JAN 2016 WRESTLING DISCUSSION... Last Try

[Cristobal]

I for one am glad to know that the battling beauty who feeds on violence has been saved by apartment wrestling.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Apartment wrestlers must have had the coolest neighbors ever. I can't even burn a J without getting my balls broken.

[Hoarr]

So, I found this:

http://www.fullsail.edu/degrees/campus/creative-writing-bachelors/faculty

Ed Ferrara is teaching at Full Sail. Let's hope that he doesn't end up anywhere near NXT.

Ed "Teddy Bear" Ferrara has been all over MLW shows for a while now. He's teaching there at Full Sail but hasn't shown any interest in trying to get in on the NXT thing. I don't think he even watches as the last time he was on a podcast, they focused more on RAW and Marvel movies.

[Ace]

WON Awards are out:

 

Wrestler of the Year: AJ Styles
MMA MVP: Ronda Rousey
Most Outstanding Wrestler: AJ Styles
Most Oustanding Fighter: Conor McGregor
Best Box Office Draw: Ronda Rousey
Feud of the Year: Aldo vs. McGregor
(Bayley vs Sasha Banks took 2nd)
Tag Team of the Year: The Young Bucks
Most Improved: Bayley
Best on Interviews: Conor McGregor
(Paul Heyman took 2nd place)
Most Charismatic: Shinsuke Nakamura
Best Technical Wrestler: Zach Sabre, Jr.
Best Brawler: Tomohiro Ishii
Best Flying Wrestler: Ricochet
Most Overrated: Kane
Most Underrated: Cesaro
Promotion of the Year: New Japan
Best Weekly Show: NXT
Match of the Year: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi
MMA Match of the Year: Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald
Rookie of the Year: Chad Gable
Best Non-Wrestler: Dario Cueto
Best Announcer: Mauro Ranallo
Worst Announcer: JBL
Best Major Show: Wrestle Kingdom 9 Worst Major Show: AAA Triplemania
Best Maneuver: Styles Clash
Most Disgusting Tactic: Using Reid Flair in Charlotte vs. Paige
Worst TV Show: Raw
Worst Match: Psycho Circus vs. The Villanos
Worst Feud: Team BAD vs. Team PCB vs. Team Bellas
Worst Promotion: TNA
Best Booker: Triple H/Ryan Ward (NXT)
Promoter of the Year: Dana White
(NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani came in 2nd)
Best Gimmick: The New Day
Worst Gimmick: Stardust
Best Book and DVD both went to Daniel Bryan.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Maybe Mauro will be in the Rumble

He would be a better champion than Sheamus

That's not saying much.

[The Nature Boy]

Why does Dave continue to combine wrestling with MMA for some awards? Bayley/Sasha should not be competing with MMA stuff for feud of the year, especially since one is worked and one isn't. Also, Heyman should be the promo of the year and not some MMA guy, since again one is worked and the other isn't.

 

WTF 

[mattdangerously]

Styles Clash as Best Maneuver is dumb as fuck.

[Brian Fowler]

Styles Clash as Best Maneuver is dumb as fuck.

THIS. Nothing against AJ, but that move fucking sucks, and always has.

[caley]

WON Awards are out:

 

Most Overrated: Kane

 

Maybe now people will stop clamoring for Kane, voting his matches MOTY, insisting he needs a push.

Overrated should really go to someone who is, you know, actually rated above his station.  Seth Rollins would be an interesting pick here.

[RRR]

WON Awards are out:

Most Overrated: Kane

Maybe now people will stop clamoring for Kane, voting his matches MOTY, insisting he needs a push.

Overrated should really go to someone who is, you know, actually rated above his station. Seth Rollins would be an interesting pick here.

I think these basically signify the most over pushed and under pushed guys in the eyes of WON voters. Not saying it's right but it's the only way those two awards make any sense.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I never thought I'd find myself defending Kane here in 2016, but here we are. I'll put it this way: one of my best friends' grandfathers is starting to go senile. He'll watch Yankees Classic replays from the '90s on YES network, and say things like "That Paul O'Neill's a piece of shit, when are they gonna get ridda him?" This is the only way I can explain the people who have voted Kane as most overrated. When he was main eventing vs. Bryan on PPV right after his huge WM title win, or headlining vs. Austin or Taker in the 90s and 2000s... sure, maybe. That's the only way that vote makes sense, is if someone with a WON vote somehow wakes up and thinks it's 15 or 20 years ago. With how crappy WWE tended to be in 2015 creatively, Kane (both as a character and in the ring) was pretty inoffensive all around this year

[stro]

 

 

WON Awards are out:

Most Overrated: Kane

Maybe now people will stop clamoring for Kane, voting his matches MOTY, insisting he needs a push.

