Comments that don't warrant a thread - Part 4

[strobogo]

Double J had pretty good punches even in late 80s Memphis, so in 202x, that's pure god tier. Remember the multiple angles from 2000-2012 entirely built around Jerry Lawler punching someone purely because his punches were so great? 

[sek69]

From today's WO update:

"Keith Mitchell (formerly of AEW, TNA, WCW), Kevin M. Sullivan (WWE, AEW, TNA), and Timothy J. Walbert (WWE) will be part of the production team for Scott D’Amore’s new Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotion.'

 

So it seems that if nothing else these shows will look really good.

(attn: @The Thread Killer )

[C.S.]

51 minutes ago, sek69 said:

So it seems that if nothing else these shows will look really good.

And they'll sound spectacular too!

 

[RazorBladeKiss]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

From today's WO update:

"Keith Mitchell (formerly of AEW, TNA, WCW), Kevin M. Sullivan (WWE, AEW, TNA), and Timothy J. Walbert (WWE) will be part of the production team for Scott D’Amore’s new Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotion.'

 

So it seems that if nothing else these shows will look really good.

(attn: @The Thread Killer )

I'm almost always in favor of more choices of promotions to watch but this kind of makes me feel it'll just look like WWE/AEW-LITE. The announcing team doesn't make me anymore interested in it either. I'm wondering what the plans are for the roster. 

[sek69]

It seems like a lot of TNA folks loyal to Scott are appearing on the show, and Gisele Shaw asked for her release. I wonder if it will end up being a Stardom/Marigold situation.

[sek69]

4 hours ago, RazorBladeKiss said:

I'm almost always in favor of more choices of promotions to watch but this kind of makes me feel it'll just look like WWE/AEW-LITE. The announcing team doesn't make me anymore interested in it either.

I don't think anyone is expecting WWE production values, but it's good to look like you're trying to be a professional outlet.  The indy look only really works for GCW since their whole deal is carrying the banner of indy sleaze.

[strobogo]

I don't know if I'm aging and test is dropping, but boy it sure seems like there are so many more genuinely emotional feel good moments in the last couple of years across the industry than I can every remember. 

[KawadaSmile]

42 minutes ago, strobogo said:

I don't know if I'm aging and test is dropping, but boy it sure seems like there are so many more genuinely emotional feel good moments in the last couple of years across the industry than I can every remember. 

No, you're right. At least when we take the first half of the 2010s into account, there are very few well-made moments in that regard. Plus, with so many beloved wrestlers parting, and some of them way too early, it's "easier" to get caught in something like that.

[NintendoLogic]

I don't know, I kind of wish more wrestlers tried to present themselves as freaks who would be unemployable in any respectable field and didn't encourage parasocial emotional connections. Those days were probably numbered once the Undertaker started pulling back the curtain and making appearances out of character. I guess he really was the last outlaw.

[The Thread Killer]

On 9/5/2024 at 5:38 PM, sek69 said:

From today's WO update:

"Keith Mitchell (formerly of AEW, TNA, WCW), Kevin M. Sullivan (WWE, AEW, TNA), and Timothy J. Walbert (WWE) will be part of the production team for Scott D’Amore’s new Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotion.'

 

So it seems that if nothing else these shows will look really good.

(attn: @The Thread Killer )

Quite honestly, as far as I’m concerned, the “real” Maple Leaf Wrestling died in 1978 when Frank Tunney stopped booking the Toronto territory independently and partnered up with Jim Crockett Promotions. (Of course, Tunney pretty much had to do that because The Sheik had pretty much killed the promotion by that point.)

The JCP version of Maple Leaf Wrestling was the version that was running when I was a kid, highlighted by the epic feud between Angelo Mosca and Hossein The Arab. But then Tunney sold the promotion to Vince McMahon in 1983, and Toronto became part of the WWF. The only part of the classic Maple Leaf promotion that remained was the TV tapings at the Branford Civic Center, the TV show on Saturdays called “Maple Leaf Wrestling” and the biweekly house shows at Maple Leaf Gardens. But it was just WWF content at that point.

I think Scott D’Amore trying to resurrect the brand is a kind of bizarre decision, to be honest. As we all know, the most coveted customer demographic is 18 to 49 years old. I assume that applies to pro wrestling fans as well. Nobody that age is going to remember the glory days of Maple Leaf Wrestling or care that it’s coming back. He’s not going to get a lot of mileage out of old geezers like me. Seriously, in this day and age who cares about resurrecting some old territory from the 1970s? That would be like somebody starting up The Sheik’s Big Time Wrestling again in Detroit, or Paul Boesch’s Houston Wrestling or Bill Watts presents Mid South Wrestling. In 2024? Who cares?

