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Bishopvi posted:I have a question for those of you who know a lot more about wrestling than me: don't get me wrong, I don't think she works safe, but I thought the same thing about brock lesnar and seth rollins. and she's hurt, like, between as many people as seth has and as many people as brock has, and they're both generally regarded as fine to keep working
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Sep 15, 2023 19:15
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Cat Hatter posted:BTW, if any AEW enthusiasts want to let me know when the wrestler formerly known as Sasha Banks shows up that would probably tip the scales enough for me to give the show a try. She would have been wrestling at All In if it wasn't for her leg injury. She was in the crowd at least. But you are currently missing out on such amazing gimmicks as: - Toni Storm as a broken-minded faded Hollywood starlet from the 1950s who is constantly throwing shoes and people and animals for no reason. - Christian Cage as a guy who will make unbroken eye contact with you while he bones your mother. - Rodrick Strong as the most pitiful weiner of a man who happens to wear a neckbrace before and after his matches while pathetically screaming Adam Cole's name. It rules. - Juice Robinson as what Animal from the Muppets would be like as a human being.
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Sep 15, 2023 19:41
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Gavok posted:She would have been wrestling at All In if it wasn't for her leg injury. She was in the crowd at least. -Orange Cassidy existing. I just have so many other things to watch and no TNT. But women's wrestling is what got me back into WWE for a few years and my wife and I agreed a while back that if one of "The Four Horsewomen of NXT", Asuka, or Naomi went to AEW we'd start watching.
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Sep 15, 2023 19:56
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nia jaxx is the rocks cousin and if shes wrestling then perhaps then maybe the rock will appear at wrestlemania...
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Sep 15, 2023 23:22
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David D. Davidson posted:It was the 80s. If you got over (and not just in wrestling but literally ANYTHING) you merched the poo poo out of it. Jerry Lawler had a roofing/siding/windows company that he used to advertise on USWA TV spots. I think he said it was more of a tax write off, but I bet he made a killing on it. He could do NO wrong in Memphis back then. Take that as you will.
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Sep 15, 2023 23:40
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Cat Hatter posted:-Orange Cassidy existing. I love AEW and I watch every show every week. I only say that up front because as a big fan, I think it'll take a lot more than just Mercedes being on the show to make their women's division any more than mid. They've got a lot of fantastic talent but TK isn't doing aew justice from that side IMO. (apparently RoH is killing it in the women's division so you may want to consider checking that out, esp if you're an NXT Gold fan. I hear it's comparable)
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Sep 15, 2023 23:52
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The problem is that I want to watch AEW, it's just slightly too much work. I just need something to tip the scales.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:37
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Sometimes you gotta be the change you want to see in this world, Cat Hatter.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:48
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Orange Cassidy is appointment television. He rules.
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Sep 16, 2023 04:49
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At All In the person next to me *really* did not like Orange Cassidy… but they also seemed to hate pretty much everyone except Jay White and MJF so I guess that’s just wrestle brain Orange Cassidy owns
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Sep 16, 2023 11:39
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PEPSI for TV-GAME
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As I intend to go into a deep dive about Ryback, I wanted to do a prelude by discussing Goldberg for a second. But before that, some wrestling news has me talking about someone else who also relates to the subject: Jade Cargill. Word is that she’s leaving AEW to go to WWE, which is an interesting development. In the 80s and early 90s, it was easy to build someone up as an unstoppable force. So much of the product was based around having your big-name wrestlers squash jobbers. In the Monday Night War era and later, it became incredibly tricky, as there were less matches against nameless jobbers. Giving someone the Goldberg push is a huge can of worms for a lot of reasons. If you can get the ball rolling successfully, then you have to let the streak develop while letting the wrestler keep their distance from the top of the ladder. At the same time, what happens when this wrestler reaches the top tier? What happens when it’s time for them to do longer matches? Are they really prepared? What is the endgame? When is enough enough? Who gets the rub from ending the streak and what do you do with them? What is this no-longer-unstoppable wrestler's career after the