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MARCH 2016 - WRESTLING DISCUSSION


RIPPA

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I know I'm in the minority here, but I've watched 2 episodes of Lucha Underground now, and I don't get how it's the ZOMG alternative to WWE.  There's a lot of uninspiring wrestlers (Son of Havoc, Pimpinella (who is fun but an actively terrible bumper, at one he literally walked to the ropes and stepped through and kinda slowly fell off the apron), Chavo Jr.), poor camerawork (The one match in episode 3 they completely missed the finish of because they were focusing on Mascarita chasing a woman around the ring), some terrible indy 'stand still and wait for me to get my shit in' moments, and the dirt-worst commentary.  Seriously, I don't get how people watch or re-watch this show with Matt Striker 1) Making insider comments ("They'll be talking about this in the dirt sheets!" or "Chavo went into business for himself!"); 2) Making bizarre derogatory comments about the Miz ("Pro wrestling has a history of effeminate wrestlers: Gorgeous George, Adrian Street, The Miz") or 3) just being actively terrible ("Sexy Star is a role model to girls everywhere who are being told they can't play with the boys" then 30 seconds later complaining about Chavo doing a move on her; making short jokes about Mascarita Sagrada; etc. etc.).

 

Like, I get the complaints about Michael Cole: he's clearly Vince's mouthpiece for ideas/terms he wants to get out there, he talks over moments when no commentary would be better, and he seems incapable of human emotion when it's needed the most.  But next to Striker, Cole is 1990s Jim Ross.

Agree 100%. Maybe my expectations were too high, but nothing clicked with me. 

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Okay - I hate myself for hearing about any of the details of the Hogan trial but...

http://youtu.be/izYE04Zko5c

Yup - Hulk claims that Hulk Hogan The Character has a big dick but Terry Bollea does not

Terry Bollea claims he's a mild mannered, insomniac while Hulk Hogan runs fight club, sells soap, splices pornography into family films, and builds bombs.
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Lucha Underground won't be everyone's cup of tea. If you don't like it by about Episode 10, you're never gonna like it. Either you're gonna dig the wacky storylines and match style or you won't. That said, the first two episodes are among the worst in the series. Showcasing Blue Demon Jr in back to back weeks isn't the best hook, I know. If you're new to LU, you could probably just start at the S1 Aztec Warfare (Episode 9 I think) and go from there. You won't miss too much (and the important stuff gets recapped) and you'll get a better feel for what you're in for.

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Say what you will, but Triple H sold that DDT like he was shot to death last night. Of course, it's probably an easier sell when you know in the end that you're fucking going over.

 

It was a great build for the main event of Wrestlemani...oh right. :(

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Lucha Underground is a lot better if you watch it as a show about a crazy underground fight promoter and not as a professional wrestling broadcast.

The backstage stuff works alright for them but it makes me cringe when people say it's what WWE and every other wrestling promotion should aspire to.  I don't think that kind of presentation would work for anybody else.  It'd come off so corny.  Like a CW show doing a pro wrestling episode.

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Once I accepted that LU was a cheesy Latin soap about wrestling, I just loved it completely.  It took me until the Mundo/Puma/Ryck ladder match to think "I really dig this show", then about another 5 episodes to be like "Goddamn I love this show", then the trios finals episode sealed it as my favorite wrestling show on tv.  Like others have said, if you stay with it, they reward your patience in a big way, and it's honestly the most logically booked wrestling promotion out there.

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Lucha Underground is a lot better if you watch it as a show about a crazy underground fight promoter and not as a professional wrestling broadcast.

The backstage stuff works alright for them but it makes me cringe when people say it's what WWE and every other wrestling promotion should aspire to.  I don't think that kind of presentation would work for anybody else.  It'd come off so corny.  Like a CW show doing a pro wrestling episode.

It's a TV show with wrestling, not a wrestling TV show.

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About Hogan/Gawker...

He had a right to privacy, no question, but there is a legitimate legal basis Gawker is arguing from " When Hulk denied the tape existed, proving it did became ca matter of public interest.

Whether or not you buy that argument is the heart of the case, but Gawker isn't just saying we had it, thus we could legally publish it.

