Maikeru

8 hours ago, simonworden said:

I enjoyed my experience of a house show in Bournemouth in 2014 because of the longer matches, audience interaction and the fact the tickets were cheaper and with the nature of the venue you were pretty much guaranteed a decent view. That said I felt like I wouldn't enjoy seeing the same thing in a bigger arena like the O2 or even Wembley arena if I didn't have close up floor seats and I'd feel too detracted from the show. It's much easier in those venues for me to feel into it if its a TV taping/PPV with things going on between matches, big screens, Pyro (sometimes) etc. But then I'm a bit weird with things like that. They had the big pyro opener at Raw/SD in London in 06 then didn't in 07 at it kind of ruined the show for me. 

I was surprised to see they had the big screen the other night despite it being a house show. They used it to show recaps of recent Smackdown episodes,  wrestler logos during their entrances and posting tweets from the fans using #wwelondon. I'd never seen this in action before. 

Does anyone know if they have a live feed of the action on the big screens at PLEs? 

On 10/30/2023 at 2:10 PM, air_raid said:

 

For those that followed this and, like me, need closure on it, you can read the results here :

https://www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=shows&show=590204

Pretty good resource. Though just like cagematch and historyofwwe, incomplete if you ever want to deep dive on any given month in history. There’s always a show lurking where the card only exists on a blog like Pro Wrestling Fandom or rarer still, a few sentences on the local news site about 1500 souls braving inclement weather for WWEs long awaited return to Badiddilyboing, Odawidaho.

It wasn't the best card I've been to, but was the first WWE show for my son and he had a great time. Crowd was pretty pumped too. Highlights were LA Knight vs Solo Sikoa and Charlotte vs Iyo Sky. At £93 for 8th row seats at a Smackdown house show it was what it was - I refuse to pay those PLE prices (Clash in the Castle, Money in the Bank) for nosebleed seats to watch a show I can see for free on TV - so this was more my cup of tea.

Is there any way to reliably predict the card (or at least the roster members likely to be there) for the event this Sunday at OVO Wembley?

2 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

It was completely Tanahashi going into business for himself, and Amira just running with it. 

Lol, classic.

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

yeah, it was meant to be Oku, then Tanahashi, then Eddie. 

Wasn't Oku's girlfriend accompanied down the aisle by Tanahashi? Guess that was called on the fly. 

There was an interview with Takaaki Kidani (Bushiroad boss) in the Shuukan Puroresu magazine recently where he said crowds in Japan for NJPW are at 65% of what they were pre-pandemic, so the Copper Box attendance isn’t a bad number all things considered. Not sure if they could have booked any smaller an arena in London - anywhere that holds 3-4000?

NJPW’s Japanese website gives the attendance as 3,191 (52% of what the first Royal Quest did).

Anyone else going tomorrow? Must say I kind of like these shows with less hype. Going in with moderate expectations, without too many titles on the line, you can just relax and enjoy some matches. Haven’t been to an NJPW show since Royal Quest 1. 

Neither the Powers of Pain theme nor Sid Justice’s first WWF theme have been released on any albums yet and can’t understand why.

Others off the top of my head: Low Ki (Born in China), Greg Valentine (Hammer Man), Christian Cage TNA (My last breath), Booker T TNA, Samoa Joe TNA, Ricky Steamboat (Sirius)

And from Japan: Riki Choshu (Power Hall), El Samurai (Terrible Gift), Tomohiro Ishii, Takashi Iizuka, Davey Boy Smith JR (Awakening), Prince Devitt (Rock N Rolla), Yamato (Dragon Gate), Mad Blankey (Dragon Gate)

Out of interest, did BT Sport show Smackdown live last night?

On 5/23/2023 at 6:56 AM, Rockbus2 said:

I don't think it's necessarily a WWE issue but a live event issue. You look up prices for Beyoncé or Coldplay or Harry Styles or anyone else playing similar venues and its just as exorbitant. I honestly think that the death of ticket touting had made it possible. The possibility of charging stupid money has been bought in house. My ex worked for a tout for a few years and they would charge these prices for front row/second row after spending hours on the phone/Internet securing the best tickets. Now anyone can just go online and buy the best tickets themselves but have to pay the stupid money straight out of the box.

