Ramsey Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 It's one of the things that's kind of killing my love for wrestling, I don't like seeing guys who are my size in the ring, I enjoy the spectacle of guys bigger than me doing things they shouldn't do. WWF conditioned me to enjoy a Hulk Hogan, an Ultimate Warrior. Think how big Savage would look next to Daniel Bryan. I feel like when I go to shows I'm either looking at a guy in the eyes or looking down at them. I miss the days when I spent my time looking up at the roster. Oh well that's what the Network is for And I'm the exact opposite. I grew up during the "age of giants," AKA WWF in the 80's. I'd see these slow, plodding dinosaurs paw at each other on Vince's show and then switch over to WTBS on Saturday afternoons and see guys like Tully Blanchard, Brad Armstrong, etc. tear down the house with a more athletic physical style. For me, big = cartoony for the most part. Don't get me wrong, watching Stan Hansen, Vader, Gordy etc. were always fun but they always seemed to be the exception not the rule. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bink_winkleman Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I don't miss the big guys, but I do miss the Real Men who look like they could beat up your dad. Grizzled older guys who you just knew were tough as shit. As a kid, those were the dudes that looked the most badass to me. An Arn or Harley looked like they'd kick some nine foot tall pretty boy juice monkey's ass every time. HBK and Y2J were talking about the height thing on Jericho's podcast. Michaels was talking about how Nash would joke to smaller guys who said, "But HBK broke through!" with "Yeah, but he was four inches taller than you and could do everything that you can do." 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I don't miss the big guys, but I do miss the Real Men who look like they could beat up your dad. Grizzled older guys who you just knew were tough as shit. As a kid, those were the dudes that looked the most badass to me. An Arn or Harley looked like they'd kick some nine foot tall pretty boy juice monkey's ass every time. HBK and Y2J were talking about the height thing on Jericho's podcast. Michaels was talking about how Nash would joke to smaller guys who said, "But HBK broke through!" with "Yeah, but he was four inches taller than you and could do everything that you can do." No joke. Arn Anderson always looked like that one kid's dad that you only messed with if you needed the discipline. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Arn Anderson was probably born looking 42. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Getting teased about his hairline as a kid made toughened him up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brysynner Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I'd like to believe Arn was teased once and then came back DDT'd the poor kid and then a young Tully, Ole, and Ric showed up and this was the test run for the beating they would later give to Dusty 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 It's something I've thought about for a while. It's mostly what Mike said. Back in the day, most of the major stars weren't really fans when they were younger. They got into the business when their first choice(football usually) fell through. The current crop are all, for lack of a better word, geeks who grew up loving wrestling. Most of them were never into other sports, either. There are exceptions, but these guys' goal from day one was pro wrestling. The crazy thing is, none of the "love the business above all else" guys draw any money, but the guys who looked at it as work, did. Much of that can be placed on where the business is now, and how it's run, but I always found that interesting. I think a big reason things are the way they are, is because the only big game in town knows that many of these guys are just happy to be there. At the risk of being pedantic, I'm not sure it's all that surprising that the people who treated it like a profession made/generated more money who treated it as a labor of love. Was it CM Punk who had the line about "the biggest marks are the ones in the ring"? I don't think you're being pedantic at all, actually. I mean, I think there is a good bit of causation there. I just didn't want to completely dismiss the fact that the way the business operates is almost nothing like it used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Hell, look back through my posting history and you'll see how I feel about Harley Race. No argument here. Long may He live and may His good works be shared with all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I think the problem with Roman Reigns is that he's never had any adversity whatsoever. I mean, wasn't it just this month that he had his first singles loss? I think he got beat down once by Orton on Raw before SummerSlam, but he never had any serious trouble with anything, dating back to even when he was in the Shield. Even post Shield break-up, instead of dwelling on the Seth Rollins betrayal, he gets gifted a title shot at Battleground despite, I don't know, hardly any singles matches at all. Then he's easily dispatching superpowered Demon Form Kane (who gave Daniel Bryan all sorts of beat downs) on throwaway Raws, when he finally faces Rollins, he's easily beating him even though poor Dean Amrbose, who actually cared about the