Library Dude

The standing Black Hole Slam/Catatonic that Umaga/Chuck Palumbo used needs to be brought back* http://youtu.be/FTnc7SDQRbc *in the WWE I mean, I'm sure people are using it elsewhere.

That Slayer string cover made me think of this. Hellsongs are a Swedish trio who do folky versions of metal standards and yes, a lot of it is "LOL we are playing this all quiet and acoustic HAR HAR" - BUT their version of "Seasons in the Abyss" is genuinely amazing. Completely lovely and sinister at the same time. I can listen to it and not think of the Slayer song at all. I would buy an album of songs that sounded like this in a heartbeat.

That first T-Bone Walker video is AMAZING. Really looking forward to picking up some recommendation from this thread. A great Big Bill Broonzy performance:

I can't believe I just spent seven minutes watching Test big boot people. It was awesome though. I loved Test's ECW run. He was perfect as a heel for the ECW reboot, and I thought he really ramped up his viciousness to go with it. I think he's really underrated.

The WWE gets so many great live photos when they do overseas tours. I don't know if it's just that the photographers get more space to roam without the cameramen there, or that the non-TV lighting is better or what.

I never notice Cena's hair when he wrestles but for some reason it's all I can focus on now when he does a promo. For a guy considered to be the final word in marketability, he often has a weird hair cut (sometimes it looks shaved too high, or like he's going for a wedge or something). Didn't he have a blonde spiky fringe at one point (like Nigel McGuiness had later). That must rank high in the pantheon of terrible wrestling haircuts. That haircut above wouldn't be too bad if he was working a greaser gimmick. If he'd come along a few years later he would have made a pretty good Deuce.

One of the best Raw moments EVER. I watched this great 2012 interview with Big Show yesterday, really enjoy Pete Rosenberg's interviews. From about 4.00 onwards he talks about working as a big guy. When you read the crap that a lot of online wrestling fans spout about anyone over 300lbs, this should be required reading. From around 8.00 onwards he talks about the Henry fued. The WWE are really lucky right now that they have some big guys who are determined to go down in history as the best of their kind. You see a motivation in Show, Henry and Kane to be seen as all time greats and that is worth a ton (the Henry interview with Rosenberg is great). I honestly think the biggest talent issue facing them is the lack of big guys coming through.

Keep Hardy, Angle, Storm, Aries, Magnus, Bad Influence. Dump nearly everyone else. Resign Homicide. Yes to the Briscoes. Bring in London and Kendrick. I hate them but people like them. Bring in a ton of cruisers from the Indies/luchadors from Mexico. Bring in LA Park. Have Juvi be the delusional kingpin of a cruiser stable. I'm probably the only person in the world who likes GANG WARZ so I'd have a bunch of factions, but make sure none of them suck, and kill them when they do. Sign the greatest babyface wrestler in the world Chris Masters. Bring in fucking BAROOD. I'd have a Ring Ka King faction. Put the tag titles on a repackaged Luke Gallows and Mike Knox and have them steamroll fools for a year. So it's massive when they lose. Keep Sting under a contract but have him turn up once a year. He shouldn't be a full time wrestler any more, but he's valuable as a legend that you don't get in the WWE. Having said that no Hogan ever ever ever again. They should bring in older WWE/WCW guys from time to time (Steiner, Nash, X-Pac) but only on a short term basis, and mainly to put over fulltime guys. I like everyone's ideas about keeping wacky TNA gimmick matches. It's the best heritage they have so why not. Though the name needs to change. And the presentation too. TNA's is ok, but it looks like budget Smackdown (NXT looks better on screen now). I don't know what it should look like, but I think they should start over on what wrestling presentation should be.

Can't tell with his arms folded if Mark has a gold chain with his own face on. I really hope so. If they do it right, the night he comes back is going to blow the roof off the place. He looks so bad ass.

They made out that there was no love between Cena and the rest of Team Angle (Benoit specifically didn't want him on their team) but Cena turned down being on Team Lesnar, got ambushed by A-Train who took his place, then he was pretty strongly face. It's crazy that he used to cut such misogynistic, homophobic promos and still became their top guy.

