sek69

From the daily WO update: OVW had some of the most exciting TV of any wrestling promotion, and now I guess no one outside of Kentucky will see it. I wonder if WWE was getting tired of hearing complaints that they were messing up everyone that got the call from OVW.

I always heard that's why the storyline was ended.

The fact that all WWE could come up with for her is to call her fat makes me very sad.

Also, is it me or was Joey's new gimmick "cynical internet wrestling fan"? I swear it sounded like every jaded smark on every internet wrestling board. Did anyone else see those black dudes sitting behind the announce desk during the Lawler/Styles segment? Bruvva did the whole OH SNAP/ AW NAW HE DID-ENT routine when Styles slapped Jerry.

Half of the Rock?

That splash you heard was the internet having a collective orgasm over Joey's promo on RAW tonight.

Poor Trish, pops out her shoulder then Meltz calls her a dude. Wasn't her night, I guess.

He'll be the announcer for the "ECW Brand" no doubt. Tazz too, probably. I think it's a good move since Styles has been uncomfortably lame during this stint on RAW once Vince started getting up his ass over every little thing and completely cut his balls off.

I believe it's the very same.

From the IWC board via DVDVR: What the fuck was a Carolina promoter doing in PA anyway? Dude better have booked a flight out of the country and/or never sets foot in PA again as I'm sure Afa will want to have a chat with this douchebag.

TNA may or may not be the next WCW in terms of competing with Vince, but it's definately the next WCW in terms of giving net fans something to bitch about. The sheer TNA hate on places like DVDVR is mind boggling at times. I don't know if it's large or just a few people being very vocal, but people are wishing TNA would go out of business because they're not pushing all the generic X division flippy flop guys to their liking. I swear, sometimes I think wrestling fans don't deserve to have more than one national company.

I'm watching Jerry Lawler win the AWA title from Curt Hennig, 1988. Lawler's awesome punching + Curt's awesome (over)selling = greatness. The match is in Memphis, so Curt knows he's going to be booed like Satan and just goes balls-out heel. As good as his WWF work was, I'd have to say this is one of the best matches of his that I've seen. It really shows why Lawler's managed to have a 30+ year career almost free of serious injury, everything he does has a purpose and he makes his bumps mean something. When he does his version of Hulking Up (taking down the strap) the crowd pops like it's MSG in 1984 at a Hulk Hogan match. To top it off it has Lance Russell on commentary, who if I had the choice, would call every wrestling match ever. I just love his style, he sounds just folksy enough without sounding like a rube, yet at the same time he's not the stereotypical JR-like overselling announcer.

It's just not cool to be a fan these days, even if you're a former wrestler.

Brought back from the dead! I was wondering, I recall back in my PWI reading days that one of their heel columnists (Eddie Ellner maybe?) made a comment stating that he was sure Lazer-Tron was really a "hooded Hector Guerrero". Finding out years later that he was in fact Lazer-Tron made me wonder why would PWI spill the beans on someone who was in the NWA when they were way more accomidating to the Apter mags than the WWF was. Hell, I think Tron was the NWA World Jr. champ at the time. It wasn't part of any angle, it just seemed like a huge breech of kayfabe from the one place that defended it to the death.

To me, forearms (at least how most guys seem to throw them) look more business-exposing than crappy punches do.

I think the crowd isn't giving the Trish/Mickie angle more of a pop because they've been trained to only cheer for T&A. They got a great reaction for their WM match until the unfortunate botch at the end.

What you said makes sense, but the internal logic of wrestling makes it look weird when you're in a blood feud with someone and you're hitting them with forearms rather than punching them in the face. I guess it comes from growing up a fan of the NWA where guys like Dusty and the Horsemen weren't concerned about the risks of potential hand injuries as the result of punching. You're 1000000000000% right that Steve Austin lightly caressing his oppponent's face after the Thesz Press was some of the most embarrassing shit ever. He'd pull his punches a good 2 or 3 inches too soon.

I've been watching a lot of wrestling tonight, and something jumped out at me: When did the forearm shot replace the punch as the basic striking move for 90% of US wrestlers? I first noticed it in WWE women's matches, and it was fine there since A. They don't want to risk getting accidentally punched in the face and B. Most of them can't throw a convincing working punch to save their lives. When it becomes a staple in men's matches, it looks like the guy throwing the forearms is a pussy who's afraid to punch. It's fine if you throw a forearm to mix things up, but when it's all you do it looks weak IMO. What really puzzles me is WWE in particular has several guys on the roster who throw some real good looking punches. Hell, I half expect Jerry Lawler to leap over the desk on RAW and start showing these motherfuckers how to throw a punch like you have a pair.

I hope they feel shitty about that one these days.

I hope Bob recovers fully and that the experience will be an eye opening "life is too short to be an asshole" lesson.

Interesting show, some of the key points: Triple H as a face has the potential to be not only a MUCH needed change, but the boost his stale character needs to revitalize RAW. Triple H in real life seems much closer to his DX-ish face personna than his Angry Heel one, and it's been long proven that guys tend to do way better when they're basically playing themselves on TV. His position with the company is stronger than titanium now with HHH Jr on the way, and it seems like he's finally allowing himself to relax a little. The fans have pretty much turned him face anyway in his feud with Cena, so they might as well go all the way with it. Looks like the payoff for this "Vince challenges God" angle is going to be Shane turning on his father somehow since he's the one that keeps dying for Vince's sins. Someone must have sent an Angry Letter as well, as they really seemed to be pushing that "according to Mr. McMahon", God will be HBK's partner. I like the pointless T&A segments as much as anyone (especially when Maria's involved) but isn't Victoria's character supposed to hate doing these things? I like the attempt, but since most casual fans have only been around since 1997, having Umaga the 80s Samoan Stereotype bring back the Spike as a finisher isn't getting over. I read somewhere that WWE is pushing this gimmick as some sort of "fuck you" to Samoa Joe for choosing TNA over them. If that's true, I'm sure Joe's only all the more confident he signed the right contract. The Women's title continues to be the belt with the most interesting angle, as now Mickie is Mickie again and now Trish is the crazy one? As long as Trish keeps wearing the brown wig, I'm happy. The Kane angle cracks me up. How brilliant is it to make the date of his movie premiere the subject of the time honored "everyone says the word/phrase that the wrestler asks them not to say" routine? I'm honestly shocked that no one's done this before. I just wonder if the Big Show is going to wear a Pirate eyepatch now that Kane apparently tore his eyeball out. If you don't like the Spirit Squad by now, you're either a terminally jaded smark or you're dead inside. They made the turn from stupid all the way to tremendous. They're so over the top with the dancing and whatnot, you can't help but chuckle.

Hase trained with the Harts and spent time in Stampede, so I'd agree he can speak English fairly well. I would think most of the top Japanese guys know enough English to call a match with an American if they have to. I know Muta has a shoot interview out as well, which he speaks English in. What might lead you to believe that some guys don't know English is the long standing allegation that guys like Misawa don't like Americans and refuse to speak English around them.

Christy Hemme in TNA makes my pants happy.

Not to mention WWE doesn't own OVW so they really couldn't force them to become a new ECW brand. I guess they could say "do this or we'll pull our talent" but they can't come in and start putting up ECW signs all over the Davis Arena.