TexasSkinsFan

Personality shines for me in many ways. Could be how the guy commands the room, could be how he talks, could be his swagger, could different things. Unlike other forms of entertainment all of these guys essentially do the same thing. They can all wrestle, what sseparates them is there personalities. May not be the right word for it Someone like Lugar looks like a million bucks but has the personality as interesting as a ddoorknob. Some one like Kevin Sullivan looks like a typical drunk you see propped up on a barstool in some hole in the wall ball but has the personality that even made him look good with a redic gimmic like the Varsity club.

I am color blind, him being black wasnt in my thoughts when I wrote that. I have never seen NXT and Big E has never interested me in the ring from what Ive seen. My best memory of him personally was when he went after Rusev and then he lost badly to him. He just doesnt seem very good, strong yes but good no and your right his characters have been sterotypical. If strong was all it took then Cezarro would be in a higher position then he is now, you have to have the personality too and neither guys seems toSo besides the 5 count gimmic what would you do with him? That seems like a short program to me but it could draw some pops but who would you work him with? It would be hard to line up opponants who would lay down for 5 secs on Raw week after week. NXT sure do that every week, but most wrestlers wouldnt go for it and you cant squash other guys on the way up unless you can capture the hearts and minds of the fans like Goldberg did and it make a buzz and draws money. What I was saying with guys like that, big bad monster types if used right could come in a territory, draw money and take on the roster then after headling for a small peroid go somewhere else and start it over again. They would have a shelf life of 2 to 3 years then expire. Everywhere they went they drew money, it was a good thing for them but now that the games forever been changed can you see Big E being relevant 5 years from now when hes floundering in a tag team no one cares about like he is? Maybe but not how they are handling him now. Eventually they will run out of ideas and hes gone. He goes somewhere else he has to live that down knowing he didnt draw money in the WWE which means people are exactly crazy about him

That's true, but Dundee was 5'7 and Ray Mysterio is only 5'6. I do realize styles and time periods play a huge part in the career differences but being short can work, but it has to be done right. With Dundee always sticking around to that area they protected him and themselves and really elevated him to bigger heights and used him right. He ventured out into the NWA and other regional areas but would never get over in an outdoor stadium type environment so it didn't work. I don't think that people fans always understand that some things would work in a big arena and somethings wouldn't. IF ECW was shot for TV from the Toyko Dome it would never have gotten over. The lone wolves point is accurate but its being done on purpose I think. Not sure if they mentioned it but the last time they joined together was at Survivor Series and three guys got fired on TV for that and missed a bunch of dates on TV. Its not realistic to that sub-story line to have the talent ignore that and band together like merry men again so soon after. That's why that story line...Your Fired!!!!!!......has never worked in this business. Sure immediately it's effective and there is a pop but wait a few weeks or a month and the fired person has his job back and life goes on like it never happened. That's stupid to me, it undermines the character who says it. I love hearing Vince say it...reminds of Donald Trump with the impact but anyone else doing it takes away from the character and I don't think its very effective writing.

KDawg interesting story plot but mentioning Curtis Axel to me is like the boring skit with Stardust and Golddust in the rumble. When that occured no one knew why it happened, then in a dream it was over and no one cared. It would be the same with Axel, I would imagine no one knows that or cares about it. Unless you were to go full on with Axel attacking Reigns squashing him with Reigns putting him over and then throw Reigns over the top rope and give him Mania then it doesn't make sense to do it. As for the card couple of them are head scratchers to me. Rusev vs. John Cena - Why? Who goes over? Squashing Rusev to Cena makes no sense without the belt right now to me. Squashing Cena after the last few months he has had isn't going to help him either. I would rather see Cena in a match with Triple H with Sting in his corner for control over the company storyline then to see that match or the match with Sting vs Triple H. Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes - Not a fan of this one either, only because I don't want to see a program between brothers. Miz vs. Sandow - This is gold right now. Why split it up and who gains here? Sting vs. HHH - 10 years ago when Hogan was against Shawn Michaels is when this should have happened. I don't want it to happen now Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker - I thought the Undertaker was retired, is he contracted for Wrestlmania? If so whats his motivation for coming back? I could see it if he was to go against Lesner maybe to get revenge for ending the streak but not sure why he would come out of retirement for this match. Great post, just because I didn't like somethings it showed originality and I like that. Sorry if you read this and think I'm being a jerk, not trying to do that at all just discuss and learn more

