rzombie1988

The thing with TNA, is that they'd have maybe 1-2 good weeks followed by horrendous television for months on end. I'm having trouble thinking of a high point to be honest because even the good stuff would have equally as much bad stuff. The earlier days had the JJ never-ending title reign that couldn't be made up for by the X-Division or Monty Brown. The 2005-2006 years had the X-guys but had dumb undercard stuff. The MEM era made it impossible to figure out who was face/heel and the X guys got destroyed. The Ace's era sometimes had okay stuff with a short period with Hardy/Roode/Aries/AJ being great, but the Hogan's BS, the decimation of the X-dvision(again), the stupid Gut Check Challenge and more. I guess I'd have to go with the FSN years. There was X Division action that carried the company and I didn't hate Team Canada that much. I can't remember the bad stuff as much, probably because it has been so long, that I'd pick that. Low point would probably be the current era. Pretty hard to go lower than that, though the Hogan era was pretty bad.

Finally, someone else who can understand the insanity of my life! I get really into things(whether it be food, interests, even girls, etc) and get out of them just as badly. Obsessively watched wrestling when I was blogging and now haven't watched it in months. Shoot, I wasn't even looking on the boards much for a few weeks. My year was like this: - Super into playing basketball obsessively for about 6 months. Still enjoy playing but all the bs and people thinking they are chasing the title at the local gym killed it. - Was really into wrestling podcasts as well after mania season. Barely have time for any now. - Got really into Baywatch for a while. No idea why. Got a good 2 weeks out of that. - Got rid of that and was hooked on GoT for months. Then it ended. - Switched over to League of Legends, which has been going strong for 3-4 months. - Got into listening to Kiss records for a while. - Now have some interest again in cycling and sumo(as they both just had big events). It's way worse with food. We have an area that has been deemed "snack heaven", as snacks go to die there when I don't want to eat them anymore.

- Add me for those who want to know about Continental and how the AJW girls didn't get to appear in ECW. Would have loved to have seen Paul's spin on women's wrestling. - How would Paul save/fix wrestling in 2014? - Anything more on Memphis or Continental. Would love to hear him talk about it, just can't pin down a specific question. - He had a pretty random run in ICW in the early 90's. Any thoughts/stories on it?

I believe it's time to revive this thread. Again, yes, TNA is. Can't think of another promotion that had been around for 12ish years that I can't even think of a top 10 list of matches for off the top of my head.

Tokyo Dome is my least favorite. There's 40,000+ seats in that place and few of them are good to watch wrestling from. Nets, odd angles and a cold arena make for a bad experience. Shin Kiba 1st Ring may be my favorite. Every seat there is a good seat. It just sucks because it is far out of the way. Korakuen is kinda eh. The concession stand area is a crowded mess, it's usually quite hot and the seats are a bit small.

I think most WWE merch is ugly and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. Any wrestling stuff I wear is usually ROH stuff, I guess because no one knows what it is and there's rarely big half naked dudes on it. DB does have awful merch. Would love to support him but I'm not wearing a maroon shirt with a goat on it. Even Vince wouldn't wear that and he had loud tastes. Then again Gabe is the only promotional head that I can see wearing a wrestling shirt.

You would think this would have came up when they originally gave him the name...

They won't let you download it but people will rip it.

I truly think the OTE stuff is just trolling. People trying to "catch" WWE to say "Ahah! I told you it wouldn't be completely unedited!". The people who truly want to watch it for unperverted means are few and far between.

She did. Including being part of one of the oddest annouce teams ever with Bruce Prichard and Pete Doherty.

And you know what WWE will respond with? Nothing, which is the same thing I would do.

I was disappointed that the basic question of "why did Chikara close?" wasn't really answered or at least didn't have a believeable answer. I didn't get much out of the interview aside from the fact that Chikara is happy to lose money in order to run their wrestling wet dreams that only about 100 people understand. I've always said that wrestling can be more than it is now. I kind of imagine a wrestling world that is a blend of Kinnikuman, GLOW, Tuesday Night Titans and following lives of wrestlers in characters outside of the ring(like what does happen if someone like Kane goes Christmas shopping or how would friends of Ron Simmons deal with his limited vocabulary of "DAMN"). Maybe like a weekly series of The Wrestler in GOT style with different outlandish wrestling characters.

Maybe Matt was a fan of stars & bars fashion? Cornette would definitely see babyface potential in that, year be damned. I don't see the problem with it. He's a name that can still go.

I didn't think Ki did enough or had enough to work with to show any signs or improvement or regression. He got a Daniel Bryan style push from NXT where he was clearly the best but WWE felt they had to make a joke of him. Only, because of his backstage persona, he became a joke. I thought Ki's Rottweiler's heel turn era was probably his best stuff. I'm one of the biggest Low-Ki fans but I don't blame anyone but him for how his career turned out. He just seemed intent on blowing as many bridges as possible and now he's pretty much blackballed from every promotion in the world.

