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Coffey

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  1. Coffey

    A random thought

    By Coffey,

    I didn't really feel like I had anywhere else to post this thought, it wasn't worthy of a thread reply anywhere that I could think of. However, I've realized that I get enjoyment from WWE, especially RAW, the same way that I get enjoyment from watching bad movies.
     
    I can get on Netflix and watch shit like Wolf Cop and it cracks me up. I can live-Tweet about a new Sharkado movie & be entertained for hours.
     
    That's what I do with WWE & RAW. I get enjoyment & fun from making fun of it. That's where my entertainment from it comes.
     
    There's still good matches and funny moments and what not. However, I don't still follow WWE despite hating it. I don't hate it. I just enjoy it differently than some. I like cheesing on it. It's like a campy horror movie to me in that way.
  2. Coffey
    Santino Marella© Vs. Antonio Cesaro: ★ ¾
    Dolph Ziggler Vs. Chris Jericho: ★ ★ ½
    Daniel Bryan Vs. Kane: ★ ¾
    The Miz© Vs. Rey Mysterio: ★ ★
    Sheamus© Vs. Alberto Del Rio: ★ ★ ¾
    Kofi Kingston & R-Truth© Vs. The Prime Time Players: ★ ★ ★ ¼
    C.M. Punk© Vs. John Cena Vs. The Big Show: ★ ★ ★ ½
    Brock Lesnar Vs. Triple H: ★ ★ ★ ★
     
    Cesaro is as strong as an ox & I'm glad to see him win some gold in WWE. The match was built around the Cobra spot, which was kind of ruined by Cesaro kicking The Cobra sock out of the ring & then Aksana having to run around the ring to put it back into the corner. I was legit impressed with Cesaro deadweight lifting Santino for the Gutwrench Suplex though. That was sick!
     
    I expected a lot more from Jericho/Ziggler but they don't seem to mesh real well. Everything after the Frankensteiner was fine, and there were some cool false finishes, but before that spot there was a lot of miscommunication & confusion. The wrong man went over too. I do suspect, however, that some people will overrate this match solely because of the two men in it (much like I think people will overrate the Daniel Bryan match).
     
    Daniel Bryan Vs. Kane was completely forgettable & seemed rather pointless.
     
    The Miz Vs. Rey Mysterio was too short & the ending seemed odd to me. I feel like Mysterio is still in the dreaded "doghouse" in WWE. This match really needed more time.
     
    Sheamus Vs. Del Rio fell flat at the end, just as it seemed to be getting decent. Del Rio also seemed to be gassed up pretty early, which was weird. Terrible finish. Did they fuck up or something? It just seemed so odd & anti-climatic. I really liked the opening with the brawl leading to the double over-the-top-rope spot. I also thought the ADR top rope single-arm DDT was awesome.
     
    Tag title match impressed me. Kofi is SO good & the PTP have really improved. Pleasantly surprised. I wish this match could have had some more time too.
     
    In the triple threat match, haters be damned, The Big Show stole the show (pun intended). Watching him play Goliath while Punk & Cena played pinball was great. Greatly enjoyed this match until the he double-submission spot. Which was great too, although I wish it didn't lead to the confusing finish. Just an excuse to get AJ some TV time I guess (and good lord did she ever milk it). Really killed the flow of the match though & stopped it from being great.
     
    Maria Menounos wearing a Bob Backlund t-shirt was awesome. Concert bombed, as expected, because wrestling fans are there to see wrestling, not a bad live music performance. Layla is the only diva that can dance.
     
    The main event, well, I won't lie, watching The Beast Incarnate Brockzilla beat the living hell out of Triple H brought a smile to my face. HHH got in so little offense for the majority of the match early on he may as well have been Spike Dudley out there! Although I do think that Brock went to the same well one or two too many times (corner shoulder thrusts, arm-trapped body slams, kimora attempts) early the match definitely picked up later. H³ working Brock's stomach was some great psychology going back to his real UFC problems, & Brock working over the arm of The Game going back to his storyline of breaking it was good too. Easily the Match of the Night & I don't think that was an accident either. Not really sure why they went the referee route instead of just officially making the match No Disqualification. You don't see Hunter tap out often, so that was surprising especially with Brock basically no-selling the second Pedigree.
     
    Tonight to me felt like one of those nights where the boys might have been told to "tone it down" so as not to upstage the main event. Fun show, nothing terribly offensive & the main event really delivered. I think WWE just charges too much for their shows & since this was a "Big four" expectations were probably a little higher. But the main event delivered in my opinion, so worth watching.
  3. Coffey

    Why I Watch

    By Coffey,

    I'm going to be completely honest: WWE Monday Night RAW sucks. It's bad television. It has been that way for at least a year, sans one or two moments, which don't make up for the ridiculous amount of time given to us that is just terrible programming but I would argue it has been that way since about 2005.
     
    That being said, the one constant question that comes up over the years is "if it sucks, why do you watch it?" and then people/posters try to make comparisons to other television shows like it's the same thing. "If Will & Grace sucks, would you keep watching it?" It's not the same thing. Will & Grace doesn't dictate, control and influence the ENTIRE industry that it is in.
     
