July 23, 2013

Reboot?

Extended reading: http://chikaralives.wordpress.com/

and, just for fun...

By the way guys, WWE is shooting two weeks of TV this week, so watch out for spoilers for a while!  Unless, of course, you don't care about spoilers.  Which is like half of you.

July 17, 2013

Mat Classics: BB V RR

In conversation the other day, it came up that Rusty had never seen a Bruiser Brody match.  By coincidence, it is the 25th anniversary of his untimely death.  I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on Brody, I've only seen about a dozen of his matches myself.  There is one match of his, however, that I've watched over and over.  It's an unusual match in that Brody's the babyface, I guess because the crowd wanted Rick Rude to get his ass kicked so bad.  Brody did have a long-time reputation for being stiff in the ring, but considering how much time he spent in the south and in Japan, that should come as no surprise.  Along with his notorious toughness and roughness, Brody may be best remembered as one of the great "monsters" of wrestling.  Of course, we're used to seeing 6'8", 300 pound dudes like it's no big deal, but what makes Bruiser Brody special is the aura around him.  He's got an incredible presence, which to me almost seems to bust out of the screen, making him one of my favorite wrestlers to watch.



This match was filmed May 4th, 1986, from the WCCW event Parade of Champions 3. Part of why I like the match so much is the way it looks and sounds, with the natural light, bright colors and washed-out colors, old-school sports announcing, and a freakin' awesome behemoth wild man puttin' the hurt onto the Ravenous One, who deserves his own post someday. The title he's defending in this match is the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was basically the NWA's top belt for Texas, except that WCCW had cut ties with the NWA and rebranded the belt in their own image. In it's previous incarnation, it was known as the NWA American Heavyweight Championship (defended exclusively in Texas,) a title which Brody held 4 times between 1977 and 1979.

What's that you say?  No, I didn't use Wikipedia to write this!  I know this stuff COLD.  Well, I might have done a little fact checking...

By the way Poncho, I tagged all your major posts with "Poncho Madness" so that we can search through some of the content on the site more easily (see bottom of sidebar.)  If you want to use a different tag (it could be anything) I'd be happy to relabel the posts, no problem.  You guys have always been real nice about letting me do whatever with the content of the site, but feel free to let me know if you have other ideas or suggestions for improvements. 

July 13, 2013

RR 7/13/2013

3 POSTS IN ONE DAY!!!!!!!!! BOOYAKA!!!


Poncho Man's Money In The Bank Preview.

Two posts in one day?!?! WTF!? Gotta love it...I'll post a response to that in a bit. BUT FIRST

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls of all ages. Let me proudly present to you....The Monthly PPV Preview show....

Always one of the better PPVs of the year is Money In The Bank. We basically watch waiting for a star to be born, and then we get confused by Jack Swagger and John Cena winning. Knowing us though...we just want CM Punk to win every one of these things. We want him to win even if he's not in the match. Anyway...away we go....

The Shield vs The Usos for the Tag Titles in the Preshow
Wow. I think I care about this. What happened to The Miz? Why is he magically not on the preshow. I miss him. I hope this isn't the blow off and it's actually the beginning of a longer feud. That's probably wishful thinking. Face paint is menacing. I don't know what to really say about this. I'll watch it tomorrow.

Y2J vs Ryback
Really the best part of this is that Jericho is kinda doing a mix of old school Gene Mean, Stinko Malenko, etc Jericho and the newer short haired serious Jericho. This has been oddly booked, it seems like Jericho should win, and Ryback is in desperate need of a win. I'm confused. This makes me miss the Fandango feud.

AJ Lee vs Kaitlyn for the Divas Title.
I miss Mickie James. Layla turn? I don't know. I'm so confused. AJ is evil, but her friend and boyfriend are likeable. I don't know.

The Miz vs Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Title
Somebody give Curtis Axel some steroids for his pecs. It's really bugging me. Did I mention that The Miz sucks? I can't remember. It will be perfect when he loses.