I don't think it played a big role for ROH. ROH finally held a show in the heart of the city and it paid off. It took them 12 years to do it. They held the show in a well-known place that was easily accessible to most of the city. Even if Andre the Giant came back from the dead to work an ROH show, it would have never hit 1,000+ in the Belle Vernon area.

WWE loves to break up a bunch of teams at the same time. The WWE draft used to seem to set that out as a goal and the yearly WWE mass post-WM firings usually do quite the number. I don't care what anyone says, even HHH, tag teams are always going to be a predominantly midcard or lower act in the WWE. The Uso's did tons of matches against the PTP's on Superstars/Main Event if anyone wants to relive them. I know of four at minimum.

The PTP's were doomed to break up from the start considering that A) they are a tag team and B ) Titus has shown some charisma/improvement to go with his size which WWE absolutely loves. While I'm not a fan of breaking up tag teams, as I believe you can keep them friends who just haven't teamed much lately, I don't think the move was a bad call. Titus could be a star and they had a limited shelf life as a WWE tag team. Titus definitely seems to be better off as a face and who knows, he may be at some point. Not sure about DY. He's good in ring but most people haven't seen his good stuff and the stuff he is good at isn't extremely noticeable(really good at bumps and clearly has power). I've always kind of felt he was on borrowed time, though the coming out thing gave him some extra shelf life. One issue I see WWE having soon is that they have too many big limited power guys. You have Batista, Brock(not counting him though as he's a great worker), Big E, Rusev, Titus(soon), Reigns, Henry and others. Having more of one thing makes all of it seem less special.

I think the most important part about it is that it is virtually timeless. Jerry Lawler worked a classic with Miz in his 50's. Someone like an Adrian Neville is going to be totally screwed in-ring at same age because he won't be able to do any of his current stuff.

Aries - He's on WWE's level. He was the best he had ever been in 2012ish and was easily one of the best in the world. But, it's TNA and they could blow anything. Homicide - I never liked him as much as others. Granted, I had seen him in some really good stuff with Daniels and AJ in IWC in 2003, but I dunno. He just never appealed to me much. Had a nice run with LAX though and probably over achieved for not having that interesting of a gimmick or personality. AJ - Tough one here, so good call Dylan. I really don't know why WWE doesn't want him. Really, I don't. At worst, they could just have him be another vet to help out the young guys. AJ was always the tops wrestling wise and was one of the most shredded guys until he joined TNA. He was awful on interviews this year and that brought him down a lot. I'd say he's about the same. He's always been great and has always been able to have good matches. He really should have begged WWE to take him, because he would have made it at some point. Samoa Joe - An easy NO with TNA. He was my pick for the best wrestler in the world in 2004 and his career went down the tubes in TNA. It's great that he has got consistent paychecks but he's a joke of himself. The biggest problem is that he never improved. He wrestles spot for spot the same matches he did back in the day. Daniels - I'd go with Yes. I always enjoyed his in-ring work and him and Kaz made for a great team. He's always been really versatile and his comedic work has been great. Kaz - Yes. I never got Kaz until they put him with Daniels.

I think you answered your own statement there: Sami hasn't really had a chance to have his best match yet. He's still in developmental for heaven's sake. Televised development, sure, but still development. I mean you said it yourself, Daniel Bryan, a guy who was the 'best wrestler in the world' for a while beforehand, took until 2012 to start reaching his potential in the ring in WWE, which coincidentally is when he started to work main events. In WWE for the most part you need opportunities and time in order to deliver on a high end level, at least much moreso than the indies where guys have the freedom to routinely go above and beyond on the undercard. I really prefer WWE Zayn over Indies Generico. He did way too much and took too many nasty bumps. Now he does less and is over just as much. Here's my stance on the nasty bumps, which i'm sure people will get all over me for, but hey, i'm ready for the heat. It's not my body. Now, when things get too uncomfortable to watch, like Big Japan death matches or old school CZW stuff, I get turned off and won't watch. But otherwise, it may sound callous, but it's not my problem if these guys choose to put themselves in risk of long term damage. For me, Generico never crossed that line. As far as doing less and getting over, that sort of speaks to working a style that suits your environment. Good on him if he can do less and have it mean the same, but how does that equal more entertaining matches for me as a fan as compared to when he was doing more? I watch wrestling to see action. Maybe it's my personal taste, but i'd rather watch Generico do more in DGUSA or DDT rather than Zayn do less in NXT. Selfish? Sure. But I watch this stuff to be entertained. Why would I want to see less, assuming of course it's structured well? Generico was in some of the most well structured matches I saw over the last 3 or 4 years. The Kenny Omega match from December 2012 in DDT. The Kota Ibushi trilogy from DDT in the same year. Some of those matches featured lots of "stuff", but none were spot fests. I doubt he'll even top those matches in WWE. Just like Bryan won't top 2006. Because that stuff is flat out great. He can be great in WWE (and I know that he will be because he's too good not to be), in a totally different way. Just like his crazy brawls with Steen were great in a different style. To me just doing less won't really make him better, just like what Bryan is doing now isn't better than his peak indie stuff (i'd argue it isn't as good overall because of the formulaic structure of a lot of WWE matches). Smarter? Maybe. But you have to work for your crowd, and the great ones like Zayn & Bryan can get over anywhere and do anything. I have no qualms with you wanting to see bigger and cooler stuff. Makes sense on paper. I've just always given extra points to wrestlers for getting more out of less.

