AUGUST 2015 WRESTLING DISCUSSION!

[w. josh]

 

I gotta admit, I don't find much joy watching NXT anymore. Without Zayn, there just aren't many appealing talents on the show. Joe's looked fucking awful (I didn't watch this week's episode or last, so he may have improved), Balor has no physical charisma in his matches and he's incredibly bland (the LEGO angle to his personality, though, I found hilarious), and now they're pushing Eva Marie. I think I'll take a vacation on the show for a while, maybe watch the Brooklyn special to see how I feel then.

Joe has definitely looked much better the last couple of weeks - he's got some fire again, and has gotten the facial expressions back to "cocky but intense" instead of the resting bored face he'd developed in the last few years of TNA. I'm still not sure he's going to be on the main roster for any extended period of time, but fired up Joe as gatekeeper for the young guys getting called up could be a lot of fun.

[THEmanWITHnoNAME]

Eva Marie deserves to be booed and get the negative chants and it's not because she's an effective heel...it's because she...ummm...sucks at the wrestling but still gets opportunities that should go to wrestlers who are actually good at the wrestling.

[odessasteps]

There's a movement, including Dustin and his sister, to get Dusty added to the necrology roll during the Emmys.

[BEN!]

I watched Eva Marie against Aussie Kicksabunch and she looked better than she has any business being.  They really should've trained this chick before sticking her in matches on Raw.  Mechanically she looked far more competent than most of the Total Divas ever have.

 

What opportunities does she get that the wrestlers good at wrestling not get afforded?  She's got a real agent that gets her into the Hollywood premieres and such.  Not her husband, Hairless McCrossfit.  Rock's ex.

 

 

And that Reddit list was actually Top 20 Favorite Tag Teams.  So still awful but because of consensus lack of taste rather than simply consensus lack of knowledge.

[caley]

I think they boo her in NXT more for what she represents to them than for anything she actually does. She's pretty much a slightly dopey, inoffensive personality who can't work very smoothly. If the perception wasn't there that she wasn't kept hired pretty much for Total Divas instead of because she really wants to be a great wrestler, no one would care about her.

 

Compare her to Dana Brooke, who was also getting the "fitness model" heat from the crowd at the beginning, but who now gets heat because she's rounding into a solid little heel character. 

That's part of the "Aura" I was talking about.  She has a built-in heat magnet.  Who cares why the fans are booing her, just roll with it.  It's so hard to develop heels in NXT where they cheer anyone who's entertaining, so if you've got a a woman who looks more like a model than wrestler, who wants to wrestle, is willing to be trained, that crowds will boo the shit out of, don't look the gift horse in the mouth, use it.

[Jrag]

If we brought back that Taker or HBK poll from a few years ago, would the results be the same?

I think Shawn might win this time. Now that we are a few years removed from The Streak.

[Rev Ray]

Apparently Rosa Mendes announced she is expecting a baby in Feb 2016.

[Casey]

There's a movement, including Dustin and his sister, to get Dusty added to the necrology roll during the Emmys.

Wishful thinking.

[Brian Fowler]

If we brought back that Taker or HBK poll from a few years ago, would the results be the same?

I think Shawn might win this time. Now that we are a few years removed from The Streak.

I can only speak for myself, but Taker is better than Shawn by several orders of magnitude imo.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I am not even kidding when I say: I have never seen or heard of Lena Yada in my life. That post was literally my introduction to her existence as a human being

[Casey]

She's married to the guy from Disturbed, c'mon! WRESTLING BUBBLE.

[cool arrow]

Yada yada yada

[ChrisM]

There's a movement, including Dustin and his sister, to get Dusty added to the necrology roll during the Emmys.

I could see that happening with Piper (maybe even at The Oscars), but not Dusty. 

[Valcourt]

Hoodslam posted an episode on their YouTube page.

Pretty interesting intro to a fed I was only a little knowledgeable on.

Super hispter/drug fueled fans will enjoy.

[Casey]

If Piper was going to be in any of the In Memoriam tributes for these award shows, it'd be the Oscars since he did more movies than he did TV. I think the argument for Dusty and the Emmys is because he pioneered pay per view (don't see how that's related to TV but okay) and was "one of the first cable TV stars". Personally, I don't think Dusty or Piper will get a tribute, but it's nice to think about I guess.

[odessasteps]

You could make the argument wtbs was first impt cable channel and dusty was arguably the biggest star in that era and then also the tbs/wcw/crockett era.

I think hogan (until recently) or vince would have best shot at making a mainstream necrology roll. Maybe Andre would have.

[El Ken Erico]

Yada yada yada

 

That's Seinfeld.

Disturbed is Ooh ah ah ah ah.

[Matt D]

If we brought back that Taker or HBK poll from a few years ago, would the results be the same?

I think Shawn might win this time. Now that we are a few years removed from The Streak.

