The Wrestling Thread

[Tamdunk]

Stop the press, who the hell calls a baking tray a cookie sheet?

[DA Baracus]

Stop the press, who the hell calls a baking tray a cookie sheet?

Every American ever?

[Tamdunk]

Every American ever?

Exactly, now I'm no fancy-pants, big shot New York Lawyer, but I'm pretty confident Dom is not American, so why call it a cookie sheet?

My Holmes-esque deductive powers conclude that a Mr Dom's reviews have been lifted from an american!!!

(or more likely he's writing for an american sports blog, but that doesn't have the same level of scandal)

[DomDom]

It was called a cookie sheet in the match I was watching. Therefore that's what I went with.

EDIT: Much the same way I'd go "thumbtacks" when it's quite clearly drawing pins. Sure there's other instances.

Edited June 4, 2013 by DomDom

[forehead7]

It was called a cookie sheet in the match I was watching. Therefore that's what I went with.

EDIT: Much the same way I'd go "thumbtacks" when it's quite clearly drawing pins. Sure there's other instances.

I've heard thumbtacks too often from just the context of wrestling that it's starting to stick outside of that context. Frightening.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

I loved it when Big Bossman used to do the Pavement Slam.

[Kill Jester]

I loved it when Big Bossman used to do the Pavement Slam.

Far too clever for a wrestling move that the move consisted of a walk with the opponent held at his side AND a cop's job is on the sidewalk.

Mindblowing.

[Derek Patterson]

J.R. has added a Glasgow show to his upcoming tour.

I'd love to get along but £25 is pretty pricey.

http://jrglasgow-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk/#

[DomDom]

WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXIII

This was when they started making the stadiums the permanent home for Wrestlemania. I think it loses a bit of it's atmosphere, but it also gained a lot with the spectacle.

Jeff Hardy vs. King Booker vs. Finlay vs. CM Punk vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Matt Hardy vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge, Money in the Bank Ladder Match

YES! YES! YES! YES! This is how you open a PPV people. They extended the number of people to eight, and they loaded the match with a LOT of good names. The match is really clunky at times, but they work in some cracking moments where each wrestler has a spell of landing their big move. There are also some cracking sequences where the spots flow nicely into the next, but there's a wee bit too much contrived stuff in the match, and there's spells of inaction which last a bit long. The big spot with the ladder bridge is a cracker, but they spend a full minute setting up for it. I'm being a bit harsh on it I suppose, because this match IS really entertaining and all eight men throw everything at it. ***3/4

The Great Khali vs. Kane

Oh dear oh dear. This isn't going to end well, is it? Even the logic to this match doesn't make much sense. Kane as the veteran should have been going for the speed offense right away. He may not be a lightning quick wrestler, but Khali is immobile and it doesn't help that he DID wind up going to that, only to wind up going to the floor and bringing his hook in. So much idiocy in this. DUD

Chris Benoit © vs. MVP - WWE United States Championship

This was the first PPV match of a fued which was put together to make MVP look like gold. The idea along the way is that Benoit is too good for MVP, and MVP tries to find his way to victory, and he wound up beating Benoit at Judgment Day 2007 in a 2/3 Falls match, with a score of 2-0. The early going tries to put across how much MVP has done his scouting on Benoit, and he counters pretty much every single one of his major moves. MVP also looks to negate a lot of the offense of Benoit by working on the arm, and for the most part it works, and it makes the ending of Benoit using the Flying Headbutt instead of anything else an absolute treat. Unspectacular at times, but this is what it needed to be. ***1/2

Batista © vs. The Undertaker - World Heavyweight Championship

Teddy Long is doing the ring announcing here, which reminds me of his existance. This is not a good thing. TAG TEAM MATCH PLAYA!!! The early story is Batista not intimidated, and he shows that by not backing down and landing a Spear at the very start. What we end up getting is a big slugfest between two big b*****ds, but these two guys are excellent at that sort of thing, and thus we end up getting a really good match from the two men. They try and put Batista over as a proper threat and do so by having him come back quickly whenever The Undertaker manages to take control, and Taker also takes a big bump through the announce table to work towards that cause. Of course, it was all for nothing and the streak continued. The ride was sure a lot of fun though. ****

The ECW Originals vs. The New Breed

Eight man tags are never boring, and especially when there's such a good variety of talent in there. It's a shame that Marcus Cor Von never really had the chance to make more of his career. There's a lot of unused potential in that team actually. Elijah Burke and Kevin Thorn could have gone on to better things I reckon. As I suspected, this match is perfectly acceptable stuff. Everyone gets the oppertunity to add their own little mark to the match, and I think Cor Von was probably the standout of the match, although Dreamer did a great job during the heel beatdown. I loved the final sequence with everyone taking each other out, allowing RVD to come in the back door and take the win. **1/2

Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley

This was all to do with the Donald Trump vs. Vince McMahon fued, and the loser of the match sees their man get his head shaved. The barber's chair gets it's own entrance, which is both weird and funny. The match itself isn't too bad I suppose. Umaga is always good for a war and Lashley was game for a bit of a battle as well. They go into the overbooking, and when that stuff's done right, it's enjoyable as hell. Unfortunately, this is just tired nonsense. Before that, it's a decent clubber of a match, but it gets dragged way way down. *

Melina © vs. Ashley, Lumberjill Match - WWE Women's Championship

I don't forsee a classic here. At least it isn't one of them weird matches they've been putting the women in. It's not offensively bad. It's not a good match by any means though, and the crowd just don't care. Ashley was a pretty poor wrestler who could on occaision bust out a move which looked good. It's a shame that most of her moves look crap. *

John Cena © vs. Shawn Michaels - WWE Championship

Cena had a very cool entrance which also included a starting CM Punk. This match was basically Shawn Michaels wanting to steal the show and win the title at the same time. This crowd is a lot more anti-Cena than the crowd for the HHH match the year before. The early story is the quickness and experience of HBK, as he tries to both unsettle Cena mentally and physically. The final stretch is absolutely wonderful. Counters and big teases all over the place. The crowd was already mental for the match, but the action in the ring towards the end made them ramp up the heat in a big way. There was one moment where they took too long trying to protect the FU by having Cena crawl for about 30 seconds before making the cover, but that is a minor gripe. I used to think this match was overrated, but it's hard not to appreciate the drama of the match with repeat viewings. ****1/2

OVERALL

I didn't realise how consistant that the standard of Wrestlemania became. Sure it's had weird years but there's always been something in the show worth watching. This one had a wonderful dramatic main event and, some solid stuff on the undercard. It's not without crap. Umaga/Lashley and the McMahon/Trump just feels completely useless to me. All in all though, I like it.

[DomDom]

WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXIV

I remember this PPV being absolutely phenomenal. As a spectacle, this is a bit special I suppose.

JBL vs. Finlay, Belfast Street Fight

Given the way the build for this went, this match wasn't exactly what people were expecting. Especially given that these two guys are not against throwing down and going at it full pelt at each other. Not that this is a bad opener. It's a fun brawl and probably about what you'd expect from an opening garbage match. It's the usual garbage can brawl, with lots of lid shots, a bit of table action and some steps, and JBL is brilliant as usual just clubbing away on his opponent. Finlay and Hornswoggle are over as rover here. Maybe Hornswoggle more than Finlay. Anything he does gets a great reaction. I was always a fan of him actually. His interactions with most people worked really well. So yeah, this was an acceptable opener with what you'd want from it. ***

John Morrison vs. Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. CM Punk vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. MVP vs. Chris Jericho, Money in the Bank Ladder Match

The crowd don't seem to have many favourites in this match, but they do react a fair bit to Chris Jericho and CM Punk, although for the latter, it isn't all positive. For the first time in one of these matches, everyone heads for the floor for ladders. MVP stays in and waits for the ladders to come to him though. There's a fair bit of madness in this match. This is probably the messiest MitB match of the lot, but it's also the most insanely fun one as well. All seven men just constantly throw shit at the wall and throw each other into shit and just go mental on each other. Some of it doesn't work, some of it results in botches, but when it comes down to it, the only thing that matters here is that the match is wonderful to watch. ****

So we come to that time. The Hall of Fame section, and with the crowd being completely into what they just watched, there's limited involvement from them, but Rocky Johnson does get a hell of a cheer. Mae Young is loved by the audience as well, as you'd expect.

Umaga vs. Batista

Probably should have been quite a bit better than it was this one. What I was hoping for was a reasonably short match where both men threw the big bombs and it came across as a war. To their credit, they didn't lack in effort and they threw the bombs, but it just felt like a lot of nothing between the two guys. Not what I was expecting at all. Umaga was given a lot in this one, but I do think that he would have benefitted a bit more from a victory because he was coming off the back of a brilliant fued with John Cena which seen the two of them have an absolute war. I guess Batista is one of the golden boys and the chances of him losing a match like this were always going to be slim. Ah well. This is a decidedly average match. **

Chavo Guerrero © vs. Kane - ECW Championship

Squash. Kane wins. Next. N/A

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels, Career Threatening Match

Lets see how this match holds up. It should lose a lot of the emotional aspect on a repeat viewing. There's lots of cracking nods to the past with Ric Flair, as a lot of the moves that used to go against him in the past actually worked for him, countering the usual Back Body Drop, and managing to come off the top rope successfully. I don't know if HBK was genuinely hurt here. That might well be down to the selling being so good, or the fact that he was actually hurt. Either way, it made the match better. It's hard not to really enjoy this one. Even taking the historic aspect away, these two guys put each other through the ringer, and managed to overcome the fact that the end result was inevitable by sucking you in with sheer effort alone. The ending of the match is one which people remember, and with good reason. Flair's subsequent TNA return takes a lot of shine away from the occaision in this one, but make no mistake. This was a great match to go out on. ****1/4

