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Comments that don't warrant a thread - Part 4


TravJ1979

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This is a random thought - very much a comment that doesn't warrant a thread - but it's been bugging me for a couple years now, and I'm curious if it's occurred to anyone else.

Is it possible that Baron Corbin's entire main roster stint has been Vince riffing on the similarity of his name (and bald pate) to Billy Corgan?  I swear, for a few years now, to my mind it's been the only plausible explanation for why Vince was so enchanted with the idea of him as a top heel.  I know Corbin has size and the kind of look Vince goes for, and he's relatively solid in terms of modern WWE promos.  He also has that Prince Albert-esque inoffensive competence in the ring, which was likely the best case scenario for an untrained hoss in Hunter & Shawn's vanity promotion.  But can't you just picture Bruce trying to explain to Vince how the Smashing Pumpkins frontman bought the NWA name and was pursuing an old school revival thing, and Vince's only response was, "I thought we had that kid signed to NXT?!"  And then, once clued into the deeper resemblance there, Vince found it so funny that it informed every booking decision he made regarding Corbin going forward?

Honestly, I've been convinced of this for at least two years now, and I'm really just hoping some of you see this, too.  The primary pleasure I take from WWE these days is concerned with the broader McMahon family metanarrative, which as always reads like trailer park Shakespeare.  Back to the broader point, though.  Am I crazy, or would Vince dedicate hours of programming - and the fate of a potential star who, unique among the NXTers, has traditional main roster height - to petty in-jokes with Brucie mocking their bigtime rockstar money mark "rival?"  Does that sound like Vince, or what?

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Shifting from Vince as Mr. Burns to Vince as Homer, I think it goes
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins".
"Vince McMahon, smiling politely".
I thought "Baron Corbin" was one of many names on a list, but I didn't think Vince had any input on the NXT random-name generator. I'm happy to be wrong, though.

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I didn't mean to suggest that Vince knows anything about Smashing Pumpkins, just that he probably became aware of Billy when NWA Power started.  I don't know how the idea of a rich rock star reviving the NWA name would've struck Vince, but I imagine people would've been joking about it.  I don't think Vince would have made the connection himself, just that someone at NXT might've thought it was a rib Vince would appreciate.

Anyway, I realize it's a silly idea, but once it occurred to me, I couldn't unsee it.  The idea that it amuses Vince and/or the writers could explain why Corbin has been pushed to the point of toxic overexposure at the same time as his character has been humiliated again and again.  But I guess I'm looking for logic in Vince's sadism here, and that's probably a mistake.  ;) 

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Pedro vs Mulligan from 3/15/71 has one of the dumbest fucking finishes I've ever seen. Mulligan hits a huge back body drop and makes the pin. Pedro very, very, very blatantly taps him to break the pin at 2. Mulligan gets up celebrating despite the ref absolutely crystal clearly not counting to 3. Pedro immediately gets up completely no selling, dropkicks Mulligan from behind and hits a bombs away from the top to win. 

 

Like....what lmao

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I'm not a fan of the finish (see also Backlund vs Valentine from 3/79 MSG) but the idea is that back then the ref slapping the back of the winner after the count was common, so it "makes sense" that a wrestler could be fooled into thinking the 3 count had been made. Again, I don't like it as a finish either, but I at least get the psychology 

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I dunno, I get what they were going for but whenever a pin happens the bell is usually rung SO quickly after that no bell to the guy on top should be a quick tell he didn’t get the three count.

I’ve seen it done where it works ok and where it doesn’t work at all. Doesn’t bug me to be honest.

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How did Daniel Bryan (sic) appearing in a Coca Cola commercial go unmentioned here? It's been out since April and I think it's a pretty big deal - Coca Cola's bigger than Slim Jims. Granted, DB (sic) isn't actively endorsing the product, and the WWE, not DB, most likely received the money for his likeness, but still, it's our boy leading off a worldwide advertising campaign for possibly the most famous brand in the world. Rubbing shoulders with Einstein, Beethoven and Bela Lugosi (and Beavis and Butthead (and Jack Black)), no less.

Blink and you'll miss it here:

 

 

 

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Because I'm in a bad place I decided I'd gif all the GWE footage. I've completed 1899-1939. 

 

Some moves that I was surprised to see were invented before the 1940s:

Powerbomb https://photos.app.goo.gl/myAraeBrzfmYNEXf8

DDT, although a lot of them seem to be botched hatch suplexes to be fair https://photos.app.goo.gl/vERngqWF433cAtsi9 

A flying head scissors attempt that was damn near a shoot Canadian Destroyer https://photos.app.goo.gl/vr7BUgsFSHUEmmnK8

An early Texas Cloverleaf https://photos.app.goo.gl/e4vaZLqk46WW4n6dA

An early sharpshooter/scorpion death lock https://photos.app.goo.gl/A9xcdqA3fn6P21Jz8

Spiderman rope spots https://photos.app.goo.gl/iSPBRNfm3Y8tn4dZA

Submission tap outs https://photos.app.goo.gl/92DPKrM8f2Fw6C7x6

Kamigoye  https://photos.app.goo.gl/V1wALu65FPy2SM9D8

Oklahoma Stampede https://photos.app.goo.gl/jf3NeP9bH5JoSRgTA

The FU/AA https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZi6smfL3gY6qcXQA

