Topic: Wrestling Thread

Hi,

As the title suggests, may gain traction, may not, but thought I'd create a wrestling thread to shoot the breeze if there's any fans out there?

Just bought my ticket for the WWE UK tour in September ... and that's the bottom line!!

We had a wrestling thread before but it hasn't been posted in for awhile.

That said I am a huge wrestling fan been so since the early 80s due to the likes of Hulk Hogan, Macho man Randy Savage and others. Was a fan of WWE and WCW back in the day and even stuff like the original ECW. I fell out of wrestling a few years ago mainly because how stale WWE became, Vince insisting of pushing certain wrestlers over others and generally the direction WWE had gone.

I came back to wrestling when AEW premiered and what a breath of fresh air that was to the wrestling industry. I still follow WWE but with my schedule I only have time to watch one show and AEW to me is just a better product then WWE right now. Hopefully AEW will come out my way soon so I can see them live, but it's nice to see fans in the stands again regardless.

I know this is going to sound real cliché and possibly a bit narrow minded but I am mainly a fan of the attitude era. I think I first started watching it when I was a kid a little while after the brawl for all happened because one of my earliest memories was Butterbean Vs Bart Gunn in a boxing match!

I remember watching the legendary Mankind/Undertaker Hell in (on top of and off of?!) the Cell match and the tragic Over the Edge PPV. The PPVs back then we're played on free terrestrial TV in the UK back then at like 4am and I'd either stay up to watch or set the VCR to record it!

We used to get some of the PPVs, WWF Heat and WCW Nitro on free TV. Raw, smackdown, wrestlemania and summer slam were reserved for satellite and the box office channels. Of course it's all on paid TV nowadays, could never afford to keep up with it if I even wanted to.

I think I stopped watching it before the Invasion angle in WWF.

Mainly I just watch interviews and clips on YouTube now about the totally bonkers stuff that happened back then and even from before and after the period of time that I watched it. I like the YouShoot clips, Jim Cornette podcasts, HannibalTV interviews etc. They always have goods stories/decent guests on them!

I could probably get into AEW if it was more readily available over here, sounds like it's more like attitude era wrestling especially with all the old faces on it but I don't think I really have the time for it.

I've seen the first two seasons of Dark Side of the Ring, loved that show. But yeah that's about it for me, mainly listen to the Jim Cornette podcast because I love all his stories from the old days!

@ralphdibny Jim Cornette is great. I enjoy his podcasts as well. I usually put them on while doing something else, cleaning or cooking for example. I too love all his stories from the old days and then hearing what he thinks of wrestling now.

@Tasuki ahh glad to see another Cornette fan! I was a bit apprehensive about mentioning him because of his erm, passionate opinion of AEW which is always a laugh to listen to even if I haven't watched the show.

He does take umbrage with the "Saturday morning cartoon" antics of wrestling too which is the stuff I probably liked best when I was a kid because I y'know, watched Saturday morning cartoons at that age too! 😅 His complaining about it actually made me wonder what a cartoon starring like Kane and Undertaker and all the rest might have been like! I guess those scooby doo crossovers is about as close as we will get to that!

It's a bedtime podcast for me actually! I either load up the excerpts into a playlist on YouTube or listen to the full thing just to put me to sleep. He's been pushed aside in favour of the Bill Burr podcast more recently though, can't get enough of his ridiculous advice columns 😂

@ralphdibny Yeah I will say that at times I disagree about what he says about about modern wrestling but I do get a kick out of how he goes on and on and is just so passionate about it. I have even takin to calling Kenny Omega Kenny Olivia lol and his "review" on the barb wire death match that AEW had a few months ago was spot on.

However on another hand alot of his views and ideas on what modern wrestling should do just wouldn't fly now and are definitely from a bygone era.

@Tasuki haha oh yeah that's that Twinkletoes McF(not sure if it's too rude for this website) isn't? I've really got no idea who these people are 😅. It's good to have a laugh about it though. He's a bit like the Gordon Ramsey of wrestling

I know he bags a lot on Vince Russo but I wonder if it was their clashing styles that made the Attitude Era so good. You got Russo's theatrics, Cornette's eye for wrestling, JR's eye for talent, McMahon's general insanity, as well as other people I have failed to mention. They've all gone their separate ways now and the perfect storm has dissipated.

