The Wrestling Thread Has Until 5! - Part 40

[Dr. Evil]

So..

Cena vs Rock

Taker vs TRiple h III

Big Show vs Shaq

Cm punk vs Jericho

Ryback vs Kane

Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry

Goldust vs Cody Rhodes

Beth vs Random Diva #5

I like that card, except for Taker vs. Triple H III and Beth vs. Random Diva #5. It should be Beth vs. Natalya.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Why? sure it wont be great wrestling-wise but the publicity for him could be a real boost for his career.

Kind of a double-edged sword there.

At the outset, I'm going to get a lot of fire here for stating this, but I'm not really sold yet on Bryan's appeal. I'll keep an open mind, but right now I think he's still in the testing stage. Putting him in a gimmick match with 3 charismatic personalities might boost his career, but might also highlight his weaknesses (lack of charisma, lack of distinctive look, lack of distinguishing physique) and serve as a setback to his career.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

I am starting to believe, or atleast I hope, the angle with Masked Kane will result in Kane forcing Cena to revert back to the violent, chain carrying thugaboo of 03-04. Everyone is questioning why Kane ripped off Cena's shirt Monday and the answer is obvious. Kane is character driven by hate, and he is going to force Cena to be hateful in time to face The Rock. Speaking of Kane, it's amazing how the character hit an all time low this past summer when he basically tried to run away from Mark Henry, but now with the mask and old entrance back it's like 1997 again.

I said earlier, keep Kane hot heading into Mania and put him against Sheamus. Kane can be kept hot even if he loses to Cena by it requiring multiple AA's and a chain shot to keep him down for the three count.

personally i think we're reaching here, kanes attacking cena because the staff have nothing for either, thats it no hidden meaning and no heel turn

 

[Wheels]

Why? sure it wont be great wrestling-wise but the publicity for him could be a real boost for his career.

Ziggler and Morrison were an afterthought at WrestleMania last year. People only remembered Snooki, Trish, and Laycool. Bryan won't get any media attention, so unless Vince rewards Bryan for making the match watchable, I don't see the point.

With Shaq vs Show and Undertaker vs Triple H added to the card WrestleMania might have enough big matches, so Bryan could be in the world title match.

 

[Metallo]

So with HHH vs Taker III they are just using the speculation of HBK as referee we had like a year ago???? Wheres the originality. I still don't see how the match could be better or even deserves to be on the card. And if HHH wins (even a dusty finish)...pointless. And if HHH loses its just a show of respect to put over Taker as the all time great that beat BOTH of DX in three matches. He doesn't need that since he's already considered an all time great. Takers already beat two Horsemen at once and all four members of Evolution on separate occasions at Wrestlemania.

They can't use the excuse of drawing power like last time...especially if they add Shaq vs Show. We all know Show will lose and it'll be the Bam Bam vs LT of its day but there's still huge name value there. And Cena vs Rock alone makes it a huge show.

I hope Taker and HHH do the right thing put the kibosh on this and use their time more constructively.

HHH already gets his share of the blame but I'm starting to blame Taker too since he could end talk of this right now unless he really does want to put over HHH.

As for The Divas match I know Nightmare was joking since it doesn't even matter these days but anything other than some combination of Beth Karma and Natalya is a huge waste of time and a piss break. Even the multi womens matches would be a snore since even more good workers are gone. People thought the 25 diva battle royale was bad? Even that had Molly Holly, Victoria, Mickie and others in it. Watching a diva match of Alicia Fox Rosa Mendes, The Bellas, and Kelly is enough to make me want to watch something else. Like paint drying.

 

[TX85]

Other than community creations, where else?

WWE Shop in the menu,He was suppose to be out to download 90 days after release day..So it should be soon!!

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

At the outset, I'm going to get a lot of fire here for stating this, but I'm not really sold yet on Bryan's appeal. I'll keep an open mind, but right now I think he's still in the testing stage. Putting him in a gimmick match with 3 charismatic personalities might boost his career, but might also highlight his weaknesses (lack of charisma, lack of distinctive look, lack of distinguishing physique) and serve as a setback to his career.

