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APRIL 2020 WRESTLING DISCUSSION


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21 minutes ago, mattdangerously said:

A few years ago, there was a group of dudes in Houston who went to every wrestling card and chanted "Test of strength! Test of strength!" before every single match. If any of you from that group are reading this, fuck you, and I hope your genitals rot and fall off.

Reminds me of how almost every NOAH match started with either a test of strength, or shoulder block battle.

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On 4/27/2020 at 4:00 PM, SorceressKnight said:

Booker T in WCW: A dynamic firey babyface who rose to the top organically, through working hard to prove himself in the ring at any means, and finally got to the top and became a franchise player for the company.

Booker T in WWE: Started out as that WCW guy, but lost many, many times, only getting out of the Invasion purgatory when his character was slowly changed after he bombed on "The Weakest Link" and WWE changed him to...a guy who was really, really dumb. 

I'm not sure, but I think if Booker T got the victory at Wrestlemania 19 with that gimmick, it would...well, be a very, very, very, very, very bad thing. Like, bad enough that you can make the case there Triple H's victory was also a very, very, very bad thing, but it was still somehow the lesser of two evils.

Booker on top in WCW was essentially Russo trying to recreate The Rock. Even lifted the finisher.  Booker was absolutely deserving of main event status, don't get me wrong - but how he was being packaged just reeked of an imitation by WCW. 

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1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

Green Party presidential bid, FYI. I had to look it up myself

FWIW, he's only "expressed interest". Howie Hawkins is more likely than not going to be the nominee - their convention is in basically a month, there's hardly any time for Ventura. If he was serious and not just an absolute grifter, he would have declared an intention a long time ago.

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6 hours ago, SorceressKnight said:

Personally, I thought there's more Styles in Matt Striker than anyone, since Striker has the same "they can be very good as an announcer", tempered with "they can be too smarky for their own good on there- using smark talking points for the sake of using them, even if it makes no sense in the match." Mauro uses a bunch of cheesy pop culture references, but he doesn't have the same "reference backstage info and talking points for the sake of using them".

The main comparison I draw between Styles and Mauro is obvious - the inorganic catchphrase that automatically sounds insincere because it's a catchphrase. 

But another thing that gets under my skin is the constant shouting of move names as if they are actually pertinent to the story in the ring. I don't care what the judo name of the hold is - for the purposes of wrestling it's called the Tazmission. The idea that names of moves are what makes an announcer good at his job has been a long-standing talking point I've never understood. It feels like a weird overcorrection of the issues people had with Vince's commentary. 

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24 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Wasn’t Booker also pushed up the card as a way to diffuse the racial discrimination suit against WCW? 
 

“look, we’re pushing a black guy. We can’t be racist, right?” 

That sounds about right and something WCW would have done.

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24 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Wasn’t Booker also pushed up the card as a way to diffuse the racial discrimination suit against WCW? 
 

“look, we’re pushing a black guy. We can’t be racist, right?” 

I have completely forgotten when Teddy Long and Sonny Onoo had their suit against WCW. Was it during that time period?

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Just now, Wyld Samurai said:

I have completely forgotten when Teddy Long and Sonny Onoo had their suit against WCW. Was it during that time period?

I believe so. That thing stretched on well after the company was gone. I think it wrapped up in 2002.

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21 minutes ago, MORELOCK said:

The main comparison I draw between Styles and Mauro is obvious - the inorganic catchphrase that automatically sounds insincere because it's a catchphrase. 

But another thing that gets under my skin is the constant shouting of move names as if they are actually pertinent to the story in the ring. I don't care what the judo name of the hold is - for the purposes of wrestling it's called the Tazmission. The idea that names of moves are what makes an announcer good at his job has been a long-standing talking point I've never understood. It feels like a weird overcorrection of the issues people had with Vince's commentary. 

