Please continue any discussion on wrestling here.

14 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Eddie was unbelievable. And a true gentleman. The 24 hours I got to hang out with him are the highlight of my "career".

Was it mentioned in that documentary that Eddie and Angle nearly got into a shoot?  They were both perfectionists and hot heads.  Always apologized after though. One of the reasons they took the belt off eddie was because he was so intense and took so much pressure upon himself to be the top guy in every regard and they were worried about him

his last match before he died was to be Eddie vs Batista for the title. Different stories have concluded different outcomes but the logical option was Eddie winning the world title. Shame it didn't happen. 

No, it never said it was a shoot. Vickie Guerrero said that they were close friends & really planned out that maatch.

Edited March 26, 20169 yr by iso_55

I don't think it was after the WM match. Might have been a match on SD. I can't recall the details but they got into it backstage. More of a pride boiled over thing. Cooler heads prevailed. 

Eddie was an admitted hot head. He was very passionate. I was sitting near the ring for a show when some jerk at WPG arena poured a beer on him and Eddie hopped the barricade and went after him. Then he apologized after the match! 

Edited March 26, 20169 yr by The Unknown Poster

On 3/26/2016 at 3:29 AM, The Unknown Poster said:

Eddie was an admitted hot head. He was very passionate. I was sitting near the ring for a show when some jerk at WPG arena poured a beer on him and Eddie hopped the barricade and went after him. Then he apologized after the match! 

I totally remember that show.

great kick off to the show with shane and taker (missed the earlier run)

12 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

great kick off to the show with shane and taker (missed the earlier run)

All downhill from there. Shane/Taker was great.  Everything else was lousy. THREE Hunter segments??? Good grief. 

I did just enjoy jericho hitting Ryder with JLB's hat, could have been all over there lol.  but thats not good news,  i was hoping for big things as this is last raw before wm

That andre the giant battle royal looks awful, probably one of the worst gimmick matches running right now. #bringbackkingofthering

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

All downhill from there. Shane/Taker was great.  Everything else was lousy. THREE Hunter segments??? Good grief. 

Stephanie saying that the Shane/Taker match wasn't important just Hunter's WWE Title match? What?

 

 

Oh look, still stuck in the 90's, The Rock will grace us with an appearance. How exciting. Meh.

3 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

Stephanie saying that the Shane/Taker match wasn't important just Hunter's WWE Title match? What?

 

 

It's almost hilarious how insecure they are to the most obvious detriment of the company. She buried every other match. Just a couple of weeks ago she was cowering at the thought of Shane in charge. 

Just awful. Roman is even less over now since this WM build began. If he was being boo'ed like crazy it would be one thing. But the crowd didn't care about him at all tonight.  They might have even blown their chance to turn him.  

Jericho/Styles is interesting. Kevin Owens is always the best match. But they get second rate treatment so Hunter can have three segments. Insane. And Hunter is a terrible promo at the best of times. 

Yeah, hearing Stephanie say that the other matches on the WM card are meaningless was completely stupid. Then again, just about anything Stephanie says or does now is just stupid.

I noticed yesterday more then before anyways, during HHH's promo with steph that he holds the mic right against his face under his bottom lip, I'm not certain but I think i saw Undertaker do something similar in the opening of the show,  roughly around the time he started talking about WM being his yard and HiaC being his house - and he got a little "shakey" in voice and movement with his non mic holding hand.  Is this a common thing to do with the mic to keep your nerves in check? 

And dont get me wrong, if I was suddenly dropped into WWE as booker today, I'd have Hunter go over Roman at WM.

What they really needed to do last night was have a face to face between Hunter & Shane.  Shane was pretty strong last night.  He looked really good (best shape of his life at 46), cut good promos.  Vince's backstage promo was terrible.  Have Hunter show up instead and hold up the WWE Championship and say this is the biggest stakes.  Shane counters that as important as the title is, HIAC is the bigger stakes because when he wins, on Monday Hunter and Steph are out.  Hunter retorts in a snarky way about Shane being the prodigal son yadda yadda but that when he retains the title, there will be nothing Shane can do about it... he who has the belt, has the power.

