Pro Wrestling

OK, I have read SOO many different wrestlers over the years that were assholes / hard to work with / wont put people over / etc.. but I havent heard any about Lawler outside him punching Paul Heyman and breaking his jaw on Paul's way out of Memphis (allegedly).. Is / Was Lawler just a good dude doing what is best for business all the time or was he hard to deal with and not willing to do things for others?

Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Santo and Cassandro announced so far. 9th, 10th & 11th of July - York Hall, Bethnal Green, London Tickets on sale from Friday 20th February: www.luchalibreworld.co.uk

Post thoughts if you're up. I will until I've got to leave.

This has been on my mind for a good while, ever since I found this place in early 2013. I PMed Grimmas the following a week ago - 'Another really good discussion you had was on the Christmas party. I liked Will's defense of watching the current product - just cos it's not the best ever doesn't mean it's not worthwhile, and as long as you can cherrypick good matches and angles it's worth keeping an eye on it. I never watch Raw live - generally get through it in less than an hour on Tuesdays. It's an interesting topic - the benefits/disadvantages of watching live/classic footage. There's the convenience of stockpiling stuff with classics to watch at your leisure, but …

Can someone help me end a debate with a friend around what was highest in revenue (merch/buy rate/gate etc). Many thanks

This week we'll be recording Part 2 of our History of the Monday Night War series, where we go through the timeline of shows and break down the key stories with backstage notes from Observer newsletters of the time. In this podcast, we'll be covering the first six months of 1996, and I want to get some feedback of people's memories, particularly if you were watching at the time, of your experiences watching. - What were your viewing habits and feelings on both shows at the time? - What do you feel was the high point of this period? - What do you feel was the low point of this period? As always, we'll be reading the best feedback on the air and crediting you accordingly…

Per the Observer update --For those who don't know it, there is a free trial of the New Japan World network. At https://njpwworld.com/signup on the top left corner Captain New Japan has a link that says "free trial click here." At the bottom of the page you can translate the pages into English

The main branch of the subject usually is Steve Austin, but in a way WCW losing Vader and Dustin Rhodes hurt the company in their own ways too. Especially Rhodes, who could legitimately have had a shot at being a top guy if he stuck around. It's especially painful to consider this with how ultimately unremarkable the Goldust character was from a wrestling standpoint when the character was fresh. He worked with top talent, but it wasn't terribly consistent and thus was given less opportunities to shine in the ring.

Reading over a couple of old issues of Power Slam magazine today. In the article, discussing wrestlers earnings, they cited the fact that Kevin Nash was making $5000 per appearance in his TNA run! That's a pretty cool gig right, for doing sweet fuck all save for a few comedy skits as "Doctor Nash" and the occasional match. So purpose of this thread? Let's discuss wrestlers earnings, oddities, over the top fees, and whatever else comes to mind. Some of the most surprising figures I've seen over the years were that Diamond Dallas Page had a three year contract in WCW from 1999-2001 which paid him $1.5 million per annum. Surely, the largest downside in that company's…

I am a newbie to puroresu. I have just started following 90s AJPW consistently. While I have been blown away by what I have seen, as someone who is a mark for the business side of things, I am very interested to know, since the inception of the two companies, which of the two companies was bigger and was drawing more money. I would like to know throughout their period of existence, which company was on top; when they got replaced; what were the periods of dominance of both companies; when and how they exchanged the numero uno spot in Japan. Bear in mind that I do not know if other companies ever beat these two and were at the top, although I have heard that UWF …

Yes, this is totally a cheap plug, but considering there's a lot of people out here who like to scan various indies across the country, a new one started up a couple months back near where myself and EricR lived and we got a chance to do commentary on it. We actually had a three camera presentation and everything! This is a link to the first match, and the playlist shows the entire event. Standouts include the tag match featuring Jeff Cobb and JR Kratos along with the main featuring Marcus Lewis and Virgil Flynn, but the whole show is a lot of fun. Looking to do another show in the coming weeks. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWkQxn5FWwdrSFMm0…

Was Dusty the only wrestler in 1985-93 whose past accomplishments were acknowledged by WWF? And how was this done? They were mentioned on the last Titans podcast - I've never seem them. Something about Dusty being recognised by fans and winking to the camera???

