Curt McGirt Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 I've always thought Josh Mathews gets a bad break. I mean, Matt Striker. I mean, Mike Adamle. I mean... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 In another era Striker is a really good manager around the territories I think. Small guy but built well, can take bumps, can talk a little with an air of arrogance. I thought he was pretty good with Big Daddy V in that role. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Spotlight Dave is so fucking good. John Cena won the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber, Mr. McMahon ordered him to instantly defend against Batista, and Big Dave won the title. This had something to do with the McMahon-Hart feud, but who cares. The title rematch happened at Mania. The thing I loved about this Batista heel run, was that he was so good at turning into an arrogant fuckhead, and it only took a minor tweak to already existing character. He was amazing in his promos about being so much better than everyone, and that he *deserved* the attention that Cena was getting. Also it worked as he'd been bit by the acting bug, and this was a very good way for him to wrap up his run. John Cena, who played a Marine in a movie, got a military guard of Marines to do a little thing as part of his entrance. Dave's spotlight entrance after pyro is awesome in that it's over the top and yet still understated. Now the match is a solid power vs power affair between two guys who know each other's every move. Cena's very good at this point, and so is Batista... yet Cena really seems to be running the show. You can tell that because they haven't edited down the audio and you can clearly hear him calling spots ALL fucking match long. Like, I know Maffew has made tons of ad money just on YouTube videos of Cena loudly calling spots throughout his career, but even this is egregious. There are some quite sweet spots in this match, like the Super Five Knuckle Shuffle and Dave countering a Massachusetts Jam into a spinebuster. End came after they'd been trading finishers and Cena countered Batista's last Bomb attempt into an STFU. And this is where you can audibly hear Cena say "okay, not yet... reach for the ropes... not yet... try to power out... and tap now." Dave dutifully follows instructions to give Cena his 9th world championship. The feud would continue for a couple of months, with it culminating in Dave quitting live on Raw in a wheelchair. Turned out he actually NEEDED that wheelchair, as he'd suffered a spinal fracture taking an AA on a car. So, yeah, I don't blame Batista for wanting out. Plus, much, much greener pastures were calling. Like I said, this was a very solid match. I'm not going to go so far as to say this was an all-time great match or anything, but it was a lot of fun. Shockingly, it looks like they only got a ~20 minute window for their stuff, entrances and all. Definitely felt like 10 more minutes could have let the match breathe a little bit and get some more drama and reach that truly elite platform, but you know two cripples needed 30 minutes to get all their stuff in. (No, I won't be more specific than that.) End of Day 82, Ride 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 Day 82, Ride 2 There is one of, if not the best, promo videos ever created by WWE. And the build to this, the main event of Mania 26, is absolutely amazing. Because of Shawn's obsession with beating Taker, it caused a tidal wave and the ripples were felt throughout WWE. It directly or indirectly, spawned the Show/Miz tag title reign, Batista's title reign, Jericho's title reign, and the HHH/Sheamus feud, so about half the card is done in the shadows of these two giants going at it one more time. The STREAK~ vs. Shawn's Career. The stakes couldn't be higher for both men. For what could be Shawn's last match, he gets a decently understated entrance... well for Shawn Michaels. Bunch of pyro, but no like theatrics beyond that. Taker does his thing and no real theatrics there beyond the usual fog and flames. It's just a long staredown to start as both guys are clearly taking in the epic moment. They start out with Taker dominating, he hits Old School (now 2 above .500), and he seems to tweak his knee on one. And that's when Michaels attacks. Relentlessly going after the knee the whole match and it's a solid strategy... take out a tank by going after its wheels. And like a tank, Undertaker starts throwing bombs early and often. Chokeslam and a Last Ride got kick outs, and Michaels broke out of a Hell's Gate. Even the crowd wasn't really buying those as the finishes. Though after 3 1/2 hours of WrestleMania, it could just be them being tired. Shawn rather dumbly starts throwing bombs of his own. A top rope elbow drop got countered. A sweet chin music basically only made Taker mad. Another one gets countered into a Last Ride, which also gets 2. It's a full on war at this point and we're just halfway into this. Shawn hits a top rope moonsault to a prone Undertaker, shattering the Spanish Announcers' table. And honestly, my mind is kind of wandering at this point... I'm not sure if it was because it was a long day at work, or what, but I'm sort of fatiguing on this. It's like... well, if you ever played Starcraft (1 or 2) and you get to that point where you're getting bombarded by gigantic Protoss ships and the only reason you're staying in the match is because you've already sent out a fleet of Ghosts and you just nuke an entire base in one volley? It's fun, but jesus is it draining. We're at the end game now here too. An attempt at Sweet