goc

I still think they are going to get there with Sheamus, they need to keep Bryan busy with someone else until they get to Lesnar at SummerSlam. I think they were always going to do a Kane match so might as well get it out of the way early.

Why can't there be a place in wrestling for midgets?

Yeah, pretty much. I don't know when that one got all screwed.

This really doesn't apply to this board, but I'm sick of reading people online shit on Brock Lesnar as a part-timer who "doesn't give a shit and is just there for the paycheck." You can't watch some of the crazy bumps he takes and tell me he doesn't care. Watch Brock in New Japan if you want to see "doesn't give a shit and is just there for the paycheck" Brock Lesnar.

The only thing in the past decade that was heavily pimped about Japanese wrestling that I watched and actually got into was the New Japan/Z1 feud. I really liked that feud because all the guys worked like they hated each other, and the 6 mans and tags were really fun. But even then, once it got into Masato Tanaka vs. Koji Kanemoto singles matches it started to lose my interest. Yes, Japanese style has "more wrestling" if you mean they hit each other more and do more moves. But that comes at the expense of selling most of it. I'm just not a big fan of the "fighting spirit" idea that you could get right back on your feet and fire up the last time I hit you with a clothesline but when I bounce off the ropes and do it again now it's the finish.

He was doing really great mic work in the backstage segments with him bullying people and then they cut all that short so they could throw him in to the CM Punk/Paul Heyman feud. They are experts at cutting off any Ryback momentum. I now make a very late apology to Dylan Waco who I disagreed with when he said that putting Heyman with Ryback was killing the act. I thought it would just enhance it, but Dylan you were right, they fucking killed the awesome Bully Ryback. If you have a Network Subscription and you didn't see SummerSlam 2013, go back and watch the Bully Ryback segment. Skip to the finish of the Divas match and it's right after that, before the CM Punk/Brock Lesnar match.It was the absolute best one and didn't get much love because it was on PPV and not TV.

Batista was the obvious choice IMO, but since they seem intent on doing Shield/Evolution, I don't see how Kane isn't the 2nd best option. It's not a matchup that is going to sell PPVs or I suppose now Network subs, but it seems fairly obvious they aren't trying to do that with this match. They're just trying to give Bryan a win with the title to establish him and also close the book for good on Bryan/Kane. Yes they COULD do that on Raw, but then who does he face at the PPV? I don't even think they should be building to Cesaro/Bryan if they really want to make Cesaro the next big babyface. They should be building Cesaro to be the guy who beats Lesnar for the title after Bryan loses it to him and can't get it back. The only other option to me would have been to have Sheamus come out and interupt his celebration with Brie tonight and mock him as a champion, talking about how the last time they had a title match Sheamus beat him in 13 seconds. But I think most WWE crowds would see Kane as a more credible challenger than Sheamus.

I really wish they would just let Kane have the mask without that stupid fake hair on it.

I agree with what Bix is saying about some people thinking that Japanese wrestling should just be taken for granted as "better" than everything else. Why? Because they do more moves or work at a faster pace? Well what if that is my big problem with it is that they do a bunch of big moves and hard strikes but they don't really get sold that much?

Probably from ECW guys who just didn't understand how the company could go out of business when they were still in front of hot crowds. Pretty much just some bullshit someone made up.

Yea I think it's fair to say it has more to do with what is digitized and ready to go already. I do find it kind of surprising they've never really rolled out any weekly AWA TV, but if they only have the squashes without the local promos that might make sense. They've had the AWA library for a long time now.

I don't think it's really fair to say it's a "surveillance state" thing as much as them being able to see what's going on unfiltered through someone else's opinion or dealing with trainers sending them cut up footage to highlight a certain guy or make another guy look like shit for personal reasons. It does make it difficult for them to claim ignorance if there are ever any lawsuits regarding injuries due to bad training.

I know they have a completely retarded history with iPPVs but I still feel like even going back to that would be better business than going back to regular PPV.

