Pro Wrestling Catch-all

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Starting with the Royal Rumble, I got back into pro wrestling in a big way in 2013. With last night's Rumble, it's been a year since I've returned into the fold and I've been loving it. And now I want to discuss it with my favorite online community. First point of discussion, I considered putting this in the Sports forum but decided against it. Agree? Disagree? Don't care?

Second, did anyone watch last night? What did you think? I hosted a bunch of friends, including some GWJers. The first two hours was a streaming mess (I bought it through WWE's site). It would just stop and then I'd get a Service Unavailable error message. So, we missed a lot but I was able to get my money back, at least. Worked perfectly for the main event so that was good. Or was it? Neither I, my guests, or apparently the crowd at the Rumble, cared for much after Rey Mysterio came out as #30. We're big Bryan fans so we were bummed when he wasn't in the Rumble. Also, Punk fans by default because Chicago, and none of us could remember if being eliminated by someone not in the match was legal. We had our fingers crossed that Punk would come back and eliminate Batista after Batista thought he'd already won. Maybe that'll be addressed tonight.

Clearly Reigns wasn't going to win though we really wanted him to. He's getting a push but not so big that he'd be headlining Wrestlemania 30, which is understandable. But I still would prefer that over Orton vs. Batista. Maybe there'll be some shenanigans and we'll get Bryan vs. Lesnar.

Also, was glad to see Rusev make it up from NXT. I hoped that if anyone debuted during the Rumble it'd be Bo but had a feeling it'd be Rusev. And since she's been dancing in the crowd the last couple RAWs, looks like Emma might be jumping up to RAW soon too. Yay! Now if the announcers would stop calling her dancing the hokey pokey.

I haven't watched WWE for a LONG time, but I had to say that I'm pretty surprised at a few of the names you're tossing around, and the fact that they're still around! Lesner, I didn't realize he came back after UFC. Batista? Wow, next you're gonna tell me that Cain is still fighting with the Undertaker Mysterio? He's been around since forever!

For someone who hasn't watched WWE since the Attitude Era, is there something I should see or read to have any idea what's going on now or does it not really matter what came in between?

McChuck, we haven't done a pay-per-view wrestling party in over ten years, so it was a bit surreal, but if I can say anything about my revival Royal Rumble, its that the blond girl was cute, but I think she's married to the guy who was sitting next to her on the couch. They kept holding hands and when they left, he said "Let's go home."

Also, why the hell did CM Punk agree to go out like that? What the hell was Cain doing back after he was eliminated? Bad form, WWE. Bad form.

Aries wrote:

I haven't watched WWE for a LONG time, but I had to say that I'm pretty surprised at a few of the names you're tossing around, and the fact that they're still around! Lesner, I didn't realize he came back after UFC. Batista? Wow, next you're gonna tell me that Cain is still fighting with the Undertaker Mysterio? He's been around since forever!

When I watched last year that was my reaction for 50% of the Rumble entrants. Either, "Who is this guy?" or "He's still here?" Mysterio came back recently from an injury. Batista came back last week after being gone for 4 years. Basically, he's pushing Guardians Of The Galaxy in which he plays Drax The Destroyer. Undertaker only shows up for Wrestlemanias. Kane is feuding with Punk. Punk tossed Kane out last night so Kane came back in the end and pulled Punk out over the top. And Lesnar shows up maybe once a year when they fork out the cash so he's back until Wrestlemania and then who knows. He had some great matches last year. His SummerSlam match against Punk was one of the best in 2013.

But, yeah, the reason people were booing when Bryan wasn't even in the Rumble and then when Batista won is because it's the same old sh*t with the same old wrestlers not the new guys fans are interested in.

Note: While he didn't win, Reigns broke Kane's record and eliminated 12 guys last night.

SocialChameleon wrote:

For someone who hasn't watched WWE since the Attitude Era, is there something I should see or read to have any idea what's going on now or does it not really matter what came in between?

