Random Wrestling Thoughts (Part 2)

Itssoeasy

Brock Lesnar debuted on the main roster 20 years ago today. It’s a testament to Brock that 20 years later he’s still the most believable superstar wwe has.

https://youtu.be/nvgq8r63xwU

Lithium93_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118798965#Comment_118798965

It's unlikely they will be. They, according to their manager are meeting next week to set up and start 3 weeks of pre-production for their 7th studio album, to start tracking it for the end of April.

Doubt they'd want any outside distractions.

Blue_Dabadee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118802718#Comment_118802718

He is the most entertaining guy they have on the roster right now.

Riddle101

What is it about Dolph Ziggler that WWE doesn't give him much of a chance on top? I mean he ticks off the boxes for someone who could be an effective main event for the company yet WWE always keep him in a certain position, never really taking a chance or giving him a big push. I mean he's very good in the ring, good on the mic, he has a decent look and he's a veteran of WWE too. Seems like the only chance he ever had was when he won the world heavyweight championship from Edge, but even his world title reign was lackluster because of his booking.

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118810340#Comment_118810340

Nothing about him feels real, he's the lead character in a 2k game, and that really translates, it's why People like him as a challenger but don't buy him as the guy.

Name your top 5 ziggler matches?

Itssoeasy

28 years ago today wrestle mania 10 happened from MSG. There is the amazing opener with Owen hart vs Bret hart which imo is the best opening match in mania history, and we had the IC title ladder match with HBK vs the late Scott hall(that still feels weird) and the macho man vs Crush in a match that sounded better on paper than in reality which was a shame.

and we had Bret hart win the world title to end the night and this time no hogan to steal the spotlight. I do wish the ending was better, because Yoko falling off the second rope by himself was stupid. We had the woman’s title match between Alundra Blaze and Leilani Kai which is now the only match from that night where all the competitors are still alive.

Riddle101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118810395#Comment_118810395

True, he's always been good as a challenger but that's why I think he's good as someone who can work the main event scene. He can give people good matches and put on entertaining performances. He doesn't necessarily have to be a top guy, but at least give him better consistent booking instead of making him a jobber. I know he won the NXT Championship but that was a bit of a downgrade tbh.

As for his matches he had a really good match against Rey Mysterio at SummerSlam 2009 for the Intercontinental Championship. His match against Edge at Royal Rumble 2011 for the World Heavyweight Championship was one of the best of the night, and his match against Daniel Bryan at Bragging Rights 2010. That's all I can remember tbh.

The White Wolf

Is it just me or does Carmella have the worst case of go away heat? She's done the same gimmick since she debuted, small deviations not withstanding, and now an awful reality tv show.

ShagNastii

Ziggler is one of those stars didn't see right in front of them. Talk about white hot when in crashed in his MITB.

A post mania crowd yes but the roof nearly came off the place. He had everything. Bumped like a boss, a super blonde "look", genuine charisma and main event believability.

It's funny cause unlike Cesaro WWE really did a Triple H on him and seemed to really wanted to create a legit main event. He had a few false starts but the Dolph gimmick had a rocket to him.

savemejebus

Apart from the post mania crowd it was mostly crickets after though. He could connect with smart fans but not the regular joe soaps in the crowd and so never got to the next level. If becky hadn’t hit on “the man” gimmick we would be saying the same about her today. Workrate and talent don’t mean a thing unless they find that something special for the crowd to get behind,

look at reigns, he had the full force of the Company behind him for years but only properly clicked with the tribal chief gimmick. Good worker, well liked but in no way over till then,

The Nal

Seems Scott Hall had relapsed during lockdown

https://www.mediareferee.com/wwe-news-sean-x-pac-waltman-shares-further-details-regarding-scott-hall-broken-hip/

B.A._Baracus

That's sad about Scott Hall. Says he was laying on the floor for a few days with the broken hip. That basically says he didn't really have anyone in his life. Fair play to DDP for checking in on him.

Sad. Like Scott Hall is a legend in wrestling. He wrestled in front of thousands of people around the world at one point, to having THOUSANDS of fans... to when that was all long ended, getting high/drunk/whatever during the pandemic (as Waltman eludes to) as it hit him hard (assume being on his own) to laying there for a few days also on his own injured.

