The General Wrestling Thread

[EmpireWF]

Saw this in the Observer news bits today about a Bonnie Hammer story (TV exec with NBC, was part of USA's relationship with WWE for lack of a better description) and how a Philly.com attributed storylines and characters in pro wrestling to her genius.

el oh el

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130623_Comcast_s_Bonnie_Hammer_is_a_force_in_television.html

Her USA Network - built partly on the popularity of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. - has been the most-watched ad-supported cable channel for seven straight years and in 2012 earned more than $1 billion in profit.

"She doesn't stand on ceremony as some executives do," Vincent McMahon, the chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, said. "She wants to give the audience what it wants."

Her advice to McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment years ago was to develop story lines and characters, which they did.

Meltzer's reaction

I never knew Bonnie Hammer was around in the 1920s to give that advice. It noted that there is a WWE championship belt in her office that Vince McMahon gave her on her 50th birthday. Well, unless that's one very old belt, that rules out her coming up with the idea of developing storylines and characters. When I get really old, I think I'm going to tell people I came up with the idea of putting gloves on boxers, telling Leo Seltzer to work Roller Derby and came up with the concept of Lucha Libre movies.

lmao

[MrBill]

Local RCW update, they had a couple of matches at the Military Appreciation Day set up at Heroes and Fantasies (local comic mecca) for last night. Steve McEnroe took on Sicodelico for the RCW Heavyweight title and defeated him. Possible heel turn for Sico?

[SuperKevin]

I took my daughter to the ROH TV taping today. She loved it. It's really interesting to see how a child reacts to everything.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I took my daughter to the ROH TV taping today. She loved it. It's really interesting to see how a child reacts to everything.

Go to a WWE show with a kid or sit next to some kids (/nopedo)...changes your perspective of the WWE.

I sat in the box with some kids at WrestleMania two years ago...just totally different view of what you're watching...also fun, because its fun to egg those little fuckers on about Randy Orton.

[SuperKevin]

I love getting my daughters opinion on who is a good guy and who is a bad guy

[Warner2BruceTD]

WWE Japan lineups for Sumo Hall double shot:

July 4th:
John Cena vs. Ryback for the WWE Championship
Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose for the US Championship
Team Hell No vs. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns for the WWE Tag Team Championships
The Miz vs. Wade Barrett for the IC Championship
Zack Ryder vs. Curtis Axel
Natalya vs. Aksana
Also appearing: The Great Khali, Yoshi Tatsu, Epico and Primo.

July 5th:
John Cena, Sheamus and Chris Jericho vs. The Shield
The Great Khali vs. Ryback
Team Hell No vs. Epico and Primo
The Miz vs. Wade Barrett for the IC Championship
Natalya vs. Aksana
Also appearing: Curtis Axel, Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder and Antonio Cesaro.

July 4 goes head to head with Dragon Gate PPV. July 5 goes head to head with New Japan PPV.

[Warner2BruceTD]

"I have actually been to the WWE many times. In the span of about six months, they were holding a bunch of tryouts, which all just happened to be in the areas that I was in at the time; that's just the way the schedule worked out. I was actually told that instead of going to all these tryouts, that it might be better to actually go train at the WWE developmental gym. I went to FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling), and I remember at one of the tapings in Jacksonville, I got into a bit of trouble for breaking protocol. I was facing The Miz on Raw one night, and I usually do this thing where I flip into the ring before my matches. So I look over, and Justin Roberts is just screaming at me, saying, 'This is not about you! You're not the star here!' etc. And then for my next match, the referee walks with me to the ring, holding my hand like we're on a date. And they just send me under the bottom rope and into the ring real fast. To make matters worse, I had cracked ribs from the night before and I was facing Sheamus, who's a guy that works the body more than anybody. There was an incident at one of the shows, where Sheamus came up to me and asked about this submission hold that I used on Tyson Kidd at one of the tapings. So I kind of joked around and told him to give me 10 bucks for the move. He didn't really find it funny though, and just kind of awkwardly walked away."

[SuperKevin]

 

Team Ring of Honor beat Team SCUM in Steel Cage Warfare at Sunday's TV taping forcing SCUM to disband. Not sure where they are going with that though

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

 

Team Ring of Honor beat Team SCUM in Steel Cage Warfare at Sunday's TV taping forcing SCUM to disband. Not sure where they are going with that though

Getting rid of that awful faction.

Its for the best.

[SuperKevin]

Getting rid of that awful faction.

Its for the best.