Heavyweight Title Money In The Bank Match
I'm interested in this. I think the best friends might have some drama in their future. I will be happy with Cody or Cesaro winning. I doubt either of those will happen. As I said recently, I think those two are heads and shoulders above most of the guys on the roster in always having good matches with who ever, AND always being entertaining no matter what garbage they are given. I really don't know who will win though. Ambrose seems poised....but he has a title. Swagger is probably being punished back stage (Claudio and Dutch probably sit together and giggle at how milquetoast Swagger is). Sandow has been pushed lately, and he's great, but his character isn't really built to be a World Champion. Does this leave us Barrett? I really don't know, I think what I'm saying is that nobody has been  built up via storyline to seem like a frontrunner. Maybe that's why I'm so interested.

Money In the Bank All Stars
The Best Thing Going Today. I remember when Shawn Michaels was making his rise. It took quite awhile, but it was obvious for about 2 years that he was the best guy on the roster. Always entertaining, always able to make himself seem like a more credible champion than his huge friend Diesel, and always on. We keep hearing about how Ziggler is the heir apparent to the Heartbreak Kid...but I would argue that it's actually Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan is so good that he could be the one that turns Cena heel. I will be shocked if he doesn't win.

Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler for the Heavyweight Title
Speaking of Ziggler....I guess the concussion caused him to turn into a good guy. That's weird.

John Cena vs Mark Henry for the WWE Championship
Most entertaining build for a John Cena vs a monster match I've ever seen. What did we get....one stock awful Cena promo? It was totally carried by Mark Henry. He done good. Took him long enough.

Well...those are my thoughts about the PPV. Oh...one last thought....TNA is poorly booked garbage. No matter how good/bad/mediocre/excellent/etc RVD is now that he's 42...there was no way for him to succeed there. There was no narrative for him. He was just another WWE guy coming in. In WWE he's an ECW guy that lost his home, a complete underdog to giants. I'm excited. Maybe it's because I grew up watching him and loving his bad promos and Fonzy and his Jerry Lawler feud. He may not be the same as he used to be, but jeez....he's a great choice to help build some new talent (hence my Ambrose thought) because of the history he'll have surrounding him (Heyman, Cena, Lawler, etc). That's my piece.

Okay....goodnight gracie. Enjoy the show!

You Think It's that Easy? I Got a Lot Left in the Tank!

Some random thoughts on the current state of affairs in the world of professional wrestling, just to keep the ball rolling on our little wrestle-blogging home.  Gotta keep them tumbleweeds clear, cobwebs wiped, and hose off those crusty Jordans.  It's time to shoot!  (cue music)

1:  Vickie Guerrero rules extremely.
For the past three or four years, it's been no secret that Vickie Guerrero was capable of getting more heel heat than anyone else on the entire WWE roster.  How foolish did The Miz or Wade Barrett look when they were cutting bad guy promos, and trying to establish themselves as the new anti-Cena, when Vickie could come out and get twice the reaction in half the time?  She's been a top heel for years, and deserves a ton of credit for her ability to get that reaction.  I don't know anything for sure, of course, but I kind of assume that her write-off from Raw on Monday was to give her some time off, which she'll maybe spend with her daughter who was recently released from developmental, but you've gotta believe that the door to come back would always be open for the "screech queen."

2:  What is going on with TNA?
I don't watch Impact anymore.  Anyone wanna field this?  I do know that the Young Bucks briefly reprised their roles as Generation Me on a TNA PPV recently (although it was taped months ago).  I think Bully Ray is the heel champion, and leader of heel faction Aces & Eights.  I've also heard that the Main Event Mafia has been resurrected (in a babyface kinda format), and that the gaps left by Booker T, Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash have been filled by Magnus and "Rampage" Jackson.  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I think I just remembered why I don't watch Impact anymore.  Did you guys hear how many guys were recently laid off from the roster?  A bunch.  Still there: Hogan, Bischoff, Taz...  On second thought, I don't care "what is going on with TNA."

