The Figure Four - ALL Things ECW-WWF-NJPW-TNA-ROH-AEW

[Mr. Sinister]

Does Rock still look like he's on them Bane roids? He's my dog for life, but he was looking unnaturally freakishly large last time I saw him in the ring.

[spjunkies]

Does Rock still look like he's on them Bane roids? He's my dog for life, but he was looking unnaturally freakishly large last time I saw him in the ring.

 

It looks like he dropped some muscle. He got super jacked for Hercules.

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

Who the **** is Crazy Steve? What the hell is this ****?

 

I'm working at the computer and there was nothing on tv so I turned on TNA. This is the stupidest **** I've eve seen in my life. What do you think is the combined IQ of everybody in the audience?

[lovetoaster]

Who the **** is Crazy Steve? What the hell is this ****?

 

I'm working at the computer and there was nothing on tv so I turned on TNA. This is the stupidest **** I've eve seen in my life. What do you think is the combined IQ of everybody in the audience?

 

It's awful. I used to be a regular TNA watcher, and I still pay attention to a certain extent. But some of their gimmicks are just terrible. They do have a handful of really talented wrestlers, but a some of the guys that used to be the reason I watched TNA have left over the last few months. It seems that the ship may be slowly sinking. 

[Redskins Reparations]

Lucha Underground

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Wow, crickets in this thread......no surprise, both brands are sucking now, imo.  

 

I'm not excited for the PPV tonight either.  All the PPVs have been mediocre since the WWE Network.........which you can have access to for only $9.99.  But, seriously, no WWE world heavyweight championship match......horrible.  And I was happy Brock beat Cena for the strap.  But this **** is ridiculous.

[Big Weirdo]

Brock not being there has nothing to do with the shown sucking. It sucks because of the writing. They don't know how to write anything cohesive and coherent and you can tell a lot of the stuff is rehashed or just plain boring like Ambrose doing a lot of really vanilla Austin-esque stuff and virtually no build for the intercontinental title. I don't even know who has the US title? Sheamus? And the tag belts have been **** for awhile.

Brock not being there could and should be a big deal but they don't know what they're doing so they just throw **** against the wall and hope it sticks.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Big Weirdo

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Brock not being there has nothing to do with the shown sucking. It sucks because of the writing. They don't know how to write anything cohesive and coherent and you can tell a lot of the stuff is rehashed (Ambrose doing a lot of really vanilla Austin-esque stuff and virtually no build for the intercontinental title).

Brock not being there could and should be a big deal but they don't know what they're doing so they just throw **** against the wall and hope it sticks.

I know Brock not being there has nothing to do with the suckage.  But, the fact he isn't there in a match with his title on the line, is just weak.  If you're gonna give us ****, give us **** with all the belts on the line at a PPV, otherwise, it's just a Super Raw, without all the bull**** matches.

[Momma There Goes That Man]

Does Rock still look like he's on them Bane roids? He's my dog for life, but he was looking unnaturally freakishly large last time I saw him in the ring.

[DM72]

I don't think I ever saw The Rock look as big and ripped as he did in Fast and Furious. Dude is definitely taking something.

[Mr. Sinister]

I don't think I ever saw The Rock look as big and ripped as he did in Fast and Furious. Dude is definitely taking something.

I think he's getting blasted with gamma rays at this point

Edited October 27, 2014 by Mr. Sinister

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

At this point, I assume that if he took a single bump, he would tear all the ligaments in his body at once.

[The Evil Genius]

I think he's getting blasted with gamma rays at this point

 

2 years ago, he was.

 

[Mr. Sinister]

That's just nasty, man. He is insane.

I don't think I've ever seen someone go through as many transformations as the Rock. I mean you see him in the mid to early late 90s when he is Rocky Maivia/ Nation Rock/ corporate Champ, and he looks like your average college defensive lineman of that time. Huge guy, good build, but not much definition.

Then you look at the early 00s when he overtakes Austin and all the commercials and movie people are lining up around the block, and now he is cut like an underwear model.

Then he comes back for WrestleMania XX and looks like the Machinist. I almost thought he had cancer.

Then my interest in wrestling, and his movies, dies. F ass forward to 2010, and it looks like he got injected with the T-virus.

Just doesn't seem healthy. I'm genuinely worried about the dude. There is no need to look like that. None. Dudes that pull airplanes with their dick don't look like that.

Hey definitely 300 lbs. All that muscle is like an anchor weighing you down. You sacrifice all that mobility. At the height of his wrestling career he was lightning quick in the ring. I watched him on Raw a couple years ago and just watching him in the ring made my chest hurt

Edited October 27, 2014 by Mr. Sinister

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

This is why you're one of my favorite guys here Sinister

I was gonna post the exact same thing. Exact

When the Rock first came into the business, he was about a doughnut away from being fat. Then around 99-01, I remember thinking "he seems smaller than everyone else"

When he was in that tooth fairy movie, I swear I remember debating my friends over the cancer thing, it was scary

Now he literally looks like a comic book character. It's ****ing nuts. Maybe he had a secret addiction and he's replacing it with working out? Maybes he's trying to be the new Arnold?

