2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Wiki has Morton as a 57, 58 year-old, looks much older than that

 

As you know, I enjoy reviewing pay per views, this morning I was thinking of five star matches that I've seen. Here's what I came up with.

WWE
- Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat - Wrestlemania 3
- Bret Hart vs British Bulldog - Summerslam 1992 (In the past, I've also given it **** 3/4)
- Bret Hart vs Owen Hart - Summerslam 1994
- Bret Hart vs Steve Austin - Wrestlemania 13
- Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle - Royal Rumble 2003
- Chris Benoit vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania 20
- The Undertaker vs Triple H - Wrestlemania 28

WCW
- Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - Clash of the Champions 6
- Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - Wrestle War '89
- Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - Clash of the Champions 9

How about you guys?

 

The first WM match between Undertaker and HBK.

 

The ones I can think of off the top of my head that aren't on your list are:
WWE-
CM Punk v. John Cena, Money in the Bank
Undertaker vs. HBK, WrestleMania 25 (My favorite match of all-time)
Razor Ramon vs. HBK, WrestleMania 10
Hardys, Dudleys, Edge & Christian, WrestleMania 17

 

CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - ROH - Went back and found several online. WOW

Taker - HBK - HITC

I'll come up with more later but also think to ECW.

I know I've seen several RVD - Jerry Lynn 5-star masterpieces

 

The appearance of Tommy Dreamer here reminds me the new Heyman DVD is great. Paul E. Dangerously was fucking awesome.

 

I just got the DVD last week. The doc was outstanding. I need to check out the second and third discs to see all those promos.

 

Some of the old promos were awesome.

 

He cracked me up with his torturous explanation of why he couldn't reveal the details of his lawsuit against WCW.

If I remember right, WCW claimed he falsified expense reports when they fired him. Whether it's true or not is another matter. Then again, Heyman has infamously said that people should always assume he's lying and to verify what he says.

 

http://www.wwe.com/shows/nightofchampions/2014/roman-reigns-breaking-news-26669136

Whether it's a work or not, could this be a way to work a certain bat-crazy former friend of Rollins' into the PPV?

 

Monday Night Wars lately have been pretty disappointing. There's been better WWE DVDs put out about these subjects. I was hoping for more use of the WCW library they have.

Anyway, Night of Champions thoughts?

I'll go Orton over Jericho
Goldust/Stardust over the Usos
Ziggler over Miz
Russev over Henry
Cesaro over Sheamus
Paige retains the divas title with run in by Brie
I think Lesnar pounds Cena again. Only way the epic squash that was SummerSlam makes sense.

 

This week’s Observer stuff:

- The NXT PPV was seen as average, until the final match, which got rave reviews. Triple H’s comparison of NXT to a ECW-style feeder program was dissected a bit by Meltzer. He pointed out that their current shows at Full Sail usually only do 100 to 200 fans, on a building capacity of 400, and if NXT started touring it would reduce their training days by at least two. It would almost certainly lose money.

On the show, they had Baron Corbin, who is former NFL practice squad player Tom Pestock. He’s about 6’6”, and has dropped down from 317 pounds to 275.

Enzo Amore was recommended for a contract by Triple H’s personal trainer, so there are worries that this carried more weight than his tryout performance, which was said to be awful. His size limits his potential; he’s small, he’s not a great worker (Meltzer says he’d have to improve to get to Santino’s level), and the WWE doesn’t really use “face” managers.

Mojo Rawley is now the NXT version of Ryback. In that he was initially pushed hard by development, but he’s lost favor and now he’s jobbing in 1:10 on PPV.

- Re: Sean O’Haire’s death, WWE paid for six different rehab stints between 2008 and 2014. According to WWE sources, after his final treatment in 2014, he didn’t answer any of their follow-up calls. O’Haire also allegedly lost his main roster spot in 2001 after he showed up loaded at a house show and almost hurt Crash Holly in a spot. It was also noted that O’Haire and Batista both initially tried to train at the WCW Power Plant at the same time, but Batista was run off because he was a big bodybuilder type, and it took McMahon and Triple H to see the potential in him.

- TNA, Bully Ray has been working dates on a per-day rate, and Devon’s contract expires after Bound for Glory. No update on the TV contract. TNA is producing a show called TNA Legends, but it’s believed to be packages of their “classic” matches for foreign markets.

- ROH, Michael Elgin is out at least 90 days, but that’s best-case scenario for clearing up his visa situation. The company is also said to be souring on ACH; he missed a flight for a show, and when ROH scheduled him for a later flight, they learned he didn’t even pick up the tickets. He also had a breakdown at an indie show. He could be on the outs as a result.

- Similar to the WWE, UFC is now trying to buy fight libraries from defunct or foreign MMA organizations. Also, a story about WWE selling its libraries was untrue; it’s the distribution contract that’s likely to be sold, to Warner Brothers. Meaning, not who owns the reproduction rights, but who’s actually physically sending out the discs.

- The Observer goes into a lot of Hall of Fame discussion; not the WWE HoF, but their own, which typically is more legitimate and smarky. Interesting thing – While Ric Flair has the most title runs, he’s second on the length, at 3,371 days. Hulk Hogan is first at 3,739. John Cena is 10th at 1,395. Spots 3 to 9 are old school guys (Bob Backlund) and Japanese wrestlers. Also, 96 percent of Meltzer’s twitter followers are male, to the surprise of probably no one.

- Charlie Haas, 42, is taking indie dates again. Previously, it was thought that he was retired after he had a falling out with ROH management.

- Jim Ross’ biography is scheduled for a spring 2015 release.

- WWE signed a new five-year TV deal for India, and part of that was committing to tour at least once in 2015. The last tour in that country went very badly, with Meltzer noting that a lot of talent got sick during it.

- Tim Wiese, 32 and a former German soccer goalkeeper, got some headlines in that country when he said WWE had offered him a contract. In actuality, WWE spoke with his agent a while ago about him coming in to tryout, but he didn’t go on one and there was no offer extended. He’s older than they usually sign, but he has some name value and he’s up to 255 pounds of muscle, having ditched soccer workouts for bodybuilding. It’s unknown how serious his interest is in subjecting himself to the WWE development system and training.

- Barrett is expected to return from shoulder surgery in December, after the WWE tour of the UK, unfortunately.

- Bu Ku Dao of Wildkat Sports is a new development signing.

- Some of the past NXT salary numbers were off. While new male trainees start at $24,000, women start at around $50,000, and most football players / elite athletes start at $52,000. Sara Amato (Sara Del Rey) was given props, since most of the women coming out of NXT now are clearly at a higher working level than women who have been on the main roster for years.

Mild booking decision and return speculation spoiler stuff:

If Cena wins, it suggests that they’re going with Cena vs. Reigns at Mania, with a possible short-term Rollins championship run. If Lesnar wins, then the build is Lesnar vs. Reigns, unless they get cold feet on Reigns.

- Steve Austin is said to be working out really hard, and some believe he might be prepping or trying for one last match, if the match and money is right, at Mania. However, it’s still seen as a longshot.

- Sting merchandise is being sold at house shows, but there still isn’t a date set for when he would debut.