El-P

Jeff Hardy in 2005 is probably one of the worst, most useless, dumbest worker I've seen. And that covers a lot of ground. There's no way to have a good match with him. The "table match" gimmick is stupid to begin with. And hey, it's in a cage, since it's Lockdown, the first "all cage match" PPV, another dumb as fuck idea which was rendered even dumber with the added gimmick in every match. So you can have clusterfuckery on top of making the cage match irrelevant in one night. So there. Hardy. The cage at least prevents him from walking around for ever, but he's just worthless. When Raven is on offense you can at least get a sense of purpose. He sells too, and bleeds so to make the cage a palpable element for the first time since the beginning of the PPV. Hardy's offense looks like shit, he can't sell one bit, making comebacks on random. It's just painfull and predictable. Yeah, he does falls from high places, here the top of a cage, twice, but that's about it. One smart spot when Raven uses the big "door" to unbalance Hardy. But nothing leads to nothing, Hardy thrashing himself through a table from the top has him making a comeback two minutes later. Zero drama. Just a bad, overclusterfucky heritage of the Attitude Era-kinda gimmick match. Waste of time. It was however, still better than the Hardy vs Abyss matches the previous months. That's how godawful these were. (and yeah, the usual bad TNA referee work coupled with Don West at an all-time terrible and annoying just made this even worst. The women looking concerned looked like shots from some other card, I have no idea why anyone in that smarcky annoying crowd would be concerned for Jeff Hardy, who is unable to showcase any "character work" except "look at me, I'm gonna fall !")

Funny how some people don't seem to get the subtlety of bending an old narrative into a slightly new one. Of course the Madusa incident was refered to for years when Montreal was brought up. The difference now is that : *Madusa fired the first shot in the Monday Night Wars* and basically is the reason why "Montreal happened". How isn't this completely ridiculous ? Like it's been said, Flair fucking showed up on WWF TV with the WCW Big Gold Belt in 1991. Between December 1995 and November 1997, you have two years of petty shit and lawsuits between the two companies, you really think it would have changed anything when Bret didn't want to put over Shawn, Vince's golden boy, if just the Madusa incident had not happened two years before ?

She was dull as hell as a babyface in WWF. If at least she would have kept her MadUSA identity, she could have been the counterpart to Lex Luger. Well, we know how well it worked out for Luger, but those were the years. The name Alundra Blayze always sounded contrived to me (and back then I had never saw the girl before). Her first Mania match was basically a competitive squash against Lelani Kai who had not been around since the Glamour Girls days, not built at all. Speaking of which, the idea that the american audience had "never seen anything like Madusa" before is kinda funny when you think about those matches against the JBA. Kai was certainly a better worker than Madusa in her prime. And I like Debbie, but like you said her better days were in WCW working along Heyman. I did enjoy her and Mona working around a washed up Savage too though.

Read the post. Orton doesn't talk about how to approach Vince or to deal with the writers. He's talking about "not knowing how to show respect to the business backstage". It's the usual etiquette bullshit.

Of course it was mentionned. But it was never made that important before th HoF. Luger showing up on Nitro was infinitely more important. Luger's profile as a star improved ten times just by jumping back to WCW. He was over as all hell during the glory days of WCW. He popped ratings when he won the title from Hogan. Madusa was an afterthought (although she has been used much better over there than in WWF too, before Russo showed up that is).

I can agree with this. Both made pretty stupid decisions at the time.

It wasn't the start of the MNW. Lex Luger showing up on Nitro was. Bischoff giving out results happened way before that point. Yeah, it did lead to a lawsuit. Then the Billionnaire Ted stuff happened. Then the other lawsuits about Razor & Diesel. Madusa thrashing the belt wasn't that big of a deal when it happened really, apart from a "holy fuck" moment. It was given a brand new meaning this year, as part of the brand new WWE narrative of Alundra Blayze being a big deal and shit. Which, she really wasn't. Like, ever.

Vince "didn't know" that Bischoff supposedly never would have had Bret throw the belt in the trash because of the lawsuit. Still. The whole "Madusa throwing the belt is the first major blow of the MNW" is a brand new narrative that magically appeared because of Madusa's HoF induction. Now we're getting even sillier with "Madusa throwing the belt is the reason why Montreal happened", when infact, yeah, the very fact Madusa threw down the belt and the following lawsuits made the very idea of WCW doing the same shit again with Bret Hart quite insane. WCW were stupid, but not that stupid.

Hilarious and absurd on so many level. Randy Orton. A guy who "paid his dues to da business" by working nowhere but the WWE and getting pushed to the top straight away solely because of his family name, while remaining a black hole of work, promo an charisma for his entire career, the only thing getting him over being re-doing DDP's finishing gimmick. For more, see two posts above.

Well, watched the beginning of that show. Kinda odd to see shoot interviews on WWE TV now to be honest. Is JBL always that wooden ? He's a terribly dull interviewer, he's like an old fucked up Ken plastic figure. Got my bullshit detector going crazy in the first ten minutes already, with Madusa talking about how great a worker she was and how guys in WCW couldn't follow her matches. Well. I still want a real, non corporate interview with her so she can give actual memories of AJPW (instead of just "Japan"), but what I saw is soooo dry because of the usual WWE twist. The stuff where she was shooting shit with other girls was much more interesting. WWE produced shows are just so…. WWE. EDIT : oh man, and now we have to hear again that Madusa trashing the belt was the start of the MNW. Funny how it wasn't even a blip on the radar for ever but since they got back to her now it's like the biggest event ever. That company...

