Resident Evil

Random thoughts time The Japanese summed it up best with two words Fighting Spirit Wrestling is not so much about one person vs one person but rather yourself against yourself. It's the battle within oneself. The same battle we go through every day. The exact same battle you find yourself in the weight room. A battle someone can find themselves in if they're scared to go up a ladder but they have to do so to save a cat. Pushing yourself beyond the limits to achieve something. You against you. I hear some talk about how people they don't like the same old, same old wether it's a ton of spots or a structure "that works". The reason fancy spots or moves or innovation works is because they show the fighitng spirit of the wrestler. It's shows strength both physically and mentally that's superior to an opponent. In a match structure that's basically the same, the match with the fancy spots/moves/innovation will be "better" because of this. The problem with this is that if fancy spots are used too much they can lose meaning and the effect of seeing strenght physically and mentally in the wrestler is nullified some. Believability can becomes less for some wrestlers doing this. Which brings me to the true and tried face in peril structure of wrestling. In singles it's apparent but in tag team wrestling it's worse as you're beat over the head with it constantly. It grows tiresome. It happens every single time!!!! Within 2 months or less of watching this formula I grew tiresome of it. I cheered like mad for anything that deviated from it. For ex, one time the Brainbusters who were the bad guys struggled to get a tag to their partner in a match against Demoliotn. One time in WCW there was a tag match where the face in peril didn't make the hot tag and got pinned!! I marked out like crazy. Why? Because it gave credibility to something that was tired out. When something happens all the time wether it's the movies/TV (one of the reasons why I took to Japanese animation years ago was because it was so different/innovative) or wrestling you don't buy it anymore. It's not believable. When a tag match follows that formula all the time it loses a lot of credibility/a lot of what it's aiming for. You don't feel as much for the faces in peril, you don't care if they make the hot tag as much and so on. That's why you need other tag matches that break that format. Even if those match structures don't happen to be "as good" they have to occur so they can help the main tag team formula. Not just to get the formula more fresh but to make people buy into it more. I watched Furnass/Kroffat in a tag back in 96 when I was just getting into All Japan. It was a totally non face in peril match and it was a good but not great match. However, I looooved it because it was so different and it didn't insult my intelligence by automatically having to used a cliche tag formula. There was still enough of a "fighing spirit" battle to enjoy it. Speaking of All Japan I really think they did a great job of having matches that hit on the fans emotions without having to go to an exaggerated tag cliche formula that you often see in North America. Than when they do go somewhat into a formulat we're used to like in Furnass/Kroffat vs Kobashi/Kikuchi it means so much more. The matches never seemed forced there. They were buyable. Wrestling is part make believe but believability is actually a big part of it. Storytelling in wrestling to be at its strongest has to make the individual person buy into what's going on. How much someone buys into something is different for everyone.

I second the Virgil turn. It's definitely one of top 3 fav turns of all time. I'm also a big fan of the Macho Man's turn at Wrestlemania.

It's a nice picture of the Undertaker hugging Sherri.

Eh, I never noticed the mods screwing around with people though I admit I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. I'll take your word for it. RRR getting banned was BS. He easily would've been one of the best posters on the board and they just banned him for really no reason. Perhaps they have different mods now? The word filters thing is awesome. I don't know why they filtered product but I absolutely love what they filtered the word "gay" to. Let's just hope other mods on other boards pick up on the trend. Gamefaqs would probably be a good spot to do this. If I were to ever be granted 3 wishes from a genie, I'd have everyone in real life who ever uses this word filtered out to say "manly beyond my manliest expectations". Especially the younger generation playing first person shooters online. I would also really like a filter for the word MOOVEZZ! Maybe if I asked nicely?

by Mike Johnson @ 1:04 PM on 4/11/2008 Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute issued the following announcement today: WWE STEPS UP TO THE PLATE Chris Nowinski has heard from anonymous professional wrestlers in World Wrestling Entertainment that WWE management has instituted a concussion management program. At a mandatory meeting for all performers in early March WWE performers took a computerized neuropsychological testing protocol, which evaluates such things as memory, cognitive skills, and reaction time. They will be re-tested aggressively every 6 months to look for long term issues, as well as re-tested after suspected concussions to help determine when it is safe to return to in-ring action. Nowinski heard conflicting reports of whether or not any concussion education was provided along with the baseline testing. One current wrestler told Chris that if it wasn't for recent concussion awareness efforts by organizations like the SLI, he still wouldn't know what a concussion is or why he took the test. Congratulations to WWE for taking a proactive step in protecting the health of their athletes. The Sports Legacy Institute is proud that the analysis they performed on the late WWE performer Chris Benoit's brain, which found extensive brain damage caused by concussions and other head trauma, directly led to this action. SLI believes efforts like these will help prevent events similar to the Benoit family tragedy of 2007 from happening in the future. Upon hearing the news, Chris Benoit's father Michael Benoit said, "I think it's great. I think the industry has to embrace the medical science. If they don't take actions like this, they just care about the talent." SLI encourages other sports leagues to take similar measures to protect athletes, especially youth athletes, and is available at sportslegacy.org to help make it a reality

