med2089

That's an incredibly valid point. Looking back at his past year, it's mostly been against guys like Punk, Rock, Truth (who had a short run as a heel that was pretty hot before he turned himself back kind of organically), and now Lesnar. It's worked to keep that split dynamic, but then one has to question if it'll fall flat if he does eventually turn because of those programs.

See, Cena's situation is so unique that it's hard to say if he'll ever turn. Part of me really wants to buy into the "Cena's refusal to turn is a turn" theory, but I'm not sure I can believe WWE is smart enough to do that.

I just ran through the board a little bit to make sure this thread was never started, as it's something I thought of yesterday while at work and thought it would be interesting conversation. Over the years, there have been guys like Ricky Steamboat, who were career babyfaces and, looking back, if they had ever turned, wouldn't have worked as a heel because it didn't fit their persona or style. Looking at today's landscape, what workers are the type that should never turn, as working from the other side wouldn't fit for them, based on personality or style? My examples in this case are all heels - most notably, Wade Barrett and The Miz. Those two are the type who are perfect in their roles (maybe not their placement on the card, depending on how you feel about Miz) and would not pan out well as faces IMO. I guess this could also be expanded to talk about guys who didn't turn in the past, or did turn but it didn't fit for them.

I liked the show, but there was a lot of little stuff that bothered me. For example, if Michaels is crooked enough as a ref to kick one of the wrestlers, why isn't he crooked enough to just count three regardless of whether said wrestler kicks out or not to complete the screwjob? If you're going to fuck someone over, go all the way with it. Likewise, I think it's pretty shitty that there were 12 guys in the GM match, but the entire thing seemed designed to ultimately get Eve over.

That's also very important - the wrestlers have to be willing to listen to what you're trying to tell them. The countout thing is the worst - I've been a part of a couple accidental shoot countouts where they then had to improvise a way to restart the match. Sometimes it works out really well, and others, it really doesn't. Shiiiiit, brotha, that's all you had to say. I dunno what it is about completely incompetent egomaniacs that make them think "hey, I'm the shittiest wrestler on the entire goddamn planet... I should promote a show AND be the ridiculously super-dominant top villain!", but I've seen several of 'em. Fuck guys like that. Never met one who wasn't a complete prick. Yeah, that's usually the case - in at least four segments on the show, preaches about keeping to your times and keeping everything family friendly, but then goes to the ring, goes over time by at least ten minutes, and says every foul word he can think of. And of course, always a TERRIBLE worker.

As a referee, here are some of the rules I live by: 1. Like others have said, stay out of the way. Nothing is worse than getting in the way of a spot and potentially having a negative impact on the match. This is probably the most important thing (other than help with communication) that a referee can do. 2. Don't draw any attention to yourself, unless told to do so by the promoters. Even then, be careful about how you do it, as it could cause more problems than it's worth. 3. Be firm, but not too firm. Again, this is an "avoiding attention" kinda thing - you're not supposed to be over. You're supposed to be enforcing the rules and counting pinfalls. 4. React for bigger moves, but don't overreact. I believe it's OK for a referee to give the feeling of "Holy shit! That just happened right in front of me!" but not to overdo it. It gives a certain feeling of believability - you're not an emotionless robot out there. 5. Work your match around the wrestlers you're working with. For example, it doesn't hurt to do little things like say "Si or no?" to someone who is/portrays a Mexican import, because if you're asking them "Hey! Do you want to give it up?", they're not really supposed to be able to understand you. 6. Don't telegraph nearfalls. Earl Hebner and Scott Armstrong are notorious for this, and it drives me crazy watching them. I had this happen once - a finish got changed on the fly, and I was supposed to get bumped, but the spot got changed to where they never bumped me. So the promoter, who was in the match as the top heel/champion, decided the best way to handle this would be to shoot choke me in the corner. I decided the best thing to do in this instance would be to go down as quick as possible so he could get on with the spot and I could get out of there ASAP, as he was the type that would attack people at random just for the hell of it. He left immediately after, and left Rockin' Rebel in charge without asking him, including paying the building and the doctor. Needless to say, I never went back after that night.

Could we say Sean O'Haire falls in this category? They had weeks of vignettes to build his debut, then put him with Piper for some reason and he was gone.

Ooh, I wanna play! My apologies if any of the names have already been stated: Stevie Ray Steve McMichael Sam Houston Johnny Gunn/Salvatore Sincere/Tom Brandi The Sandman JT Smith Butch Reed George South

I feel like the novelty of The Rock has worn off at this point. Actually, I'd say it wore off around the time that had that absurd birthday party for him on the air, but now it really feels like he's overstayed his welcome. At some point, he's going to have to say something other than "trending worldwide" and things that are marginally vulgar. His segment was such a chore to sit through last night.

I reffed on a WXW C4 show in Allentown, PA about a month ago where Brian XL was in the opener. It was the first I had heard of him being around in a long, long time.

I really think Cole was trying to gloss over it to stay focused on the match when he said "yeah, real hurt" really quickly - almost sarcastically - after Lawler pointed out what was going on, but they really had no choice but to highlight it when the entire medical staff was out there attending to Barrett. That said, if you work for WWE's production department, seven-second delay is your new best friend tonight.

But...but...that made money once! Sure, it was 15 years ago, but it did! It HAS to work again!

It's definitely illegal to blade in Pennsylvania. Frank Talent would also STRONGLY frown upon spitting.

The last I remember the use of the manager's license was around 2000, when Mike Sanders had one to be at ringside with the Natural Born Thrillers on some random WCW PPV. He had a card with the WCW logo on it that just said "manager's license." It was laminated and everything. I wish I could find a screencap of it, because it was ridiculous, even for WCW. The best part is that he didn't even manage whoever he was out with - he just did commentary for the entire match. Some manager!

The standard bodyslam is often kind of a humdrum-looking move. Not much motion, not much impact. Unless you're doing it on a guy bigger than you or unless the guy taking the move can really sell his ass off, it comes off as boring sometimes. Heels historically often tended to be big monsters or annoying little assholes who specialized in pinball bumping and theatrical overselling, so they tend to make the move look more impressive when they take it. But nowadays it's seen as such an obsolete piece of old-school offense that some audiences will shit on the scoopslam. I still remember a Mike Knox vs Little Guido match, where Mike did five bodyslams in a row and you could hear the crowd becoming audibly less and less impressed with Knox each time he repeated the same basic move.Wasn't Ezekiel Jackson doing the same thing recently? It's been a while since I've seen him do it, so I can't really remember what reaction he was getting.

I feel like the atomic drop was a babyface move because it meant that the heels were getting their comeuppance after a bunch of cheating during the heat segment (as IIRC, such things would generally happen during the face on fire segment). It gave the crowd the chance to get some laughs at the heel's expense. The gorilla press was just meant to be such an amazing feat of strength that the crowd had no choice but to pop for it. I don't seem to remember a lot of heels doing it, though I'm sure I'll be quickly corrected on that. The normal bodyslam baffles me, though. I'm not sure why that would be such a babyface move.

I can't say I can remember the last time I saw the atomic/Manhattan drop combination, complete with the wacky selling. That always got over huge.

I absolutely can not stand the way Scott Armstrong telegraphs a near-fall. There's never any drama, which is funny, because that's what he's trying to create.