streak? JADE CARGILL: THE GOLDBERG OF AEW In November 2020, Cody Rhodes came out to cut a promo in front of an empty arena to talk about the possibility of restarting his feud with MJF. All of the sudden, Jade Cargill interrupted. No theme song or big entrance or anything. She just kind of walked into the ring and started talking. Nobody watching had any idea who she was. She did not have the most impactful first appearance other than making things feel incredibly awkward. At the very least, she did get people talking by mentioning her friend, who inexplicably wanted a piece of Cody. Her friend being Shaquille O’Neal. Initially, this was to set up a tag match of Cody and his wife Brandi against Shaq and Jade. Not a bad idea, considering they wanted to establish Jade while using Shaq to get people’s eye on the match. The build involved some really odd interview segments. Most notably was a sitdown interview involving Brandi and Shaq, where the two seemed friendly enough until Shaq suggested Brandi scout footage of Jade training and not to underestimate her. This caused Brandi to throw a drink into Shaq’s face and tell him off, giving us this.  Anyway, Brandi became pregnant, so they couldn’t do the match. Instead, she was replaced by Red Velvet, who was just... some random woman who wrestled a lot on AEW Dark. It was like they threw a dart at a list of women on the roster. The match featured a crazy spot of Cody and Shaq going through a couple tables, which allowed Jade to take out Red Velvet on her own. Shaq was put in an ambulance and then literally vanished. He was never seen again. Jade started her singles career and after one or two squash victories, they played up an angle where different heel managers wanted to represent her. She turned them all down until doofus lawyer “Smart” Mark Sterling somehow convinced her that they would make a good pairing. One of the things he suggested that got her attention was that he would only get paid if she won, showing confidence in her skills. Jade spent six months squashing anyone she was put up against, usually within a minute or two. She did technically lose a match, but it was a battle royal, so nobody really counts it. Otherwise, she just kept going over throwaway talent like Blair Onyx and Amber Nova. Probably her first major singles win was in a three-way against Nyla Rose and Thunder Rosa, a full six months after debuting. They certainly wanted to make her a big deal, but they did not want to put her into the title picture, even though she had no reason not to be challenging for the belt at this point. So while AEW had the TNT Championship as the secondary male singles title, they decided to hold a tournament for the TBS Championship to crown a secondary women’s champ. Jade went through Red Velvet (again), Thunder Rosa, and Ruby Soho to become the inaugural TBS Champion. At that point, those were three of the longest matches she had ever had. Jade squashes became a regular part of Rampage, which had long lost its luster as an overall important show. At least she started having bigger matches against more well-known AEW talent like Tay Melo, Anna Jay, and the Bunny. Not the most high-level of challengers, but it was something. At least she made the TBS Championship feel like a completely different beast than the AEW Women's Championship. Jade was in a weird position where she felt like she was on the cusp of being a major deal. She looked like a star. For someone with limited experience, she wasn’t the worst in the ring. Bryan Danielson was even training her personally. Not only did they protect her with her undefeated streak, but when it came time for her to eat poo poo in the build to her matches, it usually revolved around Mark Sterling getting his face shoved into a cake or something. At All Out 2022, Jade defended against Athena (WWE’s Ember Moon), who felt like a fresh possibility to dethrone her despite being maybe a little too new. Jade had been TBS Champion for eight months by this point. Still, Jade won and people started to wonder where they were going with this. Not only did she win, but the match was only four minutes long. Around this time, Jade started putting together her own little stable of followers called the Baddies. It took a couple weeks to figure this out as originally it was just a few women wrestlers being in the stands, cheering her on a little too obnoxiously. Then it just became having Leila Grey, Red Velvet, and Kiera Hogan hang around her during her entrances and occasionally being in tag matches with her. That I had to look up these names should tell you how gripping this was. It did lead to Jade winning yet another match against Red Velvet, though. Seriously, if it wasn’t for all the Jade Cargill matches, I could not tell you a thing about Red Velvet other than how she has a “mixing a bowl” taunt. All Jade had going on for the next forever was a feud with Nyla Rose and a cringey attempt at a celebrity storyline with rapper Bow Wow (formerly Lil Bow Wow) that just kind of ended before anything could happen with it. Otherwise, Jade was just in her own bubble, winning squash matches on Rampage and never dealing with the likes of Shida, Britt Baker, Saraya, Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter, Riho, etc. Let it be said, there WAS a plan for Jade’s streak. Tony Khan absolutely had an idea of who was going to be the next TBS Champion. It was going to be Kris Statlander, probably the most popular female face on the roster who had not been champion. Statlander was, on paper, the perfect