JULY 2018 WRESTLING DISCUSSION.

[RIPPA]

Just now, odessasteps said:

And make dozens of polls

That's OSJ's fault

[odessasteps]

1 minute ago, RIPPA said:

More likely I could see a couple of part of that Lucha/Mexico/Whatever the end up calling Tournament that has been rumored for awhile

I could definitely see them trying to get Parka for that

As long as they didnt give him a mic.

#chingetumadre

[FlaeBlazer]

2 minutes ago, FlaeBlazer said:

What was the last WWE main roster match that you thought was 5 stars?

The last match that I would give the full monty to was Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk at SummerSlam 2013. That was a perfect match in my opinion. There was some sloppiness but I thought it helped add to the match and this case and made it feel like more of a fight. I thought it told an amazing story. It has an awesome finish. It’s probably my personal favorite David vs. Goliath match.

[Brian Fowler]

Just now, FlaeBlazer said:

The last match that I would give the full monty to was Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk at SummerSlam 2013. That was a perfect match in my opinion. There was some sloppiness but I thought it helped add to the match and this case and made it feel like more of a fight. I thought it told an amazing story. It has an awesome finish. It’s probably my personal favorite David vs. Goliath match.

Honestly, I thought that was the third best match on that show.

[jiraffejustin]

10 minutes ago, FlaeBlazer said:

What was the last WWE main roster match that you thought was 5 stars?

Cena vs Lesnar 1 for me, but I hardly watch WWE anymore so I am sure I've missed something. 

[EVA]

After taking a moment to think about it, I don't think I've ever even seen the fabled Brock/Punk match.  

Huh.

[FlaeBlazer]

3 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Honestly, I thought that was the third best match on that show.

Both guys are two of my favorite wrestlers ever and Heyman might be my favorite non-wrestling personality ever. All those variables combined and I was extremely invested in the story. 

I also loved Cena/Bryan and I have it at 4.75* but I thought Brock/Punk was slightly better.

Del Rio vs. Christian was great too.

That whole show is probably the strongest main roster PPV in a really long time.

[John from Cincinnati]

26 minutes ago, FlaeBlazer said:

What was the last WWE main roster match that you thought was 5 stars?

I don't do star ratings.

If I did, this would be the answer

 

[mattdangerously]

2 hours ago, Sammo~! said:

FTFY

You forgot Dave Grohl.

54 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Bix made a comment that I am now trying to figure out if there are any other options

Will Meiko Satomura be the last WCW wrestler to make their WWE debut?

I know people have the dream of Alex Wright but that ain't happening.

Scott Norton?

Booker T brought in Disco Inferno for a shot a couple of months ago.  He is in astonishingly good shape for someone who doesn't wrestle regularly.  He could pull off a nostalgia appearance in a Royal Rumble match.

[SirSmUgly]

Was Air Paris ever on WWF/E television? He's still active, I think. 

Bring Stevie Ray in to call people fruitbooties and to compliment all the yaks, please. 

[Happ Hazzard]

Was Meiko Satomura really wrestling in WCW aged 16? How does that happen in a promotion owned by a litigation conscious corporation like Turner?

[Eivion]

Did they even know she was 16 then? Keep in mind the actual promotion she was working for was GAEA. Its not like she was contracted to WCW.

[EVA]

HEY I just watched Punk/Brock 5 years late!  It was really good!

I don't do star ratings, but even if I did, I think all the Heyman fuckery at the end would keep it from that high of a rating, in my book.  I know Heyman/Punk was really the angle going in, and its WWE, so of course they're going to hammer on it with chicanery, but it just got to the point that it was actively detracting from the match.  Like, everybody in the building figured out the finish was going to be Punk going after Heyman and getting F5'd.  Punk putting him in the Anaconda Vice just made him look like a goof.

Still!  It was refreshing seeing pre-Suplex City Brock again.  And I loved Punk's comeback where he went after Brock's ear to throw off his equilibrium.   The part where Punk outgrapples Brock was kind of preposterous (as further evidenced by his MMA career), but the crowd bought into it big time, so huzzah.

As far as little guys fighting for their lives against Brock but dying a horrible death anyway, I like Brock/AJ a lot more, though.

[JonnyLaw]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

You also have all the wcw luchadors who I would guess will never work for wwe. 

