The Wrestling Thread

[Bert Raccoon]

Personally I'm really enjoying the reviews. A good bit of nostalgia and nice to hear someone else's view of the events.

[Dindeleux]

Fantastic write up again, and WM8 was one of my favourites. It might sound really stupid, but as soon as I see the matches being discussed by the commentators at the start and it shows you the wrestlers in those silly wee hexagon graphics they put on screen.......well I just love that and it gives me a warm nostalgic feeling.

For some reason WM8 is looked on by some as being an average Mania, I thought it was great.

Piper vs Hart was set up perfectly by a fantastic interview segment before had. The last 5 minutes of the savage-flair match was probably one of the best played out 5 mins in wrestling I've seen.

The whole Savage, Perfect, Flair (and eventually Warrior) feud was just superb. Perfect and Flair were made or each other.

In terms of the Taker match-I felt it was ok. Monsoon and Heenan sold him kicking out of the DDT brilliantly.

Can only laugh at the 8 man tag match, those guys had a similar match at the following summer slam at Wembley, possibly a 6 man tag, but it shows how quick they did away with Slaughter as the main man after his brilliant heel showing the prior year.

If anyone wants a look at it, I've got the History of WM DVD, the real story of mania and its really good. Happy to post it to anyone who wants to see it, as log as you post it back!!!

[ballymoneyyin]

I cant be bothered with reading back in the thread as to why DomDom posts those old cards so if someone would kindly tell me that would be swell.

No offence intended to DomDom either by the way. Does anyone read it?

This thread and forum is essentially people just posting their opinions on wrestling, whether people want to read them or not. My Mania reviews are just an example of that.

Sorry, I thought it might have been some sort of bigger picture you were doing it for. Requests or something.

[DomDom]

Originally started it for the buildup for Mania. Didn't get through them. Decided just to continue for my own amusement.

It was my understanding that Shango completely missed his cue and was meant to break up the three count but because he wasn't out in time, justice had no option but to kick out. Then the manager got involved to kill some time before Shango eventually turned up

Ah right. I got the kickout bit right at least. Could you imagine someone missing a cue nowadays. Edge cashing in the Money in the Bank would have been fun.

Piper vs Hart was set up perfectly by a fantastic interview segment before had. The last 5 minutes of the savage-flair match was probably one of the best played out 5 mins in wrestling I've seen.

What I loved about the interview was that Piper was clearly doing a psych job and when Hart called him on it, the mask slipped. It showed Piper as a man happy to go that extra mile to get under the skin, and Hart as the machine who just didn't give a shit about all of that. Made the ending even better too. Ended up being Piper not going the extra mile was his undoing.

Randy Savage was the king of Wrestlemania for a while. Cracking matches in most of the ones he appeared in. Two genuine classics in among them.

Can only laugh at the 8 man tag match, those guys had a similar match at the following summer slam at Wembley, possibly a 6 man tag, but it shows how quick they did away with Slaughter as the main man after his brilliant heel showing the prior year.

I think with Slaughter, his role only had a limited shelf life because of the angle and the gimmick. He was getting on a bit as well, so it made sense for them to not use him as well after that run was done.

[YER SISTERS YER MAW]

The Shield have progressed superbly since they've debuted and to be fair to the WWE creative team they see, to have got it right for once by giving them a massive push & taking out top stars inc Taker, Cena, Ryback, Kane, Orton, Big Show,& Seamus. Now it looks like they're after the Tag titles with the way Smackdown ended and you'd imagine they'd achieve that goal of winnig the belts. It would be good if their next target was HHH or Ric Flair. If this happened & they took either out it would the ideal opportunity for them to bring back Evolution, with Orton & HHH and bring back Batista with Ric Flair managing them. That would be an awesome dual if it happened.

Edited May 5, 2013 by YER SISTERS YER MAW

[DA Baracus]

The Shield have progressed superbly since they've debuted and to be fair to the WWE creative team they see, to have got it right for once by giving them a massive push & taking out top stars inc Taker, Cena, Ryback, Kane, Orton, Big Show,& Seamus. Now it looks like they're after the Tag titles with the way Smackdown ended and you'd imagine they'd achieve that goal of winnig the belts. It would be good if their next target was HHH or Ric Flair. If this happened & they took either out it would the ideal opportunity for them to bring back Evolution, with Orton & HHH and bring back Batista with Ric Flair managing them. That would be an awesome dual if it happened.

I can't see that happening at all. Despite what people think and hope, Batista won't be coming to WWE. Why would he? HHH is part time now and Ric Flair was sent home last time he was going to be on Raw due to a blood clot in his leg. He's fucked. Evolution can't and shouldn't be the folk to take on The Shield.