Random stream of Royal Rumble watching First entry was the Miz. Why? R Truth #2? I would have crapped on that too. Made more sense after Bubba Ray came out next. Huge pop for Bubba Ray Dudley...awesome to see him back in Philly. That was awesome Seeing the return of the Wyatt Family was awesome. 7 the boogyman? the ****....stupid. Didn't like him the first time around and got a check for about 1 min of work. Only if you can get it 8 Cincara....excited. nice entrance, very disappointing showing didn't stay long enough maybe 2 minutes. Why wont the E realize that we want to root for masked mexican wrestler? Bray calls out the back, says its his year and the payoff 9 Zac Ryder....wow, perfect time for an old timer to come out. Lasted 1 minute. Boring and stupid 10 Daniel Bryan! Okay now we can see if he still has it to the writers or not. Crowd reaction to the goat running kicks is awesome, loudest all night. Glad to see Bryan back 11 Fandango....I hate this guy, boring and no heat from me. He can wrestle but why would he get stuck with this ****ty character? The chic's hes with are hot though. No believability he can even hang with Bryan. And to think Chris Jericho put him over at Mania in one of the most selfless moves I've ever seen a heavyweight champion ever do just disappoints me 12 Tyson Kidd...looks really really really small against Fandango. Height kills his career, why didn't they go with a spike dudley character thing rooting the little guy on with him instead of the boring ****y guy he has always been? Type cast by McMahon? True character? Either way can't see many interesting programs with him like that 13 Stardust....wake me when this gets good. The ring is currently full with Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan, Fandango, Stardust, and Tyson Kidd...starting to see why the fans weren't into this. 14 Diamond Dallas Page? WHAT!!! AWESOME!! And the good feeling lasted 3 seconds when Stardust puts the boots to him immediately and he lasts 2 minutes between beat down come back beat down some more tossed out. DDP wasn't the greatest but he is a legend and deserved better. And the crowd noise responds with a loud long drawn out boooo.....which lasts a least 3 minutes long. Who thought this was how to use DDP in the Royal Rumble... 15 Rusev!! I liked this character a lot. top 5 young stars budding. Why didn't they give him the Rumble?He eliminates Daniel Bryan here and everyone else except Bray Wyatt. Completely cleaned out and very dominate. He has a great rumble, lasting until the very end. Why not him vs Lesner? Too soon? Or do they not want to get into the same problem they have with Lesner and that is competition that isn't Cena? Glass ceiling might be low with him but he's awesome, Iron Shiek like. Totally unlikable, true heat. It may be the worst time for this man to enter wrestling. Not enough big men in the business to work with. Top wrestling performance at the Rumble right here. 16 Golddust...Crowds pissed, booing loudly.....not used to this at the Rumble....which leads us to Golddust being almost eliminated by Stardust who was already eliminated I thought in a lame no one understands comedy moment that missed, then we see them fight, Personally never been a fan of real blood wresting matches....loud chants for Daniel Bryan start and come back throughout the show. If the plan was to have Bryan leave early in the Rumble why not let him come out later then 25th? The people writing this are morons with a lot of this and brought the heat on themselves... 17 Kofi Kingston...mildly excited about the one time a year Kofi is interesting...Stardust is still in the ring. 18 Adam Rose....coming out with the village idiots. This guy sucks, kill this character already. It like the Acension shows the writers are completely out of touch with what people want to see and they don't want to see this...Absolutely best moment in Adam Rose career happens here, Kofi's Rumble moment spot was awesome, they throw him over the rope way far out there and he lands on the village idiots who catch him, dance around the ring and throw him back in. Well done. 19 Roman Reigns...crowd boos loudly against him entering the match. Loudly booing him throughout the match....they do not like Reigns. I've been to WWE in Dallas recently and he was not given this reaction. Its surprising how much they are ****ting on Reigns in this match. I know it's Philly and I know him winning was lame at the very end but they were booing him out of the building when he was walking down the ramp in the crowd. 20 Big E....crowd ****s on him too. I would have too. Back in the day guys like Big E would be used as feeders to a champion and move on to the next league, guys like Big E could have a career for a long run but leave them in one territory for too long and they start to stink like rotting food, If he had an ounce of a personality he would get over but he doesn't. The heat he's drawing is not the right kind....WTF was that rolling bowling ball move autovance move thing from Rusev? Pretty bad ass and first time I seen it 21 Mizdow....funny skit that lasts two minutes with him and the Miz and that was perfect for him. Comedy in wrestling needs to come in short spurts like that not drag out. 22 Jack Swagger....ring is filling up. Recap...Rusev, Swagger, Big E, Reigns, Wyatt 23 Ryback.... And then I lost track. In the end it was a terrible ending and worst Rumble I've seen in a long time.

