Pro Wrestling

So they put the US title on Santino tonight, and a few things occurred to me. First off, WWE seems to actually be acknowledging someone caught on with the audience. Yes, it's the US title and it can be (correctly) argued it doesn't mean shit, but it's a sharp change from jobbing him out the last few weeks after getting a giant reaction the weeks leading up to the Chamber PPV and at the show itself. It makes sense when you think about it, his character is the embodiment of the plucky babyface that used to be a staple in wrestling. He has that goofy charisma that makes it easy to get behind him, and he does some of the best comebacks I've seen in a while. He gets the…

I sort of watch a LOT of wrestling, and also a lot of wrestling en masse, whole shows, whole years, etc. One of the biggest joys of it for me is when I'm honestly surprised by something I was weren't expecting. When someone shows up in a place I didn't expect. When I get to hear an announcer talk about a wrestler that you never thought he talked about, or two wrestlers interacting that you never thought interacted, that sort of thing. Stuff like Bockwinkle announcing in WWF, or Lance Russell announcing the memphis Lawler vs Regal match from 2000 that I hadn't realized existed until yesterday, or even Jim Neidhart in 1993 WCW using a Cobra Clutch they called the "ANVILIZER…

I bought the new Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson DVD, which is different from the first set that was released, as it has a more in-depth documentary and Rock talking about his career. It was pretty interesting to hear Rock admit that he really felt he was in competition with the likes of Austin and HHH, to the point he really wasn't that close to them to start. Of course, we've known he's had issues in the past with HHH, but regarding Austin, he kind of saw him as a threat as well. They don't really include many comments from Austin, though HHH has a lot to say (and he is mostly praising of Rock). When they get to his stuff with John Cena, that's when you have Ce…

Over the past couple of years I've watched everything from WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, and ROH within the years 2000 and 2004. These promotions have been covered thoroughly due to their availability. However, to be as complete as possible, I'd like to request assistance in flushing out the very best matches from the independent seen outside of these. Simply, any match you would rate at the MOTYC level on par with the big companies. While I plan to do the same with Mexico, Japan, Other ... I'm hoping to not miss anything from my home country. PWG, CHIKARA, CZW, IWA-MID SOUTH, OVW, etc. are just some of the promotions I need help with. Unlike with the companies I've a…

While watching Elimination Chamber, it occurred to me that the Royal Rumble has become just another PPV. MITB has taken its place as a way to elevate guys to the main event, and now the Chamber has taken its place as a way to establish feuds for Wrestlemania. When you take away those aspects and a Pat Patterson laying things out, all you're really left with is a big battle royal with some comedy spots. I wouldn't be surprised if it joined Survivor Series in becoming largely irrelevant. On a completely unrelated note, I've been watching a lot of Bret Hart lately. Five Moves of Doom is a myth, yo.

I watched the Rock vs. Steve Austin main event from WrestleMania XVII for the first time in almost ten years and I still don't understand why people think of it as four- or five-star epic? What I saw were two outstanding workers clumsily tripping over each other and exchanging too many punches as transitions between the "I hit my finisher then you hit yours then I hit you with yours..." spots building towards an awkward finish that didn't get anyone over. I prefer their match at WrestleMania XV.

We've all heard complaints about how wrestling has become increasingly bland and homogenized. Many of us have even made those complaints ourselves. We can debate the extent to which this is true from an in-ring standpoint, but it's unquestionably true when it comes to the names they use. In the past, wrestlers have generally operated under a few rules when coming up with names. 1. Not the creative type? Just use your real name. Examples: Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, John Cena 2. Alternately, you could go in the complete opposite direction and go by something completely fanciful. Examples: Sting, The Ultimate Warrior, The Undertaker 3. You can split the differe…

I've decided that it'd be fun to revisit an idea I originally had about five years ago. If you could put any group of matches in history on a single card, what would it look like? It's basically a best matches/desert island list, but with a twist: you have to put it together like an actual card. That means a couple of things. One, each wrestler can only be in one match. So you can't just list eight Misawa matches. Well, I guess you could, but it'd be kind of cold to bring him back to life for your show only to have him die on you again. Two, each title can only be in one match. So if you include Hogan/Andre from WM3, you can't also have Rock/Austin from WMX-7. The length …