Overrated should really go to someone who is, you know, actually rated above his station. Seth Rollins would be an interesting pick here.

I think these basically signify the most over pushed and under pushed guys in the eyes of WON voters. Not saying it's right but it's the only way those two awards make any sense.

 

 

Rollins still fits perfectly. Even being out the last 2 months of the year, he probably still has the most screen time out of anyone in 2015.

[AxB]

Meltzer probably* still spells out in the nominations and voting issues that you're to vote for the Wrestler who the promotion they work for overrates or underrates. So it's basically Most Overpushed & Underpushed, but he never changed the name because reasons.

 

* I haven't been subbed to the Observer in... over seven years at this point.

[The Nature Boy]

WWE just needs to have Kane go back to doing comedy stuff. He was great doing the Team Hell No stuff. His days as a monster are really over and he's best utilized as a comedy guy. 

[Burgundy LaRue]

Worst Feud: Team BAD vs. Team PCB vs. Team Bellas

 

Not even close, not when Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev was vomiting on my TV for months on end.  Ru Ru and Hot Summer deserve raises for making it to where I didn't want to stab someone during the whole mess.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Guys those awards are basically "Here's what Dave has been saying all year" 

[sabremike]

Worst Feud: Team BAD vs. Team PCB vs. Team Bellas

Not even close, not when Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev was vomiting on my TV for months on end. Ru Ru and Hot Summer deserve raises for making it to where I didn't want to stab someone during the whole mess.

But as far as horribly screwing up the women when they showed potential to be a game changer that was far worse. Voters made the right call on that one.

[Matt788]

The awards result I don't like is worst gimmick. Stardust is an awesome gimmick. Some fans just want WWE to be more like ROH, and if/when that happens I will be left without a promotion to watch. Stardust is an example of what I like about wrestling. He portrays a fun character that can be taken in many different story directions. How is that a worse gimmick than every wrestler with a Eddie Edwards style 'generic super athlete man' gimmick?

 

I listen to Meltzer and Alvarez but most of the time I find myself in SMH mode. I am honestly questioning if they are aware that the widespread appeal WWE has is due to them not being super hardcore indy style.

 

If Alvarez reviewed a Mario Kart game he'd rant for an hour on why it isn't more like Grand Theft Auto.

[Victator]

I never thought I'd find myself defending Kane here in 2016, but here we are. I'll put it this way: one of my best friends' grandfathers is starting to go senile. He'll watch Yankees Classic replays from the '90s on YES network, and say things like "That Paul O'Neill's a piece of shit, when are they gonna get ridda him?" This is the only way I can explain the people who have voted Kane as most overrated. When he was main eventing vs. Bryan on PPV right after his huge WM title win, or headlining vs. Austin or Taker in the 90s and 2000s... sure, maybe. That's the only way that vote makes sense, is if someone with a WON vote somehow wakes up and thinks it's 15 or 20 years ago. With how crappy WWE tended to be in 2015 creatively, Kane (both as a character and in the ring) was pretty inoffensive all around this year

Kane is one of the best guys in 1999. He always delivered in the ring and made his character work. I have never heard a good argument against him.

[stro]

 

Worst Feud: Team BAD vs. Team PCB vs. Team Bellas

 

Not even close, not when Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev was vomiting on my TV for months on end.  Ru Ru and Hot Summer deserve raises for making it to where I didn't want to stab someone during the whole mess.

 

 

Ziggler/Rusev WAS a horrible, horrible feud, but Rusev was tremendous during it. He was hilarious every week. Doing the MJcry.jpeg face while on crutches, kissing Summer while staring at Lana, throwing the fish, Dog Ziggler. Even his twitter game was on point.

 

The awards result I don't like is worst gimmick. Stardust is an awesome gimmick. Some fans just want WWE to be more like ROH, and if/when that happens I will be left without a promotion to watch. Stardust is an example of what I like about wrestling. He portrays a fun character that can be taken in many different story directions. How is that a worse gimmick than every wrestler with a Eddie Edwards style 'generic super athlete man' gimmick?

 

I listen to Meltzer and Alvarez but most of the time I find myself in SMH mode. I am honestly questioning if they are aware that the widespread appeal WWE has is due to them not being super hardcore indy style.

 

If Alvarez reviewed a Mario Kart game he'd rant for an hour on why it isn't more like Grand Theft Auto.

