Fantasy Wrestling Matchups

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Rey Mysterio v. Mistico is a great fantasy matchup.

Rey Mysterio v. Sin Cara...somebody is going to get hurt. Pudgy Rey Rey who is as formulaic as hell and Botch Cara is a trainwreck waiting to happen.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Yeah, give me 2006 Mistico vs 1995 Mysetrio, in front of 30,000 in Mexico City, and I can get into that. Chunky almost 40 non PED Rey Rey vs whatever Sin Cara is, does absolutely nothing for me.

RE: Road Warriors vs Dudleyz. Dudleyz never did anything for me. Not in ECW, not in WWE, not in TNA, not in Japan. I don't get them, never did, and beyond being Raven lackeys early on in ECW with the 8 wacky brothers (the black, the indian, the retard, the mute, the giant, etc), nothing they ever did held my interest, especially the classic Bubba Ray/Devon pair.

The classic mid-80's TBS era Road Warriors were fantastic. It was better that they didn't sell, it would have made no sense. Like a lot of acts that come to the WWE (even to this day), there was something "off" about them when Vince put his subtle touches on things. Yes, it was still Hawk & Animal, yes, they were essentially the same characters, but something was....different. The element of danger was not the same. For lack of a better term, it was corporate Road Warriors. It was "The Legion of Doom".

Kind of how I always say Bryan Danielson no longer exists. Daniel Bryan looks like Bryan Danileson, wrestles kinda like Bryan Danielson, but he isn't really Bryan Danielson. It's a reasonable facsimile, but it's not the same.

Vince wants guys to over do the things that make wrestlers what they are. Do you know how many times Hawk did the "Ohhhh, what a rush!" routine pre-WWE? Hardly ever. Now & then. Vince had him doing that god damn promo EVERY SINGLE TIME. Vince was obsessed with the idea that Daniel Bryan is a vegan geek, so the pushed that idea EVERY GOD DAMN TIME the guy was on TV (via Michael Cole). Now it's pretty obvious that Bryan does the obsessed nutcase routine pretty well, so he has to be OVER THE TOP OBSESSED CRAZY GUY now. It's just what the WWE does.

So anyway, the LOD never felt the same in the WWF. Even the jobber matches were different. They were WWF-ized. They were still very popular and got over, but more in a kid way, which was the goal because they sold those foam shoulder pads and t-shirts and everything else. So i'm not really knocking the strategy, just the idea that the WWE does what they do, which is amplify everything to death to appeal to kids by using familiarity. It's why I don't get worked up anymore over what they do.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

sorry for that wall of text

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

You know the first time I saw "crazy obsessed" Daniel Bryan? During the Bryan Danielson/Takeshi Morishima feud. The idea being that this guy was an unstoppable monster, who the technically proficient Danielson had no answer for, which made him go crazy because to that point he had out wrestled everybody and beat them all. So it drove him nuts that Morishima was beating the shit out of him, and he knew he had to FIGHT him if he was going to beat him. The shoot eye injury came at just the right time, and it added to the story. Danielson going nuts in the return match after the injured eye and beating the shit out of that fat blob was awesome stuff.

But it was like, after that was over, he wasn't crazy obsessed guy anymore when he wrestled Austin Aries or Nigel or whoever. It wouldnt have made sense. It will run its course in WWE, I understand that, and I understand the larger than life deal that they like to do with everybody, but it is overkill sometimes, and in the case of the LOD, it changed the dynamic just enough to water them down.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Juventud Guerrera vs Tito Santana would've been EPIC too!

I'd like to see Tito Santana vs Dolph Ziggler.

Dolph wants to be Curt Hennig in the worst way, and Tito had great matches with Mr Perfect. I'd love to see Dolph take a big bump for Tito's flying forearm, through the ropes and out of the ring, saving him from the pin. Then of course he holds the tights and pins Santana a few minutes later. Poor Tito. Always the stepping stone.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The epitome of Warner2BruceTD's wall-o-text and ultimately his point...

RIC.FLAIR.

Discussion over.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

The epitome of Warner2BruceTD's wall-o-text and ultimately his point...

RIC.FLAIR.

Discussion over.

Flair never fully recovered from those two years, imo. Flashes of greatness, yes. But "Slick Ric" was dead and never came back.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Speaking of "Dream Matches", and speaking of Ric Flair and the Road Warriors, how did the WWF manage to blow two of the biggest 'dream matches' of the era so badly?

Hogan vs Flair ended up being a dud of a house show feud, with little build. It didn't draw that great and Vince dropped it from WrestleMania plans. They should have built that fucker up until Mania, and never had them touch each other until then.

