The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Now who saw this coming...

TNA are considering reuniting the New World Order. On Twitter, Kevin Nash teased "might see PAC Hogan Hall and Nash on tna together real soon". Nash recently had a talk with Scott Hall & said that he sounded great.

To think, we actually joked about this a few pages back.

The good thing is WWE own the rights to NWO so they would have to come up with another name but seriously i don't think anyone really wants to see them back together, they would suck TNA dry.

[Zellery]

I thought Scott Hall was in the worst shape of his life?

[Return_of_the_STAR]

I thought Scott Hall was in the worst shape of his life?

To be fair all he needs to do is stagger around in the background playing with his greasy hair and chewing on a toothpick.

[KK]

So, that's two storylines temporarily set. TNA kicks off the year with the Millionaires Club/New Blood angle, & follows that up with the 900th attempt at the nWo.

Meanwhile, also on Twitter...

I’m really offended right now with the WWE making jokes about your weight. I really worry about girls who watch wrestling, see this kind of thing, and fall victim to hating their bodies. Because honey, if you’re not a perfect 10, I’ve never seen one. Why are they letting this charade happen?

Awe! Thank you, sweetie. And I agree. I think the example being set is pathetic. Giving the youth a warped perception of beauty. After all… one has to love themselves first. Society makes that hard. No worries. I love myself and my body. 130 is hardly fat.

[Floex]

Now who saw this coming...

TNA are considering reuniting the New World Order. On Twitter, Kevin Nash teased "might see PAC Hogan Hall and Nash on tna together real soon". Nash recently had a talk with Scott Hall & said that he sounded great.

To think, we actually joked about this a few pages back.

Bar Pac, none of them can wrestle. WCW all over again, mark my words. Enjoy AJ, Daniels and Joe while you can because these guys are going to get shitted on

[KK]

According to the Wrestling Observer, Kevin Nash wants to bring in Mark Madden to TNA. He's since posted this on his Twitter account:

just found out i wanted Taz out and madden in. let me see dave meltzer. nash's christmas wish list.....more money for me, more money for me.

I strawberry floating hated Madden.

[Jam-Master Jay]

Urgh!

[Floex]

Too right, egotistical loud mouth. Always used to skip his columns in WCW Magazine too. Since we're on the issue, really liking the commentary of Taz and Mike Tenay. They seem to gel well and have a laugh at the same time

[KK]

Madden's latest wrestling column does raise some relevant points, however.

Critics, including Eric Bischoff, have disparaged WWE TV for being too robotic; for example, every interview segment is shot in similar fashion, with the camera zooming in at precisely the key moment every time. The result is a paint-by-numbers, cookie-cutter feel.

Guilty as charged. But it doesn’t stop there. WWE TV is extremely overscripted. So is TNA.

Performers can’t ad-lib during promos, thereby keeping them from exacerbating crowd heat if it builds early, or laying back if it doesn’t seem to be coming soon enough. Performers can’t read the crowd during a match and react accordingly. They have to get from Point A to Point B as laid out.

Robotic is a good word. It takes the show out of the hands of the performers – the draws – and gives it to the scriptwriters. Stephanie McMahon and Brian Gewirtz steer the ship, not John Cena and Batista.

Some performers do have X amount of freedom. Chris Jericho re-scripts his promos, which is why they stand out. Triple H obviously has carte blanche, and no one is going to tell Undertaker or Shawn Michaels what to do. Just about everyone else is subject to the post-improvisational backstage hissy fit and subsequent de-emphasis.

That’s why most WWE promos are in the same voice. Listen close, and you can hear a lot of the same words and phraseology crop up. It’s so subtle it’s subliminal, which is potentially more damaging/boring. It’s like hearing one long interview by the same person. It’s best to give wrestlers key issues a promo should cover, then let him come up with something in his own voice. Imagine if Ric Flair hadn’t been allowed to sound like Ric Flair.

Actually, you don’t have to imagine. Just listen to Flair’s WWE mic work. WWE mostly scripted Flair’s interviews word-for-word. WWE didn’t trust the greatest stick man of all time. Oh, they included all his catchphrases and watchwords. But listen, really LISTEN, to Flair’s WWE promos. Said catchphrases and watchwords often sound forced and out-of-context. The promos were scripted, and poorly so.

