Matt D

It was an okay segment but Ambrose's weird hand motions as he entered the ring drove me nuts.

I assume it's a verb form of asperger's like how the verb form for my ADHD is.. hey, now that they're supposedly doing medical tests on Sami Callihan, do people think they'll put him with Brodie Lee as Bray Wyatt's minions? Because that'd be pretty amazing.

He knows a lot about Roller Derby too!

Madusa got a "Where are they now" feature on wwe.com in the last year

That's true, of course, but how many people out there can be expected to vote on that stuff?

The thing with Watts is that he usually had a guy booking for him and he just cleaned the stuff up.

What's most important? Varied offense? Focused offense? Offense that fits a character? Offense that looks believable? Innovative offense? Is Lawler punching someone for ten minutes better than Nova doing a powerbomb where he elbow drops someone in the groin at the same time? Which guy has better offense?

Nah. Warrior, Johnny Ace. The guy I've never heard anything against was Bobby Eaton. Even Steamboat has a few guys who aren't big fans like Honky. But Eaton, I'm scratching my head and can't find one reference of a guy speaking badly about him. Johnny ace is pretty bad, and it's really varied how bad he is. Warrior, on the other hand, most people say that he was quiet and just kept to himself.

Is Vader the most universally reviled guy in shoots?

Buddy/Ed vs Skip Young/Jerry Oates 2/3 falls match, 2/18/78 first fall: Basic early stuff. Babyface would get on a hold (generally a headlock). Heel would try to get out. Babyface would snap it right back on. This worked with the tags too. Wiskowski would tag in and Oates would eat him right up with a headlock. Buddy's great on the apron as a presence trying desperately to find a way to help out his partner. He also does a lot if really interesting stuff working from the bottom and trying to fight out desperately. This is heel in peril stuff, down to the hope spots but they make it really interesting and it also works more because we're looking at vulnerable champs vs plucky underdogs here. Rose and Wiskowski are portrayed as extremely savvy but lacking the zing of the faces. Young does this delayed dropkick which is a thing of almost impossible beauty. They keep things interesting and varied with the heels using all sorts of different ways of escape or get a temporary advantage only to get immediately shut down through simple fundamentals and superior, singleminded speed. Buddy inally takes over on Young with sheer persistance, but they do a good job drawing it out. Some nasty double stomps from both heels. Young fights back and gets through the legs for a hot little tag. Oates clears house until he goes for the turnbuckle running headlock takeover, which he'd done twice already. Wiskowski reverses it into a belly to back and that's the first fall. Fun stuff. Almost all faces but they were kept doing really simple things while the heels made the match. The finish was foreshadowed well and logical. second fall: Wiskowski has a great flying knee. Nice reversal of the first fall as Buddy desperately tries to hold on a front facelook. Great facial expressions here and a very strong sense of fight. Wiskowski distracts the ref and Rose grabs the trunks to pull Oates back to his corner. Solid heeling. They're getting so much out of so little. Oates gets well built hope spots but the heels do quick tags and cut him off. This fall is all front facelock but it's really well worked. Second half of the second fall has the heels trying to put Oates away with cradles and thudding offense but he manages to makes it to the corner and Young blows Rose away with headbutts. Oates comes back in way too early. Fun but a little weird finish with Wikowski missing a kneedrop off the top in order to try to break up a pin and Oates using a spinning toe-hold to force the submission. I'm not sure he ever tagged in but I suppose that's what the heel gets for trying to cheat so brazenly. third fall: Oates starts on Wiskowski's knee but Buddy interferes enough he can break it up. Oates tags out and the match moves back to faces beating on Buddy. Highlight is his selling of an Oates Atomic drop. Fairly back and forth in this fall until the heels get Young in the corner and swarm him. Wiskowsi has this weird lanky offense including a body drop and rapid fire falling headbutts to the arm, which ultimately look just cool enough that you buy them stopping the match due to damage to Young's shoulder. Ref calls the match. This was good stuff but very much a "TV match." the third fall was there to put over the heel champs at the end, but I think the faces come out of this looking pretty strong, past, y'know, Young being injured.

The thing I love about Luger's is how into it he gets when a rumor is mentioned. "What! Is that what they say? I don't use the internet. Tell me what they say. that's crazy. wow." It's pretty funny.

I just thought it fit hilariously into some of the overblown discussion. Apologies if I ruffled feathers by not being clear it was satirical.

