WWF/WWE/ECW/WCW

This guy is lucky to even be alive after botching this spot. Skip to the 12:30 mark to see what I'm talking about.

You only try that move after you made it to the WWE and have saved up enough money to retire. Very stupid move for an indie wrestler making next to nothing IMHO.

And if I was the ref, I would have stopped the match. I don't give a crap what the finish was in the back, or if the booker doesn't like it. And you don't move a guys legs when there's a chance he's suffered a spinal injury.

Didn't watch the whole match, but the parts I did see these guys have some real talent. I liked the part just before the guy tried to break his own neck. That should have been the ending. The stuff after was stupid and unneeded IMO. I take it the dude ended up being okay?

Wow....it's wonder nothing bad happened there, it was an even more botched-up move than the one Hayabusa did (and he ended up paralyzed and in a wheelchair because of it)

That's the one thing i don't like about Indywrestling (even though i prefer indy leagues of the WWE crap): They always try the most insane stunts and circus moves to wow the crowd and it ends in a disaster too often.

This is a very interesting story about Jake "The Snake" Roberts being helped by DDP for one last run in the wrestling world:

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/263215-ddp-getting-jake-qthe-snakeq-roberts-ready-for-one-more-run

Jake Roberts has a bad habit of making progress but falling back into bad habits. I really hope this works out for him, he was one of the greats. DDP gets a lot of flack as being selfish and overrated. I never agreed with the latter and this makes me highly doubt the former.

My love of Jake Roberts was greatly diminished by Beyond The Mat. I suppose what made him great in wrestling was the same thing that hurt him in the real world. I first saw him in Georgia Championship Wrestling as part of the original LOD. Even then he seemed like he was in his 40s. Can't believe he is only 57.

DDP was involved with one of the last things I really loved in wrestling - his feud with Randy Savage. I also really dug that PPV match with Goldberg. It was cool to see a guy go from a manager in the AWA to a PPV main event at his age. DDP was alright by me.

Read this morning that one of my favorite wrestlers Brad Armstrong died. Another one gone too soon.

Sad news indeed. I am more familiar with his father "Bullet" Bob and brothers James and Scott, but I am not unfamiliar with Brad.

In more uplifting wrestling news, after getting hit by a car, announcer Lillian Garcia is now at home healing and after suffering a heart attack a while back, Jerry Lawler will be back on camera behind the announcer's table in two weeks.

Damn this one hits me hard. Brad Armstrong was one of the first wrestlers I became a fan of when I first started watching (Georgia Championship Wrestling on TBS). If you're not familiar with the Ted Dibiase/Tommy Rich "Mr. R" feud and Brad's part in that - look it up. Armstrong also participated in what I believe to be the greatest match I've ever witnessed live. In a high school gym in 1987 him and Ric Flair had a forty-five minute championship match that was beyond description. No idea why he never became a big star. Simply an awesome talent in the ring. Thanks for the great memories "Bad" Brad and hope you're somewhere "T-C-O-B". Just that catch phrase should've made him. RIP

Brad was a good wrestler and really great in a tag-team especially with his brother Bob (CWF, NWA territories) and later a pretty good single wrestler

A memorable thing was Freebirds vs. Young Pistols, were Brad switched between a Freebirds Member (with a Mask and the name "Fantasia" and later "Badstreet") and a Young Pistols member without the mask. He played it botch during the Tag match at SuperBrawl 1

It's a shame that once Eric Bischoff took over, Brad Armstrong was lost in the shuffl and never got another chance, he was released in 1995. Then reemerged in WCW later, as member of the crappy No Limit Soldiers and then as "Buzzkill" another stupid idea of Vince Russo, it was basically a rip-off of Road Dogg (Brian Armstong, his brother).
Brad was one of the better Armstongs, yet never got beyond "Midcard"status for some reason. It's a shame.

It's another hit to the wrestling world after a few cancer news (Hector Garza, Bob Ryder) and the suicide of Mike Graham (who you either like or hate, he never come close to his father as a booker and after watching several shootvideos from wrestler, i had a very bad impression that was fuelled by the guest booker dvd from kayfabe memories where he books the CWF/Crockett Merge in a very bad way, basically saying that all the JCP/NWA Wrestler sucked)

I've been going through the motions watching WWE these days. I'm niether excited or pissed off about much (I'm come to accept Punk as a whiny heel-but I still don't like that he can't win matches cleanly anymore) but now there is something that is starting to really piss me off. Daniel Bryan is one of the most over guys they have. He is even better in the ring than Punk, he has the crowd eating out of his hand as a heel with his character, and his comedy act with Kane has provided some of the most interesting segments on TV (of course with everyting else on camera, that is pretty easy to do).

However, they continue to have him lose. He is the weak point in the team and he was one of the first eliminated in their Survivor Series match. Toinght they had him loose to Rey Mysterio. Now I like Mysterio, but let's face it. His glory days are long gone. He only has a few years left in his career (and let's face it, he's almost as stale as Cena). He does NOT need that win. DB does need it and he deserves it, but that's WWE for you.