3:  Chikara..... Dead?
There are two stories going around.  ONE: it's all an elaborate work.  Chikara has temporarily shut down and is losing money just to make us all speculate and mark out about how awesome they are for doing this.  There will still be a show/gathering in Easton, PA on July 20th, since Icarus posted about how he plans to be there on the official forum.  TWO: it's all an elaborate illustration of the basic reality that Chikara is in fact history.  Mike Quackenbush lost the company as a part of a divorce settlement, and shut it down to maintain his pride, and the integrity of Chikara.  Only time will tell if Chikara is truly gone or not.  In either case, it easily had the 2nd best 11-year run in modern Independent wrestling, second only to ROH.  It's a real comfort to know that (from what I understand) the Chikara School of Wrestling continues to be fully operational.  If Chikara is gone, I'll really miss the stories and booking, but it would be a much greater loss if their school were no longer operational, considering how many great talents they've populated the Indy scene with.

4:  Podcasts.
I listen to two pro-wrestling podcasts.  The Art of Wrestling by Colt Cabana has been a standby for years and I know you guys know about it.  It's awesome.  Somewhat recently though, I've added another to my list, and that's the Steve Austin Show.  I want to especially recommend the latest episode, in which he interviews himself, because he basically uses the format to expound on the psychological aspects of putting together a match from the heel and babyface perspectives.  A really well spoken discourse coming from (arguably) the most successful wrestler EVER.  I'd also recommend the Bret Hart, Terry Funk, and Lance Storm episodes.

69:  Daniel Bryan, American Dragonson.
As the Rocksmeister Heavy Salvage stated last week, Daniel Bryan is the best thing going right now.  It's so true that it basically goes without saying, but there it is, I agree.  At the end of Raw, do we think that he turned heel, or do we think that he was just setting up a little tension for the all-babyface ladder match?  There've been heel turn rumors for DBD for a while now, but it's hard to believe that he'd really be booked that way, considering how starved WWE is for strong good guys right now.  Anything is possible however, and a brief heel run could actually set Bryan up for an even better face character.

187: Hoopla Hobbies
I was pretty sore at ROH in general when their World Champion Jay Briscoe made violently hateful homophobic comments on his twitter a few months ago.  Honestly, it took a few weeks before I could watch their show again, and when he was on screen, it made me sick to look at him, even though he'd been one of my favorites beforehand.  Now, I wouldn't wish bodily harm on anybody, but I can't say I feel any bad feelings about Jay's recent injuries.  I even have to admit that his being stripped of the title feels pretty damn justified.  Now I'm doubly ready to jump back into ROH whole-heartedly, especially due to the impending single-elimination tournament to crown the next ROH Champion!  Yeah!

420:  Arr Vee Dee!  Arr Vee Dee!
After watching him for a few years on TNA, I thought his only matches worth a damn were the ones he was booked favorably in.  I'm honestly not expecting much from his WWE return, but I'm still trying to keep an open mind.  He's still in great shape and is obviously a tough SOB.  Still loving Poncho Sandy Vag's idea for the Ambrose feud, even though I'd only give it about a 50/50 chance of yielding any worth-a-shit matches.
 
903.9:  Baby, I'm Comin' Home.
OK Ponch, you're not sold on his matches, but I'm hoping you're at least more open now to the idea of a credible Mark Henry than you used to be. When working against faces like Bryan and Punk, the matches were nothing short of classic.  We'll see what the feud with Cena brings us.  Best case scenario in my opinion would be for Henry to give Cena the Disneyworld Splash, DBD to win the Raw briefcase, resulting in a reboot of their 2011 WHWC feud.  Those were good times.  Worst case scenario: what we all would have imagined a Cena/Henry feud to be like in 2010.

2013:  Eater of Worlds
It was just a few minutes out of a (hopefully) very long career, so I'm not gonna get too bent out of shape.  Truth be told, I was disappointed by the way the Wyatt family debuted on Monday, and I'll tell you why.  I will never forget my first introduction to the Bray Wyatt character.  I haven't gone back to listen to it, but I know on some episode of the MMS I talked about the FCW debut of the character.  It was a pretaped promo, with Eli Cottonwood in the background, and Wyatt talking about how he'd committed patricide via houseboat arson.  When he debuted live, he came out with a mic and cut an absolutely wicked promo before decimating his opponent with a bevy of heavy moves capped off with Sister Abigail.  That was (and is) his strength-- creepy, intimidating promos, and signature power moves.  When neither were featured in his Raw debut, I was disappointed.  I'm not going to gripe about it though, since I'm guessing he'll have a chance to talk and cut a real promo very soon.