But if something happened to Rock...holy **** I would be a mess. I don't even wanna think about that

[Momma There Goes That Man]

Rock's fine you guys. He doesn't travel for wrestling anymore so he has tons of free time outside of movie shoots and is addicted to working out.

I follow him on twitter and that's literally all he does is work out from 5am in the morning until

He shoots then does a workout afterwards. He has an insane work ethic.

His "cheat" day he eats like 10 whole pizzas.

On second thought....

[Mr. Sinister]

Working it definitely addictive. Your body releases all of those endorphins and it's a little similar to that feeling you get right after sex.

I just think it's a shame to be doing all of this when there is really no point. Yes not a bottom guy in WWE that needs r poo id's to stay employed. He's not a Hollywood reject.

What's the endgame? He looks like he's about to explode. And it's really no coincidence that be has suffered all of these injuries lately. It's a real shame imo

[The Evil Genius]

Rock cracks me up on Twitter.

 

Not sure if this has been posted before, but 1/3 of the card of Wrestlemania VI (1990) is now dead.

 

Warrior, Macho, Rick Rude, Curt Hennig, John Tenta (Earthquake), Raymond Fernandez (Hercules), Bad News Brown, Sensational Sherri, Dino Bravo, Big Boss Man, Sapphire, and MIss Elizabeth.

What's the endgame? He looks like he's about to explode. And it's really no coincidence that be has suffered all of these injuries lately. It's a real shame imo

 

He buffed up especially for the Hercules movie.

Edited October 27, 2014 by The Evil Genius

[spjunkies]

Rock is definitely on the roids there is no doubt in my mind about it. I just hope he cuts back so that it won't impact him too much in the future, love that dude.

[Gallen5862]

Cena won his Hell in a Cell match against randy Orton to becom the number one contender. I hope he can be Lesnar for the wwe Heavywweight championship. Brock not being around is making the money in the bank briefcase irrelavant. The whole point was that any point during the year it can be cashed in. With a part time Lesnar not around that is no longer true. They took the belt from daniel bryan because he was not able to defend his title. This situation with Lesnar is very similar.

[KDawg]

Lesnar not being there is a good thing. WWE is botching it. They need to be telling the story that Brock doesn't feel anyone is worthy of his title. And he's not going to just show up for just anyone. He needs a challenge, or to be entertained. Dance, clown, dance.

And while Brock is doing that, the Intercontinental and tag titles should be elevated up the card and take a huge role of importance. They should unify the US and IC titles, too. Make it mean something. Part of the issue with both of those belts is that there's two of them. They steal each other's thunder. Which is more important? Who knows?

Brock not being there isn't the issue. It's how WWE is handling it.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

So, this thread is beyond dead.

 

Jim Cornette's podcast had a fun interview with Lance Russell today. As always, skip the 30 minutes of nonsense at the beginning to get to the interview.

 

Lance was the announcer on Memphis wrestling from its beginning in the 50s through the 90s. He's about 136 years old but seems to have perfect recall and still has great timing (he had a laugh out moment when his dogs started barking during the call).

 

He was basically there when "studio wrestling" was invented, talks about Sputnik Monroe intergreating entertainment in Memphis, explains how he got a 14 year old Jerry Lawler on the payroll as a cartoonist (apparently a 14 year old Lawler could cut the best promo in the territory and they wanted to keep him around), and tells an insane story about what may be the one real run-in in wrestling history.

 

I can't remember the dude's name, but there was a legit tough guy wrestling in Memphis in the 70s who Jerry Jarrett basically stopped booking. So, the guy turns up to the studio and runs in on a Jerry Lawler match and begins legitimately beating up Lawler. This draws out Jarrett who the dude actually wanted to fight and he goes after Jarrett. Lawler and the heel team up and rush to protect Jarrett. Jarrett goes to the dressing room and gets a slapjack and attacks the guy with a club on tv. And since this was live tv, Russell has to call the whole thing like it's legit.

 

Since Memphis was built on crazy pull apart brawls where everyone fought everyone, it looked perfectly reasonable to the audience.

 

Now, this sounds like wrestling BS, but who knows. Apparently, that guy later showed up to a spot show with a razor and tried to slash Lawler which led to Jackie Fargo calling him and threatening murder which led to an arrest.

 

I have to assume this all ended in a match at the Mid South Coliseum because this is Memphis after all.

 

They apparently are going to do part 2 next week, because they never got to Andy Kaufman and the 80s.

 

I would watch a 100 hour documentary on Memphis Wrestling.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

This wasn't discussed on the show, but hearing Lance made me think of Kaufman and I connected it to an interview I heard last week with David Arquette with Dan Lebatard.

 

Everyone hates the Arquette thing and loves the Kaufman thing, and it's pretty easy to understand why. I have no problem with celebrities being involved in wrestling. What I hate is celebrities getting over on the wrestlers. At this point, if a celebrity shows up on Raw, he is probably going to pin a mid-carder before the night ends. Grumpy Cat might win the IC Title next week.

