2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

Did you see live or on TV. I saw it live and thought most of entrances were great.Lots of fireworks and flame that perhaps did not show up on TV. Favorite
was Undertaker. Disappointed that Alberto did not make his usual car entrance.

Clearly better music last year with FloRida.Everytime I hear Good Feelings I think of Wrestlemania. No one payed attention to Puffy.

 

I understand the point about the entrances but I did think the E did a great job of using the video boards and such for some pretty impressive stuff.

 

The graphics at stadium were amazing. Overall an unbelievable stage production. I found myself enjoying some of the intros more than the actual matches.

 

Del Rio hasn't used a car in a few weeks now. Since they fucked up his entrance theme, the cars haven't been used.

 

Ok did not realize. Thought it was appropriate though that Swaggart drove out in Gator

 

I think the last time they used it was when Santa Foley got run over.

I've always taken it as they're trying to make him a man of the people, and you can't be doing that by having him drive cars worth six figures.

On a side note, I saw an ESPN.com interview with ADR a while back in which he said that they would actually let him drive the cars in between shows each weekend. He said he went to Vince and Laurinaitis and suggested that if they really wanted to get him to live his gimmick, they should have him imitate Ted Dibiase (Sr.) and give him a stack of money to spend. He said they just laughed.

 

That's funny about ADR trying to work Vince like that. I guess Vince is tightening up on his spending.
On a tangentially related note, Ricardo Rodriguez and Zeb Colter are two of the best things that've happened to the WWE in a long time. They're what managers and valets used to be about: enhancing the star power of the talent they're with without overshadowing them.

 

Completely disagree re: Colter. Swagger gets NO heat on his own. He's clearly the secondary player to Colter, who does all the talking while Swagger just screams WE THE PEOPLE at random intervals. Take away Colter and Swagger is the same mid-card putz he's been for years now, only with a Tea Party gimmick that he can't sell.

A few years ago, I swore on a stack of AP Stylebooks that Swagger would be a main-event mainstay sooner rather than later. Now I'm thinking they cut him and maybe let him be Kurt Angle's protege/rival in TNA.

 

I can see what you mean on Swagger, but at least they were smart enough to partner him with someone who can talk in Colter (I still think of him as Dutch Mantel, regardless of what name the WWE gives him). I can definitely see him winding up in TNA ala Ken Anderson.

 

Quite honestly, I think we're going to find out in a few years that somebody screwed up big time in the planning of this Mania or someone (probably Vince) panicked and changed things at the last minute because the timing seemed completely off the whole night.
You give Rock/Cena three video packages through the night and then rush them out without a special entrance befitting the main event of Mania and then have then slosh around for the first 10 minutes of their match?
Bad pacing.
Same thing with Swagger not getting an entrance and driving his vehicle down as the package was being shown.
Same thing with cutting the Rhode Scholars match without even explaining it.
Somebody screwed up somewhere and I'd love to know how/why it happened.

 

Great stuff here: Candid backstage footage from an NWA Great American Bash show from 1987. Steve Williams, Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes and countless others.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/280434/[VIDEO]-Behind-the-Scenes-Footage-From-The-a-1987-Great-American-Bash-Event.htm

 

Damn, that brings back some great memories.

The Midnight Express, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff ... back when pro wrestling was fun.