There is no clear number 2. Cases could be made for Geigel, Vince Sr., Rikidozan, Inoki, Baba, Heyman, Watts, Crockett, Jarrett, Bischoff (or Turner), Graham, Gagne, von Erich, Boesch, Cornette, to name but 15 prominent people. Although looking at that list of names, Rikidozan stands out -- I don't know enough about Japanese wrestling history to say for sure, but it looks to me that without him there wouldn't even be a pro wrestling scene in Japan. Do we know anything about what pro wrestling was like in Japan before him? If he's basically the guy responsible for Japanese wrestling, then he probably challenges Vince for the #1 spot. That would make this thread a…

Jeremy asked over at tOA: I know there were WWF vs WCW matches in house shows during the Invasion, and of course the merger tourney. But since the Brock/HHH split of the WWF/WWE Title and the World Title/Big Goldie into two different WWF/WWE titles in the Brand Split... how many times have the holders of those titles had a singles match against each other? John

Recently people have talked up the fact that when Killer Kahn was on, he was really on, but when he was off, he was really shit -- the ultimate hit and miss guy. Tito Santana is talked about as a guy who was always solid no matter what or where he was on the card. Is there anyone that has a greater vairance than Kahn, that is higher highs and lower lows? And is there anyone more consistent than Santana? Which names are in the mix?

This led to some fun discussion last year so here are my picks for this year CATEGORY "A" AWARDS (PICK YOUR TOP 3) 1. LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD: 1. Mark Henry 2. CM Punk 3. Jerry Lawler I could be convinced that someone from Mexico deserves to make the list (Averno?), but despite following the scene fairly closely, I'm pretty ignorant of who was or wasn't a big drawing card. I can see an argument for Punk first and wouldn't argue against it. My argument for Henry is that he seemed to have a more positive effect on business when he was given the ball than Punk did. A lot of that has to do with booking of course, but I'm not sure you can reall…

This is probably not worthy of its own note, but I was trolling Graham's site before and came across this: WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Gardens - September 25, 1994 (4,000) Sparky Plugg defeated Steven Dunn Abe Schwartz defeated Jim Powers Owen Hart defeated WWF IC Champion Razor Ramon via count-out WWF Tag Team Champions Shawn Michaels & Diesel defeated Fatu & the 1-2-3 Kid (sub. for Samu) WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze defeated Bull Nakano WWF World Champion Bret Hart defeated Jim Neidhart The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna in a casket match Now, you have to understand. Growing up, I had a friend of the family who was a special needs kid…

These seem to be the two options open to the wrestling royalty of the 80s and 90s. Maybe about 50 guys all-in. Seemingly the likes of Jake Roberts and Honky Tonk Man don't make the cut and are destined to work the indies or just retire. A bunch of elite guys -- Piper, DiBiase, Nash, Bret, Austin, Michaels -- get to sit on these WWE Legends Contracts. Another bunch of elite guys -- Hogan, Flair, Sting -- all work for TNA and still wrestle. I'm wondering about how these two options stack up. How much do you reckon a Legends contract pays? I notice that four of the guys I've named there (DiBiase, Hart, Austin, Michaels) are guys with career-ending injuries. …

Im interested in finding out as much information on Memphis Wrestling from the time after USWA closed, for example the roots of Memphis Power Pro and Memphis Championship Wrestling etc, and as you guys know your stuff itll be a great help...

Watching Kawada on the All Japan 80s set made me wonder: who has the best pre-peak career? Obvious candidates include Tenryu (although I strongly disagree), Steve Austin, and Bret Hart.

