Coffey

My best games were Mortal Kombat II, X-Men Vs. Street Fighter & Killer Instinct. Also, to tie this in with pro-wrestling, WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game by Midway. I used to rock people with Doink. Those were the ones that I bothered to get decent at, anyway. I have high expectations for Mortal Kombat X & will be getting a new generation console just to play it. Probably will buy an arcade stick so I don't have to play it with a controller too.

My tastes have changed a lot over the years so nowadays, I get more out of good character work than I do good in-ring work. Like in WWE, Lana & Paul Heyman interest me a lot more than anyone wrestling. For Indies, I really like Silas Young in Ring of Honor. I don't think he's a great worker but he makes me pay attention whenever he comes out. I'm interested in what he's doing. Also him looking like ex-Steelers NFL head coach Bill Cowher cracks me up. On the other end of the spectrum, Grado is a hilarious comedy wrestler to me. He just recently came to the United States & he reminds me a lot of Colt Cabana. Also, his entrance made me mark out: I like Enzo Amore. Although I fear his catchphrases will get old quick in he gets called up & can only see him working as a non-wrestler. I also like Bobby Fish (ROH) & Simon Gotch (NXT) quite a bit. I guess I like things that are more fun nowadays than watching wrestling like I used to where it felt like I was looking for things to be critical about. I was way too negative & pessimistic. I got the point where I felt like I hated everything & I was questioning why I still bothered. Just had a bad mentality about it all.

Titus O'Neil reminds me a lot of Chris Masters. By the time he got pretty good, he was already on the shows that nobody watches, so no one sees the improvement & it's probably too late. If you were to slap him on RAW now, he wouldn't get a reaction. Crowd is trained to see him as a jobber. Ask yourself this: regardless of how good Titus gets, is he going to be on RAW mixing it up with the top names anytime soon? Not really fair but I don't think so. I feel bad for Titus because he has gotten a lot better & is fun to watch so he should be rewarded. I would rather watch Titus O'Neil than Randy Orton or Kane, for example. Or, for non main eventers, give me Titus over Miz or Stardust any day of the week. It's a shame that more people won't get to see him.

Been on Shoryuken for years. Was a competitive Mortal Kombat II player back in my arcade rat days and transitioned over to some Street Fighter games when I was younger.

First one that came to my mind, as a mark, was ECW One Night Stand. Yes, it was mostly for nostalgia but it felt like ECW, despite being put on by WWE & it was fun. There's been some pretty good January 4th NJPW Tokyo Dome shows lately. I would have to revisit some of them before throwing one out there though.

I don't know, I don't think it really "protected" anyone. In fact, I think quite the opposite. I think everyone in the main event actually looks worse. Brock Lesnar even looked, to me, like he didn't lose once but twice. Sure he got the F-5 at the end but Cena had him beat when Rollins interfered. And Rollins had him beat after the Curb Stomp when Cena interfered. I am not a fan of Brock looking that vulnerable. Even if there were multiple STFs & multiple Attitude Adjustments. I think the Hell in a Cell match would have had more intrigue if Brock still looked like Godzilla heading into it. Then you could have humanized him by throwing his ass into the steel. I don't know why WWE, to this day, are still so paranoid about John Cena looking week. He's been on top for a decade, he's a 15-time world champion, he's beaten everyone multiple times. If a loss would throw all of that into disarray then everyone behind-the-scenes is fucking terrible at their job. I'm not sure if ending this Pay-Per-View (do we even still refer to them as that?) with a screwjob setting up a third straight PPV with the same main event is a great idea. How many people would renew their subscription to see the same match again after they were fucked the last time? It doesn't matter if it's $50 or $10, that would upset people, I would imagine.

Horrible ending. Not happy about that at all. Whole reason I watched this damn show was for the main event. Well, at least Lesnar still has the title. I guess we're getting Brock Vs. Cena in a Cell next month.

I hope after Jericho leaves again this time it's the last time we have to see one of his bullshit "comebacks" again.

Jericho Vs. Orton in 2014. LOL. I haven't watched RAW in a month. No idea how this feud even happened. I just know that Jericho is leaving.

Is Mark Henry shoot hurt or something? He can barely walk...

Goddamn it pisses me off when Michael Cole says Wrestler X "likes to have fun." No shit, Cole, you fucking moron, who DOESN'T like fun? That's why it's called fun! Jobber.

3-hour RAW is 3-hour Nitro. 2-hour throwaway Smackdown is 2-hour throwaway Thunder. We have come full circle.

Mojo Rawley Vs. Bull Dempsey has the potential to be the worst match in the history of professional wrestling on the "no one gives a flying fuck" scale.

Thankfully there's an NFL Monday Night Football double-header tonight, so no one will see it.

