Coffey

I am more pessimistic than optimistic. The things which I enjoy, I am often lambasted for on-line as it seems to differ from the norm. I don't hate Triple H and actually think he's really good. I have never liked Rey Mysterio (or most Cruserweights, or Lucha Libre in general). Although I am not a fan of the "WWE style" so to speak, I do think it is unbelievable for wrestlers to be normal looking guys that you would see on a college campus. It is why I struggle to get into a lot of Independent promotions, like Ring of Honor, because I can never take a Jack Evans or Amazing Red seriously. I think talking, especially in the United States, really matters more than the in-ring action a lot of the time (although both are obviously important) and it's a big reason why I have never been super high on Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit or the like. Which is odd because I do like a lot of Puroresu, despite the language barrier. I first started watching professional wrestling sometime during the build-up to Wrestlemania V. I distinctly remember the Mega-Power splitting and Savage getting jealous at Hogan carrying Miss Elizabeth to the back. So sometime around that Saturday Night's Main Event is when I started watching. According to Wikipedia, Wrestlemania V happened April 2, 1989, so I guess that means I have been watching wrestling for about twenty-two years now, which puts me at seven years old when I started watching, which sounds about right. I first got on-line at the end of 1998 and I remember being confused by all the hate thrown toward both Kevin Nash and Goldberg. That was when everything changed, really, including my perspective and a lot of my opinions. The more information available to you, I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain. Once you start listening to shoot interviews and reading about the backstage stuff, you even find yourself watching the on-screen product differently. On more than one occasion, when watching wrestling nowadays, I will see someone like, let's say Alberto Del Rio. He wins the Royal Rumble to win a title shot at Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania comes and he curtain jerks and loses. So the first thing I think is "maybe he failed a wellness test." That shit would never have crossed my mind without the internet, obviously. I find myself going back and watching a lot of older stuff as I am generally disinterested in the current product. I was completely apathetic for Wrestlemania this year, however I am highly entertained by going back and watching old One Man Gang, Adrian Adonis, Butch Reed or Jim Duggan stuff. Not only that but when I was growing up, I did not really realize how good I had it. The undercard was full of people like Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, Ted DiBiase, Ricky Steamboat & Randy Savage. Nowadays, the top of the card is people like John Cena, The Miz and Kane. It's just two different worlds. I would like to think that I have not been persuaded negatively by differing viewpoints on the internet, but over time, I most certainly have. I like to think that my thoughts, ideas, opinions and whatnot are all just me being me and having my tastes change over time, but those tastes changed because of reading or hearing insider shit, you know? A lot of the time, one of my biggest downfalls, is that I get too...passionate, I guess you could say, when defending my viewpoints. Sometimes, I'm not even sure...I know viewpoints and opinions are all subjective, but when someone has the complete exact opposite opinion to me on everything I think I'm being trolled, or that they're irrational or whatever, but all arrows in my head point to them being wrong. Obviously an opinion can not really be wrong, it's an opinion, but it just seems way too coincidental. I can't tell when people are just fucking with me because I'm easily riled up or when they honestly just believe everything that they type. It's why I've been banned from pretty much every forum I have ever posted on! I have been to a lot of shows, spent a lot of money on wrestling, love talking about wrestling and still even get together with friends for wrestling events but I almost feel embarrassed if a non-wrestling fan finds out that I'm a fan. It usually leads to ridicule and it's hard to defend when their idea of wrestling is just whatever Vince McMahon presents on Monday Night. So, I'm not sure if that really explains who or what I am in regards to being a fan, but I wouldn't rule out the fact that now I just am out of habit anymore.

I came into the thread to say Butch Reed but was pleasantly surprised to see that I as beaten to it repeatedly.

Observer said Lawler will not be using a Piledriver at Wrestlemania. Just curious what everyone thought about that. Big deal, not a big deal? Good decision?

I fail to see how the biggest wrestling related news story in months is just a few throwaway comments in a hard-to-find thread here. This Jeff Hardy shit is literally hundreds of pages of discussion on other message forums.

