2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

I wish they'd just get rid of the Divas all together. Just keep a handful of them around as managers or valets or whatever and move on with it. They can still have an occasional match but it's just a waste of time as it is.

 

Wonder what happened to Husky Harris after Orton punted him last year?

 

Ditto. Either give them time to wrestle like TNA does / used to (I honestly haven't watched an entire episode in more than a year now) or just use them 1980s style as valets.

 

I enjoy watching women's wrestling (check out the Japan stuff on Youtube if you ever have the chance), and I like them as eye candy.

That said, the WWE just wastes their talents for no good reason. They've had women who can wrestle, and can get fans talking. Lita main-evented Raw at least twice that I can recall. And the last time I saw TNA, Mickie James and Tara/Victoria had a helluva match in a steel cage.

Get 8-10 women who can actually wrestle, keep a few girls around for eye candy/jobber status, and actually DO something with them all. Stop treating them as afterthoughts. Shit, at one point, WWE actually considered giving the Divas their own show. That'd be a joke today.

 

The guy behind him. Eli Cottonwood. Saw him on a few FCW shows. Guy could really excel if given then right push.

 

Meanwhile, anybody check this out from CM Punk's Twitter?

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Almost certainly an angle, but it could lead to a great gimmick for Dean Ambrose.

 

Could you imagine what the Bellas would have done during the Attitude era?

 

I had some free time today and decided to watch The Greatest Cage Matches of all-time DVD. I only watched the first disc and will watch the others when I have more time. I decided to review it, but you guys don't need to read it if you don't want too.



Disc 1

Bob Backlund (c) vs Pat Patterson - WWE World Title - MSG - September 24, 1979
Patterson had just "Won" the IC title in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ironically, on the day that Patterson won the belt, he was wrestling Bob Backlund in PA. I really love watching these old school WWF cage matches. There's very little spots and it's mostly just grappling and believable moves. Patterson does his best to heel it up by using a piece of the top of the cage to bust Backlund open. Near the end, Patterson even pulls out a pair of brass knuckles to try and punch Backlund off of the top of the cage. How insanely awesome would it have been had Backlund fell off of the top of the cage? Anyways, Backlund smartly blocks every punch and hits several forearms until Patterson finally falls off. As Backlund crawls out of the door, Patterson grabs at his legs, but a few good kicks allows Backlund to fall out of the cage. Patterson carried this match with his heel tactics and making Backlund struggle to just survive. I wish Backlund had sold more (After being choked for a good minute, Backlund quickly jumps up to stop Patterson from climbing out of the cage). Still, it's an enjoyable cage match that puts Backlund over strong as surviving a street fight like environment against someone with plenty of experience. 3 1/4 Stars.

For some odd reason, the WWE listed the wrong date for the following match. Not only is it the wrong month and day, but they list it as being two years earlier than it really took place. How do you make such a mistake?

Bob Backlund (c) vs Jimmy Snuka - WWE World Title - MSG - June 28, 1982
Before the match, Vince McMahon announces that due to Snuka's natural jumping skills, Backlund's manager, Arnold Skaaland, ruled that you can only win by going through the cage door. That's pretty damn unfair if you ask me. Snuka is wearing his alternate zebra color tights which instantly adds a few extra cool points to him. Once again, I'm left feeling as if Backlund's opponent carried the match. Everything Snuka does is gold. Before the match, Snuka takes extra time looking around in amazement at the crowd and the steel structure. It seems so minor, but it helps create a bigger feel to the match. Snuka's strategy is pretty simple with him just using brute force in pummeling Backlund. Once Snuka ends up bleeding, he gets this creepy smile on his face that makes him look so dangerous. Early 80's Snuka is about a million times better than late 80's Superfly. Snuka climbs to the top of the cage and does his first cage dive, but Backlund moves out of the way. It's a nice way to have Snuka cost himself the match due to his over reliance of the Superfly Splash. Backlund crawls out of the door and retains the title yet again. It's not quite as good as the first match, but it doesn't drag on either. 3 Stars.

Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbyszko - Shea Stadium - August 9, 1980
From the mega event of Showdown at Shea Stadium. Josh Matthews and Matt Striker provides the commentary for the match. IIRC, Michael Cole and Mick Foley had been the commentators whenever the show was presented on 24/7. Bruno spends 90% of the match just punching away at Zbyszko due to Larry turning on him at the start of the year. It may not sound like the most exciting match, but they keep me into the bout. Matt Striker provides plenty of interesting facts, but the commentary leaves a lot to be desired. When it comes to commentary tracks, I prefer having one that offers the call of the moves, I find it helps me get into the match more. Zbyszko offers a good comeback by focusing on the right shoulder of Sammartino. Surprisingly, Bruno even blades his shoulder to further illustrate the pain he's going through. While the ending may be anticlimactic for some, I love it. After punishing Larry for most of the match, Bruno turns around and yells something at Larry (I imagine it's something along the lines of "I'm done with you") and shows disrespect as he turns his back to Larry and calmly leaves the cage. Despite the hate, Zbyszko raises the hand of Bruno after the match. They brought the hate, so this was instantly entertaining. Still, I'd rather watch the match with a proper commentary track. 2 3/4 Stars.

