Diesel could have a decent match with someone that could carry him, like Bret or Shawn. His matches with people like Mabel were terrible though.
Nah, even I don’t mind Cena sometimes, and he drove me away from the product back when he was getting his big push (right down our throats). But he seems to be a genuinely good guy, he has a sense of humor about himself, and he can work a decent match (though it’s a crap shoot–he can also ruin it by no-selling). It’s also a crap shoot on whether he’s going to put a new talent over or bury them–see, e.g., the Wyatt feud. I think he’s got something of a tin ear at times–he doesn’t understand how to make his tone fit the storyline. Or that weird humming thing he was doing with the Usos back around the same time.
Oh, and occasionally he does really awesome stuff like challenging Aisha Tyler to a thumb war.
Ooooh. Ever head over to Full Sail to check out an NXT taping?
Dumb noobish question: What exactly is “workrate”? It’s a term I see thrown around a bit and I can’t quite nail down what the hell it means, exactly.
Meanwhile, in other “WWE’s firing absolutely everyone who isn’t nailed down” news, Mark the timekeeper–apparently not HHH’s friend Mark–has been let go as well. This has dire implications for anyone who wants to see Steve Austin in the ring again, as Mark was responsible for the laser-like accuracy with which Steveweisers found their way to Stone Cold’s waiting hands. If I were Steve, I don’t know as I’d trust this sensitive matter to anyone else. (I also wonder if he’ll start getting Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPAs tossed into the ring, now that he’s a total hophead…)
Stone Cold / Hogan / The Rock were guzzling Bud Light at WM30. SCSA is a total IPA/hop freak these days, but for beer chugging American pale lagers, light as possible, is ideal. Especially since at WM30 he was doing a legit beer chug, versus the “spill beer all over myself and maybe drink 1 oz of it” he did during his career. [From what I hear SCSA drank more than his fair share of beer, but it’s pretty reasonable that he didn’t legitimately pound 2-3 beers prior to working a 15 minute match.]
Workrate - Basically as all wrestling matches normally are works, which means planned and not competitive, “workrate” simply means “doing that really well.” Broadly it means putting on a show really well, and it’s a combination generally of “skill” and intensity/effort.
Examples: Shawn Michaels had great in ring skill, and great intensity/effort. His matches were well executed and with great effort. Most of the time, you can find some bad HBK matches though, especially during stormy parts of his career when the drugs were a little too prevalent.
Goldberg is an example of someone with a very high effort level in matches, but bad skill. So he doesn’t necessarily have a high workrate, he was intense, but without the requisite skill the effort/intensity made him very dangerous. He injured a lot of people in his career.
Ric Flair for the last 25 years is an example of someone with good skill but poor effort, slow and uninteresting in the ring largely due to old age.
So basically it’s a combination of both skill and pacing/effort. It doesn’t mean you have to be a high flying fiend, as effort is relative. Most would say Vader had a high workrate and he wasn’t one of the Hardys (both had good work rate.) Edge had good workrate, Bret Hart had good workrate (more methodical/slow style compared to HBK.)
Hogan has never had good work rate, even his early 80s matches when he at least tried he still wasn’t that good.
Here’s more terminology, so you can pretend you have inside knowledge on the forums. 
This terminology was all a closely guarded secret up until the late 80s/early 90s. Even the “smarks” of earlier eras didn’t quite know all the inner workings of kayfabe, even if they knew a lot of it. In the 90s that all changed with the Internet, there used to be a major Pro Wrestling FAQ that was shared on all the BBS/Usenet groups that basically gave chapter and verse on every single thing about pro wrestling including all the terminology.
That’s where I remember a lot of these terms I’d never heard of before (but sort of understood the concept of just from knowing a lot about wrestling.)
Edit: And in the world of Google it’s easy to rediscover stuff from the earlier Internet that people have preserved: Link has all the old Usenet FAQs and such.
Yeah, I was just joking around w/ the IPA thing; he gives Sierra Nevada almost as much free air on his podcast as JR gives Sonic on his. (And seriously, Sonic, fire your two dorks and hire JR as your spokesperson.)
Got it, more or less. As I suspected, it’s a bit of a squishy term, so it’s just going to take a while for me to get my head around it properly. I’ll note that when it was used above re: Cena, it seemed to have a certain element of “this dude works a shit-ton of matches” as well. And maybe it does for John Cena, who for all his flaws puts on more good matches than he doesn’t; the fact that he does it something like 300 nights a year gives him some bonus points. Damien Sandow doesn’t get bonus points for being on basically every single Raw and Smackdown at the moment, because he’s stuck in comedy jobber land for pissing in Vince’s Wheaties or something–though god bless him, he’s giving it his all. Ziggler probably gets credit for a good workrate despite his (usually) jobber status, right? He seems to have the enthusiasm/skill package down pretty good.
So far as the lingo goes in general, I know most of the key words; I picked it up, believe it or not, from a radio host I listened to back in the early 2000s, Lionel. He was a wrestling fan, and would regularly use wrestling slang in other contexts–politics and political commentary especially. I remain convinced that wrestling slang, especially work/shoot and related terms, is often terribly useful in non-wrestling contexts, if only the person you’re talking to understands what you mean.
