Wrestling Thread

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:48 am

...that sounds like the kind of thing late era "We don't know how to do anything except waste money" WCW would have done.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Jan 24, 2018 7:49 pm

I couldn't tell you why they did it. Same city at the same time with two wildly different crowd capacities. I mean, yeah, I'm sure they made money, but the efficiently torture comment wasn't just me being a snarky asshole making fun of your average RAW. They ran segments from both locations so the live crowds spent a lot of time watching jumbotron feeds from the other venue instead of seeing people in person. The show drew a good rating but the live attendance feedback is no bueno.

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:43 pm

At least the second venue got Brother Nero and the OBSOLETE song.

That's...pretty much the only nice thing I can say about it.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:49 am

It's so weird that now live in a universe where I feel disappointed when things leave TNA for WWE.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:21 am

I wouldn't go that far. TNA are still a shit-tier product that doesn't seem to plan from one week to the next, existing only to prop up the yearly question of "Will they be going out of business and ending this year?" Okay, and serving as excursion ground for New Japan - I'm not saying they made Okada what he is, but he did go there to reinvent himself and such.

Speaking of, well done Kawato, graduating from a Young Lion and going to CMLL. He could very easily become a fan-favourite (arguably he'd have trouble being a heel - let's face it, Hiromu Takahashi is ostensibly a heel but he is beloved), and he was apparently picked as being very promising even some time ago. Which is unfortunate for him, because that means Suzuki ran him through a fair amount of training (ie "half an hour of getting put into painful holds doing catch-wrestling sparring").

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 6:26 am

I'd go that far. TNA is shit but I don't think they've done anything worse than say, WWE's handling of Bayley. Admittedly though, I am a crazy person who enjoyed Broken Matt more than Bork-Goldberg.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 6:51 am

Overall I liked Broken Matt more than Bork-Goldberg, yes, though not the Dilapidated Boat match. And the Resident Evil 7 match between Wyatt and Orton was even worse (and showed how they weren't even trying to be original), which adds more support to your assertion.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 7:54 am

I don't even care anymore because there is a fucking official Rusev calendar. This is not a drill.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 8:07 am

Excellent, it lists Rusev Day so you know when it is. You wouldn't want to miss Rusev Day.

Meanwhile, Suzuki vs Tanahashi was great... and horrifying. Tanahashi sold it really well (admittedly, with his bad knees on record, that might not have been 100% acting), and then with the referee stoppage at the end and him just lying motionless as a stretcher was fetched... wow. It's not like the matches beforehand were bad, they just knew how to end on a strong, memorable point.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:18 am

We all know that Minoru Suzuki's boot is this season's hottest accessory so the only real question is who wore it better, Goto or Tanahashi?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:25 am

I am slightly in favour of how Goto wore it, but it's a close one there. It might be the accessory for all occasions, that matches any other clothing, and works regardless of body type.

Also I'd love to talk about how the Royal Rumble was actually quite good this year, and how apparently NXT Takeover was another good one (with people chanting for a "greasy chub" apparently!), except let's be honest: NJPW stole the show again, this time with just a single hug. GOLDEN LOVERS REUNITED!

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:13 pm

It's excellent and there's no way I can see this whole set of circumstances going awry. Just think about it: even if they turn the Bullet Club into a gigantic clusterfuck of nWo red, white and fuchsia proportions that's still fine because the Young Bucks are there and that's basically their destiny/life goal.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:55 am

I knew that the guy who spent a few years teaching my mom, uncles and local police department karate in the '70s was named Sonny but I didn't know until today she meant it was this Sonny:

I feel betrayed.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:57 am

That's pretty awesome.