Moves by itself is just that. It is moves inside a professional wrestling ring. MOOVVEZZ on the other hand is complicated. First we must dwelve into the history of humankind. There's been a trend over the last while to incorrectly spell words in order to be cool. There is also a trend to type things in caps. This is mostly a youth thing. A lot of other people find it hysterically stupid and look down at the "intelectually inferior people" who resort to this coolness spelling trick. The superior people beat their chest in pride over how much better of a human being they are for knowing how stupid this is. This has crossed into wrestling. Professional wrestling is full of cool moves which appeal to a lot of people. Well, actually to be honost cool moves appeal to everyone but anyway -- In the mind of people who use the word MOVEZ against others -- these people think the victims of the MOVEZ insult only like wrestling because of cool moves. They are also always incorrect of who they think are great wrestlers because they only judge workers on moves. They don't understand "true storytelling"and "what really makes a wrestler". Henceforth, the people who like MOVEZ are inferior. It is the ultimate insult. MOVEZ is just not used to insult others though. It is done to justify one's personal favourite wrestler as being superior than another especially if that other wrestler using the all dreaded MOVEZ!! All one has to do in a debate on which wrestler is better now is to say your wrestler has MOVEZ!! and it's game over. If your favourite used a high end manuever like a hip toss than he suxx!! Unfortunately, this MOVEZ thing has gotten out of control and is being abused all over the place. It's come to the point where if a match has MOVEZ than it has no storytelling and it sucks. If the match has no MOVEZ than it is the best storytelling ever with the best wrestlers ever.

I thought the body language selling of the piledrivers in the 2/3 falls match was exceptional. It was one of the many reasons why I feel the match is one of the best of all time.

I just watched Edge vs Taker and from what I've seen so far, this is ahead of everything else for MOTY. The Taker is still one of the best wrestlers in the world today. Taker vs Michaels or Danielson as of right now would rule. Unfortunately, I think Taker's body is breaking down even more on him.

Going on a sightly different angle here -- I can't seperate Benoit the wrestler from Benoit the person because Benoit the wrestler undoubtably affected Benoit the person. I think we as wrestling fans should always keep in mind how wrestling can change people. As far as seperating the personal person from the preformer for various reasons I personally can only do it to a degree. It's not like movies where it's a lot easier to do this. With someone like Jackie Chan though it is like wrestling where it is harder for me to seperate the person from the preformer. Sometimes I believe it's good to seperate preformer from the person but other times I think it's bad to do so. As far as not changing the fact that he was amongst the best wrestlers in the world -- It doesn't change it but it is going to make his matches worse for people when looking back because of the emotion factor.

Not cheering. Silence is what I would do. I don't think you can boo especially as a wrestling fan. But you can't cheer either

So what should the "proper" reaction to a mention of Benoit's name be? It's a difficult situation.

I think Nigel is a fine champ. The guy looks like he's off roids too so that's pretty cool in this day and age. And look at all the legit heat he gets with smart marks! Best worker ever!! I really think people are starting to get a little too rough on ROH. Yeah, that's weird coming from someone like me who was one of the first to get on ROH's case. There's constructive criticism and than there's just blind stupid hate and I think there are a few people who have crossed that line. Maybe it's time to sit back and enjoy the good while hopefully ignoring the bad? Just like a lot of us do with the WWE. Tim, how were the dueling chants last nights? That's always been a pet peeve of mine. I noticed they weren't too bad at all in the Nigel vs Aeries title match.

Are there any sports we can think of in a positive way? Checkers maybe?

Davey yes. Even as a very young guy in Stampede he had that special wow factor about him. Very fast, different, energetic and smooth in there. He wrestled like he had been in the ring for a long time. Basserb would've been a big star. There's no doubt about that. Hiro Hase is a no brainer. The guy was awesome right off the bat. Fantastic work ethic and out of all the people mentioned here he was the guy who most reminded me of a veteran in his early years. Benoit was good in Stampede from the get go and it was obvious he was someone to keep your eye on as he had lots of potential. However, he wasn't as natural as say Owen or Hase right off the bat. But sometime in 1988, I think he had actually eclipsed Owen as a wrestler. Owen though had more wow factor and was imo the best choice for Stampede top guy as he was amazing. I was wondering when Scorpio started in the ring. When watching him, I always thought of him as a natural wrestler because everything he did looked really smooth. Really natural.

