2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Does it say Kung Pao bitch on his arm? Because I'm really hoping that wasn't something that was planned.

ON a more serious note, I am an admitted Rock fan, like I said before, he's my favorite of all time. But I tend to be leaning toward Cena right now because I absolutely think he's killing it in these promos. And though I am fairly new to this era of WWE, he seems to be pretty good in the ring from my perspective, anyway.

I still think the crowd will be very Pro-Rock come 'Mania but I have a hard time seeing any outcome but a Cena win.

 

That is priceless, the notes on Rock's arm. And yes, I totally agree about both Cena's capability to be an AWESOME heel and that he has knocked it out of the park for two weeks in a row. Him leaving Rock standing there speechless was GOLD.

Which means, naturally, the E will find a way to screw it up. See Punk, CM.

rb

 

Totally agree. Add Orton, Randy to the list. Once they start pandering to the crowd, they start losing any bad-ass edge they had, which is what made them popular in the first place. It's what kept Stone Cold awesome for so long. Coincidentally, it works both ways, when they made Austin McMahon's stooge, that killed him as well. Leave them play the rage-filled tweener role and their characters work just fine with the crowd.

 

Unless Rock plans on doing something after Mania (and by "something" I don't mean "occasional Tweets, satellite promos and a birthday party Raw"), there's no way he can go over. It hurts Cena at the expense of someone who won't be doing anything with it. Last year it hurt Cena a little and Miz a lot.

 

If anything, I think the recent revival of Cena's popularity vs. The Rock hurts the WWE in the long run. Once Rock is gone after Mania, what's left? The same old Superman Cena. They're missing an opportunity to do something plausible with his character, in favor of having him continue down the path of Hulk Hogan 2.0.

Even if they didn't want to turn Cena heel, you could make him do a Sting-like swerve, where after he loses to The Rock and gets booed out of the building, just have him not wrestle for months and months while some force tears through the WWE. (To end my fantasy booking session: Make it be the Undertaker, on a heel run, with the payoff coming at next year's Mania. Cena's first match in a year, vs. heel Taker, to end the streak.)

 

Good Lord that's an awesome idea.

Obviously not sure if Taker would be up for another sustained run so we'd probably get something like a rebranded heel version of the Funkasaurus knowing WWE but I think that's a tremendous plan. Good stuff sg.

 

FWIW, Rock was at the press conference when they announced the NJ WM and was talking about beating Cena. Now, what would the purpose be of him hyping up that event if there's no rematch?

Methinks Cena turns heel and beats Rock in Miami. Then Cena destroys everyone for the next year until Rock comes back and beats him in Jersey.

 

Oh man, another WWE move is an obvious prelude to a Cena heel turn

Rock wins at Mania with some sort of slight controversy, then goes away and Cena goes back to SuperCena for the rest of the year.

 

The thing with Taker from now until he formally retires / exits is how much is he going to be willing to work? I think his stature is enough that you could just have him show up for matches at PPVs, with maybe a Raw or Smackdown here or there.

 

Alright, time for my first Wrestlemania review. Hopefully, you guys enjoy it. More to come....

Wrestlemania 14
March 29, 1998

15 Tag Team Battle Royal
The winner here gets a title shot at the next PPV. The teams are: The Headbangers, The Godwins, Mark Henry and D-Low Brown, Faarooq and Kama, The New Midnight Express, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, 8 Ball and Skull, Chainz and Bradshaw, 2 Los Boricuas teams, Recon and Sniper, Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher (First time teaming IIRC), Flash Funk and Steve Blackman, The Quebecers and the debut of the LOD 2000. Just your typical battle royal to get as many wrestlers on the card as possible. Kurrgan runs in and eliminates Recon to further the feud of the former Truth Commission. Barry Windham runs in to eliminate Chainz since he's Bradshaw's partner. It comes down to LOD 2000 and Midnight Express with LOD winning. Giant MEH. A battle royal is a horrible way to start a show. There's very little actual action. Once LOD returned, it was obvious who was going to win. The only saving grace is that it's pretty impressive that the WWE could actually have a match with 15 tag teams with only a few teams not being an actual team or in a faction AND still have two more teams later on in the night. 1 Star.

