Benoitmark

Sorry I didn't enjoy the indy spotfests lads.

Writing as I watch.

Ladder match:

I've never found a ladder match so boring.

Why does everyone wrestle like generic indy guy #4, even the big guys are doing front flips, backflips, for some reason every wrestler in this match has some kind of spinning kick or super kick.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Jungle boy vs. whashisface

These guys felt like a couple of lower/mid card wrestlers but it went on so long it. A lot of it was the typical indy match and as such it has the traits of such. Everything looking cheorographed, big moves, flips, everyone kicking out of each others finishers, kicking out of potential finishers or whatever. It wouldn't be a typical indy match without someone working a limb only to have it cost them the finish at some point. Much alike the first match it went on too long, they did so many crazy moves and I'm all big moved out two matches into this show, calm it clown lads.

Side note: We're two fights in and theres been like 12 kip ups this event.

Cody Rhodes vs. Lance Archer:

An actual pro wrestling match, not a stunt show, not a cheorographed dance of crazy moves and flips. Just a decent big-man/smaller-man match where Cody was figuring out how to hurt him. Cody did an awesome job making the big man look dangerous, he didn't need to do a bunch of crazy spots, no superkicks, no kip ups, just a decent pro wrestling match that told a story.

Womens match

If nothing else, they performed the moves well for non-Japanese women.

Golddust vs. Opponent

Just a squash but there's something apparent about the difference between the Rhodes boys and everyone else so far. The Rhodes lads probably spent their whole life learning from the greats, their dad, Arn, Flair etc. While everyone else learned from the internet or their local talent. Thats why Rhodes boys have an ability to do more with less and don't seem to undervalue the impact of big moves for themselves and everyone else on the card. Their shit doesn't look cheorographed either.

Big Woman vs. Japanese girl

The Japanese girl is called the hottest women in all of wrestling in the promo package, I'd give her a 7/10 myself. 

This was a good match, went on too long but still entertaining, Shida made it look like a fight and the big girl moved well for a big girl.

Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper

Decent match. I'm not too farmilliar with these gentlemen but I've seen them before in the E. I didn't think too much back then but they seem to know how to have a good brawl. Harper kicking out of finishes did more to make him look like a monster than it devalued Ambroses ability to finish. 

Main event

Imagine if the MITB at Titan Towers wasn't shot like a bad student film, had actual funny moments and wasn't entirely cringe worthy. Thats this. It's still a pretty dumb concept but this is actually done well. It was creative, the wrestling itself in the match was good, the spots were wild, unpredictable and you don't get this feeling of dread that you're watching a bunch of Mcmahon slaves forced to embarrass themselves for the writing teams entertainment. Seriously, it's been years since I enjoyed a match this much. I wanted to shit on it but I can't, it really was that much fun.

Overall it's far better than any WWE I've watched lately, the indy style of some matches isn't to my taste(like at all) but it got less and less 'indy' as the show went on. Overrall I was entertained, I might actually keep watching. It's quite evident how much the 'crowd' make a match, even if they're paid to cheer. 

On 5/14/2020 at 7:05 AM, tiger_rick said:

As a business, it's never been bigger.

Based on what?

Since MITB and movie matches seem to be generally accepted by fans and if WWE are going to completely disregard any form of sense making, why not go full 100% fictional?

What I mean is have aliens and other supernatural shit. Imagine, they could have a match on the moon, or Vince could invent time travel and we could have a match in the stone age or the future with lazers and shit. We could have Brock Lesnar fight a dragon, wouldn't that be sweet?

Come halloween why not have a haunted house match where wrestlers wrestle through the old Benoit home while being spooked by the ghosts of dead wrestlers. It can be like some teen horror movie. 

I'm watching old ECW TV's and various events throughout the mid 90s, having not followed in years and forgotten all of this, it's like watching something completely new and I'm able to appreciate pro wrestling again like I'm a teen, I'm finding it easier to suspend my disbelief.

Some notes so far:

- Mick Foley is an amazing promo. He comes up with so many clever lines and the character of Cactus Jack is deep.

- Shane Douglas can talk for hours about the same thing and still have shit to say, love it.

- All the angles and stories are so interesting, I can't wait to see how it all unfolds, Sandman pretending to be blinded to get to Tommy Dreamer was such a good twist.

- Nancy Sullivan is such a good heel, I wonder whatever happened to her?

- Everyone has their own unique style, personality and stand out as an individual.

- Sandman can't do even the most basic moves for shit and that's awesome. Imagine if he could perform moves as crisply and smoothly as Dean Malenko? Yeah nobody wants that from Sandman, he's absolutely perfect in his natural chaotic drunken state and I love it.

- Benoit and Malenko showed up and naturally the actual in ring wrestling picks up quite a bit but the angles remain of the highest quality.

- I love how tables are introduced, at first its just people falling to the outside through a conveniently placed table and Sabu being a mad man who just loves breaking tables. They give tables a reason to be there rather than just a fun spot.

- There's a surprising amount of kayfabe protecting subtlties, I even found myself being fooled some of the time, which got me invested in the matches more.

- The Funks vs. Public Enemy barbed wire match is the single greatest thing I have witnessed in my life, the utter mayhem of this match is something to behold. A real texas style barn burner.