Which reminds me, to cap off this rambly post: Piper apparently cut a promo on the internet in his most recent podcast episode. I don’t know the details, because after he got done talking to his son (which was sweet; Piper’s obviously a real softie under the kilt, so to speak) he more or less locked himself in a closet and… had himself a good ol’ rant at a bunch of people. I gave up pretty quick–a) it’s not what I tune in for and b) I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. It wasn’t so much a podcast as an open letter to certain individuals who had pissed him off, and if you weren’t those individuals and you didn’t know what the hell was rambling about, it wasn’t likely to make much sense. Mentioned here just because, at the top of the rant, he was bitching about the IWC having the lingo wrong–it wasn’t kayfabe, it was (something like) “kayfabin”, and it wasn’t jobber, it was something in Italian. Right or wrong, not Roddy’s finest hour, IMO…
So, barring any last minute changes, injuries, or surprise midget matches, it looks like we’ve got the following eight-match card coming up at Summerslam next week;
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Cena vs. Lesnar for the world title. I know this isn’t the first time they’ve feuded, but this match has had a good build and I’m really looking forward to it. Prediction: Lesnar wins and he wins decisively.
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Ziggler vs. Miz for the IC title. AFAIK this will be Miz’s first title defense, and Ziggler’s first shot at a title in awhile. Ziggler has been looking good lately, but I predict Miz retains in order to further build his Hollywood heel persona.
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Paige vs. AJ for the Divas title. Not particularly looking forward to this match since they’ve done it four times already, and AJ matches pretty much always go the same way. I’d like to see Paige win, but I predict AJ retains so they can keep her as a face champion until Charlotte comes up to the main roster to challenge her.
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Rollins vs. Ambrose in a lumberjack match. I assume that in kayfabe Ambrose picked this stipulation in order to stop Seth from running and the Authority from interfering. I expect both to happen anyway. This is a hard match to call - Seth could use a win since he’s probably going to be treading water storywise until after Wrestlemania - I mean, can you imagine Seth trying to cash in his MITB on Brock Lesnar? I mean, I *can * imagine it, but I can’t imagine it going well for Seth. I’d personally prefer to see Ambrose win because I love the hardcore brawling style he’s been using since the Shield broke up, but let’s call it Rollins by a nose.
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Rusev vs. Swagger in a flag match. It must have been decades since WWE has done a flag match, but it’s the perfect blowoff for this feud. (I’m not even sure what the rules for a flav match are, though.) Rusev has been undefeated since January, but this is a good opportunity to have him put over babyface Swagger in a way that allows Lana to claim that Rusev was never pinned and didn’t submit, just like VLADAMEER POOTIN.
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Jericho vs. Wyatt, Harper and Rowan banned from ringside. Easy booking here - the Family intervenes anyway, causing a DQ and setting up a blowoff for Night of Champions.
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Stephanie vs. Brie, Brie “gets her job back” if she wins. Again, easy call - Brie wins because that’s the only logical ending to this storyline and because it’s his time Steph got some comeuppance.
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Reigns vs. Orton. This one could really go either way, but the common sense logic says Reigns needs the win more if he’s going to be a contender for the title down the road.
There’s also been rumors of a four-way tag titles match on the pre-show, Usos vs. Rybaxel, the Wyatt’s, and the Rhodeses. IMO, the Ascension is going to be coming to the main roster and taking those belts soon, so if this match goes forward, the Usos will likely retain for now.
Overall, it has the potential to be the strongest card since Wrestlemania, and I’m looking forward to most of it.
I love Roddy Piper’s stories. Here he talks about when he first got into the business, he was 15 years old. Mad Dog Vachon told him to drive him to Kansas City. Along the way, Mad Dog had him pull over to a diner. Mad Dog ordered two large meals and after eating them, fell over and out of the booth, clutching his chest. He wouldn’t let anybody call an ambulance. Instead, he told Piper to drive him to the hospital. Two minutes after they left, Mad Dog straightened up and said “we won’t go into there again, that’s how you eat for free kid.”
One nitpick on your card, Smapti–IIRC, Brie has her job back regardless. The match is just for shits and giggles, basically.
Just back from Guardians of the Galaxy, which was great. Rocket and Groot remind me of Enzo and Big Cass–I can totally see Rocket saying, “We’re big stars–we take meteor showers.” 
Oh, and Bluetista was actually really damn good. Gonna be interesting to see where he goes from here.
Huh. I must have missed that detail. My eyes tend to glaze over and roll into the back of my head whenever Steph starts talking.
No worries*–Brie having a match for her job actually made sense, and was basically what everyone in the IWC was predicting until the RAW a couple weeks ago when Steph gave Brie everything but a WWEWHC title shot to get her to drop the charges (in the old time, in the old time, in the old time it was not a NOT A CRIME!)
- Other than Steph being the best heel in the company right now, of course. I can dig skipping her segments because Brie Bella, but Steph is knocking it out of the park most of the time.
