Statto

Maybe they don

I certainly think chunks of the commentary is added post-production - I noticed the commentary table was gone from the arena set-up in this weeks' taping 2 matches. Does raise the question therefore why they're still jumping around from lineup to lineup during a single episode - unless they've not settled on who they want announcing the shows and are throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. I suppose equally it could be a tryout/development opportunity for the announcers as well as the in-ring talent - giving the likes of Saxton & Chris Russo (who I've been mildly impressed with in his short appearances) a chance to work with JR, Regal etc.

 

Anyone see enough in the latest Bray Wyatt vignette to work out who the laughing brunette sprawled on the tree branch was? Didn't really get a good look at her, but guessing Audrie Marie as the only brunette diva in FCW who isn't hispanic, black or Paige. Can't really decide if Bray needs an entourage, or if it would be awesome if they went with it. Obviously Brodie Lee was there, and I spotted Garrett Dylan (Kris Kristofferson's kid) too.

Nanga Styve better be the DR Congo representative. That dude won a match with a snapmare despite having his leg injured by illegal use of fetish. Doesn't get tougher than that.

This round of tapings includes next week's NXT though right? So Bray Wyatt will still debut next week.

 

Given that up until now they've entirely mixed-and-matched the shows from matches dotted around the two tapings, I'd imagine they'll pull the Bray Wyatt matches if they can't follow up on them for 6 months.

And the Bray Wyatt gimmick is tremendous. It's the best new WWE gimmick in a long time, and it's almost a shame it's 'wasted' on NXT and isn't on Raw or Smackdown. This is a main roster gimmick, and Wyatt is a good enough talker and wrestler that he should be on tv each week, with a decent midcard push.

 

FWIW, the same promo was aired on Superstars this week, so there's a chance he might start showing up on the main shows as well as NXT sooner rather than later. I very much hope so.

I may be wrong, but I think I read somewhere that the Full Sail University kids are involved in the production side? I guess that explains why the audio mixing is occasionally all over the place?

 

Also, was the very different entrance/exit music for Leo Kruger intentional?

 

I believe in Bray Wyatt.

I'd replace Del Rio with Miz. He's got world title credentials, he hasn't fought Sheamus a million times this month like Ziggler has, and he's doing fuck all else on Raw. If Del Rio's out, then an episode of Raw and an episode of Smackdown is enough for Miz to get people into that match at least as much as they're into Sheamus-Del Rio anyway.

 

Agreed. I'd throw the belt on him too, in an "I'm back, bitches!" kind of way, and move him to Smackdown. It gets them out of a hole, and rehabilitates The Miz.

 

WWE have historically produced some interesting stuff when painted into a corner by injuries/departures. While I don't mind the current product, it's always more fun when they're that little bit less "safe".

WWE has signed a new Welsh wrestler, apparently. Stevie Starr.

 

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Opportun...tail/story.html

 

I really hope he makes it to WWE with that name. A great British ring name. There's not enough of them in the company. I made Alicia Fox laugh in a bar by telling her that her former charge DJ Gabriel used to be called Steve Sonic. [/namedrop]

Cheers to Sixteen Degrees for the list.Really looking forward to this now, it's like a whole new promotion to follow, but with the WWE seal of you know this won't be ENTIRELY horrible however bad it might get.The only downside is I fear it may now take away ANY excitement about new wrestlers debuting on Raw/Smackdown.

Just read this online...*The Great Muta & KAI vs. Sami Callihan & Tony Nese*Adam Cole vs. Alex Reynolds vs. Mike Dennis vs. Taka Suzuki vs. Zema Ion vs. QT Marshall vs. Davey Richards

Hang on, Nese gets released by TNA for wanting to appear on this, but Zema is okay?How very odd

Nese hasn't ever been the subject of a National Geographic documentary, nor does he have any particular appeal to any potential Southeast Asian audience - two factors which, in the world of TNA, must make Ion pretty much untouchable. Any whiff of the mainstream is carte blance to cripple people.He's not appeared often enough to say I'll 'miss' him, but I liked Nese, from what I saw. His particular appeal, IMO, was his reasonable resemblence to Chris Masters when both are bearded (which I'm sure I've brought up in another thread on here before), and the possibility of a big brother-little brother American Adonises tag team.

Anyone kind enough to post a spoiler-free list of people involved in the taping for me? Can't seem to find one without risking spoilers. (You can obviously spoiler-tag the list to protect the real hardcores)Cheers in advance.

Titus O's hoodie is a thing of beauty.

from what i understand he has a 2 year contract with them, but i'm guessing when he's not being used, he can do what he likes.

 

I think that's the case with quite a lot of TNA contracted talent. For example, I saw Doug Williams for WAW in Norwich the other week, and Robbie E was over for another company in the UK that weekend.

 

IIRC, isn't the rule of thumb most of the talent can take outside bookings provided the company they're going to work for don't have TV?

Cheers guys, I thought I'd seen it on TWC a few years ago, it did seem strange cos I hadnt seen him wear it before and against Doug you'd expect a straight wrestling match (not that it wasnt) without any gimmicks.

 

IIRC, making "American Dragon" a masked gimmick was something he'd toyed with in the early days of his career, and then when he went to Japan & Europe he revisited it.

