Pro Wrestling

The WWE is banking its future on the WWE Network and this week we saw the launch of NJPW World. It looks that with DVD sales going down, PPV dying and iPPV being a somewhat failed experiment, this will be the way that promotions will compete for our wrestling dollars... Who do you think is going to be the next promotion to launch their own "Network" service? The candidates... ROH: This would be my #1 choice. Well established promotion that always seems to be trying to expand even through it's always going to be at the level that it's at. Loyal fanbase and a fairly extensive library with many names. I could see them trying to launch some sort of service where f…

Stop watching the product ? I ask this because wwe actually did upset me so bad back in 2005-2006 . I found myself disgusted at how they continuously kept using eddie guerrero in storylines and i ended up not watching wwe again till mania 23 in 2007 (Yeah i missed the dx 2006 run) So i was wondering if any of you had a line that if your favorite company crossed it you wouldn't watch that companies product no more.

How often during Bruno's era was he seen on TV? Hes a guy I always enjoyed seeing his matches when they did that Coliseum Video years ago and kinda wondered how much of his run did WWE record. Ive seen a couple of MSG shows he was in and wondered was he restricted to defending the belt on TV at MSG or was it a more wider area. A friend said he has seen a televised cage match against George Steele, he couldnt remember what show it happened on but said it wasent MSG.

I've been thinking about this lately. Lawler seemed fine for the 90s and into the 2000s, but I think he was shown up as tired and unoriginal when Heyman replaced him in '01. I certainly wasn't too keen on him returning, and I think he's been criticised more and more ever since then from all directions. I thought Cole and Taz were fine over on Smackdown and I had no problem with their work. Similarly, JBL was a fine successor - fresh, interesting and capable in 06 and 07. Also, Foley's brief run - Backlash 08 til just before SummerSlam - was showing promise. He knew his stuff and seemed to be improving every week. I jumped into 2010 ppvs this week and was st…

Not trying to defend Trips, but could it be that most of our guests are around the same age as me -- 32 -- and that if you follow the life trajectory of any fan, the period you stop watching kind of coincides with other big life things like getting married or starting a career or something else? If you assume that of these people most would have been about 8 or 9 around 1990, and 16-18 around the time of the attitude era. The "dark period" falls when most are in their early 20s and sorting a lot of that real-life shit out. Once you're a bit older and more settled in your late 20s and into your 30s, time can start opening up again to watch wrestling. It's ju…

Watching the lucha set, I just watched a Hair vs. Hair match between Arandu & Guerrero Negro from Monterrey that had one of the most insane crowds I've ever seen. It seems like the crowd is ready to break out in a riot after Guerrero Negro loses and afterwards Arandu has to fight his way from ringside to the back. Before that, Arandu's valet has to leave ringside due to a near riot breaking out DURING the match! Seems like hair matches just have a way of bringing out the riots, like when Jerry Lawler lost his Hair vs. Hair Cage Match with Austin Idol due to Tommy Rich's interference and Austin & Tommy couldn't leave the ring due to the crowd being so pissed. S…

How far would Daniel Bryan have gotten ? would he have won the title at wrestlemania 30. the reason i pose this query is because till quite recently i believed he played a bigger part in his own rise to the title than others seemed to . but the effect of Brie Bella in months past getting over with it has made me revise how big a role the yes chanr played in his road to the title. WWE didnt want to push this man. WWE only pushed this man as strong as they did i now believe because the chant caught on in a massive way (way bigger than that fandango nonsense did) (i put this in microscope as it offers an insight into daniel bryans popularity vs the yes chant po…

Here's mine: - An old-school jock character who HATES nerds, internet nerds, the internet, social media, twitter, video games and so on and so forth. He could come out and cut promos lambasting the state of the audience. He could make fun of their comments on twitter. He could make a mockery of the idea of a "selfie". I believe this would get over. He'd be attacking the audience where it hurts. This is my idea, what are some of yours?

What is the best way on doing a rewatch project for say during the Golden Era? In the past couple of years I started on the year 1995 and started with Raw and then watched each subsquent PPV until I got to Sept 95 and started adding Nitro and the WCW PPVs. I continued this throughout until I got to late 99 by which time I was watching Raw, Heat, Smackdown, WWF PPVS, Nitro, Thunder & WCW PPVs. However I feel before I go too far into that era I really should go back to the golden era first as some people who live with me havent seen any of that stuff. Well it was handy getting them to know the characters for when the game WWE 13 came out. Now I want to start…

Remember this thread? It's been a bit more than a quarter since then but it's still a fun idea that I don't want to see die. The categories are: Current Favorite Wrestler to Watch (in the last poll, the board seemed most excited about Dean Ambrose) Last Fun Match You Saw Wrestler You Want to See More of Last Live Show Attended Match You Are Looking Forward to Watching Soon the Most Last Fun Interview/Promo You Saw Last Interesting Thing You Read about Wrestling Last Worthwhile Wrestling Podcast You Heard Most Fun You've Had Watching Wrestling Lately Here are mine: Current Favorite Wrestler to Watch Emilio Charles Jr. Always fun, incredibly charismatic…

Hey, I'm new to this forum.. I was just wondering what everyone's opinions on what they think the best shoot style promotion was. RINGS? BattlARTS? UWF and all of its other incarnations? PWFG? I'm really interested in getting in-to the style and was wondering what the best promtion is to start off watching. I know of Goodhelmet's PWFG & 80s Other Japan set & Lynch's massive BattlARTS set. Thanks. Andy.

