2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Let me play devil's advocate on that point - Why bother programming toward kids *at all*? At least IIRC, when I was a kid, my allegiances switched pretty quickly from Hulk Hogan to the Ultimate Warrior, then back to Hogan, and then to Bret Hart and Stone Cold as time went on. When Hogan went heel, I booed the fuck out of him and cheered for Flair, a guy I hadn't liked up until that point.

Why is the WWE trying hard to placate kids and casual viewers, when they'll just go along with what they do anyway? Yes, I'm positive that merchandise sales would be down momentarily if they turned Cena or Reigns. But I think having storylines that make more sense, and have the crowd reaction to go with them, would help sales even more than force-feeding 1/4 to 3/4 of the audience, depending on where the show is.

 

Because all the smark-baiting promotions have been huge commercial successes?

 

Which ones? WCW with Russo flamed out, but I'd argue that during and since that time, Russo has kind of proven that he's a fucking nut and wasn't exactly reading the audience correctly. ECW did OK for a couple years, but 1) featured shit that wasn't ever going to get clearance regularly on cable TV and 2) Heyman wasn't much for long-term planning ability, since he was always robbing Peter to pay Paul. TNA floundered because it basically just did WWE angles six months after WWE did them with former WWE wrestlers.

 

ECW and Ring of Honor are about as well as one could expect to do catering to a smark base.

That's pretty good, but it's not WWE. In fact, one might argue the entire smark movement is driven solely by being anti-WWE, no matter what that may be at any given time.

Basically, smarks = hipsters.

 

Blackjack Mulligan passes away

RIP to a legend in this industry.

 

Meanwhile, the Vaudevillains debuted on Smackdown tonight. I did not see it and I would very much like for one of my favorite tag teams of all time to get over and be an immense hit but I know they'll get The Ascension/Tyler Breeze treatment.

 

Will they stream the autopsy on the Network, but have a big red X over the corpse?

 

This is terrible, and I laughed my ass off. I always hated that stupid red X.

I only saw him at the end of his career during his last run with the WWF in 86-87, but he used to get some really big fan pops. RIP

 

Well the majority of the chant you said you're good with are the ones I was talking about so I guess we agree. The other stuff is so rare that it just doesn't bother me.

I didn't love Joe when he showed up on NXT but he's grown on me over the last few months since London. He could be the real heel they need. AJ I never saw before the Rumble and I have to admit he is great.

 

Are you confusing Mulligan with Outlaw Ron Bass (who took the spurs to Beefcake's head in the incident that led to the big red X), or was Blackjack in a WWF incident I totally forgot about?

 

Bass' incident did have the X, but the E had used the X during the late 70s and early 80s as well. I'd hazard a guess that maybe Mulligan was a part of one incident.

One other Mulligan story comes to mind. In the 70s at the Boston Garden, fans used to be so violent that a net was put up over the ring to catch thrown objects (must have been quite a visual). Anyhoo, during a match, A fan got in the ring (no barriers back then) and stabbed Mulligan in the leg with a knife that had been put in pig fat to cause an infection. Mulligan nearly lost his leg.

 

Now that I've had some time to get back home, unpack and decompress, thought I'd share some more in-person experiences with WrestleMania and Raw.

One quick note after rewatching NXT is about this Nakamura cat: If he wears purple he's like a Japanese version of Prince if Prince was a rassler. Oww.

Part of the travel package included taking a bus to Arlington, considering we stayed in downtown Dallas. If you haven't been to the area, I'd guess it's a 10-mile trip or so. AT&T Stadium is technically between Dallas and Arlington. But what a nightmare. Jerry put his cavern in the middle of a dumpy suburb of Arlington. Lot of two-lane roads around, which meant long lines of vehicles and gridlock at light-controlled intersections. The organization of the buses were a mess, too.

It was a long, long day. Left the hotel at 2 p.m., didn't get back until nearly 3 a.m. Getting into the stadium was a mess, but I was fortunate I wasn't on the floor. The levels of security were absurd. The first security check was at the outer gates, bag check and wanding. The next level was the ticket scan. Then once inside, I had to do another ticket scan to get to the lower level, the AT&T Star Club. Had I been on the floor, I would have gone through another ticket check and be required to get a wristband, which was apparently ended because staff couldn't work fast enough.

The gates opened at 3:45, I got inside after 4:15, got to the lower level around 5 after figuring out I needed to be on the other side of the stadium (and I couldn't cross anywhere). Once there, I got some grub .... $30 for a hot dog, fries, a soft drink in the collectible cup. After eating, it was almost 6, so I missed the entire preshow. There were monitors all around so I could catch a glimpse of the action, but it was best to keep your eyes on where you were going in that mass of human markery. I did get to watch the new Women's Championship reveal while eating a $13 hot dog in the Star Club lounge.

Walking into the stadium took my breath away. The place is amazingly big, and I was overwhelmed that I was at WM, too. I was also shocked at how great my seat was: row 7 of the lower level at midfield. The ring was right in front of me, and I was across from the hard cameras.

The IC ladder match was a great spotfest, and although I've never been a big mark for Long Island Iced Z I found myself popping like crazy at the finish because it was so out of left field. I thought the belt would be used to further the Owens/Zayn feud. It still could be, but not on that night.

