The General Wrestling Thread

[Bigpapa42]

Remember, CURTIS is the pet project here, not necessarily Fandango. Fandango was the vehicle to get him on TV.

I remember him on NXT. He actually had some great lines but looked like he had zero future.

Its easy to forget how long they've had him. He's 31, been in the WWE since 2006 and been wrestling as a pro since '99. I always wonder about these guys they keep around for so long without doing much with. They have to see something there...

Hoping you are right on this one, W2B...

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I like the idea of paying homage to the winged belt. But that belt is kinda gay. I still think the Austin blue belt had plenty of gas left in the tank before it wore out. Especially given how long they stuck with that POS spinner belt.

Its an enraged, rabid eagle gripping its massive claws into the company logo.

Its fantastic.

The only thing better could have been if they put a Raptor head on there and maybe a machine gun.

 

[FedEx227]

Did you watch the post match stuff with Suzuki?

Good. Now go watch Suzuki murder Yano, and check out the Tanaka/Takahashi vs Honma/Makabe tag.

Or just watch the whole god damn show.

Whole show will be watched tomorrow when I finish Ultimate Gate.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I remember him on NXT. He actually had some great lines but looked like he had zero future.

Its easy to forget how long they've had him. He's 31, been in the WWE since 2006 and been wrestling as a pro since '99. I always wonder about these guys they keep around for so long without doing much with. They have to see something there...

Hoping you are right on this one, W2B...

He's got a good physique, good look, and clearly comfortable with any shit they could possibly give him and he'll do it with a smile...Vince loves guys like that.

I am not on the bandwagon...but I find him to have less go away head and more of an ironic appeal to him.

 

[FedEx227]

No way I give it 5-stars if I watch it spoiled. But live, I thought the dragon suplex was match over. And watching Tanahashi work over the arm, and Okada trying to recover from the damage and/or work out a new plan, had me thinking that if they finished this baby off hot, we had another classic on our hands.

It's really remarkable how Tanahashi always, ALWAYS delivers. How can these two have four matches this good? This is Misawa/Kobashi territory. Tanahashi has to be in the conversation of the best of all time. He was elite before this run.

I can see that. I knew who won so it was hard for me to really get into any of the near falls in the same way I'm sure you did.

 

[EmpireWF]

After reading Johnny Curtis' bio on Wikipedia, this guy is like Bryan Danielson, he's paid his dues and is worthy of this push.

Yes, Curtis has been around and then some. Deserves this opportunity to make money after busting his ass forever.

Just not sure he's any more over to joe blow WWE fan now than a week ago. The music is, but we'll see whether it catches on in arenas.

 

[dave]

Yes, Curtis has been around and then some. Deserves this opportunity to make money after busting his ass forever.

Just not sure he's any more over to joe blow WWE fan now than a week ago. The music is, but we'll see whether it catches on in arenas.

I understand your sentiment, but how's that different from Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson? Daniel Bryan didn't get over until that crazy YES chant at last year's Wrestlemania.

 

[EmpireWF]

I understand your sentiment, but how's that different from Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson? Daniel Bryan didn't get over until that crazy YES chant at last year's Wrestlemania.

True.

We don't know yet whether people in arenas will be doing Fandango's song & dance the way the YES deal caught fire....and I'm not confident they will.

 

[dave]

True.

We don't know yet whether people in arenas will be doing Fandango's song & dance the way the YES deal caught fire....and I'm not confident they will.

IMO, Fandango has his Miss Elizabeth, the right theme song, the mic ability, the right look and enough in-ring ability to get over. That Chris Jericho let him get over at Wrestlemania tells me that I am likely right.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I understand your sentiment, but how's that different from Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson? Daniel Bryan didn't get over until that crazy YES chant at last year's Wrestlemania.

True.

We don't know yet whether people in arenas will be doing Fandango's song & dance the way the YES deal caught fire....and I'm not confident they will.

Daniel Bryan was widely recognized as the best wrestler in the world (or at least North America) for many years before he signed with the WWE. He turned them down multiple times when offered deals because he was enjoying working on the indy scene & in Japan, doing the kinds of matches he liked to do. When they finally signed him, they were going to put him directly on the main roster, which is unheard of, but he asked to go to Florida.

Bryan was also already over by Mania. He was over before he won MITB, but really that's where he started to take off. The YES thing started before Mania.