I thought this would be a nice bit of fun as I have just finished reading an essay (in short) about how we tend to look at the time period when you first fell in love with rose tinted glasses. The essay was geared to a connection with music, but seeing as that is secondary to me... ;-) My first girlfriend was in 1999 and I have great memories of that time period. In relation to wrestling, I'm sure this probably did help me enjoy what is in hindsight some dubious wrestling. I was so happy in life, I have very specific memories of coming home from dates to watch my recorded Raw's and monotone Rock speeches!

There was a thread a couple years ago on this topic that I remember reading and I think now is a good time to reexamine it. With the weak Network performance, creative stagnation, widespread discontent and the Punk podcast controversy WWE at this moment at least, and for some since all the injuries plagued them this year, really feel like a weary giant ripe to be tipped over. BUT, how possible is it? Could another wrestling promotion compete with WWE? How could it be possible? What would they need? Who could do it, what would be the minimum necessary requirements? What's the most possible scenario? Someone with some clout getting some serious investers behin…

Rodger Kent was a bit before my time, but a lot of older guys who watched the AWA remember him well. http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/tv/284459501.html

Reading this story about Kamala got me thinking: Who seems like the nicest person in wrestling, past or present? Obviously, as the recent Bill Cosby stories and all the crap going on in the NFL demonstrate, we don't truly know any celebrity or athlete, but we can at least take our best guess. Kamala has always seemed like a super nice dude. Since a lot of talk about wrestlers away from the ring seems to center on the scumbags, I'm wondering if anyone gets a "nice guy" vibe from other wrestlers that I get from the Ugandan Giant.

yeeeeepppppp this could probably be its own thread, but... i know you wonder why modern heels don't get booed, and i actually think this has a lot to do with it. what i mean here is twofold: 1. lack of attention to diversity means the promotions aren't tapping into issues their audience genuinely cares about. imagine if you had a woman asking the fans for money to make a documentary on sexism in wrestling - you don't think that would get NUCLEAR heat if done decently? there's also the issue of not having good enough writers to pull off this sort of thing, as i doubt things have changed much there since muhammad hassan. but let's face it, you need something…

So, I've been doing ring announcing here and there for local shows in my area for a couple years now, and recently got asked to do Play by Play commentary for a fed in the Pittsburgh area that is starting to gain a little bit of steam. My only previous commentary experience was for another local fed that never saw the light of day, and I worked heel color, so PBP was something totally new to me. I am going to post a link to one of our YouTube shows in hopes of getting some feedback from you guys, because in my time here I have learned tons from this board and really grown to respect the opinions of a lot of the people who post here. I know I have plenty of room for impr…

WWE Survivor Series is tonight & free on WWE Network. There's quite a few rumors circling today, which I'm not sure how much of it will come to fruition & how much is just flying around to build up some anticipation for the event. On paper, to me, this does not look like a great show. Maybe a few surprises would change that. ******************************************************************************* John Cena has put together a team of Superstars to take on The Authority's chosen ones in the ultimate in team combat — a Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match! Two of WWE's most deranged Superstars will clash one-on-one when Dea…

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Okay, now what?

What does more fun than good mean?

Here's the ballot, comments to come in a reply... --- It's time for the 2014 Hall of Fame elections. This ballot is being sent out to major wrestling stars, past and present, major management figures in the industry, writers and historians. If you are getting this, you are being asked your opinion on who should be inducted into this year's Hall of Fame class. The criteria for the Hall of Fame is a combination of drawing power, being a great in-ring performer or excelling in ones field in pro wrestling, as well as having historical significance in a positive manner. A candidate should either have something to offer in all three categories, or be s…

So for our podcast this week, we're going to talk about some of the most disappointing wrestlers in history - guys that for whatever reason just fell short of expectations. It can be somebody you really thought was going to make it and as it panned out just didn't have the goods, or it can even be a guy you had heard a lot about that didn't live up to the hype for you personally. But I'm curious to hear people's takes on this - the more detail you wish to go into on the expectations and how they fell off the beaten path the better, and as always, we'll read as many of your picks on the show as we can. So who is it for you, that you see as the most disappointing?

I have read here, and at other places, that Triple H ruined Goldberg's WWE career by not jobbing to him at Summerslam. While I do understand where the argument is coming from, I do not feel convinced at all. Summerslam had Goldberg beat the crap out of Triple H, and everyone else, before the sledgehammer shennanigans came in. That is a classic way to build heat and keep both the heel and the face hot. Following that, Goldberg beat Triple H clean on two consecutive PPVs. One of them was when he had a kayfabe broken ankle; that did not stop him from destroying Hunter and the entire stable of Evolution. On one leg. He was booked like an absolute monster; and never has T…