GordyM

The more I think about Bray Wyatt's new direction the more I think it could have serious potential. The idea of a creepy cult leader who, after failing with his original plans, has now returned and is targetting children is something that could run for awhile and generate a lot of interesting storylines.

Bray Wyatt's Firefly Fun House is the greatest thing to happen to wrestling in years and it's ridiculous how excited I am about it. Evil puppets and talking gloves - this'll be one for the ages.

5 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Those CHIKARA storylines sound amazing and all but how the fans can keep up with them is beyond me. Some of the stuff sounds cool in writing but actually watching live...seems there is masses of potential for it to be cringe as fuck. And surely your more casual fans spend a lot of time incredibly confused..

Most of the time it's fine and everything you need is on the shows. However, the "death and rebirth of CHIKARA" storyline was definitely a mind screw for all but the hardcore fans who'd done their homework.

You had to go on the official forum to find out about a conspiracy nut hanging around outside venues after shows and handing out pamphlets to fans telling them about the evil Titor. This led you to a website you had to visit. This led to other websites. There were blogs you had to read. You had to read certain twitter posts. After CHIKARA was closed down Icarus would show up at other company's shows that featured now ex-CHIKARA wrestlers to try and recruit them. Fans at these shows would be given DVDs featuring messages from Icarus that they had to upload and share online because Icarus was being tracked. CHIKARA guys put on an outdoor show at a venue that was supposed to be hosting their show as a form of protest - they fled when Condor Security guys showed up and then kidnapped an agressive fan (revealed, of course, as a plant). Then fans were tasked with doing a mission for Condor in return for the fan's freedom: they had to get hold of top secret documents, which they did, but then Icarus intercepted them, took the real documents and switched them for fakes. He then used these documents to black mail Titor into selling the rights to CHIKARA. Meanwhile almost every Big Bad from CHIKARA's past was showing up at the Wrestling Is... companied to shut them down after they were revealed as CHIKARA spin-offs and operating as "back-up bases" as the Icarus-led CHIKArmy planned to fight back and retake CHIKARA itself. And this isn't even all of it! There's time travel, Parts Unknown, drugged wrestlers, white supremacists, diamond mine massacres...

Depending on your point of view this wrestling storyline turned ARG was either Quackenbush's magnus opus or a confusing mess. It cost them both fans and wrestlers who hated the whole incredibly complicated thing and never returned. Personally I loved it because it was something truly unique, a beautiful monstrosity that only a mad scientist like Quackenbush would dare create. No one is ever going to be crazy enough to do something like this again.

CHIKARA: A Sweet & Sour Unmasking at the Dark Ciberknetico (AKA The most I've ever marked out)

The Build Up: Uber-heel stable the BDK (Bruderschaft des Kreuzes [Translation: "Brotherhood of the Cross"]) had completely taken over CHIKARA and were tearing it apart. They had the numbers, a biased ref and management in their pocket. Loses were rare. Meanwhile the CHIKARA roster were getting their arses kicked and had to slowly put aside grudges and learn to work together to beat the invaders.

This all came to a head at the Dark Ciberknetico. Two teams of eight in an elimination match. Team BDK led by Claudio Castagnoli (now Cesaro). Team CHIKARA led by Ultramantis Black. This was it. The CHIKARA roster were now one complete army. Fans knew this was the turning point. This was the beginning of the end for the BDK.

There was a wildcard by the name of Vodoker. He was a masked imposter. Fans knew this because the real Vodoker was Tim Donst, a CHIKARA traitor who helped the BDK take over the company from inside by posing as a time travelling robot sent from the future to stop the BDK (hey, it's CHIKARA *shrug*). Fake Vodoker would only appear during Donst's matches and watch from the sidelines. Who was he? It was implied that there actually was a "real" Vodoker and Donst had stolen his look. Was this fake actually the real thing? Fake Vodoker was named 8th member of Team CHIKARA. We'd soon find out.

The Match: At the event Team BDK entered first. Then, one by one came the CHIKARA guys. Fake Vodoker was last. He reached up and triumphantly tore his mask off. It was none other than "Too sweet to be sour" Larry Sweeney. The fans lost it. I lost it. In CHIKARA terms this was the equivalent of Stone Cold returning to the ring. Here was this beloved fan favourite who hadn't been seen in years. He had had serious injuries and "his demons", as it were. We never thought we'd see him again. But there he was with a big shit eating grin on his face.