Chin Music #6(!) hits air and Taker counters it into Taker's 2nd Tombstone. THAT only gets two. It's basically a repeat of the last match, but the biggest difference is... Michaels is exhausted. Taker has made the fight happen on his turf, with his rules, and Michaels doesn't have enough to keep it up. But Shawn fucking Michaels is too proud to just accept that his career is about to end. Taker's ready to go for a third Tombstone. But in the middle of his throat cutting gesture, he hesitates. Shawn is fighting with everything he's got just to get back on his feet. HE completes the gesture and a HARD slap that says.... "Anata ga motte iru subete no monode watashi o kōgeki shite kudasai." .... A jumping Tombstone piledriver moves Undertaker to 18-0 and Shawn Michaels career is over. I remember watching this live at the time and being legitimately sad. Not because I was sad about the outcome, that was expected. I was sad that maybe the one career that defined my entire WWF/WWE fandom was now over. I remembered the poofy hair and cut up shirts, the kick through the window, the ladder match, his first championship, cheering for him to get his head kicked in by (A LOT OF GUYS), seeing the bittersweet moment where he ended Ric Flair's career, and now, he's lying on the mat, retired. Tempus fugit. -- And that was WrestleMania 26. I went in jokingly calling it a one match show, and while there were at least two other good matches (Punk/Rey, Cena/Dave)... this show existed for the one match at the end. It's a suitably epic and important match (though I liked the match at 25 a bit more), but 3+ hours building to that one thing... it was wearing. Well, this is an evening ride, so why not forge ahead? Let's see what happens when HOTlanta gets to be host to "The Biggest WrestleMania Ever!" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thee Reverend Axl Future Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Yahweh forgive me, but Shawn Michael's overacting is perfect, and honestly in my Top 20 things that delight me about thee pro wrestling. It is sui generis, tho' - I honestly don't mind when folks are inspired by Michaels to the point of imitation in the ring, but no one can copy his dramatic thespian techniques without looking like a goofball (ACole & SRollins are two that come to mind, and -hey- even Mr. Triple HHH). - RAF 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Much like the Flair match (though I think this is a much better match, overall), the finish is just so perfect. Flair had to beg a reluctant Shawn to end it, now Shawn has to piss of a reluctant Taker to finish his own career. They kinda stumbled into it, but the story they ended up telling with Flair, HBK, Taker, and Triple H over the course of five Manias was really great. (It's too bad they couldn't leave well enough alone and we had the terrible matches on foreign soil a couple years ago.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Hero Morganti Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 That starcraft shout though. And yeah, that jumping tombstone to finish off the defiant HBK was lovely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 WRESTLEMANIA XXVII (or, The Biggest WrestleMania Ever!) Ugh. That tagline very much sounds like Vince said "this has to be the biggest WrestleMania ever" so come up with a good tagline for it, storming out of the room to do coke off of Layla or one of the Bellas or something, and the writers just looking at each other like, "yeah, that's fine." We're in Atlanta for their, to date, only WrestleMania. That's actually a little surprising, but not so when you think that they've really only had like 10 shots to put one there after WCW died. Vince for the last year has seemingly been reeling in the loss of Batista and HBK to retirement, HHH and The Undertaker to injury, and the viewer base to the horrific announcing shift they've made. They've been putting the title on anyone that would sit still long enough, but nothing seems to be fitting. Well, it's Mania season, and let's see where it goes from here.... "IF YA SMELL..." Okay, the Rock comes out as the host of WrestleMania. He says nothing for 15 minutes... like literally, there's nothing going on. At the time, I remember being very excited about this, but now, even with the crowd getting very hyped, this is a crashing bore on re-watch. Alright, he's done. In the last year, the WWE signed a very talented, big luchador who could actually speak English very well... And made him a ring announcer. They also signed Dos Caras, Jr. and he became a multiple time world champion. Because everything is terrible. Well, at least he got arrested today. So, Alberto Del Rio won the 2011 Royal Rumble in what, I believe, everyone now deems a terrible, terrible mistake. If you may recall, Santino was the final guy in with him and the crowd was ready for the upset of the century to happen, but Vince was in full on troll mode, and ADR won. Speaking of Troll Mode Vince.... I'd mentally blocked out Heel Michael Cole. I legitimately almost stopped watching wrestling because of this. PBP announcers need to be, just from coherent storytelling, neutral and at most, leaning face. A sustained unreliable narrator just doesn't work in a storytelling method like professional wrestling or sports in general. You can't have Al Michaels out there telling you, hey, your favorite football player is actually a horrible person, so why are you cheering for him? Like it's okay for a change of pace, every ONCE IN A WHILE. When you're being yelled at and told that everything you think is wrong and