To me, that would have linked the two matches a bit and put heat on both.  Plus the money encounter is Shane/Hunter and it teases it.    I guarantee no one was listening to Hunter ramble on after about 30 seconds.

2 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

I noticed yesterday more then before anyways, during HHH's promo with steph that he holds the mic right against his face under his bottom lip, I'm not certain but I think i saw Undertaker do something similar in the opening of the show,  roughly around the time he started talking about WM being his yard and HiaC being his house - and he got a little "shakey" in voice and movement with his non mic holding hand.  Is this a common thing to do with the mic to keep your nerves in check? 

Rick Rude always held it right against his chin.  Its probably just experience from two veterans cutting "even" promos to make it easier on the sound guy.  Teaching someone to use a mic is a lost art sometimes...lol  And one of my pet peeves at a show.  Sometimes people hear their own voice and instinctively get quieter or pull the mic away.  Other times, if they get feedback, they pull the mic far away which means the sound person has to increase the volume, meaning more feedback.  Im not expert, just from doing it and I try to explain to people how to speak on a mic and some guys have it, and some guys dont. 

Not sure of any other reason they'd hold the mic in a specific way.  Neither one would have nerves at all, especially last night. 

6 hours ago, iso_55 said:

Yeah, hearing Stephanie say that the other matches on the WM card are meaningless was completely stupid. Then again, just about anything Stephanie says or does now is just stupid.

I recently watched an old shoot interview with Bam Bam Bigelow,  he stated that the McMahons thought process was that everyone is buying a ppv solely for the Main Event and everything else is just considered filler to fill out the show. 

It's probably engrained in her from years of her dad and his mindset.   

 

Just now, Brandon said:

I recently watched an old shoot interview with Bam Bam Bigelow,  he stated that the McMahons thought process was that everyone is buying a ppv solely for the Main Event and everything else is just considered filler to fill out the show. 

It's probably engrained in her from years of her dad and his mindset.   

 

And that's not necessarily wrong.  But the psychology of Hunter as a booker is to build people up.  the psychology of Hunter as a worker is to cut everyone's balls off to his own benefit.  Interestingly, last week they pushed HIAC as the "main event", this week they made a point of saying it's the World Championship.

Bam Bam also suggested that no one at all should be booking and wrestling at the same time.  He gave Kevin Nash as the example back in WCW... it never works because of course the booker is going to put himself over and bury everyone else. 

It's a great 3 hour interview I recommend checking it out...  very honest. 

Just now, Brandon said:

Bam Bam also suggested that no one at all should be booking and wrestling at the same time.  He gave Kevin Nash as the example back in WCW... it never works because of course the booker is going to put himself over and bury everyone else. 

It's a great 3 hour interview I recommend checking it out...  very honest. 

I agree with that 100%.  Its the same at every level of wrestling too.  One only need to watch local wrestling where the booker is a wrestler to see that guy or his buddies in top spots.  Not always, but a lot of the time.  Its human nature.  Sometimes it can actually work the other way where a guy puts himself under out of an abundance of caution in not looking like he's booking himself strong.  Flair did this a lot.  He put everyone over, to his own detriment.

Nash was perhaps the worst booker in the history of "top" wrestling.  But the culture of WCW was not to be professional and work hard.  And he epitomized that. 

Being booker can be a tough job.  Steph's vision was to have 50 "bookers".  And now no one is accountable and everyone is afraid to think outside the box, push new ideas or be critical of bad ones because if you have 50 writers, who's going to miss the one that gets fired for not toeing the line?

WWE is hiring writers right now actually.

9 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

WWE is hiring writers right now actually.

Rumor has it that this is the leading candidate... but I think they may have already hired him.

 

they have writers? i always thought it was throw up match angles onto a board and 

Edited March 29, 20169 yr by Taynted_Fayth

Same interview....  Bigelow said the best characters / story lines are the ones that the wrestlers come up for themselves.    Feels more natural and plays off the strengths of the guys... I definitely have to agree with that.  

18 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Same interview....  Bigelow said the best characters / story lines are the ones that the wrestlers come up for themselves.    Feels more natural and plays off the strengths of the guys... I definitely have to agree with that.  