Interesting stuff man. I could have sworn Barry was affected by that arrest...memories of old times just aren't what they used to be. Austin Idol was a made for Memphis wrestling legend. Along the lines of Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee. Guys that in a smaller environment who they could trust back then (Trust was everything back then) and would run the place. In that area they were Gods, somewhere else they wouldn't have worked as well. He did have the look and the talking ability down. I think they never fed him to Hogan because I believe he was involved in a run with Lawler at the time. and it's because Hogan only wrestled these matches in Memphis 5/14/1979 DQ win over the Mongolian Stomper 5/21/1979 w/ Jerry Lawler defeated The Mongolian Stomper and Georgous George Jr. 7/16/1979 w/ Ed Bolder (Brutus Beefcake) defeated Ron Bass and Pete Austin 7/23/1979 w/ Ed Bolder defeated Ron Bass and Pete Austin 7/30/1979 lost to Ron Bass 8/06/1979 w/ Jackie Fargo won over Ron Bass and Sonny King 8/13/1979 no contest with Ron Bass 8/20/1979 pinned Sonny King 02/09/1981 lost to Lawler by DQ In late 79 Vince Senior decided that he was to turn heel. For him to face Austin Idol they had to wrap up the Lawler fued and it was grossing too much to do that and that was the backbone to that promotion. As long as they had those three they could afford to see these legends come in and out of the territory and still keep the lights on. If they fed Hogan they would have lost. Hogan would have left and then what do they do with a tarnished star in Austin then? So they protected him with Lawler, and protected Lawler with Austin and kept the lights on

Yea I do. Just my opinion but I would never talk about Scott Hall, Steve Austin, or the Rock and mention there ability to wrestle catch as catch can. Early on in the AWA Scott Hall was a better technical wrestler then he was as Razor Ramone, Stunning Steve Austin was a better Technical wrestler then the WWF's Stone Cold Steve Austin, and well the Rock I don't have a time when he was ever a mat wrestler persay. That's not me saying that I didn't enjoy the matches, I did. And I'm not saying that there matches were boring they went. Those guys could have had 20 minute matches with a stuffed animal and made it entertaining. But that's because they were charismatic and entertainers. I personally wouldn't compare them to the likes of Ricky Steamboat as far as wrestling ability goes

Did you see the start of the Acension? The new tag team that debuted on Raw recently? They have been using squash matches like this lately

Vaders matches against Sting were classics. Excellent big man, great in the ring, never better then when Harley Race was his voice. I love me some Jim Cornette but not everyone works on the big stage as they did in smaller venues, he didn't get over in the WWF because he didn't have the mouth piece he did in WCW. Roman Reigns will not be able to sustain a run if he doesn't get matched up with a voice who is over. Some guys need that more then others I love me some guys like Undertaker, like Brock Lesner today, like others before them who does not have to say much to say a lot. When your charisma is so good you can command a room and if you say nothing it still says a lot. I agree with you, underrated on the stick

I've always wondered if he and his Dad hadn't gotten in trouble with the law how high is ceiling in the business could have been

Mine is Brusier Brody. While most of his matches were fought outside the ring in huge around the arena brawls he could stand in the middle of the ring and drop kick an opponent from the standing position. The man could work, he was so charismatic that he drew you in like no one else. Tragic that these younger guys only know him for not selling to Lugar in Florida but that man imo was the best wrestling big man ever. Currently in the WWE Luke Harper has a very very good in ring style, and is the best big guy wrestler they have. They need to get behind him and push him imo.