Aw, man I was just trying to lure Dylan back into the note. He absolutely wasn't talking about this board at all. I was just having a laugh. He was talking about some sort of heavily political thing, which I tried to make clear with the drone comment (his post before this was about drones, seriously). I was just goofing! Sorry. Unless he was actually talking about the board, in which case I'm an ass. But I don't think that was the case (about Dylan. I may well be an ass). I did toss the link at him right after I posted it to give him a chance to tell me I was a doofus and to edit it for whatever reason. I don't think there was any bad faith. It was a joke. I think this is generally the most reasonably open place to discuss this stuff we could hope for.

The biggest take away i got from it was that he, more than anyone else I've come across, I think, saw wrestling as a job.

I remember it from his shoot, but I found it here too: http://www.wwe.com/classics/wherearetheynow/mikerotundo "If you want to talk about Mike Rotundo's career you have to begin with The Destroyer. Born Dick Beyer, The Destroyer was a legendary masked wrestler, internationally known for his brutal rivalries with the likes of "Crippler" Ray Stevens, Giant Baba and Mil Máscaras. He was also a Syracuse University alumnus — the same college a 20-year-old Mike Rotundo was attending when the two men crossed paths. "The Destroyer spoke at one of our wrestling banquets," Rotundo recalled. "He had just returned from wrestling in Japan and he asked me if I ever thought of getting into wrestling. I told him I knew nothing about it." At this time in his life, Mike Rotundo had no interest in WWE. An incredible athlete, the Florida native was a standout in both amateur wrestling and football at his alma mater. He had spent his youth infatuated with these sports, but, with The Destroyer's urging, he began to watch WWE on television whenever he could. Impressed by young Superstars like Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino, Rotundo decided to give wrestling a shot. Immediately after graduating, Rotundo found himself in Germany being trained by The Destroyer in a rock-solid ring. After two weeks of intensive schooling, Rotundo was competing against young Americans and European veterans all across the country."

Depends on what the reasons were for Rotonda being let go/quitting each time, I suppose. If there was acrimony, it's a bit more curious. If it was just regular business, then it probably isn't an unusual thing. 1.) Mike got nuts on the road and went home. Barry freaked out in response and went home too. Mike came back. Barry didn't. 2.) WCW offered him a shit ton of money. To me the most interesting thing about Rotunda's career is how he got into wrestling.

"I can understand ideologues. To some degree I even understand the party line crowd, even though I find it abhorrent. But I will never understand those so obsessively committed to a single man that all criticism of him, no matter how sensible or severe, is shouted down or attacked as if it is innately heretical to question him." Dylan, on facebook. Sure his post before it was about drone warfare but we all know what he's really talking about here.

Yeah, so i need to see that goofy Darsow angle.

They just had him show up in one of the youtube videos talking to the prime time players as IRS.

I'm really in the same boat. Let me put it this way. I think the gimmick would have worked better if he changed his look. I think he's more enjoyable as a heel during this time because he didn't. At the time, he probably should have, though. Neither here nor there, I love the difference Tommy Rich having a ponytail made. It's also my Northern preconceived notions. I think Morton looks like a scummy dirtbag all the time and has a terrible look for a babyface. That's not a guy I'd want anywhere near anyone I know, let me tell you.

Morton just LOOKS like a heel. He's super sleazy.

The only thing that makes me wonder one way or another is that they did a Texas Tornado insert promo where he threatens Slaughter to stay in seclusion on the first Superstars post Summerslam. (It's here: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x12jzo.../1#video=xa4xl3. you can wipe it if you want from the reply though). Given how Vince sets it up, maybe it was all part of the turn though. Last time I saw it, I thought they were setting up an aborted Kerry vs Slaughter program, but this time I'm less sure.

el hijo de gallo rojo

But if you have an issue with playing the bitch you should have an issue with it across the board. It seems strange to me that it's only an issue with main eventers or specifically Flair. I suppose everyone has their own set of expectations about how a world champion should wrestle and behave, but I kind of wonder how tailored wrestling is to the tastes of people who are bothered by theatrics. Roles, my friend, roles. Sometimes something is appropriate. Sometimes it's not. I think one of the major arguments against Flair is that he would often do things whether they were appropriate or not, as if his presence alone MADE them appropriate. A flip side to this might be just how impressive it is that maybe, just maybe, just being Ric Flair DID make them appropriate, or at least made them "work." But basically, it's okay for Heath Slater as comedic name enhancement talent putting over legends to do something that it's not okay for Punk as world champion to do. Likewise, maybe Slater should not be able to do something that Punk can do. I call this the Helms Chokeslam Principle, though it's not limited to offensive moves by any means.

Presumably the issue is that Blanchard wasn't the champ? Or maybe that people aren't touting Blanchard as greatest of all time? Or that people aren't touting Blanchard as Greatest of All Time for his role as champ?