Very much so.  Used to always be the way it was.  Guys developed their gimmicks in the old territories and moved around, tweaking and perfecting them before making it "national".  WWE got into the habit of thinking they could come up with a gimmick and just assign it to anyone.  And it hardly ever works.  Same thing with promos.  Guys reading scripts sounds awful.  Look at Jericho...he sounds different than everyone else because no one writes his promos.

I'd imagine Lesnar can't cut a promo. I enjoy listening to Heyman on the stick, but I always feel like half the appeal of lesnar is lost by him not speaking for himself,  just standing there in the ring with the occasional smirk and then doing his little warm up hop

No one is better on the stick than Heyman. He's amazing.

JTG (remember him - tag team with Shad in Cryme Tyme) has his second E-book coming out this week.  The first one was pretty entertaining and he has some eye rolling stories.  here are a few:

- His first experience with heat was witnessing Miz get yelled at for wearing sunglasses in doors.

- He was to work with an unnamed wrestler (CM Punk). He wanted to get together to talk about the match but the other wrestler kept blowing him off. they finally talked and the other wrestler said it would be a squash. jtg objected to being squashed. the other wrestler told him its what vince wanted. jtg talked to vince and vince said no, he could get offense in. the other wrestler was not happy jtg went to vince. the match was awkward. jtg didn't sell his opponent's finisher well so his opponent used his other finish, a submission move. jtg kept from tapping so long his opponent was yelling at him to tap and they had to edit the length of the move for tv

- Before their debut, Cryme Tyme worked a non-televised event and JTG is told by Shawn Michaels (he doesn't outright name him, but it's incredibly clear) that his hand gesture is too close to D-X's suck it. After their debut match, HBK confronts him again and tells him. Finally after a house show, Shawn gets in his face and says "Not only did I warn you once, I warned you twice! And the third time, you did it on national TV! You have NO RESPECT for me or this business!!!"

- After the plane ride, JTG is approached by someone who had been in WWE for twenty years at that time and asks JTG to carry an 1/8th of weed for him. JTG doesn't want to, and then two other wrestlers start to pressure him into doing so as well. William Regal shows up and tells the guys to back off. Regal tells JTG, '"I know you were in a tough position. Those guys were not looking out for your best interest. I hate to see young talent such as
yourself being taken advantage of. I couldn't just stand there and say nothing. You'll be out of a job and under the jail, and they'll continue wrestling, acting like nothing ever happened."

- One Monday night, Shad and JTG decide to get their hair braided up again to make it good for television...Shad does it in the hallway where everyone walks through. JTG explains it is a no-no in wrestling for talent (especially new) to not be watching all the other matches as the show is going on. JTG is told by an agent that when it comes to heat, "he and his partner were joined at the hip" They are squashed by Khali in a handicap match that same week on Smackdown as punishment. JTG claims the whole show was re-arranged just so they could punish them.

- One Monday night, Shad and JTG decide to get their hair braided up again to make it good for television...Shad does it in the hallway where everyone walks through. JTG explains it is a no-no in wrestling for talent (especially new) to not be watching all the other matches as the show is going on. JTG is told by an agent that when it comes to heat, "he and his partner were joined at the hip" They are squashed by Khali in a handicap match that same week on Smackdown as punishment. JTG claims the whole show was re-arranged just so they could punish them.

- One night on the road, JTG is at the bar and a girl is making eyes for him. John Cena highly encourages him to go for it, and after JTG goes to bed (said he was too drunk and tired to bother) Cena calls him up and tells him he is sending the girl up toward him and not to disappoint him. Sure enough, it is the girl and they do have sex....and then JTG finds out it was a wrestlers 'personal groupie' (which he says is an oxymoron)

He doesn't drop clues as to who this wrestler was, but it greatly hurt their friendship and WRESTLERS COURT was to be had. JBL was the prosecutor and Undertaker was judge..JTG is instructed to buy beer for everyone or at least something special for JBL and Undertaker. He also has to come up with a defense attorney, and settles on an ECW legend. He says it didn't matter if the wrestler really had any good defense, as long as he was a wrestler in good standing. JTG explains if he loses the case, the punishments are dreadful for a wrestler. He will have to possibly carry the other wrestlers bags for months, or lose locker room privilege for up to a year.  Benoit kills family. Everyone forgets about case. He makes up with wrestler and says he ended up being a good friend.