the person telling you it says they're better and smarter than you, then all you're going to do is push people away from the product. Fuck, it is just awful to revisit it. Anyway, Del Rio comes out in a vintage Rolls Royce (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). And speaking of shitheads, there's Brodus Clay as Del Rio's enforcer, before everyone in WWE realized that he was absolutely awful. Edge is the World Heavyweight Champion, and ADR has spent the last couple of months breaking arms and generally pissing off the champ. Christian makes his return to Mania and is standing in Edge's corner. Now, the big neon colored flashing elephant in the room is Edge's neck. It is SEVERELY fucked at this point. He's two weeks away from retirement, and everything is toned down for Edge. And of course, that's a problem, because Edge is at his best when he's selling and doing crazy shit like jumping off of ladders. So yeah, this match is a crashing bore. The two guys in the ring are just going through a pretty paint-by-the-numbers title match that could have been on any PPV. Though I'm half-convinced that the finish was done because Vince didn't want someone else to be able to say they're undefeated at Mania. Edge became the first guy to break out of the Del Rio's cross armbreaker, and somehow countered into a Sharpshooter-type thing. After that was broken up, Edge just spears the fuck out of Alberto and retains. Edge and Christian then "destroy" the Rolls Royce. I put "destroyed" in quotes because apparently destroying a car is a lot of work for even two guys to do. Like Del Rio is fully recovered and halfway back up the ramp before the two Canadian dorks figure out that crowbars can smash glass. I probably should have stopped at the Taker match... Moving on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 I wasn't watching WWE around this time, who was the luchador they made a ring announcer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 12 minutes ago, Zimbra said: I wasn't watching WWE around this time, who was the luchador they made a ring announcer? Chimaera (Ricardo Rodriguez) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 I'm on the record that the Triple H/Taker match at XXVII is my favorite WrestleMania match ever, and I stand by that. And, despite that, my memory is that it's a terrible show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoeCristyV.1.6 Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) When did Shawn ever kick through a window? Clearly Marty tried to escape through it. That coward. Edited October 9, 2020 by MoeCristyV.1.6 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Ricardo was an actual, and talented luchador? News to me. I was drinking a lot back then (less now thankfully) so of course I don't remember. Heel Michael Cole is unforgettably awful though. The drinking couldn't even help that. If you feel like burning this WM with fire and jumping ahead I will understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoeCristyV.1.6 Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Isn't Ricardo one of the main targets of #SpeakingOut? Fuck him! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 Sorry for bringing up something from last week but since i was largely not on here just wanted to mention how incredibly sweet it was seeing Vickie doing the frog splash. We were shitting on the match at the time but as jaded as we were that moment still made us go "Aw, that's really sweet." So I can't hate on the match. On 10/7/2020 at 4:39 PM, Dolfan in NYC said: There is one of, if not the best, promo videos ever created by WWE. And the build to this, the main event of Mania 26, is absolutely amazing. Because of Shawn's obsession with beating Taker, it caused a tidal wave and the ripples were felt throughout WWE. It directly or indirectly, spawned the Show/Miz tag title reign, Batista's title reign, Jericho's title reign, and the HHH/Sheamus feud, so about half the card is done in the shadows of these two giants going at it one more time. For as much love as the "My Way" video gets I think I prefer this a lot more. It excellently showed the downward spiral Shawn took since losing to 'Taker. And with the great timing with the music it really drove home just how important this match was. Without seeing either recently I think I preferred the previous match to this one. But for the overall story this was absolutely incredible. Oh, and the sharpshooter-type thing I think was the Edecutator which I remember Edge using in the early '00s. I remember thinking how boring the match was but once Edge announced his retirement I quickly understood why it went that way. Not sure if he'll be back after injury but if not at least he can say his last match was against somebody that wasn't a complete and total piece of shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 I said it in the previous write up, but in 2020, it's clear the biggest miss the WWE has had in the last decade was not pushing Cody Rhodes to the moon. The question that always lies behind that sliding door is would 2020 Cody be the same guy without his time in NJPW, ROH, and eventually, going through the pains of building his own company. I honestly don't know. Makes you wonder though... Anyway, he's here in his amazing Dr. Doom (or Phantom of the Opera, if you're too good for comic books) gimmick. The dastardly Rey Mysterio had 619'ed "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and "broken" his face, forcing him to wear a clear mask. (I should note, the newspaper clippings in Cody's Titantron are QUITE a nice