Hornswoggle had a match, possibly 2 matches with "Lil" Boogeyman sometime around 2007 or 2008 on Smackdown. They also had a Finlay/Hornswoggle vs. Boogeyman/Lil Boogey tag match.

I've been watching some 2004 Smackdown stuff on the Network because it's a giant hole for me. It's interesting to see how different the typical John Cena fan looks in the crowd. 20 something white guy with a jersey doing you can't see me and brushing off their shoulders. I think some of the reason he might get such a hated reaction from those same fans now is because of how he went from being fake Eminem to fake Will Smith and really quickly. He was still pretty damn good in 2004 though, he and Rene Dupree had a match better match than I expected at Judgment day.

I'm not crazy about the new logo but it was definitely time to switch up from the "scratch" logo.

It failed miserably when the company was much hotter, I can't see it doing any better now.

The date on this show is 11/1/86. Show starts with The Stud talking about getting rid of Sullivan's Army one at a time. He challenges any of Sullivan's group to a fight. Scott Armstrong is the ring announcer for this show so it appears Freddie Miller might be gone. First match is a New Guinea Headhunters squash. Their entrance music is very fitting, much better than the song I complained about for Sheihk Abdullah & Kris Von Colt. I don't know what these guys did after their Continental run but they have some good looking offense and do the gimmick well. Headhunters win when they do an assisted slingshot splash over the ropes from the apron. Sullivan doesn't bother calling him "The Tennessee Stud" he always call him Ron Fuller. He asks Solie whether or not the Stud is Ron Fuller and Solie "Uhhh"s until Sullivan tells him he'll let him off the hook. His group drew straws to see who would face Fuller and Kris Von Colt won. Sullivan admits he's not really from Germany. He was born in San Francisco living a "wild lifestyle" but he found himself in a library in Berlin. Reading books on a great leader. Colt says now he is following a great leader Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan says Fuller is a fake pretending to wear a white hat while he lies and wears the mask. "Evil lies in all men's hearts." Sullivan talked about Fuller eventually being by his side, this feud could definitely peak my interest if they have Sullivan try and tempt Stud into turning on The Bullet but I don't think that's where this is going. Our next match is our U.S. Junior Champion and the King of Wrestling, improperly announced as "self proclaimed" vs. Dr. Tom Pritchard. I write this every time but my love for Welch is really declining as this feud with Tom Pritchard goes on. I parrot myself in saying he really needs more clearly defined babyface to work with. Welch wants to shake hands and Pritchard kicks him then pokes him in the eyes. Welch has control for a while and then ends up pulling Pritchard up from a pin. Pritchard starts fighting back and eventually ends up slamming Welch off the top rope. Welch goes for something in his trunks, Pritchard kicks him in the stomach & Welch drops it. The ref sees Pritchard put it on his hand so Pritchard drops it and when Welch goes to pick it up Pritchard sunset flips him and pins him for the win. Welch is under the ropes so this title change shouldn't stick any more than the last one but we'll see. We get the dueling promos gimmick with Scott Armstrong instead of Miller. Armstrong talks to Pritchard & Street in the ring and then Roy Lee Welch & Rip Rogers talk to Gordon at the podium. Welch cuts a great promo about how he was cheated with his voice rising and cracking. Rogers brags about the neck brace Miss Linda is wearing and promises to take the pink belt. Next match is a squash for The Nightmares. Their look is SOOO 80s. Lime green tights, face paint with pink and blonde hair. The fans to do not seem to appreciate The Nightmares "distract the referee and switch without a tag" spot as babyfaces. Solie "uhh"s his way out of a jobber's name to my amusement. Nightmares look have looked really good as babyfaces in their two matches so far, I didn't care much for what I saw of them as heels earlier in the year. Gordon is a the podium with Adrian Street and the neck brace wearing Miss Linda. They show a replay of the match where Rogers KOs Street with a foreign object and then Linda tells the ref about it only to get clotheslined by Rip Rogers. Street says there is no way Rogers is going to get away with that. Miss Linda won't be at ringside until she is recovered but Street is going to take care of Rogers in their upcoming No DQ match. Solie puts over a $100,000 22 man Battle Royal that will be split between the last 2 men. Sullivan talks about how he has the odds with 5 of The Army. He tells The Army not to worry about it, he'll handle how to spend the money. Main event is Kris Von Colt vs. The Stud and it starts fast as Stud attacks Colt on the apron as he's coming in. Colt bumps his ass off for The Stud and I guess you'd be inclined to do that when you wrestle your boss. Match ends when Headhunters run in after Stud gets Von Colt in a sleeper. Stud gets beat on by the New Guinea Headhunters until The Bullet runs in and makes the save. Gordon says it's like a new match and then lets us know that Chris Von Erich is still out from the sleeperhold. They go all the way with that "like a new match deal" because out of nowhere during the brawl on the outside of the ring, Bullet rolls one of the Headhunters up and the refs counts a 3. Come on now. Kevin Sullivan runs in and Gordon says we've already had 2 matches and now it looks like a battle royal. Please don't turn this into a battle royal now. The Nightmares run in,The Bullet loses his mask but they go out of their way not to show him. The Sheik runs in and throws a fireball slightly above the level of Hogan/Warrior II. Steve Armstrong runs in to help cover up Bullet, the faces finally clear the ring and that was a pretty crazy brawl. The faces are at the podium afterwards and Bullet's mask substitutes are the best. Next week is going to be an 8 man tag between Stud, Bullet & Nightmares vs. Kris Von Colt, The Sheik & The New Guinea Headhunters. Gordon then hypes the month of November and gets me excited about a Triple Chance Two Ring Battle Royal. They rarely put this much time into hard selling you into the arenas, and that combined with all the empty seats during this taping makes me think business was falling off hard.