One of my favourite workers on the All Japan set has been Yatsu. I've pondered to myself why this is -- why does he stand out from all the Haras and Ishikawas of this world? The only thing I can come up with really is that he has an awesome moveset and his offense always looks cool. It seems to be important for me to like someone that they have a good number of ways to hurt you. This is one of the reasons I could never get into Jake Roberts's work. He's great on the mic and a great character, but I've never seen a Jake match that made me buy him as a good wrestler. (admittedly, I have not yet seen the mid 80s stuff on the MidSouth set that I recall seeing …

Thought this would be a fun topic and a bit different. Toss out a few names at a time and we can run down who we think there top five opponents were and why. I'll get things started with five names and I'll leave the thread open for a little while before I answer myself. Jerry Lawler 2 Cold Scorpio Nick Bockwinkel John Cena William Regal

So WWE suddenly has a clear direction pushing younger, fresher guys all show long with Punk/Bryan/Ryder presented as the clear top faces in the company, Cena was relegated to an odd segment with Kane where it looked like he was going to be sexually assaulted before being smothered that was impressively produced in terms of time management, the tag team division is suddenly supposed to be very important, they're clearly giving guys more latitude stylistically...what the hell happened and why didn't it happen at some other point in the last 5 months?

Modern WWE is a bad offender when it comes to over-using (and re-using) signature moves. At one stage in the last couple of years, Edge, Batista and Big Show were using the Spear as a signature move. Most recently, it seems that WWE has taken a fascination in using the Jumping Complete Shot and it's a move that has been quickly placed on another wrestler following the previous wrestler leaving the company. It's even extended to reverse variations of the move (which look awkward and are easily bothced) in the cases of Heath Slater (Sweetness) and Dolph Ziggler (Zig Zag). In the past, a signature move was a move that was only associated with the wrestler that performed…

For the past year or so, I've been helping out a friend of mine with some wrestling shows his cousin has put together in the bumblefuck southern New Jersey area for a promotion called the UWC. First it was just helping to organize the shows, then I started recording the shows for YouTube on my iPhone so the wrestlers could watch their matches, and then I was encouraged to add commentary to the matches with another friend (who is the commissioner of the UWC). Now I've decided to post a weekly episodic-type wrestling show on YouTube. I'll be honest, I have been hesitant to post anything about this, partly because I'm reluctant to blatantly plug my own stuff, and partly …

When this was first announced I thought this was going to be a lazy cash grab. But I feel completely confident in the opinion that the documentary is probably WWE's best ever neck and neck with the Rise & Fall of ECW. I cant believe something so strong came so soon after the amazing Bret Shawn Greatest Rivalries DVD. If you are a wrestling fan of any description you must watch this. Very inside and Steve just telling it like it is.

All of the stuff ive been seeing about Hercules and such guys lately got me thinking who is the best body builder body typed worker? Most of the time they have a very limited move set and stick to the basics but im sure there are some of you that think there are a few worth mentioning. To me off the top of my head i always thought Scott Steiner in his early days was a good worker. Hell even in late WCW he had some good matches but not to the extent of his early WCW run. I also think Bulldog was very quick and agile for his size in his prime

How about a thread for heels and the things that they do? So for some reason I recently watched Marc Mero vs. Sable. It's like a five-minute segment, about six seconds of which are wrestling, and it's great. Marc Mero leaves himself with no redeemable qualities. Random observations: - Mero seems like he was born to be a heel. His voice is just so grating and suited to the role. - What a touching speech! He even mentions something from two years before, which, considering that 1998 is an era of no long-term memory, must be what convinces her that he is for real. - There was a thread here about stupidest things done by faces. No matter how touching Mero's sp…

The latest in Kayfabe Commentaries' Guest Booker Library comes features the Red Rooster himself and contains, what I think, is some solid and compelling booking ideas. Some of the better ones include: Jim Crockett coming out on TV, something that was very rarely done, and announcing the purchase of the UWF and the additions to the roster. Which brings out some of the NWA's boys to complain since they're the ones who'd been busting their humps for all those years (I can totally see this coming from the Horsemen, specifically Flair or Arn) to make Crockett a millionare. UWF Champion Steve Williams calling out Flair and wanting the NWA Title, and then going through…