Pro Wrestling

Looks like they did about 400,000 buys. I'm curious how this will be spun, but I see this as a big positive for WWE because it shows there are still quite a few potential customers that haven't jumped on board yet. Also, between the network and traditional PPV, they set a domestic record -- first time they've exceeded 1 million viewers. I don't know what kind of data WWE gets from the cable companies other than the raw numbers, but if there's a way for them to get names, offering a free month of the network to anyone who bought the PPV traditionally and is willing to answer questions might be a worthwhile venture.

I imagine some of you around here are married and have small kid(s), as do I. So when do you find time to watch so much wrestling? Like getting teh DVDVR sets together, the full reviews of multiple shows in a week, etc?? Just curious as I am definatley doing something wrong as I have like 0 time during the week to watch and only a few hours on Fri and Sat night to fit some in...leaving me with this board to enjoy the sport at least until my son gets a little older.... Just curious as my son will not leave me alone for 2-3 hours to watch a show at ANY point when he is awake!!! Am I alone in this?

In Triple H's Grantland interview last summer he was asked about the idea of a buffer match and he defended it saying that it's important to bring the crowd down after a big match before bringing them up again. I've noticed that most of the best regarded events have had several great matches in a row, without any sort of buffer. I've also noticed that there have been a lot of shows in which Triple H was in a hot match second from the top, and there wasn't a buffer match before the main event. Examples I can think of off the top of my head are Fully Loaded 2000 and Wrestlemania 17, but there have been others. I think that there are times when taking a crowd down after …

With Taker losing to Brock in what I think is a "holy shit, I never saw that comnig" moment, it made me think, what is your most surprising finish to a WM Match that really shocked you in a "I can believe he won" kind of way? Most matches anymore you can pretty much tell who is gonna win from things that happen before the big matches, but there are exceptions. WM though, recently, hasnt had many of those exceptions. So what is yours? Mine: Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle - Wrestlemania 20 - Eddie's win at No Way Out over Brock was truly shocking to me, but by the time Mania came around, the reports that Brock was leaving were out and made me think Eddie was a qui…

I have always preferred Animal to Hawk and I've noticed that this is probably the team with the most variation on who people prefer. There are some obvious choices like Bret to the Anvil, Bobby to Stan or Dennis so I'm more interested in the teams that are seemingly closer to equal. I prefer Sags to Knobs, Afa to Sika, Rick Steiner to Scott Steiner. There are some where it varies, sometimes I prefer Enos to Bloom, other times it's Bloom who I think is better. I think Samu was initially the better worker between he and Fatu but Fatu passed him near the end of their run together. I'll take Tully slightly over Arn but could see a case for the Enforcer. I always had a s…

When did this invasion start? What was the first "shot fired' and what show was it on?

Ok, so last night I didn't get much sleep because I kept dreaming I was sleeping through the show. In my dream, I woke up and it was already time for the main events but of course I kept falling asleep before a match started so I couldn't recap my thoughts and I never heard the Yes chants to end the show. Nightmare. Anyway, I am amped for the show. The network hype has worked. The shall of Fame felt special. The buildup has been unbelievable. Bryan's journey has me feeling all tender inside. With that said, I am not feeling good about the card from a match quality standpoint. Pre-Match: The Usos vs. Real Americans vs. Los Matadores vs. Ryback & Axel (My wish is t…

I've always heard of a 'TV style' of wrestling, but what is it? I can only think of two different things that actually matter for TV that really don't matter as much when in a house show setting. The first being facial expressions and the second being the location of the finish, as its usually done facing the hard camera. Are there any other noted elements that wrestlers have to consider when working TV versus working a house show?

Listening to the WM preview show and Dylan brought up how they can't keep doing the whole underdog schtick forever with Bryan. So the question becomes about how to book him as champ. Some hot faces historically have lost their fizzle when the chase is over. Dusty, for example, never really had a run with the title. Sting only ever excelled as the plucky underdog challenger, and despite crowds that were very hot for him failed spectacularly when he was given the strap and made the company ace. Ultimate Warrior likewise, fizzled. Dylan mentioned how they can't really book him like he's Bruno Sammartino, because of his size. But I wonder ... why can't they book him…

Hey just wondered if anyone has the death valley driver forums purotopia results from 2000-2013 at all. If anyone has the top 20 or at least top 10 for each year it'd be much appreciated

I didn't go to New Orleans, but there were a few indie shows that appealed to me this weekend. The most interesting to me is the "Indy Supershow" tonight at WrestleCon (Masato Tanaka vs. Kevin Steen, Jeff Jarrett vs. Colt Cabana, & more), but that's not on IPPV, presumably because of the ROH and TNA talent on the show. So that leaves me with Shimmer coming up in a few hours and the first Dragon Gate USA show last night. I had no interest in the DGUSA show until earlier this week. The Japanese Dragon Gate talent was cancelled because of visa issues, so Gabe had to try to put together a new card. The way it fell into place, the top three matches were the returni…

I was watching a shoot with Big Daddy V and he mentioned that Luger walking out in 1995 was basically the start of the No Compete-Clause as a standard procedure. I got to thinking, with no competition today, is the clause still needed? What purpose does it serve in today's business model?

