Shining Wiz Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 We all have them....things we shouldn't like, but do for some reason. And the flip side - things that we probably should, but for whatever reason, just don't. Guilty pleasure - The Miz. Vast minority here, but I think he's an awesome heel, pardon the pun. I actually really enjoyed his title run and thought it ended too quickly. And he is nowhere near as bad in ring as people make out. He even managed to almost get Alex Freaking Riley over. Might be the shittiest good guy in wrestling history though. Guilty displeasure - Ric Flair. I will (and have) catch heat for this, but no. If for no other reason than the Flop and the run to the top rope for no other reason than to get pressed slammed, just no. I'm not saying all matches, but mostly just when Flair is either bored or disinterested. The matches with Steamboat and Funk are personal favourites, but overall......no. And promos....if Flair never touched a mic after A Flair for the Gold, I would have been aok with that. Anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steenalized Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 I'll bite. Guilty pleasure - Battle royals. Everyone craps on them. They're a bad/wasteful use of the roster, it's just 10 minutes of sloppy brawling and a few big spots, etc. etc. I can't really explain why, but ever since I was a kid I've always been a sucker for battle royals and I'm still genuinely excited when I see one. Guess I'm a few decades late on that train. I love the imagery of a dozen or more people brawling at once. Guilty displeasure - Misawa and Kobashi. They're great, they're all time greats, I just don't enjoy them. i don't even think it's their fault, per se, more of the match style of All Japan and NOAH. I don't care for the overlong matches that border on the "self-conscious epic" label as they moved into the 2000s. I have a hard time labeling this displeasure, actually. It's not just those two, though they were who came to mind first. Saying "AJPW and NOAH" was way too broad, but maybe "AJPW/NOAH main event style from the late 90s to mid 00s" is more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 Guilty Pleasure: The Ultimate Warrior. Everything he did seemed to fulfill a wrestling wish I had right at that time, specifically ending HTM's IC title reign and pinning Hogan and taking the title from him clean. I was also pissed more than I should have been when Slaughter beat him for the title. Guilty Displeasure: I hated when Larry Zbyszko got the AWA title as it signified the true death toll for the AWA. Lawler leaving killed any chance they had of working something out with WCCW and the smaller promotions to stay alive as a competitive entity. Zbyszko was very "meh" as a worker compared to previous champs so, while a competent wrestler and great mic man, he represented the true "last gasp" of the AWA. Being a die-hard, I watched until the end and stayed invested in the product, but I hated that Larry was the only viable option as a champion and it made my self-imposed AWA fandom a difficult experience at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 re: Battleroyals: If you ever get a chance to check out some of the older AWA battleroyals, do so, they ran pretty long and had some cool spots in it. Often they went a good ten minutes before anyone even got eliminated. The Winnipeg ones pre-84 are worth checking out especially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 Guilty Pleasure: The Ultimate Warrior. Everything he did seemed to fulfill a wrestling wish I had right at that time, specifically ending HTM's IC title reign and pinning Hogan and taking the title from him clean. I was also pissed more than I should have been when Slaughter beat him for the title. Guilty Displeasure: I hated when Larry Zbyszko got the AWA title as it signified the true death toll for the AWA. Lawler leaving killed any chance they had of working something out with WCCW and the smaller promotions to stay alive as a competitive entity. Zbyszko was very "meh" as a worker compared to previous champs so, while a competent wrestler and great mic man, he represented the true "last gasp" of the AWA. Being a die-hard, I watched until the end and stayed invested in the product, but I hated that Larry was the only viable option as a champion and it made my self-imposed AWA fandom a difficult experience at best. Should have they gone with Greg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shining Wiz Posted August 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 Re: battle royals......I love battle royals. If I could only watch one match a year, it'd be the Rumble (gimmick battle royal, I know, but still). Always love battle royals. Re: AWA......Greg always deserved a title run. I couldn't even keep a straight face typing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Lacelle Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 Guilty pleasure, I gotta go with Barry Darsow and The Ultimate Warrior. I loved Smash as a kid, at first I prefered Ax but around the time of Survivor Series 89 my allegiance switched to Smash