July 2022 Wrestling Discussion

[Nineteen]

And for all that, thankfully Hogan didn't up being the bass player for Metallica, I mean who knows how much that would have changed things?

[Log]

43 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

If Vince Jr. never came calling Hogan would have been a Japan first guy like Brody, the money over there was great and he would have gotten nice payday's in the US as a special attraction.

This is probably the most intriguing "sliding doors" situation I can think of in pro wrestling.

[Technico Support]

55 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

Not really sure if Vince Sr. firing Hogan is bs or not, but Hogan was winding down his run in the WWF when he went off to film Rocky III and would have been gone sometime in the summer of 1981. Hogan's feud with Andre had wrapped up and he was putting over Tony Atlas, back then once a heel was done with their run against Backlund or in Hogan's case Andre they'd put over a babyface the next level down on the way out.

The take that Vern "refused" to put the AWA title on Hogan is a huge over simplification of what went down. Sure Verne was old school and initially did want the belt on a "non-wrestler" like Hogan, but the dude was mega over so Verne tried to milk the chase as long as possible. Next there was the issue with Hogan working New Japan and Verne being tied in with All-Japan, if Hogan was AWA Champ Verne would have wanted a cut of Hogan's Japan money which is why at times Hogan has claimed he didn't even want the AWA belt. There's also the whole Verne screwing over Hogan on t-shirt money.

If Vince Jr. never came calling Hogan would have been a Japan first guy like Brody, the money over there was great and he would have gotten nice payday's in the US as a special attraction. 

I just need to shout out Mister TV, just a real quality poster who always brings some tremendous historical knowledge.  Also, he knows a lot about TV.  Naturally.

[nofuture]

HHH is back as EVP of Talent Relations.

Edited July 22, 2022 by nofuture

[Guest]

Triple H got his other role back, and Johnny Ace's former job which was one of Triple H old jobs. However Vince's mandate of no vanilla midgets is still in effect.

LONG LIVE TRIPLE H the Goat. We love you Goat. King of Kings baby.

[Infinit]

3 hours ago, Log said:

This is probably the most intriguing "sliding doors" situation I can think of in pro wrestling.

Imagine Hogan in the Hansen spot vs Luger in 1990 WCW.

Or Hogan vs Big Van Vader in 1990 NJPW. Holy shit.

[Technico Support]

Hogan in the Brody spot, Hulking up and no-selling Gonzalez in '88?

[Matt D]

2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Hogan in the Brody spot, Hulking up and no-selling Gonzalez in '88?

Brody is a bigger bumper then Hogan but Hogan made his career on selling so he could come back. He understood the value of it. We’d have gotten a far superior Hansen tag at least. 

[Technico Support]

12 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Brody is a bigger bumper then Hogan but Hogan made his career on selling so he could come back. He understood the value of it. We’d have gotten a far superior Hansen tag at least. 

my joke about Hogan no-selling an actual stabbing didn't work out

Edited July 22, 2022 by Technico Support

[Hamhock]

15 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

my joke about Hogan no-selling an actual stabbing didn't work out

I mean, the thought of Hogan doing the Dizzy-Gillespie-puffed-cheeks-Hulkup-shaking as he’s repeatedly stabbed, culminating in the YOOOOUUUU finger-point did make me chuckle.

[Technico Support]

27 minutes ago, Hamhock said:

I mean, the thought of Hogan doing the Dizzy-Gillespie-puffed-cheeks-Hulkup-shaking as he’s repeatedly stabbed, culminating in the YOOOOUUUU finger-point did make me chuckle.

Or getting knifed, only to tell a confused Gonzalez, "that doesn't work for me, brother."

[SirSmUgly]

I think Brody's big sin even above not selling and doing random nonsensical shit in the middle of his matches is that he's a below-average clubberer. No one with that size and look should be that pedestrian at clubbering. 

 

[Matt D]

4 minutes ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

I think Brody's big sin even above not selling and doing random nonsensical shit in the middle of his matches is that he's a below-average clubberer. No one with that size and look should be that pedestrian at clubbering. 

 

Brody’s biggest sin isn’t even his fault: it’s that he has a cult of personality in-ring from people who have either never seen him wrestle or haven’t seen him wrestle in 30 years.

[Dolfan in NYC]

Vince's retirement has it's own thread.   Go here to discuss:

 

[Kev]

Just to circle back to the Bryan booking post WM30 chat. Kane as perfectly logical feud and the title run being doomed due to injury anyway are both completely fair points, but I’d still point to the Kane feud as a big backward step at that time.

That Mania kind of felt like a potential new dawn - Bryan’s big win, the streak ending, Cesaro (seemingly) breaking out as a singles star and face Shield squashing the old guys (complete with a ‘there goes the Attitude era’ call on commentary). To go from that into a Kane title feud was such a ‘same old shit’ move. 

