Professional wrestling thread

Gimpy, I'll trust you on this. I'm more the casual, Monday night-only fan, so I don't see everyone. Now you've got me curious to actually see Taker wrestle again, because you're right, when those big-man matches never interested me.

 

I don't watch a lot of Smackdown because of the Friday night slot, but Undertaker isn't a half-bad worker when put in the right matches, and he's had a bit of a career renaissance in the last couple of years. Plus he, like Cena, know how to turn up their game for the PPVs, particularly the Big 4. So a Taker-Cena Wrestlemania match would probably be very good and far better than it has any right to be.

And for as cluttered and overblown as the final segment was shaping up to be (Cena wins titles for his team with an abrupt FU, HBK is about to land a highly-predictable superkick on Cena) ... BONG ... and inside I'm marking out a little, because I don't care how old he is, nothing gets the goosebumps raised more quickly than an Undertaker entrance. Set up a lot of potential WM storylines, and all he had to do was rise from the stage and set off great facial expressions from Cena.

 

I don't care how bad the set up was. I always get chills when I hear that gong, no matter what's happening. I was waiting for HBK to superkick Cena and forget about the tag titles, but I was happy to see Taker make it known who he was wrestling.

Was I the only one dreading a Batista/Taker match?

 

Except that he didn't say anything. He could easily be playing mind games with both guys before finally making his choice. He has an issue, sort of, with Batista developed over the last few weeks, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the direction they still go. Because if you don't, who is Batista going to wrestle at WM? Finlay (again)? Booker (again)? Benoit, possibly, but they'll need to hustle to get the proper setup for it. They could import someone from Raw, but who, given that it wouldn't be HBK, Orton or Edge?

Earlier prediction of four-way for Cena's belt still looks good, I think. But Taker's apperance throws enough doubt into it to make it entertaining.

 

I don't have a problem with the subject of this thread, except with using "professional" and "wrestling" in the same sentence. That should be used in Webster's as an illustration for the word "oxymoron".

 

Wrestlers get paid for a service. That would be the Webster's definition of "professional"

 

I know. But the statement in and of itself was enough for me. I just don't want to see Taker have to wrestle another big guy like Batista.

Send Umaga to Smackdown and let him challenge Batista. Or send Punk to SD and give him a shot (although I know that will never ever happen thanks to VKM and Mrs. HHH).

 

Wanna know how to make WWE a little more tolerable to watch?

Unify all the damn belts. Smackdown is buried under a piss poor time slot and suffers from the delayed showing, which is why Batista can stink to high hell and very few notice (and even less care).

How hard would it be for Vince to use WM 23 to merge it all together? Let Cena v. Undertaker v. Batista happen, with the winner being the undisputed champ (remember those?) and allow him to cross between Raw and Smackdown. Same with the tag belts: let Benjamin and Haas (provided the Crime Tyme push hasn't kick in overdrive) go against the Smackdown champs. As for the US and IC belts, let them remain where they are, with the winner of of those being proclaimed the No. 1 contender for the title.

You could still say 'Taker is underrated....he's always been a dominant force, but has been relegated to Smackdown while lesser talents get the prime time run on Raw. Why is he not there while we are forced with a (yawn) Chris Masters Masterlock challenge yet again or Torrie Wilson (wasn't she married to a wrestler?) and Carlito in another dull ass segment? No offense, but if the Mickie James (yum)-Victoria angle is more interesting than DX/Rated RKO, then something's wrong with the product.

 

Not a bad idea, except that Batista is borderline worthless in the ring now, and Umaga, for all his improvements, won't be able to get much out of him. Best-case scenario would have been HBK winning the Rumble and challenging Batista, because HBK can draw a great match out of anyone (and a passable one from The Great Khali). It would have the bonus effect of mercy-killing the wretched DX 2.0, and allow Rated RKO to celebrate their vanquishing of DX before turning on each other in an effort to get to Cena first.

 

If you suggest the service they provide is "wrestling" then you have an argument. Certainly you aren't.

 

What they do is accepted as a form of wrestling. Not freestyle of folkstyle wrestling, but wrestling all the same. They get paid for it, making them professionals and the sport professional.

Unless the amateur governing bodies have acquired a trademark on the term "wrestling", this counts. Even if you dismiss it out of hand for being, ahem, fake.

 

Not "fake" MM. "Scripted."