never, ever disrespected me as a newcomer into the business. I had to pick him up from the airport the first time I met him and he went out of his way to find out about me and my background as well as tell some good stories about himself in the business.

Something else that I thought was telling was this. In wrestling, you shake everyone's hand. If a vet walks into the room, you stop what you are doing and offer your hand. It is a sign of respect and an unwritten code of sorts that lets people know you are ok to work with (actually a lot can be written about the handshake itself...). Christopher Daniels went out of his way, even as a vet, to meet me halfway. That rarely happens on my level.

-Crash Holly/Mike Lockwood. R.I.P. Just a great guy who came and helped at a training session one time even after striking it big. Always positive and always fun to be around.

-Vinny Massarro. The original Innovator. Vinny was probably more repsonsible for trianing me than anyone else. He still kicks around the indy circuits. At one time, we used to work together and the man was always good for a laugh...and a vicodin (just kidding... )


-Barry Horowitz. Thats right, the lovable WWE loser. The guy was bitter but shared a bunch of stories about the guys. He made me laugh a lot.

-Randy Savage. I met him once as he needed to be interviewed in a wrestling ring and we were the nearest facility. Dude lives his gimmick and has an ego, but he was nice enough.

There are others as well, but those ones are probably the names that people would know the best (outside of Vinny). I met Kazarian once when he wrestled for our company, but I never really got to talk to him much. And Al Snow I met as a teenaged fan. He was great and pretty much the goofy guy he played on TV.

 

Wow, nice thanks for sharing that.

I'm not surprised about Savage, in fact, I'm willing to beat he's legally insane.

I'm surprised Horowitz is bitter, I think he's lucky enough to have made a small run in 1995 as it is.

I've heard from numerous people that Mick Foley is a great guy. I've personally met Shawn Michaels, Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Ross. They were all pretty nice.

 

I had a run in with the "old" HBK, before he found God, and let me tell you he was a grade A arsehole. Mick just comes across as a great guy. I have had conversations with DDP on a couple of different occassions, he too was an awesome guy. Most of it boils down to where you catch them, IMO.

 

I actually met HBK in the winter of 1995 before he won the 1996 Royal Rumble (so it was the old on tons of drugs HBK) and he was actually nice to me. He was at a local sports store and was suppose to sign autographs for 2 hours but since the line was so long he ended up staying close to 4 hours, I was one of the last ones to get one from him and he was cool with me (I was around 12 at the time) made some jokes etc.

I met Sgt. Slaughter trying to get tickets for RAW when I was 13 or 14, my mom took me and I'll never forget her shaking his hand and telling him she loved him in G.I. Joe and Slaughter laughed his butt off. It was great.

 

Its hard to know for sure with most of these guys. Barry was booked for a one time gig and ended up staying an extra day to talk to us (at the time students) about his experiences. He certainly threw some stones at some other, more famous wrestlers. But overall, really nice guy, easy going and easy to work with from what I saw and was told (I never worked with him).

 

thanks Samphin, good stuff! i appreciate it.

 

I think if The Undertaker was to lose the streak it would probably be his last match because if he loses and is still semi active than the WWE doesn't have any type of draw for him come WM time.

 

This is a tough one for me. On one hand, it would be kind of neat to see the streak end. On the other, I really like traditions. No offense Ray, but I loved that the Red Sox never won. I will hate it if the Cubs win it all. I think I would have hated the Patriots run last year even if the Bills had been the only team to go undefeated.

I like long standing traditions and UT's is just that.

I also don't foresee Dibiase being ready by the next WM either. Thinking about this further, does anyone think it would be kind of neat that, whoever beat him, called upon the help of everyone else that he has ever beat at WM to help his cause? Obviously people like Nash couldn't do it due to other obligations, or Bossman because of death.

But it might be a cool visual to see the likes of Snuka, Jake the Snake, HHH, Orton, Edge, Kane, Giant Gonzales, King Kong Bundy, Sid, Big Show, Ric Flair, Mark Henry and Batista all take cheap shots and beat the hell out of taker, roll him into the ring and have whoever it is finally beat him.

In fact, make it a no countout, no dq match against Ted Dibiase Jr. Have those guys come out, surround the ring unannounced. Ted gets tossed from the ring, UT goes for the patented plancha over the top and the beatdown begins. He fights some of them off, but ultimately succumbs to someone like Edge, Batista etc.

After a massive beatdown, a couple of them roll UT into the ring, hold him for Dibiase's finishing move and people like Bundy and Mark Henry actually lay ON TOP of Dibiase as he pins UT to ensure that Taker can't kick out.

Afterwards, they all get into the ring and help Dibiase celebrate, when The Million Doallr Man's music hits. He comes out laughing and happy as can be carrying a briefcase. He gets into the ring, embraces his son in a giant congratulatory hug. Looks around the ring, opens the briefcase to unveil GOBS of cash and starts handing it out to the hired goons who helped his son become immortal.

I think that would be awesome. Plus, it gives UT a direction for at list a year. He can have his list of people to go after (the ones that helped have him defeated). In fact, he could even have a visual piece of paper with their names on it. The week after wrestlemania (or if he takes time off, whenever he comes back) he starts picking off the older guys off his list (Snuka, Roberts, Bundy, etc.) before moving on to fued with the actual current wrestlers on the list.

His revenge fueds with Orton, Edge, Batista and HHH alone could bring him all the way to the next Wrestlemania.

What do you guys think?

 

That would work.

 

wow samphin... before i read that the only way i would mind taker's streak ending is if Kane beat him, which would not make sense for the WWE to do. but ur idea is amazing. i would not mind if taker lost at WM the way you described...

 

Not a bad idea at all, I like it. It makes sense and would be kind of cool to see. It would kind of be like the RR '94 minus the green smoke and Marty Jannetty raising from the dead behind the video screen.

 

worst.
idea.
evar.

 

I think that is AWESOME, Book it.