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17 hours ago, BERT said:

AH. Thought maybe she got fired after some of those home videos came out

WBT beat me to it but no way in hell Vince would ever use that video thing as a reason. If anything that would have boosted her status. Sable got the most undeserved push in wrestling history because she was on playboy, Maria Kanellis got a push after playboy, so did Chyna, Torrie Wilson, et al. In fact if you’re a female and you can’t help yourself when it comes to exposing your naughty bits to the world, work for Vince McMahon when you do it because you’ll never get fired.

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Apparently this is not the "Pro Wrestling" thread, but rather the "I Used to Watch Pro Wrestling" thread.

I enjoyed the shit out of Mania weekend. Takeover was one of the best cards WWE has ever put on, period. The opening ladder match and the closing 'unsanctioned' match were particularly excellent.

Mania was Mania. It was too long, but the show was hot fire until the crowd ran out of gas. After the Shane, Bryan, Owens, Zayn match, it looked like it could be the best one of all time. The last four matches dragged it down a bit, but they all served a purpose. Nia going over Alexa was the end of a really strong, long storyline. Nak-Styles was a bit of a let down, but it set up the heel turn and will probably be the first of an awesome trilogy I would expect to blow off at Summer Slam. Braun was a popcorn match with a fun, light-hearted moment. Roman-Bork was what it was.

To point out the fact that ratings have declined is a bit of cherry picking logic. Ratings for everything on TV have trended similarly. WWE's stock is at an all-time high. Their revenue and OpInc have been higher each of the past three years. Live crowds are packing stadiums. Network subscriptions are at an all-time high. I don't think McMahon is crying in his cereal over declining ratings.

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On 4/11/2018 at 12:21 PM, hpslugga said:

Oh goddamnit. This is just like on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares where Ramsay tells the head chef that the food is shit, the person retorts with some insipid remark to the effect of "we get compliments from the customers." As Gordon would fire back, "the fucking dining room is empty!" 

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And 2016-2017 was even worse than 2015. In fact, 2017 barely stayed over the 2.0 mark (2.17 to be exact). With no other real competition, what I said earlier is accurate: this present period marks the lowest point in pro wrestling's history in terms of total TV viewership and ticket sales. They've botched every single opportunity they've had, and you're coming at me with the opinions of the very limited few people who still give a shit about this business.

The people you're referring to are those who have a tendency to approve whatever product they're presented, which is why WWE gets away with (when it comes to those viewers) some of the dumbest angles in the history of wrestling. 

The ratings just goes to show how completely badass the attitude era was. Taker in his prime, Stone cold in his prime, Rock in his prime, DX, Shawn Michaels in his prime, Brett Hart, Hardees/Edge Christian/ Dudleys, Vince and Shane doing matches, Mankind, Kane. It was just an insane top of the roster.

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I think they need to make Mania a 2 night event, Coachella style. I understand wanting to wrap every storyline up and get everyone on the card, but the 6.5 hour show just wears out the crowd. Split it up, give 2 matches the Main Event rub

The tickets would sell too so I dont know they havent done this yet

Edited by cmontexas
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1 hour ago, hpslugga said:

Bruno Sammartino passes away at 82

My father used to lift weights with him over at the North Side YMCA in Pittsburgh. Dad always said he was a good guy. My father rode his Harley to medical school and Bruno went off and wrestled. A few years, or so, later Bruno came back driving a big Lincoln and dad still had his Harley.

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Have to bring this up to say RIP Bruno Sammartino (died today).

https://www.theringer.com/2018/4/19/17259488/bruno-sammartino-wrestling-obituary-brian-koppelman


My grandmother (actually, the perfect target of the McMahons in the 60's) used to watch wrestling religiously.  This little old lady would shout at the TV and use colorful (maybe a few of the 4-letters, but not the worst ones) and man did she get into it.  So I got into it. Way before WWE, F, MMA, UFC, BFD, etc.  There were certainly colorful characters like Bobo Brazil, Gorilla Monsoon, and a bunch of bad guys I can't remember.  Bruno was the World Whateveritwascalled Federationsomething (the only real organization at the time) champion.  And he was the classiest guy you could imagine.  He sort of brought dignity and a certain nobility to the sport (maybe they marketed him that way, but he really was a humble guy).  His childhood in Italy was terrible, under Nazi occupation; his parents had to go and sneak food just for them to survive, as well as at times hiding the children.  As a result, Bruno and his family were badly undernourished, and when they finally made it to America, his small and weak stature left him a target for bullies.  But Bruno didn't wail in misery, he began to lift weights to build himself up; in time he became so good he competed regularly with Paul Anderson as the world's strongest man (they flip-flopped records quite a bit).  He finally got a gig and booked with Vince McMahon Sr., who promptly shrifted him, leaving him suspended in several states and without money.  He went back to his home in Pittsburgh and resumed training with the U. of Pitt coach (Bruno really was a "classic" wrestler and amazingly quick for such a big man), and in time re-entered the professional ranks through Canadian promoters.  Eventually McMahon atoned for his earlier bad treatment of Bruno and paid his suspension fines so he would wrestle in all of the U.S. again. 