This really strikes me as a cheap publicity stunt. This essentially looks like D’Amore is just slapping a new name on his Border City Wrestling promotion. And there was nothing special about that indie, believe you me. I have never really bought the hype around Scott D’Amore. I saw him wrestle a bunch on the indies here in the Toronto area and he was nothing special. I saw some Border City Wrestling shows and they were nothing special either. I know that a lot of hardcore fans went gaga over D’Amore’s version of TNA, but I hated it. I thought it sucked. I hate that stupid theatrical “cinematic” style crap, with the undead realm and characters getting killed off and stuff like that. If this is just going to be more of that garbage, then count me out.

Not to mention, as soon as I heard he had signed Mauro Ranallo as his play-by-play guy, that was the final nail in the coffin. There is no way in hell I could ever watch a program with him on commentary again. Just the sound of his voice makes me wish I was deaf.

So yeah, the so-called rebirth of Maple Leaf Wrestling is going to be a hard pass for me.

[sek69]

That's a lot of badassery in one photo.

[Jmare007]

I don't understand a lick of Japanese but even still, this was cool as fuck to watch

Would love to know what Yuriyan (who plays Dump in the Netflix show that is about to premiere next week) was saying that made Dump and pretty much every choke up.

The picture at the end was wholesome as fuck.

The match looked amazing, I can only imagine how Korakuen shows would look like with this level of production, just picture one those matches that trigger "Korakuen magic".

[ohtani's jacket]

She was basically talking about the feelings she had while playing the role. She talks about how hated Dump was by everyone in Japan, and a scene they shot where the audience were cheering for Chigusa and screaming for Dump to go home. Backstage Dump's hands were shaking, but she went out there and put on a show. Yuriyan says that she could understand how Dump must have felt at the time and was incredibly moved by it. 

I'm sure it will become clearer when you see the show. None of those heels wanted to be villains. They all wanted to be popular idols like their heroes. It was tough on them playing the heel. 

[DMJ]

Listening to Eric Young's podcast on the Chris Van Vliet show, I was curious about a recurring talking point that EY has brought up. Maybe someone here as more insight.

So the timeline goes that Young came to NXT and did the Sanity thing, then had a bad experience on the main roster, left for TNA, got rehired by Triple H some time after but never actually appeared on TV (possibly to be in an earlier version of the Wyatt Sicks), Vince came back into power and Young immediately asked for his release...and had to sign an NDA.

I guess I'm just curious about why he had to sign the NDA. That implies that he was privy to some sort of event or incident that would be damaging to Vince. Was he included on a text chain detailing one of Vince's sexual conquests? Did he have first-hand knowledge and evidence of something nefarious? Did he confront Vince about an allegation? 

If Eric Young, a guy who basically had a cup of coffee in the company, was so disgusted with the toxic culture under Vince (a culture he experienced for like a year or two?), I'm really curious how much other bigger stars with much longer tenure were aware of involving Vince. Does everyone who leaves the company have to sign an NDA? I mean, are you telling me that Dolph Ziggler, for all the time he spent there, doesn't have any crazy Vince stories? 

Just seems weird to me that Eric Young learned about/witnessed something so absolutely stomach-turning about Vince McMahon that he was like "Nope, I'm out if he's here" while everyone else has been able to compartmentalize the various "lives" of Vince McMahon. When Vince briefly came back into power, I don't remember the roster going on strike. Is it just EY virtue signaling? Or is there something more to the story that sets what he experienced apart from, say, what someone like Kevin Owens or Seth Rollins or Bobby Lashley or whoever experienced?

[sek69]

I don't know for sure, but we've seen so many WWE guys (current and former) who have the cognitive dissonance to go around saying stuff like "well Vince never SA'd anyone in front of me so I personally have no problems with the guy" that seeing someone not have that stance seems surprising.

Also from what I've gathered EY seems to be a guy who stands on principle so I wouldn't think he's the type to virtue signal. He's been in the business long enough to know its not run by the angels, if anything he probably thought all the Vince stories were exaggerations until he saw it for himself firsthand.

[strobogo]

Some WWE stuff got rec'd to me on Spotify looking for non wrestling related songs. One of the albums has the Mexicools theme and it got me to thinking...is there a more absurdly racist and offensive gimmick than the Mexicools? This was mid 00s, all three dudes were WELL established stars in the US. Their theme starts with lawn mower sounds, they rode to the ring on riding mowers while wearing jump suits. This shit feels more over the top absurdly racist horseshit than damn near any 70s/80s characters and gimmicks even with people playing the part of whatever ethnic group or nationality they didn't even belong to. 

I know it was said it was a satirical gimmick....but that shit was not a satirical gimmick.

[PeteF3]

That was peak WWF/WWE "book minorities in the most stereotypical gimmick possible and hide behind 'satire'" bullshit.

See also: voice-dubbed Kaientai, Latino Heat Eddie Guerrero, Cryme Tyme, right up through the New Day.

(And yeah, I'll hear that some of these were the talent's own idea--what were they going to do, propose ideas that *didn't* appeal to Vince? Come on.)

