I'ma kick it off with a link to an infamous match that happened 8 years ago today, August 21

http://youtu.be/8sqibm3N0Fo

When I saw it at the time, I thought that Shawn was doing a helluva job selling like shit for Hogan

Well, he was, but it turns out in a totally dickish way

Buddy oversold everything, as the result of Hogan exercising his creative control clause in his contract. IIRC, this was supposed to be either a 2 or 3-match series, and Shawn really wanted to win the first match to set up the big Hogan comeback in the second and possible third matches, but Hogan refused, so this was Shawn's way of protesting that decision

Oh, and if that wasn't enough, Shawn went on Raw the next night and cut this promo, which was drenched in a crimson mask of sarcasm, just to rub the shit in

http://youtu.be/zpdxMi0AocQ

Shawn Michaels: lovable Christian asshole.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
But Zootown, black people and media, so...

That was a top to bottom really good show that also included Eddie/Rey in a ladder match, Undertaker/Randy Orton, and Jericho/Cena

That was a top to bottom really good show that also included Eddie/Rey in a ladder match, Undertaker/Randy Orton, and Jericho/Cena

That was a top to bottom really good show that also included Eddie/Rey in a ladder match, Undertaker/Randy Orton, and Jericho/Cena

And fuck Hogan.

Same when he eats the big boot at the end.

For all the talk of Shawn being a jerk about it, Hulk was the guy who didn't want to job for the greater good of that program and pretty much deserved every ounce of Shawn's campyness. That "Brother!!! Brother!!!" interview was a spectacle of hilarity rivaled by few moments in WWE history.

-This Is Your Life, Rock
-Rock/Jericho sparring session (and pretty much anything involving Jericho and Stephanie)
-SOME (not all, just some) of the OG DX shenanigans

Shawn/Hogan is easily one of my all time favorite wrestling programs, precisely due to Shawn's attitude for the whole thing.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.

Who gave him creative control? McMahon did. Therefore, HBK oughta be mad at Vince for allowing that in Hogan's deal.

From a money making standpoint, Shawn would have made wayyy more money with a three-match program than just that one. However, he was/is as easily butthurt as he was talented in the ring.

Avatar: Chikara Pro Wrestling. Born From Oblivion.

New Technology Vs. Horse album, "Sorry That I Knocked You Up" http://technologyvshorse.bandcamp.com/album/sorry-that-i-knocked-you-up

as well.

So yeah, Shawn was being a dick but he had good reason to. Hogan chose to try and bigfoot another big name like he did in WCW rather than do business with a cat that could have made him look like a king in the end.

________________________________________________________________________________________________
But Zootown, black people and media, so...

Shawn was unprofessional in the ring. It was a callback to his pre-1998 days. Would it have diminished his legacy to lose to Hogan twice in a row?

Vince McMahon gives Hulk Hogan control over whether he goes over or not. Hogan does what's right for Hogan, and he certainly deserves his share of the blame for his endless politicking.

Avatar: Chikara Pro Wrestling. Born From Oblivion.

New Technology Vs. Horse album, "Sorry That I Knocked You Up" http://technologyvshorse.bandcamp.com/album/sorry-that-i-knocked-you-up

<--- Big Baller World Order

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXj3Lzztl6U

-------------------
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"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

That opening minute, and the final sequence there were just insane. Had he not lost control of him it still would've been a great finish, but it ended up being one of those happy little accidents that gave the match an epic ending.

Cesaro's been killing it all year on these smaller shows. Had arguably the best match on Main Event this year with Kofi, and now easily the best match I've seen on NXT. Not to mention he's gotten good matches out of guys like Sin Cara and Bo Dallas, two guys I find utterly boring.

this is awesome

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9588366/an-interview-wwe-superstar-corporate-officer-triple-h

Very interested in seeing how the new Developmental Center affects the future of homegrown talent (Triple H mentioned that they are basically taking people off the street w/ no wrestling experiencing and building them from ground 0, which he also said he prefers over dipping into the indy pool).

Triple H's role in talent introduction has been evident. Ever since he took the job the old school style of debuts began (weeks to months of vignettes and build up).

Not that he isn't lying, but you can tell he doesn't have a lot of respect for Foley as a worker. A person, maybe, but not a worker. And I'd bet that as time goes on not too many people within the industry will either.

