2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

This.

I do believe he knows how to restrain himself when it comes to applying a choke hold on someone.

 

Good lord. The ad on this thread is for something called "Thunder's Arena Wrestling."
It looks like a gay porn ad:

 

A worked shoot makes sense. The kick was stiff and they could certainly turn it into an injury angle. Heck, Rick Steiner caused a lot of that during his heyday by working stiff. So did Randy Savage toward the end of his career. Savage's knees were shot and his top rope elbow drops punctured more than a few lungs.

Another reason why I say it could be a work is because some wrestlers really are good at selling. They can make kayfabe look almost real.

 

SmackDown was such a bore, as usual. Not sure why I bother watching anymore.

So, gearing up for the Ryback vs. Punk match, which I'm excited for because we get something new, I've read up for the former Nexus member Skip Sheffield. Turns out he's only 30. Thought he'd be older than that. Not sure why. Maybe the possibility of performance enhancers.

 

The Main Event show this week ought to be interesting. The featured match is Ryback vs. Ziggler.
There's no chance in hell Ziggler wins, but it'll be a good preview of how Ryback does in a longer, non-squash match.

 

Nobody's mentioned this yet, but Mike Graham, a mainstay on the longtime Florida wrestling promotion, died last week and the unconfirmed word going around is that it was a suicide.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/259665/Conflicting-Reports-on-Death-of-Mike-Graham.htm

He was also the son of legendary Florida promoter Eddie Graham, who committed suicide years ago.

Fans of the more-recent vintage may have come across Mike Graham as a participant in some of the "Legends of Wrestling" roundtables that were on the WWE On Demand channel, and as an interview subject on "The Rise and Fall of WCW" DVD.

 

Wrestling must be in a rut right now, because nobody talked about Raw, even if to bitch about AJ resigning as GM and Vickie Guerrero being the authority figure yet again.

 

I think the reason there was no comment on last night's RAW was because of the site being down for a good part of the night and morning. Ill be honest, I DVR RAW and most of what I choose to fast forward through or stop and watch is from what I read on this thread. I was disappointed when I couldn't start my day today with a recap of how much Cena sucks and why Daniel Bryan is the future of wrestling. </ducking>

 

Ah, I didn't know the site was down last night. Though RAW chatter has dropped appreciably in the last say three months. Along with the ratings. It sounded like another boring as hell show from the recaps, though Antonio Cesaro has the look of a future multiple-time World/WWE champion (he just needs to grow away from his "I can say you suck in five languages!" schtick)

 

Only glanced at Raw last night, primarily because there was so much else on TV. I don't mean that as an indictment on Raw, because it's not every day you get to see a Game 7 for a World Series bid and a presidential debate on the same night, plus an MNF game.

From what it looked, it seemed like they were putting out a good effort, but the execution was just OK. Vince had A.J. resign as GM because supposedly, she consorted with the Superstars and had an affair with one of them (since when is that a fireable offense?). Seemed rather lame, especially with all the GM shenanigans they've had through the years. Vicki is the unofficial GM, with a different title.

They had a pretty good Bryan/Ziggler match, and they had Punk/Sheamus in the main event in a lumberjack match. They didn't have a huge crazy 30 guys in the ring finish. A couple heels did come in and got brogue-kicked by Sheamus, who then got distracted and chokeslammed by Show to give Punk the win. Then Ryback came down, for no real reason, Punk tried to escape, but the lumberjacks stopped him and Ryback did a couple big moves on him before throwing him out onto a gaggle of heels.

I'm thinking the ratings are going to be really crappy for this one, just because there was so much else going on.

 

The only intrigue I have for Hell in the Cell is how they're going to get out of Punk-Ryback. It's too early for Ryback to hold the belt. Having him lose would kill his momentum. And it's HIAC, so the countout is out. Everything seems to point to Brock Lesnar coming back to start something with Ryback, giving Punk a tainted win in the process, but I can't imagine they'd blow one of his few remaining dates on a surprise appearance that won't affect sales or ratings.

How about this: Punk and Ryback do their match, Ryback hits his backpack suplex or whatever that thing is, Big Show, a Heyman loyalist, comes out and knocks out Ryback, but Punk is in no position to cover (let's say the ref is out too). Vickie execuses herself onto the scene, announces that since she's the managing supervisor whatsis, she is allowing Dolph Ziggler to cash in his MITB (even though it's not for the right title) and make it a three-way match. Ziggler comes in, pins a prone Punk for the title, and Vickie and Ziggler celebrate while Heyman rages. That gets you out of having Ryback win or lose too early and sets him up with his next feud.

It does put you in something of a bind with Punk and Ziggler, because while Heyman and Vickie aren't on good terms, a heel-heel feud is not ideal. Heyman and Lesnar could turn on Punk and join forces with Vickie and Ziggler, but it's way too early for a Punk face turn. Punk could beat Sheamus for the World title and then have his team and Ziggler/Vickie form a union, setting up a face turn down the line for someone.

Cena would probably feud with Ziggler for the WHC, though it might make more sense for him to continue the Punk feud while someone else goes after the title. Randy Orton? Kofi Kingston? THE LONG AWAITED RETURN OF TYLER REKS?

 

As my boss said last night, they "fired" AJ for fraternizing with the help ... which is exactly the same thing Vickie is doing with Ziggler. What's the difference?