Random Wrasslin' thoughts.....

veganrun

Seeing they are hinting at Steph and HHH v Rock and Ronda Rousey for WM32, what do you think they will do with Lesnar next year?

Ruu

I wish more wrestlers wore their title belts around their waist. When was the last time, title winner got the belt put on by the referee?

rovert

Ruu wrote: »

I wish more wrestlers wore their title belts around their waist. When was the last time, title winner got the belt put on by the referee?

They are Championships not belts :P

Omackeral

rovert wrote: »

They are Championships not belts :P

I thought they were 'straps'?

Ruu

rovert wrote: »

They are Championships not belts :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HxA4SPKzxc

Don't listen to the UFC lad, kid is right.

Lithium93_

Personally i prefer when a wrestler has the championship on their shoulder.

Chip Whitley

I think Botchamania WM31 Edition may be slim pickings. Off the top of my head I don't remember any big ones. Although the 'Everybody Talks Too Much' segment should have a field day.

Lord TSC

veganrun wrote: »

Seeing they are hinting at Steph and HHH v Rock and Ronda Rousey for WM32, what do you think they will do with Lesnar next year?

Ideally, from a story point of view, I'd like Taker again; if the discussions of Taker's retirement are true, a rematch in his home state would be a great send off. The only man to beat him at Mania, one last chance to right the biggest wrong....just think a story is too good a chance to pass up myself.

leggo

Lord TSC wrote: »

Ideally, from a story point of view, I'd like Taker again; if the discussions of Taker's retirement are true, a rematch in his home state would be a great send off. The only man to beat him at Mania, one last chance to right the biggest wrong....just think a story is too good a chance to pass up myself.

Not if Brock has signed a three-year deal, then he's losing to a guy who's finished. If Brock wins again you've achieved nothing and if Taker wins you've beat the unbeatable for no net gain. You book thinking forwards, not backwards. Sting would be better than that, cus it doesn't hurt anyone for Taker to win then.

Lord TSC

leggo wrote: »

Not if Brock has signed a three-year deal, then he's losing to a guy who's finished. If Brock wins again you've achieved nothing and if Taker wins you've beat the unbeatable for no net gain. You book thinking forwards, not backwards. Sting would be better than that, cus it doesn't hurt anyone for Taker to win then.

I would honestly feel Brock is the type of guy who would regain anything he lost the night after Mania anyway. Even if you think losing to Taker in a retirement match at Mania would cost him anything (and personally, I don't), he'd regain it all the next night by doing what he did this week.

Could also have Brock win, but have him more "face-ish" (which seems to be where they are going right now anyway), and have him shake Taker's hand after the match. Even with a loss, I'd have a handshake or some show of respect. From a story point of view, either result would be a proper Mania moment.

token101

veganrun wrote: »

Seeing they are hinting at Steph and HHH v Rock and Ronda Rousey for WM32, what do you think they will do with Lesnar next year?

I get it from a media/marketing POV and it makes total sense but as a wrestling fan, a mixed tag team match with a guy he's wrestled a million times sounds **** to be honest. If you're going to get The Rock in, you could get him against someone who needs a boost. Rusev & Lana would be much better if they want to go the mixed tag road; a fresh match against a monster, Anti-American bad guy. Even Cesaro & some annoying diva would be better than HHH & Steph. Really random one, but I'd actually much prefer to see HHH & Kevin Owens in a street fight! Just the two of them kicking the **** out of each other in a Texas Death Match with HHH as the good guy. Have Owens come in and be a complete nutjob taking out Shawn, etc. I think it could be awesome personally!

I'd love to see Brock & Rollins as next year's main event. Keep Rollins as champ for the entire year, constantly scraping through and cheating and then have him get beat next year.

Loughc

token101 wrote: »

Really random one, but I'd actually much prefer to see HHH & Kevin Owens in a street fight! Just the two of them kicking the **** out of each other in a Texas Death Match with HHH as the good guy. Have Owens come in and be a complete nutjob taking out Shawn, etc. I think it could be awesome personally!

I'd love to see Brock & Rollins as next year's main event. Keep Rollins as champ for the entire year, constantly scraping through and cheating and then have him get beat next year.

I refer you to HHH/Lesnar Street Fight and Lesnar had taken out HBK as well. It's been done, HHH makes a lousy face as well. Plus you'd worry he'd put himself over Owens.

