2020 Pro Wrestling Thread

Funny thing I’ve never noticed before. When Piper and Snuka are going at it, you can see Punk sitting on the mat in the background with a big smile on his face.

 

2muchcoffeeman Forces Himself to Hatewatch BTE so You Don’t Have To

Nick’s baby makes first TV appearance, with a reference to his little babyface, followed by Matt “Damascus” Hardy jumping in to explain “babyface.”

Opening credits

Kenny is no longer interested in angrily chasing Colt Cabana around backstage; Kenny is upset about being “reduced to nothing but a comedy sketch with a comedy wrestler. You ruined my career. You ruined my life. But I can respect that because (pause) people like it.” Says he’s going to beat Colt to within an inch of his life next time he sees him. Adam “Not In Full Gear” Page sits there reading his phone, holding his drink. Kenny turns back to his conversation with Page, who clearly has no idea what the conversation was about.

SCU rolls up in a golf cart to somebody (Colt?) who’s looking for a BTE bit. They look worldlessly at whomever, then slowly back the cart away.

This week on “Speaking Spanglish with Alex Abrahantes,” Santana and Ortiz show how to order a hamburger or hot dog in Spanglish. Santana talks trashy … which goes badly for him when Dasha González shows up, lays down the law and threatens to spank him with her shoe. He runs off, she pursues him waving her shoe. You had to be there. Probably the best bit of the week.

Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler argue about who’s the worse wrestler.

Private Party learns from Nick that there’s no room for their bit on BTE this week. They’re not happy. Sounded like they were shooting during a Florida afternoon thunderstorm. Honestly, their multi-part Wrestling Horror Story was the best thing BTE had for a while, other than backyard wrestling at the Young Bucks desert complex during the lockdown.

Brodie yells at the Dork Order … something is their fault, and something about a meeting. He stomps out.

TH2 cuts a promo on the Bucks, calling them “icons of sin” and saying they’re ruining wrestling. Sounds like it could been written by Cornette. This is the most screen time TH2 has had since long before lockdown. Gratuitous Dave Meltzer reference.

Orange Cassidy and Best Friends are trying to figure out their bit for BTE, for the third week in a row. Well, Best Friends are trying. Orange says nothing and stares vacantly in various directions. (Them trying to figure out their bit is their bit.)

Cutler Cam with behind the scenes stuff from Dynamite. Meh. Reminded us all that The Butcher & The Blade dressed like house painters last week.

Brandon and Matt Jackson talking after Dynamite last week, Brandon offers him some sort of magic pills to help his sore ribs (looks like jelly packets from the hotel), Matt says he doesn’t do that, Brandon says something about the Bucks being Christian, Matt Jackson says, “We’re not just ordinary regular Christians, we’re Christian A.F. Get the heck out of the way.” (Yep, he says “Christian A.F.,” because ... he doesn’t use that language because he’s Christian as fuck.) Adam “Not In Full Gear” Page shows up and asks, “You don’t do alcohol? It’d make you feel better,” and tries to get Matt to drink a beer. Matt angrily blows him off, walks into his dressing room and … Private Party has set up their private party there with special guest “Old School” Matt Hardy. (Since getting dunked in the football stadium’s pool, Matt Hardy has come down with Multiple Gimmick Disorder.) They tried to get Matt Jackson to join the party. Matt Jackson drops the “Christian A.F.” line again and kicks them out.

Closing credits with the usual T-shirt ads.

 

That was the first time I've ever seen that Rumble. I was in and out on wrestling during that time, and really came back around WM 24. I never watched Smackdown in that era because of my work schedule. So it was pretty fun to see things like a young Randy Orton and Chris Jericho on the undercard, Undertaker still able to go full bore for 30 minutes in the Rumble match, Shawn Michaels still around and doing the same, and guys like Miz, Morrison, Punk, Cody Rhodes and a couple of others early in their careers.
Funny, too, that Miz and Morrison were the tag champs for that PPV, and just recently had another run with the belts. It was surprising how many guys on that PPV are still around in prominent roles -- if not in WWE, then in AEW -- 13 years later.

 

Watching the replay of that Rumble match again just now, I also realized I missed almost the entirety of Mr. Kennedy's run in WWE. I remember he was the next big thing, won MITB, but he pretty much came and went during my hiatus and then was on Smackdown when I did come back.
I know the basics of his career arc. Rising star in WWE, got hurt, screwed up big-time in a match, got let go, had a decent run in TNA. But what happened to where he seems to have fallen off the face of the earth? Did he retire? Flame out? Become persona non grata within WWE? Considering how many people get second and third chances in WWE, and the rise of AEW, it seems weird that he never really lived up to his original hype and hasn't been heard from on a major level in the past few years.

 

Looking him up on Wikipedia, he's currently in the National Wrestling Alliance and is a ring announcer (!) for Top Rank Boxing.

Looking back, he certainly had Vince's look, and was adequate in the ring. The announcer schtick was awesome.

 

I think he had a lot of nagging injuries, or even substance abuse, over the years - Meaning, stuff that wasn't necessarily addressed on camera, but that kept him out of action or prevented him from being booked in consistent feuds. If you look at his TNA entries on Wikipedia, there is a lot of "he was off TV for four weeks, but then came back" kind of stuff. Its not like TNA had great management or consistent booking, but his booking seemed even more scattershot than others.

 

This reads to me as Renee interviewed someone who tested positive

 

Came across the WWE-produced album of 60 WCW themes on my Amazon Music account, with a bunch of songs at its '90s cheeseball best.

Can't forget the illustrious American Males theme.

 

That might be the worst wrestling theme song I’ve ever heard. It’s certainly on the Mount Rushmore.

 

Uh, oh.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/wrestling/2020/06/24/wwe-registers-multiple-positive-covid-19-tests

 

He did one of my all-time favorite promos here. Just perfect.

And watch it all the way to the end.

 

QT Marshall is also sidelined for the same reason.