    You know why, even when I know that it will be bad, that I continue to tune-in to WWE Monday Night RAW, without fail, damn near every single week? Because I am a wrestling fan and, like it or not, RAW dictates the wrestling world. It is the wrestling show. The A-show from the A-company. Without RAW, you're out of the bubble for a week. If I miss RAW, I don't feel like my opinion is as valid around the internet on various message forums. Without RAW, a lot of the podcasts and radio shows that I listen to don't make as much sense or are talking about things that I didn't see. Without RAW, I always feel like I'm a week behind and can't catch up until I watch RAW.
     
    Also, there's always the possibility, even if it seems to get slimmer and slimmer over the years, that WWE does something incredible that you don't want to miss live. I missed the C.M. Punk shoot interview last summer when it happened live and I kicked myself for missing it for quite some time. I had to watch it later on YouTube and it wasn't the same. I missed the immediate excitement over it and all my friends talking excitedly about it. Even just that first initial fifteen minute rush that came post-show, I hated myself for fucking up. I saw the debut of The Nexus live and it was great. I don't want to miss moments like those, when they happen live, regardless of how it plays out down the road.
     
    I have been watching wrestling since, oh, 1987 or so I guess. I have been posting/talking about wrestling on-line since the end of 1998. Over that time, from 1987 to today, I have seen a lot of wrestling. WCW, ECW, TNA, AWA, NWA, Mid-South, Smoky Mountain, Memphis, AJPW, NJPW, CMLL, AAA, NOAH, FMW, XPW, Shimmer, SMASH, shit from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's... you name it. The one constant is that RAW will be on TV on Monday night and for better or worse, most wrestling fans will be watching it.
     
    THAT is why I watch RAW.
  4. Coffey

    A(nother) Rant in Reply

    By Coffey,

    This was a reply that I made, amongst friends, in reply to the Summerslam HBK Vs. Razor ladder match which was posted in the "Match-Of-The-Week" group that I'm apart of on Facebook. I just wanted to re-post it here so that I can save it for later:
     
    "The first thing that really grabs me about this match is that the midcard was fucking over. This is for the Intercontinental Title...but it was obvious that they were both going to keep climbing up the ladder of success. In that regard, the damn ladder is almost a metaphor. I mean the actual ladder, in this match.
     
    You look at the "stars" of today, like look at the midcard. No one means shit! The Miz was the WWE Champion and in the main event of last years Wrestlemania going over the biggest babyface in the company to retain the title...and no one gave a fuck. He was still looked at like a jobber. Now he's floundering in the midcard next to the likes of people like Kofi Kingston and Sheamus.
     
    Who is going to be this generations Shawn and Razor? The midcarders that are sure fit potential future main-eventers and title holders? The only guys that I think even have the possibility of being stars are Sheamus, Barrett and Cody Rhodes...and Barrett isn't that good and Sheamus already was WWE champion and no one gave a shit.
     
    What does it say about WWE when their biggest flagship PPV of the year rolls around and they don't trust their roster to sell tickets? Instead, they bring back The Rock to slap in the main event. They bring back Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker & Triple H...and they build the entire show around all of the veterans. WWE doesn't even have faith in their guys, so why should we as fans care about any of them?
     
    When I was growing up, the damn midcard mattered...but it's not just nostalgia. It's respect, and a lot of other factors, like talent. When Piper, Duggan, Roberts, The Dragon, DiBiase Sr. or any of the old school guys come out, Slaughter, people remember them and pop for them. Yet when they try to bring back midcarders from the Attitude Era, no one even knows who the fuck they are. Trish Stratus didn't even get a pop. Brian Christopher was completely shit on (as he should have been). The future is going to be even worse. Can you imagine years down the road, if The Miz makes a surprise return/guest appearance? It'll be fuckin' crickets. But if HBK or Razor show up? Totally banana.
     
    If nothing else, it just pisses me off. There's no emotion, there's no passion. There's no one waiting in the weeds to take someones spot, or a rival promotion threatening to steal your talent. It's a bunch of complacent fucks that think they're over enough and just content getting paid and not getting hurt. Blame it on WWE going public, or TV-PG, or whatever you want, but it's fucking terrible.
     
    John, Chad & I talked about this a little last night because I can see it happening to Dolph Ziggler. Here's a guy that got a shot, albeit a bad one, as a nobody in the Spirit Squad. He obviously didn't stand out, but he played his role and did was he was told. Got some TV time, some experience and whatnot then was sent back to OVW to be repackaged. They call him back up and from the get-go he's fucked again with a terrible name and another terrible gimmick, where he just sits around backstage and shakes peoples hands while introducing himself. Despite the slop, he sticks with it, busts his ass and manages to get over and be a pretty damn good heel. He was the highlight of several shows even just last year, working double-duty sometimes, and always being a damn good bumper.
     
    Look at Dolph Ziggler today. Do you see what I see? I see a mother-fucker with all the potential in the world that has stopped trying as hard as he used to because he knows WWE isn't going to give him a fair and legitimate shot. He's not trying to change his game up, he's not trying to better his persona, or work on his promo skills, or try new shit. He's now Kofi Kingston. Kofi did the same thing. Remember the fuckin' pop Kofi got when they teased him being a top babyface against heel Randy Orton? When he took out Orton's car? Then WWE stopped trying with him and it just killed all of Kofi's motivation and momentum.
     