Every fan was on their feet. They're all chanting for Sweeney. He charges towards Claudio and the full brilliance of Sweeney's return was made clear: it wasn't just a shock return. It also made complete storyline sense. He was Claudio's arch nemesis. He'd made Claudio's life hell for years before leaving CHIKARA. Now he was back and Claudio looked like he was seeing the Ghost of Arse Kickings Past. Time for one more.

Sweeney smashed Claudio in the face with an elbow. The fight back began and all across the arena the CHIKARA and BDK guys started beating the shit out of each other. People are getting slammed onto the floor. Others tossed into chairs. Every fan's on their feet and cheering. The catharsis was amazing. This evil cheating group of scumbags were FINALLY get their arses kicked! Led by a beloved wrestler we never thought we'd see again. For the CHIKARA faithful this truly was a fucking great moment.

13 hours ago, Your Fight Site said:

So does any one know why she did it? As it seems there was no prior heat or anything. Is she just bat shit crazy and Rosemary was the unfortunate soul to be in the ring with her?

Supposedly there was genuine hate between her and Lady Shani and they started shooting on each other during the match (I haven't seen any confirmation of who started it). Some reports are saying that Hamada got pissed off and started working stiff too. Why Sexy Star fucked up Rosemary is a big question mark. Some conjecture that, after Hamada started stiffing her too, SS maybe thought she was in the middle of a screw job (revenge for the Lucha Underground situation?) and they were all out to get her. Even if there's any truth to her getting paranoid it doesn't justify for one second what she did to Rosemary, who according to all reports I've seen remained a pro the whole time, never stiffed SS and went into the planned finish with no resistance.

My useless bit of Low Ki trivia: Swamp Monster from The Gentlemen's Club was initially based on Low Ki. When he saw Swampy he told the Club's leader Chuck Taylor it was the stupidest thing he'd ever seen. From that point on whoever put on the costume was told by Chuck to act like Low Ki in the ring.

21 minutes ago, Liam O'Rourke said:

Only temporary, should be back next week (fingers crossed) - had some last minute schedule conflicts three straight weeks after a planned week off, so we got hammered with bad luck, but should be back to normal soon.

Surely now's the perfect time for The Death of TNA (AKA "the Emmalina of podcasts")?

"You're nothing but a seven-foot catchphrase that I wrote" was Enzo's best line in a long, long time.

I laughed more at Strowman's "I'M STILL NOT DONE WITH YOU!" than at anything the Jersey Shore mogwai Enzo has said all year.

4 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Didn't Davey Richards nearly cripple Paul London doing something similar to that?

Still hurts watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYjpoUM_QZM

Vanguard 1 stole the episode for me: trying to do the 3 count, "Booya AF", being motorboated by ODB etc.

Those spot monkeys have gone too far!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRm92U1ANDw

 

Been wondering, has Austin had anything to say about her finisher? I know he was a vociferous hater of Cena's springboard stunner, but IIRC that was because he wasn't picking up wins with it.

 

He talked about it with Wade Keller during the podcast they did about NXT Takeover Brooklyn 2. He was basically positive about it and thought it looked impressive (though questioned how successful she'd be at being able to pull it off every time).

It really annoys me how much Abyss' face paint makes him look like the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz.

To prepare for their fight with Decay, Matt has made Jeff fight a kangaroo possessed by the spirt of 'Smoking' Joe Fraser:

http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/jeff-hardy-kangaroo-broken-matt-zoo-video/#.V83p9zXfubt

I never thought I'd see anything in wrestling this week better than the two matches in the Cruiserweight Challenge. Then I saw Senor Benjamin and Vanguard 1 singing along to Broken Jeff's theme song.

This is it, folks

Cody Rhodes' appearance on Straight Shoot is worth a watch. He's very open and there's none of that guarded "Better not say anything that could jeopardise a potential WWE return" guff you get from some wrestlers (at one point he denounces Stardust as "a fucking space clown", for example).

Find it HERE.

Bound for Glory has a new main event: Skarsgard the Dilapidated Boat vs Montgomery the Talking Tree. Hey, we've already had a table vs ladder match.

When Matt was out on the lake in Skarsgard I was really hoping they'd do a callback to Friday the 13th's ending and have an undead Willow burst out of the water and grab Matt (which would've also be a nice callback to the Final Deletion, now that I think about it).