 

If you go back and look at the Kaufman stuff, it's a master's class in booking. Kaufman comes into Memphis and does his intergender wrestling thing he had done for years. Perfectly logical.

 

As he does this, he gets more and more sadistic with the fans. Perfectly logical.

Lawler, the hero, stands up for the fans and promises to train a local woman to beat Kaufman.

 

Kaufman ends up beating that woman. Kaufman always won these "wrestling" matches so that makes sense. Kaufman's act is protected. He gets a minor victory on Lawler, but Lawler is still the good guy.

 

Kaufman gloats.

Lawler loses it and pushes him.

 

Kaufman goes nuts and threatens to sue. This makes sense in the real world and is 100 percent perfect in wrestling logic.

 

Lawler says, "Let's handle this like men and have a match."

 

Boom...there's the box office.

 

Kaufman who is now acting like the most entitlted celebrity jackoff ever agrees.

 

They have the "match."

Today, it would involve 14 people, 8 run-ins, go 15 minutes, and end up with Lawler somehow losing.

 

In Memphis, the match is five minutes of stalling leading to Lawler offering to let Kaufman put him in a headlock. Kaufman does this. Lawler counters with a side suplex that Kaufman sells. Lawler then hits two piledrivers which Kaufman sells like death and does a stretcher job.

The punchiline is the piledriver is illegal in Memphis so Kaufman wins the match even though the fans don't give a ****. They wanted Kaufman to die in the ring and it looks like he did.

 

Kaufman does some interviews from the hospital, because the man was freaking committed to the role.

 

They do Letterman later that summer and have the slapping incident.

 

Kaufman comes back to Memphis and with bad guy Jimmy Hart offers to pay $5000 to anyone who gives Lawler a piledriver.

 

So more matches and more box office and this has led to Lawler now facing real wrestlers who can get over thanks to their association with Kaufman. You get main event matches with real stars like Ken Patera and nobodies like Man Mountain Link because of this. More box office.

 

You also get a handicap match of Kaufman and Hart versus Lawler. The angle kind of repeats itself here as Lawler loses by DQ since he piledrives both of them.

 

(Keep in mind, Memphis had a Monday show in the Mid South Coliseum every goddamn Monday. So, you had to milk every last drop out of an angle to keep the fans coming back).

 

Kaufman and Hart have a falling out. Kaufman and Hart have a match.

 

Hart weighs 70 pounds so it's perfectly legitimate for Kaufman to beat him up. But Hart has wrestlers on his payroll and then jump Kaufman.

 

Kaufman goes to Lawler for help. Lawler agrees to a tag match as long as Kaufman never wrestles again. This is Lawler being a little naive, but babyfaces need to be a little naive now and then. Anyway, this leads to Lawler and Kaufman versus Hart and one of the Assassins. Again, box office.

 

Kaufman never actually wrestles in the match and instead "throws powder" in Lawler's eyes allowing for the Assassins to piledrive him.

 

Kauman pays the bounty on tv and claims victory over Lawler.

 

Now, this is Memphis so Lawler has to win and he can act like a **** to do it.

 

Lalwer sneaks out during the interview and throws one of his patented fireballs at Kaufman. (Seriously, this stuff is Memphis as **** and I love it).

 

That puts Kaufman on the shelf again and the feud shifts to Lawler and Austin Idol teaming to get revenge against The Assassins.

 

Kaufman comes back a few months later and stands in some nobody's corner in a series of matches with Lawler. Memphis had no payroll and a ridiculous schedule so Lawler had to wrestle a lot of nobodies in main events in his career. I actually think Lawler is the greatest main eventer ever because no one had to sell out the same damn place over and over again for 20 years wrestling dudes who worked on bread trucks.

 

I think Kaufman gets sick around this time and disappears for good.

 

But look at this program. It lasts over a year, has dozens of main events, has Lawler humilate the celebrity repeatedly physically, has the celebrity use other wrestlers to get his own physical revenge - which gets those wrestlers over in the process, has a definitive end point that leaves a little space for the celebrity to return someday, and leads perfectly into a new program. And it made a lot of people a lot of money.

 

Remember this when Grumpy Cat gets a pinfall over Zack Ryder.

[CrypticVillain]

So, this thread is beyond dead.

You wanna know why???

 

 

Grumpy Cat might win the IC Title next week.

When I saw that, I was speechless. Why in the world is a meme hosting a wrestling show? The dumbest thing I think WWE has ever done.

 

Speaking of dumb things, I have no idea what is going on with TNA, I haven't watched since March I think. I don't even know who is champion right now. 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

You wanna know why???

 

 

When I saw that, I was speechless. Why in the world is a meme hosting a wrestling show? The dumbest thing I think WWE has ever done.

 

Speaking of dumb things, I have no idea what is going on with TNA, I haven't watched since March I think. I don't even know who is champion right now. 

 

Does TNA still exist? Do they have a tv deal?