Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2022 A smaller scale one but my man... Mil Muertes! I loved Lucha Underground and Mil Muertes was probably my favourite of the many great characters. An absolute monster of a man who destroyed everyone in his path and had incredible matches every week. They booked him in one of the best unstoppable heel runs I've ever seen building to him winning the title and ruling over Lucha Underground as some kind of mad, evil tyrant. He even had his own throne to look down upon his kingdom: What a man. So anyway, Lucha Underground folded as was inevitable with it's huge budget and minuscule audience. I had high hopes for wherever my favourite monster turned up next. Eventually he ended up in MLW and...well turns out I didn't take into account that Lucha Underground had probably the best production team in wrestling history. Mil Muertes is actually a chubby, short and slow old man who has incredibly average and dull matches. The production job they did on this guy was incredible. Once they took away all the camera tricks, editing, special effects he was absolute shite. Heartbreaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaitoRyo Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 I'm not telling you anything you don't already know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevendaughters Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 I think I've changed my mind on nearly everything in wrestling (from wrong to right, obv) on nearly everything from John Cena to the entire nation of Japan. The biggest swing is probably the Undertaker. From 'the reason I watch wrestling' to 'glad you're gone old dickhead'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Land Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 I suppose from a British perspective. Burchill and Nikita/KatieLea. I never had either one as being WM Main Eventers, but did expect something more than we got. Had the reputation from the British indy scene, did alright in their stints in OVW. Then were just there on the main roster. Burchill basically disappeared after his release and I know Katie Lea had a stint in TNA but it wasn't the most memorable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 I dunno, Winter in TNA was sure memorable to me even if for the completely wrong reasons. The entire spooky lesbian drugging angle was some of the worst Wrestlecrap ever and doesn't get talked about enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted July 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2022 3 hours ago, SaitoRyo said: I'm not telling you anything you don't already know... Did you actually think he was good though? Or did he just do a memorable few vignettes then, whoops, that damn bell had to ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaitoRyo Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 2 minutes ago, air_raid said: Did you actually think he was good though? Or did he just do a memorable few vignettes then, whoops, that damn bell had to ring. I thought he had the potential to be something special based on his look, size and athleticism. He had a certain charisma about him, too. Felt like the Devil's Advocate character was going to be a good stepping-stone to bigger things, but he turned out to be a legit hothead who couldn't navigate the backstage waters and also apparently couldn't cut a live promo to save his life. A big 'what if' for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2022 4 hours ago, BomberPat said: I'm another one that was a super late convert to Samoa Joe; I hated the name, thought it sounded more like a WCW Saturday Night jobber than a main event bad-ass, hated his gear, and saw him as a super-indie guy who didn't work to his size. As time went on, getting closer to him arriving in NXT, I saw a few matches where he was clearly just phoning it in and I figured that he was coasting on reputation in a scene that had largely outgrown him and where he no longer stood out. Sad to say that, outside of a few great matches, it was his NXT/WWE run that finally convinced me he was all he's been sold as. I had a similar thing with AJ Styles, though; saw him as a flippy moves guy with no real psychology or substance to his game and zero charisma. It wasn't really until his NJPW run that I thought he became a better all-rounder.  I was also late to the Joe party, but my main reason was that his rise was during a time when, if you were a wrestling fan looking for alternatives to WWF/E, you invariably came into contact with ROH, and, in particular, fans behaving like they were the gatekeepers of "real wrestling". After a brief flirtation with smarkdom, I eventually came out of it, and I ended up realising that a load of the people these self-professed mavens were raving about were really a bit pony, just spotty shitehawks: Chris Daniels, Low-Ki, Frankie Kazarian, Dan Maff, Homicide, the Briscoes, etc. As a result, I ended up lumping in Samoa Joe with that, and it didn't help when that promoter in the early/mid-2000s published that interview where he said he'd booked Joe against his headliner (a very young Kenny Omega), and Joe had completely jobbed him out, giving him nothing at all, even though the promoter had asked him to simply let Omega look a bit competitive before going over. Joe's response had been "when you book Samoa Joe, that's what you get", which I thought was just a shit attitude at the time. When I finally saw some of his work in TNA, I thought "OK, I see what some of the deal is - he's definitely got something about him". But he still wasn't so amazing that I thought those ROH fans knew what they were talking about. Basically, I'd come to the conclusion that indy fans, especially ROH fans, would just hype up anyone who came up through the indy scene and did lots of moves. I felt the same about CM Punk, until he went to WWE and learned to reign it in a bit. The only one I was completely wrong about was Bryan Danielson, but only because he actually had the breadth of insight to go and train everywhere - I remember seeing his early ROH matches and lumping him in with all the others. Then he went and toured with All Star regularly - I don't think it a coincidence that he suddenly became a tremendous character heel during this time. I also think indy fans have evolved from their early/mid 2000s mindsets - they seem a lot more receptive to character work and stories than they were before, and they've come to not be so blindly accepting of what I now term "videogame wrestling", i.e. spamming big moves from the get-go all the way through. 