The Wrestling Thread

[Lyle Lanley]

Rock is showing up tonight or soon. 

[forameus]

If ever a show summed up a company as a whole, it was that one. Some good matches, some really good performances, but at the same time some really questionable booking decisions, and some oh so WWE shite brings it down

• Becky/Charlotte was great.  Right mix of feeling real without going over the edge, and that bit of scrappiness helps that.  Probably the right booking, can keep Charlotte going down that line she's on now.
• Men's 5 on 5 felt like a proper Survivor Series match.  Multiple stories going through it, the right people highlighted, decent length.  Only perhaps questionable decision is that given it all doesn't really matter, why not give Hardy the win?  He doesn't really need it of course, and he still comes out looking great, but to go all that way and just have him lose, seems like they could have gone the other way.
• Two great first matches, but then it all starts to go a bit off the rails.  Not sure any of the matches after that really stacked up to much
• Constant.  Fucking.  Shilling.  Think it's a new low for them to start shilling something in the first few frames of their intro.  Hell, they brought back Vince himself (along with a cast of jobbers who must have felt dead inside to have to pop for an egg) as an on-screen character purely to sell a movie.  And that goes hand in hand with...
• They just don't really care, do they?  They couldn't be bothered building to something they usually love treating big.  No big nonsensical invasions (they're always fun even though they're stupid) and no real heat outside of the opener and closer.  They seemed more interested in shilling Pizza Hut and Red Notice than they did putting forward the actual wrestling product, and that's pretty damning in an era where AEW are beating the shit out of them in that regard.
• And finally, after pimping out the Rock's name for 3 and a half hours, and then adding in Brock's before the main event, a fairly decent match ends pretty abruptly and we fade to black.  Can only assume they just don't know at this point what direction they're going with Reigns, but given he's one of the only good things about the entire company at the moment, it's a massively flat ending.  

WWE: We Could Do Well, We Will Sometimes, But Do You Have Anything to Sell?

[TheGoon]

 

[FairWeatherFan]

When I saw all this egg talk this morning, I figured it was to do with the Gobbledygooker. 

[forameus]

It still might be.  Apparently everyone on both rosters has been called onto RAW to "get to the bottom of this".  Given their track record, it being the Gobbledygooker can't be particularly long odds.

[TheGoon]

It’s wild how over Jeff Hardy still is. The people still love him, and I think they’re as well giving him another title run. 

[djchapsticks]

 

Fucking ridiculous. 

Who is the big dude whose hand is hovering over golden egg? He's getting future endeavoured in the next round of cuts for sure. Vince momentarily raging at him.

 

Theyve always whored themselves out to be fair and there's nothing wrong with that if done right. At least back in the days when they had to shill stuff and weave it through a show like End of Days and Walker Texas Ranger, folk like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris would show up and throw some hands, pop the crowd and that. This, this is just sad. 

We can't get Rock, can we at least have the egg?

[8MileBU]

Meanwhile on Raw, some chubby puddin’ jumped the barrier and tried to take out Rollins

 

[forameus]

12 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

Theyve always whored themselves out to be fair and there's nothing wrong with that if done right. At least back in the days when they had to shill stuff and weave it through a show like End of Days and Walker Texas Ranger, folk like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris would show up and throw some hands, pop the crowd and that. This, this is just sad. 

We can't get Rock, can we at least have the egg?

I think this one felt particularly egregious though.  A channel I watched asked what was worse, this or the zombies pish they had with Miz/Morrison.  They made a decent point that although it was absolute cringeworthy pish, it was just one single segment in a show.  This one kicked things off in the opening video package.  WWE are great at putting together a video that hypes up a match, but that one was like 75% about shilling a film, and then it continued on from there.  

I don't see an issue with them doing individual segments doing that kind of stuff.  The odd time they might actually make them fun to watch.  But Survivor Series was a step beyond.

3 minutes ago, 8MileBU said:

Meanwhile on Raw, some chubby puddin’ jumped the barrier and tried to take out Rollins

 

I always wonder with this kind of stuff if there's a change in how it's dealt with.  In the old days, I expect they were quietly taken backstage, then the roided up roster would probably get in a few beatings before they were eventually kicked to the curb.  I expect with most now there's little appetite to dole out justice, so is that just meaning the sort of absolute c**t who thinks this is a good idea feels empowered to act it out?  

What I'm really saying is do these guys need a proper scheme booting?  I couldn't possibly say, but also yes.

[Stellaboz]

I honestly don't know why anyone would try to attack any wrestler. Just fucking "look at me" behaviour, f**k off. Deserves a booting.

[8MileBU]

3 minutes ago, forameus said:

I always wonder with this kind of stuff if there's a change in how it's dealt with.  In the old days, I expect they were quietly taken backstage, then the roided up roster would probably get in a few beatings before they were eventually kicked to the curb.  I expect with most now there's little appetite to dole out justice, so is that just meaning the sort of absolute c**t who thinks this is a good idea feels empowered to act it out?  

What I'm really saying is do these guys need a proper scheme booting?  I couldn't possibly say, but also yes.

I’ve seen Austin talk about it after Triple H saved him from a fan attack, and I think maybe heard Hogan(?) say it too but there was always an old unwritten rule amongst the wrestlers that if fans jumped the barrier then they’re fair game. Certainly Triple H didn’t f**k about when the fan went for Austin. Even wee Earl Hebner started getting a few boots in!

I’m just guessing here but I’m not sure the wrestlers would be quite as “hands on” nowadays what with their being camera phones everywhere covering every angle and potentially leaving them open to charges and/or lawsuits.

