Any WWE fans in the audience? (Part 1)

The Game Room
9170

I guess Pat McAfee is here to stay. Maybe he’ll grow on me, but I consider him the reincarnation of Mike Adamle, another failed attempt to inject mainstream appeal into wrestling. Why the hell do they think Pete Dunne needs a mouthpiece? He’s silent but deadly, not in a farting way.

To me, Cameron Grimes is entertainment gold. He loves being the pussy heel whose mouth gets him into trouble. He knows how to make the audience root for his opponent. His Haunted House match with Dexter Loomis was tons better than the one with Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton. The contortionist zombies were a good touch.

Drake Maverick, nee Rockstar Spud, is also one of my favs. I want to thank him for making me laugh for years. He cosplayed as Hulk Hogan and they reenacted a couple of WCW’s most infamous flops. A couple of tall guys dressed up as The Giant and Yeti and double-humped him, then Killian Dane broke through the wall wearing Shockmaster’s knockoff Darth Vader helmet, but declined to recreate the fall. Drake and Killian are the new Team Hell No.

The same night on AEW, there was a lumberjack match between Cody and Orange Cassidy. Maybe you can make the case that Cody the booker is putting himself over, but he’s definitely not phoning it in. The match had a couple of spectacle moments, like when Cody superflexed Cassidy on top of the lumberjacks. It also made me realize that despite his gimmick of indifference, Cassidy is a fucking genius. He can do the lucha acrobatics, but he doesn’t oversell it. When he takes a flip, he doesn’t visibly look like he’s performing a stunt. He flows like a whip being cracked. He also uses some subtle ring psychology, acting like he doesn’t care, but when the opponent tries to capitalize, he quickly counters their attack like he baited them in.

I also dig his new T-shirt. I’m going to have to counterfeit it.

9171
9172

Another AEW Dark snippet: Frankie Kazarian joins commentary.

Kzarian: Any booze back here?
Excalibur: The only “booze” we get is when Taz comes out.
Taz: I hate you Ex.

9173

Three title matches on NXT last night, including a shocking title change, as Leon Ruff defeated Johnny Gargano to win the North American Championship. You think they’re desperate to beat AEW in the ratings war?

Ruff didn’t even have a Wikipedia page until after last night. Apparently his real name is Dartanyon Ruffin, which is a badass name that they should have just kept.

9174

If they kept his real name, WWE wouldn’t be able to trademark it for their own use.

9175

Yeah, I know.

9176

oh wow I knew Frankie “the future” Kazarian back when he was in wrestling school and the school was doing indy shows as the empire wrestling federation … … he was a great classic heel back then … he and Rico had a 45-minute match one time because someone was late getting there … he had some comedy going because he botched moves on purpose to keep the match going and had the crowd of about 50 or so laughing their heads off …

9177

Dunno, but I thought the obviously-rigged wheel was the best part of the show. I especially liked Johnny’s scowling face in the middle.

9178

Actually, the best part was when Damien Priest tried to put the belt on Leon Ruff and it just fell down.

9179

Even though SS was a good show, I don’t really have it in me to do a proper recap. I don’t know if it’s because COVID takes away the live audience experience, but there’s nothing to fault WWE over, no matter how hard I try.

My fav was the women’s SS match, because it had some creative ways for alpha bitches Shayna and Nia to be eliminated because of their own hubris. Nia forbade Lana to participate and had her stand on the ring steps. Liv and Ruby showed excellent teamwork vs the giant ogress Nia, attacking her like mad hornets. Shayna seemed likely to eliminate the last of SD’s team, Bianca, with a Kirabuta Clutch, but Bianca managed to fall close enough to the rope to weakly grab it. The referee gave the five count, but Shayna didn’t release, so she was DQ’ed. Nia then tangled with Bianca outside, and the EST managed to flip Nia over the barricade, but both were counted out, leaving Lana as the sole victor.

I also dug Drew McEntyre vs Roman Reigns, partly because they both have “Batman drawn by Neal Adams” physiques.

Even though they’re not in the category of “high flyers,” both guys did some tall leaps with no showboating. Roman sold an aerial when Drew tossed him back in the ring without ostensibly gearing himself up for it. Both combatants really complimented each other well, and Roman actually showed more than five moves.

The subplot painted a picture of MAFIA level loyalty, after a previous promo where Roman shamed Jimmy Uso for the SD team losing. Paul Heyman stood by Roman’s side all evening, but never said a word. It was like he was being held hostage and just now realized it. Jimmy came back to help Roman, despite the Tribal Chief’s orders to leave the building. After the match, Roman seemed ready to punish Jimmy for disobedience, but instead embraced him for his loyalty. Roman came off as a devious Don Guido tribal chieftain, and didn’t have to make any loud fancy speeches to get himself over. IMO, this is Roman’s best angle. He no longer identifies as Vince’s love child.

