2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

WCW Bash at the Beach 1999

Probably the most asinine thing I can write about today is the angle race war between Master P and the No Limit Soldiers (Hootie Hoo!) and the West Texas Rednecks (led by Curt Hennig of Minnesota). This angle just showed how out of touch WCW management was when it came to knowing the audience demographic: the faces were booed and the heels were cheered.

Master P and the No Limit Soldiers were aligned with Rey and Konnan, faces, making them faces by proxy. They were joined by Brad Armstrong, but no one knows why. This was WCW, where random talents were inserted into groups or feuds.

The West Texas Rednecks released a hot single titled "Rap is Crap." (By the way, the music video is a real gem. Hennig, Barry and Kendall Windham, Bobby Duncum Jr. do a fantastically horrible job of pretending to play instruments during a live show to dozens of people. During the fiddle solo, the camera pans to ... well, anything else because there was no fiddle player on stage, just the traditional four-man line-up of drummer, bassist, guitarist, vocalist.)

The Bash at the Beach match was an eight-man tag elimination match. According to Wikipedia, the match went 15:35, about 10 minutes too long judging by the crowd. The "celebrity" wrestler for this match was Swoll, one of the No Limit Soldiers. He wasn't that bad a worker, considering what kind of work rate WCW performers had at the time.

Other notes:
- Disco Inferno wore a brilliant neon lime green outfit in his match against Ernest "The Cat" Miller (a.k.a. The Ayatollah), who was in full James Brown mode. I was actually jealous of Disco's ring gear.

- Watching Rick Steiner cut a promo was always painful. Watching him cut a heel promo was worse. Goes to show how good Scott Steiner was. That man had real heat with live crowds, something modern heels just can't seem to conjure up. Scott Steiner was an absolute prick who jaw-jacked with ring-side fans, pushed them, cursed at them, gave them the finger, questioned their sexuality, and threatened to conquer their girlfriends and mothers (at the same time).

- This was also the year of the Hardcore Junkyard Invitational, a match in which stacked cars were knocked over, nearly killing some of the talent. Highlights of this match include multiple helicopter shots, La Parka wearing a plaid flannel shirt, and barrel fires. The absolute best segment is when Hak (formerly known as The Sandman in ECW) was brawling with Dave Taylor and Jerry Flynn near a stack of cars. Ciclope had scaled the stack to set up a splash from a legitimate height of 20 feet. Hak, fearing for Ciclope's safety, turns around, grabs Brian Knobbs and Johnny Grunge and says, "Hey, come here." The group then patiently waits to cushion Ciclope's suicide dive.

- I almost forgot: The Jersey Triad (Page, Bigelow, Kanyon) had the catchphrase of "Badda Bing, Badda Boom, Badda Bang" with the "Bang" part obviously said by Page. Shit you not.

 

I thought the Network was uncensored? Watching Countdown, and everything is censored.

 

watching the scott hall tribute video, i had forgotten how much his razor ramon character started out as a direct rip-off of tony montana in scarface. it got me thinking of what other movie characters might be good source material for wrestlers. bray wyatt's vibe and especially his look owe something to robert deniro's version of max cady in cape fear.

 

I don't know what was with all the bitching. I thought this week's RAW was pretty damn good.

Yes, the Ahnold segment dragged a bit but I thought Miz saved it and I'm glad for one they've got Miz coming back to that heel role he did so well.

Cena/Harper was damn good. The four-way was damn good. The Shield tag match was damn good.
Even the Divas match had a decent ending to it. If AJ somehow survives with the belt after Mania it will be interesting.

The one thing that fell flat for me was the opening with Steph/Orton/Bootista.


Side note: I watched WM 18 last night and I forgot about Christian's "whiny, throw a tantrum" character when he had the opera like music (Christian! CHRISTIAN!) and the gold sparklers would come down on him for his entrance.

Also loved seeing the Hardcore Belt be defended EVERYWHERE and what the hell ever happened to Maven?