    Dolph Ziggler has now lost clean, four straight weeks in a row. Their idea of building him up for the Royal Rumble was to get cheap-ass, half-ass "victories" over C.M. Punk only for Punk to beat him about three different times in the one Rumble match. It completely killed Dolph and I don't think it's lost on Dolph or WWE. Now he just doesn't give a fuck. It's sad and WWE do it all the goddamn time. They didn't do that shit with Razor Ramon, or HBK or Bret Hart...and what happened? Bret & Shawn went on to be main eventers that were WWE champions and headlines Wrestlemanias, Razor went on to be one of the biggest things ever in WCW in the most recognizable faction of all-time sans the 4 Horsemen.
     
    It's not rocket science, people! Why does WWE shoot themselves in the foot and then wonder why they're limping? The midcard is bland because it's all overproduced with mediocre talent and everything feels fabricated. Nothing is natural. The matches are average, the promos are scripted, the stories are cheesy...nothing feels natural. It's fuckin' CORNY.
     
    I could rant about this shit all day because it really does piss me off. I've been watching WWE (then WWF) for literally over twenty years...and now this is what I'm "rewarded" with for being a lifelong fan? I go from Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect to The Miz and Santino. I go from Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior to John Cena and Randy Orton. It's a fucking joke. It's not about nostalgia, or rose-colored glasses. If that were true, why are they bringing back The Rock and putting him in the main event of Wrestlemania against the biggest babyface in the company and announcing it a year before it happens? It's because they know their roster is fucking terrible and they don't even have faith that within an ENTIRE YEAR that they could build someone up for Wrestlemania. So instead, they just said "fuck it" and brought back The Rock."
  5. Coffey
    On Sunday, December 18th, 2011 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) held their "Tables, Ladders & Chairs" (TLC) Pay-Per-View (PPV). At the conclusion of that evening, at the 11 o'clock hour, both C.M. Punk & Daniel Bryan were the respective World Champions in the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world.
     
    I could not care less.
     
    Today, Monday the 19th, that does not seem to be the popular opinion while browsing various wrestling related websites and message forums. So I feel I should explain my thought process. First off, yes, I did watch both C.M. Punk and American Dragon well before they showed up in WWE. I watched them in Ring of Honor, like a lot of other hardcore wrestling fans did. So I have the same correlation as a fan that so many other "smarks" seem to cling to as a talking point for this being a big moment. I have, on more than one instance already, seen various people liken this moment to when both Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were world champions at the same time. It's not that I dislike C.M. Punk or Daniel Bryan. I always thought Punk would excel in WWE although I'm not a big fan of his as a babyface. Daniel Bryan is different. I didn't think he had a shot in WWE at all and thought he thrived in Ring of Honor (and the Indy scene as a whole). So it was a pretty surreal moment. Maybe I should feel like it is a bigger deal, as a fan, but I just can not bring myself to care and I think the reasoning is because of how complacent and paint-by-the-numbers that WWE feels.
     
    C.M. Punk going into the night was already WWE Champion. He defended his title to retain in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs match against both The Miz & Alberto Del Rio. The highlight of the match was a bump that Ricardo Rodriguez, a manager, took. Off of a ladder, to the floor, through a table, that he almost overshot. The Miz is about as nonthreatening and un-credible as a top level heel has ever been. He is a joke in every sense of the word. He is boring and bland. So is his character and his promos. He has improved his physique and even his ring work to be completely fair but when I look at him, I just don't see a star. Alberto Del Rio, on the other hand, I used to think had huge potential with a really bright future. Now when I look at him, he seems like damaged goods. It took less than a year for WWE to make him "just another guy." A guy that is constantly outshined by his manager. When Alberto Burrito talks, I can't understand him at all and I really think it hinders his character. I just think back to the classic Vince McMahon one-liner to "spic it up" and have to wonder if "Chico" (as the great Jesse Ventura would say) is over-exaggerating his accent. If so, I really think he needs to stop. Winning the Royal Rumble in January was huge for Del Rio. Then he lost in the curtain jerk of Wrestlemania to Edge & I don't feel like he has ever recovered. WWE have just made both ADR and Miz chickenshit heels that can't actually DO anything. Neither man seems like a legitimate threat to C.M. Punk at all. Not that they should, mind you, but it made the match feel boring and drawn out to me. Anti-climatic and inevitable. Even watching the match itself, the journey to the end wasn't enjoyable because Miz and Del Rio move like molasses. It was like paying $45 to watch sap run down a tree. Maybe that's just any match involving a ladder at all to be fair but I am totally off the bandwagon for both heels if I ever was on either to begin with.
     