He does provide good insight about his mindset, and you have to respect him for developing a mind for the wrestling business and being able to apply it in a post-wrestling fashion. However, when you add the fact that he married Stephanie it sounds more like they united as a power couple rather than out of mere love. Not to say they don't love each other; it just appears like it started from a business/political convenience. It isn't the first time it's happened in wrestling, nor in the business world, period.

I laughed at his insecurities in regards to the "dirt sheets". There's no doubt that the elbow rubbing thing happens more often than most people with wrestling websites and newsletters will admit but that doesn't mean that (most of) the analysis and information that they publish isn't legitimate and speaks to the state of wrestling at the moment.
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He was getting there with the Lesnar example, but what I think he was trying to say and what it really boils down to is it's about the HOW...it's about the STORY and the road to the climax, not the literal results or big splashes themselves

>Not that he isn't lying, but you can tell he doesn't have a
>lot of respect for Foley as a worker. A person, maybe, but not
>a worker. And I'd bet that as time goes on not too many people
>within the industry will either.

Bret Hart praises him in his book, as does Jericho in his. Taker has also said how good Foley is to work with.

Given that all three of those guys are a lot better than HHH in the ring....

his In Your House match against HBK, his "I Quit" match against Rock at Royal Rumble, and his Backlash match against Randy Orton are all personal favorites of mine. While they all have elements of hardcore and are violent, each respective match tells a great story and all are much more than just bloody spot fests

King of taking ridiculous falls from some platform or cage, taking bumps into thumbtacks, being set on fire, taking powerbombs onto concrete, losing ears?

Or having to retire at age 36 because of all of the stunts he's done throughout his wrestling career? He can't come back even if he wanted to because he'll never pass the concussion impact testing?

I mean sure, that shit was a drawn out fad for a while. But nobody wants to go back to the days of ECW where they were falling off of a scaffold onto five ladders just to get stiffed every week by Paul Heyman or whatever two bit promoter decided to throw them a few dollars on the weekend.
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And if you think his career was just hardcore spots and sick bumps, then you probably haven't watched many of his matches.

Mainly because they're fairly easy to work with and they generally aren't known to hurt anyone.

Foley is what he is. If you consider weapons and stunt matches to be great matches, then okay; I guess he is a good worker. I know Foley can do a number of moves and the like; but what is his calling card? Spots and weapons. Personally, my favorite matches have to have a little more than that in them. And I think guys like Foley hurt the wrestling business more than they helped it.
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>think guys like Foley hurt the wrestling business more than
>they helped it.

And how many Foley matches have you actually seen? You don't seem to a grasp of what went on....

I virtually watched his entire career, as Cactus Jack, as Mankind, as Dude Love, etc.

He's a great promo guy and he has great charisma, particularly when placed as an antihero/underdog. But when you look at the effects of hardcore wrestling - something he helped bring into mainstream wrestling in a big way - the stuff that he did was counterproductive. It's just like with ladder matches and Hell in a Cell; people have already seen wrestlers jump off of ladders and fall off of cages to the point where every time a gimmick match is announced everyone's asking what is going to be the next big stunt.

And there are plenty of guys that were doing those kind of spots and those kind of bumps in matches that are going through a bunch of major health problems as well as drug addictions due to painkillers. Hell; Foley can't wrestle in WWE again due to the numerous chair shots and bumps to the head to the point where he can't pass concussion impact testing.

On top of that, the stuff from the Attitude Era and the crash test dummy style of hardcore wrestling, while it helped Vince make tons of money at the time, really hurt WWE as an promotional brand and limited potential partnerships with other networks. Considering their ratings, WWE is highly underpaid on their tv deals and they had to settle for SyFy to host their #2 program. And that's because there isn't a lot of sponsors that would advertise during Raw after the Attitude Era. They had the stigma of gutter tv, and it's taking them this long with changing to PG and with Cena as the face of the company in order to get their footing back.