Punk, Ziggler, and DB are some of the most over characters in the company, but WWE makes them look weak in their matches. You don't see any of them win without cheating or interference. It's frustrating and continues to show the incompetence of WWE.

Well, I read some stuff that makes me think things will not improve much:

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/264473-report-backstage-news-on-why-cm-punk-has-kept-wwe-championship

Punk is only getting a big push because McMahon wants to placate to The Rock who is more of a part-timer than even Undertaker (who only performs once a year). Not because of his talent or how over he was with the fans. Without The Rock in the picture, Cena (again-getting him closer to surpass Flair's record) or Ryback would be our champion right now .

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/264471-wwe-officials-have-high-hopes-for-new-character

High hopes for a ballroom dancer character?! A stupid gimmick didn't work ultimatly with a dancing Brodus Clay (who is now as dominant as Lord Tensai-actually Prince Albert gets more TV time these days), now this! Another year of this and I may have to give up on wrestling. I keep watching hoping they get out of the slump they've been in like a glutton for punishment. It's like being addicted to a drug, I know that despite who crappy it is I still have to get a fix. However, I'm getting closer to breaking this addiction...I hope.

I thought exactly the same thing when I started seeing the Fandango vignettes. "Yeah, that dancing gimmick went over so well with Brodus Clay". Hopefully it's not literally a dancing gimmick and is simply a metaphor for how "smooth" this new character is.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before in this thread but a few years back my brother who is a writer/producer (Switched At Birth is his current show) was developing a pilot about a summer camp. Long story short during one of the table reads Jason Hervey read one of the parts and he went crazy for the script (needless to say it was all raunchy sex comedy based). Somehow Hervey had connections in wrestling and I guess recommended my brother and his partner to someone in the WWE. Their agent set up a meeting but my brother explained he didn't watch it and quite frankly always hated it. His partner had even more hate for it. Somehow this made them even more perfect candidates for the job in the eyes of the WWE. The more they explained that they were unqualified/unknowledgable/uninterested in writing for wrestling the more desirable the WWE viewed them. It was insane. Made me realize why I gave up on it years ago.

jstate wrote:

I don't know if I've mentioned this before in this thread but a few years back my brother who is a writer/producer (Switched At Birth is his current show) was developing a pilot about a summer camp. Long story short during one of the table reads Jason Hervey read one of the parts and he went crazy for the script (needless to say it was all raunchy sex comedy based). Somehow Hervey had connections in wrestling and I guess recommended my brother and his partner to someone in the WWE. Their agent set up a meeting but my brother explained he didn't watch it and quite frankly always hated it. His partner had even more hate for it. Somehow this made them even more perfect candidates for the job in the eyes of the WWE. The more they explained that they were unqualified/unknowledgable/uninterested in writing for wrestling the more desirable the WWE viewed them. It was insane. Made me realize why I gave up on it years ago.

Yeah, that explains it. I believe Hervey used to have connections to Bischoff and WCW.

This is wacky:

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/264577-roh-star-selling-part-of-his-body-for-christmas

Selling dentures?! Current bid $100?! I haven't found a job in over a month and people who do have jobs buy stuff like this.

Though, I guess that if I had money to burn I'd end up buying useless crap too .

jstate wrote:

I don't know if I've mentioned this before in this thread but a few years back my brother who is a writer/producer (Switched At Birth is his current show) was developing a pilot about a summer camp. Long story short during one of the table reads Jason Hervey read one of the parts and he went crazy for the script (needless to say it was all raunchy sex comedy based). Somehow Hervey had connections in wrestling and I guess recommended my brother and his partner to someone in the WWE. Their agent set up a meeting but my brother explained he didn't watch it and quite frankly always hated it. His partner had even more hate for it. Somehow this made them even more perfect candidates for the job in the eyes of the WWE. The more they explained that they were unqualified/unknowledgable/uninterested in writing for wrestling the more desirable the WWE viewed them. It was insane. Made me realize why I gave up on it years ago.

The McMahons are clearly ashamed that they run a wrestling promotion, which is why they made up that stupid "sports entertainment" term and why they bristle when people ask them about "wrestling". I also can't help thinking that crap like Fandango and the current story of AJ hooking up with Cena are desperate attempts to rope in a female audience, get some of those Twilight dollars coming in. They need to go back to the lessons they learned when they nearly went out of business - quit trying to forcefeed the fans bad ideas and go with what the fans are actually responding to, which means push Punk and Daniel Bryan and ease up on stale acts like Cena and obvious losers like David Otunga (who's rumored to be getting a push in the near future ).

As the saying goes, McMahon doesn't like anyone who knows more about wrestling than him. Which explains his attitudes toward JR and Paul Heyman. If he were to give them some creative control (which will never happen as Stephanie can't stand Paul) and stop hiring writers who know absolutly squat about wrestling things could improve. People cry for the Attitude era but that isn't necessary as that time period had a lot of win but they forget it had it's share of facepalm moments (birth of a hand, Katie Vick, crucifixion of Big Boss Man, HLA, etc.). Wrestling had quality writing long before that era because the writers and bookers KNEW wrestling.