    Mark Henry is the best booked wrestler that WWE have had in years. YEARS! A monster heel that was booked as a legitimate threat. He beat Randy Orton, clean, multiple times. He injured and put out multiple wrestlers that were perceived as legitimate threats, such as Kane and The Big Show. He was working better, talking better and even for the first time that I can remember, had some merchandise. Today, reading around, it seems as if Mark Henry was legitimately injured, so I guess that sort of validates the title drop to The Big Show but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. Mark Henry was this big, unstoppable monster not scared of anything. Then he just drops the World Title after all of that in about six minutes to a punch in a Chairs match. If Daniel Bryan was going to cash-in the Money in the Bank anyway, why not have Mark Henry beat Big Show first and then have Bryan, the babyface, pin Henry, the heel for his "big moment?" Especially since Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry have history in the past several weeks. Including a cage match main event on a live Smackdown.
     
    To be completely honest, Daniel Bryan has been treated as a fuckin' jobber pretty much during his entire WWE tenure. Yet because he had that shitty briefcase, we were supposed to never "count him out" I guess? Sure, he would tap out some scruds in matches that didn't matter. Maybe dilly-dally around in the midcard over some non-credible titles (I guess you could argue no belt is credible). But to me, the Money in the Bank briefcase is like a damn death knell at this point. It was summed up best by Cox in the Comments thread:
     

     
    It feels like a very heelish move to me to cash-in the Money in the Bank briefcase to "seize the opportunity" to win the World Title over a beaten down babyface by a babyface. Maybe Daniel Bryan is going to turn heel? Maybe The Big Show is going to turn heel? I don't know and I don't really care. I just know that up to this point, Henry was a heel and had a big history with babyface Bryan. Michael Cole is a (terrible) heel and has...whatever the fuck that is supposed to be with Bryan as well. So logically it would just make so much more sense for babyface Bryan to beat monster heel Henry. No turns needed, makes sense and has continuity. Whatever. I just didn't like how everything went down up to Bryan having the World Title.
     

     
    The rest of the PPV, I feel because of those title holders, is also being championed. However, what I saw was different than apparently what other people saw. I watched Kevin Nash and Triple H shit up the ring and even blow their finish as Nash can hardly walk. I watched the PPV have an unadvertised match featuring the 5-star ring general that is Kelly Kelly. I saw the greener than goose shit Zack Ryder win a title because he's popular on the internet. Barrett/Orton was boring. Sheamus/Swagger was boring. Booker/Cody was delayed twice for no reason and then just a straight forward paint-by-the-numbers match that didn't accomplish anything. To me, I think the highlight of the show was that John Cena was nowhere to be found.
     
    I am honestly flabbergasted by the overall positivity coming out of this show. I feel like I am out of touch. If this is the best that I can ever hope for from WWE, I don't want it. I want the show to feel different. It all feels the same. C.M. Punk was different because he was saying things we all thought. Now he's the top babyface that overcomes all odds and tells poop jokes, just like John Cena was. Spitting one-liners and catchphrases while showing off his latest WWE Shopzone merchandise. When The Rock comes back, even if it's just one show at a time, he is so much farther ahead of anyone it's unbelievable. No one in WWE feels like a star to me. Maybe it's because of the even-stevens booking. Maybe it's because of the writing, the booking, the wrestling itself...I don't know. Mark Henry felt different just because he was a bad guy that didn't always run away. Then after having a great run, he just jobs out in a clunker match and I guess we give it a pass because he was legitimately hurt? It just feels like the WWE as a whole needs some sort of life breathed into it. A new set, new entrance theme (instead of awful-ass Nickelback), something, ANYTHING.
     
    Instead, we get a "smark darling" getting a feel good moment and we're supposed to shit our pants over it and act like everything is A-OK? Why? Daniel Bryan has been awful in WWE. Not his fault as to why, mind you. He's lucky if he even makes TV most of the time. He's "feuding" with a non-wrestling play-by-play announcer. Then he just gets hotshot into a title reign and all across the internet there are smiles and "I can't believe it, oh my God!" comments. The only skepticism I see is people anticipating the worst for the future...but how we got here wasn't good either, it was terrible honestly, and instead it's like everyone completely forgot all that happened before that moment. Well I didn't, and so I thought this show was a disappointment.
     
    If that makes me the bad guy, if that puts me in the minority, if that leaves me out on the limb all by my lonesome, then I'm happy to chill there in solitude. I might be overly bitter, but the solution is not to "stop watching" or "take a break" or "not take it so seriously" or any of those other bullshit clichés that WWE apologists spew forth. The answer is for the show to not fucking suck and for people to stop having such low expectations that just an average show seems incredible to them. It's like eating dirt for a month straight then being giving a bologna sandwich and treating that son-of-a-bitch like it's a 5-star cuisine. Everything is so unbelievably micro-managed that it all comes off as unnatural as Rob Terry's physique. OAK EXPRESS. How fuckin' surreal was it to hear "Rowdy" Roddy Piper refer to fans as the "WWE Universe." UGH.
  6. Coffey

    The Wrestling Dregs

    By Coffey,

    I'm thirty years old and I have a crush on AJ Lee. I now use an avatar of her on both DVDVR and here. I have no shame!
     

     
    WWE Survivor Series was entertaining. No complaints. RAW the following night, however, not so much. Which this time of the year that is not usually a problem as I can just change the TV over to Monday Night Football. However that was the Patriots at home against the Chiefs, so it was a shit-kicking.
     