 

Stardust's gimmick is annoying as shit. I don't care how much Cody commits to it. It's been turn off the TV bad since about...the second week. Alvarez is a complete and utter tool, though. Everytime he goes into one of those IT MAKES. NO. SENSE. rants, the whole thing was explained clearly on screen, usually multiple times as everything that happens on Raw is explained 3 times per show/month.

 

Which I guess is playing to his base, as the people that would actually listen to that whiny ass dude on a regular basis are completely dumbfounded as to why the McMahons don't like Roman, despite it having a logical set up and reasoning that has been replayed and repeated over and over for 2 months.

[SorceressKnight]

 

 

Worst Feud: Team BAD vs. Team PCB vs. Team Bellas

Not even close, not when Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev was vomiting on my TV for months on end. Ru Ru and Hot Summer deserve raises for making it to where I didn't want to stab someone during the whole mess.

But as far as horribly screwing up the women when they showed potential to be a game changer that was far worse. Voters made the right call on that one.

 

 

But having said that, Team BAD/Team PCB/Team Bellas was basically "matches for matches' sake, and these people, these people, and these people are friends with their teammates and hate the other teams because reasons"- they weren't reinventing the wheel with storylines, but they did try to give women's matches on WWE television a complete overhaul before making storylines. In short, exactly what people were claiming they wanted from GiveDivasAChance. 

 

Ziggler vs. Rusev, on the other hand, added a level of malaise to that feud simply because it gave people living proof throughout the "Divas' Revolution" match overhauls that even if Divas' matches are overhauled and people get a Takeover-quality women's match every week, the writers are the same in WWE, they're not going to give you the well-written storylines NXT gives their women, and as a result all it'll be is a longer piss break with matches that don't matter.

[Eivion]

But having said that, Team BAD/Team PCB/Team Bellas was basically "matches for matches' sake, and these people, these people, and these people are friends with their teammates and hate the other teams because reasons"- they weren't reinventing the wheel with storylines, but they did try to give women's matches on WWE television a complete overhaul before making storylines. In short, exactly what people were claiming they wanted from GiveDivasAChance. 

They were teaming because they were friends and wanted to take out the Bellas who they felt had a monopoly on the division and title. It was bad feud more because they didn't think to give them actual characters or decent direction for several months. By then it was too late. It especially came off bad when at the same time you had Sasha having those great matches with Bayley in NXT and managing to heat up their feud with minimal effort. It probably would have been better if they actually let the groups brawl in proper stable warfare. Also would have helped if maybe Stephanie didn't launch the whole thing in a blatant reboot of the division and aligned herself with Bellas along with Paige bringing in Charlotte & Becky on her own to even the odds. As for the whole GiveDivasAChance thing, it was always a smaller portion of the audience pushing that strongly. Good wrestling helps, but most of the audience have unfortunately been trained to not give a crap about divas over the years, especially when they lack character. And to be honest a lot of the main roster women couldn't keep up with the NXT talent. The whole Revolution deal was also way too on the nose.

[stro]

The women getting a chance to go out there and have actual matches with no point or meaning, but a lot of time and 50/50 booking is definitely a revolution. For the first time, they were treated exactly like the men. The online expectations were too high to begin with, though. They were expecting Takeover quality matches each time out, not understanding that those matches were as good as they were because the women had months to work on them and get them laid out perfectly. 

 

I think it did work, as people care about the women a lot more than they did 6 months ago. But it also exposed them (particularly Charlotte) as not being ready for full time on the road, weekly television stuff. It's a lot easier to look great when you can workshop one match with your opponent every day for 3 months than getting to TV and having to fill 10+ minutes.

[odessasteps]

People dicussing wwe feuds didnt sit through ultimo guerrero vs thunder.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I never thought I'd find myself defending Kane here in 2016, but here we are. I'll put it this way: one of my best friends' grandfathers is starting to go senile. He'll watch Yankees Classic replays from the '90s on YES network, and say things like "That Paul O'Neill's a piece of shit, when are they gonna get ridda him?" This is the only way I can explain the people who have voted Kane as most overrated. When he was main eventing vs. Bryan on PPV right after his huge WM title win, or headlining vs. Austin or Taker in the 90s and 2000s... sure, maybe. That's the only way that vote makes sense, is if someone with a WON vote somehow wakes up and thinks it's 15 or 20 years ago. With how crappy WWE tended to be in 2015 creatively, Kane (both as a character and in the ring) was pretty inoffensive all around this year

Kane is one of the best guys in 1999. He always delivered in the ring and made his character work. I have never heard a good argument against him.

I personally agree, but I was just trying to say that if ever there were a time he coulve been overrated it would probably be then as opposed to now, when he's not in main events and hasn't been on tv in months