Pro Wrestling

From today's WON: So WWE used Nattie Neidhart as a fake Beth Phoenix. I know of a case in Memphis where they used a fake Jimmy Hart at ringside in a LLT match when he had already bolted to the WWF. Are there any other cases of stand-ins used where they tried to pass it off as the real thing?

I wanted to a WWE questionnaire similar to the one done on WCW, with questions that apply more to WWE. I'd consider the time frame for this from the beginning of the Hogan era to present. (1) What do you ultimately think Vince McMahon will most be remembered for as a promoter? (2) What do you think is the most important positive change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? (3) What do you think is the most important negative change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? (4) What is something that you have always felt WWE does well that they don't get enough credit for? (5) What is something that you have …

For a guy who's whole character was the no-BS asskicker, it sure is odd hearing Steve be so diplomatic. I lol'd at him recapping how he won the King of the Ring because "Vince had to bring the hammer down on some people who had behavior problems" without naming names. He makes it pretty clear that while he respects what HBK can do in the ring, he's not crazy about him as a person and didn't really care to team with him during their "wacky partners" angle. I was also surprised to hear how much he credits ECW and Paul Heyman for basically creating the foundation for the Stone Cold character by letting him do those shoot-style promos. Also nice was that Austin was the onl…

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/mar/30...ture_35384/?wap That is the link to an article Michaels wrote under Mike Mooneyham's byline for my local paper (Charleston, SC). Mooneyham is one of Flair's best friends and in fact Flair flew Mike to the HoF ceremony and Mania on his own dime. Here is the closing paragraph of the article. "For me it is almost like a really old couple who have spent all their lives together. And when one of them passes, the other one sort of loses their will to live. And they go shortly afterwards. I have to be honest. For the first time, I am seriously considering that if Ric is gone, I shortly want to follow. It's the end of an era,…

Well, it's March, my current wrestling watching is probably the lowest it's been since I got the internet, and to top it all off, my Segunda Caida overlord Phil hasn't started up his annual MOTYC list yet. So, I turn to you, the gentle reader (tm Dean Rasmussen), and start up this topic to discuss the best matches of 2008. Go on, you know you want to. I'll go ahead and mention the blowaway greatness of the last two Batista/MVP matches to get the ball rolling. I'm probably the only guy who liked the first one better, as the finish to the second kinda bugged me, whereas the finish to the first struck me as perfect considering their characters and position on the card. …

Is it just me, or has Dave turned up the heat in the WON in the last couple months as far as "read between the lines" comments about the McMahons having a loveless sham marriage? He has talked about it various times over the last few years (especially their "arrangement' that allows Vince to bang the Divas), but it's gotten a lot more frequent recently. Between noting the panic over the story of Vince buying a condo himself getting out, his comments on the Valentine's Day story that WWE floated, and now his comment about their kiss at the Walk of Fame ceremony being "for public consumption." I get the impression that he's trying to say that the marriage is as finished …

I didn't want to start Benoit Topic #708091, but I can't stop re-reading the section in the WON I got today detailing Benoit's cell records. Key points mentioned: - Chris was unknowingly blowing Daniel off, not aware that his son had learned to call people using speed dial on cell phones (he was highlighting his father's name and hitting the button). That along with Nancy's texts (which were basically "wtf is wrong with you") is just heartbreaking. - Apparently after that tag match with CM Punk vs Monty Brown and Elijah Burke where everyone had a brainfart and the ref had to call a shoot DQ, Benoit blew up on everyone backstage. Punk texted an apology to hi…

We haven't done this in a while, so I thought it could be fun. Michael Hayes Dean Malenko Masa Fuchi Tommy Rich Magnum TA Jerry Estrada Marty Jannetty Kuniaki Kobayashi

It's scary how Rock can come back and still be like a million billion years above everyone in the company charisma wise. The lines about Jericho's hair and HHH's need for the title getting Steph pregnant had me pissing myself. Also, I really really really want to see a Rock-Santino program.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-...,7829838.column In 2008, is there really any reason for this? It's beyond petty at this point. Pro wrestling exists, is a work, and is more popular than amateur wrestling. Get over it and embrace UFC, at least that's constuctive.

With Ric Flair appearing to finally be retiring this year, I thought this would be a good chance to do a Ric Flair thread, focusing on the ups and downs of his career, favorite matches, best moments, where you think he ranks among the all-time greats, etc. Even though he's not the same Ric Flair he was once was, him not being around at all will be kind of strange, and unless someone here was a big fan in the 60s, I don't know that any of us really know wrestling without the guy. He's definitely the only wrestler on television today that was around in the early days of cable that is still a fixture (unless you count Vince McMahon).

John Lister dug this up: Hoffman wasn't a big star in the UK so...huh?

So a few weeks ago, Dave Meltzer mentioned in the WON that Ashley "was in bad shape at catering" and would be gone for awhile. The obvious implicaton was that she was "in no condition to perform"-level high on something and sent to rehab. Tonight on Raw, she was back. What does this mean? For all of the Wellness Program's faults, WWE has been pretty pro-active about sending addicts to rehab since Brian Pillman died. This seems to be done exclusively due to people showing up at work high, as nobody (not even Kurt Angle or anyone sent to rehab) has failed a test for painkillers since the new policy was implemented for whatever that's worth. It seems like the case …

Dave mentions in the new WON that since next year's WM is in Texas, it's the likely year for Austin and the Von Erichs to go into the HOF. Who else would you add considering their love for putting people in the HOF based on where the show is being held? I'm thinking maybe the Freebirds can go in too, as well as perhaps Tully Blanchard. He has the Texas cred and also WWE 24/7 running the NWA shows reminding people how awesome he is. After that, who's left? Mick Foley's the only big name left who's retired and not in. Unless hell freezes over and they mend fences with Bruno, there's really no big names left until guys like Taker, HBK, etc hang it up.

