2009 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

Why in the blue hell is Mike Knox in the EC match? This guy sucks, and yet they're giving him a push. WTF?

 

JBL and HBK had words in the ring, during JBL's "performance appraisal" with Michaels blaming JBL for the match last week and JBL blaming HBK for the match at Royal Rumble. JBL comes up with a match at No Way Out. If he wins, he owns the Shawn Michaels name and he works for him for the rest of his life. If Michaels win, he gets to be free out of the contract and a year's salary. Shawn Michaels accepts but JBL says if he is touched before the match, the deal is off. JBL then pokes, pushes, and slaps a shaken HBK, who walks out of the ring without responding after a few hits.

Brilliant performance by Shawn Michaels and this goofy, unrealistic storyline has actually worked out to be pretty good.

Otherwise, very mediocre RAW. Not bad, but not enough seemed to happen and it seemed more like a show that is setting up next week's edition. Strong television main event between Cena and Y2J. Good to see Orton back on track after last week's disaster.

 

He does suck, but he's a big guy (we all know Vince has a hard-on for a 6 foot 6, 300 pound wrestlers), an intimidating look, and he's only 30 years old. He'll get a run on RAW, but I don't see him ever breaking out of the midcard monster heel Snitsky-type role that he has been portraying for almost three years since breaking in as Kelly Kelly's boyfriend.

 

Damn, you would have to ask me that. Let me get back to you. For some reason I think it was around 1998

 

I looked it up. 1999. Seems like yesterday. I went to lots of TNN tapings/house shows in 1999 and 2000 when they would come to a tiny ice rink in Salem, NH down through nearly every city in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

I remember seeing Tajiri vs. Super Crazy vs. Little Guido (Nunzio) triple threat matches nearly every time I'd go. Those were always spectacular and very exciting, especially as an 11 or 12 year old. Those wrestlers really went all out on a nightly basis. And a number of them were not seeing any money up front. I heard ECW owed RVD thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands when it went under.

Anyone remember when XPW invaded ECW's Heatwave 2000 PPV and got their asses kicked?

 

Mike Knox is not a bad worker -- two levels above, say, Snitsky and at least as good as Kane in his prime. The problem is they haven't developed a character for him past the guy who bullies Rey Mysterio around, though he did a good job with his soft-spoken "I don't have anything against Rey" promo a couple of weeks back. And a regular tag team with Kane gives you a reasonable monster tag team, which for Vince's love of the big man, hasn't been seen in WWE in a while.

Speaking of Kane, it's nice that he can still have a good relationship with his brother, even though they're on different shows and Kane's a heel. Maybe Taker bet on the Cardinals.

Good main event, as noted. JBL and HBK did another good job making a cheesy and unlikely storyline one of the highlights of Raw.

 

Does Knox really bring anything to the table though? I don't think he's much different than Snitsky or Kane in his prime (which isn't saying much).

 

Knox fills a role well -- ugly, big heel. He's not Bruiser Brody, but I think that's where they're trying to go with him. He's reasonably athletic and can be in good matches with good wrestlers, which isn't that easy to do with big guys not named Brock Lesnar or Undertaker. Plus he's 30 and still learning. He probably won't be Brody/Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy, but he won't be Great Khali or Mark Henry either.

 

I hope you're right about Knox's future. As for the present...I almost fell asleep during his tag match last night.

 

I, however, DID fall asleep.

 

I was at a friend's house. It would've been poor etiquette to fall asleep on the dude's couch

 

Just visited WWE.com...Swagger's undefeated streak is over due to a Finlay pin on a regular ECW show :