Shelton Benjamin doesn't sign autographs. Or possibly wasn't there at the time. EDIT: Arrrrg, this picture is huge, sorry.

I liked that Brock Lesnar, a dude who never needed any backup, assembled an utterly ridiculous team of monsters. I thought at this stage that Matt Morgan was on course to be a decent big guy (before he decided to wrestle like any other schmoe), and even though Nathan Jones was pretty ropey, dude has a ton of physical charisma and intensity. Show and Tensai both rule. I can't find any pics of Team Lesnar standing in the ring but there was a Smackdown where they lined up while Heyman cut a promo and they looked like the baddest dudes in the world. I'd forgotten how good the team they faced was. Angle, Bradshaw, Hardcore Holly, that dude and Cena. That's a pretty badass team in 2003. I'd also forgotten that joining Angle's team was Cena's face turn that has lasted to this day.

That name always struck me as odd. Like his ring gear should've been Depends or something. His real name is Leati Anoa'i - I guess they figured Leakee looked/sounded better. I don't know why, it was a terrible name (his real name makes you use the `a' in the middle more, Leakee just seems like you should pronounce it Leaky). He seemed to be in FCW for longer than a lot of other people to be honest (apart from the dudes who never ever get called up). I got quite into FCW about six months before it became NXT and I would not have been surprised back then if Reigns had never got the call up. Not that he was bad, but he was the total definition of bland, like a Samoan Mark Jindrak. It's been amazing the reaction that people on this board have had to him as a result of the Shield gimmick. Like he would have been the total "fuck this guy, where's Kassius Ohno" dude if he had come up with his FCW/NXT persona. I think he's done a real good job (and got a lot better as time has gone on) but it's a real testament to the treatment the Shield has had that people are so high on him, and that he's perceived as a "big man". He's no small guy but is only a bit bigger than Rollins and Ambrose. He'd be dwarfed by the likes of Billy Gunn and lots of other huge wrestlers who never wrestled as "big men". This is a triple threat with the Shield dudes from FCW. Reigns does a couple of power spots in this, but his finish is a running bulldog, and his athleticism seems to be as much of a selling point as his power. The Shield has been so good for Reigns and Rollins. They have got way further with this than they would have with their earlier characters. Ambrose too, but I can't help feeling he's a little lost in the shuffle right now. He's such a unique presence in modern wrestling, I can only think he'll have a big solo role down the line (well, I hope so).

.....aaaand more Big E

A couple of good bits of Big E from NXT/FCW (plus random wackiness) for you.

Holy shit, they really are doing Bad News Barrett that people were fantasy booking on here. That whole clip was amazing, I have a ton of JBL and Cole to catch up on.

I know Brock has lost against the same old big names (and was all but beat by Punk) but him putting over a new guy would be huge for that person. I always thought it should be Sheamus or Big E but Sheamus doesn't need it really. Big E rules and could easily be the sort of kick ass face that lots of people seem to miss.

Just watched the Rhodes Family vs The Shield and it was great. Dustin looked fantastic, that missed cross body bump was nuts. Everything else from Battleground sounds skippable but that was a great match and great moment at the end.

This match is the epitome of the goofy slapstick hardcore division with Blackman as champion. It's a lot of fun. As it's always said, it's crazy looking back to 2000-ish WWE how over all the midcarders are. This match manages to further a fued with a team who aren't even there (T&A wearing their T&APA shirts), further a fued between Molly Holly and Trish, and generally make everyone look great. I know some would have a problem with Test selling for Molly Holly, but I don't think it makes him look bad, more "man, she's awesome"

I don't particularly enjoy Kofi (aarrgh, why does he have to jump on everything) but I've always been interested in the possibility of a heel turn by him since I saw this promo. Ragging on a town or state or whatever is pretty standard practice, but cutting a promo on the built environment of an entire nation is a step up. ADR is definitely my top answer though. He's really good in ring, but I rarely watch any of his matches. He needs a good face to be interesting, especially since they killed off the most fun stuff of his gimmick (the cars, Ricardo, him basically being the bad guy from El Mariachi)

