Professional wrestling thread

They won't give up on Hardy. He's too popular. They might want to give up on him, but he's getting way too good a reaction from the crowd. Both Hardys, actually. Neither are getting a world title run, but both have their place in WWE.

Booker's done in WWE. Between the drug suspension and his unhappiness that they bypassed his wrestling school as a second developmental program so they could start one in Florida (plus he used and put over TNA guys there), I'd be stunned if he came back. Plus he's one of the rare ones who socked away his money, plus Sharmell is about to graduate law school, so he doesn't need this.

Everyone at TNA is responsible for that angle, from Dixie Carter for not knowing (or worse, approving) about it, to Jarrett/Russo/Dutch for creating it and/or signing off on it, and Pacman for not knowing how much damage this is going to do to him.

 

Booker is pretty much done with the WWE. I doubt we'll be seeing him in a ring for a long time to come.

And the more I read about it, the more excited I'm getting about a possible Chris Jericho return. I think he should start out as a face (we all know he'll get cheered when he does come back), win the title eventually and then turn heel. Like someone said, Y2J was born to be a heel and nothing else.

 

I've got comp tix to Raw on Monday night. Haven't seen a show here in over a year, and that was the week HHH and all the McMahons bailed at the last minute because Stephanie went into labor, forcing the show to be rewritten. Curious to see what they do with the suspended guys because apparently they are eligible to return Oct. 1.

 

Watching TNA last night and wondered why they blow through angles/feuds so fast? There’s no build up.
Also, the Motor City Machine Guns are a fun tag team to watch, very underrated and under used.
Speaking of which, where have all the good tag teams gone and who are some of your favorite tag teams of all time?

Mine:
1. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard
-Arn is probably the greatest tag wrestler of all time and Tully was so smooth around the ring. They won tag titles in both federations and could have great matches against brutes like the Road Warriors and quicker guys like the Rock-and-Roll Express. Both also were great heels and excellent on the mic.

2. Steiner Brothers
-They stink now, but they were dominant at a time when there was probably a dozen Hall of Fame type of tag teams worldwide. They also won belts in both federations and beat anybody and everybody in the States and in Japan.

3. Sabu and RVD
-They didn’t wrestle together long, but they had amazing chemistry in the ring. Part of me still wants to see them reunite and breathe some life back into tag wrestling.


In case anyone cares, PWI ranked the top 100 tag teams of the PWI era. I disagree with some of it (British Bulldogs up at No. 4??? Sting and Luger all the way down at No. 52???).
Here is the link:
http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi100tg.htm

 

Impact has always felt rushed because they've got too much going on for a one-hour time slot (technically they have Xplosion, but nobody watches that and no storyline development occurs on it). They go to two hours starting next week, and the spoilers for the first two shows indicate they're giving everything more time to develop, so that's a good sign.

My top five tag teams, in no order:
1. Road Warriors -- Unlike any other tag team when they debuted. Big, great look, powerful and and surprisingly quick, they set the standard for every power team since.
2. Midnight Express -- Heel tag teams were methodical and double-team moves were rare and usually simple (both guys kick another guy, guy holds victim so other guy can punch him). The Midnight Express broke out all sorts of state-of-the-art double-team moves and put a new face on tag team wrestling.
3. The Fabulous Freebirds -- Entertaining as hell, brought a great edge to wrestling, helped introduce rock and roll to wrestling, saved Texas wrestling and introduced the Freebird Rule, when a tag team of more than two people switch out wrestlers on any given night (also used by the Russians, Demolition and XXX, among others).
4. The British Bulldogs -- Helped popularize the big man/little man tandem. The whole Matilda thing made them look like cartoon morons, as pretty much everyone in 1986-era WWF did, but they did a lot of cool crap.
5. Los Gringos Locos (Eddy Guerrero/Art Barr) -- Never got to see them, but from what I've heard they may be the greatest heels in lucha libre history. A mix of Japanese style grappling, Mexican high-flying and American heel sensibilities.

 

My all-time tag teams, in pretty close order:

1. The Road Warriors
2. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard
3. The Steiner Brothers (circa 1990s)
4. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr.
5. The British Bulldogs
6. Ric Flair & Greg Valentine
7. Dick the Bruiser & Crusher
8. The Midnight Express
9. Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton
10. The Sheik & Abdullah the Butcher
11. Rob Van Dam & Sabu
12. Chris Adams & Gino Hernandez
13. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death Steve Williams
14. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko
15. The Fabulous Freebirds
16. Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff
17. Paul Orndorff & Bob Orton Jr.
18. Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart
19. Mike George & Jim Brunzell (Central States when I was a kid)
20. Eddy Guerrero & Art Barr

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head, which means that I really need to get a life.

 

Mystery Meat, I agree with most of your points, although I never thought either Midnight Express team (Condrey or Stan Lane) was all that great. Not sure which one you’re referring to.
The previous three that I listed were my favorite tag teams. My top five as far as accomplishments, impact on wrestling etc. are:

1. The Steiner Brothers
Like I mentioned, they dominated probably the best era in tag team wrestling worldwide for a solid decade. They beat just about everyone.

2. The Road Warriors
Agree that they changed the face of what tag teams look like. Running into the ring and winning in 30 seconds became cheesy after while. But you can’t deny their impact and they won titles in every federation.

3. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard
While Ric Flair got the fame, this duo was the heartbeat of The Horsemen in its prime. Both extremely underrated for their ring skills and they made all their opponents look better than they were, a rare skill. They won every major title in the U.S. and put on great matches night after night.

4. Freebirds
Good points with the impact and changes they brought to tag team wrestling in the 1980s.

5. Rock-n-Roll Express
I feel they were better than both Midnights. If it wasn’t for more famous teams like The Road Warriors and The Horsemen, Rock-n-Roll would get its due.

 

The Sheepherders at #71?!!

WTF?!

 

Sheepherders were a damn fine team in their prime, which was before they turned into the buffoonish Bushwackers in the WWF. I wouldn't put them much higher, but they deserve their spot.

PC: I consider all three Midnight Express members to be part of the team in the way I would the Freebirds or the Russians, even though Condrey and Lane never teamed (all three I think have on the nostalga tour)

I would probably put Arn/Tully somewhere in the top 20, maybe top 10, but in my mind, Arn teams with Ole and Tully stays a bastard single heel. If I was a booker in 1986-87 NWA, I'd propose an angle where Tully begins to try and nose Ric out of the top spot in the Horsemen. Maybe Flair loses the world title, Tully wins the U.S. belt and starts acting more like the leader, and it comes to a head with the Andersons turning on Flair and turning him face, while Terry Taylor slides into Tully's old Jr. Flair role.

 

Where are the Dudleys on these lists? In their prime, working as heels, no one created more legitimate hate than Bubba Ray and D-Von.

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The Brian Adams autopsy was made public today. If you had "drug overdose," you're the winner. Via Meltzer:

 

Why does that not surprise me?

 

I can't stand Barry Darsow (aka Kruschev, Blacktop Bully, Demolition Smash), so he's out of my Russians.

I can't stand Ole Anderson, so he's out of my Horsemen. If I had to add a fourth Horseman, it would have been Greg Valentine.

Never liked Terry Taylor, either.