Also I hear that Strowman broke a double bass over the guitar-guy in guitar-guy fashion, on Rusev Day? WWE do get a point for that, but they're still competing against things like the Golden Lovers.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:46 pm

So, the Sonny revelation caused me to do some googling since apparently wikipedia and various interviews claim he was born in 1962. That doesn't map very well with what my mom told me or what the Mason City, Iowa newspaper says (which claims his family moved to Iowa when he was twelve and he graduated in '72 before moving to MN for a while after that). I guess the only real question now is do I take the word of a rasslin' manager or do I believe fake news and my own mother?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 1:21 am

When it comes to wrestling, always believe the version you want to believe.

Post by **fbmf** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:28 am

Koumei or whoever knows this type of thing,

I have a vague memory of Andre the Giant catching a wrestler that had jumped off the top ropes to tackle him. Did I make that up?

If not, when did that happen? Who was the opponent? I searched GOOGLE and YOUTUBE but got nothing.

Game On,
fbmf

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:07 am

I've never seen anything like that, although that's not saying much given how much of Andre's career happened before my time.

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:54 am

fbmf... I found this:

http://www.wwe.com/classics/former-wwe-superstars-remember-andre-the-giant wrote:WWE Hall of Famer "The Magnificent" Don Muraco

“I will never forget this. Back in Florida in the early 1970s, I teamed with Andre to face Dusty Rhodes and Ole Anderson. This was the first time that Andre and I teamed together, so as much as you want things to go well, you’re still not so sure if they will. During the match, Andre was on the floor hammering away at Dusty, while Ole and I were battling inside the ring. Ole then took me and proceeded to throw me out of the ring. I flew over the top rope and was headed for an ugly landing. But right there was Andre. He actually caught me in mid-air, and once he did, he threw me right back over the top rope and into the ring.

Couldn't find an image or video of Andre catching Don Muraco though. But seems like that's where to focus the search.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:27 am

Also, the Big Show and the big Khali and Mark Henry and the Undertaker and Kane and basically every other really big tough and strong rassler guy ever probably did something like that at some point.
I mean . . that is their big shtick (literally) after all . .
And you can't show toughness/strength of unbelieveable levels much better than doing something like that.
Which makes it all the more hilarious, when they then stagger to the ground after a lightweight highflier like rey mysterio jr. kicks them.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:36 am

So NJPW Fallout Down Under (Adelaide) was awesome. I am well aware that we are a small town, but the wrestlers didn't treat it like one, they didn't phone it in as a house show.

Bought a LIJ cap then got a print signed by the Young Bucks (for a bitter Brisbane-based fan. "Suck it Gabe, buy a flight next time!" They were more than happy to write that) Also they seemed to be really genuine, friendly guys who have time for their fans. Then I got my ringside seat - behind the crowd barrier, with the time keeper and ring bell basically two metres away (that's also where all the titles are put when their holders have matches so I could have reached over to touch/take one if I fancied being ejected or possibly booted in the face).

Opening match was Yuji Nagata against Chase Owens, with Yuji taking the win after some tasty suplexes/backdrops. After just the first hip toss, you could see the pink glow on Owens' back.

Then it was Suzuki-gun (Suzuki and Archer. Note: being in the first couple of rows means you get covered in water from Archer's entrance) vs some Australian guys (Jonah Rock and Slex if anyone cares). Minoru will be facing Jonah at every match during the tour, so they set things up - "will he be able to lift Jonah for the Gotch Style Piledriver?" Jonah is very big, so never mind lifting, it's hard just to reach and get the hand link. They broke one of the bottom ropes at one point, Suzuki walloped Jonah with a chair (and then looked confused and innocent when the referee told him not to do that, it was amazing), then decided match results don't matter: he put him in an ankle lock almost right in front of me and there was a double count-out.

After a short interval to REPAIR THE RING it resumed at we had a lot of things:

Cody vs Rocky Romero. It was great, and they accepted that Australians shout weird crap. A lot of people called for Brandi Rhodes (Cody did say "the cheap-asses wouldn't let her come!" and "Please stop, her ego is big enough"), and for Stardust and Golddust... which resulted in him almost going for the Shattered Dreams before the referee intervened. Cody won, gave his love to the crowd and let everyone know the Bullet Club IS fine. And to all cheer Fale, who apparently made the tour happen.