    As a whole, this is as least interested in professional wrestling as I can remember ever being. WWE, sans Survivor Series, is for the most part, just coasting. There is not an attention grabbing story; nothing enthralling to pull me in. Ring of Honor, to me, is unwatchable. So is TNA. I never got into Chikara either. I'm not a fan of Lucha and Puro has been down quality wise recently (unless there's something I'm missing, maybe Ditch can alert me to it). I have watched almost every SMASH show and although I enjoy it, I wouldn't necessarily say that it is good. It's just different, and I like Kana quite a bit. She's really talented.
     
    I want to start following you guys on Twitter, if any of you have an account there. I like hearing about pro-wrestling talk, but following actual wrestlers results in a lot of advertising and other dumb shit I don't care about that is usually not related to wrestling. So feel free to leave a comment with your Twitter URL, or post it in the "Comments" thread because I asked over there too.
     
    The more shows that I watch this year, the more content I feel voting for Dolph Ziggler for Wrestler-of-the-Year. From an in-ring perspective, from what I have seen, I think he wins it hands down. It's that stupid "drawing" part that makes it a tough sell. I am sure as Hell not going to vote for John Cena's boring ass though. I feel like this year, more so than most years, I have watched A LOT of professional wrestling, from all over the world. I need to start participating in the "projects" because that seems like a lot of fun and really appeals to me. It would be nice to "take a break" (so to speak) from current stuff. It was recommended to me as some friendly advice in a thread here (I can't remember by who, I'm sorry) and I took it heart. That's a good idea and it might help rejuvenate my interest as a fan. I hardly ever buy wrestling DVDs but I am a fan of Goodhelmet, and he has been kind to me in the past. So I'll see what I can do and what my friends are interested in. We were watching Misty's stream on Justin.TV where a lot of Mid-South & old school NWA was shown, but that doesn't appear to exist anymore. I need to get all the old AJPW early 90's classics on DVD, as VHS is a dead format. Plus, lately, I have really gotten into both "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Stan "The Lariat" Hansen so I want some of their work, to go along with Kawada, Misawa & Kobashi, with an occasional Vader thrown in, so that's what I will be looking into. I have never liked Taue and I'm indifferent on Akiyama. Although the best tag match I have ever seen has Taue in it...
     
    For some newer Puro, are there any good Satoshi Kojima or Hiroshi Tanahashi matches?
     

  7. Coffey

    State of WWE Address:

    By Coffey,

    WWE, to me, is in the biggest slump that I can remember for as long as I have been watching. There are so many things that irk me about the current product, that I struggle to even watch the free shows anymore. I missed RAW last week. Usually, if I miss a show, it leads to me downloading it afterward to check it out. Instead, I just read a recap and felt that that was good enough. I have not watched Smackdown in a couple of weeks, despite liking some things about it (RE: Mark Henry) recently. When you factor in the start/stop booking, the parity booking, the Triple H stuff, the Michael Cole commentary, the weekly Diva abomination and all the other "same old, same old" that goes into the week-to-week programming, it never really feels like you miss something. I have no doubt in my mind that I could skip an entire month of WWE shows and be completely caught up from one 10-15 minute pre-PPV recap. Or at least be caught up on the stuff that WWE seems to think is important.
     
    This last Monday, despite having company over to watch wrestling (as per usual), we decided to watch a Nasty Boyz shoot interview instead of RAW, while the TV was on Monday Night Football. Yes, we chose the Nasty Boyz talking over the current flagship show of WWE.
     
    Wrestling wise, lately I have been watching 80's Mid-South and NWA, thanks to Justin.TV. It's a lot more interesting to me and it still fills that void that I have where I want to follow more than just the matches. I like the television format. I want to see the weekly shows; the continuity. I like watching the natural progression. Of course, I also want to see at least semi-competent booking/writing. I don't ask for a lot, I just want a beginning, middle & an end to a story. The end should always be a blow-off match. WWE lately seems to have a lot of beginnings, then nonsensical middles and about five or six consecutive ends. Ask Randy Orton and Christian. Or Randy Orton and Mark Henry. Or Triple H and C.M. Punk. Or John Cena and Alberto Del Rio.
     
    I'm genuinely excited for the Muppet Show this coming Monday. I am a huge fan of The Muppets, always have been, and even plan on going to watch the new movie in the theater. The question I have to ask myself though is am I just setting myself up for another fall? Are WWE going to make me cringe when even seeing The Muppets?? I can speculate about a lot of things that seem like they would be funny: Statler & Waldorf on commentary, a Sheamus & Beeker confrontation, Miss Piggy with the Divas, Triple H & Gonzo in a nose-to-nose confrontation, The Swedish Chef trying to put Hornswoggle into a pie...but will any of it happen?
     
    Another thing that has me extremely weary lately is Linda McMahon running for senate in Connecticut again. The last thing I want to sit through is more of WWE trying to shove their Republican bullshit down my throat using their white-trash programming as a means to do so. Can anyone forget this nonsense: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=289YFguwRG0. To me, those are the type of segments that make me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan. I always think back to the Paul Heyman promo where he said Vince McMahon made wrestling a dirty word...
     