Ashley and Maria vs. Beth Phoenix and Melina - Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjack Match

My thoughts on these two teams could not be any different. Unfortunately, nobody from these four really brings much goodness to this one and we wind up with a horror show of a match. DUD

Randy Orton © vs. Triple H vs. John Cena - WWE Championship

Randy Orton's reign around this time was actually a LOT of fun. Some cracking matches in there. The early moral of the story is that nobody likes Randy Orton. It's got to be said that they do make Randy Orton look like absolute gold for a long portion of this match. He dominates both HHH and Cena for quite some time and when you consider those two guys, that's quite the statement. That's the main good point in what has to be considered a pretty disappointing match. All three of these guys were capable of a pretty damn good match around this time, and Cena had some especially brilliant three way matches. This one just didn't click at all though. The lack of chemistry between HHH and Orton might have hurt it a bit, as it would become a problem in the future as well. We'll put this down as a disappointing night at the office, in what was actually a decent match, but not anywhere close to what it should be. **1/2

The Big Show vs. Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Anything Goes Match

This is one of them matches where you have to hope that it's been well booked. If anyone can do the "spectacle" match though, the WWE can. They spend a LOT of time with Money using his speed and boxing to try and do a number on The Big Show, while being as arrogant as possible. Which means when Show eventually takes the control of the match, the crowd are going mental for it. The overbooking kicks in, which was to be expected, but the match remains a LOT of fun, with The Big Show being invincible when Money keeps leathering him with the chair and he just won't go down. This is not one for the purists, but it's about as good as this match was going to be and Mayweather can be proud of his showing, as can The Big Show. **3/4

Edge © vs. The Undertaker - World Heavyweight Championship

This was billed as a bit of a streak vs streak match, which was a BIT false. Edge hadn't won at a couple, even if it was multi-man ladder matches. I suppose it did help build a bit of intrigue to this match though. You're always fighting an uphill battle when trying to make the fans believe that The Undertaker is going to lose at Wrestlemania. They do what they can here, with Edge working on the back of The Undertaker, and what this does is stop him from being able to do pretty much any of his key moves. I think if they had carried that into the final stretch, it could have had the fans buying it a bit more. Although going by the reactions, it seems they bought into it anyways so I guess you can't complain. Some really cool counters and some massive nearfalls, and there was no need for the ref bump which takes away from the match. The match was good enough without it. Still though, this is yet another good main event for Wrestlemania. ****1/4

Not quite the classic Wrestlemania I remember it as. Not a show without it's moments. It lacks a real classic match to make it stand above the norm.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

J.R. has added a Glasgow show to his upcoming tour.

I'd love to get along but £25 is pretty pricey.

http://jrglasgow-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk/#

I'm going along....late birthday gift for me!

[Dindeleux]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32OPyEAraU4

This video makes me feel good, the pop when Jericho's name comes on the 'Tron the pop is incredible.

He must've been standing with his back to the crowd with a huge smile on his face.

[J_Stewart]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32OPyEAraU4

This video makes me feel good, the pop when Jericho's name comes on the 'Tron the pop is incredible.

He must've been standing with his back to the crowd with a huge smile on his face.

Very probably one of the greatest debuts in wrestling history. The build up was magnificent, and the reveal and crowd reaction were fucking brilliant.

[Christophe]

Loved the 2nd coming too....

[Christophe]

That reminds me of another great pop from that year...

[Meathead]

Watching videos of returns and high-profile debuts and seeing the pops they get is probably my favourite thing to do when I'm bored. Lesnar's return last year is probably my favourite actually, can't remember ever seeing a pop like that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJmBvHh0U3A

[DomDom]

As I said in the ICW thread, Rhyno will be wrestling for ICW on October 13th at the O2 ABC.

[Dindeleux]

Yep, Y2J's return in 2012 also but the Lesnar one is one of my favourites. If you watch the longer full segment it adds to the drama as the fans interrupt Cena a few times chanting Lesnars name.

[forehead7]

Yep, Y2J's return in 2012 also but the Lesnar one is one of my favourites. If you watch the longer full segment it adds to the drama as the fans interrupt Cena a few times chanting Lesnars name.

Jericho's return last year was pish. So much of the vignette's were utter nonsense. He's used the "end of the world as you know it" line a few times since as well, still makes f**k all sense.

[DomDom]

In other crazy news, Ultimo Dragon will be appearing in SWA on October 12th in Motherwell!!! What a weekend.