It’s petty, it’s controlling and it’s counterproductive. Which is to say: It’s typical WWE.

Imagine if Hulk Hogan and The Rock hadn’t gone off the reservation at WrestleMania X8 when the Toronto crowd cheered Hogan, the heel. That match would have been a disaster. But two experienced hands knew just what to do, and the result was a ‘Mania classic if not a great match. (Actually, one of the experienced hands REALLY knew just what to do, much to the chagrin of the other. But it worked.)

The late Brian Pillman was one of the best ever at changing promos mid-stream. I remember one ECW interview Pillman ran by me, and it was good, but when I saw it executed on TV he ad-libbed like crazy, getting personal with the audience and calling them a bunch of “smart marks” before going back to the promo’s planned ending and threatening to urinate in the middle of ECW’s ring.

When I talked to Brian after he said, “I was getting that ‘cool heel’ vibe, and that’s not what I wanted, so I had to find a way to make them hate me.” Fair enough, and mission accomplished.

The best part about wrestling used to be, you never knew what was going to happen.

Now, you always know. Not just “smart marks” like me, either. Wrestling is in the middle of a very predictable period, with no surprises, let alone money-drawing ones. When few people have input, the possibilities dwindle. When wrestling is booked properly – when a booker provides framework, and performers who understand their own characters fine-tune with a degree of positive emotional investment, when not everything comes from the same mind and the same voice – that’s when it’s less trite, more fun to watch, and more fun to do. How could anyone possibly disagree?

Besides power-mad, insecure control freaks, that is.

KUDOS TO THE KING

Jerry Lawler spoke for non-anorexics everywhere when he said on WWE’s TLC PPV that anyone who thinks Mickie James is fat should have their eyes examined. Either Mickie wouldn’t sleep with someone, or slept with the wrong person, so WWE has decided to tease Mickie for perceived obesity. If they want to embarrass her, they should just show her old porno pictures.

Mickie James is NOT fat. If anything, she exemplifies a rather sexy phenomenon many refer to as a “bubble ass.” Her behind is big, but not at “baby got back” levels. It’s about a size larger than the rest of her body, and that is HOT. (See Presley, Teagan.)

At least Mickie looks a little different. That’s the problem with WWE divas. They’re all gorgeous, but WWE does very little to distinguish one from the other. I watch WWE TV all the time, but when a diva is on-screen, I’m often stuck for her name. That’s because of similar appearance, and lack of character development as well. As beautiful as, say, Kelly Kelly is, how much have we really been told about her?

I feel bad for James. That “Piggie James” nonsense doesn’t draw a dime. It doesn’t sell a ticket or a T-shirt. It’s cruelty for the sake of cruelty. It’s also extremely hypocritical when great production pains were taken, post-pregnancy, to not show Stephanie McMahon’s great big butt on TV. You want to call James a fatass? Fine. Say the same about the owner’s daughter. Keys to the kingdom aside, I know which one most men would rather nail.

[Drumstick]

He's the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be, baby.

[KK]

For a paltry $3.95 every month (no sub) every single Raw from 1993 to 1995 is available on WWE.com in their entirity. Most are under 40 minutes.

[gaminglegend]

For a paltry $3.95 every month (no sub) every single Raw from 1993 to 1995 is available on WWE.com in their entirity. Most are under 40 minutes.

I've been hugely tempted to do this for a long time now, just have never got round to it

[gaminglegend]

Does anyone know if Hart can wrestle legally? KKLEIN mentioned about his payout before, at most I think Hart will talk/punch/interfere.

No in a nutshell he has to return 1.2 million dollars to his insurance company if he does. But I'm sure theres legal loopholes besides the option of paying it off

[KK]

But would he or the WWE be able to get insurance? If something were to happen in his condition, it'd be catastrophic.

I'm not sure if there's a set period that he can no longer wrestle or whether it's an agreement with Lloyds that stands forever. He took them to court over it, along with some other unpaid fees.

[sw26]

Now who saw this coming...

TNA are considering reuniting the New World Order. On Twitter, Kevin Nash teased "might see PAC Hogan Hall and Nash on tna together real soon". Nash recently had a talk with Scott Hall & said that he sounded great.

To think, we actually joked about this a few pages back.

I'm not sure whether this is legit or not actually. I'm sure it was the Wrestlecrap boards where I read that Nash has a history of baiting the smarks and dirt sheets and there's a significant possibility that this kind of thing could be an example of it.

