J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 20 hours ago, Oyaji said: Undertaker wasn't very good beyond character work in-ring until the mankind feud six or so years into his WWF career. I humbly disagree. Calloway had a really great run in WCW as one half of the New Skyscrapers and had an excellent singles run while feuding with Brian Pillman and Lex Luger. He knew how to work as a monster heel and his freakish agility made him even more watchable. His offense was crisp and he moved like a fucking panther. He got stuck with a shitty Heart Punch finisher, but at least the announce team and Paul E had the good taste to sell the move as if it were a WMD and then there was the unsung and underloved role of jobbers like Lee Scott and Dave Reardon to die on cue when getting punched in the chest. WCW booking being a bunch of retards, they had no idea what to do with Mark other than use his threat to build Lex Luger's rep. They really missed a golden opportunity by not putting the US Title on Mean Mark. I attribute Calloway's near robotic movement in the ring in the early days of his Undertaker gimmick to gimmick adherence. He was supposed to stay in character and that character was a near eight foot zombie. Notice that as time passed and we moved away from cartoon gimmick WWE into the Attitude Era, UT expanded his proverbial repertoire and showed once again that he could really go. That's when we started to see shades of the MMATaker we all now know and love. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Taker was also stuck with a rogues gallery of monster heels that were his size or bigger, so he spent a lot of his early years having plodding hoss matches. You can see him revel in working with Bret in 95/96 and tell that he wanted to prove that he could really go. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 The Mankind feud in 96 also reinvented Taker of sorts or atleast gave him a career resurgence. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 4 minutes ago, Web Conn said: The Mankind feud in 96 also reinvented Taker of sorts or atleast gave him a career resurgence. UTs feuds with Kane, Mankind, and Stone Cold are the high water marks in the transition of his offense. As much as I hate the BikerTaker phase of his gimmick, that's when Mark really started to incorporate more shoot moves and MMA grapling into his skill set. He didn't dress like a ghoul anymore, so he didn't have to wrestle like one either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I remember thinking at the time “perfect gimmick for a guy who doesn’t sell” i love the Mean Mark/Pillman Clash match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 6 minutes ago, odessasteps said: I remember thinking at the time “perfect gimmick for a guy who doesn’t sell” Eh, I blame the classing Southern booking thing about big guys not necessarily having to sell 100% for little man offense. Would you begrudge Stan Hansen for not selling a punch thrown by Barry Houston? Probably not. Plus he was a zombie. Zombies don't feel pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathyBoy Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 7 hours ago, Victator said: Rey was the highlight of the night for me. Everyone in my living room (there are like twenty people living here, its a thing) all lost their shit at Rey. He looked and moved amazing. This might not be the best idea, but he could be the 205 champion. I think Rey's presence could get a lot of those guys over, whereas right now it's a bunch of guys on the same level. But I would love to see Rey vs AJ and Rey vs Braun. Rey vs Brock has happened twice before, but that was before Rey Mysterio became REY MYSTERIO. Have Rey be 205 Brock. He wrestles on the big four shows as champ. Build to matches etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I love it how the 'rey" in Rey Mysterio is the Spanish word for "king," but we're all conditioned to use it as if it were Rey Mysterio's first name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakk_Sabbath Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Lately, I've been wondering if it might just be a good idea to scrap 205 live and just treat the CW title like UFC or boxing would as a lighter world title, bring the weight limit back up to the WCW 224, and let guys like Mysterio, Sami, AJ, Kofi, Rollins, and others defend the thing in big time main events. Sure it defeats the purpose and there are too many titles already but whatever. Either that, or turn it into a de facto NXT title like the UK belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 11 minutes ago, DeathyBoy said: Have Rey be 205 Brock. He wrestles on the big four shows as champ. Build to matches etc. I thought that Brian Kendrick was 205 Brock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathyBoy Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Just now, J.T. said: I thought that Brian Kendrick was 205 Brock? You have to win matches. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 10 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said: Lately, I've been wondering if it might just be a good idea to scrap 205 live and just treat the CW title like UFC or boxing would as a lighter world title, bring the weight limit back up to the WCW 224, and let guys like Mysterio, Sami, AJ, Kofi, Rollins, and others defend the thing in big time main events. Sure it defeats the purpose and there are too many titles already but whatever. Either that, or turn it into a de facto NXT title like the UK belt. It's a cool idea, but it wouldn't work, as U.S. fans have been conditioned to think of cruisers/juniors as less than. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS81177 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 12 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said: Lately, I've been wondering if it might just be a good idea to scrap 205 live and just treat the CW title like UFC or boxing would as a lighter world title, bring the weight limit back up to the WCW 224, and let guys like Mysterio, Sami, AJ, Kofi, Rollins, and others defend the thing in big time main events. Sure it defeats the purpose and there are too many titles already but whatever. Either that, or turn it into a de facto NXT title like the UK belt. God damn pal! We can't have our main event guys fighting over the CRUISERWEIGHT title. They've got to appear larger than life! Can't be larger than life when you're a CRUISERWEIGHT! HA! God damn. Best to keep those guys lower on the card so we can feed them to Kane when we need him to look like a monster. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 34 minutes ago, J.T. said: Would you begrudge Stan Hansen for not selling a punch thrown by Barry Houston? Probably not. No, but I would and do begrudge him when he doesn't sell ten punches in a row by Barry Houston. Because Bill Eadie wouldn't have sold the one, but he would have sold the ten. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 37 minutes ago, Matt D said: No, but I would and do begrudge him when he doesn't sell ten punches in a row by Barry Houston. Because Bill Eadie wouldn't have sold the one, but he would have sold the ten. I want to live in Matt D's happy rainbow world where Barry Houston would land ten unanswered punches on Stan Hansen. 3 1 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I wanna see that match so fucking bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, RIPPA said: I wanna see that match so fucking bad Me too. Barry would lean into that lariat like a champion and die horribly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 3 hours ago, Mickie Zeidler said: Wasn't everyone predicting high rights fees for WWE the last time around, and then suddenly USA basically took control of the company for a bargain basement price? What's hilarious to me is that the only thing different this time is they are comparing it to UFC instead of NASCAR as the more legitimate sports organization that WWE metrics are comparable to or better than. But the looming possibility of Fox using some of that sweet sweet Disney cash to either outbid or just fucking buy the company is the one outlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Cincinnati Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 11 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said: But the looming possibility of Fox using some of that sweet sweet Disney cash to either outbid or just fucking buy the company is the one outlier. You may be underselling how long it takes for that sale to be approved. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Just now, West Newbury Bad Boy said: You may be underselling how long it takes for that sale to be approved. Oh it won't be approved yet, but these are long term deals. Assuming Fox is confident it will be approved, they are in serious need of content (because they are selling off their production studio) and they know they have the billions coming in. See the absurd price they just agreed to for Thursday night football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 7 hours ago, just drew said: Was going through some old favorites on the WWE network. Well, I guess old is a relative term. Few observations: 1. Battleground 2016. PPV debut of Bayley. To see that and hear that reaction and compare it to now, and I'm not sure I can think of anyone used as poorly as her. I REALLY hope someone can get her onto Smackdown where she can thrive. The worst part is how clearly obvious right where they fucked it up was. If Sasha had turned on her the night after Mania and built to them returning to Brooklyn against each other, she'd be fine. Having her best friend betray her gives her a way to add a bit of an edge back onto the character (like she had by the time she won the NXT belt) and the two of them could've torn the house down for months just like they had before. I love Alexa, but she really could've been held off on until after SummerSlam. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 "Just Drew's weekend is today and tomorrow so you get WWE network inane ramblings from me" part 2. -What happened to Becky Lynch? She might be the best all-around female they have. Attractive, good worker, good promo. Who did she piss off? -Holy shit did they fuck up Bray Wyatt's title run. The reaction when he wins the EC match is great. And....that's it. There's a parallel universe where all that work Erick Rowan did on social media pays off and Randy Orton didn't burn Sister Abigail. I want to live there. -Charlotte Flair has the most unique body structure I've ever seen. Calm down, Drewnetico. -Zack Ryder tries hard. He really does. That Battleground match with Rusev was actually a really good "overwhelmed babyface offense" performance. And it was all to debut Mojo Fucking Rawley. Holy shit. -Darren Young never got great again. -It really seems like people are afraid to cheer for Dolph Ziggler. It really looks like people stand up when his theme hits, and then they're like "oh shit, the louder we cheer, the more he gets buried, so we'll just stand here." Yeah, that's what's happening. -The Revival don't do it for me. To me, it's the "Jason Aldean" theory. Jason Aldean is a country singer that constantly has to sing about how country he is. The general rule is, the more you have to tell people you're something, the less that thing you are. I just don't buy Dash and Dawson as lethal tough guys. -Chad Gable is the shit. -Damn the Usos were lame for a while. Then they got awesome again. -I'd forgotten how hard the New Day got shit on when they debuted. I'd like to say there'll be no more of this horseshit today, but let's be honest; im fucking bored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS81177 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 29 minutes ago, just drew said: Darren Young never got great again. When was he originally great? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 11 minutes ago, BrianS81177 said: When was he originally great? The gimmick was make Darren great again. With Backlund. Etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bustronaut Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Charlotte looks like someone's Mom that hangs around the bar too much. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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