Well, my biggest beef with Steph as a heel is that she never ever gets her comeuppance. The male wrestlers she’s constantly screwing over can’t lay a finger on her because of TV-PG, and the closest any Diva has actually gotten to decisively scoring a point over her is Vickie pushing her into the kiddie pool full of 20-year-old Double Dare goo (and only then after she’d been fired anyway). So she gets to constantly talk shit about Daniel Bryan and Cena and so forth and be proven right over and over again, and we never get the payoff that you expect from that kind of storyline.
Now if Brie beats Steph next week, I’ll be very happy.
This interview with Vince Russo is pretty cool. He and the hosts are Lawn Guylanders, so it’s fun to listen to their accents. He’s wearing a FIRE RUSSO! shirt. The hosts asked him if he bought it from Jim Cornette’s web site. He said “Are you kiddin’? I’m selling it awn my own web site!”
He’s pretty honest about his successes and failures, and talks about the reality of dealing with backstage politics during the creative process. Like him or hate him, this interview is enlightening about the industry.
I’ve cancelled my Network sub effective Sep 8. The only reason I got the Network is for the video library. WCCW and ECW shows haven’t been updated in months. Where is the old TBS Saturday night program? What about Worldwide? Mid South? AWA? There is some great stuff in that library and for some reason WWE is just sitting on it. I may resubscribe when those programs make it to the Network but for now it’s not worth it.
As for the current product…eh, I’m not that interested anymore. Although if CM Punk came back I would watch much more regularly.
Cena/Lesnar: I agree with what you say here. Although looking ahead, IMO, Reigns has A LOT of work to do before he is a legit face of the company
Ziggler/Miz: Unfortunately this is gonna be a Miz win since he is getting a good heel push and I think they want to keep it that way
Paige/AJ: I don’t care who wins, all I care is that it’s a good match. I think that Paige has it in her to have a good match, and I think that AJ has it in her to have a good match too, so a nice healthy match is all I need. I hate AJ matches because they last all of 90 damn seconds.
Ambrose/Rollins: Disappointed that it’s a Lumberjack match because we all know the Lumberjacks are just gonna be the Authority’s heels, making it unfair to Ambrose blah blah…
Rusev/Swagger: I think that Swagger wins clean actually.
Jericho/Wyatt: Wyatt NEEDS to win to maintain any semblance of his character. He is so good on the Mic (even tho he’s boring) and by all accounts a good wrestler, he just loses in every. single. big. match. he ever is in.
Stephanie/Brie: Steph won’t even wrestle. Something weird will happen.
Reigns/Orton: Reigns will probably win by Kane interference
4-way-tag: I haven’t heard of this. Although I would LOVE for Goldy and Starry to win! I don’t know how close the Ascension is to coming up, and I think the results of this match will go a long way in saying. If Rybaxel or the Wyatts win I think they come up soon and win. If the Usos retain or Goldy/Sarry win they stay down a while
Not yet. I’ve been to a few TNA tapings though (they are also done here.) It’s on my to-do list now that school is over.
Martin has a slightly different definition than I do. He seems to equate it with “worker”, which basically means “wrestler who can have a great match”. I think workrate is a bit simpler, though; it’s just about how intense the matches are. In the most basic terms, it’s about how much time you don’t spend in rest holds (stuff like rear chinlocks and sleepers that are just done so the wrestlers can catch their breath and/or waste time until the show goes to commercial).
Like Martin says, there’s not really a hard-and-fast rule about it because different styles require different levels of intensity. If a high-flyer spends half his matches lying on the floor that’s fine because all the non-lying-around stuff is interesting. Bret Hart could spend more time in submission holds because he’s a submission wrestler (and complicated reversals and things were always his party pieces).
One of the reasons ECW made so much headway back in the day was because there were no rest periods at all. They only had an hour of TV or two hours before they had to clear out for bingo so everything was GOGOGO! all the time.
I read about the 4-way tag thing on one of the news sites. I haven’t seen any confirmation of it yet, but it’d sure be a better preshow match than the crap we got with Battleground.
NXT’s next live special is next month, where the Ascension will be defending against the winners of the tag tournament, and I predict they lose the belts. (The tournament has already been taped, but I haven’t looked up who wins because I don’t want spoilers.) With the belts off them, they’ll be free to come up to the main roster and challenge for the main roster titles.
I’m all for more tag teams, but at this point is there room for them/how relevant can they be?
You have the Usos, The Wyatts, Rybaxel, and Goldy/Starry, and since Trips seems to want to move away from tag-teams I don’t know what place The Ascension will have.
Frankly the only one I can see really being ready from NXT is Charlotte.
I thought they were adding ECW TV shows, but one week at a time, and it hasn’t been that long since they aired the one where Shane Douglas threw down the NWA belt.
Also, wasn’t the network supposed to have every RAW? They don’t seem to have very many before 2012 - I went looking for the Owen Hart tribute show from 1999, but it’s not available.
The other thing that worries me; if they ever decide to show Nitro again, can they undo the edits they made to the WWE Classics On Demand broadcasts? I watched WrestleMania XIV recently, and while they had the “WWF Attitude” logo uncensored, all audio references to “WWF” still had the F blanked out.