I understand what you mean and this is why he's getting his push. I just have never enjoyed the cartooney Thor smash fist into the mat and then throw a basic superman punch a guy out finish he does. In addition his moves in the ring really haven't changed from the beginning with him. Seems he has the same moves...run outside kick guy in the face....spear....it's just boring to me. I respect that you like him but someone like this with extremely limited wrestling ability has to have something else going for him to make up for the bad work rate and he cant talk. I compared him to Kevin Nash because I think that ultimately will be his ceiling. Kevin Nash to me and this is not an insult to Nash or Reigns got over despite his inability to perform more then 20 in ring moves (he had a bad knee), he was seriously limited in the ring but his charisma and talking made him an interesting character to watch. I liked Nash and I think I could get on bored with Reigns even with his in ring ability if they somehow worked on his character and speaking ability. His ceiling to me would be Kevin Nash which is a high ceiling only if they get someone to speak for him My favorite wrestlers of all time - Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Randy Savage, Mick Foley - They had the ability to work multiple styles of matches and speak. This is who I like and identify with. Benoit didn't have great speaking ability but his charisma was so powerful that he spoke softly and when he did speak you listened. It got him very far for something he just wasn't that good at. When I see limited in ring work - Nash, Hall, Austin, Rock, Reigns - It only seems to work if they can speak as well, like Kane. Limited work rate, same matches every single time, boring on the stick so you couldn't ever push him to carry the company. Now when those guys can coverup the in ring work with outstanding charisma you have magic. We all have different tastes, just sharing my opinion

They need to do a switch with Paul Heyman and make him side with Roman Reigns to hype this match up. On his own Reigns will crash the whole damn thing. You just can't look like a million bucks, but wrestle like crap and not be a talker in this business and make it. He is Lex Lugar all over again, didn't work the first time and won't work now. Reigns is not someone that they should not be getting behind for single card main event. If done correctly he could be this decades Diesel, Kevin Nash. Anyone remember how they paired him with Shawn Michaels, until they put the strap on him after like a 5 second match and let him run with it for a little while? He sucked as champion but if they want to put the strap on him that's how they can get away with it, swerve him into it but doing it when the fans expect to see it is a bad idea. The three hottest stars in the business today Ambrose Wyatt Bryan Will be the future of this business the next few years not Reigns. It would have made more sense to give the spot to Rusev then to Reigns. Rusev vs Lesner. I want to see it. Reigns vs Lesner....boring. The problem is creative has made the decision to use him like that and unfortunately unless they back it up quickly and reverse course I think he will be like Ryback in a few years, relegated to mid card status with little interest in pushing further. Not a good plan creative. Now if they gave him a mouth piece and turned him heel he might have a shot at regaining some steam but this whole push didn't make much sense. The E was on a roll and he was on the shelf. He comes back pushed immediately into the main event at Wrestlemania...sometimes they just need to rewrite the script and start over instead of ignoring the voice of the fans. They don't want to see this I don't want to see this.

So not going to ruin last night for anyone but let me say this. I grew up watching wrestling in the early 80's, went to the Capital Center many times to see them live, watched WCCW and the AWA on ESPN like some of you and remember it all. Been going to wrestling live events in many different states over the past few decades, I've been to PPv's, I've been to Raws and Smackdowns in the past and WCW events. Last night was the best night of live Wrestling I have ever been too. Maybe it was the nostalgia, maybe it was seeing the Legends knowing I may never see them live again, maybe it was the surprises, maybe it was the ending, maybe it was the seats, maybe it was the realization that Dallas is hosting next years Wrestlemania and this was the start to the road to that Wrestlemania....whatever the hell it was that was amazing.

