The Wrestling Thread

[DomDom]

WWE.com has this to say.

As reported on WWE.com on Monday, June 8, 2009, WWE Superstar Umaga (Edward Fatu) has been released from his World Wrestling Entertainment contract.

However, consistent with the practice of announcing wellness policy violations, it should be noted that Umaga's termination was due to his second violation of the WWE Wellness Program and his subsequent refusal to attend a rehabilitation facility.

I guess that he had it coming then, but it's still a damn shame.

The Sun has reported that WWE were slow to announce it was a Wellness situation because it was only his second strike.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Get set for a whole bunch of suspensions aswell. WWE released a load of developmental talent a few weeks ago due to wellness policy violations and there are rumours there are more suspensions or releases coming in the next week or two.

Lets not forget the three strike policy. These are the wrestlers who have previous:

RAW

Chavo Guerrero - 2 strikes

Festus - 1 strike

Randy Orton - 1 strike

William Regal - 2 strikes

Smackown!

Charlie Haas - 1 strike

Dolph Ziggler - 1 strike

Edge - 1 strike

Jeff Hardy - 2 strikes

Jimmy Wang Yang - 1 strike

John Morrison - 1 strike

Kung Fu Naki - 1 strike

ECW

David Hart Smith - 1 strike

Gregory Helms - 1 strike

[The Hero of the Day]

He might have said it then, but also said it to the guy that made Beyond the Mat in what must have been the late 90s.

Hell, if you want unpredictable, TNA is always an option. I despise it myself, but with the master of the Attitude era, Vinny Russo, at the helm, he always tries swerves and stupid matches and general shenanigans.

I do agree that WWE has become predictable though. The only shocks anymore seem to come from the Money in the Bank case. Of course, the wrestling on the PPVs is usually top notch, so I can take it.

I've been to see TNA 3 times now when ive been at Universal Studios. 1 PPV was Victory Road last year where i saw Sting, Kurt Angle and the likes. Was an amazing experience seeing the greatest wrestler ever not to sign for WWF. Just curious but what is there to despise about TNA?

[DomDom]

I just hate that they feel the need to add a twist to every storyline. It's not needed. I hate the fact that they have some fantastic original talent, yet the title has hardly seen any of them. Samoa Joe is the only one who they have made real strides to elevate. They have pretty much fucked every other oppertunity.

They have potentially an amazing roster of wrestlers, but you only get a hint of that once every so often.

I'll still watch as long as the likes of Beer Money, MCMG, AJ Styles, Suicide ( Kazarian ), Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash ( yeah, I'm a mark ) and Awesome Kong are there, but really, they are capable of so much more, but aren't capitalising.

[The Hero of the Day]

I just hate that they feel the need to add a twist to every storyline. It's not needed. I hate the fact that they have some fantastic original talent, yet the title has hardly seen any of them. Samoa Joe is the only one who they have made real strides to elevate. They have pretty much fucked every other oppertunity.

They have potentially an amazing roster of wrestlers, but you only get a hint of that once every so often.

I'll still watch as long as the likes of Beer Money, MCMG, AJ Styles, Suicide ( Kazarian ), Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash ( yeah, I'm a mark ) and Awesome Kong are there, but really, they are capable of so much more, but aren't capitalising.

Not Kurt Angle? He is still the best wrestler going in terms of technical ability but just didn't have the character like The Rock did. I heard rumours of Samoa Joe moving to the WWE? For the sake of all wrestling fans I hope TNA get a lift from somewhere and start seriously competing with WWE. Since WCW went out of business in '01 the WWE has been appauling from '02 til now compared to 97-01 as it hasn't had a challenge from any other company.

[DomDom]

Kurt Angle is more of a brawler than a technical guy, but yeah, I kinda forgot about him. I think he's underestimated when it comes to character. Ever since he got that haircut, he's had an extra level of intensity about him. WWE took good advantage of that, but they didn't do it enough.

I heard rumours of Samoa Joe moving to the WWE? For the sake of all wrestling fans I hope TNA get a lift from somewhere and start seriously competing with WWE. Since WCW went out of business in '01 the WWE has been appauling from '02 til now compared to 97-01 as it hasn't had a challenge from any other company.

TNA is the best chance, and that's part of the reason I have such hatred for them. They don't ever do anything to challenge. They seem to think that making the same mistakes of early 2000s WCW will help things, and where exactly will that get them ? Mick Foley is a good choice of a champ, and COULD elevate a young contender for the gold as I don't think there are many better at it.

