Wrestling Entertainment - we know, you don't have to tell us!

[Audax]

I'm sorry for the loss of Paul Bearer. Haven't kept up with wrestling for years. Just my humble opinion, but I think when the Big Federation merged the smaller ones into it, MidSouth, to me, it hurt the spectacle. The MidSouth Wrestling Federation didn't have all of these negatives or as many. Lex Luger was from the MidSouth Wrestling Federation but he got in trouble for possession and I think was investigated over abuse of Macho Man's Miss Elizabeth, who sadly has passed on too.

MIdSouth (Or whatever it was called, American) Wrestling Federation had Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, he was kind of funny and in the music business before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart , he was a manager in wrestling, His musical group was the Gentrys who I think I'd heard of.

[Mike E]

Swagger will (I assume) be getting a suspension for his DUI charge as part of WWE;s wellness policy (brought in after the deaths of Eddie Guererro and Chris Benoit). The tricky thing is that Wayne Keown's (Zeb Colter's) daughter was killed by someone driving under the influence. While I'm not privvy to backstage info, I'm sure that put a strain on their relationship. A shame as it's one of the 'edgier' things WWE have done in recent years.

[DE.]

I'm sorry for the loss of Paul Bearer. Haven't kept up with wrestling for years. Just my humble opinion, but I think when the Big Federation merged the smaller ones into it, MidSouth, to me, it hurt the spectacle. The MidSouth Wrestling Federation didn't have all of these negatives or as many. Lex Luger was from the MidSouth Wrestling Federation but he got in trouble for possession and I think was investigated over abuse of Macho Man's Miss Elizabeth, who sadly has passed on too.

It's a double-edged sword. The disappearance of the territories reduced the ability for talent in the states to perform in front of vastly different crowds and hone their in-ring skills and promo abilities. It led to what we see now as the standard, cookie-cutter WWE wrestler - by and large, pretty boring. Guys like Jericho still managed to get their education abroad in Mexico, Germany and Japan... but the problem is these styles don't translate so well in the US. Jericho struggled to get anywhere in WCW and his early run in the WWE (then WWF) was difficult for him because he wasn't working the style the other talent were used to. If the territories still existed Jericho would have been able to fit in easier.

On the other hand, the dissolution of the territories heralded Wrestlemania, the birth of WCW as a single entity and arguably brought American wrestling to a more global audience. McMahon used the money gained from dissolving the territories to take the WWF and wrestling in general to the global stage in a way that hadn't been done before. Ted Turner followed suit with WCW and this eventually led to the Monday Night Wars from 95-01, when wrestling was as popular and mainstream as it is ever likely to be.

It's hard to argue that the industry isn't stale these days, though. I have little to no interest in the current WWE product and only a passing interest in TNA, who are only a contender to WWE on the basis there is nobody else credible to challenge. In truth TNA is a very distant second and probably always will be. The removal of the territories has undoubtedly contributed to the current state of affairs in regards to the wrestling landscape, but I doubt McMahon much cares.

[Mike E]

Agreed there DE. I'm hoping that HHH can bring more a 'wrestlers' approach to the business again. Maybe even set up a loan system, whereby wrestlers in WWE developmental are sent out for a year to Mexico or Germany or Japan or wherever to at least experience other crowds.

[Audax]

This rings a bell with me, Paul Bearer, wow, didn't notice that was a play of words! Yo! , was known prior as "Percy Pringle" as DarrenMike says and that I remember that some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bearer , real name, William Moody

http://www.percypringle.com/ Percy Pringle website. Check the picture galleries for a lot of wrestling.

Blogged a whole lot, over a thousand entries at least.: http://percysposts.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html I read one blog entry and he says he even got to weighing more than 500 pounds.

Edited March 13, 2013 by Audax

[DE.]

Agreed there DE. I'm hoping that HHH can bring more a 'wrestlers' approach to the business again. Maybe even set up a loan system, whereby wrestlers in WWE developmental are sent out for a year to Mexico or Germany or Japan or wherever to at least experience other crowds.

Triple H definitely seems to have a more old-school approach to the business which one hopes will translate into future generations of wrestlers. It would be great if WWE could strike up a deal with Japan or Mexico, though Japan especially isn't what it used to be. I'd love to see some different styles on WWE programming. One of the best things about WCW was the mix of styles, from the luchadores, to the Japanese wrestlers, the mixed-martial artists and the shooters. You then had the heavyweight grapplers with charisma main eventing. For a few years WCW was a fantastic showcase for various styles of wrestling. Nowadays you have very little in the way of variety.

[Tom]

I have some hope for future viewing with HHH at the helm, NXT for me is the best mainstream wrestling show on TV with some super talented guys from the indies mixed with some greener powerhouse types who are actually entertaining.

