2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Here's an interesting factoid for old-school rasslin' fans: One of the Mad Russians of the 50s and 60s was the rotoscoping model for the Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons of the 40s.

 

Kryptonite to Kremlin!

 

Why can't crowds always be like this? Wrestling today would be so much better.

 

A three-hour Raw not enough for you?
Two more hours of Smackdown still not sating your WWE appetite?
Then how about an extra hour of "WWE Main Event"?
WWE is adding a third show on the Ion network this fall. It'll be a one-hour show similar to Superstars. It starts on Oct. 3 and, I'm guessing, will be available EXCLUSIVELY on WWE.com sometime in January.

http://www.wwe.com/inside/ion-debuts-wwe-main-event

 

That still gives me chills hearing that place erupt.

And for my money, no crowds were ever livelier than ECW crowds in NY and Philly. Never got to experience them live, but damn, there was an intimate energy everytime I watched them.

 

If the E keeps sending shows to the Internet, I would have no reason to pay for Dish.

(Of course, my wife would kill me if she couldn't watch garbage like Design Star, Project Runway, etc.)

 

I think the Divas may have suffered the most in this PG era. Granted, part of it has to do with WWE going more towards looks rather than actual in-ring skill, but there was the time when the run WM also included which Diva would be the covergirl in Playboy, which provided that Diva with a push and a bit of national publicity. Once that went away, one of the biggest carrots the Divas had disappeared. The more racy swimsuit calendars (along with Summer Skin) departed as well, and while they still do swimsuit photos, they're more PG instead of the Kitten Killers they were in the late 90s-early 00s.

WWE doesn't want to build up another Trish or Lita even though Beth Phoenix and Natalya are the only ones on the roster that have the right talent to shine both in and out of the ring. Instead, they're content with having them look all equal. Even if they gave the fans what they wanted in a Kharma-Phoenix feud, it would never reach the level of Kharma/Kong-Gail Kim in TNA. In its own way, burying the Divas works well into their plan of Cena or Nothing, because there cannot be anything that remotely threatens the popularity of Cena.

Speaking of, how will WWE handle Cena once his divorce issues really start coming to life? Certainly, they'll have to take measures in protecting his squeaky-clean image, because the kids can't know that he uses his Five Moves of Doom upon women besides his wife.

 

Speaking of openings.....

For the love of us all, WWE, give us back this Raw or something better.

 

Women in wrestling is a topic you could probably write a book on. I did try to write a 20-inch story when TNA came to town a while back and didn't have room to do it justice.

Are the Divas and Knockouts of 2012 forging their own path?
They do have an established spot on the card (something that was unheard of as recently as 20 years ago), and have gotten a chance to stand on their own. Even if they're not given time to develop their characters fully, most have separated from the idea of being mere arm candy.
In WWE, most have gotten at least some sort of mini-push or had the women's title, too. Many title runs have been forgettable, true, but they have had opportunities with the limited time available.

Are the Divas and Knockouts coasting on the success of others?
As has been well documented, a lot of today's women wrestlers are hardly distinguishable from one another. So are they that bland? Has the PG era and the fear of creating a monster (an idea that hardly seems limited to the women in WWE) limited their opportunities out of the ring?
How many of today's women wrestlers are truly capable of breaking out? I don't see a Trish, Lita, Mickie James or Kong among the roster in WWE, the type of wrestler who can put on an entertaining 10-15 minute main event level match.

Which brings us to the question, do women wrestlers really deserve their spot on the card?
This isn't meant as a chauvinistic remark. What I mean is, in the world of wrestling do women simply fit in and work better as valets and the occasional novelty act?
Personally, I think there's too many women who have walked the path to go back the other way now. There's got to be a few talented workers out there who can carry a long-form match and feud the way the best male wrestlers can. Finding them -- and finding enough of them to work together without it getting stale -- is the hard part.

 

Speaking of Divas. Looks like Maxine quit the WWE.

 

There's talented workers out there, but they're spread out so much between WWE, TNA and the indy scene (ROH, Shimmer, etc.) that no organization can really build the depth they need to make it viable.

 

At this point, I'd rather watch a Knockouts match than a Divas match.

Especially is Miss Tesmacher is involved.