Professional Wrestling Thread

[MrMosley]

This thread is basically to discuss professional wrestling (WWE, TNA, etc.) Questions like, do you watch it? did you watch it and quit? and, what do you think about this or that?

Personally, I still watch it when I can, which is basically every Monday. I watch WWE primarily, but have watched TNA on occasion. Back in the day, I used to watch WCW with my grandma, but at that point in time I wasn't really into it or anything. WWE currently has shows Mondays (Raw), Tuesdays (ECW), Thursdays (Superstars), and Fridays (Smackdown), with the monthly Pay Per View falling on a random Sunday of each month. As I said, I only watch Raw on Mondays now.

In my opinion, Smackdown is okay, but its put on networks (at least here in the US), that I never, ever turn to. ECW is just a show to put wrestlers that they don't have anything else for but want to keep around. It has lost pretty much all of what ECW used to be as an independant company. Superstars is relatively new, but again, is on a network that I never really watch, at least considering I don't really watch TV anymore besides WWE Raw. And as far as TNA is concerned, I'm not really a fan of it. TNA, for the majority, just has wrestlers who would never make World Champions in WWE. The furthest I could see 90% of TNA's superstars making it in WWE would be the United States or Intercontinental Title.

The one thing that I think keeps me watching wrestling today is the fact that I have been so attached to its "soap opera" like presentation. Once you start getting connected with the show on a week to week basis, its kind of hard to just stop watching in my opinion. Wrestling has definitely went downhill over the past few years, which is why I don't care to watch every show offered throughout the week, and really don't care to miss the PPVs either. But its like I have to know whats going on because I always feel like I'm going to miss out on something good if I don't watch.

 

[chrisbg99]

I don't watch much if any wrestling nowadays but if I watch something I tend to be more interested in watching more technical skilled guys (like Chris Jericho) than guys who are little more than punches, kicks and a string of big moves (i.e. the Hogan types).

Also I find the world of professional wrestling that the wrestlers themselves are part of and the fans don't see far more entertaining than what we see in the ring nowadays. I loved Chris Jericho's and Mick Foley's books for that reason. We got to see an aspect of the business that unique in a lot of ways.

And from what I hear, Smackdown and ECW are way better wrestling (and in Smackdown's case storytelling) shows than Raw right now.

 

[MrMosley]

I don't watch much if any wrestling nowadays but if I watch something I tend to be more interested in watching more technical skilled guys (like Chris Jericho) than guys who are little more than punches, kicks and a string of big moves (i.e. the Hogan types).

I like to see some of the more technical wrestling as well, especially now since the rating has went to PG (for the WWE). Punches are most of the time obviously botched. I mean, of course we know its fake punches and kicks, but I remember a time when you could actually get into watching someone beat their opponent's brains out.

And from what I hear, Smackdown and ECW are way better wrestling (and in Smackdown's case storytelling) shows than Raw right now.

Well, as I had stated, I don't really watch Smackdown or ECW. I do try to keep updated on it to a certain extent, like when I see something interesting on WWE.com. But Raw is, more accessible I suppose, than Smackdown, for me. ECW really does rely on a lot of technical wrestling because it lacks a large amount of superstars on the roster, consisting only of maybe one or two mid-card wrestlers with the rest being below mid-card status.

The main downfall I see today is that wrestling is not interesting storyline wise. Its fine to get to see good matches between a couple of wrestlers with great ability, such as Chris Jericho. But wrestling has become "too real". By that, I mean the majority of wrestlers now use their real names, or at least a name that could pass as an everyday name. There are very few gimmicks left, which I think professional wrestling needs to thrive. This is why I believe the "Attitude Era" done so well, and the era before it. They had gimmicks for the majority of their superstars, and gave an interesting side to wrestlers who otherwise would have went unnoticed.

Kane, for example, used to be a great wrestler, and I'll give him the fact that taking his mask off opened a door of opportunity to expose himself like he never could before with the mask. But Glenn Jacobs (the man who plays Kane), really doesn't do anything outside of wrestling anyway. Plus, if there ever was a time to get his name out in TV shows or movies, he should have done it with the mask still on. That way, he could have used his real name in the show credits, while still pulling off the Kane gimmick in wrestling. But, they had him remove the mask, and now he's getting beat by the likes of Rey Mysterio, when once upon a time, Kane was destroying some of the A-list superstars of WWE.