    Anyway, there's another issue that I wanted to address. Throughout the years that I have been reading the internet to discuss wrestling, a few questions constantly reoccur. Questions such as "Why does WWE seem to be against making money?" or "Why does WWE never push someone when they're hot?" or "Why does WWE seem to never have more than one or two guys at top and are afraid to make more stars?" Usually the questions were just rhetorical as there wasn't a logical way to answer them. Or at least so I thought. About a month ago, on DVDVR, someone posed an answer that made a lot of sense, logically. So I thought I would give credit where credit is due:
     

    Quoted post in context
     
    I think the conversation could serve as its own thread, for sure, and be an interesting debate. I had never looked at it from that perspective before. I am not sure how valid it is, but it certainly seems like it could be plausible. WWE as of now, seem to have Cena on top of RAW and Orton on top of Smackdown. Even when they're not the champion. WWE is a publicly traded company but how many of the people that own stock in the company care about the on-screen product? As long as they see gains, regardless of how they happen, or if they could be bigger, I'm sure that the stockholders are satisfied. Maybe WWE becoming publicly traded is the worst thing that could have ever happened to them. Maybe it is not and it just becomes a talking point scapegoat. I am not even sure anymore. One thing is for sure, at 30-years old, I definitely appear to not be the target demographic anymore. Especially as a 30-year old that has watched wrestling for twenty years and has internet access.
  8. Coffey

    Ring work be damned!

    By Coffey,

    The last couple of weeks here on PWO, we have seen several threads talking about who was the best at working in various decades. This, in turn, led to me having a conversation in person with one of my friends about it. That conversation then spawned into a lot of listing names and trying to back-up each selection with examples of why they were great. We were better at eliminating names than being able to defend them and bump them up, for one reason or another. It probably had a lot to do with our pessimism and cynicism. That being said, that discussion then morphed into "OK, well if these guys are great if we're solely looking at in-ring work, who are the top guys if we look at everything BUT in-ring work?"
     
    I'm not sure if this would make a good thread or not, so I thought I would write a blog about it instead. I do have two questions to ask at the end.
     
    Obviously there were a few names that immediately sprang to mind: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan..
     
    I should preface this by saying that there are a lot of people with a bigger knowledge or pro-wrestling than me, especially around these parts. I was born in 1981 and didn't start watching wrestling until about 1987 or so. I missed the territory days and for me, growing up, it was a lot of WWF and then later on some TBS NWA/WCW and some ECW at the end of 1998. I took a hiatus from wrestling sometime around the WWF steroid trial. I came back and starting watching against, unsurprisingly, in 1996. So I saw a lot from '87-'92 then from '96-present. I got internet access in January of 1999, right after Starrcade 1998, where I saw Kevin Nash end the streak of Goldberg. One of the first things that I did was go on-line to read about impressions of it, and to my surprise, I saw a lot of people shitting on both Nash and Goldberg, and from there.. things changed.
     
    As that were, if anything, I just found myself finding more information about wrestling, broadening my horizons and seeing a lot more wrestlers, promotions, and shows due to the power of this media age. I was able to read about the history of wrestling, watch the work of guys when they were still in their prime, see recognizable faces without the WWF gimmicks attached to them.
     
    Even so, I find it hard-pressed to name too many names in this discussion with them not being huge WWF mainstays. Hulkster, Rocky, Stone Cold. There have been a lot of great promo guys over the years. Ric Flair was name-dropped, as an example. However, a big part of what made Flair great was he would build-up the match and then the match would deliver too. But if we're taking the match out of the equation and we're just going on the ability to get over a character, have memorable stories and promos? He's still in the conversation but from the stuff I have seen, it was more about his matches. Growing up, using Hulk Hogan as an example, I remember the stories; the soap opera. I remember him getting squashed by Earthquake and having kids sent in their get well soon cards. I remember Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter and Hogan getting a fireball in the face. I remember the Mega Powers exploding and Savage attacking Hogan in the medical room as the doctors were tending to Miss Elizabeth. Hell, I remember Zeus blocking the steel cage door and beating Hogan down so that his match with The Big Boss Man didn't happen! Then Hogan would cut promos, monumental promos about fault lines cracking, towers falling and dog-paddling... The Rock did everything from sing-a-long songs to the infamous "This is your life" segment. He was legitimately funny and entertaining. I remember having discussions about his ring work actually, because it was not as crisp as that of others. More specifically knocking his Sharpshooter or Belly-to-Belly Suplex or whatever. When it came right down to it though, none of that mattered. He was just too entertaining and you wanted to see what he would do next. The same with Austin. Who is he going to stun? What is he going to drive to the ring? It wasn't about the matches at all.
     
    So here are my questions:
    1. How much do the actual matches really matter, especially in this day and age.
    2. Who is in the conversation that isn't Hulk Hogan, The Rock or Steve Austin?
     