Honestly, just dive in. RAW is 3 hours now so to fill the time they always show replays of what's been going on over and over. And they think no one can remember a storyline longer than a month, so what matters now won't matter in a few weeks so you'll be caught up. And since you haven't watched since Attitude (like me) here's something interesting for you. Golddust is back and he's amazing. He's in the best shape of his life and wrestling the best matches of his life. And he's in his 40s.

I missed last night's Royal Rumble as it was the wife's birthday, and yah, I didn't need her putting the smackdown on me...anyways, I'll actually be at the Elimination Chamber in February when it is here in Minneapolis.

Cooool. The Elimination Chamber is a new one for me. Wasn't around when I was last watching. I can say that about a lot of the PPVs. And there are a lot of them now.

I've only ever been to one PPV before. It was Backlash back in 2001. Only thing I remember about it was that I should have been studying for my Calc 2 final in the morning. I guess Money In The Bank was in Chicago last year. I'd yet to jump fully back in at that point, only watching Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania so far. Otherwise, maybe I'd go but I don't care for the venue they use in Chicago. Which isn't even in Chicago! It's in Rosemont. If they ever had one of the big ones here and used the United Center or Soldier Field, I'd definitely go. SummerSlam at Soldier Field would be awesome/humid. My birthday sometimes falls on the day of Wrestlemania. Maybe somehow that'll happen the same time they have Wrestlemania in Chicago. Best birthday ever.

McChuck wrote:

Golddust is back and he's amazing.

This alone is enough to get me to catch an episode. I miss the glory days of Bret Hart and British Bulldog, before they turned up the boobs and glitter dial to 11. I do fondly recall the Attitude Era, with the return of Shawn Michaels, and the whole DX thing. Good times.

I'm just having fun seeing guys I've been watching for years in high school gyms and on RoH DVS (Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose) doing well in the big leagues.

First point of discussion, I considered putting this in the Sports forum but decided against it. Agree? Disagree? Don't care?

Haha when I saw the thread title I thought the exact same thing. Sports? Entertainment? It's a wash!

I was a huge fan in the 90s but gave up when mo matches would be completed in a night becuase it would get interrupted by someone busting in the ring. Every match, every night got turned into setups for the PPvs.

Ironically enough I watched the rumble. First ppv I've seen in 5 or 6 years. My impression was...it was ok. The cena-orton match was god awful. The backwoods deliverance group was hilarious though. Serious question though, why is everyone so obsessed with Daniel Bryan? I haven't seen him wrestle much but I constantly see the YES YES YES stuff.

PS: My favorite wrestling ever was the mid 90s ECW stuff.

I haven't watched wrestling since the mid to late 80's with the NWA/UWF/WCW when the Four Horsemen, Midnight Express, Dusty Rhodes, Road Warriors, FreeBirds etc.. were in their prime.. Once the WWF/WWE took over I stopped.. something about Vince McMahon just creeped me out.

thejustinbot wrote:

I'm just having fun seeing guys I've been watching for years in high school gyms and on RoH DVS (Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose) doing well in the big leagues.

You sound like my friends. The whole decade when I wasn't watching any wrestling, they were following these guys in RoH. I probably would have become fans of these guys either way but their enthusiasm and knowledge definitely helped.

Nicholaas wrote:
McChuck wrote:

Golddust is back and he's amazing.

This alone is enough to get me to catch an episode. I miss the glory days of Bret Hart and British Bulldog, before they turned up the boobs and glitter dial to 11. I do fondly recall the Attitude Era, with the return of Shawn Michaels, and the whole DX thing. Good times.

This is currently the PG era. Friends I watch with say it has to do with being publicly traded so some things have changed. I don't think I've seen any storyline with a hint of sex in it. No more cutting or chairshots to the head. Little to no swearing. Honestly, I'm for it. I haven't introduced my niece and nephews to pro wrestling but it's bound to happen eventually. And they love anything their uncle does so I'm glad it's something more like I watched when I was their age and not what I watched as a teenager.