On 5/11/2020 at 11:46 AM, C-Rock said:

Worst thing i have watched in life. Worse than any mid afternoon channel 5 movie. I couldn't wait for it to end and only watched out of sheer curiosity. Terrible acting, fake as shit. Daniel Bryan flinching before AJ hit him was dire! Everyone looked stupid just plain embarrassing. Not even entertaining in the slightest. Were supposed to believe that these are top athletes and sports men and a real danager to eachother yet they looked like comedic fools.

I absolutely agree.

Other than the odd little comeback, I haven't watched since 2005 but due to Covid I got the network and wanted to watch some good old wrestling. This was live, so like Mania I watched it.

Everything about it felt cheap, badly done, childish, it was like watching the worst of Vince Russo but in PG so without the edgyness or unpredictability that would come with dumb Russo moments.

It wasn't even filmed well like their movie matches, this made it especially jarring when they'd use slow motion or add music or whatever, which made look like a cheap student movie. The bad acting, Stephanie clearly not being their and AJ being under those weights but obviously not really, had me cringing. Food fight? Is this an episode of power rangers?

I really do fear for the future of WWE after that, wrestlers destroying Titan Tower? How does that not sound creatively bankrupt? Or a Fonzy jumping the shark kind of idea? This wasn't pro wrestling, not to be over dramatic but I felt like I was watching the death of pro wrestling. It saddens me Paul Heyman, AJ Styles, Brian Danielson and Rey Mysterio had to be part of that.

I know we're all entitled to different opinions and they all vary but I have a really hard time believing any of you actually liked that, I expected C-Rock's reaction from all you guys but instead you all say you liked it. The fuck happened to this place? Did all the people who actually appreciate decent pro wrestling stop watching? 

Ratings are down? Yeah no shit. I won't continue watching.

Around 2005 I switched over to MMA, now I can't for the life of me stomach wrestling. I just see the obvious flaws in matches and mistakes they make that would get them destroyed in a real fight. These days it also seems like wrestlers realize most people know what a real fight looks like, so they have disregarded about 80% of trying to make a match look or feel real and things are a lot more choreographed.

So we're at a point where theres no going back, you can't reintroduce kayfabe because of the times we live in. So why not just go all the way? Use trampolines and shit, make the ring more padded, strap guys to harnesses, have them shoot lazers and just have crazy movie fight scene stuff.

Otherwise why bother risking your body 200 days a year? Because you just love pretending to fight another man in your undies? 

And as fans, why bother watching? MMA has just about everything pro wrestling has. Blood, drama, backstage antics, crazy characters, crazy matches where people get hurt, moves that legit work in a fight, hilarious promos, beautiful bodies(no homo) and guess what, it's mostly real and the stuff that's not(like fake beef) is treat in a way where you won't know.

I just feel pro wrestling is becoming obsolete. I hear the ratings haven't been painting a pretty picture either

Whole lot of old names coming up in this thread, condolences to his friends and family. RIP.

I have a cold, that brought about a coughing fit. Tremendous stuff. Lovethe irony of spelling Destined without the 'd' in a fuck up video.

Martin StoneJiggy WalkerRomeo JonesPhil BedwellFinlay Reed

Owen Hart vs. Marty jones - World of sport 80's .... The match that made me a fan

Well I guess ill take a few long matches just to pass the time(sorry about short reasons).1: Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat(2 out of 3 falls): Clash Of the Champions.I prefer that Wrestlewar match but as I mentioned above, this is longer.2: Bret Hart vs Steve Austin: Wrestlemania 13To remind me of what wrestling was like at its best.3: Mitsuhara Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi: October 97(?)Now this is the only full match ive seen between the two so I really had no idea what the history of their matches is etc. but anyway when it finished I was left breathless. Easily one of the best matches ive seen.4: Chris Benoit vs William Regal: Brian Pillman memorial show.Well I havnt seen it, but how can I turn down a match that Jim Cornette calls the best match ever?5: The Rock vs HHH(The Iron Man Match): Judgmentday 2000.Another match that falls into the "I havent seen it but ive heard good things" category, and it does last an hour.6: Royal Rumble 92.But if I cant choose that due to Flair:6: Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan: ??? 2001My first taste of Japanese wrestling and I still love it today, a very underated match indeed but Kawada has probably had 100 better matches, id just concider this something special.7: Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori: Dreamslam 1How could I leave this out? Easily the best female match ever.8: Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs Manami Toyota & Toshio Yamada: Dreamslam 2Trapped on a desert island without footage of Ozaki? Ill end up going insane.9: Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko: ECW Hostile City ShowdownWell I need some Eddie footage and his match against Rey is too short.10: coming soon!

6 Pages in 4 hours .

Well ive completed every Resident Evil game ive played, maby ill be able to survive too, just give me a shotgun and ALOT of ammo.

Oh lots. But those were only schoolyard brawls and I think its mostly been them wanting to kill me not vice-versa(I was a little shit during my younger age), and in one of them I got my nose busted open so bad that I went off the Muta scale.

Looks like Ebguys had too mutch to drink.

After mutch anticipation...

Benoitmark shows up.

And he got a present for Van Halen.

Ghetto Youth was very happy with The Scotsmans(www.Scotsmanality.com) idea for a gohst costume, however he felt like the only one.

Love him or hate him, tonights special guest was Sgt. Ducky.

Meanwhile FranchiseEra2003 and his gang of evil Village people show up only too reak havoc.

Does this mean ROH will close its doors too?

What a heel.

Your bad grammar alone is going to get you flamed .