Ok, so I'm new to this board, so I hope this topic is in the right place. Just got through a whole bunch of Mid South/UWF and it rekindled the thought/idea to me that the Freebirds, for all their respective talents, really didn't reach their total potential exposure wise. Sure hundreds of thousands of fans got to see them in Mid South and Texas and on ESPN in the AWA and for a week in WWF.... but christ, they were such a badass unit. Anyone else remember their brief feud with the Horseman that led to the one-off six man match in Atlanta that had HORSEMAN vs. FREEBIRDS! Christ that had to have been great. I think Kriz Z might have been at that match live, which m…

- Todd Martin Oh Todd. I'm seriously shocked that anyone at this point thinks that the Wrestlemania buyrate has anything to do with how the matches are built. Maybe other WWE pay-per-views still do, but I'm even doubting that. WWE has never been about the storyline, they've been about the stars. People buy shows that have the stars on them and don't buy shows without the stars. Wrestlemania gets a strong buyrate because the stars are facing the stars. Whatever type of build they do for those matches doesn't really matter. Does anyone really think if the main event was HHH vs Orton, or HHH vs Cena, or Orton vs Cena, that it would make a noticeable difference in the buy…

So the first ROH PPV was available on my PPV system today and I watched a full ROH show for the first time in a while (I've seen matches, but I don't thin I've seen a whole show since Punk left). The card, for those who haven't seen it yet: The first thing you're presented with is an "ROH" chant from the crowd. Chanting the promotion's name really irks me for some reason. It would happen during matches too. When someone nearly dies on an awesome highspot or hits a cool move it seems almost disrespectful to the wrestler to chant the promotion name. It's like if the old Techwood Studio crowd would have started an "NWA" chant during a Horseman beatdown. The pr…

http://www.wrestlezone.com/article.php?articleid=208073008 Well, this will certainly be interesting. I hope the actual suit makes it online.

So I read a little while back in Sex, Lies & Headlocks that Andy Warhol at one time wanted to paint Hulk Hogan, and that wrestling for a very brief spell was popular among the art crowd in Soho. Does anyone have any other information about this, or is that pretty much all there is to it? Seeing WWE Divas having their outfits designed by high-fashion hopefuls on Project Runway, and also reading that Madonna is wearing a wrestling championship belt on her latest CD cover, made me curious about any other tie-ins to two worlds that seem to have nothing else in common.

I NEVER saw that coming!! By Oliver Newman AWW REPORT POSTED! (at the link below) http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...logID=367945252 This is the best version of it as it contains pictures. I hope you enjoy it and as always feedback is greatly appreciated. Oliver

Wow. Talk about a guy being his own worst enemy.

Before going on I'd just like to state for lack of better knowledge as to where place this thread, I'm doing so here. I guess I'll let Loss rule this thread's placement upon the different boards. Ok, cut to the deal, no bullshit around. Remember EWR? That freeware wrestling simulator? Well, it's creator Adam Ryland went next-gen with a payware(or how ever you'd label it) simulator called TEW. Current version is 2007, 2008 is in development. TEW default world is a fantasy wrestling world called the Cornellverse. TEW 2007's demo could be found here: http://www.greydogsoftware.com/downloads.php?id=66 Now, why should I bring up such a subject(which ultimately would le…

To make a long story short - I have had a lot of professional and personal stuff going on in my life (only positive things, though), I have been super busy and the pro wres has been the least of my worries. In fact, it feels like my era of being a SUPERFAN is pretty much finished. The only wrestling I have watched in the last 12 months is Royal Rumble and some of the Guerreros del Ring and AAA that cubfans has sent me (the man is a saint) and some rapidshare downloads I get from Rob Bihari from time to time... but now I feel like I would like to watch some more good lucha. So, what have I missed in the last 12-18 months? I went to DVDVR today and read Todo X To…

So, I was watching El Dandy vs. Black Warrior, 10/96 the other day, and it seemed to me that this was closer to modern lucha than the late 80s/early 90s stuff... Less "lucha" and more like a juniors match. The impression I've gotten from modern lucha is that it's been shortened while at the same time upping the workrate. Can anybody pinpoint when this change began to happen? And of the newer guys who've been notable over the past decade -- Mr Niebla, Shocker, Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Perro Aguayo Jr., Mistico, El Averno & whoever I'm missing -- who would you say has been the best & why?

I wanted to mention this blurb in yesterday's WO.com update: A number of dudes - myself included - have had to shoot down the delusions of fans who talk about how thus-and-such wrestling show could never be in jeopardy because they get high ratings, ignoring that it is not the ratings but the ad rates that actually make TV shows money, and ad men tend to avoid wrestling like the plague. But....The Simpsons? Desperate Housewives? Law & Order: SVU? I don't know if it's indicative of anything, or even how valid the survey is...but it's something that struck me as interesting, and something that may be worth keeping in mind in the future.