Random Thoughts III.

[Project Nim]

Watched Wrestlemania IX yesterday to see if it was as bad as I remembered. Made me feel sorry for the debuting JR, trying to hold it together with Savage must have been difficult. Apart from repeated grunts of “lock and load” and “do the thing” perhaps Macho’s best contribution was “they’re hanging from the rafters, except it’s a coliseum so there are no rafters but coliseums had columns so they’re hanging from the columns”. At that point JR would have been well within his rights to snap back “what the fuck are you babbling on about?”

[Your Fight Site]

17 minutes ago, Project Nim said:

Watched Wrestlemania IX yesterday to see if it was as bad as I remembered. Made me feel sorry for the debuting JR, trying to hold it together with Savage must have been difficult. Apart from repeated grunts of “lock and load” and “do the thing” perhaps Macho’s best contribution was “they’re hanging from the rafters, except it’s a coliseum so there are no rafters but coliseums had columns so they’re hanging from the columns”. At that point JR would have been well within his rights to snap back “what the fuck are you babbling on about?”

I just loaded it up on the Network and clicked to a random point. Landed on Steiners vs. Headshrinkers, and at about 39:36, Samu just launches Scott headfirst over the ropes. How he didn’t die, I’ll have no idea.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Your Fight Site

[Project Nim]

15 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

I just loaded it up on the Network and clicked to a random point. Landed on Steiners vs. Headshrinkers, and at about 39:36, Samu just launches Scott headfirst over the ropes. How he didn’t die, I’ll have no idea.

Shocking that wasn’t it, they also don’t show a replay of the finish as Scott misses the frankensteiner 

[SaitoRyo]

11 hours ago, John Matrix said:

Was hunting for an old photo when I found some pictures from 2008, and a trip to watch TNA tapings at Universal.  Look at that match for a freebie, and for anyone curious, what a fresh faced 27 year old Matrix looked like at the Impact Zone.

EDIT:  Ha, I just noticed Sting's tron.  Good old TNA.

Nice!

I went on a family vacation to Orlando and we took in a TNA taping. 

A lot of the matches were short and a bit sloppy but I got to see a pretty good (if memory serves) Christian and Sting versus Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner tag match. 

[DavidB6937]

26 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Nice!

I went on a family vacation to Orlando and we took in a TNA taping. 

A lot of the matches were short and a bit sloppy but I got to see a pretty good (if memory serves) Christian and Sting versus Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner tag match. 

Pretty much my feelings too. Wasn't ever anything mindblowing in terms of match quality, but the names they had.. mental.

[Your Fight Site]

5 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Pretty much my feelings too. Wasn't ever anything mindblowing in terms of match quality, but the names they had.. mental.

I went to the first Spike TV tapings in September 2005. We were at Universal Studios for the day and it started pissing down, so 16-year-old me managed to convince my family: “Well, there’s wrestling being filmed indoors here.”

AJ Styles was in the opener, Nash returned and the Dudleys Team 3D débuted. Can’t really remember anything from the middle of the show. Think Raven and Abyss may have had a brawling match.

[The Cutting Edge]

I went to a load of TNA/Impact taping from 08-14 I think (when did James Storm do his cult faction?)

Went to Slammiversey 2010 which had a solid Kaz vs Angle opener, Rvd vs Sting in the main can't remember rest of the card.

Got to see a who's who or talent Hogan, Nash, Angle, Sting, Steiner plus guys you'd expect from that era, probably saw more of Jeff Hardy that any other wrestler

Crazy to think that was all free, its a whole other "what if" discussion that they should've done to capitalize on what they had.

[2Xtreme_lives]

20 hours ago, Your Fight Site said:

I went to the first Spike TV tapings in September 2005. We were at Universal Studios for the day and it started pissing down, so 16-year-old me managed to convince my family: “Well, there’s wrestling being filmed indoors here.”

AJ Styles was in the opener, Nash returned and the Dudleys Team 3D débuted. Can’t really remember anything from the middle of the show. Think Raven and Abyss may have had a brawling match.

