Cobra Commander Posted March 31 Posted March 31 4 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said: There's something to be said for the standby match. or maybe an occasional gimmick where (A) can't make it to the scheduled main event vs (B) so there's an alternate main event, but maybe A makes it in time and the standby match is told to standby.. i'm thinking of a World Class angle where they had people in the main event brawl into the middle of an ongoing match, so they paused the match and had the main event... and then unpaused the other match later
BobbyWhioux Posted March 31 Posted March 31 and in inverse of the standby match, if there's ever a match you end up not having time for, or it turns out somebody's too hurt to actually work, have the referee actually find something during the frisk, and disqualify a guy during pre-bout instructions. Even have the announcer mention that because it's pre-bout, it's technically a forfeit and the guy doesn't get any money (again, so the loser can be mad about losing and the crowd doesn't view it as a copout). Not very often. Just once every couple years or so, so people know it can happen. Having someone actually win during the commercial break of a live show, too.
odessasteps Posted March 31 Posted March 31 Watts did a lot of those things … stand by matches, matches ending commercial break, ..
Cobra Commander Posted March 31 Posted March 31 I mean, I’d take “consistently naming the referees” as a prereq to giving them more things to do too
The Natural Posted March 31 Author Posted March 31 I can't be the only person who has wrestling dreams? This morning I dreamt of Paul Heyman, a fellow Paul and...fucking Penta.
zendragon Posted March 31 Posted March 31 10 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said: The best thing a promotion can do, to bridge off from your point, is adopt a thought that a match can end from any move at any time. If you constantly have to use a finisher to end a match, then that means you have to kick out of finishers to build tension because now nobody believes anything's the end of the match unless it's a finisher. Then people won't believe it's the end on two finishers, so you have to use three. Then you have to do three, then do a fourth off the top rope. It's a neverending sense of escalation and it doesn't work, especially with the chatter that rollups are "cheap endings" or somehow aren't clean finishes. Teach the fans a match can end with a well-placed, well-executed elbowdrop or clothesline and soon anything that looks nasty enough is a believable false finish. One thing I love about old NWA matches is various roll ups and such being treated as legit finishing holds, also I don't need elbowdrops or clothes lines as finishers but It would be cool to have a random big move finish a match now and again
Stefanie Sparkleface Posted March 31 Posted March 31 1 hour ago, zendragon said: also I don't need elbowdrops or clothes lines as finishers That’s not what I’m saying (though Stan Hansen and Abdullah the Butcher would disagree with you). Here’s an example of what I mean. The other day I was watching old Demolition matches, and they were facing the Young Stallions. Jim Powers was charging at Ax in the corner, and Ax leveled Powers with a clothesline that knocked him cold. Paul Roma was so shocked by it that he didn’t try to make the save. That’s what I’m talking about. It was well-placed and at the right time, so it won the match. To go off the earlier point about cheating winning matches, an elbowdrop or a kneedrop that suspiciously comes close to the throat could win a match too, as long as it looks good (and the person that took the elbowdrop does a post-match promo with a raspy voice or something). 2
Stefanie Sparkleface Posted March 31 Posted March 31 4 hours ago, Cobra Commander said: I mean, I’d take “consistently naming the referees” as a prereq to giving them more things to do too I could have sworn I saw WWE give a lower third graphic to a referee for a title match a few months ago and I thought “that sure is a change”, but I did have the flu so someone else will have to confirm
Technico Support Posted March 31 Posted March 31 13 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said: Nah, you are 100% correct. While I like the idea of inducting matches, it's absolutely an excuse to bring back guys. In their eyes, they are running out of "headliners" to induct into the WWE Hall of Fame and first and foremost, this is an event they can sell tickets to and sell to networks. They want to bring back HBK and Undertaker and whoever else. That's why I mentioned that it might not even be "matches" necessarily in the future. They could do something like bringing Mike Tyson in. The fact that they’re inducting “moments” and not “matches” proves the Vince approach to language and branding is alive and well. Like the word “match” is too old time rasslin. The word “moment” is some Hallmark shit and is really cringeworthy applied to wrestling. They have the workers brainwashed, too. When he broke his ankle jumping off the top, Bronson Reed tweeted some dumb shit about it being worth it because he created a moment. What the actual fuck? 6 1
Curt McGirt Posted March 31 Posted March 31 I've never heard of WOW. It's a Gulas promotion? So they got all the nobody talent who would work for the bologna sandwiches he paid instead of cash money?