touch.) I honestly don't know if the mask was covering an actual broken orbital bone, or just Vince making fun of LeBron James, who right around this time was doing this: Ah, 2011. (and no, I don't care if the timelines match up, and neither should you) Oh god, Heel Michael Cole really starts feeling his oats as Vince clearly screams at him to make fun of Mysterio's amazing Capt. America suit. For as much as I don't really care for his style in the ring, I cannot, and will not besmirch that man's ability to have an awesome outfit. (Except the Avatar one. And I'll bet even Rey wants that one back.) Now the match itself is pretty decent, which is to be expected from these two. (Of course, that's 2020 speaking...) The whole match is built around Cody protecting his face and Rey doing whatever he can to take away Cody's facemask. Rey's also wearing a knee brace that's the size of him because his knees are a fine mist being held together with old bubble gum at this point. Eventually, Cody gets the knee brace off. Rey counters enough to 619 Cody's unprotected face... and puts on his mask, which prompts the crowd to actually turn on Rey! That's interesting... Cody then clobbers Rey with the knee brace, and see you at the CrossRhodes, Rey. And serves him right for getting too cute by putting on Cody's mask instead of finishing him off when he had a chance. Cody would go on to spend a large part of next year as IC champ and have a.... significantly worse match next year. End of Day 82. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 I don't think Cody would be what he is now without his time outside of WWE. Also I still think to this day the doctor doom gimmick he was trying was terrible. People seem to forget that Cody was pushed a decent amount of times and failed to catch on every time. Even during his biggest WWE feud tagging with Dustin against the Shield, Dustin was way the hell more over. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 DAY 83 The story of Wade Barrett in the WWE is maybe one of the more disappointing ones in memory. Dude came in super hot, was wrecking people with the Nexus... and then got embarrassed out of his own group by losing a feud badly to John Cena, and making his WrestleMania debut here, already dead weight, as part of the CORRE. "Corre" btw, looks like the British way of spelling something that looks like it should sound one way, but is actually pronounced 'quarry' or something. (For another example of this, see the word "Quay".) The CORRE is Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Ezekial Jackson, all in their Mania debuts. Note, they are ALL already dead in the water, despite Barrett holding the IC Championship and Slater/Gabriel being the tag champs. They face Big Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi Kingston. Kofi, for one, looks notably less than thrilled to be in with this team. To add to my dead weight argument, Big Show KO's Slater in about 90 seconds, because why not have an immobile sloth embarrass your next generation of talent. Vince screaming about how they can never build new stars, and then sends this out. Yes, I'm still bitter about the Nexus 10 years later... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 48 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said: Yes, I'm still bitter about the Nexus 10 years later... The Nexus attacking Cena and destroying the ring was the one thing in my decade away from following wrestling that made me think "Damn, maybe I should start watching again" and it took them like 48 hours to fuck that up. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Kofi was probably seeing an alternate vision of his future looking at those guys and thinking just being in the ring with them would drag him down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Imagine being too good for comic books, but not too good for fucking Andrew Lloyd Webber! The very cognitive dissonance of the idea! Anyway, Cody wouldn't be Cody if he were left to the devices of the modern WWE machine. The lesson, as always, is that the modern WWE machine is bad for everything but churning out a consistent profit somehow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 WM27 is some real drizzling shits (and I was there). Near the bottom of the bottom tier of WM’s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 8 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said: "Corre" btw, looks like the British way of spelling something that looks like it should sound one way, but is actually pronounced 'quarry' or something. (For another example of this, see the word "Quay".) When I first watched the movie Crimson Tide, I founs out that Americans pronounce the word "Buoy" as Booooey. Which is also how they pronounce the knife that killed Dracula (and the rockstar who named himself after it, even though he himself pronounced it Bow-ee). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiztor Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 6 minutes ago, AxB said: When I first watched the movie Crimson Tide, I founs out that Americans pronounce the word "Buoy" as Booooey. Which is also how they pronounce the knife that killed Dracula (and the rockstar who named himself after it, even though he himself pronounced it Bow-ee). i, as an American, have never heard someone refer to the rockstar as anything but "Bow-ee" 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 The only person that ever called him David Booey was Bing Crosby. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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