I will make one passing gripe, though.  Who blows out an electric lantern?  That's silly.

Over 9,000:  Stealing the Show, your Girlfriend, and your Suspension of Disbelief.
I just hope he can stay over as a babyface.  I don't expect Del Rio to provide any more heel heat for him ( the double turn match was crazy good, but Del Rio's right back to his old character, just as stale as it was when he left it.) I figure if Ziggler can just keep his mouth shut and work he should be fine for a while.  Does that sound pessimistic?  Whatever, I know I'm just a mark.

July 07, 2013

Tumbleweeds.

Quiet around here. Almost like we all quit watching wrestling. I actually have been watching tons of wrestling, but I haven't been good about keeping notes about all the indie stuff I've been watching. Lots of ROH, some other random stuff, and I've been catching up with Evolve. When I get around to it...I'll post some Evolve thoughts in the forums. I guess I've mostly been lazy.

I had a new roommate move in a few weeks ago. He's actually a co-worker, BUT he has shown mild interest in watching some wrasslin'. So far he's high on Mick Foley and seems to be more interested in WWE than anything else (replace Mick Foley with CM Punk and it sounds like somebody around here). He's going to watch the Ric Flair Documentary on one of his box sets soon. We'll move on to Foley's and some others soon....I feel those documentaries are really good and helpful for people who have no history, and are just getting into stuff. Let me know what you guys think about "must see" stuff. We watched Taker vs Foley Hell In The Cell, Punk vs Cena Money in the Bank, and Funk vs Sabu Barbed Wire Match. Punk vs Cena was the one I could tell was hardest for him to get through.

I totally forgot to comment on the Marshall's last post, but I do agree that WWE did seem revitalized with having Punk back. I'm quite enjoying his "tweener" storyline. I honestly think his character is built to be a Attitude Era style tweener. I'm enjoying a lot of stuff. Mark Henry. Jeez. Not sold on his matches...but jeez.

Cesaro is involved in the best/worst story ever. Lately I'm just in love with the in ring work of Cesaro and Cody Rhodes. I haven't seen a bad match from either of these guys in quite awhile. Then they wrestled each other on Main Event. That was nice.

Ambrose hasn't seemed to have a really great match yet. I'm worried that he forgot how to wrestle singles.

Are THEY here yet? Go watch the Queens Of The Stone Age "Someone's In The Wolf" video.

Miz Sucks.

Am I the only person in the world that thinks the Prime Time Players are money?

Did I call it or what? Mr. Monday Night! I actually hadn't read anything about him officially coming back or even being in talks when I made that comment about him coming back at the last ppv. I guess I'd just been reading that his TNA contract was up, and that he was working indies (which he never does). I watched him wrestle Tommy Dreamer and they had a fun "last match." I think it's just time. I guess he's going to have a Chris Jericho like schedule, and hopefully he can help put some guys over. If they can come up with a good storyline I think he and Ambrose could have a great "violent" feud.

The Christian return has really worked for me. He's a pro. His presence and demeanor are very similar to Jericho's...and it's obvious Vince loves this. The kinda stilted "safe" work attitude. I don't know how to verbalize it...

By the way....Miz sucks...and he also does what I'm trying to describe. Obvious why he's still with the company. Ug.

DBD is just the best thing going right now. More on this next weekend when I do my Money In The Band Preview.

I think Kassius Ohno and Sami Zayn are going to get eaten.

Big E Langston is one of the most loveable heels I've seen in quite awhile. He's taken quite well to this business and hope he continues to bridge the gap between funny and monster....while not becoming Tensai.

I think that's my thoughts for today. Enjoy