air_raid

47 minutes ago, TAFKA Jonny Vegas said:

I think a lot of people, most notably herself had forgotten that what actually got her over to the next level was an accidental bloody nose during a pre Survivor Series brawl. Not anything she had specifically done, just pure happenstance.

Were you watching at the time? Specifically between SummerSlam and Evolution? This reads as though you weren't. Even the night in question when she strode out alone to stare down Team Raw she looked like the big fucking deal. That her covered in blood up in the stands became an iconic image absolutely does not detract from the fact she was the hottest star in the company already.

Big fan of her winning the belt in a battle royal rather than literally any other piece of booking they could have done. Nobody had to do a TV pinfall job, and the next champion who gets elevated will do so by beating The Man, rather than winning a vacant title because they couldn't beat Rhea Ripley and only injury could. Good stuff. Realistically, Becky losing it to Morgan so she's primed for Rhea's revenge is probably the way they'll go, and I have no problem with that.

I’ve got it down to 9. It’s pretty difficult choosing 5 and trying to choose between which were pivotal in terms of shaping my tastes vs telling a chronological story in terms of how my relationship with pro wrestling changed. To be fair, the shifts in what made a pro wrestling match appeal to me or not would probably take 10 matches to cover alone. It’s been more than 30 years man and boy, after all…

7 hours ago, Loki said:

How much stock do we put in the rumour that the original plan for the "brand split" was to give Raw over to be rebranded WCW Nitro?  

7 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

In 2001. The original plan was for WCW to be its own thing. With the belief there was a Saturday night slot on TNN. There's ads for cancelled shows that were going to be TV tapings.

Running WCW as a separate show, completely plausible. It was odd that initially they tried to babyface the whole of the incoming roster by them going after Vince, and even stranger they didn’t foresee a hostile reaction to Booker T lamping the boss and scoring one for the Monday Night Wars great losers in Madison Square Garden which was something akin to Napoleon performing a victory parade through Trafalgar Square after the dust had settled at Waterloo. The WCW roster ran house shows on their own for a few weeks, which you can read about at many worthwhile online resources. Give them a show, yes. Give them Raw? Fuck off was that ever happening. To further the analogy, that’s Napoleon losing and being captured but then given Wellington’s army to command. No fucking chance.

Speaking of WCW, brand splits and breaking my own rules completely, it always amuses me when Bischoff talks about the idea behind Thunder being to better utilise more talent and bangs on about thinking Bret Hart would have been a great focal point. Like he could have the nWo storylines on Nitro and a bit more wrestling on Thunder, headed up by Bret. Considering he had final say on virtually everything, it baffles me that he floats this as the plan but when it came time to execute, Bret gets introduced on Nitro as the ref for Hollywood Hogan vs Sting, and the first Thunder is built around the Hogan vs Sting fallout from the rematch and subsequent title vacancy. Doesn’t seem like the roster split was a plan Eric considered for very long at all, whatever he says.

Unless it was TBS saying “We wanted another Nitro, you can’t make us the B show.” Which is funny, because it didn’t take long for it to become so.

41 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

One that springs to mind for me is Shane Douglas claiming that when he came into the WWF in 1995, the plan was for him to beat Shawn Michaels for the IC title (fair enough, maybe) then they’d rematch for the World title at WrestleMania 12. 

Brilliant example. Fucking awful twaddle. They thought he’d win the ICT before Shawn got concussed and wouldn’t be able to work Winnipeg, but WWF title? Dean Douglas? Fuck right off.

43 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

3) What about Bret?

He’ll tell you. Around SummerSlam 95 is when is Vince told him he’d transition the belt from Kev to HBK. So the plans were already made before “The Dean” had a single televised match.

@d-d-d-dAz I think you know what I think, because I posted it in a different thread ; Cena was ready. Having a lengthy JBL reign rather than transitioning quickly from Eddy to him hurt both Cena and the quality of TV alike.

Just... five?

OK, I'll come back to you on these. I'll restrict them to standard singles or tags, even though that's not really fair to Flair.