    I'm sure a case could be made for Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Maybe Mick Foley.
  9. Coffey

    RAW 10/10/11

    By Coffey,

    In an effort to go in a new direction, I'm just going to list the things that I liked about this RAW. Sure, they might be small, little things, but I think it's better than just being completely hateful and writing paragraph after paragraph about all the shit that sucked. If you want to read that, you can read pretty much any message forum following that show.
     

     
    THINGS I LIKED:
     
    - The disarray to start the show, the slow pan showing to an empty commentary table.
    - Natalya's dress.
    - The first half-hour being Michael Cole free.
    - C.M. Punk asking Triple H if he could wear his blazer to do commentary.
    - Jack Swagger's Powerbomb on Evan Bourne
    - Air Boom now having matching attire, a tag team theme and a tag team entrance.
    - Brodus Clay hype video.
    - Mark Henry still continuing his dominance.
    - Ricardo Rodriguez
    - Dolph Ziggler (he might be the highlight of the show, week-in & week-out)
     
    That's all I can think of.
     
  10. Coffey
    I want to believe that this is good news. I want to believe that this means things will change for Impact Wrestling (although I do think that lately they have done some pretty good stuff, namely the Bobby Roode build). I want to believe that this means TNA will have a more steady, logical, and fun directiion. Most importantly, they need continuity. However, due to pessimism and a less than stellar track record, I can not give TNA the benefit of the doubt. So I will have to take a "wait-and-see" approach.
     
    Just looking at the way that it is written, it does not sound like anything has even changed...just that they added yet another cook in the kitchen. Dixie Carter is still there. Vince Russo is still there, just with a fresh new job title. Hulk Hogan is still there (as he was just re-signed). Eric Bischoff is seemingly not going anywhere.
     
    The Hogan re-signing news was posted by PWInsider. I have no idea why when TNA make-up contracts they always have them end right before their biggest Pay-Per-View of the year in Bound for Glory. Wouldn't you think the contracts would end after that show? I'm not a business-man though, so whatever.
     
    So, apparently all TNA have done is add Brother Love to the creative "team." To me, it just seems like a lot of false hope from fans. Any news regarding Vince Russo not being in his current position excites people. I don't think that anyone wishes for TNA to fail. If they do, it is solely because they have lost faith in TNA and want them to fail so that someone else can pick up the pieces and try again. Most people want an alternative, something that doesn't suck which they can watch when WWE does. Vince Russo just has a reputation, a stench on him that is not going away. Sort of like how Paul Heyman has a reputation, or Jim Cornette has a reputation, both of which are opposite Vince Russo (regardless of how true it is or not).
     
    TNA does a lot of things that I just don't agree with. Re-signing Hulk Hogan, bringing back Jeff Hardy, keeping Vince Russo around, etc. I think Hogan can still bring something to a show, not in an in-ring sense, obviously, but as a talker and a name. So of course TNA seem to be building toward a Hogan match. Same with Ric Flair. He has a good mind for wrestling, he's still a good talker...but he should not be in the damn ring! I can't justify Jeff Hardy, after awhile you have to stop giving a guy chances. Vince Russo though? I'm not sure. Maybe with a real, true filter he can be beneficial. Just as an ideas guy. Come up with a bunch of ideas, any with potential we can mold into something useful. Instead, he comes up with ideas, but doesn't have a middle or an end, so we just get a lot of starting and then no continuity and a lot of confusion. If Prichard can help with that, then OK. I just have a lot of doubts. So TNA need to prove me wrong for a chance. Prove everyone wrong.
     
    A lot of people seem to be taking the "Prichard has to be better than Russo" stance but I'm not so sure. Is Russo even not going to be around? It sounds to me like Russo will be getting filtered through Prichard now but still doing the writing, so I have no idea. Even if it does fail, or even if it succeeds, the important thing to remember, no matter what, is that Bruce Prichard...LOVES YOU!
     
     
  11. Coffey
    At Hell in a Cell (the previous night), The Miz & R-Truth did a run-in after the WWE title main event. This is a black & white picture of the aftermath. It is also the reason why I cared to watch RAW at all...and I'm glad that I did!
     
    From reading around various websites today, the feelings on RAW last night seem to be.. mixed. I, however, liked the majority of what I saw. Namely the closing angle with everyone walking out on C.O.O. Triple H & the awesome 12-man tag team match (which even featured Mason Ryan). WWE right now have a lot entertaining guys on the roster. Although not main event caliber (at least not all of them, not in my opinion), people like Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston & Dolph Ziggler are damn entertaining to watch. They bring that high energy feel to the show, and I'm not talking about the Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware tag team.
     
    I wasn't a fan of how Mark Henry was used over the course of the night though. He's been built as this unstoppable monster. He has beat Randy Orton clean in the middle with his finish on two consecutive PPVs. One for the title, the next (in a Cell) to defend the title. That's pretty impressive. However, after the Cell match, Orton beat him down with a chair and he ran away. On RAW last night, after Randy Orton had already wrestled a match, Mark Henry came out to start some shit or potentially split a wig. A brawl broke out, with security doing run-ins to pull the two apart. For the first time since becoming a new & improved THUMP-slam throwing main eventer, Orton got the upper hand on Henry. I'm O.K. with that, actually, because you need people to believe the babyface can win too. But then later in the night, Henry was talking about "unsafe working conditions" and there not being good enough security. This is the same Henry that purposely injured people with a Pillmanizer (Kane, Big Show, Vlad Koslov) and just earlier in the night was subdued by said inept security. It just didn't make a whole lot of sense. Whatever.
     