That's what I love about Tony and JR giving Excalibur a hard time about. Excalibur goes so much into the detail of the holds / moves that it just doesn't quite fit with the rest of the commentary package. If pro-wrestling was a legitimate contest where there was no such thing as angles - then Excalibur's work wouldn't quite be so out of place. 

The duo of Jericho & Skeeavone right now is pretty much perfect. The PBP guy just having fun, and the grizzled vet with war stories stretching back almost 30 years that has remained current in today's world. 

to add: Excalibur reminds me of a nerdy Mike Tenay.

Edited by Wyld Samurai
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1 hour ago, MORELOCK said:

The main comparison I draw between Styles and Mauro is obvious - the inorganic catchphrase that automatically sounds insincere because it's a catchphrase. 

But another thing that gets under my skin is the constant shouting of move names as if they are actually pertinent to the story in the ring. I don't care what the judo name of the hold is - for the purposes of wrestling it's called the Tazmission. The idea that names of moves are what makes an announcer good at his job has been a long-standing talking point I've never understood. It feels like a weird overcorrection of the issues people had with Vince's commentary. 

I mean, that's exactly what it was and it was precisely what ECW was presenting itself as. It may not have aged well, but it was the kind of fan service that audience was craving for after listening to "one, twoooo aaaaand-no, what a maneuver" since forever. Going back and rewatching some ECW even a few months ago compared to my viewing the '95-'96 TV ~15 years ago it really hasn't aged well and I have come to kind of love Vince's over the top car salesman bullshit style in small doses, but yeah... It wasn't intended for us with pretty much the entire library of wrestling available at our fingertips. I still enjoy the wild string of angles and matches that Heyman could put together and think it largely stands the test of time. Styles' commentary, while perfect for its audience in the '90s doesn't so much but that's okay. I don't hate it but it does get old pretty quickly. That he's kind of a dickhead doesn't help either, but as has been established on this topic that doesn't matter much.  

51 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

to add: Excalibur reminds me of a nerdy Mike Tenay

Speaking of not aging well...

Yo Dawg, I Heard You Like Yahoo Mail So We Put Gmail In Your Yahoo ...

A nerdy nerd nerdlinger. I do feel like Excalibur was at his best just kind of having fun at the commentary booth shaped like a table with Owens or Taylor, but he's improving in this new role or at least was prior to the shit hitting the fan. I'mma disagree with you a bit here, Samurai, in that while Excalibur loves throwing out a Fire Pro move name he also goes to great lengths to paint a picture of the match story and has shown some really great insight regularly. As much love as Tony deservedly gets, sometimes he'll say something that contradicts what's actually happening or the match's psychology (I love Tony, think he's one of the all time greats please don't hurt me). 

2 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

Reminds me of how almost every NOAH match started with either a test of strength, or shoulder block battle.

https://streamable.com/sdx8o (NSFW for the swears)

One of the manliest things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. Love, love, love it.

Edited by Oyaji
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1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

“look, we’re pushing a black guy. We can’t be racist, right?” 

I'd bring up B*** W**** but I don't want to be sweeping floors for him in my head again tonight

Also, I think I saw the best test of strength ever in that Nishimura/Takayama match I posted in the Not from Now thread. That whole match is just Osamu schooling the fuck out of Takayama on the mat, over and over, until the second he gets hit. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:

A nerdy nerd nerdlinger. I do feel like Excalibur was at his best just kind of having fun at the commentary booth shaped like a table with Owens or Taylor, but he's improving in this new role or at least was prior to the shit hitting the fan. I'mma disagree with you a bit here, Samurai, in that while Excalibur loves throwing out a Fire Pro move name he also goes to great lengths to paint a picture of the match story and has shown some really great insight regularly. As much love as Tony deservedly gets, sometimes he'll say something that contradicts what's actually happening or the match's psychology (I love Tony, think he's one of the all time greats please don't hurt me). 

I do get carried away with my own hyperbole, so I do have to detract a touch in regards to Excalibur. He does his best to tell the story - I just think his style of throwing out every 5 syllable name for a maneuver can be a big distraction to the package as a whole. 