Ric Flair (c) vs Kerry Von Erich - NWA World Title - WCCW's Christmas Star Wars 1982
This is two years before Von Erich's NWA title win against Flair. This is during Flair's first NWA Title reign, one that he doesn't put much importance on. In some odd booking, Michael Hayes is voted to be the special guest referee inside of the cage, but there's a normal WCCW referee in the cage as well. I don't believe I've ever seen something like this before. Despite this weirdness, I found it helped tell the story even better. Hayes was the star of the match. Even though he's a horrible referee by being too rough when trying to break up the wrestlers when they're against the ropes, it's not a heel move. By all means, Hayes is trying to be a fair ref, but his short temper doesn't help matters. Most of Hayes rough refereeing is reflected on Ric Flair. There's several times that Hayes and Flair gets in a shoving match. The turning point occurs when a bloody Von Erich has Flair in the claw, but when Flair's leg grazes the bottom rope before falling back to the mat, Hayes goes on the warpath. With Von Erich refusing to break the hold, Hayes physically forces Von Erich off. Soon afterward, Hayes has enough of Flair's cheating and punches Flair out. Despite this, Von Erich refuses to go for the cover because he doesn't want to win that way. Hayes's temper gets the best of him as he turns and just leaves the cage. With Kerry by the ring door, Terry Gordy (Who Hayes brought out to watch the door) slams the cage door on Von Erich's head. Flair goes for the cover with Hayes doing the count, but Hayes tries to screw Von Erich out of the match by counting to three when Kerry kicked Flair off before two. With Hayes finally out of the match, Von Erich seemingly makes a comeback, but after hitting his Tornado Punch, he collapses to the mat. The referee looks in Von Erich's concussion eyes and calls for the bell. All of this great storytelling from a man who went into the match as a babyface, had an understandable moment where anyone can understand his side of the story, then turns heel by costing the massive babyface the title. There's even additional storylines of Flair having The Great Kabuki injury Von Erich's leg and all of the work Flair did to re-injure it during the match. This was simply amazing storytelling. Looking back, I wish they would have ended it with Hayes screwing Von Erich over, but it's still a damn fine contest and easily the best match thus far on the DVD set. 4 Stars.

Ivan and Nikita Koloff (c) vs Rock ‘N’ Roll Express - NWA Tag Team Titles - Starrcade 1985
Just to blow everyone's expectations, there's a long face-in-peril sequence, but it's Robert Gibson who's playing the FIP instead of Ricky Morton. This was really good, but could the RNR Express really do wrong in the 80's? The Russians work a simple formula where they just double team, pound away and generally look really good as a team. Thanks to a tag behind the Russian's back, Ricky Morton finally gets in and rolls Ivan up for the victory. The real greatness comes afterward when the Russians and Krusher Khrushchev attacks Robert Gibson. Ricky Morton is bloodied and Nikita pushes him up and over the cage so Gibson is all alone. Even the guys who come out to stop the Russians get attacked. The Rock 'N' Roll Express would have an even better cage match at Starrcade 1986. 3 1/2 Stars.

The Road Warriors vs Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin - AWA's WrestleRock 1986
I'm not sure if Garvin was technically a member of the Freebirds yet. These two teams (Well, Terry Gordy replaced Garvin) had a really good match back at AWA Superclash 1 in 1985. This time around, it wasn't as enjoyable. I dug the original storyline of neither Freebird wanting in the match. Early on, Hayes even walks away from the corner so Garvin can't tag him in. Later on, Garvin returns the favor by walking away from Hayes tag. Things changed whenever the Freebirds were briefly in control as they were eager to get in. Knowing they can't win fairly, Hayes tries using a pair of brass knuckles on Animal while Garvin holds the Road Warrior. Similarly to Wrestlemania 1, the face moves out of the way and the heel knocks out his own partner. Road Warriors win. Check out the Road Warriors DVD to see the superior Warriors/Freebirds match. 2 1/4 Stars.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Bruiser Brody - WCCW's Cotton Bowl Extravaganza 1986
Fritz Von Erich is your special guest referee. Abby's pre-match ritual is a thing of beauty. In order to allow Fritz to check him for any hidden objects, Abby's manager, Gary Hart, has to cover Abby's eyes in order to subdue him. It's all over the top gimmick, but I love it. As much as I'm glad to see some Brody on DVD, this match didn't do much for me. Ironically, being inside of a cage limited the violence Brody and Abby could do. They're better off fighting all over the place with plenty of weapons. After Fritz has enough of Abby, he attacks Abby and allows Brody to cover Abby for the win. Kinda funny that in the two WCCW matches on this set, the special guest referee turned out to be really horrible refs that ended up being bias. 2 Stars.

