The Wrestling Thread

[BishyTON]

1. Favourite Wrestler - Kurt Angle (Pre June 07 - Chris Benoit)

2. Most famous wrestler I have seen - Hulk Hogan

[DomDom]

I've decided that anything on or over *** on my five star system will be noted in these things.

WWE In Your House : Rock Bottom

We open Rock Bottom with The Rock walking into a room since this is his PPV. He explains what future WWE PPVs will be called.

D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry vs. Val Venis and The Godfather

Yup, Kama was pretty much fully blown pimp by this point. Val Venis was probably the perfect choice of a tag partner for him. Another wee note is that D'Lo Brown is still wearing his chest protector. Val and D'Lo have an amazing opening exchange which takes me back a few months to Summerslam and their excellent match on that show. They seemed to act as if they wanted to stick to the usual tag formula and then the match just deteriorated into a mess. Not good.

The Headbangers vs. The Oddities

I can't believe that The Oddities lasted as long as they did. Did anyone care about this lot of morons ? Crap wrestlers with crap gimmicks. What a waste of Kurrgan. Bad wrestler or not, he LOOKED like a badass and he was turned into a big cuddly toy. This match is absolutely horrible and probably the worst match that I've seen from the year of 1998 so far.

"The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman vs. Owen Hart

The pop for Owen Hart is phenomenal. There's a really odd moment where Owen walks up to the ring apron and Blackman hits the ropes and hits a Baseball Slide. Owen watches the whole thing. Stands there before Blackman even starts his run. After the last two matches, this feels like the greatest match of all time. Look further and you see that it's a fairly decent match, but not one which is going to be breaking into my Top PPV Matches of 1998 list.

The JOB Squad vs. The Brood

Michael Cole : "One word to describe this group is unique."

Jerry Lawler : "I thought it was Brood."

A ton of stuff going on in this match. All six of these guys have a moveset to die for at this point. Even with Scorpio getting on a bit. The bad thing is that the crowd just didn't care about any of the guys in the match. Those guys could have had the best match of all time but nobody would have been fussed. Gangrel probably stands out more than most in this one. You can't help but love Scorpio's Moonsault Leg Drop. Edge's insane Plancha edges it out for craziest move though. ***

Jeff Jarrett vs. Goldust - Strip Tease Match

Ever seen one of those nearfalls where you know it's too early for the match to end, but the count is SO close, that you can't help but feel it was almost over ? There's a cracker of one in here which the entire crowd was sucked into. Have to give an A for effort in this one, but effort doesn't always give you good matches. Especially when there is non-sensical booking involved. Russo all over it.

The New Age Outlaws © vs. Ken Shamrock and The Big Bossman - WWE World Tag Team Championships

Boooooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Ugh. What a load of crap.

The Rock © vs. Mankind - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

If ever you've needed proof that Vince Russo can completely kill a match if need be, this is it. All sorts of overbooking here, which was only a detriment to what had the potential to be a really entertaining brawl. They'd prove this in the future. As it was, this was merely an alright brawl with some idiotic booking.

The Undertaker vs. Steve Austin - Buried Alive Match

A rather boring match. Probably one of the worst to involve these two men. Maybe this should have been the overbooked match.

OVERALL

********

Not a good PPV at all, and one which I'd recommend avoiding at all costs. Vince Russo had well and truly hit all of his worst tendencies by this point.

Edited March 1, 2009 by DomDom

[DomDom]

WWE Capital Carnage

This actually came before the Rock Bottom PPV.

Gangrel vs. Al Snow

When a crowd is hot for Gangrel, you know they're going to be up for the rest of the show. Good opening match with all sorts of going on. They seemed to know when to wrap it up as well, as it JUST started getting a wee bit sloppy and they knew to go right to their finish. Counters and big moves and fun. Oh my !

Legion of Doom vs. The Headbangers

This was really just a device to get Droz being a dickhead over. Oh, Droz and Animal were LOD at this point. Not much of a match to speak of.

Val Venis vs. Goldust

Completely uninspired stuff here. This sort of thing was to become the norm, as both guys seemed to be completely phoning their performances in. Even the usually on fire Goldust was going through the motions.

Tiger Ali Singh vs. Edge

The last time we seen Singh on PPV was another UK one. How come we were always subjected to his crap ? In a related note, JR acts as if X-Pac is in a bad situation after being told he doesn't have to defend his Euro Title, and instead will be getting a World Title shot. Life sure is hard on Waltman. I should say that Singh hit one sole move in the match and won with it. That is how much confidence WWE had in what the guy could do in the ring. If they knew he was useless, why give him the win ?

Oh aye ... Russo.