He was a good guy who, IMHO, was the Hulk Hogan (as far as bringing in tons of new fans) before Hulk Hogan.  You always rooted for him because he was so obviously a good guy.  He did wrestle into the late 80's and did go against a lot of the more recent fan favorites (Savage, Flair, etc.) and actually wrestled in a tag team with Hogan in the late 80's, by then kind of more passè by then. 

Anyway, one could argue that if Hogan, Savage, Flair, the von Erichs, etc. made Pro Wrestling a mega fan sport, Bruno opened the gate 15-20 years earlier.


RIP,  big guy.  You did yourself good.

Edited by phdhorn
Slugga posted while I was typing this, anywayz....
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Because of The Greatest Royal Rumble WWE has pretty much been spinning its wheels going nowhere for three weeks, but I really think the Nakamura heel turn has been done really well. He's way more interesting in the last three weeks than he was in the entirety of his NXT/WWE run the last two years as a face. I thought Anderson running in and taking the Kinshasa for AJ made him a human being instead of just a character. There was an element of realism to it to make it seem like AJ is actually his friend. Wrestling is always at its best when reality and fantasy blend. The Club finally has some depth to them which I like.

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Quote

Wrestling is always at its best when reality and fantasy blend.

No doubt, and that's why I've been so down on the product over the last 17 years. The Invasion debacle basically informed everyone paying attention that they just weren't even trying anymore. 

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currently watching "The Greatest Royal Rumble"

LOL, the ending of the Lesnar/Reigns match, announcers kept trying to justify that Lesnar won even though his feet were nowhere near the floor before Reigns rolled off him and had his feet on the floor.

"Umm, his whole body was on the floor", "Umm, he was on the floor first", "Umm, maybe Reigns has a complaint"

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jinder Mahal was among the most reviled heels WWE ever had last year. Last night the crowd CHEERED when he kept Roman Reigns from winning a spot in the MITB match. Vince's obsession with getting Reigns over has gone from annoying to hilariously sad.

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Not all that different from how he handled Cena. Vince basically caught lightning in a bottle 3-4 times (depends on if you count the Ultimate Warrior) with a clear cut franchise player.

Hogan in 1984, Undertaker in 1990, and Austin emerged in 1997.

Well that's a 6-7 year gap between each one, so he just figured he was "due" again around 2003-2004, hence the Cena era...then that fucking asshole John Laurinaitis basically destroyed what was left of the WWE developmental program after replacing Jim Ross as the VP of Talent Relations (that position is basically the executive of the developmental program) and running amok of it.

Then cut to 2012, Laurinaitis is demoted and they create NXT in the same month and anyone could just see that Vince was all gaga about Reigns. He spent about 2 months in NXT, then they launched that Shield stable with Rollins and Ambrose, which ultimately allowed him a platform to launch a singles career in just 2 years at the age of 29 (which is insanely young for a main eventer in the traditional sense).

TL;DR: Vince has been in a perpetual state of panic re: his "top guy" since they severed ties with OVW and he's just been trying to force the issue for the last 4 years. 

Edited by hpslugga
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On 5/8/2018 at 8:42 AM, ATLLonghorn said:

Jinder Mahal was among the most reviled heels WWE ever had last year. Last night the crowd CHEERED when he kept Roman Reigns from winning a spot in the MITB match. Vince's obsession with getting Reigns over has gone from annoying to hilariously sad.

“The Guy” doesn’t have IT Vince needs to give up, he will never be close to what Vince wants him to be...  Serious gap in charisma and promo  skills from Cena, Stone Cold, etc and Roman

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3 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

watching RAW randomly...the undertaker is still in this??

WWE has a hard on for doing these super shows overseas all of the sudden. They have a WWE network special in Australia coming up so to drum up interest they're dusting off Undertaker vs Triple H so he's just promoting that match although there's rumors of an Undertaker/Kane vs Triple H/Shawn Michaels match in the works.

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