NMB Wrestling Archive

I got a comp of the Punk/Raven feud and I have a few comments on his gimmick. This feud and his gimmick is one of the stranger ones I've ever seen that is taken seriously. Here you have a straight edge guy who is a heel facing off against the drug addicted babyface Raven. The announcers are encouraging people watching to "drink a beer and smoke a bowl" during the matches and I'm thinking WTF? Punk, from what I've seen (I haven't gotten through the Punk/Joe matches yet) is a pretty good worker and a great talker. Yet, I am perplexed by the gimmick. I get the whole "I'm better than you because..." but why turn a positive thing like being drug free into a heelish t…

Rey Misterio Jr v Chavo Guerrero Jr - WWE No Way Out 2004 June apparently comes before February in Lossland, because I'm watching this match after watching the other. So, while I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it, you can continue using your severely outdated "calendar" with "dates" and "numbers". I'm on crack. Rey and Chavo aren't. You'd think they were selling drugs, though, based on how much the crowd reacts perfectly to everything they're doing. Rey and Chavo are as squeaky clean as Mother Theresa, though; they sell the rana, not the reefer. Cole does his job and gives me a quick reminder of why these guys are fighting -- Chavo accuses Rey of not being pro…

Kurt Angle v Big Show v John Cena - WWE No Way Out 2004 My first thought before I watched this one was that there could be some cool spots in the match, since they could build the match around two small faces teaming up against one large heel, but that formula also has the potential to work against them by making Show sympathetic. Triple threat matches are a major double-edged sword. I wish I understood John Cena's appeal, as the crowd goes wild for his pre-match promo filled with corny insults that rhyme! I guess that makes it a poem, doesn't it? He just seems so childish. Did I just answer my own question? His work in this match is pretty spotty, for a variety of re…

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Rey Misterio Jr v Chavo Guerrero Jr - WWE Great American Bash 2004 What a match! I like the opening sequence a lot, with Rey busting out La Magistral early on and getting a nearfall pretty quickly. Chavo's ultra-low sunset flip is cool too, that may be the lowest one I've seen. Being really blown away by that move reminded me of the first time I saw one of Eddy Guerrero's low dropkicks. I can't imagine how hard that is to execute. The match starts out as a battle of wills, and that theme continues through the match. At first, each is fighting over control of his opponent's arm. There's a really great face/heel dynamic going on, with Chavo doing a better job of keeping…

If I had to pick one from the year, it's Juvi/Kidman from the 11/16/98 Nitro, which was a real **** match. I love how the crowd couldn't possibly care any less about the match early on, and they're on the edge of their seats by the end. Juvi regained the cruserweight title, carried the match and sold souvenirs in the stands, while Kidman hit his spots and sold his peril well enough. They had a lot of good matches in '98, but this was the best of them all, not counting the Starrcade three-way with Rey Misterio. Another standout is DDP/Sting from Nitro in March. I think they topped themselves on Nitro in April of '99, but Sting still had his best match in years here. T…

So has anyone besides me seen the 69 -71 Tiger Mask anime? I got the last 30 or so episodes from Lynch in raw Japenese and I must say I really enjoyed this show. This is a link to a Japenese/English site that I used to help me understand the shows. Great site! http://www4.airnet.ne.jp/pancra/tigre/ Yeah, and don't read what happens ahead of time if you ever do want to see what happens in the show. This is a quick analysis of the show in point form. The music is great. Animation isn't the best but they did a real good job with the "camera Work" or whatever you would call it in animation. A lot of the joy is seeing how they pull off stuff with …

This should be fun. Do you happen to have the Observer issued right after WCW did the Fingerpoke of Doom title change with Hogan and Nash? Goodhelmet and I were just talking about it, and we're very curious what he had to say about it at the time. Post whenever you can and if you can. Thanks!

I have a DVD comp I made of the Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid series. I placed the matches in order and thought it would be a good starting point for match discussions. Loss was talking about discussing matches everyone has seen and this series is infamous for the praise AND criticism it receives. The matches on the disc are as follows... 4-23-81 1-1-82 1-28-82 7-23-82 8-5-82 8-30-82 4-21-83 Is anyone interested? If I can get several orders, I'll start pumping out the discs and send them all off at the same time. I figure $7 a disc is fair. I wouldn't really make any profit since shipping for each individual would be about $4 plus purchase of …

Those of you who were around for SNKT know that we tried this as a regular feature for a while, but I wanted to bring it here and get it started again. Basically, I'll pick a random wrestler and we can discuss the highs and lows of their careers, the best, worst and most famous matches, how they'll be remembered -- that sort of thing. Sting seemed like a good starting point because he's someone everyone knows. He started out in late 1985 in Memphis, teaming with Jim Hellwig (Ultimate Warrior) in a team called The Freedom Fighters. Memphis was a breeding ground for a lot of new talent around that time, so I guess that was the natural place to start. The payoffs were n…

Matt Morgan is now a newcomer who's a stuttering idiot, despite being part of Heyman's stable on SD not even a year ago. Why do the *insist* on giving newcomers the stupidest gimmicks possible? It's like they get off on putting as many obstacles as possible in front of people. MNM seemed to avoid it happening to them only because they're more interested in Melina than the team.