I still think that Reigns wins the Rumble & we get Brock/Reigns at Wrestlemania. They can run Bryan/Brie Vs. Triple H/Stephanie & blow off the Authority stuff.

They should never, ever cut out the Wyatt entrance because the crowd is so interactive with it. It's a great visual that makes WWE look good. They should shave the time off elsewhere.

How about just different moves other than finishers & roll-ups ending matches in general? Can we get back to the days of buying near falls as if the match might be over? Will a Powerslam or a Spinebuster ever just get the job done anymore? There's not really any drama if you know when the match is over & all the 2-counts are meaningless leading up to that point. Personally, I think it would add more to wrestling if there were a return to that. Book some upsets and establish that any move at any time could get the job done & there's more mystery surrounding match outcomes & I might be more interested. Watched an old Nitro last night. Chris Benoit Vs. Steven Regal. Benoit went for a plancha, Regal moved. Rolled him back into the ring & pinned him. The match was over. I didn't see that coming -- just assumed it would a 2-count or that Benoit would grab the ropes. Good thing they showed a replay as I pretty much missed it the first time. It was more intriguing.

Funny you mention the shouting, Goodear, as that stood out to me last night as well. The flailing, yelling & like slapping his own head, holding his eye whenever he takes a shot. The more of a wrestler I watch, the more the little things start to irk me. The spaghetti legs selling of Terry Funk, the twitching of D-Von, Bret Hart never closing his mouth when he wrestles, you can't help but start to pick up on things after awhile.

The last week, with my friend John, I've watched all of December 1995 of WCW & January of 1996 WCW. The shows, (Nitros, Saturday Night, Starrcade [sans NJPW wrestlers] & Clash of the Champions) are pretty much all the same guys having interchangeable matches: Luger, Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting mixed in with some Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan & The Giant shenanigans. Hogan is wrecking everyone, Savage & Flair are trading the world title, now it's Dungeon of Doom & IV Horseman stuff. Anyway, every show pretty much has had a Lex Luger match. And they've not really been all that bad, truthfully. The Torture Rack looks visually impressive & is sold as a big deal. I also remember Lex having a pretty good '88 or '89 when he was managed by Harley Race & using the Piledriver. So, anyway, easy question; complex answer: Lex Luger or Triple H? I honestly think it's pretty close but would like to hear arguments for either man.

Yeah, looks like he's heading to the Cowboys, assuming he passes the physical. Which I have no doubt he will.

This will be the first time that I listen to Chris Jericho's Podcast, apparently! Seriously? You've been missing out my friend.... I have purposely avoided it because I have no desire to listen to Chris Jericho talk. Just not my cup of tea. Triple H showing up, has piqued my interest because I'm curious about the sort of questions he'll field. I would much rather prefer it were Steve Austin or even Jim Ross instead.

So did everyone else.

Loved ECW. But it's not the 90's anymore, it's not innovative anymore & I'm not a teenager anymore. When I was 17, of course I liked a wrestling promotion that was filled with blood, cussing & women running around in nothing but a thong. I bought in to a lot of the characters. I was a huge Raven mark and him going to WCW was a big deal to me. Taz & The Dudley Boys were also huge for me. Admittedly, I also thought the world of Rob Van Dam at the time as well. I was a lot younger, a lot more hormonal & it felt more "real." Also, it can't be overstated how much the crowd was a big part of the appeal. They all seemed to be having a blast & I wanted to be a part of that. It was like a secret underground promotion that not everyone was supposed to know about. When I was staying up until 1 A.M. to watch an ECW TV show on a throwaway sports channel on a Saturday Night, it felt a helluva lot different than a Saturday morning recap WWF show when I was a kid or the 6:05 Sat WCW show featuring jobbers & scrubs. All the wrestling itself wasn't great but it was more about the over-the-top stories, the characters & there was a lot of good promos in ECW too. I could buy into the show & was emotionally invested in seeing things play out. ECW was really my first exposure to a hardcore wrestling product. I had seen bloody brawls & whatnot but I wasn't exposed to Japan or anything yet in 1998, so seeing New Jack jump from a balcony or The Dudley Boys put Spike Dudley through a flaming table...that was all new to me. And Sabu was just straight-up insane. Table spots were new & fresh to me. So were the kendo stick blows from Sandman. Was it all it was cracked up to be? I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of revisionist history going on. I feel like a lot of newer wrestling fans associate ECW with what WWE tells them it was & others look back on it with rose-colored glasses (probably myself as well). I liked it for what it was at the time. I don't have a huge desire to revisit it but it filled a wrestling void in my life when I was looking to branch out.

I, personally, would be more than happy to see simple, yet effective, moves such as the DDT, Sleeper Hold or Spinebuster become finishes again. I cringe whenever I see a DDT in a Divas match get no-sold.

This will be the first time that I listen to Chris Jericho's Podcast, apparently!