3 hours ago, no user name said:

So I read some fans are turning on cody already? 

48 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Context?

45 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

social media

Exactly. Should be ignored wherever possible. I read that there are 100 better wrestlers of all time than Shawn Michaels, doesn't make it true.

14 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

At least it wasn’t the Overdrive, which most people in that 2002–2005 period got given as a finisher. 

Only just realized that "Perez" could have made you think I was still talking about Melina! PopRox is the finish of Roxanne Perez in NXT. "Sunset Split" is the name of the inverted legdrop DDT that Melly used to do. Which is OK, considering the whole MNM "Hollywood" gimmick could be related to Sunset Drive.

I still think someone could get the Overdrive, umm, over. It only got used by a fraction of the people that used the Roll The Dice/Test Drive/Hero's Welcome/Last Rites, and Cody just won the Undisputed Undefeated WWE World Heavyweight Championship Of Life, The Universe And Everything with that. I sincerely hope Cody gets to win a match at 42 with it as well, it's what Douglas would have wanted.

I'd love it if "no user name" ends up going to a show featuring "insert name here".

Jokes aside... Nina Samuels is worth £13.50 of anyone's money for those that are local.

Random one - can anyone remember, and I'm pretty sure it was a "Diva" (as was) - who did this for a finish.... Started with an inverted facelock then a leg swept across the opponents body to do like an inverted legdrop DDT. But not the outside leg as Big Show used to do (think they called it the Showstopper), but the inside leg, so it arcs from pointing into your own body all the way out to slamming across the opponent, and you end up sitting facing the same way your opponents feet point.... if that makes sense?

EDIT - ignore me. It was Melina. Of course it was.

As an aside since I'm on finishers... learning that Perez' finish is called "PopRox" amused me greatly. A far cry from when they used to get real lazy and called anything "(something) bomb" "(something) slam" or "(something) kick."

On 4/19/2024 at 2:39 PM, JLM said:

Good to see Jade Cargill is booked for a house show this weekend. Hope she gets to do a lot of these. If she can get to the point where she can work a solid ten minute match consistently I don’t think she needs much more. 

Imported from the Raw thread because it was a SmackDown show, but I happened upon the results just now while looking for something else. For those that keep an eye on what happens on the road (like I do) there's a lot of repetition from what was going on before/at Mania including rematches of Bayley vs Io and Jade/Naomi/Bianca beating the other three.

And you can see it here ;

What went on last, you may be wondering....? LA Knight vs Solo. The main event push for both may be very much on, YEAH.

22 minutes ago, JakeRobertsParoleOfficer said:

There's multiple versions around the 'Luger' story.

1 that got played alot (before Luger suffered his health issues and become 'loved' by all) was that he was down to win the title at Summerslam but got pissed up, spilt the beans on this a few days before and therefore the then WWF changed lanes!

To be blunt, (1) that's not quite the ridiculous, implausible bollocks I'm going for, It's very plausible that Luger winning the belt was planned, because it was at one point, (2) the common version of that story is concerning Mania X rather than SummerSlam and (3) it's been refuted many times by all involved.

My recent reminisce * over the September 93 WWF Mag with a glistening Luger’s abs on the cover got me thinking - what’s the best examples you can recall of hearing/reading someone claim a booking plan that ended up scrapped, which was so outlandish that you know it’s total fiction?

The reason I mention Luger… we all heard stories that he was pencilled in to win the belt at Mania X, right? However, my story in question is not that after winning the Rumble he’d have gone on and dethroned Yokozuna at Wrestlemania… that would have made sense! No, there was some poor misguided corner of the web where I once read that if Borga had not done his ankle at MSG… the mind boggles. Allegedly they’d have had Taker actually beat Zuna in the casket match instead of him getting Bloodlined, then Lex would have won the Rumble, at face value setting up Undertaker vs Luger for Mania. However… at some indeterminate point between PPVs (a Raw? A house show???) BORGA would win the WWF title from “the Dead Man” who would then head off for his hiatus to sort his back out.

