2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

[Baron Scicluna]

Foley's fourth book was boring. Didn't finish it. I loved the first two. The third was okay. By then (the book detailed the build to the Edge WM match and ECW One Night Stand), he came off as a guy who got all grumpy that his brilliant ideas weren't being acknowledged by management. I don't think he could let go of the fact that he wasn't a main event draw anymore. By then, he was a one-off gimmick and not something to waste a ton of TV time over. To be fair to management, they were building Cena into the merchandizing machine, and selling T-shirts was what was best for business.

I enjoyed Jericho's first book more than the second. I like to read about the journey to the top more than what they did when they got there. The second book seems like you know it all because you got to see it unfold, but you get some details about the behind-the-scenes. I also didn't care for half of Jericho's book because I don't care for Fozzy's music, therefore didn't care about anything he wrote about it.

I've only read parts of Foley's fourth book, which I found while killing time in a Target. The wrestling part was OK, but I just couldn't muster the testicular fortitude to care about the rest of his stuff.

Foley's first book, of course, is awesome. His second book, I thought, was just OK, but what hurt it was his little master's thesis defending the WWE at the end of it. I just didn't give a shirt. I liked his third book better than the second because it showed some more behind the curtain stuff, but his idea of actually following around Vince McMahon in the buildup for a WM, I think, would have been terrific if executed properly.

Jericho's first book also is great, and his second book is a good read, although I think he could have cut out some of the Fozzy stuff, which is just my opinion. I'm just not a Fozzy fan. I thought he really showed what things are like backstage more than Foley did, because he actually had heat with a lot of the crew. I thought the chapter on You Know Who was well thought out, and the part where his mom dies and he ends up finally forgiving the ex-boyfriend who paralyzed her was particularly strong. He touched a better emotional cord in this sequel than Foley did in his other three sequels combined.

I'm also wondering if Jericho will end up writing a third book on his Second Coming, if there's enough interesting material. But it may be difficult unless he had some really good behind-the-scenes stories on WWE that he hasn't put in.

 

[Gehrig]

In my mind, the obvious answer is Mick Foley. For starters, he's easily the more mainstream star out of the two. He's had loads of more memorable moments. heck, there's few moments that can actually compete with Foley falling off of the cell. As far as quality matches go, I feel Foley had a higher amount of great matches. He's the guy that has my US MOTY for three straight years (1998-2000). Gimmick wise, once again Foley wins, although this would be the closest battle. Promo wise, Foley kills Jericho, even though Jericho's quite good on the mic. Importance wise, Foley once again beats Jericho. When you look back at wrestling's most successful time period, The Attitude Era, Foley was there to help fully establish three of the top guys (Austin, Rock and Hunter) as main eventers early on in their World Title runs. For sheer comedy, it's a close one, but I'd have to tip my hat to Foley. Foley even gets points for finding such an amazing comedy character after so many years of being perceived as just a hardcore wrestler.

It's not to take anything away from Jericho though. He's had a really good career, but I can't think of one thing he does better than Foley. I suppose you can say Jericho had Foley beat as far as title success goes, but in these modern times, everyone wins a million billion titles. It doesn't mean as much.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Jericho's said he's writing a third book and aiming for release next year. I'll get it.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Anyone watching Battleground? Hope you're not paying for it. No counting the pre-show, the second match is already the pish break (Real 'Muricans vs. Santino/Khali). Kind of early in the show, whatevs.

 

[RickStain]

Cesaro doing the spin thing to Khali was kind of cool.

 

[sgreenwell]

Anyone watching Battleground? Hope you're not paying for it. No counting the pre-show, the second match is already the pish break (Real 'Muricans vs. Santino/Khali). Kind of early in the show, whatevs.

I had completely forgotten its existence until this post; last I heard of it was the Grantland podcast from either Thursday or Friday. The talk is that this is possibly one of the worst PPVs of recent memory, but I feel like that when expectations are that low for a WWE PPV, it tends to surpass them.

That being said, on paper, it does seem completely like a placeholder PPV to just milk some money out of people before Survivor Series. They bought out WCW ages ago, so why don't they just use that Halloween Havok name? That seems to me to be one of the few WCW ideas that was always pretty good, at least the name was good, even if you're not going to use the wheel for matches.

 

[Bradley Guire]

How did R-Truth become relevant again?

Anyway, green, you're right. Battleground and heck in a Cell are both in October. The E trying to squeeze in that 12th PPV because there weren't two in April (WM and Backlash/Extreme Rules, which moved to May). I also liked Halloween Havoc as a name. The Great American Bash was a good one for July, not sure why The E dumped that.

Anyone watch the pre-show stuff? Ziggler/Sandow wasn't bad, but the "knee injury" was the signal that Sandow wasn't cashing in tonight. Especially since the WHC match kicked off the show. No time for a recovery and cash in. Now that RVD has put over ADR as WHC (ha! letters), who steps up to challenge ADR since RVD is taking a little time off already (if you believe the dirt sheets).

Also, bizarre segment in which the little Bull guy hit on Renee Young (who I'd take over half the Diva roster). Is that bestiality?

 

[Bradley Guire]

Man, the Runnels are one odd effin' family.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Really sold tag match, and a great story to tell. Cody could get hot enough to pull off a WHC feud with ADR soon.

 

[Bradley Guire]

October and Punk has won his second PPV match of the year.

 

[Bradley Guire]

If you've lost the show, you're not the only one. WWE production trucks have a power outage in Buffalo.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Like I said, I sure hope nobody paid real money for Battleground. At least we didn't have to wait for Raw for the screwy finish.