Since it's that time of the year again, what are your top 20 wrestlemania matches ? There is no wrong answer here. Just having some fun.

I posted this at DVDVR so I thought I would bring it here as well. Once we know the final card, we'll close this out and do an actual predictions folder. In the meantime, lets predict the card and the winners. I am not fantasy booking here. This is how I really think things will turn out, not how I want them to turn out. Pre-Show Match - Sheamus, Kofi Kingston & Dolph Ziggler vs. Christian, Alberto Del Rio & Bad News Barrett Big E vs. Cesaro (I think Cesaro beats Ambrose due to some screwy Shield mishap on a SD! to get the US TItle) - Big E unifies belts when Swagger cost Cesaro the match Rusev vs. Mark Henry (or Big Show depending on who is hurt) R…

So, a few people on here are involved in the business to varying degrees, so what do you do? Where do you do it? Do you reckon you're any good at it? How did you break in? What do you love about it? And what do you not love about it?

Has anyone noticed that the major US promotions have completely gotten away from having feuds with any degree of intensity and emotion if those feuds aren't positioned as one of the top two matches on a PPV card? If you look at the history of wrestling in the US, an intense bloodfeud could occur in both the midcard and in the main event. I can think of plenty of examples of this but one that comes to mind is the Dustin Rhodes vs. Studd Stable feud in WCW. Those were hot, intense matches but were never positioned as anything more than the 4th most hyped match on a given PPV event (until it main evented Fall Brawl). WCW (pre-Hogan) was much better at doing this than the…

If this happens, considering WWE's new recruiting tactics, how would this impact the pay scale in developmental? Can someone who has followed this story closer than me put it in perspective? The whole reason for opening the performance center was an attempt to lure athletes of a higher calibre. They don't pay them much in developmental, so I wonder if this would have an impact. Also, would a NCAA player's union put additional pressure on WWE to unionize? I am just trying to wrap my head around this story and any potential impact on WWE, if there would be any at all. I see talk that the unionizing issue may eventually make its way to the Supreme Court.

With the internet anyone who is more than a casual wrestling fan knows and understands a number of basic terms (heel, face, workrate, heat, etc.) The more advanced your understanding, the more terms you know. I've learned a lot about wrestling from this message board, and I'm at a point where I'm encountering a lot of terms that I'm not sure I completely understand. So, I thought I would just go ahead and ask what they mean here. Sprint: My understanding is that this is a fast-paced, shorter match. Southern Tag: What exactly makes a tag match a southern-style tag? Is it the basic face gets worked over, is in peril and finally makes the hot tag? Is that it? He…

Use this thread to recommend any matches you've watched that happen in calendar year 2014 that you enjoyed and think others may like. I'll use this post to edit a master list as you add things to the thread. This is not just a thread to dump YouTube links. Please include a few comments about what you are watching to explain what others may like about it. If it happens in 2014, it can go here, regardless of the promotion or country in which it takes place. WWE Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs Luke Harper & Eric Rowan (WWE Smackdown 01/03/14) NJPW Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 01/04/14) WWC Los Matadores vs Thunder & Lightning (…

https://www.facebook.com/ScientificWrestling?ref=ts&fref=ts Sad to hear. R.I.P.

Amazing how skinny he is here....

I've been plowing through the incredible Lucha set for the past several weeks. Its the first 80s set I've watched and will participate in the voting. I want to say first off that the Lucha set is absolutely incredible and I will have matches in the low 90s that I really liked a lot and everyone should buy it. But this post isn't about the lucha set. I wanted to see how people here have gone about setting their rankings for these 80s sets? I figure there a variety of different ways to go about it: multiple complete viewings, ranking as you go on instinct, giving star ratings that you adhere too when making the final list, or even making a top 20-30 and then just k…

Jason Felix put these two lists together for us at Voices of Wrestling. A fun, goofy project for sure, with all roads seemingly leading to BAD NEWS BARRETT as the linear champ. Singles matches only: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/03/12/who-is-the-reigning-linear-wwe-champion/ Multi-man matches included: http://whywouldanyonereadthis.com/2014/03/12/who-is-the-linear-wwe-champion-including-multi-man-matches/ Many people have spotted errors already, but all roads eventually lead back to Barrett. I know there are some hardcore historians here, so I figured some of you would enjoy this, and possibly find more breaks in the chain.

The format of the Free TV Match of the Week polls is now changing. This is the thread to discuss the matches. The links and previous winners will go in here. The other threads will just be the poll, come here to explain your pick and discuss the matches. Note: This will be an ongoing thread, there will not be a new discussion thread posted weekly. Previous Winners: Free TV Match of the Week, Week 1: January 1 to 4: Negro Casas vs Titan (CMLL on Terra, 1/3) Free TV Match of the Week, Week 2: January 5 to 11: Real Americans vs Rhodes Brothers (WWE Raw, 1/6) Free TV Match of the Week, Week 3: January 12 to 18: Negro Casas & Puma & Tiger vs Black Panther…