Claudio Castagnoli signed with WWE, it seems.

[cobystag]

A little while ago. Maybe July-ish?

[Dirty Eddie]

Corey Graves is a bit silly, but Sterling James Keenan is really shit also.

[Halitosis Romantic]

Get to fuck... Most yanks I know ARE Italian.

Out of pure curiosity Beale, because I bet you know a LOT of Guidos in your neck of the woods, how many of them do you reckon know much about the country of their roots? Genuine question, because it usually comes across that although proud of their Italian heritage a lot of them don't actually know much about the nation. It's weird, it's like Italian-American is it's own separate race/nationality entirely, as their identity is rather different than that of Americans and Italians. It's a fucking cool identity though, fun stereotypes galore.

 

I don't know that many (I don't know that many of anyone yet), but the two Italian-Americans I do know are special cases - one used to work for New Jersey's biggest Italian-American newspaper, and therefore was very knowledgeable, and the other is just smart, and probably knows as much about Italy as he does any other country, which is a large amount.

 

The difference seems to come in the level of respect for that heritage. Caterina was pretty defensive of Italy and Italians, hating Jersey Shore and attending (though maybe through parental influence) Italian cultural events. Joe, on the other hand, uses racial slurs against Italians jokingly, and doesn't seem to have a huge amount of respect for the culture.

 

They both go down the shore a fair amount, but I don't think it's quite the same level of debauchery that the JS kids get up to.

[PepperPlunge]

It's funny watching people talk about Chris Hero not being "worthy" of working for a company which regularly grants TV time to pointless wastes of space like Jinder Mahal, Tyson Kidd, David Otunga, Michael McGuillicutty Ted DiBiase and Ezekiel Jackson.

 

All of those look a bigger star than Chris Hero though. Well, not Tyson Kidd. Michael McGillicutty looks average, especially with that awful cap actually. From the little I've seen of Jinder Mahal, he seemed solid enough and didn't look like a joke.

 

Frankly, I can't see WWE warming to Hero at all. I don't think he'd go far - certainly not further than Cabana or Castagnoli. He wouldn't get a sniff at the main event unless it were a multi man match and I don't think he's what the midcard needs. There's enough wrestlers floundering around the midcard without breaking through to the main event. To the typical fan, Castagnoli looks hard. Hero doesn't. He could do comic relief but Cabana would do that better and you've got Ryder, Santino and Regal for that too.

 

People might say 'they said Punk wouldn't make it' but honestly, through the relatively little I'd seen of Punk, I thought he'd do better than people were saying. Not WWE champion as he was far from your typical champ but IC level.

[Dirty Eddie]

To the typical fan, Castagnoli looks hard. Hero doesn't.

 

 

To what extent does "looking hard" really matter though?

 

Sure, you have to look at least athletic, or the whole thing becomes a joke, but surely you only really need to look hard if your particular gimmick/character is a "hard man". Someone like Nash or Bad News Brown needed to look hard to do their bad-ass, tough-guy acts, but I don't think many people would think that Shawn Michaels ever looked particularly"hard" and he's arguable the best North American wrestler ever!

[Richie Freebird]

being better than you used to be doesnt mean your up to WWE standard though, it just means your not as shit as you used to be

 

Well, I think he

[ColinBollocks]

To the typical fan, Castagnoli looks hard. Hero doesn't.

 

 

To what extent does "looking hard" really matter though?

 

Sure, you have to look at least athletic, or the whole thing becomes a joke, but surely you only really need to look hard if your particular gimmick/character is a "hard man". Someone like Nash or Bad News Brown needed to look hard to do their bad-ass, tough-guy acts, but I don't think many people would think that Shawn Michaels ever looked particularly"hard" and he's arguable the best North American wrestler ever!

'Looking hard' is exactly what's missing from wrestling. Not enough wrestlers these days look like that solid. The 'look' is the first impression the public makes of you when flicking the channel. It's the reason The Miz doesn't work when he's beating on Cena, because he looks like a wee boy playing baddy. If a guy looks hard it's easier to suspend your disbelief and get into this guy as a hard case. Obviously it's just one piece of the puzzle, but an important one.

[cobystag]

People might say 'they said Punk wouldn't make it' but honestly, through the relatively little I'd seen of Punk, I thought he'd do better than people were saying. Not WWE champion as he was far from your typical champ but IC level.

 

CM Punk 05:

 

 

Chris Hero 10:

 

 

And Hero is taller than Punk too.

 

I'll be honest, Punk has surpassed all expectations I ever had of him. But Hero is a VERY good wrestler, he can wrestle the American Indy style, the NOAH heavyweight style and has had his fair share of European tours and holds guys like Johnny Saint in high esteem.