Gumbie wrote:

Serious question though, why is everyone so obsessed with Daniel Bryan? I haven't seen him wrestle much but I constantly see the YES YES YES stuff.

Part of it is that people just like chanting YES!. It's the new What? But an even larger part is that he's a great wrestler. His matches are great no matter whom he's wrestling. He's really energetic so his matches often have fast paced, explosive endings. Especially because he will often Hulk out where he starts shaking and getting pumped before winning. His match at Rumble was great but if you weren't blown away, you probably won't be by any of his other matches.

TheGameguru wrote:

... something about Vince McMahon just creeped me out.

Yeah. He makes creeps look bad. One reason I like NXT (WWE's minor leagues) so much is because there's pretty much no McMahon (Vince or Stephanie) influence on the storylines, etc. Though they do deserve credit for starting NXT. A lot of the best wrestlers on RAW now came up from NXT, so they get some things right, I guess.

I did spend most of the past decade keeping up with WWE just by reading online reports and watching occasional shows. Same with TNA really as well. What I did rabidly follow was small promotions like RoH, Chikara and Shimmer. That along with getting as much Japanese wrestling as I could kept my passion for the industry alive even when what the American big leagues were doing didn't interest me.

Oddly enough, I think the best thing going right now in the States is NXT, which is WWE's developmental system. They have a 1 hour weekly show currently on Hulu+, but will be moving to the WWE Network when it rolls out.

I kinda look forward to NXT each week more than RAW. For several reasons:

1) Renee Young & William Regal announcing. They're great. The rest of the announce team sucks but they're great. I'd love for them to take over for Cole and The King on RAW. When I started watching again last year, I couldn't believe Cole had replaced JR and that King was now the face commentator. No thanks. They're awful. JBL is okay. He could stay, I guess.
2) It's short! There's no padding to the show and the entire roster isn't on every show so you don't feel like you're seeing the same thing every week. Storylines can take a week or two off so other stuff can get the focus.
3) They wrestle because it's a wrestling show. And why not? That's the main reason I'm tuning in. That these two guys will have an awesome match is reason enough for me. A storyline isn't always necessary to have a match.
4) No PPVs. Stuff happens on the shows so there's no pointless treading water until stuff can happen during the month's PPV.
5) Women's Division. Not Divas but Women. They can actually wrestle and their belt doesn't look like a reverse tramp stamp.

And I'll probably think of more later. What are some of yours, justinbot? Also, is what you said correct? Once WWE Network starts, NXT will be pulled from Hulu? If so, I'm guessing that includes all of their content. Which sucks. When I miss RAW I love the 90 minute version. It's superior to the full version in many ways. I'd watch it every week except I prefer watching it with my neighbors.

Anywho, onto today's news: CM Punk quits WWE. Or "quits" WWE? Who knows? It's wrestling. Just because it's not televised doesn't mean it's not scripted drama. Guess time will tell.

We used to have 3 TVs at the old bachelor's pad playing WWF. WCW and MNF, with two smaller TVs for games. Watching the one group (I forgt if it was DX from WWF going after WCW or the other way around) raid the taping of one show and almost simultaneously being live on the other broadcast.

Those were the nights of Syphon Filter and Syphon Filter 2 on the good old reliable PSX.

Every now and then I go on a WWE jag and watch it for a few months. I enjoy big dudes doing dangerous stuff, whether it's a 'sport' or not.

Last time I lost interest though was when Randy Orton and his two boring sidekicks whose names escape me were trying to set up their Legacy. Orton is just so profoundly annoying. And I really didn't like when he attacked Stephanie MacMahon.

WWE actually fills up most of the programming time of one of our free OTA networks, although usually two weeks late. So if we get an antenna for the TV as my wife wants I may get back to watching it, although I will be out of sync with this thread.