[NintendoLogic]

I can't find the tweet now, but a fairly high-profile wrestling Twitter account once remarked about mid-2000s WWE something to the effect of "The plus side is that the shows are a lot more watchable from a production standpoint, the minus side is that it's some of the most vile and evil television ever produced."

[Al]

Shelton Benjamin’s mother was my first thought.

[Sweet Brown Koko]

I have fallen down the Ernest Miller rabbit hole and can’t come back! Not sure if I want to!

He was never more than a midcarder but I thought he was tremendous, especially since he started out as Eric Bishoff’s karate instructor in real life, if I am not mistaken.

[Edwin]

I haven't posted or even visited this place in a few years as I don't really watch wrestling anymore (just follow some of the news and listen to some podcasts) as I've grown out of it and I don't really have much time to watch weekly TV, but I felt like rewatching some WWE from the Attitude Era -- beginning from the RAW where Bret shoved Vince after the cage match with Sid and ending at the post Montreal Screwjob RAW.

I know a lot of folks around these parts are more into the in ring stuff than all of the other stuff, but as time has passed, I've come to appreciate the promos, angles and builds ups more than the matches themselves for the most part. The weekly TV matches weren't always classics (although there were some good ones) and the undercard matches really didn't get much time, but they got more time on PPV and had far better matches there which made sense as those were the cards folks actually had to pay to see.

I was never a big Mick Foley fan per se, but I did like a bunch of his stuff as Cactus Jack and Mankind. However, upon rewatching, I think my favorite gimmick of his is Mankind. He was great in that lunatic roll pulling out his hair and screeching during his promos. Dude Love I could do without.

I also got a new appreciation for HBK more now than I did previously. I know he gets a lot of criticism, but the dude knew how to get heat. With him it was mostly natural as he was just being himself, but he got folks worked up.

Obviously a lot of the segments haven't aged well; namely the Goldust, Pillman and Marlena angle. That was all around awful.

[Ricky Jackson]

I'm coming up on 5 years sober from WWE programming. Royal Rumble 2020 was the last show I watched. No Mania's. No Raw or Smackdown. No NXT. Not even a single cherry picked match. My AEW watching over the same time consists of Revolution 2020 (a month after that Rumble), All Out 2021, the last half or so of Forbidden Door 2023, Danielson vs Ospreay from earlier this year, and a few random bits here and there (Punk's debut promo, etc). Can't say I have much of an itch for anything modern, although I do occasionally attend Boom! shows in Vancouver (but that's mostly out of loyalty to one of my best and oldest friends, who is heavily involved). I'm sure something will suck me back in eventually 

As for the Attitude Era, I really enjoyed the lead up years, especially 1997, and most of 1998, but totally lost interest after Mania XV. I doubt I'll ever revisit or watch anything I missed. The McMahon doc reminded me how much I hated all the McMahon family crap, and I could go the rest of my life without seeing anything with Undertaker, HHH, Rock, and post 1998 Austin tbh

[BigBadMick]

I've been watching the best WWE matches from Raw, Smackdown and PPVs, starting with 2000, from about March this year. It's not exhaustive, probably averages out at 50-60 matches from each year. I'm up to early 2007 now. It's been interesting to reappraise the talent with 2024 eyes. HHH looks a lot better now to me.

 

I'm also watching current WWE and AEW, quiet selectively. There's times when I feel like sticking with the older stuff, but I always find plenty to enjoy in present day stuff.

[Edwin]

On 10/23/2024 at 9:13 PM, Ricky Jackson said:

As for the Attitude Era, I really enjoyed the lead up years, especially 1997, and most of 1998, but totally lost interest after Mania XV. I doubt I'll ever revisit or watch anything I missed. The McMahon doc reminded me how much I hated all the McMahon family crap, and I could go the rest of my life without seeing anything with Undertaker, HHH, Rock, and post 1998 Austin tbh

I stopped rewatching after the post 97 Survivor Series RAW. The quality drop in that episode from the ones leading up to it was noticeable. They were moving towards Austin vs. Rock for the IC title and D-X was transitioning to the main focus on the show with HBK moving on to feud with Shamrock.

I much preferred it before that when the main focus was on the Hart Foundation vs. Team USA with Bret and Owen feuding with Austin; Bret feuding with Vince; the Hart Foundation feuding with D-X; Austin also feuding with NOD; NOD breaking up and reforming and feuding with Ahmed; Paul Bearer turning on Taker and Taker feuding with him and Kane simultaneously; Kane being revealed and feuding with Taker and Mankind, etc.

[Ricky Jackson]

The Montreal Screwjob was definitely the day the music died for me, being such a die hard Bret fan at the time. Plus I was actually living in Calgary. It was like having a favorite team leave the city. I never cared again like I had cared from 1992-1997. Still, I was into Austin, Mankind/Foley, and the emerging Rock. That, and just the return of blood and chaos, along with wrestling being "cool" again, powered my fandom through 1998 and into 99, even with my beloved Bret being wasted in WCW