I agree with this.

I just... don't see it with Daniel Bryan. He's cool for the mid card and all, but I really don't see anything in him worth shooting up to the main event and holding a world title.

I'm still of the belief that there is a mid card and an upper card for a reason, and not every guy with even the slightest hint of talent deserves to be in the main event. We'll see if I'm proven wrong. I was proven wrong with CM Punk.

 

[Nightmare]

I like that card, except for Taker vs. Triple H III and Beth vs. Random Diva #5. It should be Beth vs. Natalya.

I like that idea, Beth vs Natalya. Who would you turn face?

 

[Metallo]

Punk Speaks - Facing Austin Or Jericho At WrestleMania, Honoring Savage

Posted by Daniel Pena on 12/23/2011

CM Punk stopped by Mix 106.1 in Philadelphia for a "CM Punk Christmas" with Brian Soscia of The Soscia Network. Highlights from the interview are as follows:

His current injuries: "I don't think anything's broken. I've been working with a broken hand for about a month and a half now so I'm relatively in better shape than I planned on being, honestly.

What got him into wrestling as a kid: "I think everyone just being larger than life. I always say the Piper and Snuka and the coconut. It's like all those memories bleed into one after awhile. I just remember being like, man, this is crazy watching all these guys and all the monsters Hogan used to fight. Randy Savage was obviously the man."

Paying tribute to Randy Savage with the stars on his tights: "The four stars - my ties are the Chicago flag, the four stars on the Chicago flag. Yeah, it's an homage a little bit to Randy. Everyone was bigger than the world it seemed.

"I kind of got into this because I was a GI Joe and they all had code names and real names. I just wanted a code name. I couldn't understand why I couldn't just live life like my favorite superheroes or cartoon characters and stuff like that. I just decided I could and I did."

How his parents reacted when he got into wrestling: "I don't think they ever supported the idea or supported me until like all of a sudden I was, I guess, famous which I don't really think I am. I try to downplay it as much as I can. I realize the scope of how I'm seen and everything but I don't think they really cared until I was in the WWE."

His fame: "I'm not like The Situation from Jersey Shore who like all of a sudden got ridiculously rich and he thinks he can boss people around and have all of these ridiculous demands. I'm very much in tune with where I came from and how hard I worked to get here and I appreciate it. I don't think a guy like that really is. I think he's handed all this stuff and, yeah, I can use him as an example because I can kick his ass."

Working with Sgt. Slaughter having a GI Joe tat: "It blows my mind every time I see Sergeant in the locker room... He knows (about the tattoo). I always see him and I'm like, 'Sergeant,' and I salute him. It's great. It's two-fold because he's a GI Joe guy and he's a hell of a pro wrestler. Talk about somebody I look up to.

"When I was growing up he was kind of out of sight, out of mind until he did the whole Iraqi sympathizer thing... He was getting death threats and stuff like that; that's tremendous. That was his job and he did it great."

A potential match with Steve Austin or Chris Jericho at WrestleMania and who he'd like to face: "Who would I like at Wrestlemania this year? I'll explain it to you like this. Steve Austin, the biggest star in the wrestling business, period. Bigger than Hulk Hogan by a landslide, I might add. I don't think Steve is going to come out of retirement for anything less than the main event at Wrestlemania, nor should he. When you talk about a guy like Dwayne. Dwayne should not come back for anything less than the main event of Wrestlemania. So the main event at Wrestlemania was booked in stone a year ago. It's Dwayne versus John Cena. It is what it is. I'm not guaranteeing anything but we got awhile until Mania and then we got a whole 365 days until Wrestlemania 29 and I think I can talk a lot of trash and maybe coax Steven into putting the boots on one more time. I'm not promising anything. I'm sure he gets annoyed when I talk about it but I got to be me."