[forehead7]

Giving away the Shield's unbeaten streak to two part timers (one who's already retired once), a returning guy and an already established main eventer would be pish. Nevermind the fact that the two full-timers are Batista and Orton.

Splitting them up while they're still unbeaten is the way to go, gives them a good couple of months of stuff to do (them feuding with each other if it's not an amicable split) as well.

One of them could win MITB and then they're not so equal anymore and it moves on from there.

[DomDom]

WWE Wrestlemania IX

This one goes down in history as one of the very worst Wrestlemanias of all time. It had the cool visual of a cracking venue in Caesars Palace, which managed to be dragged down by all of the Togas.

Shawn Michaels © vs. Tatanka - WWE Intercontinental Championship

Tatanka's chops here would make Steamboat or Flair grimace with how hard they are. In a slight negative, this match sees part of the continued destruction of the DDT. This is one of them matches where there doesn't appear to be much of anything going on, but the match just moves along so well and the pacing is dead on. Which means that the match is very good indeed. The highlight of which being HBK getting the shit chopped right out of him. The Luna/Sherri stuff only really takes away from the match, but this is still well worth your time. ***3/4

The Headshrinkers vs. The Steiner Brothers

The Steiners for a long time were completely incapable of having anything other than an entertaining match. Hopefully this one fits the mould. Spot of the match comes when Scott Steiner is given a Hot Shot OVER the top rope! Quickly followed by a cane to the back. Talk about going from bad to worse. The Headshrinkers bring nothing but bad intentions, and when you mix that with the powerhousing of The Steiners, you get an entertaining tag team match. As a sidenote, The Steiners were doing this sort of thing constantly on Nitro in 1996. Look 'em out. ***1/2

Doink the Clown vs. Crush

The angle with Doink and the lead arm beating Crush was just incredible. By any standards, that is a brutal brutal angle. The problem with an angle like that is that when you have the two guys meet, the wronged babyface needs to be all over Doink with all sorts of fury. Not just handing out the normal wrestling beating. Doink comes across as more aggressive here. The key moment of the match is the second Doink and the madness that follows. This, and Doink's performance, make the match noteworthy, but it doesn't save it. *1/2

Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund

This match came before Ramon lost the match to The 1-2-3 Kid, so you'd have expected a win for Ramon in this one. Nobody suspected that 1) Ramon was about to go into a story where he was a loser and 2) Backlund would go on and win the title at some point. The match is very much Ramon dominated, but not without Backlund making Ramon look very silly. And that is very important, as the ending of the match came from Ramon's cockiness and Backlund making him look silly as a result. It's not a bad match by any means, but too short to be worth anything. **

Money Inc. © vs. Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake - WWE World Tag Team Championships

Hogan comes into the match with a black eye. There's a story that Savage gave him it, but it would appear that the story about the jet ski accident was actually the right one. Whatever, it was timed well seeing as it works well with Ted Dibiase being able to pay someone to do it. Hogan tag matches seem to all feel the same. They feel like big time matches, and work like one too. They're not spectacular. This one is more like an earlier one with the babyfaces really dominating much of the match, and the heel control not lasting very long. Hogan and Beefcake know what they're doing so that works fine. Also lots of nice little moments. Personal favourite is Dibiase dropping down and Hogan jumping over him, just to stop and punch him. Decent wee match here. **3/4

NOTE: Okay. So far, this doesn't seem so bad. I thought I'd need to take breaks, but there's been nothing shit on the card so far.

"The Narcissist" Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect

Remind me not to type the above ever again. Because it will likely be followed by a really shit match. Even Hennig looks like he can't be arsed here. He looks completely different from the Bossman match a couple of years previous where he was like an early 90s Dolph Ziggler. His leg work is the best thing about the match, but you just know that it's going nowhere and sure enough, that's what happened. If I want meaningless bodypart work, I'll watch Puro. And then it eventually builds into "lets exchange moves and not give a f**k" mode. Ugh. Horrible match. DUD

Giant Gonzalez vs. The Undertaker

Do you like choking? If so, this match will be for you. Second match in a row which is short in redeeming factors. This was during a spell where WWE would reel out these big characters to put against The Undertaker. It usually resulted in a shitfest. This match is no different. DUD

Bret "The Hitman" Hart © vs. Yokozuna - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The match does a good job early of putting over the major problems that Bret Hart would have in trying to deal with Yokozuna. And it also does a good job in dealing with that, as Bret Hart uses both his speed and his smarts to try and get any sort of advantage he can in the match. Yokozuna matches are almost always at least entertaining. Probably the best wrestler of that size there has ever been in WWE. Anyways, good match here but it's overshadowed... **3/4

Yokozuna © vs. Hulk Hogan - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Hogan wins and all is right with the world again. N/A

That ending seems to have gotten on the nerves of a lot of people. It's pretty much been confirmed that the ending was Bret Hart's idea. Some people still reel out the "HOGAN'S FAULT WAH WAH WAH!!!" shite though. It is still a crap ending of course and a dampener on the show.