Just checked the prices for the upcoming Liverpool and Sheffield house shows and the tickets are like £30-£40 for nosebleeds and £80 for ringside. That's more like it. Pity I live in London. I'll have to wait till they come back to Brighton or something to take the kids. 

I get that live events have gone this way but still can't understand how they can sell so many PPV (which you can watch on the network for £9.99) or even Smackdown tickets for the price of a new PS5.....

I haven’t attended a live event in a few years, so perhaps I’m not with the times, but can anyone explain to me the background to these exorbitant ticket prices for WWE shows now? I remember getting a 2nd row seat to Smackdown at the O2 in 2013-ish for around £80 (which I thought was kind of pricey). Seems you’d now pay that for a nosebleed seat if you’re lucky (and I’d honestly rather watch it on TV than do that). I didn’t think WWE was even that popular these days. I get there is pent up demand after the pandemic but come on… how are so many people willing to pay this.

On 8/11/2022 at 7:06 PM, Butch2000 said:

And, more importantly, World Wrestling Allstars.

Are we just talking about Bret being at wrestling events over here? He’s otherwise been over a ton of times for book signings and that. Saw him in a panel discussion with Shawn Michaels at that London convention a few years back.

1 hour ago, Statto said:

I was going to correct you here by saying that it definitely wasn't the same guy as I'm 100% sure it was Lord Alfred Hayes doing the "punditry" here.

But... I'm now reasonably sure that this tape had a non-standard version of the classic Silvervision intro that had Hayes narrating instead of the usual guy... I also watched this short tape A LOT and have a vague memory of noticing that Hayes also 'got it wrong' by saying "side suplexes" over footage of armdrags (and then Dino Bravo's finish which they did refer to as a side suplex at the time, now generally referred to as a sidewalk slam).

Hayes was definitely the regular guy for the don't try this at home disclaimer.

You know it’s funny, it was only when I re-read this last night four years after writing it that I also spotted that error. Hayes’ voice saying “Here we see the Rockers use a combination of moves to dazzle their opponents….” suddenly came flooding back. 

On 8/26/2018 at 9:25 AM, RancidPunx said:

Is there any silvervisiom tapes that are worth a bit of cash ?

I know it’s four years after the fact but…UK Rampage 92/93 sells for £35 on CEX and that’s the dearest one I can find. Think cause it wasn’t on the network for a while (but is now).

If you watch an hour of wrestling you have pretty much witnessed everything it has to offer (my wife’s view). I actually understand where she’s coming from.

Do you agree with this statement? If so, why do you think this is? When I told my Dad (a big Man U fan) that modern WWE overexposes its talent and bores its fans with at least ten hours of new content a week, he pointed out that he probably watches that much football in a week. This got me thinking - a lot of people probably spend this much time consuming content for football or whatever their favourite sport might be and don’t get bored. If you try to do this with wrestling, however, my experience suggests you’ll burn out after a few months. Is the reason simply that it’s not a sport, and sport is not entertainment, so the mind absorbs it differently? As a non sports fan I’m curious to know.

It's a fair point that one might draw very different conclusions here depending on how you interpret the semantics of 'overrated' as a term. I suppose what I really meant was:

Wrestlers criticized by internet smark fans as being overrated by casual fans to such an extent that they became underrated by smark fans.  

There are examples of those who were overpushed but didn't initially catch on even with the casual fan base (e.g. Roman Reigns at first). Smark fans would argue Hogan, Warrior and to a lesser extent Sid were overpushed and as a result became overrated by casual fans because they got over so well. Cena is perhaps another good example - pushed hard, got over with casuals and kids and then all of a sudden it was "you can't wrestle!!". 

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Did they? Or did they just think he was crap? There’s a difference.

