2023 Pro Wrestling Thread

MJF doing cheesy comedy is the best.

 

OK, so the Usos on SmackDown referencing who had their vote as tribal chief, is that going to be long-term booking for The Rock?

 

Well, consider who owned the company …

 

It's real to me, damn it!

 

S

I think it was a plant for dissension between Roman and Solo but Rock is still sort of hovering over all this.

If he’s never part of the story at all it’ll be one of wrestlings great all-times what if. Altho I will say in retrospect, thus far, its been better without him

 

Sometimes I look at Jey in particular and see the facial resemblance to the Rock. I wonder if they would ever give him a makeover to emphasize his resemblance to the Rock, even have him use a couple of the old catch phrases.

 

I was thinking if The Rock was involved, it would have to be the absolute, final chapter of the Bloodline story. That’s it, no more. If Roman wants to start his Cena/Rock/Batista run in TV and movies after that, perfect.

 

Has there ever been a long-term story like this, where they've found ways to feature and build it every week for three years?
The nWo maybe? That started in May 1996 and didn't really start to run on fumes until late 1998.
The HBK-Undertaker-Triple H Wrestlemania series of matches was a great five-year story, but they only told it a few months a year during that stretch.
The Hogan-Macho Man feud that stretched from about 1987-89, across two or three Wrestlemanias?
I'm too young to remember the Sammartin0-Zbysko feud in the 1970s, but I think I've read that that was teased out for a long time.
The Lana-Rusev-Lashley angle only felt like it lasted five years, so I know that isn't it.

The Bloodline is about to hit three years (it started at Summerslam 2020 when Roman returned and turned heel) and doesn't seem close to wrapping up. Even if Jey beats Roman for the title, it just changes the dynamic and leads into another intriguing chapter of the story.

 

In short, no.

Stretching….. maybe Austin McMahon? Ran from Mike Tyson (January 98) until past the Invasion in 2001? With a lot of twists and turns, stops and starts and Austins neck surgery tho

Mixing Kayfabe and real life maybe Bret and Shawn? From Survivor Series 92 (1v1) and 93 (HBK fills in for Lawler) to 97?

 

Bret and Shawn really didn’t become much of a storyline per se until Bret’s return in ‘96. And even then, a lot of his return was focused on Austin.

The ‘92 SS match was just a quick “champ vs. champ” match with no real storyline. HBK only was shoehorned in ‘93 due to Lawler’s legal troubles. HBK beat Bret for the belt in ‘95, but again, it was just really a brief title feud.

 

Bruno/Larry went from the end of ‘79/beginning of ‘80 until the Shea cage match in August of ‘80. That was basically it, other than Larry calling himself the “New Living Legend” and having some brief feuds with Bruno’s son afterward.

Von Erichs vs. Freebirds feud went from Christmas ‘82 through essentially ‘86 or so, with a few brief breaks to feud with other World Class guys. And in a weird roundabout sense, it even semi-started in mid-‘82 when Kerry began chasing Flair for the belt, which resulted in a feud with the Great Kabuki, which led to the cage match with Flair, in which Gordy slammed the door on Kerry’s head. And the feud even continued in the late 80s when Hayes turned face, joined up with the Von Erichs, and feuded with Gordy, Roberts and Iceman Parsons.

So maybe we can say Von Erichs/Freebirds?

 

I think there's an important distinction between rivals and ongoing feuds. HBK and Shawn were certainly rivals, as were Austin-Rock, Undertaker-Mankind, Undertaker-Kane, Cena-Orton, Reigns-Lesnar and any number of other pairings. Their various storylines weren't necessarily connected, though, beyond "these guys have a long history with each other." They'd drift apart for six months or a year to keep it relatively fresh when they inevitably came back to each other.

The actual storyline like this one, that builds for more than about six months — and doesn't overstay its welcome — is exceedingly rare.