 

I'm going to get incredibly slated to this..... But just before Danielson left the indies, he was seen as a very versatile wrestler.... I always thought Hero was of the same mold as Danielson and would follow him and be able to fill that gap.

[Dirty Eddie]

'Looking hard' is exactly what's missing from wrestling. Not enough wrestlers these days look like that solid. The 'look' is the first impression the public makes of you when flicking the channel. It's the reason The Miz doesn't work when he's beating on Cena, because he looks like a wee boy playing baddy. If a guy looks hard it's easier to suspend your disbelief and get into this guy as a hard case. Obviously it's just one piece of the puzzle, but an important one.

 

Looking a bit hard may well get you a foot in the door, but there are loads of other far more important factors. Charisma, athletic abilty, inteview skills, ring-work are all more important, otherwise the greatest successes in wrestling history would all have been people who looked like Bouncers.

 

I don't think an influx of hard looking blokes would do anything to improve business (unless of course they could all work like Steamboat and talk like Flair).

 

Again, I'm not saying the look (in general) isn't important, but there are loads of great successes who didn't particularly look like hard-cases; Flair, Bret, Michaels, Lawler, Jake Roberst etc...

 

I agree there is something lacking about the Miz though, but I think it's just because he looks so young.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

For me its not about looking hard. Its to look a certain way. You have to tell a 5 year old Ian that one day he'll grow up to be Kerry Von Erich, with two feet. Its why Daniels never did anything for me. It isnt that he doesnt look hard or that he hasnt got a good physique. Its that the look he has isnt any different from you average bald bloke on the street. Apart from the average bloke on the street doesnt wear eyeliner. The comparison between Punk and Hero is way off for me. Punk's a good looking boy, has a massive amount of arrogance in his delivery, can talk to a very good standard and had a good height to go with his body. He also had the Jeff Hardy thing, where you could imagine a bunch of teenages who have zero confidence in them thinking "i'll never be Batista, but I could be Punk/Hardy". Punk had a look about him. Hero doesnt. He has a pubes beard for starters. Punk and Hero are night and day.

 

Thats just me anyway.

 

It's funny watching people talk about Chris Hero not being "worthy" of working for a company which regularly grants TV time to pointless wastes of space like Jinder Mahal, Tyson Kidd, David Otunga, Michael McGuillicutty Ted DiBiase and Ezekiel Jackson.

Who said anything about being "worthy"? You've just fucked your own point up the arse with that comment. If WWE has all those wrestlers with decent bodies and a good standard of wrestling, why are they going to be desperate to sign a bloke who looks like Shaggy off Scooby Doo?

[Loki]

I'm still hoping I might mature into an Ahmed Johnson, even at 34.

[PepperPlunge]

Michaels might not have looked 'hard' but he was excellent at what he did. Lawler might not look 'hard' but he was brilliant on the mic and getting people to hate him enough to get people to part their money to see him get his arse kicked. Same as Flair. You have to really excel in other areas to draw when people might not initially believe in you. The Miz is entertaining and I think his finger is on the pulse and he's brilliant at the publicity stuff the WWE do. He's getting by despite looking like a chump because he's excelling on the mic.

 

I don't think knowing how to work indy/Jap/British style is that much of a concern of WWE at the moment. There's a reason they send experienced guys to FCW - there's habits that are formed that don't bode well with WWE and their TV product. Obviously I'm not saying this makes him a bad wrestler - just that he'd likely not get much of a chance to wrestle indy/strong style/British in WWE. It's not necessarily the 'right' thing to do as people say it creates cookie cutter* wrestlers but it's a product of WWE micro-managing everything. The reason Daniel Bryan gets to wrestle his way more (though WWE have changed his style a little) is that he's very good at it and has become a handyman - a go-to guy if you need a good go-to guy.

 

*Does Cookie from TNA wrestle? If so, does she finish her matches with the Cookie Cutter?

[Statto]

*Does Cookie from TNA wrestle? If so, does she finish her matches with the Cookie Cutter?

 

I don't think she's had a match in some years. I believe even her stint in Wrestlicious was as a manager. However, when Robbie E first debuted and used a Diamond Cutter as his finish for the first few weeks, I was gutted it was never dubbed such.

[Loligan]

That's great to hear SJK has been signed. He really impressed my during his time with 1PW. Really nice guy as well. Hope he gets a shot at the big time.

[Vito]

If WWE has all those wrestlers with decent bodies and a good standard of wrestling, why are they going to be desperate to sign a bloke who looks like Shaggy off Scooby Doo?

If by "good" you mean "boring" then yes the standard of wrestling of those names I mentioned is very, very good. I haven't seen Hero wrestle in many years but he's got to be better than Jinder fucking Mahal.