 

I think time and distance has not aged well Shawn's over acting. I like the ideas he was going for most of the time but the execution kills it. I saw Cena vs Michaels from Mania for the first time recently and there's so much good about it and he just kills the thing dead with his hamming. I appreciate him going for notes that other people don't have the gumption to go for, but the worst wrestling sin is attempting something outside of your skill. 

 

Earlier in his career, he had a tendency to be a hugely selfish worker. He's skilled but a lot of times doesn't use his powers for good, which directly hurt his matches, even if he came out looking better than he would have otherwise. 

 

Anyway, I came here to post this because I honestly didn't know about it.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2507385-recalling-babe-ruths-stint-as-a-pro-wrestling-referee

[Brian Fowler]

My list of favorite HBK matches is filled with Undertaker, much moreso than the reverse (although number one on both lists is the same.)

[Zheroen]

I love the booking logic of "push someone because they're awful in the ring and the crowd boos their inability to wrestle and resents their prominent status as a featured performer".  This is some real next-level shit.  Raja Lion could have been deemed a worthy Triple Crown Champion by certain corners of the Internet, he was just a few decades early.

[Phantom Lord]

I remember they released Lena Yada and it being reported it was for the sole fact that they had Gail Kim at the time and didn't want two similar looking Asian's.

 

Ah, I found the old newsbit on it.

 

Following the news of Yada’s departure from World Wrestling Entertainment, a number of fans speculated online that Yada was being let go as a result of the recent hiring of former TNA Knockout Gail Kim, who is of course Asian too. As it turns out, the speculation appears to be correct. According to one source, as soon as WWE signed Gail Kim (who is indeed under contract to the company), both Vince and Stephanie McMahon felt there was no reason to have Yada on the roster anymore since “they looked too much alike.”

 

But back to Eva Marie. She has so much potential to be this huge mega heel for them. I think it's pretty clear the WWE wants her to be their Stacy Keibler. I mean it's the only possible reason they've invested so much in her especially given her age. Of course though they'll try to force her through as a face.

[twiztor]

I came here to post this because I honestly didn't know about it.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2507385-recalling-babe-ruths-stint-as-a-pro-wrestling-referee

 

 

thanks for sharing! i've never heard of that either, but it was a great read.

[SorceressKnight]

If Piper was going to be in any of the In Memoriam tributes for these award shows, it'd be the Oscars since he did more movies than he did TV. I think the argument for Dusty and the Emmys is because he pioneered pay per view (don't see how that's related to TV but okay) and was "one of the first cable TV stars". Personally, I don't think Dusty or Piper will get a tribute, but it's nice to think about I guess.

 

The bigger reason that they likely won't get tributes would be that it'd open up a can of worms the Emmys and Oscars want no part of- if you put Dusty Rhodes, a person who only had a couple of small guest roles on actual TV stars and was not really an actor by trade in even the smallest scale, just a pro wrestler- then Dusty's tribute on the Emmys would instantly make a very powerful statement by the Emmy board  on the second half of the "should there be a wrestlers' union debate?" (namely: Pro wrestlers' view is the most natural compromise for a wrestlers' union is 'let professional wrestlers for a televised national promotion join the Screen Actors' Guild- but the SAG doesn't want them.)

 

 You give Dusty that tribute, the Emmys officially say forever 'yes, they consider pro wrestlers genuine TV stars'- and unless they're willing to fully take the side of 'let wrestlers join SAG', they would never do it.) 

[odessasteps]

Isnt the main reason wrestlers want to make movies is to get a SAG card and the insurance benefits?

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

And even Dana's heat wasn't very passionate or sustained. I just don't buy that you can turn such a void of talent into a heat magnet, particularly long-term. If you start putting her over beloved wrestlers like Bayley, it would damage Bayley far more than it would get over Eva and I could see it killing off the division for a while.

 

I think we're banking too much on smarks getting worked up over things. Roman's backlash was legit for a few reasons. He was seen as taking Bryan's spot when the company was in, perhaps, a transitional phase away from all the Cena all the time mode. I think you'll find fans far more concerned with who's going to be the top dog of the entire company than who's going to be the top dog of the 5 minute pissbreak matches/segments. Roman was being billed as the next Superman WWE babyface when a lot of fans were/are so tired of that routine and they saw right through that. Eva fluking/cheating her way to wins over Sasha/Charlotte/etc. won't be the same. The resentment would be superficial, whereas it was very real towards everything Roman represented (not so much Roman himself) late last year/early this year.

 

 

I think the only way to get real heat is if Eva Marie comes out and says that what Bayley, Banks, Lynch, etc. are all doing is bullshit and she is hear to bring Divas wrestling back to where it belongs and begins to mention past championships such as Kelly Kelly, Maria, etc. Pretty much any female who flat out sucked and had no business wearing the belt. If Eva starts to talk about how its time for beauty to 'reign supreme once again' (code for "Let's bring back pudding matches!" ), as well as use her good looks to gain political favor with The Authority, etc. there will be monster heat and someone like a Bayley (as mentioned earlier in the thread) dethroning Eva and bringing things back to its current norm would be huge. Its so meta that it will work.