I feel like La Parka is the answer. I was also thinking Psicosis, but then I realized I had blocked the Mexicools out.

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Daniels appeared on both Jakked and Shotgun Saturday Night

And we can count all the wrestlers under the sun - the point is there the possibility any of them actually show up in WWE now.

He was also a decoy Conquistadore during Edge and Christian’s shenanigans.

[FlaeBlazer]

13 minutes ago, EVA said:

HEY I just watched Punk/Brock 5 years late!  It was really good!

I don't do star ratings, but even if I did, I think all the Heyman fuckery at the end would keep it from that high of a rating, in my book.  I know Heyman/Punk was really the angle going in, and its WWE, so of course they're going to hammer on it with chicanery, but it just got to the point that it was actively detracting from the match.  Like, everybody in the building figured out the finish was going to be Punk going after Heyman and getting F5'd.  Punk putting him in the Anaconda Vice just made him look like a goof.

Still!  It was refreshing seeing pre-Suplex City Brock again.  And I loved Punk's comeback where he went after Brock's ear to throw off his equilibrium.   The part where Punk outgrapples Brock was kind of preposterous (as further evidenced by his MMA career), but the crowd bought into it big time, so huzzah.

As far as little guys fighting for their lives against Brock but dying a horrible death anyway, I like Brock/AJ a lot more, though.

I loved Brock vs. AJ too. I had it at 4.75* but I find it interesting that your complaint about Punk vs. Brock is very similar to mine for Brock vs. AJ. I feel like everybody knew that match was going to end with a Phenomenal Forearm countered into an F5. I saw it so many people predicting it on Reddit and Twitter and also heard it on some of the podcasts that I listen to. I had a feeling that was how it was going to end and when Brock kicked out of the Forearm and AJ went up for a second Forearm afterwards, I groaned and was thinking “Yeah this is the finish. Brock’s gonna catch him and hit the F5.” I loved the match but I thought the finish was way too telegraphed. I would’ve preferred if they did something more creative. 

There were also a few ugly botches that kinda take the match down a notch but it’s still a fantastic match. It’s in my top matches of both men’s careers for sure. 

[FlaeBlazer]

What is your guys’ opinion on CageMatch ratings?

I usually go there to see if there any good matches that I haven’t heard about or if I can’t watch a full show and I’ll just see what’s worth watching based on the ratings.

[EVA]

22 minutes ago, FlaeBlazer said:

I loved Brock vs. AJ too. I had it at 4.75* but I find it interesting that your complaint about Punk vs. Brock is very similar to mine for Brock vs. AJ. I feel like everybody knew that match was going to end with a Phenomenal Forearm countered into an F5. I saw it so many people predicting it on Reddit and Twitter and also heard it on some of the podcasts that I listen to. I had a feeling that was how it was going to end and when Brock kicked out of the Forearm and AJ went up for a second Forearm afterwards, I groaned and was thinking “Yeah this is the finish. Brock’s gonna catch him and hit the F5.” I loved the match but I thought the finish was way too telegraphed. I would’ve preferred if they did something more creative. 

There were also a few ugly botches that kinda take the match down a notch but it’s still a fantastic match. It’s in my top matches of both men’s careers for sure. 

I mean, I guess I can see where you're coming from on that, but I think there's a difference between a well-versed wrestling fan being able to spot the "going to the well once too many times" finish coming in the moment and an overbooked screwjob finish that kinda sucks the life out of the finish of a match.

Whether everybody in the crowd at Survivor Series knew it was coming or not, they were still all up on their feet, popping for AJ pulling off the elbow pad, etc.  They were still into the story and willing to play along.

On the flip side, Punk finally decking Heyman and putting him in the Vice should be a HUGE pop and the cathartic payoff to a long-term storyline.  But because they played the Heyman card no less than three times in the home stretch and it became obvious that Punk was going to slip on a banana peel and lose, there's almost an audible groan from the crowd when Punk puts the Vice on him.  At best, the response could be described as "muted."  The crowd isn't playing along anymore.  Instead, everybody's just thinking, "This is the dumbest thing he could possibly do in this situation and now he's going to lose."

 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Maybe because the build up was so great, The Shield vs. The Wyatts is five stars in my book, even in spite of the less than great ending with Ambrose disappearing through the crowd. 