If he gets nervous: "I had somebody ask me yesterday if I ever get nervous. This somebody doesn't really know a whole lot about what I do, somebody I recently met. I hate kind of explaining it to people. When I meet somebody who doesn't know who I am, I get excited. I'm like, 'Oh, this is great. This is fantastic. I don't have to talk about work. I don't have to explain anything. I don't have to answer questions. I just get to be me.' I was explaining to her that, no, I don't really get nervous. I can count on one hand how many times I get nervous a year. I love high pressure situations. I thrive on it. It makes me feel alive so when I do get nervous I take it in stride and it just lets me know that I still love this.

"Wrestlemania is one of those times I get nervous. It is the biggest show of the year, all eyes on you. 70,000-80,000 people and not to mention all the people around the world who are watching you live. When you think about it, it gets kind of daunting. I love those situations. It's like, 'Hell yes, everybody look at me. Watch me rise.'"

The last time he got butterflies: "I'm going to say last night [at TLC]. I felt it last night. High pressure situation - no John Cena on the pay-per-view. CM Punk is the champion. I'm supposed to carry the load and I take that responsibility extremely seriously even though there's guys in the locker room that I've been wrestling with for 10 years. I still look at them as my crew. I take it very seriously. I'm the General on the ground and I'll be the first one on the ground and I'll be the last one off. We're going to war; that's the way I look at it. I very much take my responsibility as a leader very seriously. It's not like a we don't need John Cena sort of thing and John gets it."

His altercation with Tony Atlas at Ohio Valley Wrestling: "What it boils down to is a misunderstanding. Tony was unfortunately a victim of backstage OVW politics. The true story is Al Snow, for whatever reason, hated the Major Brothers who is now Curt Hawkins and the broski, Zach Ryder and would give them grief. These guys were on the road, working house shows and if they weren't they were doing RAW and ECW on Tuesdays and they would get back and do OVW TV. They weren't released from developmental yet at the time so Al would make them do the weekend shows. They didn't get a break and they are hard working kids. For some reason Al had a ***** for them and he'd constantly give them grief and treat them like crap. They had their wrists taped and it turned into this big thing where they'd try to hassle them about it. 'What happens when you have a taped fist match?' Stuff nobody cares about. So it was a thing.

"Tony was down there talking to the kids about saving your money and doing all that stuff. I was still living in Louisville at the time and I went down there to help out, and I wound up working a Dark Match main event. I had my wrists taped. I didn't know any of this was going on. I was there on my day off. I thought I was being a nice guy. Tony comes up to me and starts talking about the wrist tape. I didn't know what was going on. Tony says, 'If you don't listen to your coach I'm going to write you a bad report and you're never going to get called up to TV.' I was just like, 'What? I can't win this fight.' I said, 'Thank you sir. I appreciate the advice. I'll take it into consideration.' I'm not going to be like, 'I'm on television. I'm the ECW Champion.' It turned into a big thing.

"I just saw Tony last Monday. I was in the hotel gym in the morning doing sprints and he popped his head in. We had a cool 10 minute conversation... Like I said, he was just down there and he was a victim of Al Snow's weird OVW politics. He tried to make the Major Brothers feel like dirt for whatever reason."

The ECW Arena no longer hosting wrestling events: "It's not my call; I don't own the building and I was renting it out to people who wanted to give me money to use it - I don't know why I would exclude anybody. I got a feeling it might change. Maybe the fans will be vocal about it and something will give. Hopefully it does. I think the coolest thing that ever happened in that building in my life is that's where I met Joey Mercury. We're family now so that's the cool part about that building for me."


Mark Henry Says He Considered Retiring, Wrestling's Most Memorable Turns

Posted by Daniel Pena on 12/23/2011
-- In an interview published in the January 2012 issue of WWE Magazine, Mark Henry says he's considered retiring from professional wrestling prior to his breakthrough run atop SmackDown.

When asked if there was ever a point where he thought about quitting, he said, "Well, I'm older in the business, and my children miss their dad. Not to mention the aches and pains are just making it harder to get through everything. But, right now, I'm feeling fresh and things are going well. I'm going to hang around as long as I can."