I think it depends on the criteria that you're looking at. Growing up in the United States and watching NWA & WWF, being able to talk matters a lot and when watching Puroresu I never see them talk at all and if I did, it would be in a language that I do not understand anyway. In Japan, at least when talking about the Misawa's and Jumbo's, it was more about what happened in the ring. In the United States, I think it was more about making people want to see the match because of the storyline leading up to it. People didn't want to watch Hulk Hogan because he was a master technician in the ring. In the end, professional wrestling is a business, so how much does being a draw matter? Or longevity? Austin made a ton of money but wasn't on top for very long. Plus when he was on top, his body was pretty broken down and his best matches, I would argue, were behind him. The first name that came to mind for me was The Great Muta. Although he falls into the can't talk/speaks foreign category so how could I put him over someone like Flair? Even with his longevity. I think it's like trying to ask someone to name their favorite song. If you listen to a lot of heavy metal and you ask a hip-hop fan what their favorite song is, obviously you're not going to agree.

I heard Meltzer mention Abdullah and the Road Warriors, but Sunny was news to me.

I disagree. I don't think Miz should ever get a clean win unless it's against a jobber on Superstars. The Miz is not supposed to be a challenge for John Cena at Wrestlemania. He is supposed to lose and let the big babyface go over on the big show. People are not paying to see *IF* John Cena can beat The Miz. They're paying to see The Miz get his ass kicked. Just like Honky Tonk Man. You spend all the build up running away and keeping the belt by cheating. Then at the big payday you show your ass and get manhandled. That seems pretty simple to me.

This...is one of the best things I've read in a long time. If I could quote it somewhere, I would. It just makes too much sense.

That was a really good PPV. The Trish stuff was bad. The tag match was bad. The rest was watchable with the Lawler match and both Chambers being downright good.

If The Rock was genuine in his promo last night, it sounded like he was back to me. He said he wasn't leaving and was not there just to promote a movie, blah blah blah. Granted, he could have very well just been in character and telling the fans what they wanted to hear, or I could have just been hearing what I wanted to hear. Now he has an official The Rock Twitter account too and his Facebook has blown up. If nothing else, people know he's around again and that can't hurt. There's other matches that I would like to see, like Vs. The Miz, Vs. Dolph Ziggler, Vs. Wade Barrett, I just don't think they would mean anything. Now all I need is for Big Dave to come back and I would be golden! (I'm such a mark)

I'd love to see Rock Vs. C.M. Punk and Rock Vs. Alberto Del Rio but I see your point. Those are the two that I think will be huge for the future.

The rush? The fans? The love of the business? You could make the same argument for making movies.

Call me gullible, I suppose, but I do not think it is out of the realm of possibility for the Rock to not only wrestle but return to WWE full-time.

You can't hide the truth...

When he said that The Rock is back and not leaving, I marked out, I won't lie. In one promo, he managed to shit all over Cole and the terrible G.M. angle plus make Cena & Miz look like jokes. You can't teach that shit. The fake out with the female legs was awesome.

That Wrestlemania update article makes me angry because it refers to movie characters as heel and face.

Yes and a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Pay-Per-View. I'm not really sure what they were trying to accomplish. They got rid of King of the Ring, they got rid of Survivor Series (or wanted to) but they keep making gimmick shows, so I'm not sure what the point is.

Triple H did put Sheamus over pretty big... I'd like to see The Undertaker lose the streak to a heel John Cena. That would be fresh and new. A lot of the matches that WWE seem to be gearing toward, I have no interest in. I do not want to see The Miz in a main event. I do like Del Rio & Punk but I don't think either are big enough to main event Wrestlemania yet. I'm bored with Edge. A heel Cena (yes, I know the internet has been clamoring for it forever) would at least give the WWE a direction for all of next year but it probably would not be the best move business wise. Would love to see The Rock announced as the Wrestlemania guest host tomorrow night on RAW but getting my hopes up for that, it'll just turn out to be Justin Beiber or some shit instead. What I really want is for the RAW Anonymous GM shit to end. I hate Michael Cole with a burning passion and the whole laptop shit is terrible television. I thought I remembered reading that the new GM was going to be Triple H and I would be OK with that. He doesn't need to wrestle again. Just let him come back as a familiar face that Sheamus ending the wrestling career of, in a position of power. Was Diesel just a one night thing? They sort of teased something with The Big Show when Nash was leaving the Royal Rumble. I could not care less about The Corre, which is a shame because I think individually they could have bright futures. All of them slapped together, on Smackdown, after C.M. Punk basically punked out Barrett though? It just makes them look like jobbers. Then again, so does the name "The Corre" to me. When are they going to announce some more names for the Hall of Fame? The Shawn Michaels announcement felt like a kick in the nuts to me as he was just wrestling a few months ago. He's not even been off TV for a whole year, how can I get excited about him being inducted? I want an old school familiar name that we have not seen on TV in a long time, like Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior or even Lex Luger since it is in Atlanta. Edge/Del Rio, Orton/Punk, Cena/Miz, Taker/HHH? Just ewww. Also, having a Money in the Bank PPV hurt it a lot, I think. Kinda killed the mystique. Just like they did with Hell in a Cell. WWE can not protect anything anymore. Even the Elimination Chamber.

