2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Hard to believe it's been 20 years since that speech.

God, I'm old.

 

It's STILL REAL TO HIM DAMMIT!

 

Wasn't watching WWF at that time as I was into WCW. This summer is also the 20th anniversary of the nWo.

That makes me feel fuckin' old.

 

Yeah, I was more into WCW at that time, too. Better matches on Nitro, and not as many stupid cartoon characters.

 

I've posted about this before, but it's amazing how much the WWF changed in a very short period of time. If you go back and watch the 1997 Royal Rumble, it's like looking through an old high school yearbook. Triple H's character was still evolving from the Blue Blood to the DX version, the Rock was still Rocky Maivia, Austin was right on the cusp of fully taking off, Bret Hart was still a major player, there's tons of oddball characters running around, and Shawn Michaels was a pre-DX babyface champ (managed by Jose Lothario) feuding with Sid.
The Titantron hadn't even been introduced yet, either, so the production values are terrible. They look like an indy show in a high school gym,
Within a year, they had taken a big leap on every single level and most of the iconic wrestlers of the Attitude Era had gotten into position.
All things WWE can be dated pre- and post-Screwjob, but Austin's speech might have been the first step in the whole process.

 

Vince has said that he had wanted to become more edgier sooner, but he couldn't because of his steroid trial.

Austin's speech was really the first Attitude Era thing, although it wasn't really apparent at thst time. '97 was really a weird year because they were stuck between the cartoon-era stuff and the Attitude Era stuff. I remember when HBK turned heel with DX, but was still feuding with the Hart Foundation and being confused as to who I was supposed to root for.

Even if you look at Attitude Era stuff from, like '98-2000, it looks primitive compared to today's production styles. And that era seemed cutting edge compared to the 70s and 80s.

 

Jericho has Nancy Benoit sister on his podcast this week.......powerful and harrowing interview. Mildly surprised WWE didn't try to stop it. I know they don't control Jericho but they could make it harder for him to get guests and stuff,

On topic
It's funny I never watched a minute of WCW until Bret went over. WWF was getting it's ass kicked in the ratings and I was none the wiser. I was in 6th grade when Hogan turned and 4th/5th when he went there with the red and yellow. I vaguely remember my mom asking if I wanted to tape the Hulk Hogan wrestling after the Disney parade and thinking no, WCW isn't real wrestling, mind of an 11 year old in the Northeast.

 

I was that way, too. The first matches I remember seeing were when Backlund was champ. A regional cable channel around Philly would televise shows from the Spectrum. MSG, in its infancy, did the same thing with the Garden shows a few years later. It was weird to see the same matches and finishes a week apart.
Growing up, I'd occasionally see the NWA shows on TBS and it was odd. I had no idea who anyone was or why they were a big deal. It was almost like watching the CFL.
I'd lapsed a bit on watching WWF by 1993 or '94. My second or third year in college, '96ish, I started hanging around with a couple of guys who were into wrestling but were more into WCW. So I switched teams and was all in on that until the end of the Monday Night Wars. After that, watching WWF and coming back to it later on felt just as weird as when I was growing up watching the NWA shows. To this day, I can probably name most of the WCW cruiserweight champs and just have a big memory void on almost anything WWE related from that period, as far as the minor story lines. I don't ever remember seeing the Klique, for example, and couldn't tell you when their heyday was.

 

Observer from June 27:

- Reigns is suspended from June 21 to July 20. It’s unknown when WWE got the test results, and what the violation is for. The move to put the belt on Ambrose was a late decision by Vince, but it’s not unusual for him to do that anyway. By late last week, some people in WWE knew Reigns failed a test, but in the past WWE had been willing to delay imposing a suspension.

- WWE is looking to expand its talent because they’re going live on Smackdown, and Angle, MVP, Carlito and Stevie Richards have all been contacted. Goldberg is also a possibility, as are the Hardys and Rey Mysterio whenever their contracts finish up with TNA and AAA.

- For the Cruiserweight Classic, a preview show will be July 6, followed by the opening round on July 13. It runs weekly until a live two-hour special on Sept. 14, hosted by Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan. The weight limit – 205 pounds – is legit, as they made everyone weigh in.

- Money in the Bank got 79.6 percent thumbs up (164), 20.4 thumbs middle (42), no thumbs down. Best match was Styles vs. Cena (113), MITB (48), Rollins vs. Reigns (43). Worst was the women’s tag (55), Golden Truth vs. FanBreeze (53) and Cobin vs. Dolph (46).

- Lawler’s girlfriend is 27. The King, 66, is suspended until the case is dismissed or he’s found not guilty.

- WWE has a Chinese TV deal for the first time. They and UFC have been trying to crack the market, unsuccessfully, for years.

- Raw did 3.46M viewers, its best rating since the post-Mania show.

- Moose is done in ROH around the end of July. His contract expired on June 19, and he’ll undergo WWE medical testing and likely start in September.

- Roderick Strong has been quiet about where he’s going, but he’s also likely done with ROH. Unknown if he’s bound for WWE or somewhere else.

- TNA will be taping July 12, 13 and 14, and Aug. 11, 12, 13 and 14.

- TNA has re-signed Abyss, Rosemary, DJZ, Rockstar Spud, Trevor Lee and Al Snow to exclusive deals. Also signed was Chelsea Smith, a trainee of Lance Storm who was on Tough Enough.

 

Stevie Richards has to be the most random name in that list ever.

 

Bring back the Blue World Order!

 

Surprised they actually did reference Roman's suspension. Guess there was no way around it, since he's going to miss the entire build for the match. Now do they actually add Cena and AJ?