Finn "Prince Devitt" Bálor Thread (Raw Spoilers ahoy!)

Shiraz 4.99

Guys were tight

jaykhunter

Enjoyed it, he came off very well; positive, professional and grateful. Any non-Irish will be shocked at the casual swearing. Sponsored dinner & drinks is where it's at! Fun to see splicey of Doink and Rob Conway. Wish they spent more time on how excellent a wrestler he is. Great stuff overall

MitchKoobski

Was that Taka Michinoku I spotted at one point with nothing on his head but a tall, bleached fringe?

rovert

Great documentary. Loved how it kept kayfabe.

Seems like it was called Smash Em Up as the RTE Guide wouldn't publish **** Em Up.

DM_7

MitchKoobski wrote: »

Was that Taka Michinoku I spotted at one point with nothing on his head but a tall, bleached fringe?

Taka was in it alright. Didn't notice his hair do though

Jerichoholic

RTE's warning beforehand was for flashing images and some swearing. No problem with the violence and nudity.

Concannon7

Enjoyed it. Didn't like the kayfabe bits, but other than that it was good.

Jamie OD

So surreal to see New Japan footage on RTÉ.

rovert

Jamie OD wrote: »

So surreal to see New Japan footage on RTÉ.

Looked SO clean and gorgeous.

https://twitter.com/RTEplayer/status/545335137508925440

Soft Falling Rain

I liked the contrast that the documentary showed within the business. On one end of the scale you have people getting their nuts out and on the other end you have the seriousness of the Japanese product.

Hopefully any non wrestling fans watching took that full picture away with them rather than just the Bat **** insanity of the Scottish promotion.

rovert

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/fergal-devitt-documentary-rte-smack-em-up-wrestling-1835654-Dec2014

MitchKoobski

Jerichoholic wrote: »

RTE's warning beforehand was for flashing images and some swearing. No problem with the violence and nudity.

She actually said "expect some flashing and the usual strong language".

Said nothing about flashing images :P

Machismo Fan

I really hope this opens the door to him actually being noticed in this country. Really great doc.

ricero

What time will this be on rte player ?

leggo

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I really hope this opens the door to him actually being noticed in this country. Really great doc.

I think that's already happened. When we had him on the show earlier in the year, I told him I hoped to help introduce him to a mainstream audience so, like Sheamus is now, every little thing he does can be picked up by everyone. He's definitely been introduced now after the doc.

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

I liked the contrast that the documentary showed within the business. On one end of the scale you have people getting their nuts out and on the other end you have the seriousness of the Japanese product.

Hopefully any non wrestling fans watching took that full picture away with them rather than just the Bat **** insanity of the Scottish promotion.

I dunno, I think the insanity is what'll appeal to the market this is aimed at, I think purists like us would appreciate the seriousness of Japan more but casual fans would find it boring. Over-18s wrestling content, I've seen personally, is huge these days and fans really resonate with the randomness and insanity that wrestling can inspire. It's bringing back older fans too. We get them at the Parties all the time...people who say "I used to watch in the Attitude Era and would've loved stuff like this then." My own housemate is one of those.

I think it was clever to put the ICW stuff in there for that reason. The NJPW stuff hammers home the scale of what he's achieved, but the ICW stuff (in particular all the testicle talk) will stick with people and be watercooler chat tomorrow. The makers were very smart with how they put this together.

deano546

On RTE Player now http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10356074/

mrkiscool2

Really enjoyed that! It was absolutely fantastic. Sure, it wasn't anything groundbreaking or anything but I loved some of the kayfabe moments in it! You just gotta, it's what wrestling is about after all. I think that it will get both him and WWE a bigger audience now. I can also see some people going to an ICW show for the craic.

leggo

Just got a tweet from someone saying they watched it on RTE Player in the UK if anyone wants to!

ciano316

Brilliant Documentary. Top lad

Raven Runner

It was beyond awesome only finished watching it there now was tired when I started watching but was glued to it for the 59mins or so it was on and am re-energized after watching, Only 6mins in to it wasn't expecting to see a dudes ball bag and Paul London's tool funny/weird. Has it been uploaded to Youtube yet? Would love to hear it reviewed on the Bryan & Vinny Show or on Review-A-Wai.

Stereomaniac

No sign of it on You Tube yet, but I'm sure it will arrive eventually. The one about Fit Finlay is up there for a long time. Anyway, I watched it on the Player there myself, and I found that it just flew by, primarily because he just comes across as such a nice guy, very well-adjusted.

Agent Coulson

I enjoyed it for what it was. Devitt came across very well indeed.

What I did find from it was there is a great documentary to be made on NJPW and I hope someone gets to do it.

Also I am really looking forward to the next BBC documentary on ICW.

gerrybbadd

Loved that doc, really well done.

Was nice to see Fergal with his peers and how he handles meeting fans etc. Those guys he was living with (other Bullet Club members) really think very highly of him

Andersonisgod

Really enjoyed it. The contrast between how relatively unknown he is in his hometown compared to how big a megastar he is in Japan was crazy.

Stereomaniac

I'd say all of that is going to change now though as he becomes more and more known in WWE.

paulosam

Good little doc, considering RTE were involved!

Gallows is hilarious!

rovert

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Really enjoyed it. The contrast between how relatively unknown he is in his hometown compared to how big a megastar he is in Japan was crazy.

Devitt is a low key guy could imagine him him attending Martin King's book launch in town or something but I think the doing no press Ireland thing was out of respect for his parents too. Probably didn't want crazy Japanese fans calling to the house.

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Loved that doc, really well done.

Was nice to see Fergal with his peers and how he handles meeting fans etc. Those guys he was living with (other Bullet Club members) really think very highly of him

How close Karl Anderson and Devitt are can't be overstated. Anderson wrote some really tender things on Twitter when Devitt left. The lads on Karl's podcast still rib him over how much he misses Devitt.

https://twitter.com/Machinegunka/status/495962709075034112

There's the two back in 2005 in Los Angeles when working at New Japan LA Dojo which people like Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson.

Stereomaniac

That moment where they were having the last supper of sorts was very moving. It really does show that when you're abroad, you tend to gravitate towards people who come from similar cultures to your own. I remember Sheamus saying he was very close with William Regal. But yeah, Fergal Devitt seems to have a good head on his shoulders after seeing that documentary. I think the conduct of these guys comes back to them in how they are treated.

Ruu

Very good coming from a casual fan (these days) but clear to anyone that he lives and breathes what he does. Very enjoyable.

Brian Elliott

Now online here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ct4ti_prince-devitt-finn-balor-documentary-smack-em-up-reality-bites-12-17-2014_sport