Thanks Knowed, I’ll have to listen to that this weekend.
With the brand split, I’d like something like;
Raw: WWE champ, IC champ, Tag belts
Smackdown: Women’s champ, US champ?
That’s one belt (or set of belts) per hour of show, with the women and the US champ splitting main event duties on Smackdown.
Speaking of the Pod of Thun-dah…
Jericho goes into his tack spot for the first 10 minutes of his Ric Flair show (this past monday’s). It’s interesting to hear him talk about it. I won’t spoil much of it, but he had 69 tacks in him after the spot!
Even the New York Times Magazine has weighed in on wrestling. Which kind of explains why wrestling, and everything else has become a cartoon.
Another classic Jericho podcast, High School Reunion. Cody Rhodes and Xavier Woods attended rival high schools in Marietta Georgia. They wrestled each other once in a high school tournament, and Cody won by one point. Xavier said he threw the match because he saw Dusty Rhodes in the audience and couldn’t bear to make him upset. Cody disagreed. Xavier thought Cody was the privileged rich boy jock, while Cody thought Xavier was a thug whose gangster friends would kill him. Both regarded themselves as nerds who weren’t part of the “cool” kid crowd. Meanwhile, Jericho’s cracking up over the truth bombs.
They were considering carrying over their high school rivalry into an angle, but it never followed through, probably because Vince wanted Cody to keep playing the astral clown. Too bad Cody isn’t part of WWE any more, but I think he’ll be back some day.
Undercard angles like this could have been are what made the best times in the WWE/WWF great. This is how talents could get over and stayed over. Now, unless you are the top 10%, you’re ignored. Paul Heyman was the man at making everyone on the card matter in ECW. Lucha Underground is doing the same. It’s a shame VKM doesn’t realize how he hurts his product (and then blames the wrestlers).
So, a few days ago, Ricochet (i.e. Prince Puma) and Will Ospreay (a British lucha-libre-trained wrestler who’s worked the British leagues as well as PWG and a brief stint in TNA) put on the match of both their lives at a New Japan show. It was good.
How good was it? It was so good that a Japanese audience, the kind that usually just watches quietly and claps politely after a big spot, started chanting “HOLY SHIT!”
Here’s the video. Watch it.
Apparently, the old school generation isn’t buying in to the acrobatic lucha style. Big Van Vader said the Ricochet/Ospreay match had no story and high school gymnasts could do the same thing. Ricochet replied that it’s an art form and you could like it or hate it, but their audience certainly liked it.
AJ finally turned to the dark side and set up a feud with John Cena last night. Right after Cena gave a Memorial Day promo too, the unpatriotic cad. He must hate America. Go back to Jaypan you commie. Of course, the real outrage is how they’ll have him looking at the lights at the end of every Cena match,
I’m a sadist. I keep reading Yahoo’s news blasts. While they provide links to wrestling articles, they will still publish absolutely stupid and inane commentary, like an opinion piece on AJ’s hair. Who the fuck cares? They’re wrestlers. They’re not supposed to look normal. What, no butthurt over Enzo Amore’s hair?
Missed most of RAW because we were at a friends house for games, then missed even more because I had to shave before work today (God that’s just the worst…).
Am I right to believe that The [strikethrough]Bullet[/strikethrough] Club attacked The New Day? If that’s the case, then I applaud this move and am happy that New Day FINALLY has real competition for the belts. I hope they drop them to The Club and set up a good rivalry!
There’s always been room in wrestling for the highly technical and acrobatic styles. It could be that the old school distaste goes beyond simply the style and also speaks to other changes in the world of wrestling such as the obviously scripted nature and not maintaining the pretense of a true competition. I’m an old-schooler in my wrestling preferences but I have no problem with any style done well.
So we’ve moved beyond Stephanie emasculating men in the ring by slapping them, with no repercussions or payoff… To the sheer blatant hypocrisy of her lecturing Charlotte about being exactly what Stephanie has always been booked to be?
WTF???
Get this character off my TV.
I think the issue is with the opening sequence where they’re spending a lot of energy flipping past each other and not really attacking or anything.
I saw Regal’s commentary where he compared it to old-school tests of strength–those aren’t really contributing towards a victory either. But if you’re a strong guy, you do a test of strength to show off and intimidate your opponent at the start of a match. If you’re a flippy guy, you do flippy stuff at the start of a match to intimidate your opponent.
Ok, you die hards need to check this out;
With this exclusive experience, you will:
•Share a light breakfast and lunch with NXT Superstars (meals included)
•Participate in a Q&A and Orientation Session with NXT coaching staff
•Attend a Q&A and autograph session with NXT Superstars
•Sign a one-day WWE booking contract, granting admission to a private NXT Live Event at the WWE Performance Center that you will help produce, manage and watch alongside your favorite NXT Superstars
•Take an all-access tour of the WWE Performance Center
•Get an inside look at a private NXT Training Session
•Learn the ropes during a promo class, then create your very own promo video
•Create your very own entrance as NXT Superstars cheer you on
Plus, you’ll be able to take the experience home, with exclusive keepsakes, including:
•Commemorative WWE Performance Center: All Access Credential
•WWE Performance Center Gift Bag
•Limited Edition Event Chair pre-signed by NXT Superstars
•WWE Performance Center: All Access Highlight Reel (available for download after the experience)
•Your Personal Promo Video; available for download after the experience
•Professional photos will be taken throughout the day (available for download after the experience)
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That’s been around for a good 6 or 7 months actually.
I don’t know if the “just announced” is that PWInsider just now heard of it, or maybe it was in a trail run down here in Orlando for the first part, but this has been a thing/ripoff for a while.
That’s fair commentary. It is part of the dance. I think Vader saw a lot of that in matches where he faced smaller more agile men. When it’s big guy against little guy in a decent match there should also be an initial phase where the small guy is the toreador sidestepping the charging bull.
If I had $1500 to burn, I’d only take part in the booking session and abuse power so bad it’d make Vince look like Mother Theresa.
Apropos of nothing…
I was searching my Gmail to find something and came across gchats between Ms. Cups and I one year ago talking about my move here to Florida and such. Part of the conversation was her reporting to me what happened on NXT and the fact that JJ and Tye Dillinger broke up. Also I was bitching about what Becky Lynch was wearing.
Oh what a difference a year makes huh?
Goldberg talking return and “high standards” for any return. :rolleyes:
I hope the crowds chant “FEED ME MORE” at his sorry ass and boo him out of the building if that happens.
I have 0 interest in seeing Moldberg return. He’s been out of action for 15 years, unless you count golf swings.
NXT had a good standoff between Finn and Samoa Joe.
Finn: You stabbed me in the back.
Joe: That’s because you ran away from me. If you hadn’t, I’d have stabbed you in the heart.
For not being that particularly good at promos, that was the best Finn has ever sounded.
I think next week should be pretty cool. Still mad I didn’t know it was a home game, I’da really tried to get tickets
Brock Lesnar will be co-main eventing UFC 200. No word yet on his opponent.