The General Wrestling Thread

[EmpireWF]

Agree except with the 6-sided ring. Hated that.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Agree except with the 6-sided ring. Hated that.

I was just saying the 6-sided ring made them unique and different.

Monty Brown hitting the pounce of a random rope = GOAT.

[Warner2BruceTD]

They could go the AAA route, and use a six sided one week, then a four sided the next, then some shitty looking indy level ring the week after that....with the Corona logo on all of the mats, of course.

[JayDizzle]

So I'm watching an episode of SmackDown after months of abstaining on Fridays...

Cody Rhodes gives out bags for people to wear now, Ted DiBiase is back to fighting with him and Ezekiel Jackson is running train on fools.

And Daniel Bryan still has a job.

If only they swapped SmackDown for RAW on Mondays, I'd go back to watching this full-time.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm about to order a TNA PPV.

Even i'm in shock.

[SHOGUN]

I'm about to order a TNA PPV.

Even i'm in shock.

:ohmy:

This is the one TNA PPV worth buying on paper. I bitched out at the last minute since I still haven't watched the ROH PPV yet.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I'm about to order a TNA PPV.

Even i'm in shock.

Why didn't you just give me the 40-bucks via paypal?

[EmpireWF]

Watched the match from Summerslam 05 between Hogan and HBK and it was a wacky match. You had Shawn playing heel for the match in the build-up and the match itself (the only time since his return in 02 he was ever heel). Hogan could barely move around which resulted in Shawn deciding to do some of the most cartoonish bumps you will ever see in WWE. Plus, they teased Bret Hart's return the RAW before so during certain spots, the crowd chanted for Bret (Shawn used the sharpshooter, too), I wonder if they were in talks with him to return at the time. Hogan bled a gusher and won clean with the leg drop, after kicking out of a superkick. I recall there being political crap for this match so I went back to Bryan Alvarez's F4W Weekly at the time to get the picture....l o l

The dream match with Hulk Hogan and HBK was solid, but Dave Meltzer was right in his prediction; it was in the *** range. I had figured it would be better because Shawn Michaels is so great, but the reality is that Hogan is, indeed, a 52-year-old man with a fake hip and two bad knees and no cardio, and that reality could not be overcome even by HBK. I would have loved to have been privy to all the maneuvering surrounding this match. Suffice to say, it was not a case of both guys shaking hands and agreeing from day one what they were going to do. Shawn wanted two matches, the first of which he would win and the second of which Hogan would win. Hogan said no, one match only. Eventually, he said he would be open to two matches — if he won both. Shawn was not down with that. In the end, Hogan had creative control in his contract, so when he said he wanted to win clean with the legdrop of doom, well, that’s what happened.

It was an intriguing match. I knew Shawn was going to bump his ass off for the guy, but he took it to a level I could not even have imagined. In fact, he took it to such an extreme (seriously, he was not only bumping huge, but adding whacky flips to the end of his bumps for good measure) that I sat there and thought to myself: “He is sending a message to all of us. He is saying, ‘Look how hard I have to work to get a passable match out of this old, broken-down immobile prick.’ He is going to try to expose Hogan by having the very definition of a one-man show.” And, sure enough, my thoughts were confirmed the next night on Raw where he basically said that very thing (see Raw Report). I truly believe that you could make the argument that after Hogan put his foot down about not losing to Michaels under any circumstances, Michaels found the best way, in the end, to outmaneuver the master himself.