Marc Mero and Jaqueline vs. Christian and Sable

Christian swaggers to the ring like he's been on the bevvy. Thankfully, when he actually wrestles, he looks like he's been on the energy drinks. This didn't last very long, as it was basically a formality for the Mero departure. However, there is one classic moment at the end of the match where Sable exposes the tits of Jackie. Probably one to look out there.

Ken Shamrock © vs. Steve Blackman - WWE Intercontinental Championship

The fans chant "You Fat b*****d !" at the Bossman who's standing at ringside. Harsh but fair assessment. A hard hitting fast paced affair that didn't last very long. It certainly showed that both men had something in the tank for a later match. To be honest, Steve Blackman had nobody to blame but himself.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Triple H

I'd loved to have seen these two guys get more time, as what they did with the time they had here was really good, outside of the stupid booking at the end, but what do you expect ? Some nice wee nods to the usual spots of both men as well.

The New Age Outlaws © vs. D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry - WWE World Tag Team Championships

In a real example of dedication to the cause, Road Dogg sells a Body Splash from Mark Henry for five minutes. Awesome. That was the best thing about this mediocre tag team match. Mark Henry just wasn't co-operating with anyone. Compare his uselessness then to the decent big man he has become. Billy Gunn did his best to bring fire to the match but it didn't happen.

The Rock © vs. X-Pac - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

A cheap ending to a brilliant match. Both guys definately left it all in the ring. X-Pac especially seemed to enjoy his time in the limelight, going out there and giving 100%. After what those two guys did, that ending made me absolutely livid. Ah well, you can't have it all. ***1/2

The Undertaker vs. Mankind vs. Kane vs. Steve Austin

It's all a wee bit hectic. I'm sure that this could have been much better than it was, but once again, they got the phones out and did the whole thing by the numbers. When you try and do that with four guys at once, the results can be catastrophic. This really was a mess of a match.

OVERALL

********

Mediocrity reigns supreme, which would be the pattern for UK PPVs from this night onwards. In saying that, it has the memorable boob spot and the terrific title match with Waltman and Rock.

[Sir Kevin Of Kilsyth]

I remember this one well - mainly for the boob spot.

At the time I actually believed that X-Pac could win it and was quite hyped for that match. Was much better being a wrestling fan when younger lol.

[Toma_BullyWee]

I remember this one well - mainly for the boob spot.

Yep.

My father became a wrestling fan after that match, But quickly changed his mind after watching Raw and finding out the only titties on show were Mark Henry's.

Looking forward to RAW tonight. Anyone else staying up for it?

[Poet of the Macabre]

I taped it Toma-RAW is immense so far in 2009

I love the look for Mania so far

[KilliePie]

1. Favourite Wrestler - Scott Hall

2. Most famous wrestler I have seen - Austin or Flair or Piper

[DigOutYourSoul]

Raw was no bad last night. Jericho segment wasnt the best one but was still enjoyable. HHH and orton was not bad. Thoguht the title match was alright aswel, still hate the name "attitude ajustment" in stead of the F-U for Cenas finisher.

Looking forward to Wrestlemania, wondering why there are so many big guys in the money in the bank though? can Mark Henry even climb a ladder?

[DomDom]

Looking forward to Wrestlemania, wondering why there are so many big guys in the money in the bank though? can Mark Henry even climb a ladder?

2 out of 8 are big guys.

I'm sure there will be good guys to make up for it.

[The Naitch]

2 out of 8 are big guys.

I'm sure there will be good guys to make up for it.

As long as Evan Bourne makes it, I'll be happy.

[KilliePie]

2 out of 8 are big guys.

I'm sure there will be good guys to make up for it.

I reckon Kane and Sexual Chocolate are in the match to take some sort of huge bump early on, like fall of a ladder through 19 tables

They should put Christian in the MITB match and have him win it, but doubt they'll even put him in it, seems like Vince hates him and only brought him back to get it up TNA.

Anyone actually think that they will do Edge - Big Show for the belt at Mania? I really dont see it happening unless

the thing bout Hogan facing Cena ends up happening, since there would be nobody left to face Edge then.

[The Naitch]

If Hogan vs Cena falls through, then Cena can easily slip into (for want of a better term) into the WHC match.

As for Christian - I expect him to challenge again for the ECW title at Mania.

[DomDom]

They should put Christian in the MITB match and have him win it, but doubt they'll even put him in it, seems like Vince hates him and only brought him back to get it up TNA.

Vince McMahon doesn't hate Christian. Infact, he was going to walk into the Smackdown main event untill it became predictable and Vinny Mac didn't want that. He'll get his shot in MitB, he'll win, he'll get drafted and then most likely become the first person to lose his title shot.

Anyone actually think that they will do Edge - Big Show for the belt at Mania?

Yes. I can see some sort of fued based around Show sleeping with Vickie.