The show is decent though. Doesn't help that they follow two shitfests with that ending, but the main event was all you could have asked for from both men. The first half of the show was VERY good as well. f**k it, I enjoyed this.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

WWE Wrestlemania IX

This one goes down in history as one of the very worst Wrestlemanias of all time. It had the cool visual of a cracking venue in Caesars Palace, which managed to be dragged down by all of the Togas.

Shawn Michaels © vs. Tatanka - WWE Intercontinental Championship

I thoroughly enjoyed Michaels vs Tatanka from this Mania.

[DomDom]

I urge everyone to watch this. Tears of laughter. TEARS!!!

[DomDom]

Oh, and I'll be posting my Wrestlemania X review tomorrow. Anything I post today will be nothing Wrestlemania related. I should say that Owen vs. Bret is absolutely wonderful though.

[LAGer]

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This thread and forum is essentially people just posting their opinions on wrestling, whether people want to read them or not. My Mania reviews are just an example of that.

I've started to read them now too, love reading back old reviews especially when they're of this quality.

Brilliant to refresh your memory about matches you loved or even hated at the time. From the top of my head, loved the Bret Hart - Roddy Piper match - in my mind that's one that really made me realise how good Hart was and Piper done a great job in helping to get him over with the crowd. Hogan's matches with Macho Man & Ultimate Warrior were incredible too, having the crowd invested into a match the way they were with Hogan matches just makes everything seem that much better.

Also, rajah.com have been posting a weekly PPV review on their website for anyone that's interested. They've got a PPV flashbacks archive and they started to fill in the gaps for the ones they missed and are now onto running on chronologically from where they finished last time I think.

[DomDom]

Rajah has always been good for reviews. This latest lot is superb. 411mania.com/wrestling is also brilliant.

[Christophe]

Considering a trip down to visit a Brummie mate at the end of the month to coincide with Jay Lethal, Doug Williams and RJ Brewer in Wolverhampton. Very tempting.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Christophe

[EdgarusQPFC]

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I've started to read them now too, love reading back old reviews especially when they're of this quality.

Brilliant to refresh your memory about matches you loved or even hated at the time. From the top of my head, loved the Bret Hart - Roddy Piper match - in my mind that's one that really made me realise how good Hart was and Piper done a great job in helping to get him over with the crowd. Hogan's matches with Macho Man & Ultimate Warrior were incredible too, having the crowd invested into a match the way they were with Hogan matches just makes everything seem that much better.

Also, rajah.com have been posting a weekly PPV review on their website for anyone that's interested. They've got a PPV flashbacks archive and they started to fill in the gaps for the ones they missed and are now onto running on chronologically from where they finished last time I think.

Agreed, looking forward to him getting to WM 14, cause thats when i started watching again when i was a kid

[Sir Kevin Of Kilsyth]

I just absoloutely raped Silvervision. Under £70 for 15 seperate 3 disc sets. They range from 5.99-8.99 each and every DVD is buy 2 get 1 free. Get in there soon because the websites closing down soon.

[LAGer]

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I just absoloutely raped Silvervision. Under £70 for 15 seperate 3 disc sets. They range from 5.99-8.99 each and every DVD is buy 2 get 1 free. Get in there soon because the websites closing down soon.

Just went on after reading this post and got 12 DVDs for about £50.

A lot of the ones available are PPVs from the last few years which I wasn't interested in. Not a great deal of Attitude era stuff but there's still some good bargains to be had of course.

[Dindeleux]

Oh, and I'll be posting my Wrestlemania X review tomorrow. Anything I post today will be nothing Wrestlemania related. I should say that Owen vs. Bret is absolutely wonderful though.

I found myself watching WM8 last night again thanks to your review (my girlfriend says thanks................ ), if you can remember - was the finish to Tito/HBK a botch? I think HBK was supposed to do a cross body over the ropes but grabbed on as he messed it up.

Gorilla wouldn't even let us see a replay.

Also, during Piper/Hitman match.............Hitman runs up to do a clothesline on Piper but instead puts both hands on the top rope to push it down and Piper rolls over it. Some booing from the crowd.

[Dindeleux]

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Just went on after reading this post and got 12 DVDs for about £50.

A lot of the ones available are PPVs from the last few years which I wasn't interested in. Not a great deal of Attitude era stuff but there's still some good bargains to be had of course.

I did similar a couple of months ago.

[Sir Kevin Of Kilsyth]

I quite like documentary style ones so I managed to pick up those of Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Edge etc as well as DVDs about the ladder and cage matches. I was dissapointed that the CM Punk and NWO ones were on it the day before I got paid and then dissapeared the day after.