Ah well, at least there was the wonderful moment where Matt thanked and named wrestling's hottest free agent: the dilapidated boat. If Matt's new entrance doesn't involve Senor Benjamin and 'Slave Nero' carrying Skarsgard to the ring (prefarably with Matt inside it) then TNA are missing a trick.

That was amazingly awful. So many great moments:

• Matt calling his son "King Maxel"
• The gardener's birthday present for the baby ("DELIGHTFUL! It is an EXTRAORDINARY xylophone!")
• Matt's evil drone army vs Jeff's guitar
• Hologram Matt
• Jeff chasing one of the drones on his motorbike
• Matt's gleefully riding his lawnmower while laughing maniacally
• Matt using a violin to summon Jeff
• Matt saying he was personally given the violin by his friend Antonio Stradivari (who, umm, died centuries ago)
• Firework battle
• "IT'S A DILAPIDATED BOAT!!!"
• Drowned Jeff's transformation into Willow
• The gardener's taser-based interference
• Willow's pinned! No, wait, it was the gardener under the mask ("SENOR BENJAMIN!")
• Matt's life flashing before his eyes
• Matt's wife magically appearing and giving him the birthday candle

The bit where Matt pauses to talk to his gardener isn't getting enough love, in my opinion. In all of the stupidity and craziness in that film there's that one little moment of normality in the middle.

"Good afternoon, Mister Hardy."

"Hello, Tom. Lovely day, isn't it? I must say those chrysanthemums are coming up a treat."

"Thank you, Mister Hardy. Oh, I moved the kitchen table next to the ring, like you asked."

"Excellent. After I put my brother Nero through it we must have a cuppa and a proper chat. If you see Reby walking around with a fake baby send her this way, wont' you, old fellow?"

Just listening to Teddy Hart on AOW, had no idea he fell into the Escort world for a bit, threesomes with his wife, he'd even bring the cats along. He's got a mad tale to tell. Decent listen, regardless of how credible it all is.

 

EDIT: and Colt picked him up on using the word 'retard', even if it briefly derailed Teddy on anther one of his ludicrous tangents. I begrudgingly respected him for that.

For more Teddy Hart madness I recommend picking up 'Best Friends with Teddy Hart' (LINK).

Tell me you saw Martinez pre match promo too? 

 

People with mutism are better talkers than she is.

Yeah, unfortunately I did. Cringe worthy.

The new Botchamania (306) has a blindingly mentally "why did they release this horrendously botched that they should have edited" match from the most recent ONO Knockouts PPV thing. Can't say I know whose in the match, but it's mental that someone said "yeah, release that"

The longest of the Knockouts clips is indeed the infamous Martinez vs Rebel match. In trying to work out what the fuck happened with that suicide dive spot the only thing I can come up with is that Martinez suddenly became self-aware and decided to actually try and kill herself.

For anybody who wants to see it here's the entire thing in all its "glory".

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

After hearing about it on a podcast I had to watch the Shelly Martinez vs Rebel match. It's truly a strong contender for the worst match of all time, from the vagina-based submission spot to Martinez botching EVERYTHING. It has to be seen to be believed.

I got a Chikaratopia account last week. It's not to everyone's taste but it's right up my alley. I watched last year's King Of Trios over a weekend and enjoyed every bit of it and I'm looking forward to following their story arc linear now.

 

Does anyone have any good nods on where to start? From doing a Google on it I'm getting every year of its existence dropped as a good starting point. A lot saying 2011 or thereabouts.

 

I'd rather not go right back to the start. It would give me way too much to get through. And I don't like the idea of watching an indie from scratch in its primordial form before certain chinks were ironed out.

 

My preference is to sort of drop in slightly before a flash period where the tropes of what I'm watching have been established.

If you're interested in following the main storylines and seeing all the big angles and feuds of Chikara's past I'd recommend going back to 2007. Chikara's first big storyline was around this time: Quackenbush vs Chris Hero. Without giving too much away this sets up something involving Ultramantis Black which snowballs into an amazing invasion angle which in turn sets up the two-year long 'Death of Chikara' angle. Some of the stuff currently happening in Chikara have their origins in these storylines and it's also incredible to see how well Quackenbush plots things out (sometimes years in advance) with minor moments and seemingly throwaway lines foreshadowing and/or setting things in motion that pay off 6 months, a year, even two years later. The aforementioned invasion angle? They spent a year building up to it and it revolved around something that was first mentioned months before we actually saw it in a show. If you're willing to put in the time the investment is worth it.