It's ashame we never got a proper blowoff, since the Shield then moved on to the Authority/Daniel Bryan angle and ended up with Kane and the New Age Outlaws, then Evolution. Bray really shouldn't have been sacrificed to Cena. WM30 should have been the blowoff to the Wyatt's/Shield feud.

Then, Roman should have been the one to sell out to the Authority later in the year.

[Casey]

3 hours ago, Meltzing Pot said:

Did you get it directly from Grey Dog or whatever the main site is? What do you guys use to play it? In other words, is there an app or something I need to DL to play?

I got it from Grey Dog. It was... $26 after the summer discount? It’s super convoluted to install a historical mod/current data update, but there’s videos out there that walk you through it step by step. You don’t need an app or anything to play it, I’m using Windows 10 on a basic Toshiba laptop.

I seriously wasted like 4-6 hours last night simming through about 4 months, then opened my own promotion at the start of the year. The preset “styles” for your promotion are pretty cool, but you can customize that as well.

I think the funniest thing in-game that’s happened so far is New Japan making one signing throughout my time in the game so far - Alberto Del Rio. And he immediately starts tagging with Sho and Yoh.

[SirSmUgly]

Bray was on fire in-ring at that point in 2014. He'd just had something that I might class as five stars (or very close to it) with the Bryan match at the Rumble. Then, the next month he has that classic six-man against the Shield. Yeah, he was the worst guy in the ring against Bryan, and he was the fourth-best guy in the ring at best in the six-man, but he was just so hot. He was a threat, the Wyatts were a threat, and then they just cooled him off in the most senseless way with that awful Cena feud. 

I know they cool off guys all the time, but remember that coming out of that Elimination Chamber and into that Wrestlemania, they legitimately had Wyatt along with Rollins, Ambrose, Reigns, and Bryan as a seeming group that they could make into their main-event mainstay core. Bryan got hurt, but they just screwed up each and every one of those other four guys. Ambrose is salvageable, I bet, and maybe the crowd is still into Rollins? I don't know, actually. But still. They had Bryan and the Shield kill off Batista, Orton, and the New Age Outlaws, which felt pretty symbolic. It's staggering how badly they fucked that whole thing up.

Not that it matters since they are a very stable company that produces lots of live programming, which is at a premium in 2018. If this were 1995, they'd be getting rid of the water coolers in Titan Towers again. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Rollins can still be a top guy in the company he's had a big resurgence since the injury. The rest of them,  probably not.  I don't think Bray will ever recover.  They also missed on Cesaro around that time.  He was having great TV matches with Bryan and Orton and others and then he won the Andre Battle Royal.  It all looked like he was well on his way to at least a big time I.C. champion type but they cooled him off.  

[The Natural]

6 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Since my memory sucks - I am thinking most people will say Cena/AJ from... god... was it Royal Rumble last year?

Of course - I know a lot for folks get cranky over Big Match John

Yes, Royal Rumble 2017 and that's my answer to @FlaeBlazer. 

 

[Ryan]

7 hours ago, FlaeBlazer said:

What is your guys’ opinion on CageMatch ratings?

I usually go there to see if there any good matches that I haven’t heard about or if I can’t watch a full show and I’ll just see what’s worth watching based on the ratings.

They're hit and miss like anywhere else. I've found some interesting stuff from guys I like recently to dig around for,  but stuff can be all over the place in what they think of it with some obvious biases for and against certain wrestlers. If something looks good and there's no ratings there, it doesn't mean it isn't good. Their user base isn't that big to see everything in abundance.

[Brian Fowler]

About Punk/Brock: my big problem with the match (and it's a really good match) is really a broad problem with WWE in general. They made the babyface look stupid. The second he put Paul in the Vice, everyone and their mother knew Brock was gonna break the hold and win the match. CM Punk looked like a stupid dumbass.

If he just kicks Paul in the head, and turns right back to Brock, but Brock has already recovered because he's an inhuman monster, that's fine. Punk had to do something about Paul, and the outside interference cost him the match. But instead, Punk being fucking stupid and torturing Heyman while the 300 lb UFC champion ubermensch was recovering... That's on Mr. Brooks.

[RIPPA]

Yeah! Fuck you Kevin Costner!