woman to hand Jade her first loss. The problem was that Statlander hosed up her knee in August of 2022 and she was going to be out for a long time. That was seven months into Jade’s title run. Having Athena lose so badly to Jade was more of a head-scratcher (especially since Athena later became so great in ROH as their women’s champion), but Tony Khan was very adamant that Statlander was the next TBS Champion. She was going to get that rub and nobody else. Jade then stepped into a feud with Taya Valkyrie, which was pretty awful. The idea was that the two had the same finisher, so Jade was able to have Smart Mark get a match approved where Taya was not allowed to use it, as it was Jade’s property or whatever. Taya then almost went for the finisher during the match, got confused when the ref told her to stop, and ended up losing. The idea was that it would be fuel for a PPV rematch where Taya was allowed to use said move, meaning Jade was going to be in trouble. In the lead-up, Jade started becoming so cocky that she would go through several challengers at a time. She would win a match, Mark would call out a new challenger, and they too would get squashed. By this point, Jade had well over 50 wins. At Double or Nothing 2023, Jade defeated Taya in the rematch. Afterwards, she wanted another challenger for the hell of it. Kris Statlander made her shocking return and beat Jade in less than a minute. Statlander was FINALLY back from her injury and Jade’s title run had lasted nearly a year and a half. Jade was champion for over 500 days. It was a run that got so, so tired and ran out of gas because Tony Khan insisted on the one viable challenger. And when it came time to have Jade lose, it was because she had wrestled twice in one night, which did not make Statlander look all that great. Jade's first loss felt almost meaningless. After that, Jade left TV and it was a wonder if she was just done with wrestling. Social media made it seem like she was checked out and she was rich enough that she didn’t need the job. She made a surprise return four months later to save Statlander from a beatdown, only to lay her out herself. A match was signed for Rampage. It seemed like an odd choice. If we were getting a fair version of Jade vs. Statlander, why do it on the lesser of the three AEW shows? We're days a way from a major show in Queens. There's also another PPV in a few weeks. Why now on Rampage? Then it made sense when it was apparent that her contract is up and she is seemingly going to WWE. You want her to go out on her back, but you don't want to give her too much spotlight. And so, Jade put over the TBS Champion in a pretty good ten-minute match. Afterwards, the two celebrated in the ring, showing each other respect. AEW had Jade as an unbeatable force for three years and everyone pretty much agrees that they did not do nearly enough with her. WWE, for all their problems, might actually be able to use her to her potential better.
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Sep 17, 2023 00:21
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Sep 17, 2023 23:39
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burger king rear end crown
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Sep 18, 2023 01:45
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Sadly, that's a fake.
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Sep 18, 2023 02:38
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Cornwind Evil posted:Sadly, that's a fake. It's as real as wrestling can ever be.
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Sep 18, 2023 07:14
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Gavok posted:AEW had Jade as an unbeatable force for three years and everyone pretty much agrees that they did not do nearly enough with her. WWE, for all their problems, might actually be able to use her to her potential better. No they won't. They'll blow up her knees in the performance center and then they'll feed her to Charlotte.
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Sep 18, 2023 08:12
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You can't talk about Jade Cargill without actually showing Jade Cargill: She should be a superstar.
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Sep 18, 2023 08:22
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Shaq's mysterious disapearnce hasn't been touched on enough. He was put in an ambulance but then it was empty! Shaq has never appeared on AEW since that moment. Hopefully one day an ambulance pulls up during a match and out steps Shaq.
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Sep 18, 2023 09:19
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Random rear end celebrity appearances are just some of the extra fun of wrestling. Including at least one former President, unfortunately. I'm told Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler in his youth, for that matter.
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Sep 18, 2023 09:34
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GokuGoesSSj69 posted:Shaq's mysterious disapearnce hasn't been touched on enough. He was put in an ambulance but then it was empty! Shaq has never appeared on AEW since that moment. Hopefully one day an ambulance pulls up during a match and out steps Shaq. The episode of Shaq life covering this was handled the worst way possible: Basically, it was kayfabed so Cody taking Shaq through the table was treated like some unconscionable act but they don't mention the ambulance disappearance at all!