McChuck wrote:

I kinda look forward to NXT each week more than RAW. For several reasons:

1) Renee Young & William Regal announcing. They're great. The rest of the announce team sucks but they're great. I'd love for them to take over for Cole and The King on RAW. When I started watching again last year, I couldn't believe Cole had replaced JR and that King was now the face commentator. No thanks. They're awful. JBL is okay. He could stay, I guess.
2) It's short! There's no padding to the show and the entire roster isn't on every show so you don't feel like you're seeing the same thing every week. Storylines can take a week or two off so other stuff can get the focus.
3) They wrestle because it's a wrestling show. And why not? That's the main reason I'm tuning in. That these two guys will have an awesome match is reason enough for me. A storyline isn't always necessary to have a match.
4) No PPVs. Stuff happens on the shows so there's no pointless treading water until stuff can happen during the month's PPV.
5) Women's Division. Not Divas but Women. They can actually wrestle and their belt doesn't look like a reverse tramp stamp.

And I'll probably think of more later. What are some of yours, justinbot? Also, is what you said correct? Once WWE Network starts, NXT will be pulled from Hulu? If so, I'm guessing that includes all of their content. Which sucks. When I miss RAW I love the 90 minute version. It's superior to the full version in many ways. I'd watch it every week except I prefer watching it with my neighbors.

Anywho, onto today's news: CM Punk quits WWE. Or "quits" WWE? Who knows? It's wrestling. Just because it's not televised doesn't mean it's not scripted drama. Guess time will tell.

Much like you the first thing I love about NXT is the commentary. The Monday night crew is just so bad it detracts from the product. As long as Regal and/or Renee are on NXT it is at worst ignorable. Now, Alex Riley is really bad, but nothing is perfect.

I also enjoy watching wrestlers grow into their rolls. Bo Dallas has gone from being an annoying whitebread babyface to being completely fantastic as a heel.

Another great part of NXT is getting to see guys like Swagger and Cesaro really show their stuff in ways they aren't able to do on the main shows.

The serious Women's division is great, especially as a Shimmer fan I'm always happy to see good women's wrestling.

Lastly I like seeing people I've followed on the indies (Sami Zayn, Emma, Bayley, Paige and such) move strongly into their WWE personas.

Yah, I usually will change the channel during Raw/Smackdown when the Diva's match is on. Part of that is they annoy my wife who is very outspoken about how bad they suck at wrestling

Rainsmercy wrote:

Yah, I usually will change the channel during Raw/Smackdown when the Diva's match is on. Part of that is they annoy my wife who is very outspoken about how bad they suck at wrestling ;)

I've watched lots of Japanese women's wrestling and Shimmer/Shine stuff over the past few years and yeah, the main roster divas stuff is painful.

Back when I watched wrestling a lot, I used to record it, since live broadcasts were at 1am over here. After a while, I started to use fast forward a lot, because a lot of the matches, particularly PPV grudge ones, were so hideously over long. Towards the end of Attitude, everything was some form of no holds barred, so you had two guys trying to stretch this thing out for 40 minutes, staggering around the arena, whacking each other once every three minutes, and then locking in a "submission" move because they were so tired they needed a breather. Much like that last sentence. It was a real shame to see really decent wrestlers stuck with that, when a tight 15 minute match would have been so much stronger.

I don't have the subscription for Sky Sports any more, so I only occasionally see the small weekly shows and the 1 hour Raw summary show those days. I might dip in again and see what's happening.

NXT sounds good. I've never seen any listing for it over here, though.

If I were still into this, the WWE channel or TV woukd have been a no- brainer.

thejustinbot wrote:

Oddly enough, I think the best thing going right now in the States is NXT, which is WWE's developmental system. They have a 1 hour weekly show currently on Hulu+, but will be moving to the WWE Network when it rolls out.