The Midnight Rockers vs Doug Somers and Buddy Rose - AWA's Brawl in St. Paul 1986
Based on the WWE choices for showcasing Shawn Michaels in the AWA, you'd think that he only wrestled Rose and Somers. Second time ever seeing this and it holds up just as well when I watched it in 2006. What's great is that after such a long feud, the Rockers are so desperate at getting their revenge that they're not even trying to win early on. In fact, Shawn Michaels purposely pulls up Rose a few times in the match to break up a cover. Sherri Martel, Rose and Somer's manager, steals the show though. From the start until finish, she's screaming, almost crying as she watches her men get bloodied up. When Marty is getting his ass kicked by the heels side, she's yelling at Marty by calling him every name in the book. Sherri really put over how much both sides hate each other. Despite his look, Buddy Rose was truly an amazing worker. I'd put him in the same league as Adrian Adonis, Terry Gordy or Kevin Steen for modern fans for fat slobs that are actually far better than they look. By time Marty Jannetty gets the hot tag, the crowd erupts in a huge way. This sets up a top rope cross body from Marty on Rose to get the victory. Just to add a little more fuel to the fire that was Rockers vs Rose/Somers, The Rockers' moment of triumph in FINALLY beating Rose and Somers is ruined by the heels attacking Marty. Shawn and referee, Billy Robinson, are locked out as the heels work over Marty. By time Shawn gets in, the heels run out, but Marty leaps over the cage in record time to show how badly he wants more of them. This feud is one of the better things to come out of the WWE DVD library. All of this stuff would have been forgotten, which would have been a big shame. Anyways, best tag match on this disc. 3 3/4 Stars.

Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant - Wrestlefest 1988
Their third and final major singles battle in 1988. It's by far their best as well. While Abby and Brody were restricted in what they could do in the cage, Hogan and Andre were able to do a lot more to create a more fun match. The big thing is that Andre is able to cheat as much as he'd like. With most of his offensive moves being choking at this point in his career, Andre is able to stay on offense for most of the match. Even with how slow Andre was, the match never dragged on nor did it feel sluggish. It was just a believable match with a Giant seemingly killing Hulkamania. It's Andre's slowness that also helps the believable of how he can never get out of the cage before Hogan catches him. Despite Andre having so many means of hurting Hogan, the cage is also Andre's biggest adversary. How is a guy at 500 pounds and barely able to walk supposed to quickly climb through a set of ropes and escape through a cage? For Hogan, the guy was typically pretty great in 80's cage matches. He already had the fans into the match, but then his character was perfect for the big comeback. Throw in a heel manager and you have the same awesome finish every time with the heel manager being thwarted before Hogan wins. With that manager being Bobby Heenan, you know you're going to see the biggest bumps of the match from him. In all honesty, this was tons of fun and exceeded my expectations. Then again, the older I get, the more I find myself enjoying late career Andre. 3 Stars.

Overall
Three hours down and the only real dud in my eyes was Abby/Brody, but even that wasn't horrible. We finally get Hogan/Andre on DVD. Even though they've been on various DVD's before, Von Erich/Flair and Rose and Somers/Rockers are both great cage matches. There is one glaring problem with this disc. Where's all of the JCP?! Sure, we get RNR Express vs Russians (Which is good), but that's it? When I think of the best cage matches in the 1980's, I generally think of JCP. Flair vs Race, Magnum TA vs Tully, RNR vs Andersons, Youngblood and Steamboat vs Slaughter and Kernodle, ect are all great. I'm still waiting for the WWE to finally release the last match on DVD. In all honesty, unless it's a specific company DVD (For example, the Rise and Fall of ECW), the two companies that garner the most interest for DVD matches is the WWE and WCW/JCP. For some reason, the WWE didn't even try to offer much JCP. I can't complain too much since I have most of the well known JCP cage matches on DVD already, but there's always ones like RNR Express vs Russians where I wouldn't have even known they were good had they not been added to DVD. It's a good start to the DVD set though. It's refreshing to see blood again and as I said, there wasn't any really bad matches.

Disc 2 to come...

 

Penthouse?

 

It is definitely an angle. And a damn good one so far.

 

Ambrose keeps posting videos of botched extreme wrestling moves with the hashtag of #thanksmick the latest one, where the guy delivers a move off the roof with his friend looked particularly gruesome

 

Now you've turned the tables on me with your avatar.