Random thoughts thread v2 *NO NEWS ITEMS*

[IANdrewDiceClay]

WWE.com might be the best wrestling site online these days. A day rarely goes by when they aren't posting all kinds of great photos and out of the box articles. They've got a bunch of smart marks running it which is a pain in the arse when they get all agenda ridden. But on the flip side we get all these photos that they no doubt knock one out to like the rest of us. Today they've posted a shitload of pictures from Hogan's WCW debut parade. The gems are limitless when it comes to cool shit they post on WWE.com.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/hulk-hogan-wcw-jump-photos

[Arch Stanton]

Totally agree Ian. For ages I never even bothered to visit WWE.com, but they post a ton of cool stuff these days. Stuff that nobody else but themselves would ever have access to, like all that costume artwork the other day.It really does have a separate identity to the TV shows too. I went on there the other day and a massive picture of fucking NEW JACK was greeting me. Apparently he's one of the best wrestlers to never work for them. You would expect to see John Cena plastered everywhere, but you never know what they're going to get. All the lists they put up are massively subjective, but I quite like that.

[Vamp]

Is it run by Joey Styles?

[hitman89762000]

Is it run by Joey Styles?

Yep.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I decided to check out WWE.com after these glowing reviews, and came across the JBL and Cole Show. The latest instalment talks about wrestlers with successful college careers. Titus O'Neil makes an appearance and talks about his success in college in 1996. I'll be damned- Titus O'Neil is 36! So much for the talk of him being a future big star- I suppose, Batista hit it big at 36, winning the world title, but he had a few years of Evolution under his belt. I can't see poor Pancake Patterson going from "millions of dollars" to world champ any time soon.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I just found out that Dusty Rhodes has a condition called phlebitis, which messes with the circulation in his legs so he cant travel on a plane for more than a couple of hours. And when he does travel his feet swell up like balloons. I always wondered why Dusty never got booked over here to do some indy show when the money was goo in the mid-2000s. He's one of the few names that hasn't worked over here in years isn't he? Cant remember him doing any shows over here anyway.

Edited June 15, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[Statto]

For me, the highlights of the concept sketches gallery are the explanation of where IRS' shit-brown tights & Razor's only-seen-on-the-cover-of-a-sticker-book long purple tights came from.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Statto

[LaGoosh]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrdz66-NeY I miss Monty Brown and The Pounce. The Pounce was a sick move, Langston should have that as his finish instead of that stupid shit move he does these days.

[Statto]

The Pounce was a great move for the 6-sided ring. So many ways to set it up, as evidenced by the first one on that video where he throws Devine to the buckle rather than the ropes.Given that Brown was a linebacker with a Super Bowl ring on his finger, it was a perfect finish.

[fraserbee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrdz66-NeY I miss Monty Brown and The Pounce. The Pounce was a sick move, Langston should have that as his finish instead of that stupid shit move he does these days.

It's not a particularly safe move though - a lot of those guys took out of control bumps into the ropes. As Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett showed in the video too, if you take the bump more safely, the pounce doesn't look nearly as good.

[Vamp]

I still think they should have put the belt on Brown that time he faced Jarrett. Just to give him a go more than anything.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Lance Storm told a story on his shoot interview where he said Elix Skipper asked Goldberg if he could do a springboard backflip and Goldberg would meet him with a spear. And Goldberg said no, for some reason. Didn't realise Skipper got to live out this dream via a pounce by Monty Brown.Oh, and TNA really cocked Monty Brown up. It wasn't like he was much of anything, but he was a home grown talent who people liked. Turning him heel and having Christian lose to him was ridiculous looking back.

As Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett showed in the video too, if you take the bump more safely, the pounce doesn't look nearly as good.

I actually thought Jarrett's bump was quite great. Edited June 15, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[CTXRussomark]

Over the years TNA has had the most frustrating tendency to fuck something up right at the last hurdle dating all the way back to the first Raven/Jarrett match in the weekly PPV era. They lost so much goodwill with the outcome of that match (which IIRC was the most watched full-price weekly PPV they ever did, for what that's worth) that I genuinely believe the crowd never allowed themselves to be drawn in by anything to that degree ever again.As mentioned above they did pretty much the same thing with Monty Brown when his popularity was at its peak and he never recovered. Even someone like Tomko who got over almost accidentally was turned heel and killed off just as it looked he was about to hit the next level. And even though Bobby Roode's subsequent heel turn produced a great character and a great heel run I still believe him winning the belt at Bound For Glory could have been TNA's first "Wrestlemania moment" that could and should have been referred back to years from now in the same way Benoit winning the belt at WM20 was pushed as the beginning of a new era for the company.

[fraserbee]

As Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett showed in the video too, if you take the bump more safely, the pounce doesn't look nearly as good.

I actually thought Jarrett's bump was quite great.

You're right, actually, it's not Jarrett's bump that hurts the move here - he goes down quite hard but in a controlled way. The problem more is that Brown doesn't make nearly the same level of contact as he does with some of the other guys so Jarrett doesn't go careering out of control into the ropes. For me, the pounce was fun because of the impact with which some of the littler guys in particularly took it. Jeff Jarrett did his best to sell it there, but unless he was willing to risk injury (or Brown was willing to risk injuring his boss by sending him flying) it was never going to look as good. Scott Hall didn't even try though.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I remember Raven vs Jarrett was about as well received as the Bobby Roode loss at Bound For Glory. Actually maybe worse, since people knew what to expect from TNA by 2011. Unlike any show in TNA's history, TNA had to actually turn people away from the door for that Raven and Jarrett match. People were desperate to see this. They'd built up a Raven title win to such a degree people had to see it. Raven was still a cult favourite and still looked like a human being and his performances were pretty great around that time. So it made all the sense in the world to put the title on him. If you are a small company trying to grow and you have a guy who is making TNA turn people away because there is no room at in the building, you really should give him the belt. So much has happened since then that that really gets overlooked as far as dumb decision making. That cut TNA's momentum off completely. And as you say it was the most watched weekly pay-per-view they ever did as well. One of the few they profited off. If this version of TNA was booking the CM Punk and John Cena match at Money in the Bank 2011, this would be the ending. Raven pretty much had to win after the way it was built. Instead the show ended with him sitting down looking gutted as Jeremy Borash ran to stop fans pelting the ring.It makes you wonder what they would be like if they had gained a reputation of actually delivering? Its not like they took guys who weren't over and didn't make them into something bigger. TNA have had guys inches away from breaking out and the fans demanding they do something about it. Monty Brown, Samoa Joe, James Storm, Bobby Roode. I'm sure there have been others. TNA has been built on diminishing returns over the last decade. Its why nobody buys their PPVs or attend their live shows or buys their merch. People will watch the TV, but nothing else. In 2006 they had it with Joe and Angle. On about 3 weeks build they drew 60,000 buys for a B show (TNA recently did 13,000 for a main show after cutting the PPVs down). If they'd have kept Joe's streak going and had Angle win the title, they could have done a proper WWE B-level buyrate at Lockdown or something. They had them wrestle 3 times in 2 months and left nothing on the table for the rest of the year.

Edited June 15, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay