2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

Of course, nobody ever seems to remember HHH's first Wrestlemania, either.

He was jobbed out by The Anabolic Warrior in less time than The Rock's ring entrance takes.

 

On the Cole-as-heel topic, I kind of like him when he goes full heel. He's still not my cup of tea, but it's better than him as the neutral or face announcer. However, the guy simply isn't Bobby Heenan (crazy smart and quick) or Jim Ross (loved his excitement during huge matches).

At his best, he's like Lawler - serviceable, but doesn't really bring much to the table. I think they're doing the best they can with him, and the Cole Mine gimmick is pretty awesome. Before he screwed up on Twitter, I thought they were going to retire Lawler at Mania (by a savage Swagger beatdown), but now I think Lawler goes over decisively and Cole goes away for a while.

 

I like full-heel Cole better than Cole, the straight play-by-play man. God, is he boring to listen to when he plays the straight man ...

Ross was a strong PBP guy who could hold his own with a mostly comedic-heel Lawler in the late 90s. It worked great. I got a real kick out of listening to some of their work while I was watching some matches from the Legacy of Stone Cold DVD the other day.

Even Ross and heel Heyman was better than Cole and Lawler, both as faces in the past two years. Yeesh.

 

The rumor mill, too, has Ross coming in as a pinch-announcer for the last three matches at Wrestlemania (HHH-Taker, Cena-Miz and, I suppose, either Edge-Del Rio or Lawler-Cole). Ross hasn't confirmed anything other than he plans to be at Mania, but it's fun to think about.

 

Ross at his best would actually enhance the storylines—"Those damn Dudleys!" "Kane has no morals!", etc. No one has done that since.

 

Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold!

 

Hell, how bout this.

Get rid of Cole. If Lawler retires great. Bring in some talent from the back that hasn't had a push but is entertaining enough on the mic.

Might sound crazy but Zack Ryder would be good alongside Josh Matthews.

WWWYKI

 

After the whole Booker T announcer experiment, I'm a little scared to have someone else trucked out and have them underwhelm.

Heel Cole is funny. He doesn't bother me at all. I don't think Cole is going anywhere because there is nobody logical to replace him, unless Josh Mathews does both shows or good, ole J.R. comes back full-time (not happening).

I wish JBL would come back. When he went on a heel rant and busted Cole's chops, it was hilarious.

 

My all-time favorite Raw segment:

Lawler was still a heel at that time, but the commentary of him and JR is absolutely priceless:

JR: "The Undertaker is assaulting Vince McMahon! .... The Undertaker is annihilating Vince McMahon!"

King: Call 911!

JR: OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!!

And back on subject. I enjoy heel Cole. Sometimes it gets in the way of the match on the screen, and I'm really annoyed at how he has been shredding the Divas lately, but it's been a refreshing change on the show. And he gets more heat than just about anybody, except for Vickie.

 

That's my biggest beef ... he's bi-polar with his heel commentary.

 

Apparently Scott Stanford, the guy who does Superstars (yes, that show exists ... until next week) has gotten pretty good reviews by the people who count. If they move Cole (either for character purposes or if he gets suspended/fired for calling Josh Matthews the gay f-word on Twitter), they could drop Matthews into the Raw PBP spot and have this dude be the Smackdown guy. If Lawler retires or they give up on Booker T, William Regal has been entertaining on NXT. And Kevin Nash is on the payroll.

 

I hope they don't give up on Booker T. I love his commentary during the matches. Never thought I'd say that after his run as "King" Booker, but he's been pretty damned good on the mic.