Then, LOD vs Demolition. This was *THE* tag team match of the era that everybody wanted. Yes, Demolition was on the way down the card by the time LOD got to the WWF, and Ax was having his health issues, etc, but they could have built Demolition back up with some squash matches over lower level teams like the Bushwhackers and probably headlined a PPV with that match.

 

[JimLeavy59]

Can't believe nobody wants to see the ultimate against all odds matchup Cena vs nWo.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Flair never fully recovered from those two years, imo. Flashes of greatness, yes. But "Slick Ric" was dead and never came back.

When he returned to WCW, WCW was shit. Hogan and his cronies were running wild...Flair was thrusted back into trying to give the Horsemen another run, followed by feuding with Hogan in bad matches and Randy Savage in better matches, but they couldn't recapture the WrestleMania magic. Then the nWo showed up and Ric was a vital whipping boy for the nWo.

I don't think Ric's WWE run was that bad...I actually think it was pretty good...even as the Crazy Flair with Perfect. He had quit a few good matches and some classic moments...I just think him going back to WCW when he did was more to the idea that Slick Ric had died, never to return. That post-WWF WCW run was what really killed Slick Ric. I think Vince actually treated the Flair character with a bit of respect considering he never gives those kinds of talents respect...but I think Flair is, by definition, exactly what you were trying to detail with the Road Warriors, who, would be case study 1B...even though I think Flair's first WWF run was good. They didn't give us Hogan v. Flair, but I think working with Heenan, Perfect, and Macho for a lot of his run really helped him out...all three of those guys were on point at that part.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

After hearing W2B go on and on about the Dudleyz again...I'm pretty certain I remember him standing outside the Bingo Hall wanting to fight Bubba...it all makes sense now...holding a grudge...

I think Bubba needs to be on the podcast so you all can sort out your differences. Maybe hit him up on his TWITTAH MACHINE!

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

It's not that I didn't enjoy Flair's '91-'93 WWF stuff. I did. But that was the birth of "crazy" Flair, and the death of "Slick Ric". And like you are saying, it was *the* perfect example of Vince finding a facet of a character and pounding it into the fucking ground. Vince probably got a kick out of Flair's wide eyed wacky promos, and that was that. Plus, Flair's playboy stuff & sexual innuendo and such was not going to fly in 1991 WWF. So, Arkham Asylum escapee Ric Flair was born.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

After hearing W2B go on and on about the Dudleyz again...I'm pretty certain I remember him standing outside the Bingo Hall wanting to fight Bubba...it all makes sense now...holding a grudge...

I think Bubba needs to be on the podcast so you all can sort out your differences. Maybe hit him up on his TWITTAH MACHINE!

LOL.

That never happened, but I do recall a 19-year old W2B being scared shitless by New Jack, who was pacing up and down the line of trogs, in character, looking for "the motherfucker who keyed my car", before he busted out laughing and let everybody know he 'was just playing'.

Terrifying.

 

[s@ppisgod]

I'd love to see Edge and Christian and NWA-era Steiners go at it. They're both so well-rounded, especially with Scott being pre-ridiculously roided up. Steiner Screwdriver FTW. Literally.

Also, I'd love to see Owen Hart vs. Angle. Or Bret vs. Angle. Bret would be an amazing match-up style-wise, but I think Owen would have a very different match than Angle ever had. Oh, and Angle/Dean Malenko.

AJ Styles vs. Shawn Michaels.
Beer Money vs. Hollywood Blonds.

 

[whuteva]

I think the NWA era flair vs. Shawn Michaels in his heyday or Bret Hart in his IC champ days would've been 5 star. I'd like to see Cowboy Bob beat the shit outta his son too.

 

[EmpireWF]

In reality, Bret didn't like working with Flair, at least while they were in WWF together.

 

[Leftwich]

If you would have asked me this question when i was 11, i'd say Austin vs Goldberg but now that i'm not a complete dumbass i'd rather see Bryan Danielson vs Chris Benoit.

 

[FedEx227]

Love to see Mr. Perfect vs. Daniel Bryan as well.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

RE: The Road Warriors in the WWE.

Vince screwed the pooch with the Warriors from jump street when he refused to get Iron Man.

Very few pleasures in the wrestling world are quite like the Warriors and Precious Paul storming to the ring to Iron Man, beating some jobbers in 2 minutes, before the bell rings with Iron Man constantly playing, only to DoomsDay Device'em, pose, and walk out before the song ends.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Interesting how even on the WWE website, they had to pair up a team from the past with a team that doesn't even work for them anymore.

Dream Match: Road Warriors vs Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins just doesn't work.

I will say, that the WWE has a bunch of really fun tag teams right now, like Reks/Hawkins, Uso's, Primo/Epico, Kidd/Gabriel, etc, but you need to be watching Superstars or NXT to see them because they don't push any of them.