2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

I kind of wish they had given the opening more time to breathe, like have them doing a makeshift show for the first hour. Punk on commentary was awesome, and if you didn't want Sheamus and Punk to go an hour, bring out some developmental "scab" workers or something. Then, whenever you do debut them full-time, you have a ready-made angle for them.

Instead, the show felt scattered to me. It feels like the "Triple H as GM" angle was done in fast-forward, and in the process, they killed Punk's buzz, turned Del Rio into a chicken heel and did nothing to negate half the crowd's deep dislike of John Cena.

 

Unless I missed it, the other little detail that should have been shown is all the wrestlers outside in the parking lot. That would have been just a minor thing, but a good visual.

That, and they shouldn't have had entrance music for Trips, Cena, et al. Make it seem like the sound technicians are on strike too.

And I also wish they would have kept Punk on commentary more. The man is hysterical, especially with the little details.

 

This angle went from suck to blow.

 

Everything from Raw the last couple months has been devoted to putting over HHH and Laurinaitis, neither of whom I have any desire to see wrestle.

I feel like the only major characters with any momentum guys who are associated with Smackdown—Henry, Orton, Rhodes, even Sin Cara and Big Show—because that show remains relatively uncluttered by this GM/COO nonsense. Del Rio, Punk, and even Cena have become lost in the sweep of the storyline.

 

There's another thing to this, which, if I remember right, was written by the wrestling guy on ESPN.com's Grantland. Not to go all political here, but it's like they want us to root for management (in this case, Trips) instead of labor. Which makes sense in terms of the McMahons' political persuasion, plus they were in a conservative state last night.

They had Trips playing up to their sympathies, and Cena being the loyal (high-paid) employee. Then they threw labor a bone by having the middle manager tossed, and replaced with an even-bigger boob.

 

This is why having PPVs in the space of two weeks is moronic, because they have to rush through angles/stories to fill out a PPV card and condense 2-3 Raws into one and ruin it. Seriously we had Ace becoming interim GM (not a bad development because he's a good heel and it will add to the conspiracy angle with the likes of truth, christian, miz and co now having a supposed friend), Vince returns in the most pointless of returns to tell HHH Ace is in charge of Raw on behalf of a board of directors who let Vince go and appointed HHH in charge instead....so does that mean HHH still works for Vince kayfabe or at the very least can still exert control over Ace's duties. If so, why the reaction like he's lost everything???

JR getting fired was the usual bullshit but at least this was done to make Ace look like pure scum and get more heat on the group, sad to see JR be embarassed again when the fans adore him but what are you gonna do. If it all somehow led to him getting in charge and trying to destroy Vince for everything he's done to him then I'd mark the fuck out.

HHH burying everyone but 4 guys with the broomstick comment was moronic, especially when Hunter is more often than not the broomstick some poor guy has to drag to an above average match. Seriously bar raising Sheamus's stock and Punk becoming more popular than he was in June but significantly less in July and with a restricted character to boot....who has this angle gotten heat on that isn't HHH? Henry is doing terrific but all his heat has come through his own actions and not this angle, and Rhodes himself has done well but again through the slow building Orton feud. Ziggler is more impressive than he's ever been, but again this isn't down to the angle as much as it is his own ability. HHH is now just some uber badass who's too macho for the pussy WWE roster, can do as he pleases and looks above and beyond everyone.

Punk and HHH now suddenly like each other when just last month they were trying to kill one another, the supposed revelation behind this whole angle now seems to be creeping into Russo levels where HHH will turn for some shit inexplicable reason, Stephanie will turn on HHH, Vince will have done it all along to screw with the audience or some other crap. Seriously they managed to make the idea of Vince being the mastermind a better return than that crap segment from last night, jesus wept.

 

Agree totally on the 2-3 week PPV window. You're only going to get the die-hards to buy both of them.

TRips' broomstick comment is an old one about Flair, how he could have a five-star match with a broom. (Which strangely enough when Flair was at his peak, I can actually envision. Flair hits himself with the broom, drops an elbow on it ... )

But what it all boils down to is this: It's 2011. I do not want to be rooting for Triple H, except in a nostalgic form.

 

Just gone done watching the 1997 Royal Rumble PPV on the On Demand "freeview."
Wow, what a weird moment in time that was. You had:
*Hunter Hearst Helmsley, pre-Triple H and DX, wrestling in pink long pants and being a character-based douchebag instead of the real thing. He wrestled Goldust for the IC title and put on basically the same match he has for 15 years.
*Stone Cold just beginning his breakout as a major star and winning the Rumble.
*Rocky Maivia -- called "an exciting rookie" by commentator Vince McMahon -- fighting with Fake Diesel in the waning moments of the Rumble.
*Mankind wrestling as Mankind, not one of the many faces of Mick Foley.
*The old WWF logo in the bottom of the screen.
*The Nation of Domination involved in a major feud.
*A Mil Mascaras appearance in the Rumble.
*Owen Hart still alive.
*Jesse James still using the gimmick of an aspiring singer, and not the Road Dogg.
*And Shawn Michaels, stuck between his "punk ass bitch" phase and still about 10 months away from the Montreal Screwjob, wrestling Sid for the title.

Watching it, I couldn't help but think how different things would look if you compared it to the 1998 Rumble. Within a year, the Attitude Era was in full swing, DX had been formed, the Screwjob had taken place and the modern era of wrestling had begun. It was bizarre. So much changed in such a short time, that it almost doesn't make sense.

 

Even though you could tell how much the WWF was struggling in 1997 (it seemed like the several luchadors in the mix were out of necessity, as well as regional respect), that's always my favorite Rumble to watch. Stone Cold kicking ass all over the ring was entertaining, and that moment when Bret Hart's music hits is priceless. You see the previously untouchable Austin shocked and somewhat fearful...all the while, Hart just marches down to ringside, clearly meaning business, and you know said business is about to pick the fuck up. Just a great moment that probably is why I still watch wrestling — I always hope for something remarkable to happen, something that stands alone in time, and I damn sure don't want to miss the next one.

If you're bored sometime, play the Royal Rumble drinking game with that one: 1 drink for each entry, 2 for each elimination, 4 for each Stone Cold elimination. You'll be pretty nice when the match is over.

 

To me, the modern era of wrestling began a few months earlier when Hall first invaded Nitro. That's when the Monday Night Wars really picked up steam.

Before that, Nitro was still the better show on TV because they would actually have main-event level matches, while WWF was still doing the same squashes before with one decent match thrown in. WCW was also somewhat treating the sport more seriously, instead of having the ridiculous gimmicks from 10 years before.

 

To be fair, WCW had good matches... on the undercard. The top of their card was pretty much always horrible, except for some brief bright spots when Flair had the belt. At the top, you had a lot of Lex Luger, Ron Simmons, and pretty much all of Hogan's various runs were horrible. After the NWO hit, you had drunk Scott Hall and injured Kevin Nash. (For how hot and awesome an angle that was, I'm not sure if any NWO matches were actually any good, beyond that first tag at Bash at the Beach where Hogan turned heel.)

 

Sad, sad story. It's one of those things where I almost wish they weren't airing this, just because I'm not sure why you'd purposefully air a train wreck, except to get ratings. But I also can't say that I won't watch.

Kevin Nash had some comments on Hall and his condition a few months ago. My guess is these still apply today, but I can't help but think these are the kind of comments you'd expect when you're talking about someone on death's doorstep.

http://www.sescoops.com/wrestling-news/wwe/kevin-nash-provides-new-info-scott-halls-condition/