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Definitely not for everybody. I get that for sure.

So, here's something super unrelated... How great was Konnan? Looked cool, had the sickest moveset, great talker, got southerners to chant "viva la raza" en masse, got gassed on the way to the ring to the point he was dangerously throwing/dropping guys on their domes. I think I kind of love Konnan only semi-ironically. 

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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:

So, here's something super unrelated... How great was Konnan? Looked cool, had the sickest moveset, great talker, got southerners to chant "viva la raza" en masse, got gassed on the way to the ring to the point he was dangerously throwing/dropping guys on their domes. I think I kind of love Konnan only semi-ironically. 

The problem is he never had all of these things going at the same time. His WCW debut look with the multicolor singlet and the K shaved into his head was definitely not cool and his babyface work looked real bad especially when Eddie Guerrero was working the "Mexican blue chipper" gimmick concurrently. He did have a nice in-house theme, though. His Dungeon of Doom run was his best stretch in the ring mainly because he could take liberties with all the AAA guys he was getting in the door, and the cholo look was a good precursor to the attitude era, a bit ahead of its time. If you ignore how little sense all of this happening in the DoD made, it was pretty good. Then he went to NWO bottom-feeder and couldn't even have good matches with Rey. His wolfpac run had him mega over, and he somehow got to keep saying "toss my salad" as part of his pre-match routine. He was pretty bad in the ring, though. He was always limited, but babyface really didn't suit him in the ring. He was great as the mouthpiece for LAX and serviceable as Prince Puma's mentor before getting killed off by Mil Muertes. Turns out he's a lot better when he had prime Homicide and Ricochet taking care of the "then the bell rang" stuff for him.

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All this talk about Excalibur reminds me of one of my favorite goofy calls.  For years, the running gag was "HE'S DONE THE DEAL!  NOBODY KICKS OUT OF THE FALCON ARROW!" and then the person would always kick out.  I'm positive nobody told Excalibur and Chuck that the Falcon Arrow was the finish this time.  Maybe a rib?  LOL I just noticed the face of the guy sitting next to Meltzer.

Edited by Technico Support
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1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

All this talk about Excalibur reminds me of one of my favorite goofy calls.  For years, the running gag was "HE'S DONE THE DEAL!  NOBODY KICKS OUT OF THE FALCON ARROW!" and then the person would always kick out.  I'm positive nobody told Excalibur and Chuck that the Falcon Arrow was the finish this time.  Maybe a rib?  LOL I just noticed the face of the guy sitting next to Meltzer.

I love that call so much. Dustin and Excalibur losing their shit is pure joy. It's impossible for me to not laugh or smile when Excalibur's voice goes up by a full octave and Dustin lets out the best "HAHAHAHAHAHA."

Also, another example of why I think Brian Cage looks fucking weird.

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On 4/27/2020 at 12:17 PM, Zimbra said:

I remember staying over a friend's house who was into wrestling and watching Saturday Night's Main Event and being way, way into the Big Boss Man.

For me it was cause every Saturday we went to visit my paternal grandparents. They had cable so would watch Saturday Night with Grannie and PawPaw every week. Then learned that on the channels we got with an antenna we got Mid south,WCCW,Memphis,Florida and others.

So every Saturday starting at 3pm until 10pm I watched wrestling. Then if I could stay awake at midnight was some WWF syndicated show.

Hell even in Army BCT we made it a point to catch USWA on ESPN most weekdays.

Edited by bobholly138
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So EC3, right. When he was in TNA it was widely assumed he was on shitloads of steroids because, well, look at him. But he's just been under WWE contract for two or three years, not lost and bulk, not lost any definition, not failed any wellness checks.

So, has he been very lucky with his tests lining up with his off cycles, or has he somehow managed to achieve and maintain that level of physique without the use of the magic muscle juice?

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