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So what if Hogan is saying "it doesn't exist" based on the idea that he was unaware of its existence? (Which I doubt is the case, but just for the sake of my own interest ...)

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RE: Gawker/Hogan.

 

Hogan's post-sex comments on that tape were shitty. Terrible, absolutely. But does anyone essentially doubt that Hogan is 100% in the right here?

 

Um, no. No one ever has the right to tape you during a private, consensual adult act, without your knowledge, then distribute it everywhere for web hits. Ever.

 

And then Gawker trying to pathetically claim it's in the "matter of public concern."

 

No, guys. It's not. You're all just shitty people. 

 

That also ties to the other problem for people saying "I can't choose a side, they're both terrible" in this: That doesn't work in this case.

 

The post-sex comments and Hogan's racial tirade were shitty, and absolutely terrible- but at the same time, it also needs to be remembered that Gawker were the ones who leaked that racial tirade, and they did it in revenge to Hogan for the lawsuit, effectively blackmailing him with it to drop the suit.

 

By merely using the racial tirade against Hogan to say you're not taking sides here, you're inherently saying "Hulk Hogan being a racist in his personal life is newsworthy enough that people need to know this fact", and inherently giving the sex tape the newsworthiness to make it required to be released without Hogan's consent, which is taking Gawker's side in this argument even if you hate them as well.

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RE: Gawker/Hogan.

 

Hogan's post-sex comments on that tape were shitty. Terrible, absolutely. But does anyone essentially doubt that Hogan is 100% in the right here?

 

Um, no. No one ever has the right to tape you during a private, consensual adult act, without your knowledge, then distribute it everywhere for web hits. Ever.

 

And then Gawker trying to pathetically claim it's in the "matter of public concern."

 

No, guys. It's not. You're all just shitty people. 

Hogan handled it wrong from the start. He was taped without his consent in an intimate moment while under the influence of pain killers. He should have stressed he owed no one any sort of explanation. 

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Once I accepted that LU was a cheesy Latin soap about wrestling, I just loved it completely.  It took me until the Mundo/Puma/Ryck ladder match to think "I really dig this show", then about another 5 episodes to be like "Goddamn I love this show", then the trios finals episode sealed it as my favorite wrestling show on tv.  Like others have said, if you stay with it, they reward your patience in a big way, and it's honestly the most logically booked wrestling promotion out there.

 

I agree with this. I caught a few episodes online when it first started as I didn't get El Rey, thought it was cool but nothing I was going to actively seek out. Then I started getting El Rey about halfway through the season so I started watching regularly, was also hooked by the trios finals and loved it through to the finale being one of my favorite shows of the year. Eagerly anticipated season 2, then El Rey stopped the midnight replay so now opposite of when it first started, I do go out of my way to make sure I don't miss any episode.

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Hogan is 100% in the right as far as I'm concerned, but this lawsuit is probably ill-advised if his privacy is his concern.  The line of questioning about the difference in size between his and Hulk Hogan's penis was one fo the most magical/ridiculous things I've ever seen.  First of all Hulk Hogan is on the witness stand in a do-rag.  Then he has to explain to people that his penis and Hulk Hogan's penis are two different penises.  The crazy thing is that, he has a point.  Hulk Hogan is a fictional character who only exists publicly.  He can go on the radio and say ridiculous things, because that person doesn't exist.  Nothing he says should be considered a fact, because the very existence of Hulk Hogan is a work.  Putting out a video of Terry Bollea having sex is not the same thing as putting out a tape of Hulk Hogan having sex.  Terry Bollea has the right to his privacy, he's a real person.  Nothing Hulk Hogan has ever said and done should be considered something that represents something Terry Bollea would say or do.  That would be like charging Sylvester Stallone for murder, because of all the people that Rambo killed.  Rambo doesn't exist, those people aren't dead, and Sylvester Stallone is not responsible for the actions of the character he is playing. 

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I mean, that's good and fine, except explain to me how we separate the two. So is he only Terry when he's behind closed doors? When he had the reality show, was he Hulk or was he Terry? If he's Hulk because he was on TV, does that then make every other person who has ever been on a reality show a character, despite not changing their name? What about when Hulk goes on radio shows and plays things low key, not speaking like the Hulkster, and then starts speaking like the Hulkster?

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