Pro Wrestling Thread

[Lethean]

Didn't like that Val Venis gimmick at all

Is that surprising?  I know I'm not the only one who wasn't really a fan.

[Cool Chris]

I didn't like it but I didn't find it bothersome. He was just another uninteresting mid-carder to me.

[jingle.boy]

Changing lanes, I binged 3 episodes of Dark Side of the Ring yesterday:

Assassination of Dino Bravo
Collision in Korean - that was one fucked up situation
The UWF Herb Abrams one

I've watched most of them already, but still have 3 more on the DVR:

Dave Schutlz
Shadow of Grizzly Smith
New Jack

[Anguyen92]

Yeah, I don't know what the f*** WCW was thinking working with Inoki to host an event like that in North Korea.  I mean I know Inoki wanted this show to happen for ego purposes, but man, getting the wrestlers in and out of the country in one piece and alive at the time was a miracle.

[jingle.boy]

Yeah, I don't know what the f*** WCW was thinking working with Inoki to host an event like that in North Korea.  I mean I know Inoki wanted this show to happen for ego purposes, but man, getting the wrestlers in and out of the country in one piece and alive at the time was a miracle.

Scorpio was off his fucking rocker, even in the interviews.  Shanking Hawk?!?!?!  NONE of them would have ever left the country if he'd done that.  What an ass-clown.

[jjrock88]

Yeah, I don't know what the f*** WCW was thinking working with Inoki to host an event like that in North Korea.  I mean I know Inoki wanted this show to happen for ego purposes, but man, getting the wrestlers in and out of the country in one piece and alive at the time was a miracle.

The podcasts and stories I've read from that show would make your head spin like a top.  When Bischoff asked Hogan if he would go and he said not a chance. 

[Cool Chris]

Had to look that one up. I had heard of that event, but didn't recall the name. Don't know much about it at all, other than it was a disaster that everyone seems to want to disown.

[jjrock88]

From what I recall, Scott Norton got in mega trouble  Everything about that show sounds like a shitnaumi.

[jingle.boy]

From what I recall, Scott Norton got in mega trouble  Everything about that show sounds like a shitnaumi.

DSOTR told how he called home to his wife, and promptly got hauled into a Police interrogation room.

[Lethean]

I haven't heard anything about this but now I'm curious.  I'll try to check out the episode at some point.

I took a look at the episode list; some dark topics indeed.

[Lethean]

I watched the A&E Rivals episode with The Undertaker and Mankind. Really enjoyed it, and would probably have liked the episode to be three times as long.

(Anyone who kind of wants to watch those matches and hasn't should definitely do it before they watch this though.)

It's interesting, sometimes emotional, sometimes funny, I got mad at Paul Bearer again, etc. 

And I had to laugh at this: "No one had scalding coffee on their bingo card, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do when he's up against the Phenom."

[jingle.boy]

I very much enjoy the Rivals and Legends series.  Not sure there's going to be much here that I haven't heard or seen before, but it's always fun to relive it a bit.  Watched Hogan/Giant on the weekend; will watch Mankind/Undertaker sometime this week.

[Lethean]

I don't think I'd heard everything about the boiler room, and I'd forgotten something about the buried alive match, but yeah I was mostly watching it just to hear what everyone had to say and enjoy.

[jjrock88]

It's actually mind boggling that Mankind wasn't seriously injured in that Cell match with Undertaker.  Those two bumps are still tough to watch.

[Anguyen92]

Well, Mankind was legit knocked out in the 2nd bump.  The first one, he fell and took it as well as he could.  Did all he could to protect himself in the landing.  He may have ended up with a broken shoulder, but he was still conscious.

Just to add more tidbits, Foley did a live show in England, a few years back, talking about his career and he shared some other details regarding that Hell in a Cell Match and why it took a long time for him to feel ok about talking about it again (since that's all people ever ask him about).

Mick Foley Emotionally Opens Up About Hell In A Cell

[T-ski]

Do anyone have any "boys" aka a wrestler that were never huge stars but he's your "boy" as a guilty pleasure. That term can from OSW review, which I highly recommend.
 
But anyway the first ones to come to mind for me are:

1. Glacier
2. Alex wright
3. IRS

Loved Koko B. Ware as a kid.

Was a big Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat guy as well since he used Alan Parsons “Sirius” as he walk up song.

[Lethean]

Well, Mankind was legit knocked out in the 2nd bump.  The first one, he fell and took it as well as he could.  Did all he could to protect himself in the landing.  He may have ended up with a broken shoulder, but he was still conscious.

Just to add more tidbits, Foley did a live show in England, a few years back, talking about his career and he shared some other details regarding that Hell in a Cell Match and why it took a long time for him to feel ok about talking about it again (since that's all people ever ask him about).

Mick Foley Emotionally Opens Up About Hell In A Cell

In the A&E show he talks about this as well.  Thanks for that link though - even though I've watched all kinds of interviews/segments about that match, each time he or The Undertaker says/remembers something a little differently and it's still interesting.  I'm glad he's come to terms with it and can appreciate it now; and can appreciate that it did what he wanted it to do.  Having said that, if I ever meet him, I'm not asking about that match.   It's something really impactful and special and I'm someone who even didn't see it at the time. 