I watched that last night and was just coming to post it. DAMN. Bradshaw just kicks the shit out of Hayes at the start. Kayfabe wise it should be a stretcher job. Hayes, to his credit, shrugs it off but you can see when the match finally settles into a tag in the ring, he's suffering. Jeff hits two fucking light speed topes in this, and dies a horrible death on one. Matt gamely slugs the Acolytes straight in the jaw, I love his punches. It's not a hardcore match, but the one weapon shot (while gimmicked) hits Bradshaw straight in the fucking face. It's great. This is up there with the Foley/Payne vs Nasties match as a brawl that didn't promise a lot, but is a ton of fun. Only thing that lets it down is the crowd is a bit flat as it's heel vs heel. Why they bothered making the Hardy's heel so early on I will never know. Re: overlooked stuff from WWF C-shows, me and my housemate used to tape every Heat, Jakked, Metal, whatever. Always looking for our favourite guys who were never on Raw to get the chance to do something decent. At the time I LOVED this Crash Holly vs TAKA match. It's not a classic or anything, but is a ton more than they were having the chance to do otherwise. Would have been nice to see both guys in the WCW cruiserweight mix, as WCW cruisers got more TV time and more leeway to go for it, even though they meant very little to the overall story of the show. One of the few times Crash's finisher was seen on TV. Screw your Air Raid Crash/Kryptonite Krunch nonsense, it will always be THE CRASH COURSE!! to me.

Mark Jindrak looks like he's working a Gob Bluth: Terrible Magician gimmick. When it should be a Gob Bluth: $3000 Suit gimmick. COME ON!!!!!

I've been in both rings, and this is 100% true. I had been in hundreds of indy rings of various quality, but when I worked in an old WCW ring I was blown away by how short the ropes were, and it threw me off just running ropes and stuff. Also, WCW rings (and from what I see on television, most lucha rings) have cable ropes - where the rope is a steel cable run thru a garden-hose type of cover. WWE rings use a regular rope with a latex/acrylic type of coating. The difference in tension between the two is immense. Cables are much tighter, and have a spring-like quality, while ropes have a lot more elasticity and "wobble" more. Another difference is that WWE rings are 20x20... and most other rings are not. WCW rings were 18x18, I believe ECW were 16x16. Most indy rings are 16x16... although I have worked in 14x14 many times, as well as some rings that had ridiculously tall/short aprons. I wasn't sure about the rings in CMLL etc, but figured they would also be cables. Cheers for the insight, it's really interesting. People bitch about WWE toning down wrestlers styles but a lot of it seems to be practically based around a) the ring, b ) the number of shows they work and c) the size of a lot of the roster. If Jack Swagger is the US Champ but you want Sin Cara to take it from him, you're going to run into problems if the Spanish Fly is his finisher. Just seeing those gifs of the dives on Smackdown it's crazy how much air you have to get to clear the top rope. Does anyone know when Hunico is coming back anyway? I love that guy. I've been wondering if the recent push of the Uso's is down to The Shield's position and Reigns being basically family with them. It seems like they get a lot of leeway to do nutty stuff on a regular basis (there's always been one guy in the WWE who seems to be given free reign to take crazy bumps all the time - Foley, Jeff Hardy - at the moment it's Seth Rollins). Hope when Camacho and Hunico come back they get a decent run too.

WWE ropes are higher and looser than the cables they used in WCW. I always think that's overlooked when people talk about guys like Rey changing their style when they came to WWE. The WWE top rope is up round Rey's head. You only have to look at all the botches of people trying springboard stuff to see why so few people bother with it.

This reminds me of absolute genius commentary from Booker T on Smackdown a few years ago. Michael Cole: What have the Usos' got to do to get to the next level here in WWE Booker? Booker T: Well, Michael Cole. These boys are Samoan so in the next few years they gonna put on about 200lbs, and then they gonna be unstoppable mane! Yes, 200lbs each. Hey, it could happen.