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Sep 18, 2023 10:18
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Ghost Leviathan posted:I'm told Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler in his youth, for that matter. But was he like a Kurt Angle before or after he joined the fed?
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Sep 18, 2023 11:00
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Bogus Adventure posted:You can't talk about Jade Cargill without actually showing Jade Cargill: If she goes to WWE she's going to need to fight Asuka for custody of that hair color. GokuGoesSSj69 posted:Shaq's mysterious disapearnce hasn't been touched on enough. He was put in an ambulance but then it was empty! Shaq has never appeared on AEW since that moment. Hopefully one day an ambulance pulls up during a match and out steps Shaq. Shaq drives an ambulance the the ring then grabs a firehose out of the back and sprays everyone down with bandaids.
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Sep 18, 2023 11:11
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Cat Hatter posted:If she goes to WWE she's going to need to fight Asuka for custody of that hair color. Also for that place on the card as technically a main eventer, but lol.
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Sep 18, 2023 11:13
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Ghost Leviathan posted:I'm told Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler in his youth, for that matter. Motherfucker should have worked on the muscles in the back of his head.
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Sep 18, 2023 12:35
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Ambassadorofsodomy posted:Motherfucker should have worked on the muscles in the back of his head. Doesn't help much when someone'a shooting on you.
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Sep 18, 2023 13:12
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Grendels Dad posted:Doesn't help much when someone'a shooting on you. Terry Funk would have shaken it off and called John Wilkes Booth a sissy.
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Sep 18, 2023 13:16
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Ghost Leviathan posted:It's as real as wrestling can ever be. Touche.
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Sep 19, 2023 03:56
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terry funk has wrestled throughout the centuries under different names one of those names was Abraham Lincoln
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Sep 19, 2023 04:04
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Szyznyk posted:Terry Funk would have shaken it off and called John Wilkes Booth a sissy. mcfoley sticking his toungue throw his skull bullet wound
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Sep 19, 2023 04:26
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16-bit Butt-Head posted:terry funk has wrestled throughout the centuries under different names one of those names was Abraham Lincoln Was another one Plato
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Sep 19, 2023 04:29
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16-bit Butt-Head posted:terry funk has wrestled throughout the centuries under different names one of those names was Abraham Lincoln His whole stable was something else. Burnin' Sherman really lit a fire in the crowd in his famous Savannah match.
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Sep 19, 2023 06:08
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Was another one Plato yeah and Arrhichion of Phigalia
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Sep 19, 2023 07:54
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so terry funk is just enkidu?
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Sep 19, 2023 07:58
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EVERYBODY LOVES THE BIG GUY PRELUDE: THE RISE AND FALL OF GOLDBERG Despite being a major name in wrestling’s hottest period, Bill Goldberg is more interesting as a cog in a broken machine than he is a person. Truth be told, with all the huge egos and out-of-control behavior in wrestling, Goldberg was mostly just a guy going about his business. Sure, he was kind of a dick to Chris Jericho, but otherwise he was a guy who got into wrestling, became huge out of nowhere, was fumbled by others, and just treated the whole thing like a job. It's actually kind of refreshing, really. Goldberg joined WCW in 1997. He was a former football player who was convinced to give wrestling a try by Sting and Lex Luger, who went to the same gym. He did a few dark matches and house shows, including a loss against Chad Fortune of all people. I had to look him up and shrugged. Finally, he arrived on Nitro in September of that year, getting what seemed like a throwaway match against Hugh Morris. Goldberg defeated him in under three minutes, angrily ignored Mean Gene on the way to the back, and the show moved on. In the months that followed, Goldberg took on random opponents and cut through