- The reason Cryme Tyme got fired the first time stems from a prank committed by the Trevor/Cade. Before their match one night on Raw, neither Trevor nor Lance would accept any planned spots. They would shoot them down again, and again. Calling one 'stupid' or said ' that doesn't make sense'. They decide they'll call it in the ring. A spot where JTG makes it to the ring before 10 was planned, and as he was reaching 8, the ref quickly counted to ten and counted out JTG. Now JTG makes it clear this was not the finish, the ref and Trevor/Cade were ******* with him. As they laugh and flee from the ring, Shad decides to hit the ref with his finisher...whatever it was. And then auction the refs belt off to the crowd.

As soon as they pass the curtain, Shad is taken away into an office and chewed out for hitting the ref with the finisher. JTG says that in his meeting, Shad stood up for himself and said that if the other guys had problems with them, they should've handled it in the back and not in front of the audience. One week later on their way to Raw, JTG gets a call from Johnny Ace who asks, 'why didn't you stop and control Shad?' JTG notes to us that Shad is about 6'7"  They meet the next day and are both fired.  When rehired, JTG says their first opponents back were Murdoch/Cane and that it was a special night because not only did they beat them, the crowd chanted 'Welcome Back'

- So JTG talks about being a huge fan of Bret Hart, and says WWE started making him shades called 'Yo-Yo-Yo' shades. They debuted it at a Cyber Sunday and JTG says they were a huge hit, but there still wasn't plans for full production. Nonetheless, months pass and after a meeting with WWE's lead coordinator of merchandise, the shades are a go. So with all that going well for him, JTG does an interview with WWE magazine and is asked how to describe his relationship with Shad. JTG, without thinking, says, 'friendship, bond, loyalty, respect' and quickly corrects himself and tells the writer not to include those last two words. The writer says, "Okay, I understand. I get it. I know how some of you guys can be sensitive about your gimmicks and catchphrases." Of course when the interview is released, both words are still there.  Cena meets him in the bathroom as he's taking a piss,

Quote:

'"Hey, JTG? Is that you in there? I was reading the latest WWE magazine. Interesting article with you and your tag team partner. Nice choice of words." I already knew where he was going with this. I immediately started to plead my case. I told him that a lot of the article was embellished, and that I told the writer not to use those two words, especially not in the same sentence. I finally came out of the stall. He looked me dead in my eyes and said, "You might be telling the truth. The magazine guys are known for putting words in peoples' mouths to make an exciting article. They've done that a few times to me also. But there still has to be consequences and repercussions. This can't go unpunished. You know those cool shades that you have coming out? We're gonna have to put those on hold. That will make us 'Even Steven.'"

 

- Shad indeed greets Stephanie by calling her baby. Steph says, ""What did you just call me? Don't call me baby, Shad. If you talk to the Divas
like that, that's fine. But I'm not one of the Divas, and you can refer to me by my name." Cena walks in right as it happens, shakes his head, and walks away.

 

- WWE hires masseuses for backstage but everyone except top guys are afraid to use them. Johnny Ace finally says they are going to cut the service if people stop using them. One night backstage JTG is approached by one who practically begs him to let her massage him. Sure enough,Triple H comes by and says, "Hey Shawn! You've got to come see this! One of the OVW guys who hasn't even been on the road for a week is getting a massage." JTG leaps off the table, and the masseuse starts laughing, he believes she was in on it to **** with him.

 

- Beats by Dre had been given out free headphones. JTG manages to get one and is caught offguard by a wrestler who says he should've let 'someone who is over' have them. This person then went and told someone that JTG took three. JTG says the guy is rich and he didn't want to confront him because it would make matters worse. It's Orton. And then he said the other top guy who had a headphone draped around his neck was also upset at not getting anymore free stuff. It's Cena.

 

What a wonderful business!