 

At the time there was talk he was quite firm about continuing to wear the mask outside the US until he lost it in stip matches on both continents, hence wearing it for the FWA match in the middle of an All-Star tour, despite each organisation booking him as a very different entity (RoH star Bryan Danielson in FWA, good technical wrestler in a mask who didn't mind throwing in the odd 619 for the kids in All-Star). I don't think any such matches ever took place, however.

Was that FWA match the one where the fans got all pissy and demanded he take his mask off?

 

Yes indeed, and where he greeted some fan's comment of "Stupid fucking mask" with an instant "stupid fucking mark", which is one of the best things ever.

I really hope that Nash is coming back to TNA, he's been sorely missed.

 

The Machine Guns are coming back soon too, maybe stick Nash with them as their manager? They're all from Detroit and it'd mean potential Paparazzi Productions hi-jinks aplenty!

 

Been there, done that....

 

 

Because Detroit needs heroes...

Former WWE NXT star Husky Harris debuted a new gimmick at Thursday's FCW show, playing a religious zealot named Levi Wyatt. He was introduced as a member of the audience, then cut a heel promo before defeating FCW star Jiro in a singles match.

 

The Wrestling Observer reported recently that Harris has been on the radar of WWE management, and could very well be brought up to the main roster soon with a new character.

 

could be good...

 

I like Husky, and hope this works out for him. However, I'm disappointed he's not going to end up with this theme on WWE TV (that is, if him using it on house shows isn't bullshit, which I suspect)...

 

Hick-hop FTW!

Matt Striker randomly dropped Smiths song titles into his commentary during a PPV once, I recall everyone shitting all over that too.

 

Strikers efforts were shit because Striker said them so blatantly in that wank voice of his, whereas Regal riffs them off in one go into a Phil Lynott stream of lyricism... and It's on NXT.

 

I think I said at the time, Regal doing the endless Smiths titles was funny in that it was probably a rib on Striker, who as mentioned used to use Smiths titles in reference to Regal during his time on ECW. It wasn't amusing in and of itself. Continuing to do it is just odd.

Is it weird if I'm liking McGullicutty? He's not going to set the world alight, but there's something about him I quite like.

 

Yes, it is weird. But I'm with you.

 

When Otunga started doing the lawyer gimmick, I assumed his previous shitness had been simply down to McGillicutty being such a charisma vacuum he dragged their whole team down. But now, I think it was just a horrible pairing that didn't click, as they've both come accross far better on their own.

 

It just needs a big gaudy belt that'll sell loads to the kids and they need to put it on Alex Riley. The guy's a star.

 

Like the idea of a belt, hate Alex Riley. But you're probably right that he'd be the best guy for it initially.

 

They could do a thing where they formalise that the guys on NXT are no longer contracted to either of the main brands (they could do it as a result of the single GM thing [single brand??] that seems to be coming) - they can appear on Superstars, but not Raw or Smackdown unless they hold the NXT belt. Then when they drop it, the GM evaluates whether to sign them to the big shows on a permanent basis.

I thought taped wrists was to do with protecting against broken bones or fractures. I may be completely wrong.

 

Yes, similar to martial artists and boxers.

 

Bit late to the party on this one, but the received wisdom I had was there was also an element of tricking the eye to it as well as the support element, IE your eye naturally follows the tape rather than the fist, so you're less likely to notice if the punches aren't as snug as they might be. Hence why darker-skinned wrestlers often opt for white tape, and lighter skin tones go for black.

 

As I say, recieved wisdom, so not necessarily 100% true.

We used to get it here, although I never bothered with "Improve your wordpower" as I preferred the crappy inspirational stories. There was one once about a coach of Alabama's College Football team and his son had Down Syndrome. And it was all very heartwarming.

 

Coach Stallings is a hell of a man. Don't suppose you recall how old this Reader's Digest was (in my experience, new editions must be held in storage somewhere for about 8 years, before then being distributed to dentist's waiting rooms, or grandparents' houses) - his book about it was mid-90s, so may have been around then?

 

The Stallings' sadly lost their son to a congenital heart condition a few years back.

Brian Christopher was a complete and utter bell-end. My first encounter with him was when a man with his young son caught me just after the Q&A to ask if I could get Brian to autograph it for him (as he was just heading downstairs to the dressing rooms).

 

While I've always taken it as read that Brian Chrstopher would be a twat, I think it would refuse if someone asked me to sign a small child.

About time this had a bump...

 

Anyone got any ideas who the woman in the secretescapes.com TV ad is?

 

http://www.secretescapes.com/about-us

 

Stunning, and her uber-posh whispering doesn't hurt either.

Wasn't FWA on Bravo as well, I loved watching FWA on Bravo and got really into Burchill, even trying to create him as a CAW on the wrestling game of the time (either Shut Your Mouth or Here Comes The Pain, I think the former).

 

Nope, never on Bravo. I assume you're thinking of the Wrestling Channel show.

A contest that undoubtedly does live up to expectations, however, is the tag team 'dream' encounter matching ROH World Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling against former WWE Tag Team Champions Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin.

I remember really enjoying their first few appearances but since becoming regulars, they've become so boring. I guess that's what happens when you overuse an act like that though.

 

Shelton Benjamin has become boring? Surely not??

 

Give him a ladder to run up once a year, that'll keep him as interesting as he ever was.