 

The problem with Miz is, he's crossed the line from good, cocky heel, to pathetic, has-been loser heel who's living off of past glories. Bringing up WM 27 at this point -- especially when it's been analyzed and digested, and crapped out as one of the worst Wrestlemanias ever -- is not something to gloat about. If anyone is still talking about it, Miz, it's to make fun of it.
Bragging about headlining one Wrestlemania when you're in the ring with Hulk Hogan is also bringing a knife to a cannon fight.
I hate it for Miz. He was phenomenal for a stretch before he won the title, and then never really got a chance to run with it despite having a lengthy reign. Watching him now, I channel his character and ask, "Really? Really? THIS guy was the WWE champion, a rising star, and the face of the company for the better part of a year? Really?"

 

I know it got kind of stupid sometimes, but the 24/7 rule was fun. They should bring it back once in awhile and let it run for like a year or so before retiring it again.

 

Per Wikipedia, Maven was arrested two years ago and accused of doctor-shop pong for painkillers. He then went to the WWE's rehab program and as a few months ago, was working as a bouncer in a NYC bar.

 

If it's booked right (like most things) it could be a tremendous angle for an off-brand PPV like Battleground.
The night after the previous PPV, have a No. 1 contender's battle royal for the WWE title. The winner gets his title shot at Battleground -- if he can make it to then without losing. Whoever beats him takes the spot in the title match. Of course, that stipulation includes the 24/7 rule, which makes the guy a marked man.

Over the course of the next month, the guy not only has to defend his spot in regular matches, but in the backstage brawls and post-match ambushes as well. He'd be exempt from the 24/7 rule once the bell rings in an actual match (so a third wrestler can't sneak in and steal a pin during a scheduled match), but he could lose the spot via count-out or DQ, so he can't just run away when danger presents itself. That could lead to a scenario where other wrestlers are waiting on the ramp like hungry wolves. For comedy's sake, there could be a spot where four or five guys are lined up on the ramp, each one waiting his turn with a referee.

They could play up the drama of one guy lasting a couple of weeks, wondering if he can hold on. They could temporarily elevate mid-carders by having them beat the current No. 1 contender and then losing later on. There could be absurd moments like one guy winning a backstage match, then getting waffled with a chair 30 seconds later and losing the spot. There would be odd alliances and obvious betrayals. They could also do a heel or face turn on someone at the last minute by having an ambush match at the last minute.

It could become a mess, but after seeing what Battleground and a few short-turnaround PPVs have been over the years, it'd at least make things interesting. It's part Money in the Bank, part Hardcore title homage, and part Championship Scramble redux.

 

Found via SI's Hot Clicks: A collection of candid and rare pro wrestling photos:

http://lawradio.proboards.com/thread/3047/rare-wrestling-photos?page=1

 

Awesome.

 

The 24/7 rule would work much better right now than 15 years ago. Why? Back then, it was only Raw, SmackDown, maybe Heat/Velocity/WhateverMTVshowedthatnobodywatched.

Now, it's Raw, SmackDown, Main Event, Superstars, the JBL/Cole Show, etc. Impromptu match. If done well, it could be a great running gag. Just think, how wild would it be for the Hardcore champ to run in front of the cameras as JBL and Cole record their opening schtick for the YouTube show, JBL does a clothesline from hell, Cole counts three, JBL wins the belt. Then another guy, who was originally chasing the champ, shows up with his own ref in tow, nails JBL, ref counts three, another new champ. Raw or SmackDown Pre-Show or Backstage Pass. Just have someone get pinned on the broadcast table in front of Hacksaw and Josh Matthews during mid-sentence. Running gag.

 

I swear to God I take the most incredibly awkward photos. Got to meet HBK today (Great guy by the way, very accommodating to fans) and, in what seems to be a running trend with me, I took an awkward photo for the person I was with and they took a shitty photo of me in exchange. Check out this photo of me meeting Bret Hart last year and HBK today. So incredibly awkward.
pic.twitter.com/k0HTJtKslr