cause he seemed more youthful and rambunctious. Those same characterists are why I loved Warrior so much. Guilty displeasure, I don't get all giddy about Memphis like a lot of posters here do, I don't hate it but I don't put it on a pedestal either. I never got into Eddie Gilbert or Tommy Rich either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 I can't stand the Dynamite Kid. I don't know if Barry Darsow is a guilty pleasure. He's really good as Krusher Khruschev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 I don't really feel guilt about anything I like or dislike, but I am a strange fellow that loves Rufus Jones (including and especially late era Rufus working in Puerto Rico) and while I admit he's a great wrestler I have no interest in ever watching a Jumbo match again as long as I live Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Re: AWA......Greg always deserved a title run. I couldn't even keep a straight face typing that. It's taken me years of practice to get it down to a smirk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I don't really feel guilt about anything I like or dislike, Me too. If you dig something or don't dig something that's your right. Why act like it's something to apologize for? That being said, I did have an irrational addiction to Beverly Hills 90210. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnival Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Guilty pleasure: God forgive me, Vince Russo's WCW run. I was so extraordinarily bored with WCW by the time he made the jump that I was ready for anything to make Nitro watchable again. The cut to 2 hours was a big help, but I enjoyed the return of that unpredictable energy. Yeah, a lot of the stuff was pretty stupid, but I was a helpless mark for the work/shoot stuff too. There's also, for some reason, almost no one I would rather listen to in a shoot interview than Russo. Maybe Cornette. Guilty displeasure: Tag team wrestling comes to mind. I liked it when I was a kid and first getting into it. Back when you had mighty teams like the Road Warriors, Midnight Express, Rockers, Demolition, Hart Foundation, and so on. When that kind of pre-packaged, color-coordinated era came to an end and most tag teams became this guy-and-this guy vs that-guy-and that-guy, blah. You can keep that shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Me too. If you dig something or don't dig something that's your right. Why act like it's something to apologize for? That being said, I did have an irrational addiction to Beverly Hills 90210. It isn't apologizing for being a fan, it's how many people you knew that you would actually tell you were a fan of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I love the Papa Shango gimmick, and I even liked the angles where Warrior had ooze coming out of his forehead and where he doubled over in pain and started vomiting. I thought it was some awesomely dark shit. There, I said it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I love the Papa Shango gimmick, and I even liked the angles where Warrior had ooze coming out of his forehead and where he doubled over in pain and started vomiting. I thought it was some awesomely dark shit. There, I said it. That angle made me completely quit watching wrestling for at least 2-3 years. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Me too but that's because I was scared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lust Hogan Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Guilty pleasure: Face loses a loser leaves town match but comes back under a hood. I am a SUCKER for that! It cracks me up how everyone is in on the joke but the heel can't prove that his nemesis is under the mask. The more obvious who the face is the better I like it (Charlie Brown From Outta Town)!!! Guilty displeasure: I'm having trouble thinking of one at the moment. I'll come back to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Oh, I also liked the NWO takeover of Nitro with real time construction that lasted a half hour, just because it was such ballsy television. It was a practical nightmare and not the best idea during a ratings war, but it was a really cool departure from the norm. My guilty displeasure? Terry Funk is a great worker, but fuck his spaghetti legged selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 My guilty pleasure is imitating wrestler hand signals and mannerisms whilst watching. Having an interactive element is more fun than just sitting there. I'm viewing '98 stuff at the moment so there's plenty of NWO and DX material. And the People's Eyebrow is a good one, especially as not everyone can do it. Plus there's always favourites like Hulk Hogan, Stan Hanson, Jumbo Tsuruta and Lucha referees signalling a submission. I usually just beat them to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jushin muta liger Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Guilty pleasure watching: Old ECW brawls and WWE Ladder Matches. I know in my mind that they messed up the careers of so many guys but I'll watch every time a ladder match is made on WWE TV cause of the insane bumps. Guilty