I'm going to Raw tonight. I plan to scream my head off one last time for the greats in attendance. I never thought I would be able to see DX and the NWO on Monday Night Raw like this again. I'm in the rafters so you won't see me and I won't be able to bounce around because two of my three boys are coming with me (for anyone that remembers my last Wrestling report from Texas) but you can bet you will hear me and I will do my best to have the house rocking like we did it when TNA showed up Very excited...queue the music..... Or will this tear down the house? Either way with Hogan, Flair, Ron Simmons and others also attending I can not wait!

My DFS team tonight would be in the money if Serge Ibaka actually could show up this game. What's the story there? Wizards holding him to season lows for a 1st half tonight

Yup he is the champ. He's muscled up a lot and the crowd gave him a good reaction, I didn't pay attention to that last match except for seeing if any belts would change hands that show and they didn't. Between him Aries, and Lashley the main even was lame but other people enjoyed it

Ok so this post is in response to last nights TNA Wrestling PPV Slammaversary. I went there with my cousin, it was just the two of us. I ended up buying the cheap nose bleed seats and we roamed around like we always do. Most people don't act this way at events and if this bothers you I'm sorry, I've been going to shows all kinds for ever it seems and the action isn't always where your sitting. So when we arrived at the stadium we took our original seats which were horrible like I thought. I tried to take a view to show the setup. To my left was an empty section we would eventually sit at (More about that later), and the people were to the right of my original seats (We sat in three different places and this was the first) The place was tiny but as any ECW fan knows tiny can be great if the crowd buys in, and we did. Before the matches actually started though we left those nosebleeds and went to the lower level. I picked a place that I thought would be good for seeing the action, we sat in the back row where the perspective was the same that Tenay and Taz see minus the televisions The show kicks off and the crowd went nuts for the X division bumps and then we marked out hard for the originals which included great reactions for Kurt Angle, the Dudley Boys, and the Von Erics. The crowd excitement at the show was hot, read a little reaction on the message forums and they said it was the best crowd TNA had seen in a very long time. I started many of the chants actually, I have no shame and just there to have a good time, including the Steve chant (My cousins name is Steve so that was fun for me) and the wrestlers seemed to appreciate how loud we were being. The Dudley Boys said that was the best crowd chant for "We Want Tables" they had ever heard. Seriously if this stuff interests you download the ppv and watch it. The crowd was noisy as could be. I'm louder then most two people when I want to be, and wrestling gives me a place to really let that loose. So after a few matches we decide to move again, not that there was anything wrong with those seats but we were bored. So this time with our final seats we walked the building until we get to the closed off area (empty area with blue seats) and then picked a pretty cool spot there. Why it was cool was we had full view of the ramp (Beautiful People) and the backstage area (This is Abyss without a mask on and Bubba Ray Dudley after his match) And it was the VIP section. After the Dallas Cowboys had there spot they came and sat a few rows below where we were. My cousins being a Redskin fan booed them and shouted Cowboys Suck at them, all in good fun. And we even met Earl or was it Dave Hebner I forgot to ask, the famous referee. He came out and watched the last few matches and we approached him for a photo. I am the guy in the background....photo bomb!!! Hebner didn't want to stand up so the picture was taken looking up at him. By this time my phone had died but his was still working hence why I am in the background there lol Anyway it was a blast, much more fun then the WWE Sunday show I had floor seats back in April here. I would highly highly highly recommend going to a TNA show if your a fan of the old school. And more importantly walk around the show! You never know what your experience will be like.

I am watching this weeks Raw on youtube now, after reading about all of the cuts. I am not sure if I can post the full show link here so I won't but its interesting how most of these released workers were on that show.