 

[chrisbg99]

I dunno about the name things. Through most of wrestling most guys wrestled under real sounding names more often than they did gimmick names. For every Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Yokuzuna or Kane there have been just as many if not more guys who have real (or real sounding) names like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, or Steve Austin. Even The Rock started out by calling himself Rocky Miavia before The Rock became his wrestling name. Similiar to Triple H. And I'm only going through recent history. Prior to Hulkamania it was rare to find guys who didn't go by a real sounding name.

It is fairly rare for gimmick named wrestlers to get past the name. Guys like Edge and Christian for example started as Goth brothers before turning into their comedy heel roles and when they broke up changed again. I can also think of Sting going from surfer dude to Crow-like guy during the onset of the nWo. But otherwise they are pretty rare.

Also the guys who have real names usually get some some sort of gimmicky nickname, like Y2J, HBK, Stone Cold, Hitman, etc.

 

[MrMosley]

I dunno about the name things. Through most of wrestling most guys wrestled under real sounding names more often than they did gimmick names. For every Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Yokuzuna or Kane there have been just as many if not more guys who have real (or real sounding) names like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, or Steve Austin. Even The Rock started out by calling himself Rocky Miavia before The Rock became his wrestling name. Similiar to Triple H. And I'm only going through recent history. Prior to Hulkamania it was rare to find guys who didn't go by a real sounding name.

Right, there were some wrestlers who had more realistic names as well, but very few of them actually did something with their career in the long run. Ric Flair is a legend in the wrestling world. When he started, wrestling was pretty much filled with people using their real names. It was a relatively new thing back then, and gimmicks hadn't made a big impact just yet. But even with guys like Ric Flair and Bret Hart, they had certain aspects to them that signified their character. Flair, with his luxurious lifestyle and signature robe he wore to the ring, and Bret with his pink attire and glasses he would put on a kid when he came to the ring, are just a couple of examples. People like The Rock and Stone Cold developed gimmicks as well, they were just based strongly on their real-life persona's.

Now, you have a lot of guys, such as Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Evan Borne, and Jack Swagger, who can be distinguished by their wrestling styles, but are virtually the same when it comes to gimmicks. I'm not sure if the WWE is just trying to do what wrestling did in the beginning, or if they just don't have good writers to make gimmicks for these people, but you pretty much see what I'm getting at here. To me, it looks stupid on the Undertaker (who is my favorite wrestler), to try and pull of a "dead man" gimmick, today. But it is equally as boring to watch a bunch of wrestlers with no gimmick at all.

 

[chrisbg99]

Most of those guys you mentioned haven't been in wrestling for any long period of time and haven't had the time to really develop characters. And really few wrestlers ever come into a company are handed a gimmick and then become successful. The Undertaker is an exception to the rule. The Rock and Steve Austin both went through a few gimmicks before nailing theirs. Chris Jericho was forced to be a smiling pretty boy face for a year in WCW before he was turned heel and adopted his rockstar persona he took on for almost 10 years in WCW and the WWF/E. For every major star in WWE right now, you could trace a lineage of changes they made to their gimmick as they went on and developed.

And you are right, many of those guys you mentioned have fairly underdeveloped or non-existent gimmicks at this time (though I'm sure Shelton Benjamin doesn't necessarily belong there) and the best gimmicks generally comes from the person's real life personality but remember guys like Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Chris Jericho were deemed unmarketable by some but given the right opportunity made themselves big in the industry. Any of those guys, given the right set of circumstances might just be able to do the same.

 

[link to present]

Like for stone cold he did the Hollywood Blonds with Brian Pillman in WCW then he did the ringmaster gimmick with Ted DiBiase Sr when he first came into the WWE then he did the famous austin 3:16 gimmick.:nod:

 

[MrMosley]

Like for stone cold he did the Hollywood Blonds with Brian Pillman in WCW then he did the ringmaster gimmick with Ted DiBiase Sr when he first came into the WWE then he did the famous austin 3:16 gimmick.:nod:

Steve Austin actually first used that gimmick in ECW. He didn't use the whole "3:16" thing just yet, but as far as the first time he was actually allowed to be himself, came before the WWE. As the Ringmaster, Austin was basically what he became later on, but the WWE was still pre-attitude era at the time, so a lot of the "Stone Cold" in him was toned down still.

My opinion is that the WWE needs another Attitude Era, and stop trying to appeal to kids. I mean, kids already watched wrestling before. If they are going to suplex each other in their backyards, its gonna happen no matter what rating the show has. WWE was better when it wasn't holding back, letting superstars like The Rock and Stone Cold be themselves. That is what made their "realistic" gimmicks good.