I was at the same tapings, exactly the same we had been at Universal for the day and it was about to start raining so we were going to get off somewhere for dinner. Jimmy Hart was signing flyers near the gates and my parents with my convincing went for an hour and a half before my brother got bored. I had always wanted to see Jeff Hardy live. The first match they taped was the X Division rematch from Bound For Glory. 

I would have been 15 at this point, my final half term...

[dopper]

I went to the Hardcore Justice 2012 ppv at Universal Orlando on my honeymoon and the go-home iMPACT! taping that preceded it.

 

The highlight of those shows was the 4 way ladder match between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, & Christopher Daniels.

Bobby Roode & Austin Aries had the unenviable task of following that match as they wrestled for the World Title in the PPV main event.

 

The Claire Lynch saga was still underway, so I was expecting some silliness on the iMPACT! taping. But instead she just sat at ringside staring while Styles faced Kurt Angle in a good match. 

[Pinc]

Was listening to the Arn Anderson podcast on Royal Rumble 2015 (the one Roman won prompting much booing and network cancellation) and it had never really occurred to me before that if Bryan had won that Rumble he'd have gone on to challenge Lesnar at Mania 31, which would've been incredible. Brock at the absolute peak of his monster heel powers following the wins over Taker and Cena in the year prior, Bryan as effectively the best underdog babyface of all time. In hindsight it seems like a match made in heaven, though I don't really remember it being talked up as such at the time.

It makes me sad to think we didn't get that. Their match some years later was fantastic with no story behind it, and with both of them playing heels. In their 2015 personae It could have been one of the best Mania main events ever.

I know they were concerned that Bryan wasn't worth the investment as his head was liable to fall off in a strong wind but given they instead spent that capital on turning Roman Reigns into a universally reviled laughing stock, it seems such a shame they didn't just play the hand they were dealt and position their de facto top Blue Eye opposite Brock.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Pinc

[DavidB6937]

Do we think Roman can ever be the star they want him to be? Or have they fucked him up so much over the years that he'll never get any further than he has?

[The Cutting Edge]

6 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Do we think Roman can ever be the star they want him to be? Or have they fucked him up so much over the years that he'll never get any further than he has?

Hopefully when he returns wwe will stop wasting him (over used term but I feel this is true) on non world title feuds, pull the trigger and put a world championship on him and have him beat everyone (Bob Holly style) 

For someone "overpushed" and "shoved down fans throats" he's never been a long dominant champion.

I feel he's been really missed on the shows past few months, wwe should give up trying to get fans behind him and just run with him instead of losses to Corbin etc

[Pinc]

27 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Do we think Roman can ever be the star they want him to be? Or have they fucked him up so much over the years that he'll never get any further than he has?

Na he's damaged goods as a top baby. And they don't deserve him catch on as top guy at this point anyway, given how they've sustainedly spited the audience with his push over more than half a decade at this point. Still chance for him to be a monster dickhead heel mind, but really they've missed the boat on that too. Would've had nuclear heat if they'd pulled the trigger at the right moment.

Its time to move on from Roman surely. Imagine if they were still trying to get Diesel over in the same gimmick he was in when he won the title in '95 in summer 2000. You'd have had to sideline Austin, Rock, Triple H, Foley and all the other guys who caught fire in the intervening years. That's the equivalent of still trying to get Roman over the line in 2020.

[Liam O'Rourke]

He got cancer, returned a hero, and they still managed to take the wind out his sales and get him booed. Its not happening.

[cobra_gordo]

49 minutes ago, Pinc said:

Still chance for him to be a monster dickhead heel mind, but really they've missed the boat on that too. Would've had nuclear heat if they'd pulled the trigger at the right moment.

"This my yard now". That was the opportunity, infront of the perfect crowd and with the perfect catchphrase. Lose the Shield gear, wrestle in trunks, align him with heel Usos and you could have had a Triple H in 2000 level douchebag heel at the top of the card.

Edited July 8, 2020 by cobra_gordo