Jericho v Styles was a good wrestling match, but some of the crowd got distracted near the end because production crew was starting to build the giant box of BootyOs (BootyOs: They make sure you ain't booty!), which was a pretty good indication of what was coming next.

But the Costco-sized BootyOs were fantastically absurd, as was The New Day's gear, which I thought was supposed to be the White Tiger Power Ranger (and don't shorten that description to the White Power Ranger, brother). The match was fine, but the reason any if it mattered was to set up a Legends spot. HBShizzle got a great pop, Foley got a good one, but the marks lost their gahddamn minds for the Rattlesnake, bro, and that's a shoot.

Lesnar v Ambrose ... Well, we started off really excited hoping we'd see a more brutal match, that they'd loosen the restraints just a little since it was WM and Lesnar. Well fuuuuuck that, bro. Even some of the big Lesnar marks around expressed sentiments that Lesnar's schtick is getting tired and it's got to change. The whole suplex/F-5 2-move matches is stale. The crowd was keeping up because the giant JerryTron kept count for us. It was just so underwhelming. Kendo sticks and chairs are done on Raw. Maybe they were told not to outshine the Shane v Undertaker match. But no crowbar, no bat, no handcuffs, no stairs. I didn't expect Barbie to do a lot of damage. I didn't expect the chainsaw to be used (maybe someone gets hit in the head with the heavy motor/handgrip part). But the crowd was flat for the finish. I think it played better viewed on TV, but live it was meh.

We were fucking into the Women's match. Other than a few missed spots, it was maj. We sang Becky's song, Sasha marks marked out for her and Snoopy, Charlotte and Ric got good heel heat. Some things didn't play to the live crowd, like noticing that Sasha's gear had an Eddie influence or that Charlotte's robe was made from Ric's WM24 robe. So the commentary team does serve a purpose at times, Maggle! Sasha's botch didn't look as bad live from my angle, but it looked much worse on TV. Charlotte pulling out some high spots worked with the crowd, but again the JerryTron came into play when we were prompted to do the Flair Wooooo every single time she locked in the Figure 8. The E can't let it be organic and stop forcing shit! The crowd sounded evenly split between Sasha and Becky, but I figured Charlotte would retain as soon as I saw the new title. It's the right corporate move for WWE. Sasha is definitely the biggest smark favorite (and having a famous relative doesn't hurt) but she's still too much of an unknown. Becky got the white-meat, babyface, underdog role months back, making her the logical choice to go over in any other situation. But Charlotte and Ric are a package deal to flaunt in the mainstream media when it comes to showcasing the new Women's Championship and putting someone in the record books as the first in a new title lineage. (I'm biased as fuck because I flirted with a beautiful woman the day before, but Becky was the workhorse of that match. She needs a good title run eventually. She's the complete package: strong in the ring, improving mic skills, a great look and gimmick with the steampunk stuff.)

The Andre stuff was meh. It was cool to see Shaq just for a celebrity cameo.

Shane v Undertaker was better than expected, but predictible. Wasn't surprised that Shane went up top and eventually lost. Undertaker looked fat even from where I was sitting, but it was nice to see that classic entrance. Last time I saw him live he was the American Bad Ass. Still, the Shane spot was impressive in person. It's one thing to see that kind of high spot on TV, but to see a man throw his body from that high up in person made me a little queasy. I hate climbing a ladder to change a light bulb, so what do I know?

It didn't feel like Rock went too long live. It was his usual schmutz, but it was fun for what it was.

The main event: Steph couldn't get heel heat in that outfit unless she skinned a puppy alive. Those skull people were crrreeeeeepppy. Another great entrance by Triple H. Roman's gear continues to get more repug: now his wrist gauntlet things have padding. Trips was kind of working face in the first half of the match, give or take, while Roman seemed to be allowing a little attitude to come across. If he keeps playing things the way he did on Sunday and Monday, Vince would have a super hot heel to have a babyface chase. Guess that's why AJ is the no. 1 contender now.

Naturally, Roman got booed out of the building. Not sure how it played on TV and if the crowd mics were muted, as it's the last match I haven't had time to rewatch.

I guess the only other interesting things to note, if I haven't already is some of the stuff around Axxess. It's a clusterfuck but still fun. I was glad to see a lot of Sting's outfits, some classic titles like Triple H's first WWF title and Stone Cold's smoking skull belt. The WCW adjace world title was there with the Sting gear.

If you go, hit the Superstore as quickly as possible. It's the only place that carries everything. At NXT it's mostly NXT gear, at HOF it's Legends gear, at WM it's WM grar and stuff for the main eventers only. By Raw it's whatever is left over. Folks were buying 2 or 3 replica title belts. One dude walked away with 4. Those things ain't cheap. I was disappointed to miss out on a few things, which were the big sellers considering they were always out everywhere I looked: WM exclusive gear, New Day BootyOs shirts in the faux cereal box, Shane O Mac gear, Balor Club gear, Sasha gear, Becky gear. I saw one peckerhead in a Roman Reigns vest, now available at the online shop. It's repug.

So .... Who wants to go to Orlando?