Taka Michinoku (c) vs Aguila - Light Heavyweight Title
No backstory here, just an excuse to get Taka on the PPV. The match is just a series of spots, half of which look very choreographed. The crowd makes noise a few times, but they really don't care about the match and I don't blame them. Taka finishes the future Essa Rios off with the Michinoku Driver. I don't know why the WWE didn't just have Brian Christopher become the first Light Heavyweight champion and then drop the belt off to Taka tonight. Up until 2000, that would be the only feud the title would really see. You would have had a match that had some fan interest with big win result to finish the feud. Check out Taka vs Pantera at No Way Out of Texas to see a quality Taka title defense. 1 1/2 Stars.

Triple H (c) w/Chyna vs Owen Hart - European Title
After all of the interference that Chyna had done, Sgt. Slaughter ruled that she must be handcuffed to him during the course of the match. The match starts off kind of awkward with both men looking out of place. Things really pick up as the match goes on. Chyna manages to help Hunter get the ropes while in the Sharpshooter. A few moments later, she throws powder in the eyes of Slaughter in order to low blow Owen. Trips retains the belt with the Pedigree. Seriously, what's the point of having the gimmick if Chyna's going to interfere anyhow? You're just killing the stipulation if the result is the same if there wasn't a stipulation. All this does is further make Owen look like a fool. With Chyna being out of the picture, the logical thing to do was to give Owen the win. I hate the ending, but it doesn't take away from some solid action. 3 Stars.

The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust and Luna vs Marc Mero and Sable
Long buildup with Mero and Goldust being allies, but the fights between Luna and Sable caused them to come to blows as well. Sable's the only face in the match, but Mero's acting like a face for this match only. I can remember originally seeing this and thinking it was pretty good. Now years later, I enjoy it just as much. Sable was just so over that every little thing she did got a huge reaction. Mero dusts off some of his old Wildman moves to further the face pops. Sable's ultra PMS mood is beyond awesome. Not even flinching when standing up to Goldust. Sable picked up the win with a TKO (Mero's move) to Luna. This was the embodiment of fun. Don't be afraid to give this match a try. 3 Stars.

The Rock (c) vs Ken Shamrock - IC Title
At the Royal Rumble, Shamrock defeated The Rock for the title, but the decision was reversed when the ref found brass knuckles in Shamrock's tights (Rock put them there). On the Raw before the PPV, Shamrock took an insane chair shot to the head. Youtube it, it's pretty crazy. For this match, the DQ rule is waived. If Rock gets DQ'd, he'll lose the belt. Short match without anything really going on. With the Rock, it's still entertaining though. With the ref down, Rock gets another unprotected chair shot to Shamrock's head. Shamrock gets pissed and forces Rocky to tap out to win the belt. After the match, Shamrock takes out the Nation and reapplies the Ankle Lock to Rocky. Some fake refs and officials run out (The most obvious local wrestlers ever for fake refs) to take bumps from Shamrock as well. Once the real refs and officials come out, Shamrock chills out some until the ref reverses his decision again, resulting in Rocky retaining the belt. Shamrock continues his assault on Rock in the entrance way. I imagine the idea of the booking was to make Shamrock look unstoppable. However, this whole feud with the Rock only made Shamrock look like a chump for always ****ing up winning the belt. Really, who wants to cheer for a chump? The booking of the feud just KILLED any chance Shamrock had to be a major force in the WWE. 1 3/4 Stars.

The New Age Outlaws (c) vs Cactus Jack and Terry Funk - Dumpster Match - WWE Tag Team Titles
A gimmick match that makes perfect sense. A couple months ago, The Outlaws shoved a dumpster with the faces over the edge of the stage, injuring them. A dumpster match is exactly like a casket match, only with a giant dumpster. Terry Funk is still technically Chainsaw Charlie, but the WWE isn't even pretending anymore that he's not Funk. Funk's no longer wearing the stupid pantyhose on the head. If the chair shots in the last match didn't cringe enough, Funk and Foley takes so many stupid bumps that hurts just watching them. The single worst bump is with Funk and Billy Gunn on top of a ladder falling hard into the dumpster. Later on in the match, you can see a huge purple bruise on Funk from it. Battling to the back, Funk dumps both champions in a different dumpster and the faces win the match and the belts. Terry Funk's celebration alone is worth watching this match. It's the definition of middle aged and crazy. Fun match that felt like the two top teams going at it. The last time the WWE had that for a Wrestlemania was Wrestlemania 7. All of this would end up being pointless as Funk and Foley would be stripped the next night since they didn't use the right dumpster. I ****ing hate booking at times. 2 Stars