Undertaker’s sendoff was simply done. UT’s past opponents came to the ring. Jeff Hardy designed his facepaint after UT’s symbol. Then they showed a montage, and Vince McMahon made the introduction. After another montage, the arena was empty and dark. The organ began playing UT’s famous dirge, the full moon emerged, and lightning bolts rippled across the LED boards. UT did his slow mesmeric walk to the ring, cuing the occasional lightning bolt, and stood in a deep blue spotlight. He kept his speech short, ending with “I will finally Rest. In. Peace.” He then did his urn holding posture, and a holo of Paul Bearer appeared before him, like a ghost from his past. UT then stood back up, slowly walked back up the ramp to his music, turned around for one last glare, and disappeared into the shadows. The End.

9180

When was the taker tribute? We watched from the beginning but some how missed it?

9181

After the McIntyre match. I turned off the show too.

9182

Ahh ok. Thanks. Yeah no way I was staying awake for that.

9183

If I had been struggling to stay awake but pushed myself an extra half-hour for the Taker tribute, I would have been disappointed as well. As it is, I watched it when I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next day.

I liked Survivor Series. Seth Rollins’ sacrifice was interesting. Reminds me of when Bray Wyatt offered himself as a sacrifice to John Cena at WrestleMania 30. Cena didn’t bite, but Sheamus ain’t no Cena.

Great to see Sasha Banks finally get a win over Asuka!

The end of the Survivor Series women’s match was hilarious, with Lana being the sole survivor because she stayed on the ring steps like she was told. I yelled at her to get the hell out of there before being put through another table, but it turns out that wasn’t in the cards.

The tag-team match was great, and I love Sami Zayn’s heel work, trying to get The Hurt Business to get Lashley DQ’d. Why didn’t they fall for it at Survivor Series but MVP fell for it the following night with a title shot at stake? I don’t get it. Is it simply because they didn’t want either Keith Lee or Bobby Lashley going over in that situation?

McIntyre and Reigns have a great dynamic with the face/heel roles reversed from last year’s WrestleMania. I’d like to see more of them.

So, what, you figure McIntyre vs. Styles at TLC? I’m down . Who gets Roman?

9184

Another icon of my early days of watching wrestling, back when the only wrestling I knew was WWWF, has passed. Goodbye inaugural Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson.

9185

[quote=“D_Odds, post:9184, topic:690124, full:true”]
Another icon of my early days of watching wrestling, back when the only wrestling I knew was WWWF, has passed. Goodbye inaugural Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson.[/quote]
Jim Cornette said that Patterson and Ray Stevens was one of the best tag teams he ever saw.
I actually saw Patterson & Stevens in two house shows in the early 1970s at the Cow Palace. In the first, they wrestled each other in what may have been the first Ironman match (IIRC, they tied 3-3 after the hour, so they wrestled a sudden death fall, which Patterson won in strange fashion - Stevens was knocked out inside the ring, and Patterson was outside, so the ref counted on them both; Stevens didn’t get up before 10, but back then, the out of the ring count was 20, and Patterson got back into the ring in time).

The second time, they were a tag team wrestling for the “World Tag-Team Championship” (they never called it an NWA title, and, in fact, there were six or seven regional versions of this) in a cage match - well, a Roy Shire Cage match; the “cage” was a six foot high or so bolt of chicken wire wrapped around the ring. (Patterson/Stevens won when one of them used a foreign object behind the referee’s back, but in a precursor to the Dusty Finish, on TV the next week, it was announced that “the NWA Observer at Ringside” informed the NWA Board of Directors, who “voted” to negate the title change.)

9186

Vince McMahon reveals himself as the Higher Power: “It was me, Austin! It was me all along!”

Austin Theory takes off the Ghost Face mask after Gargano wins the NA title at Takeover: “It was me, Austin! It was me all along!”

Footnote: Big Show talks about how he and Vince rib each other on Storytime. He said he was sleeping on an air mattress on a flight, when he woke to see his mattress flat and Vince standing over him with a pocketknife. “Looks like you sprung a leak there, big fella.” The animation shows Vince with an evil grin and “It was me, Austin!” tattooed on his forehead. Big Show said he got Vince back by sneaking into his office and leaving a huge turd in Vince’s personal toilet.

9187

I’m not sure how to feel about the tributes to Pat Patterson, as by multiple accounts he was a sexual predator who coaxed young male wrestlers (including the late Rowdy Roddy Piper) into having sex with him in exchange for a push, and was on the outs with the company in the '90s after a scandal involving several underage boys. It seems like WWE is willing to sweep those accusations under the rug because of the value of his legacy and his long-standing ties to the McMahon family, much like they tried to do with Fabulous Moolah for years before her misdeeds became too well-known for them to ignore.

We tend to romanticize the days when wrestling was “real”, but the kayfabe era also made it easy for bad actors to get away with all kinds of horrible things because their victims couldn’t speak out without exposing the business.

9188

Jim Cornette had quite a bit to say about that in his tribute. Cornette, whom I’ll admit is a very biased source, contends that Patterson was smeared simply because he was the “other gay guy” and that there are a lot of people in wrestling who believe like lots of people outside of wrestling believe: gay = pedophile. It was well-known that Patterson had a long-term, committed relationship that most in the business knew about. That alone does not absolve Patterson, but I simply don’t know enough to condemn nor forgive him.

9189

Probably a reeeeeeeeally dumb question buuuuut…

Does Dexter Lumis actually draw those? He probably has to, right? Otherwise what a weird dumb gimmick