The Wrestling Thread

[Derek Patterson]

The Phenom doing charity stuff.

Fair play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwoRIf_bCd8

[Marshmallo]

Make sure you all watch/record the WWE Special which is on this weekend. It's about the nWo and it's fucking amazing.

4 life

[The Naitch]

Make sure you all watch/record the WWE Special which is on this weekend. It's about the nWo and it's fucking amazing.

4 life

It is brilliant. I got the DVD for Christmas and it's a cracking watch.

[grumswall]

channel is it on?

[Marshmallo]

channel is it on?

I think SS3 have it on again at 1am tonight.

[Sir Kevin Of Kilsyth]

I saw it on the US Netflix. Good watch.

[DA Baracus]

Matt Striker is being punted. Not by Randy Orton, by the WWE. His contract isn't being renewed.

Also saw this online and thought it was brilliant. Would be quality if it was 'real' (i.e. actually done and used by WWE);

[Ludo*1]

Disappointed he's gone, but they've currently got too many non-wrestling talents that they don't utilise to justify keeping the likes of Striker on and waiting until a decent role comes up for him.

[DomDom]

THe Kelvin Brawl with Greg Hemphill and Robert Florence was magnificent. It felt like a massive show thanks to the great lighting, and the crowd was absolutely molten for everything everyone did. The twist at the end with Frankie Boyle turning up with his own team for next time was huge. Didn't see it myself, had to leave before the main event, but that apparently brought the roof off.

Boabie the barman ( accompanied by the fans shouting "Two pints ya p***k!" ) and Jim Watt were also there. Some great wrestling into the bargain. I have to assume Team Boyle will be playing a part next time. Should be fun.

[Dindeleux]

Reading online that WWE are quite concerned with Fandango's concussion history, this current spell out isn't his first time with a bad concussion.

On that subject, following Daniel Bryan's injury on RAW on Monday and the Ziggler concussion, I wonder if the guys are trying too hard in the ring at present and are possibly taking risks/hits that they wouldn't have had done previously.

The other side of the coin of course is that maybe Vince is a little more concerned with injuries these days and as such will give time off straight away as opposed to the old days of just working on.

[DeadStar]

THe Kelvin Brawl with Greg Hemphill and Robert Florence was magnificent. It felt like a massive show thanks to the great lighting, and the crowd was absolutely molten for everything everyone did. The twist at the end with Frankie Boyle turning up with his own team for next time was huge. Didn't see it myself, had to leave before the main event, but that apparently brought the roof off.

Boabie the barman ( accompanied by the fans shouting "Two pints ya p***k!" ) and Jim Watt were also there. Some great wrestling into the bargain. I have to assume Team Boyle will be playing a part next time. Should be fun.

Was an excellent night, my first Scottish wrestling event, certainly won't be my last.

[DomDom]

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 25 REVIEW

The build to this got quite a bit of complaining as WWE called it the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania quite a bit. It was actually the 24th anniversary. A bit of a small thing to moan about of course, but it was funny seeing the complaints. Anyways, this gets a reputation for being a one match show. How true is that?

CM Punk vs. Mark Henry vs. MVP vs. Finlay vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Kane - Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Always a good way to kick off a show this. Loads of talent and loads of ladders. You won't ever get a boring version of this match, that's for sure. Much of the story of the match seen the battle of the big men, with Henry and Kane going at it, including a brilliant spot where everyone else was on the ladders, and Kane and Henry just threw them all off so as they could get at each other. Some of the real highlights of the match are provided by Kofi Kingston, including a super spot where he climbs one half of a ladder, which is caught by Henry, and then he gets dropped with a slam. CM Punk wins the match for the second year running, which would lead to us seeing the evolution into the Straight Edge Superstar. A couple of awkward spots, especially with the ladder bridging the set up one, and the middle rope, but on the whole, the match was very entertaining stuff. ***3/4

Divas Battle Royal

I have zero interest in watching this. There's some older faces in the match, and also Santina Marella, who was doing stuff with Beth Phoenix around this time which was the whole purpose of this match. Anyways, no desire to watch this, but Santina's victory dance was superb. N/A

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

One of Chris Jericho's more terrific moments, post-HBK fued, as he basically did his best to make some legends look like crap. This also has the added Mickey Rourke involvement, which we'll get to later. The match itself? You really couldn't have asked for much more than this. In the case of Snuka and Piper, it was a proper nostalgia fest. They played their part brilliantly. When Steamboat got involed... yeah, the whole thing picked up. Steamboat put on a wonderful performance, and I kinda wish he didn't go on and have one more match with Jericho, as this would have made a fine way to go out for him, having many Mania moments in the one match before finally being put away by Jericho. Good way to keep the crowd mental. ***