Not the same path as Curtis at all. Curtis has languished in the system for years and was never considered a big time prospect. Only similarity is the Mania crowd reacting to Bryan despite being a heel, like the RAW crowd did for Fandango as a heel.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Impact did a 0.9, main event did a 1.1 (those Hardy fans always show up).

Lowest rating of 2013.

People are making a big deal, but I would wait to see a trend before I panic. Could be an anomaly. Encouraging that people tuned in for the Full Metal Mayhem main event, though.

 

[Bigpapa42]

Saw the ratings noted on Twitter. Sucks for TNA.

I'll be honest - I've stopped watching. It hasn't been terrible, but the Aces n' 8s storyline just slowly killed my interest. I like the sound of what they've been doing since Bully Ray joined... but not quite enough to start throwing the time toward it every week...

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Its worth recording for the tag team stuff, which has been awesome. I also like GutCheck even though they always make the wrong decision nearly every single time.

Its basically just an average wrestling show. It annoys me less than RAW.

 

[Bigpapa42]

Its worth recording for the tag team stuff, which has been awesome. I also like GutCheck even though they always make the wrong decision nearly every single time.

Its basically just an average wrestling show. It annoys me less than RAW.

Your description is pretty much why I kept watching for a long while. Ignore the Hogan shit, the Knockouts, and most of the Aces & Eights junk... there was enough there to interest me. But nothing hooked me.

I think the biggest reason I haven't watched the last two months is down more to a technical issue than TNA itself... I don't have Spike HD (stupid extra package) and for some reason, the audio sucks balls. Can't just crank it up either. While not being able to hear the commentary might sometimes be a good thing, it fuckin sucks when you have to work to hear most of the promos.

 

[Liquidrob]

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

(Daniel) Bryan did an interview with the Washington Post where he said that he doesn’t consider himself a great wrestler anymore. When asked about his current role, he said, “I don’t consider it wrestling. I’ve done wrestling everywhere. And just by being a good wrestler you can become popular, but not here. It’s more important to be entertaining than it is to be a great wrestler. It’s fascinating to me. Some things just stick. Why it happens, I have no idea.”

Regarding wrestling itself, he said, “One of the things that people don’t understand, even people here, people within the company, to me, wrestling is art. It’s a form of performance art. And there’s so much that goes into it that other people aren’t seeing.”

I've been banging this drum on the podcast for a while now.

If you had told me 4 or 5 years ago that Bryan Danielson would succeed in the WWE as the next Hacksaw Duggan/Santino/Hornswoggle, i'd have laughed you out of the room.

 

[FedEx227]

It's amazing really but more power to him if he's self aware. He did his "wrestling" thing now he's out there to entertain. Can't blame him if he's fully aware of what he's doing.

 

[dave]

I totally respect Daniel Bryan (thanks a lot to Warner2BruceTD), but he's an entertainer now, not a wrestler. I knew nothing about Bryan Danielson until Warner2BruceTD. Thanks for that, W2BTD.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I've been banging this drum on the podcast for a while now.

If you had told me 4 or 5 years ago that Bryan Danielson would succeed in the WWE as the next Hacksaw Duggan/Santino/Hornswoggle, i'd have laughed you out of the room.

I think D-Bry is really underselling himself. I mean, this guy curled up into a ball and had Tyson Kidd spin him around in a circle.

That's talent.

But seriously though...he had a good run in the ring for the WWE over a year ago...but since, they just have him out there acting like an asshole and being goofy.

He's getting paid handsomely, I'm sure...so I doubt he's disappointed right now with not being able to put on 30 minute clinics for the 500 people in the live audience that would appreciate it.

However, to be fair, the greats in the WWE were always able to straddle the line. Punk is very entertaining...and while he's not going out there and putting on clinics, he has himself some very good workrate matches in his portfolio. Maybe its because Punk is given the forum to do it...probably is the case. Shawn and Bret, too...straddled the line of entertainment and workrate. We're talking about Danielson's peers in the ring, not exceptions to the rule, though.

He can be both...I guess it just means he needs to be given the forum to do so.

 

[s@ppisgod]

I was never a fan of Danielson in the Indies. Yeah, he was great, but he wasn't my cup of tea. Now, if anytime, I should feel justified in not being a fan. But the more I read from the guy and hear in his interviews, the more he comes off as a really smart, likeable guy. I'm starting to really come around on the guy just as his career is hitting new lows. Awesome.