2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I don't know. This might be the most awesome shirt the WWE sells. http://shop.wwe.com/Cesaro-%22International-Superpower%22-Authentic-T-Shirt/W07009,default,pd.html?dwvar_W07009_color=Black&start=1&cgid=cesaro

 

My current favorite WWE shirt: http://shop.wwe.com/Paige-%22Think-Again%22-Authentic-T-Shirt/W07031,default,pd.html?dwvar_W07031_color=Black&start=10&cgid=superstar-nxt

 

It's something that works for some and not for others, I guess. He plays off it pretty well at times ("This is Bo's ring!" during a "BO-RING!" chant), but that still doesn't prevent me from tuning out or being thoroughly disenchanted whenever he's on the screen. He's a main-event piss break to me.

 

The guy definitely needs work, but I was impressed in his match against Neville at Arrival.

 

At least on Jericho's podcast, he said that he always had input on the shirts they made for him and what not. However, he also noted that some guys aren't really interested in that aspect so much. (He also kept detailed records for each match about whether he won or lost, the house, and his pay for the show, up until he was a main event guy.)

 

He had a couple brief flashes of potential, but it felt to me like Neville had a 15-minute match with a ladder. I mean, the kid's only 23, and he has a pedigree. But, IMO, in no way is he ready to be a top heel anywhere. Then again, I tend to have irrational hatred for certain things on occasion, so maybe I'm in the minority.

You know who's an awesome heel? That Tyler Breeze guy.

 

Some thoughts and notes from staying up all night in pain with the left half of my back swollen to twice its size:

- WCW World War 3 1998
If having two rings inside a cage wasn't enough for you two months prior at Fall Brawl: War Games, now we've got three rings and 60 men for World War 3!!!!!!!11! In this match, three rings are set up in a shape that sort of, kind of looks like the Triforce from "Legend of Zelda." It's like the Royal Rumble, except that it's nothing like the Royal Rumble.

Sixty men start all at once, and the last man standing gets a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship next month at Starrcade (don't forget the extra 'r'). Twenty men enter each ring, and wrestlers are eliminated by pinfall (none), submission (none) or going ... well, not over the top rope, but by exiting the ring by any means. Once the field is cut down to 20 men, all are moved to the center ring and WORLD WAR 3 continues!!!!!11!!!!1!!11

In this edition, Kevin Nash quickly jobs out 19 other men then takes a 10-minute rest as the other two rings take their sweet ass time. Nash manages to not tear a hammy transferring to the center ring from the left. Eventually, seven men are left from each of the main factions: Nash, Konnan, and Lex Luger from nWo Wolfpac; Scott Hall and the Giant from nWo Hollywood; Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko from WCW/The Four Horsemen. The final three men are Nash, Hall, and Luger, and Nash pulls a double-elim to win the match. Guess it pays to be the new booker.

Goldberg apparently had the night off, as he made a brief run-in during the Steiner vs. Steiner match but had no match himself. This is the second PPV in which he did not compete (he apparently had minor knee surgery when he missed Fall Brawl in September but recovered enough for the match with Diamond Dallas Page at Halloween Havoc in October).

That said, the main event was Bret Hart vs. DDP for the United States Heavyweight Championship. It was a solid match in the budding rivalry between Hart and Page, and starting with Goldberg's defeate of Raven earlier in the year the US title was actually booked well for most of 1998 because of matches like this one. Having it be the main title defending in the main event of the show kind of worked. Makes you wonder what the excuse is for the lack of decent booking for the current midcard titles in modern WWE.

- "I'm Next" by Bill Goldberg
I dug this out of a box of books, this read-only-once hidden gem among a bunch of wrestling biographies obtained from relatives every Christmas. It's almost embarrassing to admit the number of wrestling bios I own.

I finished this in about two hours. Let's be honest: it's not a difficutl read. Plus, I skipped about 50 pages of Goldberg detailing his mediocre college and pro football career, which he put in the final third of the book. He chose to recount these boring years as a means to pass the months between his punching a real car windown and recovering from nearly severing a major tendon in said arm. Non-linear storytelling was a wise move, because no one would have finished the book if this was the first 50 pages. We want to read Goldberg shooting on backstage events.

1. He really hated Scott Hall.
2. He was a mark for himself.
3. He tried to prove he wasn't a mark for himself by not questioning jobbing to Nash at Starrcade 1998 after proving he was a huge mark for himself by whining about the Jericho angle and how he was above comedy.
4. He really hated Triple H.
5. Someone screwed up the battle royal for Road Wild 1998. The Giant was not supposed to be the last guy. The plan was to build a Goldberg/Giant rivalry for Starrcade 1998. Probably wouldn't have happened anyway since Nash became booker.
6. He tried to prove he wasn't a mark for himself by agreeing to turn heel after proving he was a mark for himself by whining about how the kids would hate him if he turned heel.