Post-match, Chris Jericho has some choice words for Mickey Rourke. As a wee sidenote, Frank Shamrock is sitting ringside with him. Anyways, Jericho wants Rourke in the ring, and Rourke hits him with a jab and that angers Jericho into getting into a fist fight with Rourke, which leads to him getting knocked out. Some fans weren't happy with this as Jericho was getting put down by a non-wrestler, but Rourke has some goodness in his boxing, and he basically suckered Jericho into getting involved in that sort of fight. I don't mind that.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy, Extreme Rules Match

Matt Hardy has never been a bad heel, but he was much better with the Mattitude stuff, while in this role he was a bit boring. The cast stuff was pretty funny though. These two guys have never had great chemistry in the ring, which is bizarre given that they are brothers. They do their best here though to try and get the crowd involved through major bumping and sheer effort alone. For the most part it works. They even use a hoover. They pull out a fun brawl with one huge bump, which is followed by one of the most horrific match endings in Wrestlemania history, the Twist of Fate with the head in the chair. This is the best match these two are capable of if you ask me. Maybe they could do a better TLC or Ladder Match, but I guess it's a case of "we'll probably never find out". ***1/2

JBL © vs. Rey Mysterio - WWE Intercontinental Championship

This is basically Rey getting a very quick title win. The story of the match outside of the ring is this though. JBL is a massive fan of Rey Rey and this is exactly how he wanted to retire. Which says quite a lot for the man, even if he is still a moron and a bully. He gets wrestling a bit more than most, which is probably why the JBL character is so fondly remembered.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

Here we go. Shawn Michaels says that he is Mr. Wrestlemania, and The Undertaker IS Mr. Wrestlemania having gone 16-0. The Undertaker would become the star attraction of Wrestlemania from this point onwards with constant stunning matches. Is this the best of the lot? I'll answer that when I've watched them all again, but this is certainly a wonderful match. The only story that this match has, or needs, is that both guys are willing to put everything on the line to defeat the other man, and are willing to go through hell. The Undertaker coming back from the Plancha from hell is one moment, and then the wonderful Wrestlemania moment of HBK kicking out of the Tombstone, which was a massive deal at that point. Tombstone = death. The match is an absolute war, and fitting for the billing that it had, and the absolutely crazy loud crowd only added to it. *****

Edge © vs. The Big Show vs. John Cena - World Heavyweight Championship

In among this, there's a story between Edge and The Big Show revolving around Vickie Guerrero. This match basically acted as a way for John Cena to win the title at Wrestlemania. It also gave Cena a moment when he picked up not only The Big Show, but also Edge on top of him which is just a freaky show of strength. This match is actually quite good. Show and Cena have been involved in a few three way matches together, and this match followed the same sort of formula as before. Cena and Show have some decent chemistry, and the history with Edge and Cena is well documented, which in itself added yet more intrigue to the match. I'd also advise looking out the Last Man Standing between Edge and Cena. ***3/4

Triple H © vs. Randy Orton - WWE Championship

This match got a hell of a buildup which was ultra personal between the two men. So this match really should have been a massive brawl. Which the two men have got previous for. They took part in a terrific match at one of the No Mercy PPVs. If they had a match that good on this night, I'd have felt better watching it. This was supposed to be the headline match of Wrestlemania after all. They could easily have put the triple threat as the main event of the show. They got the match off to a very hot start which made things even worse as it gave them something else to live up to. They weren't capable of living up to it of course. A boring dull main event which didn't come close to meeting the expectations that the build up set. *1/2

OVERALL

If you take the main event out of this show, it's actually a really consistant PPV with lots of good moments and a bonafide Wrestlemania classic. The show ended on such a low note though, and this caused a lot of people's memories to be pretty bad. Understandable, but this isn't as bad a Wrestlemania as some think.

[The Naitch]

http://www.wwe.com/classics/inside-foleys-famous-fall-15-years-later-26126460/page-1

Great article - can't believe it's 15 years tomorrow that Foley took that bump.

[DomDom]

Matt Borne, known as Doink the Clown, has passed away.

Shame. Brilliant wrestler and top drawer character.

[YER SISTERS YER MAW]

Matt Borne, known as Doink the Clown, has passed away.

Shame. Brilliant wrestler and top drawer character.

He couldn't have been that old. R.I.P. Was there not a few wrestlers done up as Doink over the years?

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Original, creepy, Heath Ledger style joker was the tits!

[honestly united]

Would have thought only his fifties, had quite a few characters in wwe if I remember correctly

[honestly united]

Would have thought only his fifties, had quite a few characters in wwe if I remember correctly

[DomDom]

He was MVP as well, which was as short lived a character as many in the mid 90s. That was not a good time.

[honestly united]

I was thinking skinner then realised that was the other doing Steve keirn