Kane is one of those guys that epitomises WWE’s post-WCW staleness for me. Someone who stuck around forever being consistently uninteresting. By 2014 he was at least 10 years past the point of being a credible main event threat (yeah, I know he had title runs between then, but they weren’t on the a-show), And, the ‘Uh-oh Kane is a monster again’ push was beyond played out.

In short, Kane sucked and should have been nowhere near the title scene in 2014.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Kev
Typo

[Cobra Commander]

if you have any bad wrestling news to drop, I think this is the time to do it

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

9 hours ago, Mister TV said:

Not really sure if Vince Sr. firing Hogan is bs or not, but Hogan was winding down his run in the WWF when he went off to film Rocky III and would have been gone sometime in the summer of 1981. Hogan's feud with Andre had wrapped up and he was putting over Tony Atlas, back then once a heel was done with their run against Backlund or in Hogan's case Andre they'd put over a babyface the next level down on the way out.

The take that Vern "refused" to put the AWA title on Hogan is a huge over simplification of what went down. Sure Verne was old school and initially did want the belt on a "non-wrestler" like Hogan, but the dude was mega over so Verne tried to milk the chase as long as possible. Next there was the issue with Hogan working New Japan and Verne being tied in with All-Japan, if Hogan was AWA Champ Verne would have wanted a cut of Hogan's Japan money which is why at times Hogan has claimed he didn't even want the AWA belt. There's also the whole Verne screwing over Hogan on t-shirt money.

If Vince Jr. never came calling Hogan would have been a Japan first guy like Brody, the money over there was great and he would have gotten nice payday's in the US as a special attraction. 

Thanks for explaining that. It adds a lot of context and things I didn't know.

Can I clarify - in the Death of the Territories book, Vince Snr didn't want to have him back because he thought the appearance in Rocky III exposed kayfabe more than it needed to. Was that also just a decent excuse to explain his departure or there some legit dissatisfaction over him doing the role despite Vince Snr not wanting him to?

I think you've explained the AWA stuff far better than I ever could. 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

5 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Hogan in the Brody spot, Hulking up and no-selling Gonzalez in '88?

Hogan getting his stabbing back a few weeks later after mailbags of get well soon cards.

Gonzalez supposed to get the third stabbing but Hogan left the island before that could happen.

[Doragon]

The group management and team effort that was set up is now in effect for WWE. Steph and Nick will plot the course of WWE going forward.

Wonder if either Bruce or Triple H becomes head of creative. And if Dunn gets the Gorilla position merged with his camera stuff.

[Elsalvajeloco]

1 hour ago, Blue Dragon said:

The group management and team effort that was set up is now in effect for WWE. Steph and Nick will plot the course of WWE going forward.

....Right.

You need to treat this like when Batista's regime in Cuba fell in 1959 and Fidel put a temporary government in place. The amount of backstabbing that is about to occur will rival that of a goddamn daytime soap opera. Things are about to be fluid.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

2 hours ago, Blue Dragon said:

Wonder if either Bruce or Triple H becomes head of creative. And if Dunn gets the Gorilla position merged with his camera stuff.

Don't think this part is feasible. Dunn needs to be in the truck to direct. He needs to see the cameras he's switching to every .43 seconds, can't do that from Gorilla. He also has no real wrestling experience. His experience is production. So he wouldn't be in the head wrestling position directing wrestlers on what to do in matches and directing how the commentary team tells the stories. He's a nuts and bolts guy, not a creative guy. Bruce as current head of creative will have that seat.

Well until things settle down & Steph / Triple H purge the old guard.

[Brandon Bones]

*hums “The Rains of Castamere”

[Technico Support]

12 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Dunn needs to be in the truck to direct. He needs to see the cameras he's switching to every .43 seconds, can't do that from Gorilla

I’ve said it before: no way is Dunn verbally readying and calling cuts.  He’d sound like an auctioneer and nobody could follow it.  Likely the whole thing is run by software or maybe a methed-out monkey strapped to a chair.

[Matt D]

6 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I’ve said it before: no way is Dunn verbally readying and calling cuts.  He’d sound like an auctioneer and nobody could follow it.  Likely the whole thing is run by software or maybe a methed-out monkey strapped to a chair.

5:45 mark or so. We don’t see this sort of thing often :

 

 

 

[NoFistsJustFlips]

32 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I’ve said it before: no way is Dunn verbally readying and calling cuts.  He’d sound like an auctioneer and nobody could follow it.  Likely the whole thing is run by software or maybe a methed-out monkey strapped to a chair.

With how frequent the cuts are you're probably right. He might not be calling out what's up next and readying them like the AEW truck clip Matt D posted. Highly likely he just has the switchboard in front of him and presses on the changes without readying the camera. They might just have a system where everyone is to assume the shot is theirs at all times or something. I'm sure he communicates and calls out instructions but he might just be mashing a board like Ray Charles on a piano.