This is something that has always somewhat perplexed me: why do some wrestling fans like having surprises spoiled for them? I can understand wanting to read about some insider stuff and feeling more in the know, or whatever. But, for me, a lot of the appeal of wrestling is the surprises. When people are uploading pictures of Kevin Nash at the airport where the Royal Rumble is being held at with newly dyed hair, that kills that surprise for you. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I would rather be legitimately surprised. Now in the day and age of Twitter and cell phones, I don't think that will happen again.

Trish Stratus might be the most overrated wrestler ever, not just female wrestler. It is almost a parody at this point. I agree with you. I could see an argument for Cena. Not the rest. Even if you exclude other countries, you still have a lot of years with a lot of great wrestlers to narrow it down to 100.

What you said. It's funny that the only "exciting" stuff in WWE these days seems to be : Kevin Nash and Booker T showing up at the Rumble. Jerry Lawler probably getting a match at Mania. Speculation about Sting showing up in WWE. Well, that's the vibe I get as someone who doesn't watch the product but kinda follows what happens. I don't know if that says more about the current crop of wrestlers or the writers. It's hard to care about someone like Kofi Kingston in regards to someone like Jerry Lawler, ya know? He's just not on the same level. Even with CURRENT Lawler, which is saying a lot. I had this conversation just this morning with my buddy John actually. We were talking about the Royal Rumble and that we were both happy Del Rio won 'cause we see potential in him. But, early in the Rumble, it was just jobber after jobber after jobber. There was a stretch where it was like Yoshi Tatsu, Husky Harris, Chavo Guerrero, JTG, Michael McGillicutty, Chris Masters, David Otunga, Tyler Reks, Vladimir Kozlov in a row. Even with the Nexus tie-in, it was just hilarious watching one jobber after the next come out. It's really hard to compare the midcard of WWE today with the greats of the midcard growing up, where people like Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Ted DiBiase (arguably) & Jake Roberts weren't good enough to be better than midcard. Now we got WWE Champion The Miz.

If it was Sting, I assume WWE would use the old "Crow" version of Sting? Honestly, when I saw it, I just assumed it was The Undertaker because he always comes back for Wrestlemania. What would Sting even do in WWE? I hope they use him better than Diamond Dallas Page.

I concur. That was literally the worst wrestling game that I have ever played. It felt like it was not finished. Like, not even close to being finished. An early developmental phase. About 30-40% complete game. It sure was pretty though! This was pretty much how I felt about it from watching the trailer. It felt like WWE: Jam. Which does not necessarily mean that it will not be fun. In fact, I think that would make a great XBL game. It's just that as a stand-alone release, with a retail full price, it'll be hard to justify picking the game up when it seems like it would only be fun for short periods of time with friends. Obviously it is way too early to tell if that is true or not, but I'm not a real optimistic person. So it's the TNA iMPACT! engine, produced by the NBA Jam dude and looks like it'll play like Ultimate Muscle. That's not my cup of tea, so perhaps passing judgment on it early was a bit hasty, however as a first incarnation, I definitely hold to my premature opinion that this game is going to be awful. I want substance, not pretty, shiny graphics and hard-selling using famous people from my childhood. I think Savage is awesome but he can't make a bad game good.

It's hard to deliver a promo with the same passion when you're at the top as opposed to still climbing to the top. He'll never top his promo where he was walking to the ring from backstage, making fun of how JBL used to cheese on him.

I can't tell if you're joking or not but who exactly is the audience for this game? I guess that's why they're putting random people like Kofi Kingston in it too so they can sell it to a younger audience. If it's featuring legends, like Savage, newer fans won't even know who they are. Are older fans going to want to play a wrestling video game that is more like Ultimate Muscle than it is WWF No Mercy? It's hard to say, I guess...but I'm not.