It'll never be the same as it was in the old days though. It's just way too dangerous to do what they were doing for as long as they did it. The death toll is just too great with the pain pill addictions, the general lifestyle and CTE etc. We've lost so many great wrestlers from those days and even further back. It just makes me sad when I see the shoot interviews with like Vader, Animal, and hell, even New Jack.

I always thought New Jack was just a total nutter from all his shoot interviews and no doubt he was. But I had a look at his Instagram after he died and he liked every single comment on his posts. Literally every single comment. It just made me sad that his (admittedly very entertaining) shoot interviews made me feel negativity toward him because he clearly cared a lot about his fans. I probably still wouldn't go for a drink with him though 😂

@ralphdibny Have you seen The Dark Side of the Ring episode of New Jack yet?? If not I suggest checking it out it's very interesting.

Yeah I agree the 90s just had the perfect storm for wrestling fans you had WWF and WCW constantly trying to one up each other and then you had ECW doing their thing. They could do it again I suppose but now each company seems to be doing their own things now. AEW seems to more lean towards older wrestling fans while WWE tends to be more aimed at families. Then again Vince says he's not in the wrestling business he in the entertainment business.

@Tasuki yeah it's freaking insane. The mass transit/Eric kulas incident, the guy who he tazed off the scaffolding and the other guy who he stabbed in the neck. I wouldn't feel safe in a room with him at all. I do wonder if either the Dark Side producers or any of the other shoot interviewers hired security for his interviews. Then again, NJ seems to be mostly fine if he's getting paid/hasn't perceived somebody as having slighted him.

I do love the worked stories in wrestling too, I think that South Park episode where they have no actual wrestling in their show sums it up well. It's so cheese but I love it anyway. The promos and skits were some of the best. I constantly crease up at the skit of Stone Cold defibrillating Vince McMahon, it's just so bonkers. Even that one of Booker T and Stone Cold in the supermarket got passed around WhatsApp at the beginning of the pandemic with the tag line "shocking scenes as shoppers fight over dwindling supplies at the supermarket!" 😂

I loved The Rock and Stone Cold's rivalry, they were both just brilliant on the mic. I used to hate Kurt Angle back in the day but it just goes to show how brilliant he was and watching his stuff back now is just so funny, I really rate him. I think Booker was my favourite on the WCW side of things, admittedly I didn't watch it as much as WWF though. Actually there's a lot more guys that I love now that I think about it. I could really go on all day!

There's a funny YouTube compilation called "Vince McMahon is insane" or something like that which really has the greatest hits of Vince just being a total nutter on camera, it's brilliant!

@ralphdibny Yeah as I said the 90s and even the early 2000's were great to be a wrestling fan. It's sad to see what it has become but it is what it is. As I said at least now we have AEW now.

Duno if peeps have seen that interview from years ago where Undertaker asks Brock Lesnar "wanna do it?" During an interview at a UFC fight that Lesnar had just lost ( I think)

It was weird anyway and properly unexplained for years except for rumours. I just see a newish interview with Taker that explains it all. Still a bit of a weird explanation but I guess it sort of makes sense even if the rumoured reasons are a bit more interesting. Anyway I think you can just search Undertaker explains Brock Lesnar on YouTube or something and find it. The vid is like 29 minutes long but the explanation is about 9 minutes in or something

@ralphdibny Yeah I remember hearing about that. If I remember Takers was referring to a possible WM match with Lesnar which did happen 4 years later and of course ended the streak.

@Tasuki yeah that's it exactly!

There seemed to be lots of rumours like Taker insulting Lesnar's wife or something. I think I only saw the original video last year, probably not long before the Taker clarification video came out 😅. YouTube's algorithm is a funny thing

@ralphdibny I remember seeing that Taker/Lesnar encounter back when it happened and all the wrestling word was abuzzed with Lesnar's return to wrestling at the time. It was exciting to see it when that went down of course but for me I took a well let's see what happens and if they make something of it.

Who is hyped for Dynamite this week? Can't wait for the US IWGP title match also The Elite vs Dark Order will also be amazing.

@Link41x I need to catch up on AEW, I haven't been able to watch it for a few weeks due to my work schedule. Hopefully I will be binge watching it here soon.

@Tasuki You're in for a treat, the past month has been incredible

@Tasuki OMG The biggest rumour right now is that Daniel Bryan has signed will AEW, this had better be true!!

@Link41x I didn't know WWE fired him.

@Tasuki I believe his contract just expired and he didn't resign back in April.