Sounds interesting. A legit Madusa shoot interview would be fascinanting thanks to her multiple experiences : AWA, WCW in the early 90's, mid-90's WWF, Nitro era, and of course the whole Japan years. Where is Sean Oliver when you need him (instead of doing yet again some Youshoot with current former WWE guys with shit to say) I guess it's a much easier point to make today with Charlotte, Sasha, Bailey & Becky having legit great matches. Still surprising indeed. As far as timelie goes, Madusa was still in WWF in the fall of 95. She worked against Bertha Faye on RAW in October but I guess left before Survivor Series, rumour has it she didn't want to work with Aja Kong. And then she showed up on Nitro in December.

So, Catrina and that hot police officer are actually a thousand years old thanks to some aztec medallion ? I totally there. A war is coming ? Shit, I want this to turn into pro-wrestling Games of Throne. That Moth vs Killshot garbage match had the cool thematic visuals to it, which is a nice call-back to those WCW shows on the beach or in the graveyard (on the ramp I mean). Yeah, it was ridiculous, and Killshot I couldn't care less, but Moth has the creepiness down pat, right there with making the ever great Melissa Santos part of the game and looking scary with the blood face. The final spot I saw coming, and it was pretty grand in its ridiculousness (and then again, I really enjoy the fact that death spots are sold like death spots in LU) . This is what I want from Lucha Underground. Thus far the new seasons is totally delivering, but I'm only at episode two.

"He's FAT !" Big Poppa Pump.

Even worst than their previous match. Hardy is a worst version of New Jack, really. We get a dive from high scafolings into two tables early on, which doesn't mean more than a transitionnal boot in the face. Truly awful work. The kind of garbage that deserve its name. Jeff Hardy is a complete tool of a worker. Oh, we get a thumbtack bump at the end. How useless. Can't wait 'till Abyss is paired up with someone he can actually work to something fun. Hardy drags everyone down to the pits, so whoever is next is cursed.

Hardy truly has looked like shit since he debuted in TNA. Sloppy look, super-sloppy work. I don't get the appeal, like, at all. Abyss has proven he can have very good or even better matches with the right opponents, but with Hardy he has no chance. Shit match with Hardy being easily one of the worst worker in the company (the same company that has a bunch of indierrific green-ass guys and washed up fuckers like Konnan).

Finally binge-watching some Lucha Underground. I guess this isn't the hot new thang anymore since there has been zero talk about it in these parts. Or maybe all happens on Facebook/Twitter now. Anyway, I don't care Meltz decreting it had jumped the shark and going nowhere, I'm glad to have Dario Cueto back on my TV, ridiculous spotfest and funky gimmick matches, with those B-movie, luchaxploitation vignettes ! Rey Mysterio vs Pentagon Dark was quite a main-event for a season debut too. And damn, La Catrina !!! Let's see if this season really is losing all the fun like it's been said from people following the spoilers.

Oh, Shane should bring back WCW Nitro already. He bought the damn company.

Holy shit ! Holy shit ! Holy shit ! Holy shit. For fuck's sake.

Probably a slip because he does think that Snuka snuck his way out of a life sentence for beating a girl to death.

You don't say. Tremendous match. Couldn't do much better than this. All was basically perfectly executed : offense, selling, psychology, "character work", pacing, drama (with the blood on the last part leading to an amazing "finish"), booking. Pro-wrestling at its best. MOTYC. Probably MOTY in 2005. Two great workers having a classic. That's what TNA should be remembered for.

This is so sad. Condolences and thoughts for his family and friends.

Can anyone post that "'member Goldberg ?" pic again ? Seriously, the brand new exciting thang in 2017 : Goldberg. Young fresh and new. I can't stand nostalgia in general, but in WWE, it's taken to new heighs every year. Now we're talking about DREAM MATCH WRESTLEMANIA MOMENT ™ Goldy vs Taker. Whatever happened to get caught in the zeitgeist ? Ya know, nWo, Steve Austin… Oh yeah, Charlotte vs Sasha, or Bailey. Yeah. Women. They seriously are the only thing worth being excited about on the main roster. This was *really* a revolution after all.

I've watched the Goldy squash. Hey, Kudos to him for getting a shitload of money for this. I guess he'll make more shitloads of money for some sort of rematch leading to Mania. Good for him. For shock value, it was fine. But as someone who was tired of Goldy's streak before he even got WCW title, I must admit, I would have felt robbed if I paid a cent to watch this. And as far as continuity, Lesnar the imbeatable monster squashed with three moves by a 50 year old guy who hasn't worked in 13 years is completely idiotic. But that's the WWE today. All style, zero substance. (I ffed through the multi-man elimination tag… wow… Shane McMahon, really…. this company…) Still, the good shit of the week-end : Revival vs #DIY Miz vs Sami Zayn Asuka vs Mickie James and Nak vs Joe to a lesser extent. and some parts of the women's elimination match Cherry picking is the name of the game. Just like in life.

Nia Jax looks like Chyna cosplaying Eagle Sawaii wearing a terrible dark grey Tekno Team 2000 outfit. With about the average talent of all those too. Where the hell is Emma ?

Hey, thanks to this reaction thread, I won't have to suffer through the rest of this show. Perfectly happy with watching the women's match (although yeah, Sasha's elimination was dumb as fuck after that HITC first women main event ever) and the IC match which was excellent. I'll watch Lesnar vs Goldy for shits and giggle, but really, it's kinda ridiculous.