[YER SISTERS YER MAW]

For anyone who's interested , tickets for the up-and-coming TNA Maximum Impact Tour go on sale this morning at 9am. The scottish date at the Braehead Arena is on Sat 23rd of January. For tickets contact the Braehead Arena on Tel-0844 4999 990 or 24hr hotlines 0871 2200 260/0871 230 6230. Alternatively buy online at Gigsandtours.com or Ticketmaster.co.uk

[DA Baracus]

TNA just seem to be trying to replicate the successes of the 90's in WCW and the WWF. The Main Event Mafia?! Awful! They even had an episode of Impact that was taken over by the MEM. The exact same thing happened with the nWO on a Nitro episode once.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

TNA have plenty of excellenty talent and just aren't using them in the right way. They gave Samoa Joe the belt about a year too late. They should have pushed AJ as a main event player again. I didn't mind when the put the belt on Foley but it should have been used to get some new young talent over instead we get a Foley/Sting serie, something first done back in early 90's WCW.

The saving grace of TNA for me is it's tag division........MCMG, Beer Money Inc.,3D, British Invasion and my personal favourite LAX. Compare this to WWE where they have the Colons, Legacy..............erm ................er and .......er....the Colons

[Mo Wonderboy]

The saving grace of TNA for me is it's tag division........MCMG, Beer Money Inc.,3D, British Invasion and my personal favourite LAX. Compare this to WWE where they have the Colons, Legacy..............erm ................er and .......er....the Colons

MCMG are fooking awesome and I am a total mark for Alex Shelley.

Bit harsh on the WWE though. They have the best thing going just now The Hart Dynasty! Tyson Godd and DH.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

MCMG are fooking awesome and I am a total mark for Alex Shelley.

Bit harsh on the WWE though. They have the best thing going just now The Hart Dynasty! Tyson Godd and DH.

But they are on ECW which has no tag division. Thye just wrestle random pairings of main eventers. I wish WWE would just put all of its tag teams on ECW have regular title matches and put the belts on the Harts. It would take ECW to a whole new level of awesomeness.

[Sir Kevin Of Kilsyth]

I think they should make the belts tri-branded and have whoever the champions are compete occasionally on each show. As you say Kidd and DH are going to end up quite tiresome on ECW with no belts to feud for so I think The Colons should come over and feud with them occasionally.

[Liam.]

Sorry to burst your bubbles, but do you realise wrestling is fake?

It is? I refuse to watch it any more!

Oh well, at least I have my documentaries to watch, like House and Peep Show.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

source: www.f4wonline.com

This past weekend, some people within World Wrestling Entertainment leaked a story to PWInsider.com saying Batista had suffered a biceps tear. Their story was later changed to a torn tendon in his left biceps and that it was not a full fledged muscle tear. The webmaster of his official website, www.Demon-Wrestling.com, soon acknowledged his injury, confirming it as a torn tendon.

The webmaster wrote: "We originally thought Dave had a torn muscle (he's been hurt for around 2-3 weeks), but this has now been confirmed as a torn tendon."

However, the official WWE website would say differently.

According to their report concerning Batista's injury, he suffered a completely torn left biceps requiring surgery that will keep him out of action for at least four months — not a torn tendon.

A full fledged muscle tear is much more serious than a tendon tear, so something's clearly not adding up. If he did indeed suffer a torn tendon like his official website is saying, the amount of ring time he would miss would be considerably less.

Among some of the wrestlers, there has been plenty of skepticism over the true severity of his injury. The injury supposedly occurred over three weeks ago, but he had been working television, pay-per-views, and live events without any sort of tape on his arm whatsoever, let alone showing any signs of an injury. If the biceps tear was serious, and people within WWE are claiming it was serious enough for him to get surgery two days after his championship victory, it would certainly have been taped up. If the injury was not serious enough to require tape, one would think there would be no need for surgery.

Even partially torn biceps injuries are taped up, but considering WWE is saying he suffered a full fledged muscle tear, it makes the severity of his injury all the more suspicious.

At Monday's Raw in Lafayette‎, the wrestlers were told his injury was legitimate and he was having surgery the next day. However, the talk among wrestlers in the locker room is that his injury angle on Raw was a cover-up to have him avoid being suspended due to a violation of the company's drug testing policy.

For what it's worth, Monday's show was re-written several times during the day and the creative team was given a list of wrestlers not to use for the foreseeable future prior to show time as a result of drug testing held earlier in the day and at shows over the weekend.

WWE covering up a drug test failure with an injury would certainly be a major change of philosophy on how they handle their drug testing policy, and while things appear fishy, right now there is no concrete evidence indicating that has happened.