I'll give Trips credit; he's learning from the mistakes of the Attitude Era and from hardcore wrestling, and they're realizing that in order for WWE to be able to lengthen the careers of some of their veterans they must cut back from some of the needless bumps and risks they take. They must save them from themselves. And by bringing in guys like Bryan, Ambrose, Rollins, Cesaro, Zayn, etc it shows he is serious in bringing in guys with real wrestling talent. A guy like Foley couldn't even get in the door today, and that's probably a good thing.
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Which if you had in fact watched him as much as you claim, you'd know were very good. He had excellent psychology, worked well with wrestlers of a variety of styles, didn't hurt people, and always made the other guy look good. If you don't see that, or choose not to...I don't know what to tell you.

Keller says it wasn't him that was shitting on DDP, it was Mark Madden

Meltzer says it was actually Bruce Mitchell

I believe Meltzer

"Irregardless," the phrase "take with a grain of salt" was practically invented for pieces like this

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But Zootown, black people and media, so...

HHH made a lot of good points, would of loved to hear his perspective on where he sees WWE in the future in regards to UFC.

also i didnt think he was blasting Foley personally, but i think more of that "spot fest" style and Foley was the face of that style. And the proof is in the pudding in the last year or so, there have been some great matches now i don't know if this is a direct result of HHH's influence but there has definitely been a shift in story telling in the ring. which has resulted in some great matches.

---------------------------------
<----DAMN!
Straddling the Line Between Genius and Insanity

https://soundcloud.com/headnoddaproductions

because, yeah, while he has issues with Mick dropping his hands for chair shots, his main issue was more with the Japanese Death Matches that broke Foley big with the Internet fans and led to the great ECW run.

I thought he threw far more shade at Austin, who he depicts as not really giving a shit about story at all.

And there's some "unreliable narrator" stuff with his role in burying other people. Especially when at the height of the McMahon Helmsley era plots he'd be on screen for an hour in a two hour show.

---------------------------------
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"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

Can't believe Simmons of all people didn't bring up concussions/safety/steroids.

Also no questions about the unpopular decision to expand RAW to three hours and rumors there doing the same with smackdown

you can tell I dont really read a lot of the wrestling blogs/sites because I had no idea that Bray Wyatt was Husky Harris. Great job of totally revamping that character, they are nowhere near the same person.

Second thing, are they seriously making a Leprechaun horror movie starring Hornswoggle????




You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

His belt has "RKO" on the sides

http://www.wwe.com/inside/an-exclusive-look-at-wwe-champion-randy-ortons-new-title-plates-photos

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
But Zootown, black people and media, so...

not an inspired design by Orton or anything, but the ability to customize the belt without having it look out of place is a great detail.

I realize that is dumb and an unfair grudge to hold against the new belt, but I hate that they kept the spinner belt on Punk for 400+ days and then the second Rock wins it to be a transitional champ they make a new belt for him.

What's happenend to me?

i'm a little worried they're rushing this daniel bryan story. i hope it's a slow "fight the system" story leading to a triumphant moment at wrestlemania or the rumble rather than a rushed one where they hand it over at NOC. a gauntlet vs. the shield tonight sounds like they're rushing it, but we'll see.

>i hope it's a slow "fight the system" story leading to a
>triumphant moment at wrestlemania or the rumble

In rasslin', you strike while the iron's hot.

if they play it right, of course. the overselling of orton as the face of the company will only make crowds hate him more and love bryan more. if they screw bryan over at NOC then keep setting up obstacles for him in the pursuit of his eventual championship, the storyline becomes far more intriguing.

in keeping with the "cautiously optimistic" theme of the last few posts: i know they could get impatient and hand it to bryan, but they've shown some patience with the storylines recently so that bodes well.

Or Bryan/Orton/HHH/McMahons in whatever combination.

I'm not of the mind that the most money is to be made with that combination.

>Or Bryan/Orton/HHH/McMahons in whatever combination.
>
>I'm not of the mind that the most money is to be made with
>that combination.

out of full-time wrestlers i can only confidently say that punk is a bigger draw than those two, and he just had a long run so they probably want to avoid that.

It's obvious the company doesn't see Orton as a TOP heel, because they've armored him with HHH and McMahons, but there aren't any other candidates. But my issue is this: first, I think they've overestimated the the interest in yet more McMahon/Hemlsley skullduggery, and second, they KNOW Bryan is over, so why not use him to develop a desperately needed top heel?