Let Owens build a fresh feud, ideally I'd love to see another chapter of the Zayn/Owens feud at WM.

If your idea of keeping Rollins the champ by scraping and cheating his way to safety just imagine how weak we'd be positioned against Lesnar.

There's no draw when you assume Lesnar is easily going to win.

leggo

Loughc wrote: »

If your idea of keeping Rollins the champ by scraping and cheating his way to safety just imagine how weak we'd be positioned against Lesnar.

There's no draw when you assume Lesnar is easily going to win.

I dunno, the cheating, snide, arrogant heel role is the one that's traditionally drawn the most money for wrestling, when done correctly. Flair did alright with it, like. That was the fun thing about Flair matches: he'd flip the narrative on its head and spend 90% of it getting beaten up, then cheating the other 10%, and then get a dirty win that'd piss people off. You should want to see Rollins get his arse kicked by Lesnar eventually. That genuine emotional willingness is a much more effective sell than intrigue about who will win. Situations around the latter are more fun to discuss, but people don't yell "Take my money!" for that either.

briany

Maybe this thought is worthy of it's own thread but it might come off as a bit of a rant,

In wrestling today, more than ever, there's less thought given to the concept of 'why would a guy...' or 'why wouldn't a guy', or as Kevin Nash says, 'think shoot, but make it a work'. A lot of spots in wrestling don't make logical sense, and matches that become spotfests are entertaining but do little to really involve anyone. They're a lot of effort for a shallow payoff. Say what you want about wrestling and kayfabe being dead, but when two (or more) guys are doing it right, it'll make you forget. Like any well acted live fiction, I suppose. It's why the Lesnar/Reigns match was so intriguing. Proper psychology is the only thing that makes a match good and I don't care if the wrestlers involved only have to use two moves to achieve it.

diusmr8a504cvk

I don't see Neville going anywhere but the midcard, no star power unlike the other guys who are waiting for the callup like Zayn, Balór, Owens etc. Sorry if I'm being a downer but I see him being the next RVD minus the title run.... And the weed.

briany

Taylor Gray Physician wrote: »

I don't see Neville going anywhere but the midcard, no star power unlike the other guys who are waiting for the callup like Zayn, Balór, Owens etc. Sorry if I'm being a downer but I see him being the next RVD minus the title run.... And the weed.

Here's the thing about coming from NXT : In NXT, wrestlers are given a chance to do their stuff. They're also playing to a very sympathetic audience. Therefore I worry for any NXTer coming up because those are two things that are pretty much stripped away, and that includes Bálor and Owens. It should be enough that you're good, but there's all the politics to contend with. Does Vince like you? Does Dunn like you? Can your face sell merch? Look at Owens. Guy's great and everything but until he gets rid of the paunch, I don't see WWE getting behind him as a top face of the company. It's not really been since Mick Foley where WWE have had an 'out of shape' (not cut and jacked) guy as a marquee name or champion. Maybe Rikishi at his absolute height was a marquee name but never a champ.

Back on the subject of Neville, I haven't seen too much of the guy work, but being that his moniker is 'The man that gravity forgot', I'm assuming he's a bit of a high flyer. To be honest, I find high flying the most boring style of wrestling there is because it's the one that typically is the most bereft of psychology. If he's hoping to get over mainly on the power of that, he'll have trouble surpassing even the Mexican flippy lads.

DM_7

Not everyone can be a top guy and when Pac/Neville was signed nobody expected him to be one.

He does have the ability to do really well and be a mysterio type guy who provides important variety.

On the other NXT guys Owens is the stand out for everything but his look. Balor has the look and Zayn is the best all rounder. They will have a lot to contend with for sure.

Not sure about anyone needing to look amazing to be a face of the company. Miz, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan all won the WWE title and none had an unattainable physique.

gerrybbadd

Briany, have you ever seen Neville's matches vs Sami Zayn in NXT? If not, do yourself a favour, they're awesome, and we'll worth catching.

Although he is a high flyer, he can wrestle too, and perform with his feet on the mat. He showed some nice heelish streaks too in the past while NXT champ.

I think one of his main downsides is the accent (and shortness) although, this seems to have softened lately

diusmr8a504cvk

briany wrote: »

Does Dunn like you?

