Moderators PowerButchi Posted October 22, 2014 Moderators Share Posted October 22, 2014 (edited) Henry's over in my house. He's probably not the worker now he was in 2011-12 (and like has been pointed out on here countless times his work was strong going back to ECW), but he's still a fucking great promo. Look at other forums, some of the other better quality ones of wrestling forums, their opinions of Mark Henry match up with ones on here. He's a champion of the thinking wrestling fan. He's just like me. WOOOOOOOOOOO! Edited October 22, 2014 by PowerButchi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakashi Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 He does get points for the turn on Cena. That could have been shit with someone else but he did it brilliantly. Â And he can cry on demand, which is better than most of the neighbours cast. Maybe he's not that bad after all. Â He's certainly better than Dolph Ziggler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted October 22, 2014 Moderators Share Posted October 22, 2014 (edited) Yeah, I was going to use Ziggler as an example. One of Henry's major plus points in his favour is that he mixes it up a bit depending on who he's against. He'd work differently against Orton than Big Show and different again against CM Punk for example, in a way that'd make perfect sense. Ziggler's the same against everyone. Edited October 22, 2014 by PowerButchi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 That was Jake Roberts' big knock on Chris Jericho as well, that he didn't change up his game for different opponents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted October 22, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 That was Jake Roberts' big knock on Chris Jericho as well, that he didn't change up his game for different opponents. Â I always found Jake to be more talk than action. He talked a good game (one of the best) but I never actually recall him having a good match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 There's very little of his wrestling that I'd ever watch now, but the "good match" criteria/goal is a relatively modern thing and the style has changed so much in the last 20-30 years that very little old stuff holds up. Wrestling in Jake's day wasn't about being commended for good workrate online, the way it is now. Pretty much everyone these days works for five-star reviews and classic matches that will live on forever on video. In the seventies and eighties, some wrestling was about that kind of match, but a lot wasn't. You were working to draw the punters back in the next week with storytelling and character rather than a fast pace and flashy moves that'll still be replayed years later, and Jake was as good a worker as anyone. He'd get a bigger reaction twirling his finger once than Dolph Ziggler gets for a hundred cartoon bumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted October 22, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 There's very little of his wrestling that I'd ever watch now, but the "good match" criteria/goal is a relatively modern thing and the style has changed so much in the last 20-30 years that very little old stuff holds up. Wrestling in Jake's day wasn't about being commended for good workrate online, the way it is now. Pretty much everyone these days works for five-star reviews and classic matches that will live on forever on video. In the seventies and eighties, some wrestling was about that kind of match, but a lot wasn't. You were working to draw the punters back in the next week with storytelling and character rather than a fast pace and flashy moves that'll still be replayed years later, and Jake was as good a worker as anyone. He'd get a bigger reaction twirling his finger once than Dolph Ziggler gets for a hundred cartoon bumps. Yeah, but I saw all of Jake's WWF run as it happened, and I remember loving his promos and him being an interesting character - but never being able to recall a good match he had. I distinctly remember him & Rick Rude having a stinker at WM IV, going to a 15min draw - they spent 10mins of it with Jake in a chin lock. Just horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Pre-1990, the WWF only ever had about a handful of "good" televised matches anyway, which is why Savage vs Steamboat got overrated to fuck. You're not that much older than me, are you? I can't imagine in 1988 you were sitting there timing headlocks and all that, surely you were just wanting Jake to fight out of it and kill the baddie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Astro Hollywood Posted October 22, 2014 Moderators Share Posted October 22, 2014 I don't know that that's true. Even as a kid, I knew the difference between a good match and a bad match. Young Hulkamaniac as I was, the tapes that got played so much they went wobbly weren't the Hogan ones. One of my young arguments with myself about why wrestling must be real is why else would they have shit matches with Dino Bravo? You wouldn't deliberately make something boring, would you? Â The Jake issue would make a decent thread of its own, if someone else can be arsed. Nobody's talked up more as a Master of Psychology, but aside from promos, and the little touches where you bought the character, did he ever have a really good match? Is he just another Raven who talks a good game, but doesn't put it into practice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted October 22, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 Yeah, I agree. I've listened to Jake and what he says sounds fantastic. But apart from the blindfold match, I can't think of a Roberts match I really like. His matches with Savage were really average given how awesome the promos were. Â But then I find it hard to argue with Pitcos that Jake did what was required which is why he was supremely over. I still don't think he's qualified to criticise guys who got over in other eras though. As much as he knew what worked in the 80's, for the most part he was working in front of crowds who wet themselves before the show started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Even aside from his interviews, just the in-ring stuff... You'd have to be the williest of woofters to not go nuts for the DDT back then. There's not a finisher now that gets anything like that level of excitement, and I don't think there was then either. Â Although as I say this, I'm realising that I'm a replicant, because I can definitely remember the DDT being the coolest thing in the world and it being the move that everyone in the playground federation wanted to do, yet when I started watching wrestling he was already a heel. I got into it right after he did the dirty on Warrior. So I've got some implanted memory of loving Jake and the DDT but I can't place when or how. It definitely wasn't in 1996, which would have been the first time in my fandom that he was a TV babyface. Either I was fascinated by him as a heel, or I'm basing everything on the Wrestlefest arcade game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted October 22, 2014 Moderators Share Posted October 22, 2014 Because the DDT was THE FINISH to our generation. Ask anyone when they were younger, the DDT was the coolest shit going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted October 22, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 You're not that much older than me, are you? I can't imagine in 1988 you were sitting there timing headlocks and all that, surely you were just wanting Jake to fight out of it and kill the baddie. I'm 35. So I was watching these matches when I was 10, which is exactly why I think my opinion is more valid because I had no bias or knowledge of inner workings or how a match "works". I was watching it with no preconceived notions. I just remember his matches never exciting me. Yes, the DDT was always amazing though - but he only really did it on jobbers, since he himself seemed to lose most of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted October 22, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 I'm 35. So I was watching these matches when I was 10, which is exactly why I think my opinion is more valid because I had no bias or knowledge of inner workings or how a match "works". I was watching it with no preconceived notions. I just remember his matches never exciting me. Yes, the DDT was always amazing though - but he only really did it on jobbers, since he himself seemed to lose most of the time.I can hardly remember Jake losing. His matches never seemed to have finishes. Agree about the DDT though. It was awesome but he never seemed to hit it in big matches. Just tease it or hit it on a Virgil or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melina_mma Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Â He'd get a bigger reaction twirling his finger once than Dolph Ziggler gets for a hundred cartoon bumps. Â How you react to this sentance sums up the two different types of wrestling fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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