"The World's Strongest Man" also discusses the Hall of Pain, being motivated by past struggles, carrying the World Heavyweight Championship and more.

-- February on WWE Classics On Demand, WWE highlights the most memorable turns in wrestling history. WWE released a trailer previewing the month in programming and clips are included of Hulk Hogan joining the New World Order, Shawn Michaels throwing Marty Jannetty through a glass window, Triple H doublecrossing Randy Orton and Sgt. Slaughter as an Iraqi Sympathizer.

-- Alberto Del Rio graces the cover of the latest issue of Inside Wrestling.


The 50 Best Professional Wrestlers Of 2011 Named

Posted by Daniel Pena on 12/23/2011
For the eighteenth year, Power Slam magazine presents The PS 50, which ranks the 50 best-performing wrestlers in the industry. Rankings in The PS 50 are basted on grapplers' in-ring showings over a 12-month period (December 1, 2010 through November 30, 2011).

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi
2. Randy Orton
3. Davey Richards
4. Prince Devitt
5. Shingo Takagi
6. Christian
7. Kurt Angle
8. C.M. Punk
9. Kota Ibush
10. Takashi Sugiura
11. KENTA
12. Go Shiozaki
13. PAC
14. Akira Tozawa
15. Hirooki Goto
16. Eddie Edwards
17. BxB Hulk
18. Tetsuya Naito
19. AJ Styles
20. Shinsuke Nakamura
21. Masaaki Mochizuki
22. Bobby Roode
23. Rey Mysterio
24. Kenny Omega
25. Sheamus
26. Antonio Cesaro
27. CIMA
28. Katsuhiko Nakajima
29. Masato Yoshino
30. Chris Hero
31. Dragon Kid
32. Jay Briscoe
33. Ricochet
34. Mark Briscoe
35. Kevin Steen
36. Yuji Nagata
37. James Storm
38. Dolph Ziggler
39. Daniel Bryan
40. El Generico
41. Alberto Del Rio
42. Ryusuke Taguchi
43. Austin Aries
44. Jeff Jarrett
45. Kofi Kingston
46. Bully Ray
47. Christopher Daniels
48. The Miz
49. John Morrison
50. Kenny King

 

[Nightmare]

Ziggler and Morrison were an afterthought at WrestleMania last year. People only remembered Snooki, Trish, and Laycool. Bryan won't get any media attention, so unless Vince rewards Bryan for making the match watchable, I don't see the point.

With Shaq vs Show and Undertaker vs Triple H added to the card WrestleMania might have enough big matches, so Bryan could be in the world title match.

Im kinda wondering what Bryan's role will be at WM. Whether hes champ there or not. Maybe a world title match against cody? Cody winning the belt there would be huge for his career and pinning him as a legit main eventer. But I dont really know if thats realistic as far as what the wwe wants to do.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I like that idea, Beth vs Natalya. Who would you turn face?

Natalya

 

[TripleR]

I have a theory as to why Taker-HHH 3 might be happening. IF they have Triple H end the streak, you know it would have to be totally Taker's call. No one's going to ask him to do it, and I'm sure H would probably try to turn it down if he offered, but I can see why Taker may want to give it to him.

Those two have a really high level of mutual respect, but I'm sure Taker knows he's the most revered guy in the locker room by far, and that some guys may have a dislike for HHH for various reasons. Taker isn't around much anymore, might be gone for good soon, he knows he's leaving a huge empty space as far as locker room leadership goes. Meanwhile HHH is becoming more and more of a boss backstage and how he's perceived by the boys is pretty important in getting everyone behind his new leadership role.

Taker may want to give him the streak as the ultimate show of respect for the whole locker room to see. It's his way of saying "This is the guy now, he's going to be the new leader, and he's got my blessing. I respect and trust him enough to give him the streak, you follow him now."