[KevShmev]

The crazy thing about that fall off the top of the cage is you cannot exactly practice it to get it right, so your practice attempt is the live "you have one shot to get it right" bump.  What cannot be underestimated is the amount of trust in Mark Calaway (Undertaker) there, as he had to give him enough of a throw to get his momentum moving, but he cannot give too much or too little, as Foley has to get his dive in real time just right based on how much initial momentum Calaway is giving him.  Over-compensating either way could have been disastrous.

[jjrock88]

The crazy thing about that fall off the top of the cage is you cannot exactly practice it to get it right, so your practice attempt is the live "you have one shot to get it right" bump.  What cannot be underestimated is the amount of trust in Mark Calaway (Undertaker) there, as he had to give him enough of a throw to get his momentum moving, but he cannot give too much or too little, as Foley has to get his dive in real time just right based on how much initial momentum Calaway is giving him.  Over-compensating either way could have been disastrous.

absolutely....watching that first throw and the luck of the timing of Mick hitting that desk and not a disaster is unreal.

[Lethean]

Yeah.  I guess he trusted The Undertaker more than the Undertaker trusted himself on that whole thing.  Or he was just determined that it had to happen no matter what.  And Mick Foley was afraid of heights, to top it all off.

[Lethean]

Jake's bio.   I knew some of this stuff already but still.  I'm glad he seems to be doing so well now.

[jjrock88]

Jake's bio.   I knew some of this stuff already but still.  I'm glad he seems to be doing so well now.

For sure, DDP was definitely instrumental in helping Jake.  I would have to say one of the low points was that Heroes of Wrestling PPV from 99.  If you haven't seen that show, it actually might be the worst wrestling event of all time.

[Cool Chris]

I've never seen Heroes of Wrestling, but I've seen a few videos dedicated to it. Yikes.

[Phoenix87x]

Its really miraculous that Jake isn't dead. From his monster father and the mental childhood, to all his issues with addiction. The whole thing is just crazy.

Heroes is so sad to watch, as well as beyond the mat but I got way more out of beyond the mat. There's some real serious shit on there and I guess that's why I'm so interested in anything shoot related.

Jake was one of my favorites and good on DDP for trying to help.

[KevShmev]

I know I will get pushback on this, but my dad and I re-watched the Undertaker/HBK WM25 last evening on YT, and both were surprised at how boring it was at times.  I remembered it being far better than it was.  I get that the 331 kickouts of finishers in real time was amazing, but on a re-watch, once you get past that, it's not that good.  There was literally a 3-4 minute sequence in the middle where nothing happened; they both laid on the mat outside the ring with the ref and the cameraman for a good minute or two before the painfully slow sequence of Michaels trying to get 'Taker counted out, and the latter making it into the ring just in time.  I admittedly dislike the modern day trend of matches where finishers are kicked out of non-stop. 

[Anguyen92]

I enjoyed their rematch at WM26 a lot better.  They had high expectations going off of the WM25 match and they had the added stipulations and made it so that there had to be a definitive winner.  Plus, the downtime in certain spots wasn't as painful to endure in comparison to the gasp moment where Undertaker nearly landed on his head during that cameraman spot.  It was a nicely paced 24 minute match rather than a 30 minute match with a 5 minute period where no one could do anything.  Plus, this is one of the fewer times you get to see Undertaker legitimately sell a body part throughout the match.

I just wished JR was there to cover the match, but he was recovering from another case of Bell's Palsy at the time.

[Cool Chris]

I wasn't following wrestling at the time, and watched WM25 years later, thus my enjoyment of the HBK/Undertaker match was hampered a bit by expectations based on everything I've read and heard about it. I recall thinking the work rate did seem a bit slow at times, and while I found it enjoyable, it didn't stand out as one of the greatest matches of all time in any way.

[Lethean]

I was totally into that match when it happened and obviously there wasn't the post match hype or anything so that wasn't an issue.  I still like watching it now though.   I don't know if I'm really going to say what is or isn't one of the greatest matches.  But this one is definitely one of the matches that I was most invested in, so for me personally it's one of the best.  And that would apply to the 3 after it too; it was a great series.

[Anguyen92]

So I'm reading that the WWE is merging with the parent group that owns the UFC, Endeavor.  Wow.  I presume, until we hear otherwise, that the approaches of booking shows and matches for both companies remains the same.  It's just going to be really weird for both fanbases to know that both companies are going to be in the same umbrella.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/03/wwe-ufc-merger-endeavor.html

[Cool Chris]

Out of context, I am not sure I would have known who this was. Might have assumed he was a railroad baron from the 19th century.

[Lethean]

I think it's a little disheartening that he's pretty much back in control, as I think HHH has been doing a great job.

[Cool Chris]

I am not following this, but it's my understanding that while he may be "in control" on the business side, HHH is in full control of the creative side. 
 

[Lethean]

I hope so, but apparently he was there on Raw yesterday changing stuff up at the last minute (according to various online sites).  Maybe he'll just do that once in a while because he can and hopefully leave HHH alone most of the time, but I don't know.

[twosuitsluke]

Out of context, I am not sure I would have known who this was. Might have assumed he was a railroad baron from the 19th century.

Wait, is that actually Vince? Holy shit.

[TAC]

Out of context, I am not sure I would have known who this was. Might have assumed he was a railroad baron from the 19th century.

De plane. De plane.