I watched episode 3 of the AXS New Japan show on Saturday and came away with a bunch of somewhat connected, someone random thoughts on the match (Okada vs. Tanahashi from 4/7/13), production, announcing, and great 1 hour wrestling TV shows. · This was easily the best Tanahashi/Okada match from just an in-ring standpoint. They were both super over and had Sumo Hall in the palm of their hand, something that I’ve thought almost all modern day Japanese wrestling has been lacking. The match was well laid out, with super solid early to mid-90’s New Japan heavyweight structure – nothing glamorous or flashy, just rock solid. There is an interesting review (not wri…

I thought I'd start a thread. If anyone is watching it live you should share your thoughts. If I'm up I'll post my thoughts throughout.

The past couple of days have shown us that the worst booked match of all time is Royal Rumble 2015. But what are some other examples of atrocious booking for a match? Bret vs Yoko at Wrestlemania 9 springs to mind.

Have at it. What was the Match of the Year for 2014? My pick: Ultimo Guerrero vs. Atlantis from the CMLL anniversary show.

I see this mentioned a lot on PWO related Twitter accounts and I'd like to hear the case for it.

I was just watching a old WWF show and was wondering what themes did WWE change when WWE 24/7 was around for the WWE shows? Obviously they changed Eye of the Tiger to Real American and the SNME intro from the Obsession one to their own version that got used in later ones. I noticed Hillbilly Jim's catchy Dont go Messin was changed to a custom one im guessing cos Jimmy Hart wrote it and JYD's Queen song was changed to Grab them Cakes but are their any other themes they changed for old school shows? Naturally anything Taker wise ie Kid Rock/Limp Bizkit would be changed to Dead Man Walking.

This is my rough draft ballot for the Class A Awards. I've got thoughts I'll add later and will answer any questions about anything here. I encourage others to post theirs. This year feels really wide open and there are several categories where I'm still unsure what I will do. There are probably fifteen-twenty matches I could see in my top three this year to take the most extreme example, and that "top three" is something I sort of threw together on a whim to fill slots I don't know what to do with. Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year) 1. Shinsuke Nakamura 2. Rush 3. Cavernario On the bubble: AJ Styles, Tomohiro Ishii, Rusev Most Outstandin…

So, Cesaro took the most underrated gong in the WON awards this year. This got me thinking, as to the most underrated wrestler of all time, specifically somebody who was brilliant in ring, had the look, the mic skills, the total package, etc, but for whatever bizarre reason, never broke the glass ceiling. I'm really struggling to think of anybody who fits this criteria to a tee. Thoughts?

In honor of me seeing a WWF PPV live for the first time, which show would you consider the best? I would love to hear your reasoning and not just a show listed. To help refresh your memory, I have listed the matches for each year since 1988... 1988 Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude The Jumping Bomb Angels vs. The Glamour Girls Jim Duggan won the Royal Rumble The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions 1989 Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation vs. Dino Bravo & The Rougeau Bros WWF Women's champ Rockin' Robin vs. Judy Martin Haku vs. Harley Race John Studd won the Royal Rumble 1990 Paul Roma vs. The Brooklyn Brawler The Bushwhack…

Looking for a list of 45 min or longer AJPW / NJPW matches from 70's - 2000's to make a list as I am getting some free time coming up and want to watch some longer matches (one or two a night) from these era's... Anything rated 4 Stars or higher and 45 min or longer!!! Thanks ahead of time!!

Have you guys seen his new project? Thoughts?

Reading WON's update I saw a story about a new DVD on Montreal Wrestling: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Reviews/2014/05/26/21696036.html Nothing that will shock hardened tape traders like most of the people here, except maybe the young Jean Ferre match (it used to be on youtube even though it seems to have vanished) but I was wondering... who owns this footage? Interesting that this is coming out a few months after WWE showed interest in acquiring Canadian libraries so it looks like a last cash-in before handing over whatever masters are left to WWE. I'd assume they'd love to have young Andre tapes and the rest of the 80s stuff has got a lot of familiar names. …

Watching the Podcast with Vince and Austin, and the talk about the decision to end The Undertaker's streak got me thinking: Could Brock going over, be considered one of the biggest upsets in professional wrestling history? I mean think about it, nobody ever expected Taker to lose to anybody. Popular consensus, especially following Michaels' retirement match, seemed to be that Taker would retire undefeated at Wrestlemania. A feat that would never be duplicated, and thereby cemented in the history of the WWE as a talking point (and DVD seller) for years to come. Would the streak ending be considered any less of an upset if it was anybody other than Brock Lesnar (or someone…