Now, the biggest gimmick in the WWE is the WWE Championship, which looks completely ridiculous. At first, yeah it was a neat idea. John Cena had the spinning US title, so now he gets a spinning WWE title. I even went out and bought the toy belt because it was neat. But now its just weird to still use it. The title has not spun in a long time, so I think its time for a change of design to something that looks more prestigious.

 

[dur.i.am]

I used to watch a of of wrestling, I still like playing the games every now and then.

I will only watch Raw and some Smackdown but to be honest, I don't really watch it anymore, It got boring and scripts were getting stupid. I really lost interest and have not watched it once in the last few years. I don't even know if any of my old favourite's are still wrestling anymore.

I am guessing Rey, Kane and the Undertaker are still wrestling but I am not sure about Big Show, Batista or Triple H.

I still like playing the games since they are fun and being able to have so many different forms of fights is fun, Also if you can still do it being able to go outside and fight in the street and back stage is really fun when your bored.

 

[Made_Of_Win]

I religiously watch WWE.

I used to watch TNA because of Angelina Love, whom I met and talk to on MySpace (I worked with her uncle) but TNA just isn't as good as WWE (imo).

WWE has it's ups and downs but it just seems like TNA can't ever stay interesting. I tried to get myself into watching it again but it's just become a laughing stalk to me.

WWE can be one big joke but I still like the wrestlers and storylines far better than TNA and after watching WWF/WWE for 23 years, I'm not about to jump ship.

Rowdy Roddy Piper is my hero.

 

[MrMosley]

I religiously watch WWE.

I used to watch TNA because of Angelina Love, whom I met and talk to on MySpace (I worked with her uncle) but TNA just isn't as good as WWE (imo).

Woah. That's pretty kool that you talk to her on myspace. Isn't she the Knockout Champ right now or whatever they call that belt? I don't watch TNA either really, like I said above, but I do get on their site often and check out the roster to see if anyone interesting jumped ship. I avoid TNA mainly because its just kinda sad to see an arena filled with 50 people and a program that brings in any big name they can get from the WWE. I mean sure that sounds like a good marketing tool, but that's what screwed up WCW: Bringing in a bunch of WWE stars from the 80's who had basically had their run, paying them a fortune, and giving them all the air time without letting some of the younger talent in there.

On the flip side, TNA's younger talent consists mainly of wrestlers who would be mid-cards in the WWE. Take a guy like Christian, for example. If Christian had stayed in TNA, he would still be on top, and would have probably beaten Kurt Angle by now in a World Title match. Would that have ever happened in the WWE? No way. First, Christian would never be World Champion (well, considering that the WWE seems to not care much about their storylines anymore, it might), and second of all, Christian could never beat Kurt Angle. Its things like these that makes me not want to watch TNA. WWE just has all the big superstars that fit the role of a World Champ, while TNA just has guys who would be like U.S. Champs or ECW Champ at the most in the WWE.

 

[Made_Of_Win]

I went to No Surrender last year and met her and she signed my paper (so did Velvet Sky).


She was super nice, it was awesome talking to her. When her uncle told her about me, she was the one who got me free tickets to the show. She's been really busy so I haven't spoken to her in a bit but the last time I spoke to her, she had broken up with her boyfriend.


She was champ last time I watched it but I haven't seen it for a while now so not sure what is going on.

I liked the fact that they got some previous WWF/WWE wrestlers and they have some great talent but I don't like how some of the guys don't get a chance and they push people like Samoa Joe, who isn't as great as people make him out to be.

 

[MrMosley]

I went to No Surrender last year and met her and she signed my paper (so did Velvet Sky)

epic...

I liked the fact that they got some previous WWF/WWE wrestlers and they have some great talent but I don't like how some of the guys don't get a chance and they push people like Samoa Joe, who isn't as great as people make him out to be.

I agree. Samoa Joe is fail. The only kool thing about him is he is kinda big, but can do a lot of high-flying moves. But I mean its TNA. It started out as a WCW clone, then it became a haven for high flyers (which is where it got most of its rep), and now its becoming a place where established superstars go to try and get some "new" out of their career. Guess I can't really blame them though.

 

[shadowlink626]

i used to watch it but as i got older i started realizing that it was fake so it really killed the series for me. but now and again i watch it to see how its going but i think ever since hulk hogan left its gone downhill lol

 

[*M i d n a*]

I used to watch WWE when the Rock was around. I always cheered for him and for Stone Cold. When a bout between them occurred, I'd cheer for the winner.

Wrestling was okay back then, but now I don't watch it because it's not the same.