2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

i think they should let sheamus disappear for a while and then bring him back repackaged as a beast wrestler from japan. tensai 2.0

 

Definitely Bryan. I enjoy Sheamus, but agree that he serves much better as a heel.

I would've liked to have seen a real lengthy program between Punk and Bryan that culminated in what would unquestionably be a classic WM match. Those two really know how to put on a show and could've blown the roof off at WM. Hoping they do run with this at some point because both men are two of their most popular and entertaining workers.

 

They had a really, really good match -- IIRC -- when they were both champs or right before. It was fucking fantastic.

 

Two things I haven't seen mentioned:

1. TNA is going to a four-PPV schedule going forward (Genesis, Lockdown, Slammiversary, Bound For Glory). They're going to tape eight themed standalone shows to fill the PPV/international TV commitments in the months of the dropped shows, but they won't have any connection to storylines. It's a good idea for a group that draws anemic flies for their PPV offerings, but in typical TNA fashion, they've basically ignored the buildup for Genesis (it's today, btw) in favor of Aces and Eights and this wretched Bully-Brooke-Hulk mess.

2. Wrestlecrap.com has relaunched and the nominees for Gooker of the Year are out: http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/time-to-vote-the-2012-gooker-awards/. The finalists are the AJ Lee capers, the Claire Lynch capers, Aces and 8s, Sheamus beating Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds, Natalya the farting machine and Zach Ryder getting friendzoned by Eve. Lynch is far in front, so it'll probably be the winner.

I can see it, because it was just ridiculous to the nth degree, bringing to mind some of the crap in endgame WCW (I think there was a paternity test match somewhere in the mix). By most measures, it's Crap. But two mitigating factors: 1. It brought us The World Tag Team Champions of the World, Daniels and Kazarian, and 2. They ended it really quickly and never mentioned it again.

Aces and Eights is my vote, and I'm stunned it's in dead last. It was an OK idea (though invasion angles are SO 10-15 years ago), but the execution has been ... flat ... out ... ted ... i ... ous. They debuted in June, and by December the only thing we knew was that D-Von and Festus were part of it. They lose most of their matches, they don't seem to have a purpose to being their, the reveals are hum-drum and WAY too far apart, and we're no closer to having a leader for this thing than we were in the summer. Even the one good thing to come out of it, a face turn for Bully, was immediately undercut by the aformentioned excrement that is Bully-Brooke-Hulk. That gets my vote, but clearly I'm in a Libertarian-esque minority.

Smarky smarks will vote for Daniel Bryan's loss, but even if it was a happy accident, it ended up being the best thing in the world for him. AJ the Giant Whore got old eventually, but it did move major angles along, and gave us the indelible image of AJ playing ring around the roise around Kane before kissing him, so there's that, and that combined with the 18-second match gave us Hell No.

Farting Natalya was stupid, but it's a diva angle in 2012. Nobody really gave a shit. She was doing nothing before she started farting, and she went back to doing nothing after writers gave her Beano. I think she's with Khali and Hornswoggle now? Put Brodus Clay under a mask and rehire Boogeyman for a short run and bring back the Oddities. Fuck it.

The Zach/Cena/Eve stuff was corny, but it at least got us to a logical if expected conclusion of Eve joining up with John Laurinitis. Cena's love life is like Sting's tag team life.

Speaking of Laurinitis, how the hell did People Power not make the list? It wasn't a revolutionary force in WrestleCrap, but it certainly was awful as C-grade evil heel GM. TNA completely fucking up James Storm's top-face push should merit consideration as well. Tensai isn't on this level but he definitely deserves a mention. Showing Jerry Lawler's clinically-dead body getting CPR does too.

 

They had a few in short span of time that had to have sparked ratings for a bit. The matches were somewhat irrelevant to any storyline at the time but the WWE knew what it was doing.

 

EDIT, because I did not go far enough back in 2012.

Punk and Bryan actually wrestled 22 times in 2012, though the bulk were some sort of tag matches. The singles matches are listed below:

Raw, January 30, Bryan via DQ
SuperSmackdown, February 21, draw, double pin
Raw, February 27, draw,
Over the Limit, May 20, Punk via pin
Raw dark match, May 21, Punk via pin
Raw, May 28, Bryan via pin
Money in the Bank, July 15, no DQ, Punk via pin

http://www.profightdb.com/wrestlers/c-m-punk-467.html?res=100

 

Just read up on the Claire Lynch stuff. HOLY CRAP. Glad I missed that shit.

 

So, by booking Del Rio to outsmart and outlast the onslaught of the Big Show, how much have the writers shit all over Sheamus's character? Three PPV matches, and Sheamus can't get the job done. One SmackDown match, and Del Rio is the new champ (also having failed to get the job done against Sheamus all summer). Talk about some hotshot booking. Yeesh.

 

From Styles' Wikipedia page, this line says it all:

"Styles again defeated Daniels in a Bound for Glory Series match and, per the pre-match stipulations, earned the right to get a paternity test on Claire's baby."

Judy Bagwell on a Pole, move on over. We have a new 'winner' of the worst match stipulation in history award.

 

Those first two are the ones I remember best, fantastic matches. I didn't watch much for awhile in the middle of the year so I missed a good chunk of the crap with AJ involved.

 

Love Kurt Angle ... love Rob Van Dam ... and Samoa Joe ... and A.J. Styles ... and Mickey James ... and Bobby Roode.

But I will NEVER, and I mean NEVER watch TNA as long as those fucktards Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, and their demonspawn, are a part of the product.

 

I don't know anything about the TNA stuff, but I liked most of the Gooker nominees from WWE.

I loved Sheamus-Bryan Wrestlemania, I liked anything with AJ, and I didn't completely hate the Ryder-Eve stuff.