I agree. Only reason I'm confused is because I don't know what they do with most of those guys on their own. Matt Hardy and Jimmy Jacobs will be fine. It's Compton, Rhino, and Rhett Titus who have no place anymore. Plus they spent all weekend teasing a possible Adam Cole/Steve Corino partnership

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I agree. Only reason I'm confused is because I don't know what they do with most of those guys on their own. Matt Hardy and Jimmy Jacobs will be fine. It's Compton, Rhino, and Rhett Titus who have no place anymore. Plus they spent all weekend teasing a possible Adam Cole/Steve Corino partnership

They should all be low-mid card players anyway...so, that is where they should be.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

ROH Best in the World 2013

-Mike Bennett v. BJ Whitmer - Basic opener. Bennett is going to be doing some jobs on the way out, certainly. Some heel shenanigans go bad, Whitmer wins. Decension within the heels on the way out. Whatever match.

-Adrenaline Rush v. The American Wolves - I love the Wolves...I love me some ACH. I'm really looking forward to this one. It is excessively clear that ACH is the star of Aderenaline Rush. This guy is very over in ROH. Strap up the ol Rocket Ship on ol boy, seriously. Davey heels it up a little bit, too. The Wolves win when ACH misses a flippy bastard special. Really fun match.

-Roddy Strong v. Adam Cole - This should be a fun one. These guys have a little history as they are starting to give Adam Cole a little edge (the same edge they should have given him over a year ago, but whatever). It had a pretty flukey ending to the match, but, you can see the full heel turn coming for Adam Cole. These two are capable of a better match with a longer format in some sort of blowoff match.

For what its worth, this crowd is HOT.

-Tammaso Ciampa v. Michael Elgin - OH BOY...you know your boy is excited for this one. I was really starting to dig Ciampa before he was injured. He comes back and the crowd is HOT HOT HOT for ol boy. I really dig the back and forth with these two early on in the match. Love the upswing of big move after big move in typical Elgin-match form. Ciampa can work this style really well. This is one of those matches were EVERYONE looks good regardless of outcome. RD Evans really puts Ciampa over on commentary. The match format really gets Ciampa over and establish him that he's back. Elgin wins, but I think this was a really well structured match and the commentary really put over Ciampa well. This show will have a hard time having a better match that this one. A legit **** from me. They beat the shit out of each other.

Intermission...a good little Briscoe Boys promo package.

-Matt Taven v. Jimmy Jacobs v. Jay Lethal - I really don't have much interest in this match. Jacobs and Taven are channel changers. I love Lethal, but I just don't see a title change coming. Match is basically a melee. Spot after spot. It is actually entertaining...Jay Lethal pulls off a Hoopla Hotties top, Truth Martini shenanigans...and Jay Lethal ends up superkicking a Hoopla Hottie...and Matt Taven wins. WTF? What a terrible ending to a decent melee match.

-reDRagon v. C+C Wrestle Factor v. SCUM - Again, not much interest in this match. It was pretty flat throughout with a seemingly abrupt finish. C+C is the second best black team in ROH and SCUM sucks. reDRagon is growing on me, but they need to have matches against people I give a shit about. Neither of these teams are it. Very skippable.

-Kevin Steen v. Matt Hardy - If anyone can get an entertaining match out of fucking Matt Hardy in 2013, its gotta be Steen. Match starts with a Corino promo. That nigga can draw some heat. steen requests a No DQ stip, gets it...and here we go. Pretty decent hardcore-style match. SCUM interferes. Hardy wins. Lots of post-match beatdowns.

-Jay Briscoe v. Mark Briscoe - Definitely looking forward to this one. They are giving this one a real big match feel to it. Playing up the brother v. brother angle big time, which they should. Bret v. Owen this was not, but it was still a solid match. Mark hit Jay with everything he's got. The Jay comeback and the end were incredibly flat which knock this match down a bit. Overall, not bad. Could have been better though.

Overall...decent show. Ciampa and Elgin is something you should go out of your way to see. I liked the Wolves and Adrenaline Rush match, too.

[SuperKevin]

I was there live Larry and the crowd LOVED the Elgin/Ciampa match. 20 minutes with no dead spots

[EmpireWF]

Elgin's gotta be one of the 5 best wrestlers in the world at this point.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Elgin's gotta be one of the 5 best wrestlers in the world at this point.

I like Elgin, but he's a guy that definitely is a love'em or hate'em type of guy.

If I'm ROH, I give Elgin a shot with the title. It was time a long time ago, but they gave Jay his time to shine, they had a Briscoe v. Briscoe match for the title. They got rid of SCUM. Elgin, I believe, is next in line for a title shot. I'd give him the belt and see what he can do. Jay has a short shelf life as a champ, IMO. I'm not overexposed to Elgin, so that style has not worn thin on me. When I watch Elgin, its typically a treat.