I'll get the WWF out of the way quickly, since they did a grand total of TWO matches I really liked that year, and they rarely get discussed. Steve Austin v The Rock - Backlash 1999 It's not exactly WM X-7, but it's still a hell of a rollercoaster with some really great nearfalls and tremendous heat. Rock is still learning at this point and Austin wouldn't return to top form until late 2000, but it's still a very smartly worked match with some interesting twists, even if it is overbooked toward the end. Very nice final blowoff to Rock's heel run. Steve Austin v Val Venis - WWF Smackdown 10/99 My apologies for not having the exact date on this. This is really…

I have been pondering this for awhile. I have some extra cash and have been seriously considering getting a 6 month subscription. So, for those who have ordered it or are currently getting it, what should I do? I don't really respect Meltzer's star ratings. I know most of the news will get put up on the 411 or Inside Pulse websites. Is there really a reason to get this dirt sheet?

Does WWE not realize they are missing out on the biggest opportunity here by not turning all of this into an angle? Yeah, the potential for the situation to turn explosive is certainly there, but that's part of the appeal of it. The fans buy into this, and obviously, the casual fans know about it through word of mouth now, considering the MSG reaction, so they might as well make some money off of it. It would draw like gangbusters if they did it right.

I'm unable to find a good recap or transcript; I'm only finding tidbits here and there. Basically, Jericho said it was fucked up that Matt Hardy was at home rehabbing his knee and got fired for doing nothing wrong. He called it bad business on WWE's part. He was also asked about the focus staying on HHH, even when he's not champ, and Jericho said it's nothing new, because it happened to him, and Benoit, and Orton, and now it's happening to Batista. He said HHH is the guy they have all the time invested in, and personally, he would have liked to have seen things handled a little differently, but that overall, he's happy with his time in the company. He then said HHH is wha…

Bret Hart vs. Vader 1-6-97 Solid but unspectacular match. They brawl on the outside for awhile and exchange control inside the ring. The real gem is listening to HBK on guest commentary. His disdsain for Bret is blatant and Vince appears uncomfortable with this new direction of "real" TV. After awhile, the match becoame secondary to the commentary. In the end, vader wins aftyer interference from Stone Cold. Asutin stunners Bret on the outside. Vader rolls him in and hits the Vader splash. Great line esp. after loss pointed out that Vince would always call Vader "The Man they call Vader". Shawn: "Who's they? Are you talking about us?" Vince called him Vader …

I was watching SummerSlam 2000 the other day, which of course is arguably most famous for the three-way main event having a blown table spot involving Triple H and Kurt Angle (the one where HHH attempts a pedigree on the Spanish table on Angle, and the table collapses under itself). My question is: How much of Angle's injury and the stuff afterwards was a work? Obviously, the table collapsing wasn't planned, but was Angle legit hurt at all? And was the plan to take Angle out of the match anyway (for whatever bizarre reason) and have Stephanie coax Angle back into the match to further the angle? Just some random shit I'm curious about.

*Spoilers on upcoming draft ( I think this classifies as a spoiler)* from Keller: -The timing of the Draft Lottery being schedule for May makes sense since WWE wanted to get through Backlash before making roster changes, especially with Shawn Michaels & Hulk Hogan teaming together. -The top rumored switches within WWE are Shawn Michaels to Smackdown and Kurt Angle to Raw. Politically, it would be a fascinating double-switch since Angle and Triple H are not close and there has been undercurrent of rivalry between them over the past couple of years. Meanwhile, Michaels has major political clout due to …

Well, I turn on RAW to give it a second shot as Bischoff announces the Last Man Standing match. Now, if you aren't watching, this is great... the crowd shits on Lita. Trish tries to deflect the heat towards her but Lita gets hers. Might as well make her a heel right now... or is she a heel? If she is a face, she is the worst face since HonkyTonk Man debuted. Well, they make an ugly segment uglier with Viscera coming out. So, Piper gets signed. Viscera is back. Matt Hardy and Rhyno get released? Gotta love this company.

Does anybody listen to the LAW on Sundays anymore? I used to listen when they would have the archive up the next day. I've heard the show has declined since Marek left. Marek was a little arrogant for my tastes but he knew how to host a radio show properly. Is it still any good? Oh, and did anyone see this quote from the LAW update today: *It's only on special occasions that I like to bring out the "LAW Moment of Zen", but this quote warrants that title: I had so many matches with Hogan, main events, sold out shows. Twenty-plus thousand people night after night after night. And worked with everybody else too ? Dibiase, Martel, the top heels, when I was b…

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From the Observer I have never heard of them. Can anyone shed some more light on these guys?

I cannot see any good coming from this. Sometimes, it is good to let go and go away. i wish these old fuckers would realize this.

"Road Warriors - Life & Death Of The Most Dominate Team" is scheduled to be released on June 14, 2005. It will be two disks. Also, WWE will be releasing a DVD that same day looking back at 80's wrestling stars. It is called "WWE: Greatest Wrestling Stars Of The 80's" and it will be three disks. The Wrestlemania XXI DVD will be released on May 10, 2005. It will be 3 disks. I'm bringing this up because the Hall of Fame ceremony will be included on that DVD, rather than WWE releasing a DVD just about the Hall of Fame like last year. The DVD on the 80's stars should help fill the void though. And lastly for English wrestling fans, Silvervision.co.uk has some new T…

I personally was hoping to vote for an Alaskan transsexual every week, so there goes me caring about the Diva Search.