Is that for certain? A quick google search found this saying that Raw and Smackdown would remain on hulu but it's not confirmed yet whether NXT will. I hope it will. http://www.wrestleview.com/wwe-news/46532-update-on-wwe-programming-being-part-of-hulu-plus The end of this week's NXT was really exciting. The match was boring but I liked it when Bo stalked down the ramp towards Neville, only to be interrupted by HHH to make their title match a ladder match. Sweet.

As for RAW this week, the 6 man matches were good but the teams the Wyatts and Shield wrestled were so random. However their promos to each other were great!

Dusty's moonsault off the top of the cage looked like he took almost all of that. Ouch.

I was excited for Emma's debut but it was kinda bad. Maybe let her wrestle first and then work the bad dancing in. Not the other way around.

And the Daniel Bryan match was, of course, awesome. And the delayed fireworks by Kane were hilarious because Orton they had to wait for him to get out of the way.

I thought I heard it was for certain but could have been wrong.

I'm really looking forward to the Shield vs the Wyatts. That's going to be a lot of fun.

Wow, I just remembered in the 90s, when I used to visit my friends in Florida on leave, one friend had a brother that was REALLY into wrestling. They used to do the local bar "barbwire bat" and stuff matches (he was a big guy). They also use to tape all the Japanese wrestling stuff. I think the Japanese wrestlers were into the tack matches etc before ECW was extreme.

I remember one time wondering if the tacks were real after seeing a guy get body slammed a couple of times on to them. Then, he took his shirt off and you can see like a hundred pinpoints of blood from the match. They did some crazy stuff!

2 weeks till Elimination chamber! So excited, going to see it with a couple of my best friends and my brother.!

So excited I posted twice, lol. Went to a movie last night so didn't get to watch last night's episode and I don't have Hulu. Too bad they don't put wrestling on On Demand.

Welll, you missed out on some awesome stuff and some awful stuff. Let's skip the awful and focus on the awesome:

1) Roman Reigns calling Renee Young "baby girl." We had to rewind for that one.
2) This Sister Abigail:
IMAGE(http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mysterio-eats-it.gif)
3) Sheamus and Cesaro deciding to beat the crap out of each other during Sheamus & Christian vs. Real Americans.
4) During the "baby girl" interview, Ambrose was called out on not defending the US title. He gets goaded by Reigns into issuing an open challenge. Marc Henry comes out and Dean Ambrose's reaction was priceless along with Reigns and Rollins laughing at his misfortune.
IMAGE(http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/AmbroseHenry9-650x365.jpg)
5) Following that match, The Wyatts come down and there's an awesome stand off between them and The Shield from across the ring. Reign entered the ring and The Wyatts backed down.

So, pretty much all the awesome was from NXT guys. And NXT was great too. Aiden English say a modified version "Everyone's A Hero" from Dr. Horrible as his entrance. CJ Parker realized no one likes hippies and cut a heel promo about the good he does for the earth and the bad everyone else does. Zayn and Cesaro almost, ALMOST, made a pinky promise at the crowd's request:
IMAGE(http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/pinkie-promise-650x407.png)

I did get to see replay of Smackdown/Raw Saturday night. One week from Sunday till I get to go to the Elimination chamber. Though after the match with Ceena/Orton, I was a little dissapointed, it was kind of a boring match.

Yeah, I was including that in the skipped over awful stuff. Though it was better than their Rumble match, at least.

I haven't watched pro wrestling for close to ten years now, but I was absolutely obsessed back in high school and college. Multiple create-a-wrestlers on WWF No Mercy (N64), bootleg videos of indie matches on DVD, the whole nine yards. (Pretty sure I've still got a couple of matches on DVD somewhere of Daniel Bryan as American Dragon in Ring of Honor, actually.)

I do still listen to the Steve Austin Show podcast, which touches on the current product as well as wrestling history, including some great interviews. Stone Cold isn't exactly Charlie Rose when it comes to his interview technique, but it's pretty cool to hear him trade old NWA/WCW road stories with guys like Kevin Nash or Jim Cornette.

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