I totally agree. For those of you who haven't seen Jim Cornette's rants about Kevin Dunn I highly recommend you watch these two videos as they are pure gold. I adore Corny

diusmr8a504cvk

It would be very hard to push a guy like Kevin Owens considering he's not muscular and wears a t-shirt, but he does sell merch in fairness as does Balór and unfortunately all of Zayn's merch is sh*t which means he doesn't sell a lot of merch.

Cianan2

On the NXT guys, I'm pretty sure Neville will be fine. Look at the Wrestlemania card; Sting vs HHH was the only match not to feature somebody from NXT

diusmr8a504cvk

Cianan2 wrote: »

On the NXT guys, I'm pretty sure Neville will be fine. Look at the Wrestlemania card; Sting vs HHH was the only match not to feature somebody from NXT

Oh we know he'll be fine as he's too good of a talent to be in a low card position, but will the mid-card be his peak? I wish Fandango was in the mid-card, I prefer his old gimmick to his new Tango gimmick and I especially like his finisher.

Itssoeasy

On the Kevin Dunn thing, does anyone like him ? And vince is the promoter and boss not kevin Dunn.

diusmr8a504cvk

Itssoeasy wrote: »

On the Kevin Dunn thing, does anyone like him ? And vince is the promoter and boss not kevin Dunn.

The thing is that other than the people in the business, nobody knows about him so we can't really form an opinion. Jim is usually right though. What do all of you think of Cornette?

leggo

Taylor Gray Physician wrote: »

The thing is that other than the people in the business, nobody knows about him so we can't really form an opinion. Jim is usually right though. What do all of you think of Cornette?

He's fun but sounds like a dinosaur pining for the way things were. Wrestling would be awful with him at the helm of the main promotion. The likes of him and JR, and even Stone Cold Steve Austin to a degree, have failed to adapt to the changes of the world that have necessitated the changes in WWE, and their lack of understanding of this hurts otherwise solid points they make.

diusmr8a504cvk

One thing I will say is that he could be talking about Yoghurt and still somehow manage to mention Jim Crockett Promotions!

briany

Taylor Gray Physician wrote: »

The thing is that other than the people in the business, nobody knows about him so we can't really form an opinion. Jim is usually right though. What do all of you think of Cornette?

Cornette can be hilarious and has a ton of great stories from the old days, but he can really go off on one, too. He is about 5 good Russo rants from a serious cardiac event.

Griever931

I used to to think that Cornette's rants were funny but they got tiresome for me after a while. He was the booker of ROH when I first started watching it and with the exception of Steen I didn't have much interest in what was going on at the time. The Hell Rising interview Steen did pretty much summarised what I felt about Cornette's booking of ROH.

Mr.Nice Guy

I'm a Jim Cornette guy. I think he's hilarious. I wish I could remember some of his one-liners to throw into my own conversations.

leggo wrote:

He's fun but sounds like a dinosaur pining for the way things were. Wrestling would be awful with him at the helm of the main promotion. The likes of him and JR, and even Stone Cold Steve Austin to a degree, have failed to adapt to the changes of the world that have necessitated the changes in WWE, and their lack of understanding of this hurts otherwise solid points they make.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. What changes have happened in the world to necessitate the changes to the current product? I would say the core values of the wrestling industry are pretty timeless.

briany

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I'm a Jim Cornette guy. I think he's hilarious. I wish I could remember some of his one-liners to throw into my own conversations.



I'm not sure what you mean by this. What changes have happened in the world to necessitate the changes to the current product? I would say the core values of the wrestling industry are pretty timeless.

Here's Corny talking about the death of wrestling, that it's over, it's kaput, it's on it's last legs. Sometimes he ignores the reality of the situation to get on a rant, I feel. One of his main points is that without kayfabe, wrestling doesn't work and that's pretty far off the mark to me, because we know that every play, every movie and TV show is a work but it doesn't make us any less emotionally invested if it's played right. Following on from that is the idea that MMA is taking over from wrestling as the fighting sport of the unwashed masses, but that ignores that an MMA bout could be over in less than a minute. The beauty of wrestling is that it's a story with twists and turns, and maybe most importantly you can make the card as long or short as you want and let the fans get drunk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8fEFDl7y4Q