them in only a couple of minutes. In some cases, mere seconds! In a promotion that was overflowing with huge classic names from WCW and WWF past, this intense, angry dude was really picking up steam and was starting to stand out. Five months into the run, he had a match against Steven Regal. This match is infamous as it went an entire FIVE MINUTES and stretching it out so much really exposed Goldberg for being really green in the ring. Regal was fired this. Days later, Goldberg had a house show match against Steve “Mongo” McMichael that went nine minutes and holy poo poo, I can’t imagine what that looked like. Goldberg kept going and going with the quick squashes. Fans started bringing signs celebrating his streak. Then he faced Raven for the United States Championship on Nitro in a Raven’s Rules match. It was a match where Raven could have his entire stable fight with him and even then, Goldberg annihilated them all and pinned Raven. It was the coolest poo poo. “Da Man” kept winning squash after squash until on an episode of WCW Thunder, it was very randomly announced that Hollywood Hogan would defend the WCW Championship against Goldberg on the following Nitro. Keep in mind that they had in no way been building up towards this as a story. It’s a decision that’s been argued and seen as a symptom of WCW’s problems for years. The match was purely done as a ratings ploy (and it worked!), but the Georgia Dome was already sold out and this easily would have been one of WCW’s biggest PPV main events ever. But they just... threw it away. Hogan did really want to do the match as Turner brass would be in attendance and if they saw that a Hogan title match was headlining the show, it would allow him to take the credit. You know, even though the show was sold out before the match was announced. It’s silly, but Hogan knew what he was doing. He also agreed to drop the title to Goldberg, figuring that he would get his win back down the line. So Goldberg beat Scott Hall early in the night to get a title shot against Hogan in the main event. A match that Goldberg ended up winning. It was such a huge, star-making moment. The big, invincible, unbeaten (asterisk thanks to Chad Fortune) homegrown talent was now the champion. What now? Well, now he would just keep doing what he was doing. Several days later, at the next PPV, Goldberg would just run through Curt Hennig in four minutes while Hogan, DDP, and some basketball players were the main event. Goldberg was the champion, but he wasn’t the focus. He barely even had any storyline stuff going on. That made it extra frustrating that they wouldn’t do Goldberg vs. Jericho as it would have at least given him something to do. Goldberg mostly fought guys like Al Green, Jerry Flynn, and Scott Putski. Though he did face the Giant and Meng a bunch of times, who were treated as level one stage bosses. He did at least get matches against Sting and DDP, which solidified his title run, even if the Sting match ended with Hogan interference. Then we got to Starrcade ’98. The previous year’s show was infamous for how they took the biggest thing the company had – Sting vs. Hogan – and fumbled it as badly as possible. In 1998, with Goldberg’s Streak being WCW’s biggest deal, their handling of its demise was fumbled just as badly. Maybe even worse. Kevin Nash, Goldberg’s victorious opponent that night, gets blame for booking himself into this position, but he would argue against the accusations, pointing out that he in no way looked good in this victory other than how he beat the Streak on paper. Basically, the match ended with a string of run-ins from Bam Bam Bigelow, Disco Inferno (angling for nWo membership), and Scott Hall. Hall was armed with a taser and zapped Goldberg, allowing Nash to win the title. A couple weeks later, this was followed up by the Fingerpoke of Doom where Nash took a fall for Hogan and the two nWo factions combined into one big heel stable. This was meant to be a way to rebuild Goldberg as a killer by gradually having him go through the entire group, but it didn’t work out like that. Hell, Hogan turned face months later anyway. I could go through all of Goldberg’s history in WCW, but it’s really just a bunch of bummers and bad decisions that hurt his stock. His accidental ending of Bret Hart’s career. His failed heel turn. The time he shredded his arm by accident for punching through a car window. The Vince Russo “this part of the show is real” bullshit. Goldberg ended up being temporarily written out of the company and didn’t get a chance to come back before WCW imploded and was sold to Vince. Goldberg sat out his contract. As he did so, WCW invaded WWF. The New World Order invaded WWF. Eric Bischoff showed up. The company introduced a guy with a Goldberg-like vibe in Brock Lesnar. Then, in 2003, the night after WrestleMania, Goldberg appeared on Raw to Spear the Rock. Unfortunately, this debut would take place a day after what was Steve Austin’s final match for nearly 20 years. While Goldberg was in WWE, we would never get the epic dream match of Austin vs. Goldberg. And believe me, back during the Monday Night