I certainly wouldn't be too enamoured with seeing yet another nWo reunion and unless TNA are incredibly naive you have to believe that they must have looked at the numerous rehashes and realised that not a single one of them was as successful as the original run. Maybe I'm just giving them too much credit.

[sw26]

Here's an interesting find I noticed posted on the Wrestlecrap boards:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xai7f2 ... shortfilms

It's a dark match from Raw in 2001, Shelton Benjamin and Brock Lesnar v Two Jobbers.

Shelton's 450 -
Brock's SSP -

[Ginga]

But would he or the WWE be able to get insurance? If something were to happen in his condition, it'd be catastrophic.

I'm not sure if there's a set period that he can no longer wrestle or whether it's an agreement with Lloyds that stands forever. He took them to court over it, along with some other unpaid fees.

Well, Michael Jackson managed to get insurance for the This Is It tour...

Maybe not on the same scale but someone would be willing to insure him. If there was a plan for Bret to fight then everything would have been worked out before he signed.

[Rog]

Seen as it's christmas it's time for some bonus action and seen as TNA are having a PPV this Sunday we're straying off our usual WWE only path for one night only. Seriously this is your one and only TNA round so make the most of it. Having people watch TNA for GRAPL more than once is too much for my conscience. Same rules for usual rounds except because this is a surprise to some (who can't read my many hints ) the deadline is midnight Sunday, except for Zellery who's deadline remains the same.

TNA: Final Resolution
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Daniels vs champion "The Phenomenally wooden" AJ Styles
Winner (worth double)

THREE DEGREES OF PAIN
Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle
Winner (worth double):

LAST MAN STANDING MATCH
Bobby Lashley vs. Scott Steiner ( at this match, ripe for disaster)
Winner:

CHALLENGE MATCH (The challenge is to make it through the match awake amiright?)
Raven & Dr. Stevie vs. Mick Foley & Abyss
Winners:

TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
Mtoro City Machine Guns vs. champions British Invasion
Winners:

KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH
Tara vs. champion ODB
Winner:

FEAST OR FIRED MATCH*
Winner of Heavyweight title shot:
Winner of X-Division title shot:
Winner of Tag title shot:
Fired:

8 MAN ELIMINATION
Team 3D, Rhino and Jesse Neal vs, Pope, Matt Morgan, Hernandez and Suicide
Winning team:
Survivor**:

*Feast or fired is a ridiculous match type featuring a lot of participants. Four cases in the corners, they should have one for each corner but they have a retarded ring. 3 of the cases contain titles shots and the last one is a pink slip meaning that person gets fired. They pretty much stole money in the bank but made it stupidly OTT to seem better.

**It's singular for a reason.

[Cuttooth]

Random question time. Why didn't Undertaker appear on the Owen Hart Raw tribute?

I think it is because they thought it would be in poor taste to have an Undertaker character appear on a show commemorating a dead wrestler. And he didn't appear as a normal person so as not to break his gimmick, which until that point he hadn't (I don't think).

Always read he was with the Hart family at the time.

[E-Man]

I know strawberry float all about TNA.

TNA: Final Resolution
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Daniels vs champion "The Phenomenally wooden" AJ Styles
Winner (worth double): AJ Styles

THREE DEGREES OF PAIN
Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle
Winner (worth double): Desmond Wolfe

LAST MAN STANDING MATCH
Bobby Lashley vs. Scott Steiner ( at this match, ripe for disaster)
Winner: Bobby Lashley

CHALLENGE MATCH (The challenge is to make it through the match awake amiright?)
Raven & Dr. Stevie vs. Mick Foley & Abyss
Winners: Mick Foley & Abyss

TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
Mtoro City Machine Guns vs. champions British Invasion
Winners: British Invasion

KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH
Tara vs. champion ODB
Winner: Tara

FEAST OR FIRED MATCH
Winner of Heavyweight title shot: Samoa Joe
Winner of X-Division title shot: Jay Lethal
Winner of Tag title shot: Kevin Nash
Fired: Eric Young

8 MAN ELIMINATION
Team 3D, Rhino and Jesse Neal vs, Pope, Matt Morgan, Hernandez and Suicide
Winning team: Team 3D, Rhino and Jesse Neal
Survivor**: Rhino