I think you answered your own statement there: Sami hasn't really had a chance to have his best match yet. He's still in developmental for heaven's sake. Televised development, sure, but still development. I mean you said it yourself, Daniel Bryan, a guy who was the 'best wrestler in the world' for a while beforehand, took until 2012 to start reaching his potential in the ring in WWE, which coincidentally is when he started to work main events. In WWE for the most part you need opportunities and time in order to deliver on a high end level, at least much moreso than the indies where guys have the freedom to routinely go above and beyond on the undercard. I really prefer WWE Zayn over Indies Generico. He did way too much and took too many nasty bumps. Now he does less and is over just as much. Thoughts on others: Cesaro - He won my Wrestler of the Year award for 2013. However, his best is yet to come. The day he gets to be a face that yells "HEY", he is going to be huge. Maybe it will be the next "YES". He is no question a better worker. No one else was able to get close to what he got out of Khali and he had so much good stuff last year with Bryan, Kofi, Sheamus, Orton, Zayn and he even made Jack Swagger over. He can honestly do no wrong at this point. I really can't believe NOAH/Japan/TNA never saw the potential in him and I can't believe it took WWE so long. Evan Bourne - Really good example of how WWE isn't always better for you. To be honest, he's been out for so long and hasn't gotten to show what he could do in so long that I don't even know how he is anymore. Can't say that he wasn't better in the indies. Daniel Bryan - Really tough one here. I loved his indies run and he ended up winning my Wrestler of the Year award for 2012, along with a top finish in this year's awards. His crowd responses are definitely a huge upgrade and he was as hot as anyone else this summer. I would say he is a smarter worker now and has really mastered the fiery comeback. He also was able to show off his comedic side. He is one of the few people in the world where you could put him in any role and it will work. Harper - Definitely better. I always found him underwhelming and overhyped but I do think he is better now. Neville - So far, I'd have to say no. WWE hasn't figured out how to really make him a star yet and unfortunately he has no mic skills, look or character to back himself up with. Don't see any of that changing unless they can put a mask on him, which they should do. Corey Graves - A definite no. WWE gave him no character to run with, never let him touch the mic and he has had better indy matches. CM Punk - A slight yes as his appearance is better and he works smarter, but he hasn't changed that much. That's no knock as he has been major league since 2004. Kassius Ohno - A big no for Ohno. His NXT run was awful. Bad character, bad promo's and bad matches. His athletic gimmick run in ROH was much better and I've seen him have some awesome matches. Rollins - Yes. He did very well in his role as the NXT champ and has turned into one of the craziest bumpers out there. Totally passable on promo's too. Colt Cabana - A definite yes. He learned how to be a better Colt and just looks like a major league talent. Unfortunately, his outside of the ring stuff seems to hurt him the most.

The problem with that is any match that has to follow Bryan not winning the title is not going to have good reactions. If you thought the Rumble was bad, WrestleMania is the most hardcore of WWE fans. Is Wrestlemania really comprised of the most hardcore fans? I imagine there's a lot of casual fans who only get big into watching around Mania time. Rock/Cena last year didn't get shit on at Mania, but it sure would have in front of the RAW crowd the next night. The hardest of the hardcore fans usually come to Mania. Don't get me wrong, there are a bunch of casual fans though. There are also way more foreign fans than at any other time. I swear atleast 20-30% are English. If you are a big WWE fan, WM is more likely to be the show you are going to that year beyond anything else. Add in the other indy shows, Axxess and the other perks WWE gives you and there's no reason not to go. Mania is a bad example for pops because it is outdoors, which means the sound doesn't echo as much. In a Mania crowd, where you sit determines what you hear.

Totally agreed. He put Delirious over and trashed Sinclair/Greg, Steen and Davey. He said Sinclair was cheap and wanted big bucks with little investment. He said Steen was overweight, constantly upset with how he was booked and was killing himself and shortening his career on meaningless shows. He said Davey has a big ego and isn't a locker room leader, but is a good wrestler. Cornette's idea for ROH was great and honestly should be what wrestling companies aim for in the future. Get your own building with your own stuff. Do shows, train and produce/edit from it, keeping costs down. With how much he said they spent on trivial shit at random arenas, it seems like it would have paid for itself in no time. The shoot just confirmed to me how bad ROH was run, which I had suspected from the messy TV shows. The shows were usually weeks behind with promo's for shows after they happened and they built to absolutely nothing. Plus there was the multiple iPPV disaster's which have killed that idea for a while.