I really loved the John Cena vs Randy Orton Iron Man Match from Bragging Rights 2009. People seemed to throw it in the "good" pile that year while I thought it was MOTY and my favorite Cena/Orton match by a mile.

Haven't lost interest in this or anything but I was knocking these out at a faster pace because I wasn't working a lot, now things have picked back up at my job so I have a lot less time. That, and WrestleMania made me get sucked into the WWE Network for a bit. The date on this show is 10/25/86. We start with Gordon giving a rundown of today's card and promising a Tag Title Match and a U.S. Junior Title match. First match of the show is The Nightmares against 2 scrubs. They are wrestling the whitest Mongol I've ever seen, and for pro wrestling that's saying a lot. Are there even any legit Mongolian wrestlers other than Killer Khan? Nightmares do some pretty flashy stuff for 1986 including a nice looking suicide dive. Nightmares win with a Tombstone/Top Rope Legdrop combo. Kevin Sullivan is at the podium with his group talking about the real Nightmares that Bullet & Ron Fuller have are of Sullivan's family. He says Kris Von Colt is going to buy up some property in Alabama and start a commune. Nightmares cut about the most generic promo possible in response and don't really seem to have any idea what's going on in the area yet. Next match is Rip Rogers facing Adrian Street for the Southeasten Title. I still love watching Adrian Street come out to "Imagine What I Could Do To You" Boy they REALLY want people to chant Fleabag at Roger's valet Brenda Britton. Rogers tells people not to say it before every match and Gordon spends a lot of time talking about how "some people" have been calling her Fleabag "as of late." Street has the gimmick dialed all the way up to 10 today, tons of schtick with Linda combing his hair and him looking into a mirror before the match. I don't remember seeing Street grab his opponent's ass as a heel but it works great as a babyface spot. Rogers has to roll outside to regroup and Brenda wipes the affected area with a towel. Street ends up doing it again, Rogers bails and then Street plants a big kiss on the ref! The ref stumbles around dazed and confused, flooded with new and unexpected feelings. Neat little finish here as Brenda slips something into Rogers' hand as he's in the corner and he KOs Street with it as Street moves in on him. Rogers tries to hand it back to Brenda behind his back but Linda chases her back and takes it. She stuffs the object back into Rogers' tights as he pins Street and then tells the ref to check him after the match. The ref reverses the decision and Street wins by DQ. Brenda & Miss Linda get in each other's faces in the ring and then Rogers turns her around into a big clothesline. Rogers steals the pink belt and takes off. Rogers cuts a promo with the belt saying he beat Adrian Street, the belt is his regardless. Street looks pissed off. He cuts a promo on Rogers saying that he doesn't care about the belt, he isn't going to let Rogers get away with what he did to Linda. Street cuts a surprisingly good fiery babyface promo and I continue to be more and more impressed with him as a babyface. We get Sullivan and his Army at the podium. Sullivan & Gordon are "like the Walter Kronkites of America, what we say is the truth" Sullivan goes completely out there talking about how The Sheik was dropped from the womb into the desert where he crawled for 6 hours and was about to die until a jackal came and he sucked the life out of it. Sullivan