Pro Wrestling Discussion

[Ayen]

Brought on by the WWE Network thread. I was curious to see how many people here are fans of Pro Wrestling. I know at least a couple of you are, and only two of you are members I invited to the forum.

I was introduced to Pro Wrestling through WWF War Zone that my brother played, but didn't watch any actual footage until the fall of 98 on a Saturday afternoon when they were playing WCW Worldwide and WWF Shotgun back to back. Didn't start watching full time until January of 99 and been a fan ever since. We didn't have cable (still don't) so the only time I got to watch was the recap shows until WWE put on a show Thursday night on UPN and I finally had a full 2 hour show I could watch every week. And with my favorite color being blue that quickly became my favorite wrestling program on TV.

The first wrestlers to become my favorite, though I admit with some of them it had more to do with personality and gimmick than wrestling ability, were The Undertaker, Kane, Austin, Rock, Mankind, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Sting. Since then that list has expanded to include more names than I can possibly count. I enjoyed WWE, WCW, ECW, some old NWA stuff and TNA back when it was still good. Thanks to Botchmun I also got to see some pretty awesome Japanese matches.

Discuss.

[Del Murder]

I was really into the WWF back in the late 80s/early 90s. I loved Macho Man, Bret Hart, and was a total Hulkamaniac. I still remember those epic battles for the Intercontinental title between Mr. Perfect/Bret Hart/British Bulldog. Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Survivor Series, the oft overlooked Tuesday in Texas (This Tuesday, in Texas...), I watched them all. I then grew up a bit and lost interest. It was a down point for the industry in general (Psycho Sid anyone?).

I got back into it in the late 90s due to the Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars. Man, that was a golden age of television. I was glued to Raw, Nitro, and Smackdown every single night. I would watch the first hour of Nitro and tape the rest, then switch over to Raw. I'd read Mr. Tito's Phat Daily Column which had a lot of the behind the scenes news and opinions. My favorites were The Rock, Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Goldberg (only during The Streak), Mankind, Kurt Angle, Ken Shamrock, and Shawn Michales after he came back. The competition between WCW and WWF was insane. I had the games too. WWF Attitude (sucked), WCW Revenge (awesome), and WWF No Mercy (best wrestling game ever, it's Revenge with a better cast). I loved The Corporation ('...and The Rock, damn sure plans, on laying the smackdown, on your candy ass, with the most electrifying move, in sports entertainment today...the corporate elbow!') and also when DX made fun of The Nation. Loved that one Raw where Undertaker and Kane would randomly come in during matches and chokeslam everybody. Glorious times.

Then WCW made stupid management decisions and went under and WWF bought them. At first it was awesome as expected and resulted in a lot of dream matches, but eventually the lack of a fierce competitor allowed WWF to relax and not push the envelope as much as they used to. The current superstars aren't as good as Austin, Rock, Mankind, etc. in their heyday, and Raw became a lot less unpredictable (titles could change hands at any moment back in the MNW). Sometimes I flip to it for a few minutes to see what's going on, but it's not enough to hold my interest.

[Ayen]

Not a bad way to go considering WCW had a better undercard while WWF had better Main Events that didn't always end in double DQs or no contests because everyone kept abusing their creative control clauses because nobody wanted to job to anyone else.

99 was a depressing year for WCW.

[NeoCracker]

I loved Mick Foley in all his versions. Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love and a few times just as Mick Foley.

I also loved reading his books. One of my favorite bits was him describing The Peoples Elbow. "The Peoples Elbow may be the single most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in any form of entertainment. And the people love it." XD

But yeah, favorites go to The Rock, Mankind, and Jericho.

[Bubba]

I was big into WWF in the late 80's/early 90's. I obviously favoured the British Bulldog with him being a local boy. My highlight was attending Summerslam 92' at Wembley Arena in London.

Legion of Doom driving to the ring on Harley Davidsons, Shaun Michaels v Rick Martel, Macho Man v Ultimate Warrior and finally... British Bulldog beating Bret Hart in the final match for the Intercontinental title.

As a ten-year-old, I'd never been that excited in my life.

[NeoCracker]

Also, I hate to say how much I love this match due to knowing what really went on, but Mankind Vs. Undertaker in a Hell in the Cell match is one of my all time favorites.

[Ayen]

I loved Mick Foley in all his versions. Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love and a few times just as Mick Foley.

I also loved reading his books. One of my favorite bits was him describing The Peoples Elbow. "The Peoples Elbow may be the single most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in any form of entertainment. And the people love it." XD

But yeah, favorites go to The Rock, Mankind, and Jericho.

Love Mick Foley. He rocks all three characters whenever he plays them. I usually cycle through which personality I enjoy more, though I feel Dude Love is an underrated persona that doesn't get as much attention as his more popular characters in Mankind and Cactus Jack. I enjoyed a book about him called 'Behind the Mankind Mask' though never read any of his books *ashamed*

That People's Elbow description is so spot on it hurts.

Only live show I got to attend was one at the Sprint Center on the Road to WrestleMania back in 2010. A tape show of ECW and a live RAW. The one where Chris Jericho beat on Ric Flair and stomped on his watch. It was great finally seeing Undertaker live.

[Slothy]

Also, I hate to say how much I love this match due to knowing what really went on, but Mankind Vs. Undertaker in a Hell in the Cell match is one of my all time favorites.

It really is. I actually like it even more just knowing what really went on and how much those two left in the ring. They put it all out there and made one of the most spectacular matches in history. That was one of the first PPV's I actually got and it did not disappoint.

[NeoCracker]

I love that they were willing to put so much on the line, especially Foley after that nasty fall he took through the cage, showing just how devoted to the craft they were.

But the thing is the toll that it took on Foley in the long run wasn't worth it. Pretty much the majority of the physical problems he currently had can be linked back to that. He himself describes that moment as the time his Carrier started to end.

It's kind of the same reason that as much as I love the Pile driver as a finisher, I'm glad they banned it a while back considered how much damage a botched pile driver can actually do to a person.

[Slothy]

No doubt my friend. But the way I see it, Mick was the sort of guy that if it wasn't getting hurt in that match, it could have easily been another match. But if there had to be a climax for that mans career, then my god what a peak that was.

You certainly never want to see them hurt and have to quit do to injuries, but it happened and nothing will change that, so I've got to respect what the man did after taking such a bad fall through the cage.

[NeoCracker]

For the longest time I actually thought it was the fall through the Announcement table was botched, not the one through the cage.

But I disagree that in regards to that match, it was already epic before the fall through the cage. No way that one would have been just another match.

But yeah, Foley is hard core as smurf.

[Ayen]

A guy wrestles in barbwire and with C4 in Japan and what gets him?

A goddamn cage!

On second thought I think the cage would hurt more than the barbwire. Never mind.

[NeoCracker]

Speficically, for those who want to know the moment/What we're talking about, this is the smurf up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U09oXyiAkOc

The cage wasn't suppose to give, so he took that fall completely unprepared.

[Del Murder]

Just rewatched the DX reunion for the 1000th episode of Raw. So awesome.

[Big D]

I got into WCW Nitro back at its apex in the late '90s. Larger-than-life characters, some creative matches and stunts, and a healthy dose of self-awareness that set it apart from the so-serious-it-hurts style that Raw tried to carry at the same time.

And oh, the storylines. The mad, hilarious and oddly captivating storylines.