Laz

It just seems like a witch hunt to me. Here's a guy who's been called a freak of nature due to his strength and training regimen, one test out of eight is flagged (which he's provided a B-sample for), and the majority jump on to talk about it as if it were already proven fact. Am I saying he's 100% clean? No. Am I saying we shouldn't rush to conclusions when the evidence is actually in his favor? Yes. Get that "eye test" crap out of here. Some people on the gas don't look like it and vice versa.

Multiple passed tests. He was tested 8 times in the month up to the fight and only one popped a flag. I can't find the average number of tests each fighter undergoes, but 8/month means two tests a week. What substance would he have taken on the banned list that could disappear in 2-3 days? I'm not saying it's beyond the realm of possibility, but it doesn't seem as concrete as the comments in this thread would imply.

New Jack mixed into the ME sometimes. The Dreamer/Dudleys feud of '98 saw New Jack mix in, Rhino's run with the TV title was a major program and the match with Jack was presented as a big deal...yeah, he was never World title material, but neither was half the roster.

Not a single mention of the other tests he took in the same time span that didn't get flagged? Really? Y'all so quick to jump on the "he doped" train that you can only speculate his guilt instead of bringing up some recent news on it?

Hey, Russo still has somewhat of a career out of it.

Because it still exists.

The best thing about WCPW is that What Culture has a big following online. The main YouTube channel has 334,186 subscribers and the WC Wrestling channel has more than double that at 744,430. That's nearly 3/4 million people that get their wrestling fix from WC, so having their own promotion will help get more eyes on the burgeoning scene.

I highly recommend the Progress OD service. Shows are uploaded within a day or two after they take place, those names you've listed all work there regularly, and there's enough extra content to keep you entertained. Seems like an original concept, but one based on familiar ones. Staggered entrances, elimination style, winner take all. I'm assuming you checked out the free one they put up, which was the first, and quite a bit of it was based on the long-term booking plans of the time. Paul Robinson (short bald guy) used to team with Ospreay and then turned, so they were teasing their eventual match/blowoff in addition to building Ospreay up as the underdog babyface hero. It was also the first one, so the kinks hadn't been worked out yet. From what I've heard, this year's was great. As far as I can tell, they're standard indy 16x16, though maybe 14x14. If you think those are tiny then stay away from ICW (which is 12x12). I think the drawing was around Easter? Progress is a good blend of humor and serious stuff, but the tonal shift can be annoying at first.

Which makes the " controversy" all the more ridiculous since that's a taunt.

Yeah. RD usually makes mention of this when Doink comes up. He thought heel Doink was brilliant but face Doink was the definition of WrestleCrap.

That "pip pip" bit could've worked if Ricochet had mocked him for being British.

The few. The proud. The WCW Special Forces.

Not everything is two guys in a ring faking a fight. Aspects of the art of wrestling - the sell, the work, building heat, etc. - are found in any social ecosystem to one degree or another. It's more because of pro wrestling's reputation as a total work that the analogy comes in handy, and we're so used to the idea of crafting a work and how it's done best that we see it. Less "we see wrestling because we like wrestling," more "we describe it as wrestling because we're familiar with wrestling."

There's room in pro wrestling for all styles (IMO) as long as it fits two criteria: 1) It takes place in a ring. 2) The core idea is a simulation of a combat sport. If you see an action movie that's nothing but gunfights and one that's nothing but wire fu, you may prefer one over the other but neither one is being done "wrong." If there was only one concrete way to have a wrestling match then a lot of great matches and workers wouldn't have come around. I'm still waiting for a wrestling show (televised or internet only) that presents itself as a reality show. Not in the "let's have stupid contests" manner like the televised seasons of NXT, but more like how TNA (of all companies) presented Reaction. Go the step further and bend kayfabe to make it more believable (so-and-so wears a mask because he both doesn't want to endanger his family but also because it allows marketing opportunity, or whatever). Add enough realism with the interactions, less hyperbolic mic screaming and more "natural" arguments, and it could work.

Re: Zombie It wasn't even the schtick, it was that it went on and on and on...and on...and you get the point. People who watched the original ECW found it dumb, people who were tasting ECW for the first time found it dumb, and anybody watching who wasn't either probably found it dumb. It was cut from the same cloth as typical WWE joke gimmicks of the day so it was an instant middle finger to anybody hoping that WWECW was going to be different. My entry proper to the discussion would be. Jim Duggan going Team Canada. It was a built-in deal: Duggan, a cancer survivor, supporting Canada after his own country's healthcare system fucked him on the bills. He even changed his look to fit it. It's an angle that I wouldn't call great, or even particularly good, but it doesn't deserve the hate it gets.

Watched the match this morning. It wasn't anything great and I see a lot of the criticism (they should have gone from the count out tease into the finishing stretch IMO), but some of the anti-press I've seen has been laughable. The sequence in the gif happens in the beginning of the match, right after Ricochet was taken aback by how much of the crowd was on Ospreay's side. He even throws little bits of heel tendencies in there, and the stereo flip taunt was the kicker. There's a lot of fat that could've been trimmed, but to act like this is the nadir of pro wrestling is ridiculous. It's an alright match that served as a showcase for an up and coming star.

He's lost a lot of his sparring sessions with smokers. His UFC career will likely go as well as my adult film career.

https://mobile.twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/721864410025836545 When a goofy tag team out-sells anybody near the ME during the week of the biggest show of the year? Yeah, there's something there you push.

Thing is, New Day is catering directly to the nerd market of today that are starting to yearn for nostalgia and, overall, those who just tend to prefer goofiness with their wrestling. It's not a surprise to me that most people I've seen who are really into them are also fans of anime, Chikara, retro gaming, etc. Or at least to the ideal "average" of those audiences. If you're not into it then chances are you aren't who they're playing to. I'm not even saying this as a big New Day fan, either. They're a fine team match-wise and gel together very well (in both promos and matches), but I'm not into that kind of nerdy stuff so I don't feel too strongly about them. I'm also not their target audience, either.

Don't until after you watch the TNA version. MLW presented a weaker version of the ROH greatness, and TNA botched it so bad that Punk quit.

Using the argument of "they're not a draw" when their merch out-sells the World champ's is fucking ludicrous.

There's a point where the best part of the show becomes ICP. If you partake in any mind-altering substances, please keep that in mind.

Ultimate X 2 is on PPV 76. It is a very good match that mixed spot fu with character and psychology.

Nasty Boys in TNA. In 2010.

Definitely more a "this is meant to look cool" type of moveset. The half-nelson facebuster actually looked good in certain instances.