[The Naitch]

Vince McMahon doesn't hate Christian. Infact, he was going to walk into the Smackdown main event untill it became predictable and Vinny Mac didn't want that. He'll get his shot in MitB, he'll win, he'll get drafted and then most likely become the first person to lose his title shot.

Yes. I can see some sort of fued based around Show sleeping with Vickie.

Caught up with the spoilers for the next two episodes of Smackdown - and there are hints all is not right in the Edge/Vickie camp. Talking about those spoilers - MiTB is shaping up nicely with Finlay, Shelton and MVP all qualifying (joining CM Punk, Kane and Mark Henry).

[DigOutYourSoul]

Sure it will end up Cena/Edge/Show at Wrestlemania. Cena/Hogan would be God awful.

[DomDom]

Hardly a spoiler that things aren't right in the Vickie/Edge camp. They've been dropping hints the size of anvils for the last couple of weeks on Smackdown. If they're hinting it this week on SD!, it's just a continuation. Hardly a surprise. Even the SD! title match on Mania being confirmed on RAW added to the suspicion.

Do you remember the first hint ? Edge was talking about Show taking care of Vickie and they both looked at each other weirdly. That was about three weeks ago.

Sure it will end up Cena/Edge/Show at Wrestlemania. Cena/Hogan would be God awful.

I don't think match quality would be the point of such a match.

[DomDom]

ECW on Sci-Fi 03/03/2009

Recap to the fantastic match between Christian and Jack Swagger last week. I've seen that Finlay and Christian are supposed to be facing off this week. Interesting.

Maybe not then. The main event is a scorcher. Tommy Dreamer, Finlay and Christian vs. Miz, Morrison and Jack Swagger. WHOA !

Kane vs. The Boogeyman

What's going on here ? Oh right, See No Evil is coming on Sci-Fi. Not much more than a squash. Boogeyman must have gotten about two decent moves in here. Then again, it's not as if there was any other way of doing this match.

Santino has words for Mark Henry before their match. He explains why the ladies go nuts for him. One of the best Santino promos in ages.

Mark Henry vs. Santino Marella - Money in the Bank Qualifier

I know the result to this ! One move takes the win. The usual fun Mark Henry squash. Again, it's a different man almost. He does his best to make everything look badass.

More hyping of Evan Bourne's return.

We now head to the Dirty Awards with Miz and Morrison. Evan Bourne wins biggest virgin. The Colons are funny as f**k here. As you'd expect, Miz and Morrison clean up.

Alicia Fox vs. Natalya

Not a horrible match at all. This is impressive as it's only Fox's second singles match with WWE. It's a shame that the match really only acted as a sideshow to Tyson Kidd's fued with DJ Gabriel, but more Kidd is good news for me.

Miz, Morrison and Jack Swagger vs. Christian, Finlay and Tommy Dreamer

A quality six man tag match here. All six men brought their best to this and there was more effort than you usually see on free TV these days. We hardly seen any of Swagger, but that only cemented the ending as putting Swagger over as a great oppertunist. It also means he has another pinfall over Christian, which could be key in the future. Good match.***1/4

OVERALL

********

The ECW standard continues here. Although in saying that, we could have done without that opening match. Boogeyman continues to bring that standard down just by being there. Also, why is Mark Henry in the MitB ? I can only hope ECW has two spots and Evan Bourne gets the other spot.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Expect Bourne andMorrison to make the MITB.

[DomDom]

Fans of UK wrestling rejoice. The first of RQW's internet TV is online and it's WAW time, so ...

You can find the four parts here. http://www.realqualitywrestling.com/?pageid=12

RQW WAW TV Episode 1

I'll post the matches but not results. Just thoughts.

"Playboy" Phil Bedwell vs. Scott Fusion

Never seen either guy so this is all news to me. "Gayboy" chants aimed at "Playboy". Heh. Phil Bedwell is a sloppy as hell wrestler so he clearly isn't very good. Nothing to suggest that Fusion is anything less than solid, but I'd like to see him against better opposition. A decent enough opening match as they kept things simple, but I wouldn't waste your time watching this. This takes up the entire first part.

Sweet Saraya vs. Brittani Knight

This is mother vs. daughter, legit. This arena is almost empty. Not exactly a good advert for WAW here. This was going really good with loads of cool mat wrestling and reversals. It sort of calmed down a bit when the 10 minute mark was called, but this was much better than the opening match and it's shocking to see two women actually having a good match.

Brett "The Kraft" Meadows vs. Zak Zodiac

This is your main event for the week. And a decent main event it is at that, but I'm just not buying into the ending one bit. The match was becoming a decent big man vs little man match before the ending.

OVERALL

********

This is probably worth skipping.

[The Naitch]

Expect Bourne andMorrison to make the MITB.

Hopefully - though I was also expecting Rey Mysterio to get a place, he's not got any plans yet for Wrestlemania.