betrayal, could never beat him. He's never had any adversity. How can he grow as a character if, (I can't believe I'm saying this) he's never had to overcome the odds? I think all this time Roman's been booked like a heel, and Vince has never realized it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I don't miss the big guys, but I do miss the Real Men who look like they could beat up your dad. Grizzled older guys who you just knew were tough as shit. As a kid, those were the dudes that looked the most badass to me. An Arn or Harley looked like they'd kick some nine foot tall pretty boy juice monkey's ass every time. HBK and Y2J were talking about the height thing on Jericho's podcast. Michaels was talking about how Nash would joke to smaller guys who said, "But HBK broke through!" with "Yeah, but he was four inches taller than you and could do everything that you can do." No joke. Arn Anderson always looked like that one kid's dad that you only messed with if you needed the discipline. On the PPV where Arn turned on Dustin Rhodes and joined the Stud Stable, he does a post-match victory promo, and he's wearing GODDAMN bifocals and still looks/sounds like the toughest son-of-a-bitch going. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Arn Anderson was probably born looking 42. I remember when I first started looking at wrestling stuff on the interwebz and looked up wrestler's bdays and real ages. I was shocked that Arn was only like 6 months to a year older than Hall, Nash, Sting and Luger. Even when you go back and look at him in 1985 or 1986, he's about the same age as Nikita, Magnum and The Road Warriors yet he looked like he was in his mid-30's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I don't miss the big guys, but I do miss the Real Men who look like they could beat up your dad. Grizzled older guys who you just knew were tough as shit. As a kid, those were the dudes that looked the most badass to me. An Arn or Harley looked like they'd kick some nine foot tall pretty boy juice monkey's ass every time. HBK and Y2J were talking about the height thing on Jericho's podcast. Michaels was talking about how Nash would joke to smaller guys who said, "But HBK broke through!" with "Yeah, but he was four inches taller than you and could do everything that you can do." Same here. That's one thing I liked about Trevor Murdoch when he was around. He just looked like a guy who'd spit tobacco juice in some muscled up frat guy's face to gain an advantage in a bar fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawful Metal Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 So, I got real excited that Samoa Joe was returning to Ring of Honor, and my son asks, "Who is Samoa Joe?" I have failed as a parent. I think the Joe-Punk matches are a little overrated and I doubt he has the attention span for hour long matches. What are the essential Joe matches to track down? First one I thought of was the Low-Ki v. Joe Glory by Honor in 2002 where they just slap each other the entire match. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Z Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Joe vs. Necro Butcher ... How old is your son again? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 The one where Joe power bombs a guy, then transitions into a Boston Crab, then into an STF. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Joe vs AJ vs Daniels 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidGoldBomb Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Joe vs Kobashi http://www.rohwrestling.com/product/samoa-joe-total-domination-2-disc-set Let's see, also Joe/Homicide vs Briscoes, I think I remember that being awesome. Joe vs Morishima Joe vs Homicide 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playa Shunna Ver 3.0 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yes. The 2 posts above. I would also throw in Joe vs Angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 The Austin Aries match from Final Battle '04 was great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stay Gold Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Most of the matches listed above are on Youtube as well, which is pretty great. I think the only ones missing are the Aries and Briscoes matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I always really liked the Joe v. Danielson Cage match from ROH. I also think the Joe/Lethal vs. Rottweilers improptu match from Manhattan Mayhem is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Anything with Joe and the Rottweilers was fantastic. I haven't seen them in ages but weren't the Danielson PWG matches from '04ish worth watching? I have a hard time seeing those two having anything less than good matches together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I haven't seen a ton of Joe's ROH work, but I do really like his match against Paul London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I think you could show him any of Joe's "giving a crap" TNA matches. They are usually above average, and a bit more easily digestible for a youngster than say, an epic ROH main event. Joe kicking the snot out of Daniels or AJ for 10 minutes is a winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fallacy! Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I wonder what kind of gimmick early 90s Vince McMahon would have given Samoa Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts