Professional wrestling thread

Bad back.

 

I agree with pretty much everything he said.

I became a TNA fan for the great athleticism. If I wanted a watered-down WWF, I would watch RAW and Smackdown.

Sure, the booking wasn't great before Russo came in and there are one or two entertaining things he has done.

But you have to go halfway. You need good stories AND wrestling. Not a good story here and there, 10 bad stories and 2-minute matches.

The worst thing is Russo isn't going anywhere any time soon as ratings are at an all-time high for TNA.

But here's an example of their stupidity.

RAW will be pre-empted the week of the dog show. Instead of a killer, two-hour special like the first primetime Impact where they could display that athleticism and that they are a true alternative to the WWE, they're showing "great matches" from past PPVs.

They need to show people why they need to watch Impact, not past PPVs before they started to screw things up.

 

TNA has a PPV on Feb. 11, right? How about a live, day-after PPV Impact, two hours and with no WWE head-to-head, to give itself a potentially HUGE boost.

 

I don't mind having a best-of TNA show in that spot because if you're trying to attract new viewers, showcasing the best of what you've done to that point beats the alternative. And we can dream of five-star matches and great angles and all, but with Russo at the helm, you'd probably get 30 minutes of Eric Young, multiple Sting/Abyss/Jim Mitchell segments, the return of Jeff Jarrett and a four-minute Austin Starr-Senshi match interrupted by Christy Henne low-blowing both of them and doing a "shoot" interview about VKM and the wrestling industry.

 

When you put it that way, not letting Russo completely sink your ship by using matches BEFORE he was with TNA does sound like a good plan.

I wouldn't mind, however, if they had one solid live match to whet the fans' appetite a little.

 

Lance Storm has a follow-up commentary after he got a lot of feedback from his TNA rant. He continues to make solid points.

www.stormwrestling.com/020507.html

 

Any wrestling fans in Milwaukee? I'm no Packers fan, but this is one time I wouldn't mind stepping foot in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Admirals President Jon Greenberg announced today that five wrestlers from the American Wrestling Association will appear at the Admirals' hockey game on Sunday, Feb. 18 in the team's second annual "Superstars of the AWA" game. Those scheduled to appear include Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, Larry "The Ax" Hennig, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, and Rock 'n Roll Buck Zumhofe.

"The Brain," as Bobby is affectionately known, has encompassed every phase of the wrestling business during his 38 year career and is still recognized as the only major player from the 60's. His capabilities have yet to be surpassed as manager of some of the most influential and famous wrestlers of the century, including Bockwinkel. Heenan's wit and sarcasm has made him also made him one of the top commentators in wrestling, earning the Commentator of the Year Award in the WCW three different times.


Bockwinkel was considered by his peers and many industry experts to be an excellent wrestler, known for his exceptional technical ability and ring psychology. Bockwinkel soon found his way to the AWA, where he formed one of the most successful tandems in wrestling history with Ray Stevens, and Heenan as their manager. Together, they captured the AWA World Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions, the first coming in 1972. By 1975, Bockwinkel had become one of the biggest stars in the AWA, and captured his first of many AWA World Heavyweight Championships, at the age of 40, ending Verne Gagne's seven year reign.


First known as Pretty Boy Hennig, he later took on a new persona and became Larry "The Axe" Hennig. He teamed with "Handsome" Harley Race to become the youngest world tag team champions in 1965 and the duo would go on to capture the title on three more occasions. Hennig also excelled in singles and his son, Curt Hennig, won the NWA tag-team title in 1982.


Snuka began his career in 1982 in the WWF under the management of Capt. Lou Albano. Instantly rocketing to the top of contention, he challenged WWE World Champion Bob Backlund in three consecutive main events at Madison Square Garden, culminating in a historic steel cage match on June 28, 1982, in which he leapt from the top of the 15-foot cage, only to miss his opponent and consequently lose the match. Snuka joined the AWA in 1986, replacing the injured Jerry Blackwell as Greg Gagne's partner After retiring from wrestling in the early 90's, Snuka was inducted into the WWE's Hall of Fame in 1996.


Along with his trademark boombox, Buck Zumhofe would go on to become one of the top light-heavyweight competitors in the AWA in the early and mid 1980's. After a brief stint in the WWF, Zumhofe returned to the AWA in 1990 and eventually recaptured Light-heavyweight Title from Jonnie Stewart.


The Admirals are back in action this weekend when they will make team history by playing three straight games at the Bradley Center on three straight days. On Friday they will take on the San Antonio Rampage at 7:00 pm and the first 5,000 fans will receive a black t-shirt from Jockey. The two teams will return for a 1:30 pm matinee on Saturday and the first 5,000 fans will take home a bobblehead of goaltender Pekka Rinne. The Admirals will complete the hat trick with a 4:00 pm game versus Houston on Sunday where the first 2,500 kids 14 and under will get an Admirals Playground Ball For tickets fans can call Ticketmaster at (414) 276-4545 or log on to www.ticketmaster.com.

Heenan, Bockwinkel, Hennig, Snuka and ... wait for it ... Zumhofe! Only one missing from a fiesta like that is The Baron!

 

Tonight's Raw sucked, although I did like the triple threat match at the end. The ending was terrible. I wanted to see the four of them start brawling, but instead we got a staring contest...again.

The more I think about it the more I'm liking the booking for Mania. You've got Cena against HBK, with Cena living the HBK dream from years ago. Then you've got Taker against Batista, with Taker primed for one last run with the strap (or so I hope).

 

And probably Edge-Orton, since they've got no one to wrestle yet. Seems like they were taking them that way two weeks ago, so when they set the three-way match happened tonight, I knew who would probably win it.

 

I don't know what show you were watching ... but I thought that was one of the best shows in a while. Yeah the staring contest was lame, but I'm sure they're probably saving the brawl for Friday. You have to pace it since they are working with two shows. Add in Flair's great promo on Carlito, a solid Hardy-Flair match, decent Super Crazy-Nitro match and a hot crowd for the Mickie-Melina match ... it came out as a great show.

 

It could be since she recently signed a contract with UWF, but if I had to make a guess, I think her opponent will be either Kip James, Jazz, or April Hunter. I'm trying to keep the whole idea of some Cornette heel heat open with the Kip James pick. Still, if it ain't Kip, it'll be one of the other two.

 

I agree. I thought it was much better than anything they've done recently. And call me stupid, but I think the VKM/Trump angle may be able to do something, if they work it right. And I'm curious what the result of that Flair/Carlito thing will be. I kinda like Carlito (hate Flair -- he's horrible at this point) but I'm still curious where they take it.