- How I would eventually do a final salute to WCW
WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta would have been a perfect way to pay tribute to WCW and acknowledge that, while it is mocked now, it was the hottest thing on cable for a while, drew a lot of money, and many fans get nostalgic like me, look back, and think, "Yes, it was that bad at times, but dammit, I still miss it."

If there's a way to get WrestleMania back to Atlanta by WM33 or 34, here's what I'd want to see:

Goldberg vs. Ryback
Assuming Ryback hasn't been future endeavoured by this point. Can't remember the guy being on TV recently and not jobbing. Creative would really have to build him back up. Yikes. But who else would they put against Goldberg and not be terribly harmed by doing the job for a nostalgia match? Mason Ryan? Yech. Nevermind. Forget the match.

All-WCW Hall of Fame
A lot of guys who got their break in WCW or did their best known work for WCW are already in, like Flair and the Horsemen, but there are a lot left, enough to make a decent Hall of Fame class. Here's a list of who needs to eventually go in, and a WCW theme is good enough reason to finally do it.

- The original nWo: Hogan, Hall, and Nash (I don't care if Hall can physically make it or not. Do it with Hogan and Nash at the ceremony at the least.)
- Sting
- Eric Bischoff
- Goldberg
- Jericho (Hopefully, he's in by this time.)
- The Big Show/Giant Paul Wight
- Diamond Dallas Page
- Rey Mysterio Jr.
- Mike Tenay
- Tony Schivone
And if they must have a celebrity inductee, make it Dennis Rodman or Carl Malone.

Anyway, next ... Starrcade 1998.

 

Re: World War 3, I actually like that concept for a PPV, but yeah, the result was usually underwhelming.

 

I can't recall if it was one of the World Wars, or Battlebowl, but I remember when DDP won it as a mid carder and was supposed to get a title shot, but then got screwed out of it for some reason. It pissed me off, because I liked the unpredictability.

 

I think the nWo will get inducted at some point. There was a rumor it was going to happen this year because of Hogan's involvement with Mania, but the HOF seems like it's got three solid headliners already (Warrior, Jake and Lita). The nWo would way overshadow those guys.
Come to think of it, this might be the perfect time for it. That'd be a fitting tribute.

People keep pimping Sting for the WWE HOF, but until he spends some time in the company I have a problem with it. He was always the antithesis of WWE -- the face of WCW, the homegrown star, then toiling along in TNA all these years. Even the old guys they put into the HOF usually crossed over to WWE in the days of the territories. Sting was never that guy. He belongs in a wrestling hall of fame, but even with the way WCW and WWE have retroactively intertwined their histories, he's out of place in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Jericho, Big Show and Mysterio are all locks once they officially retire. They're all part-timers now, but still active enough that it'll be at least 5-10 years before they put them in.
I wouldn't mind seeing Malenko and Regal get in at some point. Always was a Malenko fan, and Regal has been memorable in a variety of roles.

Tenay and Schiavone? At least we know it'd be the biggest HOF induction ceremony in the history of the business.

 

I think all of those guys will make it, except Tenay and Schiavone. Malenko and Regal aren't as famous as the others, but they've been working as agents for a while now, and they're respected backstage. As Batman mentioned, the WWE usually likes to save a "big name" or two for each year, as opposed to overloading one ceremony, so I imagine DDP, the NWO, Scott Hall / Razor Ramon, Diesel / Kevin Nash, Jericho, Mysterio, etc., are all on the short list for the next 20 years.

WWE owns all of the old WCW footage, and let's be honest - They'll provide buy the TNA library and name when that company goes to the graveyard, which could be within six months, since the Observer has been pretty consistent in saying that they're going to lose their TV contract. Because of that, I don't think it's a stretch that Sting will eventually be in the WWE Hall, as long as he's willing to participate.

There are only two guys who were pretty historic from an industry standpoint that I could never, ever, ever see going in at this point, for obvious reasons - Chris Benoit and Owen Hart. And even Hart, I imagine he'll get in via his whole family being inducted, although I doubt that they would show any of his highlights because of how he died, and the understandable animus between his widow and the WWE.

 

They should have Schiavone go on last, then, as soon as he opens his mouth, Vince yells out "We're outta time!!!"