EDITED:

On a sad note, Japanese wrestling legend Mitsuhau Misawa ,47, passed away at a ProWrestling NOAH show last night. He was working a tag match and received what has been described as a "routine" suplex and never got back up. He is believed to have suffereda heart attack. The roster crowded round the ring and the show was immediately halted whilst the crowd chanted Misawas name. Misawa was a pioneer along with Kobashi an Kawada in the popularised "strong style" phase of wrestling which is prominent in the US indy scene.

RIP Misawa.

Edited June 13, 2009 by Shuggie_Murray7

[DomDom]

Wrestling has lost an absolute legend.

Anyone who hasn't seen Misawa's fueds with the likes of Jumbo Tsuruta, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi needs to get off their arses and watch them. The Kawada matches in particular are among some of the greatest matches of all time. The man was just a fabulous wrestler.

Horrific news.

RIP Mitsuharu Misawa.

EDIT : This might actually have a knock on effect for Pro Wrestling NOAH as the man was the runner of that promotion. With them losing their TV deal as well, they are probably sailing up that famous creek right now.

Edited June 13, 2009 by DomDom

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Chris Hero recounted the moments after Misawa collapsed following a back suplex:

"The moments at ringside felt an eternity. Never, in my life, have I wanted the fighting spirit to jump into someone's being more than I wanted tonight. The fans chanted Misawa, Misawa, Misawa. They wanted their Hero to get up so fucking bad. Just get up. Come on! You're too tough for this. Too strong. I grabbed his boots and held onto them til they took him away."

This almost made me cry. Damn, it's a sad day when a wrestler passes away and 47 seems like an old age.

[DomDom]

* Matt Hardy (via Twitter): "Just read that Mitsuharu Misawa passed away while performing in Japan on Saturday night.. A very sad thing to hear."

* Gregory Helms (via Twitter): "Just read about Misawa. This is very sad!"

* TNA's Jeremy Borash (via Twitter): "Shocked to hear of the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa. Was lucky enough to meet him at last years Tokyo Dome show. What a sad tragedy. R.I.P."

* Ring of Honor on HDNet (via Twitter): "Saddened to hear of the passing of Mitsuhau Misawa. Send our thoughts, prayers, and condolences to his family, friends and fans."

* Chris Jericho (via Twitter): "Misawa was a true warrior and one of my all time favorite performers. His fighting spirit and superb psychology will be remembered."

Fabulous comments from JR.

Mitsuharu Misawa was never an acquaintance of mine but I felt like I knew him from watching many of his DVD's which were usually with men that I did know. Misawa was arguably the best in ring performer in the world in his prime. First of all, Misawa knew how to wrestle and how to wrestle physically. The fundamentals had been drilled into this legend as a young man who went on to become a Japanese National Amateur Champion. Several things stood out to me about Misawa. In addition to be a physical, fundamentally sound athlete, timing and toughness were two of his greatest attributes. Great timing is a gift that largely can't be taught. It's like ring psychology. Some of it can be taught but mostly it must be a learned trait and some people are in the business for years and never learn great timing or main event level ring psychology. Toughness is another trait that can be nurtured but generally can't be taught. Misawa was naturally tough and it showed. And his fans loved him for it. They also loved his passion and the emotional ride on which he would take them. That's what pro wrestling is, selling emotion.

Another significant piece of Japanese, wrestling history died this weekend. Mitsuharu Misawa apparently died in the very spot that he gained his incredible fame and resounding respect from wrestling fans around the Globe....inside a wrestling ring.

It's a damn shame that the vast majority of American wrestling fans won't give a second thought about the untimely death of "a Japanese wrestler." I encourage all fans to find DVD's of Misawa and watch him in his prime, in the 90's especially. If one is really serious about about being a highly skilled, pro wrestler, then study the late Mitsuharu Misawa.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

At least he died doing what he loved. I'm sure he would have prefered it that way than in some run down hotel like so many others. Some nice words from guys who really appreciate his craft and genius.

[DomDom]

Jun Akiyama has vacated his GHC Title because of "injury". Many suspect that it's actually because of what happened to Misawa and he's scared of the very same thing happening to him.

[DomDom]

"On behalf of WWE, we were deeply saddened to hear of the tragic loss of Mitsuharu Misawa. We extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends and fans. Misawa will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in Japan," said John Laurinaitis, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations.

Fitting that he's the WWE guy to make the official line, considering his wealth of experience within AJPW at a time when Misawa was breaking into the main events.