[FairWeatherFan]

The guy's name is already out there and he's "internet famous". If he got a proper kicking in the back you know he'd turn it into a lawsuit to keep the attention on himself.

[forameus]

6 minutes ago, 8MileBU said:

I’ve seen Austin talk about it after Triple H saved him from a fan attack, and I think maybe heard Hogan(?) say it too but there was always an old unwritten rule amongst the wrestlers that if fans jumped the barrier then they’re fair game. Certainly Triple H didn’t f**k about when the fan went for Austin. Even wee Earl Hebner started getting a few boots in!

I’m just guessing here but I’m not sure the wrestlers would be quite as “hands on” nowadays what with their being camera phones everywhere covering every angle and potentially leaving them open to charges and/or lawsuits.

Yeah, that's my thinking.  I don't think there's probably as much appetite from them either as they're not - for the most part - complete headcases.  I imagine if that case last night had happened in the Attitude Era, it wouldn't have been a couple of referees and security holding the guy while Rollins watched on, it'd be Rollins setting about him before he was dragged off.  Hard to argue that that wouldn't be what the guy deserved either.  What are these c***s thinking?  The weediest, jobber-est person on the roster could kick the shit out of probably anyone in the crowd, and Rollins could likely do it until the guy's a fine mist without breaking a sweat.  

[Mark Connolly]

Marc Jackson fair gets about, eh?

[forameus]

Guy on Reddit who was there seems to point to the guy being a real headcase. 

Quote

I was at Barclays Center tonight, seated in the lower bowl opposite the hard camera. This is what I saw -

Seth is walking back up the ramp, after the match, being followed by the cameras. From out of nowhere, a flash of red and a spear, and Seth goes down.

From my vantage point, I could see a black guy in a black tee shirt with bright red sweatpants. The way the walkway was lit, it looked like part of the show.

Took about 2 seconds for the arena to realize - "Oh f**k, that's a fan!"

A few things then happened very quickly;

First, the referees sprinted over to help get this lunatic off of Seth. Interestingly, the camera guy who trails behind the lead cameraman pulling cable also jumped in to try and help.

The official WWE Security guard at the barricade was too slow to react, and got there a few seconds later. I've seen this guy before not paying attention, and that was the night Bret Hart got speared at the Hall of Fame. Same building, too.

The cameras immediately cut away, and the actual camera men tried to get out of the scrum, but they were still filming (the guy with the steadicam), while producers, agents and security came from both off-stage and backstage.

If you watch the cell phone camera videos, a bunch of suits came from the production area to the left of the stage (when looking at the stage) while others (agents, etc) came from gorilla. For those of you wondering "who's the guy in the entranceway at the end," that was Michael Hayes, fanny pack and hat and all.

A huge scrum of people got this guy up off of Seth and perp-walked him off to the side of the stage very fast. Looked like 8-10 guys walking him off.

We could see the guy was still struggling / fighting with this group as they got offstage.

Moments later, we see a bigger security guard (not WWE) dragging this guy out by the neck, across a few sections on the floor beneath the hard cameras, and then taking him up the stairs through the lower bowl, out of the arena.

The guy sitting next to me got up and sprinted to the other side of the concourse to see what was going on. When he came back, he said (to a bunch of us), "The guy is still fighting out there but the cops got him, he kept saying 'I've got real beef with Kofi,' or something crazy."

Anyway, that's what I saw - the videos on Twitter tell the story far better than I could have, since they were shot from the people right there. I didn't see where he came from, but clearly he came from the right side of the stage, and probably jumped down from the lower bowl; there's always a barricade cutting off the stage area from the seating area, so I don't see how this guy got past it unless he snuck around. He made it very far with nobody catching him whatsoever.

You'd imagine if it's a guy doing it for attention, you'll have him playing up to the crowd once he's eventually taken away.  This guy sounds like he was fighting the whole way, and "had beef with Kofi".  Kofi!  How the f**k does that happen?

And good to know that Michael Hayes was ready to set about him if needed like the good old days.

 

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Mind that guy that went for Bret Hart at the HOF a couple of years ago ended up getting leathered off of Ronda’s man and one of Dash & Dawson/Dax & Cash. Good times.

[Mark Connolly]

7 hours ago, Scotty Tunbridge said:

Mind that guy that went for Bret Hart at the HOF a couple of years ago ended up getting leathered off of Ronda’s man and one of Dash & Dawson/Dax & Cash. Good times.

It was Dash IIRC. He came out of nowhere and just leathered the guy while he was already taking a beating from Travis Brown.

I can't wait to hear Cornette's take on it, not so much about this incident, but because you know he will end up telling multiple stories about stupid fans getting leathered. This Terry Gordy video is one of my favourites. The lad gets smashed, and holds his hands up to admit he fucked it!

 

[Bert Raccoon]

33 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

It was Dash IIRC. He came out of nowhere and just leathered the guy while he was already taking a beating from Travis Brown.

I can't wait to hear Cornette's take on it, not so much about this incident, but because you know he will end up telling multiple stories about stupid fans getting leathered. This Terry Gordy video is one of my favourites. The lad gets smashed, and holds his hands up to admit he fucked it!

 

Nice to see The Big Bossman in there as well 

[TheGoon]

The guy’s story that’s came out is mental. Catfished by a fake Seth Rollins account he sent money to. 

[forameus]

14 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

It was Dash IIRC. He came out of nowhere and just leathered the guy while he was already taking a beating from Travis Brown.

If I remember right, it was a proper snide one as well.  You see him strut into shot, looking around, then he leathers the guy in the side of the head as being taken away, then struts away in the opposite direction.  Textbook.