46 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said: I thought he had the potential to be something special based on his look, size and athleticism. He had a certain charisma about him, too. Felt like the Devil's Advocate character was going to be a good stepping-stone to bigger things, but he turned out to be a legit hothead who couldn't navigate the backstage waters and also apparently couldn't cut a live promo to save his life. A big 'what if' for me. I get the impression that there were quite a few young wCw guys that got this initial positive treatment because McMahon was high on their looks, and decided to give them a chance on that basis, before realising they weren't up to the expectation. O'Haire, Jindrak, Palumbo, and Stasiak are the main ones that come to mind (although the last two did better than expected). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 38 minutes ago, Carbomb said: wCw  Bring back downvotes! Granted they were dull as dishwater, but I definitely think a lot of those guys were hampered as well by needing to conform to WWE's slower, safer style they were going for after the brand split. Maybe that and a "We already have good bodies who do those moves" mentality hamstrung them slightly. Because I distinctly remember all those Natural Born Thriller guys flying about the place when WCW was so deep into its life support that weren't even bothering with the Nitro and Thunder specific ring branding anymore. Jindrak and O'Haire were doing diving bombs all over the shop at that point. Can't imagine that shit made it pass a single dark match once the road agents took a look at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members CleetusVanDamme Posted July 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2022 Joe never really appealed to me early on, either. Had seen clips and obviously he's not going to impress in magazine pictures. It all changed when I watched him against Chris Sabin live. It's freakish seeing a guy that size wrestle at that pace a few feet in front of you. It was a topper, watch it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted July 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2022 46 minutes ago, CleetusVanDamme said: Joe never really appealed to me early on, either. Had seen clips and obviously he's not going to impress in magazine pictures. It all changed when I watched him against Chris Sabin live. It's freakish seeing a guy that size wrestle at that pace a few feet in front of you. It was a topper, watch it! That was fucking awesome, it was. When they announced Joe was coming in, I wondered if they were going to do ROH Joe, but then they did better. They crammed all his shit into a highlight reel match and it was like watching a sprint from Nitro. He did a very similar match with Sonjay Dutt the month after too. X Division Joe was the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members El Mistique Posted July 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2022 On 7/21/2022 at 8:21 PM, BomberPat said: There's a whole thread in just remembering OVW guys talked up in the magazine's; Russ McCullough and Ron Waterman are the future of the business. Â Was it Scott Vick that was there forever and Powerslam put him over every issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_3165 Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 Nakamura in WWE. Honestly thought he would be a megastar, putting on classics every ppv and being a multi time world champion. Been a damp squib really given the beautiful work he did in njpw. He has all but given up, sadly. Cesaro. I Was convinced he'd be world champion and have a nice run on top. Both sad cases really. Also thought Ahmed Johnson was going to be a huge star in WWE circa 1997. I also, as a 12 year old, thought he wwasa great wrestler. Yes, I was very wrong!  Finally JBL. Midcard tag wrestler turned one of the best heels of the 2000s. I didn't "get" it at first but what a great gimmick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Version1.0 Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 I though Ted DiBiase Jr. Was going to be THE next biggest thing in wrestling. There were rumours he was going to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, 25 maybe?  Watching old Legacy matches, they are held together by Cody, who does most of the work. I hated Cody back then because I thought he was bland and boring (some still do 🤣) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Version1.0 Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 20 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said: Jack Evans. Seeing him in TWC promo videos I thought the guy looked amazing. Then you got to see him be more and more botchy and when he showed up in AEW near the start I couldn't believe what I was seeing. You mean this promo video?  It's best thing of his entire career and made by TWC. I hope he was sending this to promoters. I tried to find Jack's matches and then gave up after a boring 6-minute match against Bryan Danielson in RoH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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