Most natural? When I think of most natural I think of who looks like they worn born in the ring. They can't look like they're awkard in there. Owen Hart. I believe Lyger himself said that while it took him or other guys several attempts to get a move down pat while Owen on the other hand would nail it on the first try and often be able to do it better than the teacher. Obviously the Dynamite Kid tops the list Tiger Mask is top 5 without a doubt. Hiro Hase

Ware vs Babarian was shown on CHCH Tv from Ontario at the end of one of their programs. They would often show a random match from Maple Leaf Gardens. I just remember watching it and thinking that was a good match. You would get random stuff like Hillbilly Jim vs Greg Valentine, Hercules vs Akeem, Macho Man vs Snuka or the Road Warriors vs The Orient Express. I don't know where you'd get it at. It would personaly take me forever to find it.

Bix, I want to know how Koko Beware was ruined in the WWF. Can you elaborate on that? What would you do with him that the WWF didn't? He still had some good matchups there like against the Bossman on PPV? and the Babarian in Maple Leaf Gardens. There was one Race vs Hogan MSG match that had a really impressive preformance from Race. I remember being impressed with the match structure in this one when I watched it a few months ago.

Abs are a different animal than other muscle groups. They only ever really get to a certain size and they're not really going to shrink like say your legs if you leave them alone for awhile. They can also be maintained too once you've developed them to a certain level (through different exercises or direct work infrequently). I've had developed abs since I was around 12 or 13. I have never lost them to this day. Not even the time when I had a severe injury and couldn't work out for a year. You can maintain your abs with ab work in minutes once every two or 3 weeks if you want to. It doesn't matter how much time you have for the gym. Abs can always be maintained and the ripped ab look can also be maintained by having low bodyfat. Steroids aren't needed for this even if you are 45. However, they can help with the look by making it easier to have less bodyfat.

Steroids make it easier to have less fat on your body but well built/defined/visible abs are doable without the roids.

People have different individual assesments of what good/okay/great actually are. What's great for one fan may actually be good/ok for another. Is there actually that much of a difference where everyone would rate Magnum as an overall worker? When in comparion to his peers?

Are we allowed to post youtube links on here? People might want to check out El Hijo Del Santo vs Mysterio on youtube. I have no idea but it looks to be a rare match. It's definitely worth watching. You'll never know what you find on youtube. I just saw some Stampede and noticed they had a double ring battle royal like WCW used to have. The difference here is that you had 10 seconds to come back in the ring once eliminated? They may also been the first to do a triangle or triple threat match. Has anyone ever seen any of the Bret Hart vs Dynamite Kid boxing match?

Wrestlemania isn't always worth the price especially for people who aren't rich and to be honost I hope there's a backlash to the price of it like there was a backlash to the price of the PS3. It would serve them right. I'm not going to hate the show and I will probably enjoy whatever parts I decide to watch like the Undertaker's match for example. However, there's just nothing special about the way WWE does things. There's no reason for me to care about anything they do anymore. There's nothing magical and certainly nothing worth paying $70 for. Imo, there's no movie, wrestling or sporting event that's worth $70. It's beyond stupidity I don't exactly know what you're saying in your second paragraph but there's a reason why people go to bars or split the costs with friends. It's way too expensive.

Anyone who pays over $5 for this PPV is a sucker. 70 dollars for a PPV? That's a lot of work if you're working minimum wage. Unreal. Is it only rich people watching wrestling these days?

Strictly speaking, their style may not be the problem. They could tone it down a bit, and frankly, they'd be better for doing that. The problem is that they're kinda small, and their surly bruiser routine might come off as odd unless they're largely restricted to wrestling cruiserweights until they become established. If London and Kendrick were still tag champs, I could see bringing them in, running that feud for a while, and seeing if they stuck. But right now, there doesn't seem to be an obvious place for them. This was my other worry but I didn't feel like bringing up any WWE/size/steroid stuff. I also wasn't quite too sure on how big the Briscoes actually are compared to the big guys.

Yeah, they'd have to reprogram their style, tone down and/or eliminate some of the more bone crunching stuff and all that. Maybe they'd have to get a new gimmick or whatever. That'd be the big worry. It'd be a worry for a lot of wrestlers. However, when you have charisma and a strong athletic base you have a big head start to the finishing line of success. They would still look unique and polished in the ring. There's also no reason why they can't adapt to the WWE style especially when given time.