What do you make to THAT?? Taker getting a Three Years Long Service medal of a “thanks for selling so many foam urns” second title reign again lasting no time at all? Luger avenging his “being robbed” (by his own stupidity) at SummerSlam by winning the belt from someone else? Yoko getting built up by squashing every decent babyface on the books and ending Hulkamania then NOT being vanquished at Mania? Ludvig Borga, WWF Champion?? I mean… yes, they were doing everything to build up “anti American” heels around the time - Luger had already been on the road with Borga for near 6 months at this point and they’d had “sympathiser” Crush going over Randy Savage in every town on the loop to make him look a threat too but… are we really cutting Yoko off before Mania just to give Taker another “stat” as the kids would say? And crown Borga, who was never better than “limited”? I don’t think so.

So… what was your favourite piece of booking bullshit anyone ever purported to believe?? Bonus points if any suggestion winds up something a Prichard or JR has actually confirmed as discussed as a possibility… LOL.

* Not a euphemism.

7 hours ago, TheScarlettChad said:

To think, Swagger partaking in "The Herb" saved us from another Swagger World title run.

I think his challenge was only ever down as a Trojan Horse for Ziggler. The story goes that the original plan was for the “cash in” to occur at Mania itself, but Del Rio played his face that he should get a big win at Mania, having been denied one at Mania 27 due to plans changing.

2 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I treat Khali as a world champion very differently, because the title he won had only been around for about five years when he won it, and didn’t really mean a lot anyway. Jinder won the title, the one that’s supposed to go back to 1963 as the pinnacle of the company. That’s worse.

Plus Khali might have been awful to watch but he was believable as a threat, having beaten The Undertaker and that. Jinder was a jobber that magically became champion. That ridiculous sudden leap from nobody to the top spot never fools anyone.

2 hours ago, Loki said:

Jack Swagger surely is worst title holder ever?  Won it from Piss Jericho, lost in within 3 months and has never bothered the main event scene since.  

Worse - was a crap challenger for Del Rio after winning a Chamber where he was the worst possible winner. Cracking nights work for Mark Henry, mind.

2 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

I will be monitoring this thread for the foreseeable future, checking for any JBL slander.

Don't. Just don't.

I’d only be repeating myself. No justification for one of the Acolytes to win the big belt two months after doing jobs to Bashams. Pathetic.

3 hours ago, TheScarlettChad said:

I mean, Flair had a cup of coffee in WWE, And he became "GM" in 2001, purely for how legendary he was. 

That’s nothing like the story they told. Shane and Stephanie sold their WWF stock during the Invasion/Alliance storyline to a “consortium” that turned out to actually be Ric. So he bought his way into part ownership as opposed to having any position bestowed upon him.

36 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I can’t even explain what a huge open goal they’ve got for Seth’s return. 

Unfortunately the “prior convictions” for skying an open goal when a top star comes back from injury over the last ten years are awful, including (but not limited to) of Seth himself. About the only bloke booked worse than Rollins for more than two years after his comeback was buddy/rival Reigns, the peak of which being that late 2016 period where Owens vs Rollins existed as such a pointless, transparently time-killing feud as we all knew the U belt would end up on Roman… and yet he didn’t win it until 2018 and Seth had to wait until Mania 35. In era of two titles, inexcusable bullshit.

19 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

Sami Callihan

35 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

With Heath on the indies and Drew’s contract running down I can see a big 3MB reunion on the horizon.

He’s staying, it just hasn’t leaked yet, I’m utterly convinced. If he doesn’t go on last for the Silver Medal in Glasgow I’ll be stunned.

I know people say “oh, there were two titles” as an excuse to throw any shit at the wall, but there was no excuse for dross like Jinder to win one of them when Roman Reigns was bang in the middle of waiting two fucking years to be a champion again. Shameless attempt to get more visibility in an overseas market by prostituting your top title to push a marginal talent. He can fuck off.

16 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

I’m intrigued as to where they’ll go with Knight after the draft. He’s still very over, and now that there are two World titles, the idea of a secondary World title reign should this remain the case doesn’t seem out of the question.