Roman Posted March 31 Posted March 31 7 hours ago, The Natural said: I can't be the only person who has wrestling dreams? This morning I dreamt of Paul Heyman, a fellow Paul and...fucking Penta. Were those, uh, three different dreams? 4
twiztor Posted March 31 Posted March 31 8 hours ago, The Natural said: I can't be the only person who has wrestling dreams? This morning I dreamt of Paul Heyman, a fellow Paul and...fucking Penta. not what you're saying at all, but now i'm daydreaming of what a Penta run could have looked like if he showed up in ECW. 1
SirSmUgly Posted March 31 Posted March 31 2 hours ago, Roman said: Were those, uh, three different dreams? Since we're at the end of the month anyway, I will go ahead and suggest that the more pertinent question is whether or not Natural was using the word "fucking" as an interjection or a verb. 3
odessasteps Posted March 31 Posted March 31 9 hours ago, Curt McGirt said: I've never heard of WOW. It's a Gulas promotion? So they got all the nobody talent who would work for the bologna sandwiches he paid instead of cash money? No, it was an outlaw that started after the Fullers began concentrating on the Knoxville end of Continental. Financed by "Japanese money" with Ueda (Mr Ito) as middleman. Rip Tyle was the figurehead commissioner. It's a who's who of Alabama vets and young guys like Marcel Pringle and Bob Holly. Their top babyface was, I kid you not, Mr USA Bob Sweetan. Watching what Kris P has on his channel. 1
Pete Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Playing with ChatGPT as all the cool kids do, and thought I'd try colorizing that photo of Jushin Liger with you-know-who. Um. 1
BloodyChamp Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Anything works in wrestling when timed right to this day. What’s missing is the timing and the detail, not the idea. I remember the first time I saw a standby match. It might have been the only time that it was referred to as a standby match for standby reasons. It was Bagwell vs somebody I can’t remember after the Steiners beat Bobby Eaton and Larry Z in 30 seconds with the Frankensteiner. It was a rare real live win by a top face or team vs another top heel. Then something happened in the Bagwell match I’m pretty sure. Standby matches didn’t die off like we’re thinking. They just took different forms and labels. Some surprise main events we got, and other things, were standby matches with cooler names. 1
S.K.o.S. Posted April 1 Posted April 1 On 3/29/2025 at 3:30 AM, The Natural said: This has got me thinking about the possibilities: Hide contents Will it be WrestleMania matches only? WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year. Doing that however excludes other matches that deserve to be there. I wouldn't limit it to WrestleMania only for that reason. Which matches will get in over time? Surprised this wasn't done sooner like UFC has for years with it's Hall of Fame. You know, they've inducted wrestlers who never even worked for WWF/WWE, so they should probably just go ahead and put 6/3/94 in there. 2
caley Posted April 1 Posted April 1 12 hours ago, Roman said: Were those, uh, three different dreams? So many Cero Miedo taunts in that third one! 1
zendragon Posted April 1 Posted April 1 21 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said: That’s not what I’m saying (though Stan Hansen and Abdullah the Butcher would disagree with you). Here’s an example of what I mean. The other day I was watching old Demolition matches, and they were facing the Young Stallions. Jim Powers was charging at Ax in the corner, and Ax leveled Powers with a clothesline that knocked him cold. Paul Roma was so shocked by it that he didn’t try to make the save. That’s what I’m talking about. It was well-placed and at the right time, so it won the match. To go off the earlier point about cheating winning matches, an elbowdrop or a kneedrop that suspiciously comes close to the throat could win a match too, as long as it looks good (and the person that took the elbowdrop does a post-match promo with a raspy voice or something). reminds me of the time Batista knocked out Jericho with a clothesline. Doing something like that here and there could really add to the "anything can happen feel" instead of just knowing your going to get an overly long finishing stretch everymatch
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