tells Solie he doesn't make threats, he makes predictions. He says Solie is one of the top brass around here, he isn't happy about the rule that there can be no more Singapore Suicide matches on TV. Everyone has to pick a side in this war and Sullivan knows that Solie is too smart to pick the wrong side. Next match is The King of Wrestling Roy Lee Welch defending the U.S. Junior Title against Roy Lee Welch.I thought Pritchard just won it 2 weeks ago? Gordon continues to mistakenly call him a "self proclaimed King" Pritchard's tights give Solie a fit as he calls them "well uhh teal, aqua, marine, blue you name it. Actually dark blue and light blue" Pritchard still uses heel tactics, so we get some dueling hair pulls. A ref bump (drink!) leads to Roy tossing Pritchard over the top rope, Pritchard skinning the cat and coming back to toss Roy over the top rope, which the ref sees. Welch wins by DQ. We get some local promos from Wendell Cooley, Tom Pritchard, DWB & Sullivan's Army for the SUPERBOWL OF WRESTLING in Columbus. The "main event" is Kris Von Colt & Sheik Abdullah squashing some guys and coming out to music that really doesn't fit AT ALL. I wish I knew what song that was but it's just some 80s rock that doesn't fit these dark, evil characters at all. It kind of goes without saying that Kris Von Colt is not from Germany and that Sheik Abdullah does not appear to be from anywhere near the Middle East. They keep one guy in the ring the whole match and keep pulling him up from pins. Colt finishes with that old school backwards elbowdrop off the top rope and jobber #2 never even got in the match. The show finishes up with The Stud and The Bullet at the podium with Gordon. Bullet says Steve Armstrong is hurt but he's not alone because he's got friends like The Stud. Stud says nobody has hurt him more times than the Bullet but that is behind them because they are united against Sullivan's Army. Sullivan calls them down to the ring and it goes back and forth until Stud & Bullet head down to the ring. Bullet & Stud run in and start cleaning house 5 on 2 but eventually Sullivan's Army gets the best of it and the show ends with Bullet & Stud escaping the ring.

Just thought I'd chime in and say Bob Armstrong is great. Even in his 50s he does a great job working the crowd in his masked Bullet gimmick with all the goofy dancing before the match, and in the ring he can still go. I can only imagine how good he was in his 30s. A great promo too, my favorite stuff I have seen from him is I think like 1983 where he turns babyface again by begging Ron Fuller to let him be his partner against Arn Anderson & Jerry Stubbs, and let Bob try and make up for costing Ron Fuller the World Title when Bob turned heel over a year ago. One of the best I've ever seen at really connecting with the audience and making you believe in everything he says.

Really love the heels celebrating it like it was the greatest thing ever, popping champagne in the locker room.

I don't really know why but I was a HUGE mark for Smash as a kid and really didn't care about Ax at all. My Smash action figure wrecked everyone, even the Undertaker.

Hahaha that was fantastic, so glad someone put that on youtube. JR was hilarious and the guy couldn't even fucking run the ropes! He managed to get his head caught under the top rope for a second on one of them.

Urban legend. He is asked about it in his shoot interview and is completely clueless. Reed/Martel could have been great, and I could see that match easily ending up in my top 10 for the AWA set.