Kushida, Juice, and Henare vs the Underboss Bad Luck Fale (yes he kicked our ring announcer half-way through the introduction, to mass cheers and applause), Kenny Omega, and "just for this tour honorary member" Juicy Gambino. Who is a comedy guy. It worked well, and despite Gambino's bumbling there, Bullet Club won after Omega delivered the One Winged Angel. Which I wasn't expecting for opening night. He then gave a little speech to thank everyone and to say that the Bullet Club is NOT fine. So even for this they're still teasing big story things - they're not pausing the story to give us an exhibition of wrestlers, we're there for the NJPW experience.

Intermission-proper, so I quickly spoke to Kushida (he's a polite, friendly, well-spoken guy and an attractive young man) and bought a shirt, and got a signed print from Archer. Could have met Nagata, Juice and Switchblade but there was a lot of crowd there.

Then Switchblade vs another local (Adelaide-born, but moved to Victoria, what an asshole!). I will say, Australia seems to produce quite a lot of heels and they're pretty good at it in a smarmy self-loving kind of way. Also they're more used to the Australian thing of chanting "SUCK HIS DICK! SUCK HIS DICK!" every time one person is on their knees and the other is standing (or in the set-up for a powerbomb/piledriver). They both tried to slap each others' tits off, and left welts and bruising. They should already be underway (or towards the end of the night) for Melbourne at time of posting and I imagine their chests look horrendous at the moment. A lot of respect for toughness there. Switchblade won with the Blade Runner (yes someone called for Sister Abigail. Shame).

Guerillas of Destiny vs Sanada and King of Darkness, EVIL. Sanada and Tama Tonga are great when they're doing sneaky tactics and being intelligent heels. So against each other there? That was a joy to watch. The audience was informed (to zero effect) that it is a family-friendly show so no swearing, but nobody told Tama that, so... yeah. You know. There was a moment where Tanga threw a chair into the ring, EVIL picked it up and went to throw it at him... only to hold on, put the chair on the floor and sit on it. There was thunderous applause for a guy sitting on a chair (and stroking evil goatee). Tama rang the bell after slamming someone's head into it and tried to claim "The bell rung, we win!" LIJ won in the end of a great match.

The main event was the Young Bucks vs Tomohiro Ishii and RRRRRRRRRAINMAKER Kazuchika Okada. Note: the day he arrived it actually started raining. I didn't know it was a literal magic power he had.

It was a very entertaining match, several superkicks, Okada understood that, by dint of fighting against the Young Bucks, he was designated a heel (already sort of being a tweener). So he did the Scurll finger-break thing, he did the "put bell on opponent's head, ring it" thing and so on. Someone puzzlingly shouted "You suck, Okada!", with someone else pointing out "He's the longest-reigning champion!" I mean, you could call him a dick or whatever, but it's hard to say he sucks - in character he has serious credentials, out of character he sweats Meltzer Stars. Okada won with the Rainmaker after a really high-workrate match, then gave a little speech and promised they will be back one day.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:08 am

Cena is looking pretty decrepit. Dude should consider losing some bulk and see if that helps. FFS, NBA players routinely try to lose a pound or two per year past the age of 28 because otherwise a handicap match with Father Time and Gravity is too much even for LeBron.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:11 pm

In UFC on Fox 28 Tecia Torres tried to take Jessica Andrade's back but was countered with an AA. Puzzling sequence since they went another 7 minutes afterwards but it's Wrestlemania season so that's their mentality. ***3/4

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:08 pm

Just the AA or proper Death Valley Driver?

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:38 pm

She didn't get up all the way out of the squat and she let go instead of going along for the ride but did end up stumbling forward onto her knees for no apparent reason, so I'm going with the AA.