Professional wrestling thread

Kurt Angle says all kinds of crazy shit in interviews. I think the dude has legitimately lost his mind.

He'd get mangled in a MMA fight.

 

Angle could probably hang with a lower-level guy, but in a real fight Tito Ortiz would hand him his spleen. Hell, Daniel Puder almost broke his arm.

 

No, no. Puder went off the script and tried a wrist lock which Kurt - having faced several guys in a row and who was at about his lowest with the nerve injury - reversed in about 5 seconds. Angle would obliterate Puder in about 2 seconds.

He's older, and the neck injury has taken a lot out of him, but I wouldn't bet against the guy. Remember, he's no juco wrestler, this guy is a gold medalist, who won the title with a broken neck. He's the elite of the elite in terms of wrestling.

My biggest question is can he take a punch? If he can, he could do some real damage, especially if he can strike.

Either way, I hope he fights, I'd love to see it, win or lose.

 

I thought that Tough Enough challenge was a shootfight, and Puder had a shot at a key lock but decided not to pull the trigger, because a guy who's trying to get a job with WWE isn't going to have much chance if he embarasses and injuries one of their top-carders. As always, figuring out what's real, what's fake, and what's fake but made to look real is next-to-impossible in pro wrestling.

Angle-Shamrock would be the obvious bout, but the last time I saw Shamrock, well, his best days are clearly behind him.

 

Anyone that thinks Angle has any shot in MMA against anyone legitimate is fooling themselves.
Angle hasn't competed in a "real" fight in many years. I know he was a badass amateur wrestler, but he's had no training as a submission fighter, either offensively or defensively. To become proficient at it takes more than a couple of months of training. The top MMA stars of today like Mirko Cro Cop, Fedor Emelianenko, Chuck Liddell, Georges St. Pierre, Wanderlei Silva, Matt Hughes, etc., etc., would destroy Angle within minutes.
Maybe if Angle had went straight from the Olympics and began training as an MMA fighter, he would have had a good chance at succeeding. Now, with all the injuries he's accumulated in pro wrestling, not to mention the natural aging process, he'd have no chance.
Omar is right on both counts: Angle has gone mental the last few months and he'd get mangled in MMA, unless it was against someone who was also a beginner.

 

Has anyone made the transition from pro wrestling to MMA with any great success? I guess Mike Barton and Sean O'Haire have done okay for themselves, but they weren't household names as wrestlers and aren't as fighters (O'Haire could have been good at the former, but WWE fucked up his evil conscience gimmick so badly it was like Waylon Mercy all over again). Shamrock, of course, but he was going back to MMA, so that's different. I don't imagine Sylvester Turkay will main event a major MMA card any time soon.

 

WHOO! I got the PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006 tournament 3-disc DVD set in the mail today.

My Sunday is set.

And Dayton in 2 weeks--Joe's final ROH singles match in U.S. and a front row seat.

 

Who's he facing? Homicide would be the most fitting opponent (actually CM Punk would, but that won't be happening), but I'd imagine he'd defend his title against someone else.

 

It's a real shame that TNA is forcing Joe out of Ring of Honor. I loved Joe's quote where he basically said "ROH is the only place where I could just be Joe."
I'm happy that the big man is finally making some $$$ but I'm gonna miss "Joe."
As for who his last opponent should be, I know it's not gonna happen, but I'd love to see Joe vs. Low Ki (Senshi) one more time. That was Joe's first match in ROH (Glory By Honor 2002) and it was spec-tacular! One of the hardest-hitting, most realistic matches I've ever seen. Unfortunately, Low Ki is known to be a troublemaker behind the scenes and ROH cut ties with him.
As for the current ROH roster, I wouldn't mind seeing Joe vs. Danielson, Joe vs. McGuinness or Joe vs. Homicide one last time. Too difficult to choose, really.

 

At least TNA's forcing Joe out of ROH because he's getting a run with the NWA belt, and they don't want their champion doing jobs in another organization (at least the way Bryan Alvarez tells it). That's better than Russo making Joe got TNA exclusive so he can be involved in the Sting-Abyss or Christy Hemme-Kip James angles.

 

Hey, it could be worse, Samoa Joe could be in WWE right now and be UMAGA!

Sucks he won't be in ROH, but if he's about to get the belt -- off Angle? -- that'll be cool. Since they've already met three times, what kind of NWA title match should TNA do? I'd like a 45-minute thriller with lots of nearfalls, but with Russo there, it'll likely be a 15-minute, run-in laden, deal, yes?

When Christian loses tonight, what does Steiner do?