2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

The repeat thing isn't about DB winning as much as its about the Rumble booing and the winning a stacked match to squeeze his way in again. They should've just used the He never got a match and never lost the belt from the start to make it fresh.

 

Been loving the free preview of the network we are getting here in Canuckistan. Will be watching WM6 for the first time since I was there at the SkyDome. Loved the 30-minute promo of the Savage DVD and the first episode of Monday Night War was awesome stuff.

 

There are a lot of great things on The Network if you love the documentaries and old stuff. The Monday Night War is cool, but a lot of it is sooooo repetitive. The same clips over and over and over. You'll be ready to vomit around the 10th time Bischoff and Hollywood sing "We Are the Champions." Not great binge-watching. Best consumed a bit at a time.

Legends' House ... whew. I only watched it for Piper. Rivalries is good, as is WrestleMania Rewind. Countdown gets old, really fast. Same thing as MNW, the same clips played over and over. There are some good original specials, like Daniel Bryan Journey to WM, The Shield Journey to SummerSlam, The Usos 10 Hours to Houston, and some others.

But there are the early Nitros, early Raws, Saturday Night's Main Event, Tuesday Night Titans. And, of course, all those PPVs. I feel like I could have the Network the rest of my life and never get through everything.

 

Just caught the Ramon-Michaels ladder match from WM10, wow, forgot how great that was. Thought the doc on the rise and fall of the nWo was awesome, same with the look back at the main event in the first 'mania. Even caught a couple of Saturday Night's Main Events, talk about a blast from the past. Huggy Jr. said there has to be a way we can find $12 a month for this, for the PPVs alone. Hard to disagree.

 

The WWE24 behind-the-scenes look at WM30 was awesome. I really hope they do a bunch of those things. I can't get enough. Really liking the Countdown shows, too. Watched half of the "10 most strange matches" or whatever last night. Totally forgot about the Electric Chair match at Halloween Havoc 1991. That's ridiculous and awesome.

 

The WWE24 look at WM340 was great, would love to see more of that too. Just watched the WM Rewind on Hogan-Andre, man, I loved Monsoon and Ventura on the mic, none of the hysterics you get today.

 

You mean it's not $9.99 in Canuckistan?

 

No. I believe it is $12.

 

Still worth it.
I've been in one of my "meh" cycles for wrestling and have only watched the Network for the PPVs the last few months. I still feel like I'm getting a good deal.

 

The channel that carries Raw and Smackdown up here is now part of a specialty channel package so we don't get those shows anymore but the network seems to be a pretty good investment. I have been checking the schedule for PVR-worthy stuff and it looks like a lot of it is repeated through the week but there is still enough content on there to keep me very intrigued.

 

The thing I love about Ventura, especially, is -- believe it or not, considering the era -- a certain level of realism he brought to the commentary. When a guy kicked out of a finisher, or broke a hold, Ventura would often mention how Wrestler A didn't catch the guy flush with it, or didn't have it cinched in tight. Which makes a hell of a lot of sense. You're not going to hit someone perfectly every single time. It also helped cover for some obvious botches in the ring as Ventura explained that Wrestler B ducked the move at the last minute so Wrestler A didn't get as much on it as he wanted to.
Today's announcers never do that. They treat every attempt at a finisher as a match-ender and it makes everything cartoonish.

If John Cena hits an AA 20 minutes into a match with Seth Rollins, Ventura would be explaining how tired Cena was and how he's not sure how much he had on it, so when Rollins kicks out it makes some sense. Michael Cole would be beside himself that Rollins kicked out with no context.

 

I thought they were great on Hogan-Andre especially considering what a huge moment that was. Ventura was great at managing the ebb and flow of it from Andre's strong start through Hogan's resurgence and the back and forth until the end. And Monsoon was great at setting him up. The Bod called it right down the middle it wasn't until it was over that he went into heel mode and started ripping Hogan's ego.

Heenan was great during the match, I really saw how his behaviour at that time really influenced how you see Heyman (who is always must-watch TV for me) perform during big matches.