You got it, I will do that

Finally caught up on the thread, some of you guys are brilliant, seriously enjoyed reading the last two months of this. So this weekend is Fathers Day and as a present to myself I'm going to my first, and as I believe it will be, last TNA Wrestling event. The last wrestling event I went to live was this past April I saw a Sunday house show in Dallas which was headlined by two matches Randy Orton vs John Cena in a steel cage for the WWE Title The Shield vs The Wyatts (They had a single televised 6 way match when I saw this and it stole the show) I sat ringside and really enjoyed that. This Sunday TNA is hosting it's Slammaversary PPV in Dallas and I am going to that event. The tickets only cost $12 a piece. I don't normally watch TNA. I watched TNA in 04-06 every week but got away from weekly watching but checked in on it from time to time. I am a life long wrestling fan. I just watched my first TNA Wrestling of 2014 which was last weeks Impact wrestling and looked up the card for the ppv (as of today): TNA World Heavyweight Championship MVP vs. Eric Young © -Bully Ray vs. Ethan Carter III -Bobby Lashley vs. Samoa Joe -Austin Aries vs. Kenny King -Mr. Anderson vs. James Storm -Willow vs. Magnus Couple of things stand out to me about this card. First as for the workers I am not sure I am the only one that doesn't know this, "Williow" is Jeff Hardy, from Matt and Jeff Hardy fame. That's good to me as I like Jeff Hardy and I like Bully Ray (Bubba Ray Dudley from ECW's The Dudley Boys), Mr Anderson, and Samoa Joe are two guys I've always wanted to see wrestle live. The other talent listed doesn't really appeal to me very much but I plan to keep an open mind. Live wrestling is something I've always enjoyed and I'm very loud so have been on TV many times and I'm sure I will see myself on it during this broadcast as well. If your a wrestling fan you owe it to yourself to support it whenever you can and always go to the live matches. I am excited about going to see this. So about the talent and with that said, In what world does a booker think that Eric Young, who last I had heard of him was on a reality TV show on Animal Planet, in what world does a booker put the companies world title on Eric Young? Is that what people are going to pay to go see? Is this cool to TNA fans? Does Eric Young put asses in seats? Seriously when I saw that Young was the world champion I was stunned. He is like Santino Morrella to me, funny in an annoying I want to punch him in the face for being so annoying, sorta way. I've seen crazy moves with belts before because the company was scared the talent would leave the area before but this has to rank up there for absolute worst Heavyweight Champions of all time (Not that this unseats David Arquette or Vince Russo as worst champions of all time but still pretty bad) MVP I am familiar with but last I saw of him he was a floundering mid card jobber in the WWE with a big mouth and very little talent. How he is in line to be the next Champion? I don't understand either choice to carry the company and have to wonder who is wanting this to happen? The good news is I've heard that MVP has a knee injury, so I am hoping he has to pull out of this match completely. The last time I saw TNA they had tons of stars, what the hell happened here? The second thing I noticed was there was only one tittle match on the entire card and it is the heavyweight title match between those two. Very very disappointing. TNA had a great women's division last I checked, they had the "X" division and the "X" title. What about the tag team titles? And when was the last ppv on that had only one title match? Something else I don't understand The feeling I get right now is this smells like the last days of the WCW. Seriously unless things change and improve for them in a hurry they are going out of business. The only way they stay around is if a company wanted to lose money with this. I can not see a ppv card like that appealing to anyone. I'm going because it's in my backyard, but this is awful

Sounds like a house show where they might have been double booked for a night gig. In those days that was common for companies to do when they are in another country. Another thing they used to do was dark match non televised title changes. They would change the title in one place and then give it back in another before coming back stateside and never informing the US audience. If this was the match you saw I bet you would have remembered it better. Thanks to youtube and diehards who remember these guys we can finally see things like this. You are lucky to have seen them in person, I was not as fortunate. First title change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMk4P6NPrVE Switch it back 4 days later http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfyBPjSvQRQ We never knew

Ever hear his shoot where he got into a real fight with Paul Orndorff? Amazing stuff about his exiting WCW

Vader? I loved Vader in the early 90's when he was managed by Harley Race and took on Sting.

For Gallen, about 8 years before that match you posted with mention Wahoo teaching how to chop!