Adrian Neville (formally PAC from Newcastle), kassius Ohno (Chris hero) and the likes of Seth Rollins (formerly Tyler black) have all been given time to shine and El Generico should hopefully debut soon

Then you have guys like the Wyatt family which is a fantastic gimmick and a women's division that is given chance to actually wrestle

[DE.]

i haven't watched NXT since its earlier series, which I thought were a joke. The stuff with Low-ki in particular was just horrendous and made a great wrestler look like a total dud. One of the few occasions where TNA actually did a better job than WWE with a wrestler (Ki wrestled as Senshi in TNA and was pretty good). I remember it having a ton of stupid gimmicks and dumb "challenges". Has it changed?

I've seen that they've taken Generico's mask off, so I guess he'll have a totally new name and gimmick. A shame.

[Tom]

It's no longer a competition its like a televised developmental territory

Big E Langston is the champ with Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey (both English) as tag team champs

Matches are usually given time as well

[DE.]

Sounds interesting, I may have to give it another chance.

[Mike E]

Indeed it does sound quite good. Will give it a watch one night. Heard good things about it recently. Whatever happened to Ascension? I know Ricardo Rodriguez is ADR's 'personal announcer', but surely there'd be a way to bring that into WWE? It seemed cooler than the Brood (for the sake of an easy comparison).

[Tom]

Acension was Connor o Brian and Kenneth Cameron, the latter got released after he got arrested. Now Connor o Brian is going by the name the ascension.

Ricardo actually wrestled a match under a mask recently as El local, they don't acknowledge him but it was quite funny seeing a little tubby luchadore.

Really looking forward to PCW in April, not been before

[DE.]

Are you thinking about going to their May event Tom? Some pretty big names there.

[Tom]

I preferred the look of the line up for may

Dibiase

Gargano

Steen

Golddust (meh)

Dreamer (should be good for hardcore match)

Plus there's a 30 man rumble which is always a bonus

We paid for front row seats so if we enjoy this one we'll be back

[DE.]

I just watched a little of TNA's show for the first time in a while, they've just started touring on the road as opposed to staying in the Impact Zone in Orlando. I thought the show was a hit and miss (a bit too much Hulk Hogan and Sting considering it's 2013...) but the actual production values looked fantastic. Worth a watch IMO.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

[Mike E]

Fairly heavy rumour RVD may be coming back to WWE. If used in a jericho-style way (to help the younger guys develop), I'd be up for that.

Love to hear that theme again in WWE.

[Guest Norbert]

There's always someone in the crowd holding up a sign saying 'John 3:16 at these gigs'. I'm guessing that is a lesser known biblical reference that says something like "And thus, the Lord smited the nonbelievers by sending angels to slap them on the back with fold up chairs."

I did laugh when I heard that Dave Gorman turned up with a homemade sign that said "What time is it Steve?" and stood next to whoever held the John 3:16 sign.

[Tom]

John 3:16 is some biblical thing that is often seen at baseball and other American sports (16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.)

Stone Cold Steve Austin referred to this in a 'promo' against the reliogous Jake Roberts but changed it to Austin 3:16 ('talk about John 3:16 but Austin 3:16 says i just whipped your ass) so after that wrestling fans used to have Austin 3:16 signs

[Audax]

I saw a wrestling match where the guy threw dust in the opponents eyes, an old ploy.

[Tom]

Just wanted to mention the amazing work DDP is doing with Scott Hall and Jake Roberts. He took Roberts in and has helped him stay clean and is now trying to get Hall clean but it won't be an easy task. They've just raised $80k via a kick starter thing to get hip replacement surgery for Hall

As an aside DDP yoga is really good, well worth doing

[DE.]

I hope Dallas is able to get Hall clean. if he can get Jake clean then he has a good chance, because I think everybody had written Jake off. This really is Hall's last chance, if he bails on this then I think he'll be dead within a year.

[Tom]

Hall killed a man in the 80's I think his demons are too deeply set and no matter what he'll always go back to the drugs and booze

DDP is good but he can't work miracles he'll sure try though

[Dreyski]

Loved me a bit of old-school ECW.

In other news Bully Ray (aka Bubba Ray Dudley) won the TNA world championship at last week's PPV. Mega heel heat beckons.

[DE.]

Ratings unfortunately don't!

I don't buy Bully as a mainstream promotion's heavyweight champion. It's not because he isn't good enough, he just doesn't have the drawing power to pull people in. I wouldn't be surprised if his reign was a short one.

Just saw this, too. Warning in advance, VERY strong homophobic language, from about 6:15.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wrLF3juVcU

Way, way over the top IMO. Apologies from him and Dixie Carter on Twitter, but Bully should know better than that.

Edited March 19, 2013 by DE.