The vertical suplex https://photos.app.goo.gl/J8d9LJ2qEe5or5sx9

Neckbreaker https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZFfmpqogCLQDvWcUA

Back/rib breaker https://photos.app.goo.gl/mLbDNZXZHdfk9D4d9

Chair spots https://photos.app.goo.gl/mNCNE3tfbXoFhL137

Bombs away/Earthquake Splash, even seen one done on the apron https://photos.app.goo.gl/wMUUhREKP6qQgu5P8   https://photos.app.goo.gl/uEQUweXuVdvFoYAi6 which also led to an accidental shining wizard https://photos.app.goo.gl/TUHCgv3oXxxhQdNv5

Also a frankly unbelievable number of dudes doing dives out of the ring, but always in the context of missing a shoulder tackle. But these mfs absolutely are doing dives and eating absolute shit over and over and over. A very large number of refs getting very physically involved, too. 

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Bunch of Old School shows added to the 'Cock today, so I was watching the 12/26/83 NS show where Sheik wins the title and I'm surprised how good the match is.  The story going in was that Backlund got hit with a Persian Club and has a bad neck/arm and really shouldn't be in there but dadgummit he's a fightin champ! Makes Bob look kinda dumb but it worked in the 80s.

Anyway, because of that Sheik ends up taking almost the entire match and actually gets to show off his legit wrestling background that I don't recall seeing him get to bust out very much in the WWF.  Bob really only gets a few short hope spots and it's interesting to see how this match is laid out since at no point do you really think he's actually going to win since it's clear he's in no shape to be competing out there. Even odder is to hear the commentary (Gorilla and Pat Patterson) putting over the wisdom and helpfulness that Blassie is adding since Gorilla especially always went out of his way to point out how the heel managers were just greedy n'er do wells who just skim off their protoge's checks without offering anything of substance. You just don't see many WWF title matches in the 80s where the babyface champ is clearly in over their heads against the well managed foreign menace heel 

So after about 10 minutes of Sheik using his technical wrestling skill to tear apart the injuries Bob stupidly came into the match with, we get the famous spot where Sheik locks in the Camel Clutch and Arnold Skaaland throws in the towel to keep him from tearing Bob's head off because he knows he won't submit. Funny how the storyline later was "did Skaaland screw his Backlund" it was so clear here (and especially now after years of MMA) that this was clearly a "corner throws in the towel because their guy was done" moment. 

 

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19 hours ago, strobogo said:

Because I'm in a bad place I decided I'd gif all the GWE footage. I've completed 1899-1939. 

 

Some moves that I was surprised to see were invented before the 1940s:

Powerbomb https://photos.app.goo.gl/myAraeBrzfmYNEXf8

DDT, although a lot of them seem to be botched hatch suplexes to be fair https://photos.app.goo.gl/vERngqWF433cAtsi9 

A flying head scissors attempt that was damn near a shoot Canadian Destroyer https://photos.app.goo.gl/vr7BUgsFSHUEmmnK8

An early Texas Cloverleaf https://photos.app.goo.gl/e4vaZLqk46WW4n6dA

An early sharpshooter/scorpion death lock https://photos.app.goo.gl/A9xcdqA3fn6P21Jz8

Spiderman rope spots https://photos.app.goo.gl/iSPBRNfm3Y8tn4dZA

Submission tap outs https://photos.app.goo.gl/92DPKrM8f2Fw6C7x6

Kamigoye  https://photos.app.goo.gl/V1wALu65FPy2SM9D8

Oklahoma Stampede https://photos.app.goo.gl/jf3NeP9bH5JoSRgTA

The FU/AA https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZi6smfL3gY6qcXQA

The vertical suplex https://photos.app.goo.gl/J8d9LJ2qEe5or5sx9

Neckbreaker https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZFfmpqogCLQDvWcUA

Back/rib breaker https://photos.app.goo.gl/mLbDNZXZHdfk9D4d9

Chair spots https://photos.app.goo.gl/mNCNE3tfbXoFhL137

Bombs away/Earthquake Splash, even seen one done on the apron https://photos.app.goo.gl/wMUUhREKP6qQgu5P8   https://photos.app.goo.gl/uEQUweXuVdvFoYAi6 which also led to an accidental shining wizard https://photos.app.goo.gl/TUHCgv3oXxxhQdNv5

Also a frankly unbelievable number of dudes doing dives out of the ring, but always in the context of missing a shoulder tackle. But these mfs absolutely are doing dives and eating absolute shit over and over and over. A very large number of refs getting very physically involved, too. 

Pretty cool, and a neat idea. Wonder if anyone back then complained about no selling lol. 

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13 minutes ago, PeteF3 said:

I don't recall that ever being the storyline with Skaaland, except in 1994 Backlund's deranged mind.

Well yes, that was what I meant. At the time the impression I got was that we were supposed to believe Backlund did kinda get screwed and it warped his goody-two-shoes mind. I never watched the full match until now, and seeing it context of the match just made quite the contrast that I wasn't expecting. 

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8 minutes ago, Flyin' Brian said:

Pretty cool, and a neat idea. Wonder if anyone back then complained about no selling lol. 

There's definitely a ton of no selling in the early days, which I guess makes sense because people don't take time to sell in amateur wrestling or boxing/MMA. The first explicit no selling spot I saw came in the late 30s with a scary exotic heel no selling a series of punches/elbows and then taunting as the face gets scared and crowd ooooohs. 

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