He won the ‘most overrated wrestler’ award three years running. Not sure if that was voted for by readers or if that was just Meltzer himself.

9 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Has anyone seen Warrior referred to as overrated? I haven’t. He was what he was.

WON readers seemed to think so at least in '89 through '91(see post above). 

Warrior appears to have been perhaps Meltzer's most hated wrestler of all time: 

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1998)^[137]
  • Most Overrated (1989–1991)^[138]
  • Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1989–1990)^[138]
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1989) vs. André the Giant^[138]
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1992) vs. Papa Shango^[138]
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1998) vs. Hulk Hogan^[138]
  • Worst on Interviews (1989–1992, 1998)^[137]
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1989) vs. André the Giant on October 31^[138]
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998) vs. Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc^[138]
  • Worst Wrestler (1988, 1998)^[138]

Notwithstanding his WCW stuff in 1998, a few of these are just simply ludicrous. There's no way he was the worst actual wrestler in a major promotion in '88, or worst on interviews from '89 to '92. His promos weren't everyone's cup of tea but they suited his gimmick and added to his mystique. As for his in-ring work, yes it was very limited for a top guy (and speaks volumes about his strengths in other areas that they were able to keep that relatively unexposed for so long) but he could perform that limited arsenal reasonably well. The way he's been portrayed by Meltzer and others over the years would have you think he shouldn't have been anywhere near a ring. 

Warrior is the prime example in my view - delivered two of the best Wrestlemania matches of the early 90s. Oozing with charisma and could work reasonably well when it really came down to it. Stiff in the ring and limited move set but nothing looked awful when in his prime. 

Hogan - Capable of pulling off a much broader arsenal of moves than anyone outside Japan ever saw. Had psychology down to a tee. Could work as well as he needed to basically. 

Sid Justice - Really popular as a baby face upon initial arrival in WWF. Came across as an absolute monster as a heel with his intensity - admittedly all the jobber matches leading up to WM8 came across a lot better than the main event with Hogan. Wasn’t all that out of place with his title run in 96/97 with the roster at the time.

Demolition - The Road Warrior knockoff rap is so unfair. Apples and oranges in my book, and I actually preferred them. Great powerhouse workers that are probably the biggest remaining elephant in the room when it comes to outstanding HoF inductions.

Any others?

Was never a big fan of Reigns before but his new theme is epic - gives him a whole different aura. Just got me thinking:

Wrestlers whose music made me like them much more - Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, Mr. Perfect, Virgil, Jake Roberts, Alundra Blayze, Alexa Bliss (1st theme), Sid Justice, Tatanka, Scott Steiner, Crush, Kurt Angle TNA theme, Jeff Jarrett TNA, Christian Cage TNA, AJ Styles TNA and NJPW, Samoa Joe TNA, Booker T TNA, Takashi Iizuka NJPW, Tomohiro Ishii NJPW, Ricky Steamboat, The Rock, MVP (Ballin), Roman Reigns (new heel theme), Doink (heel)

Wrestlers whose music really took away from their aura for me (realise some of these may be unpopular opinions) - Big Show, British Bulldog (Rule Britannia theme), Legion of Doom, John Cena (current theme not thuganomics), Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, El Matador, Ric Flair, Diesel, The Model, Dudleys, Hardys, Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW, Chris Jericho, Jeff Jarrett (WWF Double J theme), Bam Bam Bigelow, Roman Reigns (face/Shield theme), Doink (face)

Has this ever been make or break for you? 

Anyone know of the first WWF event in the U.K. (1989, London Arena) is on the network anywhere? Like in a home video release or something?

On 3/26/2021 at 10:05 AM, Cocky_Pete said:

Unfortunately the ring isn't in very good condition any more.  Is it still possible to get a Hasbro ring anywhere? 

The Mattel retro series ring released in 2017 is a carbon copy of the Hasbro one (without the F in the logo). Had a look and surprised to see it is now out of print itself but you might be able to find it in stock somewhere.