Kane w/Paul Bearer vs The Undertaker
The match nearly one year in the making. Kane looks so heavy in this. He really slimmed down for his 2002 return. Pretty slow start that is nearly sleep inducing. However, things really pick up as it gets closer to the end. Taker's dive to the outside on to the table is pretty insane when you take into account of how large he is. The booking of this match is just good, Kane looks like a total monster. Kane hits the Tombstone, but Taker kicks out, Taker hits one of his own, but Kane kicks out. Taker hits another one, but Kane kicks out. Taker nails Kane's top rope closeline and finally finishes him with a third Tombstone for the win. After the match, Kane attacks Kane and lays him out with a Tombstone on a chair. The story of the match is really what carries this. It just goes to show that you don't need to be an amazing wrestler to have a good match. I'd consider this to be Taker's best WM match of the 90's. 3 1/4 Stars.

Shawn Michaels (c) vs Steve Austin - WWE World Title - Guest Ring Enforcer: Mike Tyson
One of the biggest matches of the Attitude Era. It's also Shawn's last match for over four years. You can really tell how bad Michaels' back is for most of the bout. It doesn't help that he took a few back bumps earlier in the match. By the midpoint mark, he's forced to stop and hold his back every few moments. Even the biggest Michaels hater has to respect the guy for hanging in there though. Due to the injury, the match isn't able to be nearly as good as it could have been. You can watch their King of the Ring 1997 match to see how good they could be. Still, it's a well booked match with some ring psychology of Michaels working over Austin's knee. The finishing stretch is one of my favorite of all time. Michaels goes for the Sweet Chin Music, but Austin ducks. Austin gets the kick for the Stunner, but Michaels shoves him front first into the ropes. Austin turns around, but catches the foot of a super kick and spins Michaels around right into the Stunner. God damn I love that spot. For my money, there's only three better WWE title matches at WM prior to this. 3 1/2 Stars.

Overall:

Well, it's not a perfect Wrestlemania. There isn't any clear cut classic like Wrestlemania 13, but there is plenty to enjoy. One of the problems with Wrestlemania up to this point was it was an one or two match show. Instead this one has five enjoyable matches. The big thing that makes this worth it is the effort the WWE put into making the stars that would lead the WWE into the Atittude Era the main focus. Steve Austin, Rock, Taker, Kane, Triple H and Sable all deserved that attention. Austin winning in the main event really ushered in a new era for the WWE. It's actually a great example for why WCW would be put out of action. While the WWE had this huge match to establish their new top guy, WCW booked Uncensored to go head to head for the month against WM 14. The main event of the show was Randy Savage vs Hulk Hogan in a steel cage. The very match that nine years earlier was the main event of Wrestlemania. WCW showed how clueless they were in making new stars. There's better shows to watch than Wrestlemania 14, but everyone should watch it at least once.

 

Maybe have Taker lead a revived Ministry of Darkness with a badass lead wrestler (Wade Barrett?), an enforcer (Skip Sheffield?), a veteran (Kane?) and some minions from FCW. Taker wouldn't wrestle much if at all, and most of his work would be in the form of promos and directing traffic during Ministry beatdowns, where most of his phyiscal interactions would take place.

Have this group debut at Survivor Series or the Raw after it, have them run shop for a few months and at some point give Barrett a win over Cena for whatever damn title he has now. Cena challenges Undertaker for Wrestlemania and the Streak. Undertaker makes Cena go through Barrett first, which he does at Royal Rumble. Cena and Barrett rematch at Elimination Chamber to determine who gets to determine the stipulations for the WM match. Barrett wins and regains the title. Undertaker chooses Hell in a Cell, career vs. career. Cena wins, Undertaker retires and either a) gets the Ric Flair/Shawn Michaels treatment at the next Raw or b) continues at the Ministry leader, though I'd vote a).

 

Tommy_Dreamer pointed this out to me last week: The jacket Taker was wearing the last time he was on Raw is the same jacket he wore during the first Ministry of Darkness run.