J. Marston

Elijah Burke should've been a star. I'll die on that hill.

Riddle101

Looking back on Booker T's in-ring work, he was pretty a unique wrestler in that he had the body of a heavyweight but used a lot of cruiserweight type moves in his arsenal, and was very agile in the ring. I don't if Booker is underrated but he's a guy who tends to get overlooked when people talk about great in-ring performers.

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118831878#Comment_118831878

Elijah Burke a top star??

He was great and so over as da Pope at the start of his TNA run, but of course TNA had to mess it up

J. Marston

He had a great look, a lot of charisma, a cool finisher (Does anyone use the Elijah Express? They should) and a cracking theme.

CastorTroy

Looking through the women's roster I notice how many seem to have disappeared and just occasionally show up randomly like Shotzi, Xia, Alexa, Aliyah. A couple have more appearances like Doudrop and Nikki. I'm sure they'll be thrown into tag teams at some point. But it does seem the women in the Mania matches are the ones that get attention on a regular basis.

Pentecost

It's strange how they're just doing nothing with Alexa given how much of a focus she was a few months ago. She's solid enough in the ring and obviously looks like a movie star so I'm not sure why they wouldn't make use of her.

J. Marston

Bizarre that she's not doing anything. Fans love her.

CastorTroy

They rushed her back for the Saudi show when they had no further plans for her, especially since they didn't even bother changing her character.

J. Marston

Trish rolling back the years at a house show last night...

Pentecost

Trish still looks incredible. Fair play to her.

Necro

Surely a Becky/Trish match in the works down the road. SummerSlam would be a great time for it.

Itssoeasy

https://youtu.be/TbR_a3SoxcU

35 years ago today at this moment wrestle mania 3 was taking place and this is the opening and even though I’ve watched this so many times, that initial look at the silver dome is iconic. And no I don’t think there was 93,173 there but neither do I believe the 78,000 number that meltzer and others have put out. I say that because the stated capacity for NFL blackout rules by the lions was just short of 81,000 so I don’t see nearly three thousand empty seats. The wwf and the silver dome did put out a press release six days before the event saying it had sold 88,000 tickets which doesn’t sound that off.

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118846956#Comment_118846956

I watched a raw from 2002 last week and Trish was on it. She was incredible looking. Even back in the day I thought she was hot (who didnt) but you could really see it more so when you go back.

Amazing to think 20 years later and she still has it. I reckon every wwe wrestler was looking to get it on with her. But that's something you never heard about.

Ridley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118831878#Comment_118831878

The only thing I didn't like about him was the drag factor of being paired with Sylvester Terkay the Manbearpig. Only found out about his botch reputation long after he was gone from WWE but I don't recall seeing it at the time as opposed to your Sin Caras and such.

Riddle101

Elijah Burke is just one of those wrestlers who I think got lost in the shuffle in TNA when Hogan and Bischoff took over. All of a sudden they brought in their own guys like Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, and Mr Anderson, and started pushing them. Then Robert Roode, Austin Aries and Bully Ray got pushed and before long Burke was an afterthought. I don't know if he had a reputation behind the scenes but it seems to me that politics played a factor.

The White Wolf

I was never really gone on Burke/Pope, he just had that type of charisma that seemed incredibly forced.

I'm a genuine believer that the cream rises if they're committed enough. Just look at LA Knight as a comparison, gave it socks on a free YouTube channel not so long ago, on the same show as Pope and around the same age, and now he's surely about to be a post Mania call up.

CastorTroy

Is Pope still on NWA? Haven't watched in a while.

Blue_Dabadee

It's 10 years ago since WrestleMania 28 happened.

It was one of the those WrestleMania where the road to it was amazing, but the show itself was not all that great.

https://youtu.be/3Jk1MJBYMo8

Itssoeasy

https://youtu.be/iEh0FCYw3Dk

21 years ago today wrestle mania 17 happened and this promo package which I think is one of the best ever played before the main event. I don’t know what people think but I’ve started to think that maybe WM 17 was too high of a summit for wrestling because it’s never been able to get back there, so maybe this event which many see as the end of the attitude era was a double edged sword.