Of course, I don't know what midcard heels would be ready for that push.

they've overestimated the the interest in yet more
>McMahon/Hemlsley skullduggery,

because i knew it was coming. so far they've pulled it off, but i do hope the mcmahons aren't too involved.

A number of babyfaces that were supposedly over finally won the championship, but didn't have anything afterwards and the fans lost interest. You have Bryan win the title now, and he automatically loses steam as champion instead of having him chase the title vs. Orton and the McMahon family.

Bryan shouldn't win the title at least until November, and that should be a short reign. The real money comes in when Cena returns and you have a battle between Orton, Cena, Bryan, and HHH. Orton's going to be the top heel at least until WrestleMania at this point.
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And if they do give it to him he won't hold it very long

is my guess

They kinda want to build the title up to being a big deal so it makes more sense for it to be with Orton for a good minute

Which means of course that they will indeed to a title switch at NOC

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
But Zootown, black people and media, so...

I'll be quite happy if they let her do something other than be the "crazy" woman.

Avatar: Chikara Pro Wrestling. Born From Oblivion.

New Technology Vs. Horse album, "Sorry That I Knocked You Up" http://technologyvshorse.bandcamp.com/album/sorry-that-i-knocked-you-up

Basically proving AJ's point by being terrible (but not on purpose, in a we don't get how we are ruining this moment by yelling kind of way)

in the middle of the season made no sense whatsoever.

That's some WCW-type nonsense there, especially when it's only going to lead to AJ being on Total Divas soon. It's bad enough that WWE has tried to make the talent on Total Divas as unlikable as possible; now they're going to bury the show and convince fans not to watch it too?

And let's be real; this "year" AJ has had was her jumping from one relationship to another with Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kane, John Cena, and Dolph Ziggler. She won the Divas Title, but that was after WrestleMania and she didn't wrestle most of the time before that.

Her ringwork is far from good. Natalya and Naomi show far more in the ring than she does (hell; Naomi while training on Total Divas hit a split-legged moonsault with ease on Jimmy Uso. When has any diva done anything like that?) The most I've seen AJ do in the ring is that Black Widow/Octopus submission, and a Ziggler-like sell to Kaitlyn's spear. That's it.
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Just like the people who watch Real housewives are not fans of the NBA

The debut itself was higher than most reality shows on E!. In fact it was the network's highest show debut in almost a year.

On top of that, they aired the debut after Raw the next night on USA and it got even MORE VIEWERS than their debut on E!.

You're just making that up.
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The show is watched by people who watch trashy reality tv, and probably by hornball teenagers.

The average wrestling fan does not watch the show (note this does not mean all fans)

They can bash that show for 2 hours on Raw it wont have one iota of negative effect on the ratings. Infact the fans at Raw will probably cheer the bashing of the show.

Like you get how popular trashy reality TV is right? High ratings does not mean wrestling fans are watching. How many do you know watching it? Are you watching? Is anyone in this post watching?

Are you watching? Is anyone in this post
>watching?

But to be fair, I watch a lot of trashy reality television, so I'm not the best example to use....



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

>
>But to be fair, I watch a lot of trashy reality television, so
>I'm not the best example to use....
>

i need that Eva Marie fix.

<--- Big Baller World Order

>Are you watching? Is anyone in this post
>watching?

------
so...if you're into DJing or nightlife...
or DJing AND nightlife...
peep Opening Set Podcast
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also remixes: http://jonreyes.bandcamp.com

@stankpalmer

only reality show I watch...

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Everyone here hates pop music, but loves Michael Jackson... Okay Player...

I could care less what most of the Divas do on Raw, care even less when its unrelated to wrestling.

Still don't think anyone here is going to not watch it because AJ made fun of it though.

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

That shit was awesome... The WWE is finally making the divas division kinda interesting....

_____________________________________________________________
Everyone here hates pop music, but loves Michael Jackson... Okay Player...

Anytime someone is given a mic and are allowed to talk for a long period of time, it's not a "shoot," even if it "looks/sounds" like it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
But Zootown, black people and media, so...

>Anytime someone is given a mic and are allowed to talk for a
>long period of time, it's not a "shoot," even if it
>"looks/sounds" like it.

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

LOL. Shots fired!