----
8. SHAWN MICHAELS VS. HULK HOGAN. I am so excited. Ross noted that Shawn had never lost a one-on-one match at SummerSlam. HBK prayed, as usual, on the ramp, this time, I’m sure, for a good match. They locked up and Hogan shoved him down and THE BOOS STARTED. Not overwhelming, but there were definitely people booing. Then there was a “YOU SCREWED BRET!” Shawn took the biggest bump for a shoulder tackle perhaps in wrestling history. Back in the ring he was ripping off spots from his own and Curt Hennig’s 1992 playbook. This was where I first figured out that he was sending a message. Shawn went to throw his head into the buckle and Hogan blocked it. So Shawn slapped him across the face, HARD. He did this two more times before taking this wild crazy bump over the top to the floor. This is the stiffest WWE PPV in years. Hogan slammed him on the table and punched him multiple times in the face. The Hulkster was looking very tired. Shawn posted him twice, then laid into him with punches in the ring. The announcers were tying to suggest that Shawn was attempting to bust him open hardway. Hogan gigged, and it was a good one. He was clearly tired, so Shawn put him in a sleeper. Hogan was bleeding all over his arm and it was gruesome. Hogan back suplexed his way free. Shawn hit the forearm and went for the elbow, but Hogan moved and did his first Hulk Up. Ref immediately took a bump. Crowd chanted “WE WANT BRET!” As if. Shawn kipped up, signaled for the elbow, but put on the sharpshooter instead. A second ref slid in to check for the submission, but Hogan got the ropes. Crowd booed. Second ref took a bump and Shawn gave Hogan a low blow. He grabbed a chair and hit Hogan with it, and Hogan didn’t even block it with his hand. Shawn hit the elbow and a great superkick, but of course Hogan kicked out and HULKED HULKED HULKED UP~! Boy did this ever wake up the crowd. Shawn took a page out of the Ric Flair playbook here, nearly taking a bump for the finger point, then taking the funniest bump ever for the big boot. A legdrop later, it was over. Well, it probably wasn’t the best match of Hogan’s career, but it was the best match he’s had since probably the 80s, and Shawn did his damndest. (***1/4)

Shawn hit the ring afterwards and shoved Hogan from behind. Hogan turned around and they had words. “I needed to know,” Shawn said, “and I found out.” And then he pointed to his cross and offered his hand. Hogan shook, and what will likely be the final heel run of Shawn’s career was over, and I am sad, because it was a GREAT ONE. Hogan pointed to Shawn and put him over afterwards, then did his post-match posedown.
----

Raw (8/22/05)

Show opened with clips from SummerSlam, then Shawn came out and got a huge ovation. Well, that was easy. In fact, he was a mega babyface. Shawn said last night, Hogan was the better man. In fact, he added, Hogan last night was nimble, catlike, a catch-as-catch-can master, and in the end, he was unable to survive that vicious legdrop of doom. He might as well have just said: “It was fake and Jesus Christ did I ever have to work my ass off to pull a decent match out of him.” Shawn then added that the reality was that Hogan was on a plane back to Florida right now (true), whereas he was there to give the fans what they wanted. And then his next challenge came out, in more ways than one. Yes. Chris Masters....

[Kuzzy Powers]

On Finlay being released..

"I was given a lot of leeway and a lot of power in WWE, and that comes with a lot of responsibility. I made a call that caused a storm and I paid for it. They play the American national anthem over here before every event. We had Miz going out first and, because it was just before WrestleMania, we were trying to get as much heat on him as possible. So my spur-of-the-moment call, as I sat right by the technician, was to tell him to hit Miz's music while they were half-way through the national anthem. Of course, people were up in arms about it, but it was a good reaction as a heel. But there were National Guard people in the building that took exception to it, and I understand that fully. It wasn't intended to insult anybody in that way — it was just part of an entertaining show. That's what we do, we entertain — it's about cheers and boos."

I had no idea this happened..

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Watched the match from Summerslam 05 between Hogan and HBK and it was a wacky match. You had Shawn playing heel for the match in the build-up and the match itself (the only time since his return in 02 he was ever heel). Hogan could barely move around which resulted in Shawn deciding to do some of the most cartoonish bumps you will ever see in WWE. Plus, they teased Bret Hart's return the RAW before so during certain spots, the crowd chanted for Bret (Shawn used the sharpshooter, too), I wonder if they were in talks with him to return at the time. Hogan bled a gusher and won clean with the leg drop, after kicking out of a superkick. I recall there being political crap for this match so I went back to Bryan Alvarez's F4W Weekly at the time to get the picture....l o l

There are awesome highlights of this match somewhere on youtube.

Michaels can oversell like a champ and here, against Hogan, he pulled out all of the stops.

The match ended up being a comedy match, but with great results.

[EmpireWF]

The Young Bucks asked for their release from TNA and received it.

[Mogriffjr]

yeah the bumps in that match made me lol so hard, i'm like wow...Shawn is overdoing this on purpose lmao...

[dave]

MITB might be a rare non-major WWE ppv that I buy this year.

[Kuzzy Powers]

This promo is once again, epic.

[IamMedellin]

that was pretty good until the end.....

Punk played the ultimate asshole, going a lil ham at times but pulling it off well for the most part....then the music hit and daffy duck came down with his title trying his damndest to get the hometown crowd to like him with his cartoonish mannerisms and promo.....and then it was all down hill complete with cheap hometown sports heat