CastorTroy

So this weekend has:

• Friday: Smackdown, RoH, Impact, WWE HoF
• Saturday: NXT, WrestleMania Night 1
• Sunday: Mania Night 2

What other ones? I know some smaller indies have shows but any of the other better known ones like NWA, GCW, MLW?

RollieFingers

Bloodsport was on last night, was decent enough.

NJPW Lonestar Shootout is on too, not getting much coverage but the card looks good. Switchblade against Speedball could be a stomper!

Pentecost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118867117#Comment_118867117

Rampage on tonight too.

J. Marston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118866912#Comment_118866912

Agree. It was the pinnacle of wrestling, nothing will ever touch that again or even come close.

riffmongous

It would be so cool if WWE could use the TNA clip of Scott Steiner claiming 'I'm the greatest tag team of all time' for the Hall of Fame induction (unlikely I know)

https://youtu.be/asnEzU_x6PY?t=723

CastorTroy

I can't find it online to post here, but watching the new NXT Level Up it shows current stars from when they were starting out in NXT alongside images of them now. Like Roman, Becky, Sasha and Seth. And I think you'd be forgiven if you thought they made a mistake with Charlotte.

Agent Coulson

Cody was on a reported $3m a year at AEW so if he gets that with the WWE that's not a bad going

It aslo works out well for AEW now as that $3m a year probably covers the pay of a lot of the new signings who have contracts that let them work elsewhere when not needed by AEW.

B.A._Baracus

While it appears WWE are gushing over Gable Steveson, it appears he has a questionable past.

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/charges-minnesota-wrestlers-alleged-sex-assault-67855516

Accused of rape in 2019. He got off due to lack of evidence. Make of that what you will.

Agent Coulson

Best match of the WM Festival weekend for me was The Briscoes vs FTR.

Awesome seeing Speedball in action so much as well such a pity he lost the last five years of not being able to wrestle in the US.

nazmoalex

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878427#Comment_118878427

Yeah, I watched FTR and Briscoes after night 1 of Mania. Was a good time to watch it, after watching KO and Austin I still had a beer to finish. Didn't see the need for the Bucks to come out at the end, kinda took the shine off it just a little for me. Great match, really enjoyed it, be a shame if the Briscoes just end up on Impact. Be great to see them in Wwe or Aew.

First time to see Bandido properly as well, after watching him, was thinking Bandido vs Pac would be a good match up. There's a tag match with them against each other, must try to find it at some point.

Have you any Bandido matches you could recommend?

J. Marston

So if Cody was an executive, would he know how long is left on contracts and how much people are on in AEW?

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878634#Comment_118878634

Interesting question. You would have to figure he would.

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878427#Comment_118878427

FTR are good. Real good.

They get wrestling. Like, I'm just some jobroni so what do I know, but when you watch them work you can see they're not a pair of guys who have that "let's wrestle at a 100mph and do a million and one things" mentality. They can work.

On that subject I always remember hearing stone cold in tough enough season 1 saying "it's not about the moves" - I didn't understand what he meant at the time and for a long time as well. But over the last few years I think I get it. You see guys like FTR and they totally get it.

Psychology, story telling, the highs and lows of a match, slowing the pace and knowing when to bring it up. Not just going "ok, you give me that 450 then I'll jump up like not a bother then give you a brain buster" etc.

Agent Coulson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878548#Comment_118878548

Bandidio vs. Dragon Lee, Speedball, Ospreay, Black Taurus, RUSH the list goes on a lot of them would be from ROH so should be easy enough to find but PWG, AAA, NJPW ones might be harder to find.

Start with this one against Ospreay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAcRO89Aw30&ab_channel=HighspotsWrestlingNetwork

nazmoalex

Nice one, thanks

Loughc

Steve Austin throws some of the best punches in wrestling.

Riddle101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118881511#Comment_118881511

Always loved him as a brawler, one of the best.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118881511#Comment_118881511

He’s up there with Scott hall who threw amazing punches. Macho man did too. Being able to throw a good punch should be one of the things any wrestler worth their salt should be able to do. I hate the floppy forearms that some wrestlers do. Looks crap.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118881511#Comment_118881511

I forget who it was but someone said Austin threw what Vader wanted.