Then again Taker might win again and it's a waste of a match and I'm completely wrong, but if he does lose, he might not be building up a young talent, but he is passing a pretty big torch to the guy who's going to run the company so it would still mean a lot.

 

[Wheels]

I agree with this.

I just... don't see it with Daniel Bryan. He's cool for the mid card and all, but I really don't see anything in him worth shooting up to the main event and holding a world title.

I'm still of the belief that there is a mid card and an upper card for a reason, and not every guy with even the slightest hint of talent deserves to be in the main event. We'll see if I'm proven wrong. I was proven wrong with CM Punk.

I'm a Bryan fan, but I don't see the point in him winning the MITB. I doubt he will hold the belt long based on how he's been booked. I think Vince has little faith in Bryan, and won't get behind him. MITB should be used to build guys up, and not to hotshot guys and make them look like fluke champions. I think WWE would've been better served by giving a strong push to someone they believe in.

As for Bryan in the main event scene, I have no problem with him being a guy who floats between the mid-card and main event.

 

[E-Man]

What are some of the embarrassing and hilarious things you have done because of wrestling? This should be fun!

I used to run around the house and shake my bed as if I was the Ultimate Warrior when I was a kid.

When I was a kid I used to commentate with my toys as if I were JR. My brother would be Vince McMahon.t:

I used to do the worm and the spinaroonie at football practice in high school.

From time to time I still put on Shawn Michaels' theme song and dance around like he does when he comes out...kinda like 10 minutes ago.

 

[Pink Ranger]

What are some of the embarrassing and hilarious things you have done because of wrestling? This should be fun!

Back in the days of the original 8-bit Nintendo, I was infamous among my friends for doing my own play-by-play and heel commentary during Tag-Team Wrestling and Pro Wrestling.

I never had a stuffed Wrestlebuddy, but I'd practice my Randy Savage elbow drops on giant pillows.

With my MUSCLE figures, I kept a frighteningly detailed computer records on each figure's win-loss record and contender status, and updated them after playing with them. Come to think of it, this one's really bad.

 

[E-Man]

lol We used to commentate during the old Royal Rumble and Raw games too.

 

[Pink Ranger]

From time to time I still put on Shawn Michaels' theme song and dance around like he does when he comes out...kinda like 10 minutes ago.

That's okay, but if you also have the same ring outfits as Shawn Michaels did, I recommend you seek professional help.

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

Embarrassing wrestling things I do...

I do wrestling moves with pillows.

I use wrestling phrases in everyday situations.

I use to do entrance moves when I was younger.

I talk to people in character.

 

[Kane52630]

My embarrassing wrestling moments was when I told a teacher who was a coach to "know your role and shut your mouth!" as a joke. He used to watch wrestling so only a few got that joke.

 

[Metamorpho1977]

I agree with this.

I just... don't see it with Daniel Bryan. He's cool for the mid card and all, but I really don't see anything in him worth shooting up to the main event and holding a world title.

I'm still of the belief that there is a mid card and an upper card for a reason, and not every guy with even the slightest hint of talent deserves to be in the main event. We'll see if I'm proven wrong. I was proven wrong with CM Punk.

Daniel Bryan is filling the hole that Chris Benoit left.

 

[Soapy]

Watching wrasslin' in and of itself is pretty embarrassing.

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

Watching wrasslin' in and of itself is pretty embarrassing.

I used to think that way when I was in my teens, but now I just don't care.

It's less embarrassing than watching Jersey Shore or Teen Mom or Twilight IMO.

 

[Dr. Evil]

That's okay, but if you also have the same ring outfits as Shawn Michaels did, I recommend you seek professional help.

By professional help, do you mean a shrink or (for the fans of Arrested Development who post here) an Analyst/Therapist?

 

[Pink Ranger]

Daniel Bryan is filling the hole that Chris Benoit left.

I kind of get what you mean, except that Benoit was freakishly strong for his size, and could work with the big muscular guys like Rock and HHH. Bryan can't really do that.

 

[Dr. Evil]