displeasure watching: It might have to be Battlarts. I've got a list of matches that are supposed to be must see but I have a really hard time getting into the promotion. Every time I put something on, my mind starts to wonder and I eventually turn it off. I don't know why cause I've watched UWFi and other shoot style stuff without a problem. But Battlarts just doesn't get me hooked. Maybe it is the small venues. I really don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Guilty Pleasure: Zack Ryder. I don't know what happened. I wasn't watching during his initial YouTube stardom and when I did tune back in I didn't get the hype around him. I checked out a few of his videos and some of his matches and I wound up liking him. I think it's because he reminds me so much of when I was a total WWF/E mark and bought up all the toys and merchandise and never missed an hour of programming. Maybe I just like him because he seems to be a genuine fan who really loves the business. Guilty Displeasure: The "Attitude Era". I was a teenager during this and hated it then. I hated the short matches, the stiff chair shots, the shock for the sake of shock. I wound up tuning the WWF out completely after SummerSlam 1998 and slowly started watching again around Armageddon 1999. I don't look back on it fondly and I never pull up the stuff on the Network. I've seen some Raw cards from that era on the live feed and I still hate them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Guilty Pleasures: Table spots, tag team finishers, comedy spots Guilty Displeasure: Honestly, I sort of lose interest in a wrestler not when they get a push or catch on as being popular, but when they start getting talked about & bragged about by people online. It happened with C.M. Punk. It happened with Daniel Bryan. It's even happened, for me, with Goldust & Mark Henry. When a wrestler starts getting internet fandom as a super-worker, I start to "revolt" against them. It drives me bonkers, I'm not sure why. It's not that I want to be contrarian just for the sake of being different, I just feel like other people are overrating wrestlers to a hyperbolic degree so they can seem smarter or something. It really grates my nerves on DVDVR. I think that's a big reason why PWO is my favorite forum as no one wrestler is above being scrutinized or looked at under the microscope. Then, for the most part, as soon as said wrestler DOES get an on-air push, guys start tumbling off the bandwagon, which makes me think they were just being fickle the whole time. Maybe I'm just nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Guilty displeasure watching: It might have to be Battlarts. I've got a list of matches that are supposed to be must see but I have a really hard time getting into the promotion. Every time I put something on, my mind starts to wonder and I eventually turn it off. I don't know why cause I've watched UWFi and other shoot style stuff without a problem. But Battlarts just doesn't get me hooked. Maybe it is the small venues. I really don't know. I know just what you mean. I really enjoy watching UWFI and Rings, but Battlarts is a big turnoff for me. I just can't bring myself to care about the matches or the wrestlers. There are other promotions that I have a total disconnect with, but they're easily explainable. It can't just be the audience size, as I watch other promotions with small crowds where things don't feel inconsequential. A couple of things strike me when watching Battlearts. Nearly everyone is small, and nearly everyone is angry all the time. It's like they're frustrated because of their stature when they're tough, macho wrestlers. Pissed off at being in crappy arenas with small crowds. And every time they look across the ring they see someone else just like them. It's like they're failures for being there. Maybe that's being unfair? Perhaps it's not quite being used to the style or not seeing the right matches yet that are holding back my enjoyment? It feels like more than that, but I haven't given up hope of my appreciation growing in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I might ban both of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Great idea for a thread! Even though I don't feel any "guilt" about liking what I like and vice versa, here are my picks... Guilty Pleasures: The Miz Haku/Meng and Barbarian (especially their Faces of Fear run in WCW) Scotty Riggs (Anton) as an ECW heel Hardcore Holly Steve Blackman Headshrinkers Papa Shango Repo Man Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce Maniac Mike Davis and the Moon Rock Match in the GWF Guilty Displeasures: Brock Lesnar (don't care what a "natural" he is - he bores the shit out of me in every possible aspect) Randy Orton (probably not an uncommon opinion here, but listen to any wrestler and they act like he's the best thing ever) Adrian Neville (does nothing for me) Steiner Brothers (overrated) Road Warriors/LOD (to be fair, I didn't get into wrestling until their first WWF run, and it might have been all downhill from there) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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