The General Wrestling Thread

[SHOGUN]

Smackdown is still meh to me. Raw is getting good with the storyline and it's nice to have a title picture without Cena or Triple H. One thing that bothers is me about WWE-style wrestling is the goddamn restholds.

Also, why do the Nexus guys have really generic finishers?


Samoa Joe got suspended.

According to PWI Elite, Joe has been suspended for attitude problems stemming out of the ending to him vs. Hardy where Borash gave away that there was 30 seconds left in the match and Joe supposedly threw a fit over it backstage.

As we mentioned earlier today on the Elite site, Samoa Joe was suspended by TNA. He was not happy after his match with Jeff Hardy and was vocal about it in the back after match. The problem that we were told got him suspended was that he went into the production truck during the broadcast to complain, which is seen as a breach of etiquette. The word I have gotten was that he will be suspended for about a month.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Samoa Joe needs to move on. He's been booked into shit and frustrated for the last two or three years.

TNA had the hottest young star outside the WWE and completely made him irrelevent with ridiculous booking. They ruined the guy's career.

[IamMedellin]

but hey...at least they can use Joe's air time to build up the Jeff Jarrett/Kevin Nash feud properly...

b/c those guys bring in the ratings

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Samoa Joe needs to move on. He's been booked into shit and frustrated for the last two or three years.

TNA had the hottest young star outside the WWE and completely made him irrelevent with ridiculous booking. They ruined the guy's career.

+10000000000

I feel bad for Joe. Dude was HOT...WHITE HOT. I mean, that Angle program put him at a high level (it could have been done better to where it put him at an elite level) and it was downhill ever since.

Dude should just pack his shit and go home...not because he sucks, but his brand in TNA is worthless now.

He hasn't been motivated in a long time, and it has showed in his performances.

It doesn't help that the bookermen don't see fatties as legitimate wrestlers and subsequently had him kidnapped and taken off TV for months.

[FedEx227]

It put TNA at a high level too. They had their best PPV buyrate ever with Angle/Joe. They were grabbing onto two audience in the hardcore/indy wrestling fans and the casual, possibly old WWE fans. It was exactly how TNA should have be booked.

[Warner2BruceTD]

The botching of Samoa Joe is historically bad. Words can't really put it in prospective.

This isnt some indy guy not getting pushed who probably wouldnt have been a star anyway, and dorks complaining about it. Joe was on a legit path to something great. It's mind boggling.

To a lesser extent, they destroyed AJ Styles too, when he was doing the Kurt Angle's half retarded dummy sidekick gimmick.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The botching of Samoa Joe is historically bad. Words can't really put it in prospective.

This isnt some indy guy not getting pushed who probably wouldnt have been a star anyway, and dorks complaining about it. Joe was on a legit path to something great. It's mind boggling.

To a lesser extent, they destroyed AJ Styles too, when he was doing the Kurt Angle's half retarded dummy sidekick gimmick.

They could restore AJ...I mean, just give him a legitimate run with a belt where he does what AJ does best.

Joe...damaged goods.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I think AJ Styles is like Sting. A guy who will always be cheered, but can't really draw serious money.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Sting drew money...but it came in blips.

Sting was rarely really pushed like an uber star (like an Austin or Hogan, or even a Flair, when he actually was) that got him into that upper echelon money...the few times he was, he drew big money for the time.

As for Joe...can't wait for him to go to the WWE, be Santino's rookie in NXT Season X, and be under the name of Meaty Maivia or Stout Solofa.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Sting drew money...but it came in blips.

Sting was rarely really pushed like an uber star (like an Austin or Hogan, or even a Flair, when he actually was) that got him into that upper echelon money...the few times he was, he drew big money for the time.

As for Joe...can't wait for him to go to the WWE, be Santino's rookie in NXT Season X, and be under the name of Meaty Maivia or Stout Solofa.

Lol@meaty maivia

Sting never drew a dime until he did the crow gimmick and popped the buyrate with Hogan at whatever PPV that was. One of the great myths is he was a draw previous to that. Kids liked hi, he sold some merch, but house show biz always dropped when he was champ, and he never did out of the ordinary ppv numbers.

[FedEx227]

Starrcade 97 is the PPV you're thinking of.

Nearly 2 years of buildup for a confusing, idiotic dusty finish.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Lol@meaty maivia

Sting never drew a dime until he did the crow gimmick and popped the buyrate with Hogan at whatever PPV that was. One of the great myths is he was a draw previous to that. Kids liked hi, he sold some merch, but house show biz always dropped when he was champ, and he never did out of the ordinary ppv numbers.

I'd have to redo some research (I recall doing some research on this topic back in the day with someone saying something similar), but I'm pretty sure Sting was a solid draw in spurts back in the day. I recall the early Halloween Havoc's featuring Sting at the top of the card drawing all-time highs. Sting v. Flair at the GAB was a big draw PPV for early WCW. Sting's late 80's, early 90's Starrcade's that he headlined drew rather well (if I recall, the one v. The Black Scorpion was rather big).

I'm not saying he was Austin or Hogan or even Flair, but Sting was a pretty good draw, IMO and IIRC, there are some numbers to back it up in regards to PPV buys.

Not certain about the house show money. There was a time he was feuding with Vader everywhere on every house show and I don't think that did too well, but that is out of the time frame I'm talking about of Sting being a decent draw. I'm talking more like 89/90/91 type time frame.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'd have to redo some research (I recall doing some research on this topic back in the day with someone saying something similar), but I'm pretty sure Sting was a solid draw in spurts back in the day. I recall the early Halloween Havoc's featuring Sting at the top of the card drawing all-time highs. Sting v. Flair at the GAB was a big draw PPV for early WCW. Sting's late 80's, early 90's Starrcade's that he headlined drew rather well (if I recall, the one v. The Black Scorpion was rather big).

I'm not saying he was Austin or Hogan or even Flair, but Sting was a pretty good draw, IMO and IIRC, there are some numbers to back it up in regards to PPV buys.

Not certain about the house show money. There was a time he was feuding with Vader everywhere on every house show and I don't think that did too well, but that is out of the time frame I'm talking about of Sting being a decent draw. I'm talking more like 89/90/91 type time frame.

They tried to push him to the moon, and presented him as this gigantic star, but it just never worked. That's why they always would give up and go back to Flair or Luger.

I'm not saying the guy was a business killer, but he never really moved the needle in those days. He would get big reactions from live crowds, but it never translated.

He had two legitimate periods where he was a difference maker - the one big buyrate with Hogan after the long crow build up, and two, when he first came to TNA he got them over the hump and the ratings went from .8's and .9's to over 1.0, although the PPV's didn't move at all until Angle showed up.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Something that is just truly astounding right now, is TNA has Hogan, Flair, RVD, Hardy, Sting, Nash, Angle, Kennedy, Joe, Styles, 3D, etc etc etc on the payroll, national TV, and is bottoming out at like 10,000 PPV buys. Think about that for a second. ROH peaked at something like 3,000 with taped shows, no stars, no TV whatsoever, and a fraction (fraction isnt a strong enough word) of the payroll. Dragon Gate USA did like 1,000-2,000 for their first PPV without any sort of history, TV, or ROH cult following.

Is pathetic a strong enough word? I mean, they are an epically bad company. This is worse than WCW at the end.

Can you imagine if Paul Heyman was Bob Carter's son?

[IamMedellin]

at its worst didnt wCw avg. about 40,000 buys?