Oddly ,the Attitude era is what initially drew me back to wrestling but as time went on I grew tired of it and stopped watching. I've never gone back to watching wrestling but I still have an interest in the news that comes from it.

Quote :

Wrestling had quality writing long before that era because the writers and bookers KNEW wrestling.

It seems to me that people that write for wrestling should have experience in the wrestling business. Why do you need to go to Hollywood for writers when there are tons of wrestling people who could probably use the job and who might actually be able to come up with good ideas. Baffles me the need to distance themselves from the business they are in.

Once the stuff started getting away from the basic premise of this guy has a beef with this guy or wants that guy's belt, I knew I won't be a fan for long. I even had a problem in the late 80's when McMahon started openly admitting it was "fake" in order to avoid athletic commission taxes and regs. Your job as a wrestling company is to get me to turn over my money because I've suspended my disbelief because of something compelling you've created. Seems like the last many years that notion has gone completely by the wayside. Even stranger is them letting UFC take hold using that formula.

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah, that explains it. I believe Hervey used to have connections to Bischoff and WCW.

Yeah he had. Hervey was back then (around 1992-1993 i think) in a relationship with Missy Hyatt (i guess he likes sluts, he later married some porn star) and got connections. He befriended Bischoff and even became executive producer at WCW from i think 1997 until the end. The "Latino World Order" (the nwo-knock off with Eddie Guerrero and other mexicans) was apparently his idea - at least WWE credits him that on the Eddie Guerrero - Cheating Life, Stealing Death DVD.

DallasBlack wrote:

Wrestling had quality writing long before that era because the writers and bookers KNEW wrestling.

AND they gave the wrestlers freedom. The Bookers back then (or them know, Cornette & Co) basically just booked storylines and the promos were made by the wrestlers. The only thing they got from the Bookers was some points, what they had to say (like "Hype the next PPV match" or something) and the wrestlers improvised it.
Today in WWE the writers write everything the wrestlers have to say, everything is scripted. That's why they all sound like robots. Because with the freedom they had back then, everybody could talk in his style. Be it "Scream like crazy"-Hogan, Legion of Doom, be it "Talk nonsense" like the Warrior or "Talk in a normal manner so everbody understands you but sound absolute threatening and dangerous" like Jake Roberts did.
Today you have wrestlers who can't act plow through memorized lines, no emotion, no personality (Orton is the best example, he just sucks)

The problem is: Most younger wrestlers don't know it better. They end at WWE with no experience and get dragged into this "We writers take care of everything" ox manur.
There are stories of wrestlers in TNA, where they get more freedom, but they complain about it "I don't know what to say", "I don't know how to behave".

They lack the experience form the territories. Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ted DiBiase, Sting...they all became great because for years they travelled from one territory to the next, learned different styles, experienced different crowds and you can tell from their WWF days, they knew how to play the crowd. Todays wrestlers don't have that, either they work a few years in one independent scene (and only a few become great, like CM Punk) or they get thrown into the WWE circus. No experience, nothing, they're like actors depending on a director...with WWE, there's no director. That's the problem. And heels have it even harder because WWE doesn't like Heels, so the bad guys are a bunch of pussies because the WWE is PG-rated and doesn't want to lose it's sponsors if a heel tries to burn a flag or something.

I really enjoy Shimmer for the fact that Heels can be nasty and threatening. Heels talk smurf poo while going to the ring, they attack the crowd, there's trash talking, the destroy the posters the fans made, they go beyond Political Correctness (Portia Perez telling a pregnant Allison Danger that her child will be a failure just like she is and all kinds of nasty stuff)

Another wrestling great is gone as Buddy Roberts of the Freebirds has died at 67. Terry Gordy died several years ago and Michael Hayes is the only one of the original Freebirds left.

Leatherface wrote:

Another wrestling great is gone as Buddy Roberts of the Freebirds has died at 67. Terry Gordy died several years ago and Michael Hayes is the only one of the original Freebirds left.

I recently watched the WWE DVD about WCCW and Roberts and Hayes were interviewed. Roberts didn't say much because he had to talk through a voicebox because he evidently had a bout with throat cancer or something. He didn't look good then and that DVD was made several years ago.

tohostudios wrote:

I recently watched the WWE DVD about WCCW and Roberts and Hayes were interviewed. Roberts didn't say much because he had to talk through a voicebox because he evidently had a bout with throat cancer or something. He didn't look good then and that DVD was made several years ago.

He had throat cancer and underwent surgery. After it he even went on against smoking.
I doubt it was because of just cigarettes, the Freebirds had a very extreme lifestyle in the 80's it becomes apparent once you watch all those YouShoot videos with Cornette, Sullivan and other guys, they have a game called "what's in the bag" and be it the Jack Daniels bottle, the cocaine or just weed, most of them always name the Freebirds. Terry Gordy overdosed on pain pills while he was in japan, he went into a coma. He survivded but hat brain damage and it's obvious in his appearances in ECW in 1993-1994 and in the WWF later as "The Executioner". He died in 2000, just 40 years old, after a heart attack.