Knight to Raw is a no brainer. He’s popular, they have a new heel champion, and you’d buy him as being able to beat Priest.

11 hours ago, Tommy! said:

Shawn and Ronda Shear.

Fond memories!

September 1993 WWF Magazine, the very first I got my parents to buy me at the newsagent instead of getting second hand from friends. Which was the “September” issue, which we bought in August, and reviewed King of the Ring which had happened in June - couldn’t get my head round that. It was a far cry from the Beano, I tell thee. Always thought it was funny that the Hulk still got his face onto the cover even though they’d just buried him on the PPV. Regardless… I could probably tell you everything that was in that magazine. Definitely the “Undertake ‘Em All” Hasbro ad on the inside cover, still trying to flog you figures of Sid and Anvil even if you just saw them on Worldwide on ITV that afternoon, and Nailz, 8 months removed from him getting slung for trying to kill/knob Vince, depending who you believe.. and making you desperately scour Toys R Us for a Shawn that didn’t exist.

….. this fucker.

Of course, inside was a SummerSlam preview which, par for the course, made you look forward to matches that would be cancelled like Marty Jannetty vs The Model and Tatanka & Sherri vs Bam Bam & Luna. The King of the Ring review made it sound like Bret Hart was the toughest wrestler who ever lived. The coverage of The Steiners winning the tag belts twice at house shows in “The Night The Belt Changed Hands” was accompanied by photos of matches clearly taken (judging by lighting and setup) at TV tapings - in particular a couple of photos where the wrestlers seem drenched in sweat are dead giveaways it wasn’t from the road. Of course as a kid, looking at these official looking photos I assumed I might see the title switches on Coliseum one day - whoops. The Crush interview was so kayfabed every second word was “brah” or “bruddah” and apart from he was clearly threatening to do something terrible to Doink, it was unreadable. Most famously, the company printed Now It’s Our Turn, the “first of a series” of hitting back, a hatchet job of Superstar Graham, replete with mentions of TitanSports Inc, Dr Zahorian and numerous other things that would fly over the heads of the children reading.

Vince McMahon… a good guy.

Worst of all it promised future “exposes” on perceived chancers and liars, including Rita Chatterton. Thankfully these never materialised, one imagines subscriptions slumped when parents saw their kids were going to learn about (and I quote) “sex scandals” over their Coco Pops in the months to come.

As for Shawn and Ronda, the article and accompanying photos were a fake date, I’m not sure to what end. There’s one in the restaurant where Shawn has lipstick kisses on his face, she’s got fingers playing with his shirt buttons, and it’s reminiscent of one you see when two photos later there will be a cock in Michelle Thorne’s mouth. I didn’t know who Ronda was then, or when she appeared at Mania X, though I later loved the consistency of her mugging HBK off then him getting the same treatment from Pamela Anderson (who I DEFINITELY knew of) the year after. Either way, even this weird pseudo soft porn wasn’t the most embarrassing thing about the magazine, having had to endure this cover to even get out of the shop without being targeted as a gayman by bullies ;

….. looking back I wasn’t sure why THIS was the turning point for me actually buying wrestling magazines, but it’s probably the peak of Youth Club rumours, and I was dying to see if the issue would cover “Lex Luger came out of the sky in a helicopter, powerslammed Yokozuna, pinned him and now he’s WWF Champion.” Still waiting.

Odd market indeed. Never forget, we’re talking about the state where they did Mania in a car park.

1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I don’t recognise the name Soner Durson at all. Who was he? (He?)

Cruiserweight lad who I saw a fair few times in Stockport/Prestwich… probably not known much outside Greater Manchester but I saw him come on leaps and bounds and thought he was in with a shout at cracking the level of a Kris Travis/Joey Hayes/Noam Dar “national recognition” position. Then I stopped going to shows, lost track of the scene, the pandemic happened, and four years later I’m learning he didn’t quite make it.

34 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Then, afterwards, if anyone regretted getting her name tattooed on them, they could simply add "ARTHURS" right in front of it, and get shit of a different kind.

Best pure striker in the history of the game.