    Storyline "kayfabe" or not, this was hilarious to me. What does Morrison have to lose at this point though? He's already in the doghouse, being completely buried (see his twenty second loss to Alberto Del Rio) & his wife was fired. At least he's doing something entertaining for a change! Go Twitter.
     
    Speaking of Twitter, Kevin Von Erich has been going off. Shitting on Mark Henry & even Chris Jericho. Here's his Tweets:


    Pretty funny burn at the end there. I'm surprised WWE never tried to get Lacey Von Erich though. She seems to be exactly what they would be looking for. A famous name, blond with big fake tits. Maybe she is being black-balled because she worked that Hogan/Flair show? I have no idea. She would have to be better than fuckin' Kelly Kelly though. Take that either way...
     
    Allah Ackbarrrrrr!!

  12. Coffey
    Oct. 03, 2011

     
    * Mark Henry is the best thing in all of U.S. wrestling in 2011. I hated him running away from Orton & his chair after the match though. Nice to know that a Hell in a Cell match can not end a feud!
     
    I'm not sure why no one here seems to use the blog feature anymore, but I wanted to jot some of my random wrestling thoughts lately down. This will be pretty unorganized and focus a lot on current WWE or TNA. Although I'll occasionally hit a nostalgia trip and mention something from years ago. Granted I know full well that I am not as learned as a lot of people here about the history of wrestling. I claim to be nothing but a normal fan with his own random thoughts. Feel free to comment, I just didn't wanna spam up a thread:
     
    * I don't understand why Alberto Del Rio lost the WWE title two weeks ago if he was just going to win it back last night at Hell in a Cell anyway. Same with Beth Phoenix: why not let her win the title in her hometown of Buffalo if you're just going to give her the belt two weeks later anyway?
     
    * Speaking of Beth Phoenix, I'm really glad that the Divas title is off of Kelly² & she held it for way too long. She can't even run the ropes properly & it's completely ridiculous that she's even wrestling, let alone a multi-month champion. At least Trish improved! I'm not sure if women can draw in the States, probably not, but what can draw in wrestling anymore? WWE offering a bunch of different aspects during their show is not a bad thing. They're slowly seemingly bringing the tag division back to relevance. Cody brought back the old IC belt. Why not try to improve the women too? Let Tamina get some work in. Beth/Tamina or Natalia/Tamina. Maybe try to groom AJ Lee as the female Ricky Morton. She's still really green but I think she has a lot of potential and it seems like it would be pretty easy to put sympathy heat on a pretty, small girl. Give little girls a role model too.
     
    * It was noted by someone on, I think DVDVR that John Cena is "the Jason Voorhees of WWE." Now I can't stop picturing him in a hockey mask & it's hilarious. No matter who has the belt, he's going to keep coming. You can't stop him. He'll get you eventually.
     
    * I wish everything in WWE didn't feel like a second-rate rehash of the most popular characters/angles in WWE history. I wish WWE, when trying to recreate things, would at least look farther back in history than like six or seven years ago. Randy Orton is a poor man's Steve Austin with his tweener gimmick. John Cena is the Hulk Hogan style 80's babyface. Punk/HHH is pretty much Austin/McMahon all over again. Although now it's morphing into some sort of weird conspiracy angle featuring like six other people (Miz, Truth, Ace, McMahon(s), Nash). At least it's kinda different that way though.
     
    * I think Kofi/Bourne is a good tag team. Whoever chose the name "Air Boom" should be fired though. Also, they should do more double-team moves, have an actual tag team entrance not just a spliced singles entrance together. Give them matching outfits, not just matching colors and a damn tag team finisher! The Dudleys were super over in large part because The Dudley Death Drop was booked as, well, death. I think they have potential but if WWE treats it half-assed, it'll be viewed as half-assed.
     
    * I really like Booker T. on commentary. He's still learning and makes mistakes, which sometimes make moments a lot more awkward, but he's funny and feels fresh. He had the lines of the night at the PPV last night and on RAW last week. "I had that steak at Denny's this morning!" in reference to Ross saying Sheamus was tougher than a $2 steak.
     
    * Impact Wrestling is doing some good things lately. I think Eric Young and Robbie E. are legitimately funny. The Robert Roode road to the title is fun. I like joker Sting.
     
    * Watching older stuff, I sometimes wish I would have been born about five years earlier. I just turned 30, but I missed a lot of great stuff the first time around in the 80's. I'm a big fan of Nikita Koloff, but I completely missed Magnum TA. I got to see some WCW Muta, but had no access to his Japan stuff. Now as an adult, I can seek it out but it's not the same as seeing it happen at a current state with the eyes of a child. I took for granted how many greats I was watching growing up: DiBiase, Rude, Roberts, Santana, Valentine, Duggan, Steamboat, Perfect, Adonis, Piper, Bad News, Eaton, Morton, Savage, etc.
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