War, that was THE match everyone talked about. Way more than Undertaker vs. Sting. The Rock, on his way out of the company, cut maybe the most cocaine-induced promo I’ve ever seen before losing to Goldberg. And then Goldberg’s WWE career really got going in a year-long run where he got nearly everything, but not enough. On one hand, Goldberg won nearly all of his matches. On the other hand, his matches were longer on average than they were in WCW. Vince was okay with the huge win-loss record, but wasn’t comfortable with letting, say, Mark Henry look like a geek to the guy from WCW. The most interesting part of this run was SummerSlam 2003, where they did an Elimination Chamber for the World Heavyweight Championship, held by Triple H. Goldberg proceeded to effortlessly run through everyone else like they were nothing and a spooked and cornered Triple H could only escape via cheating. A month later, Goldberg destroyed him in a rematch and became champion. Any wrestler would KILL for that kind of booking, but the belief was that WWE really hosed up hardcore because they didn’t make Goldberg look strong enough. Granted, this was during Triple H’s painful Reign of Terror, and it was only a few months before he won the belt back. As World Heavyweight Champion, Goldberg was featured in a segment at Survivor Series where he confronted SmackDown’s WWE Champion Brock Lesnar backstage. They crossed paths again at Royal Rumble, where Goldberg pissed Brock off enough that Brock did a run-in during the Rumble match itself and kicked Goldberg’s rear end. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar was definitely a major dream match. Maybe the last viable dream match three years after the death of WCW. Brock was always compared to Goldberg and even though he was different enough, they definitely felt like an evenly-matched pair of athletic hosses. It would take place at WrestleMania 20 with Steve Austin as the special referee. Goldberg’s contract was running out at WrestleMania 20 and he only had a few contracted dates left. They needed Austin and Brock to carry the storyline for the most part, since Goldberg could only be on TV for a limited amount of appearances. This made it very obvious that Brock was winning. After all, if Goldberg was leaving WWE, he was going to go out on his back. Brock was seen as the future of the company. And then the other shoe dropped. Mere days before the show, Brock talked to Vince and said he wanted out. He was tired of being in WWE. He was tired of the travel. He wanted to try out for the Minesota Vikings. Vince ended up agreeing with this and made WrestleMania 20 his final show. What could have easily been the main event despite its lack of title instead became buried in the midcard. Goldberg vs. Brock was an utter disaster as everyone in MSG knew that neither man was going to be there on Monday. They booed the poo poo out of the match. Goldberg and Brock gave them reason to boo by intentionally putting on a massive stinker. It was a total slog that ended with Goldberg winning. After all, he gave proper notice. To end the segment on a happy note, Austin delivered Stunners to the two. That seemed to be it for Goldberg. At the very least, we wouldn’t see him again for a long, long time. He appeared to be done with wrestling completely. He was never too attached to it, which was probably healthy. He made his money and he could move on. Brock’s time away from WWE was more eventful, but he also would not be back for a long while. The company eventually realized that they needed a new Goldberg. They needed to create one. Stephanie McMahon saw a jacked goblin in developmental and realized that they had their man.
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Sep 19, 2023 15:18
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EVERYBODY LOVES THE BIG GUY: PART 1 As the first half of 2004 got rid of Goldberg and Brock Lesnar, the latter half would introduce someone who would one day be plugged into that spot. WWE’s Tough Enough was doing their fourth "season" (it was no longer its own TV show) and Ryan Reeves was one of the contestants. Despite his impressive look, Reeves did not win the contest. He did catch the attention of WWE officials, though. Let me tell you, that is the BEST-CASE SCENARIO for being in Tough Enough. I don’t want to do a whole thing on Tough Enough’s history, but winning the whole thing is a terrible curse. Of the show’s six seasons, there have been a total of 11 winners and the only one to have real success is John Hennigan (John Morrison/Johnny Mundo/Johnny TV). The problem was that it takes time to be TV ready and winning Tough Enough meant that they were rushing you and putting too much of a spotlight while other wrestlers were not happy with your position to begin with. But if you make enough of a splash for WWE to keep in touch? Well, then you can get the proper training. You can go to developmental and take your time. Reeves got that opportunity and spent several years in OVW and FCW. Initially, he called himself Ryback. Then WWE wanted him to change his name to Skip Sheffield. He was going to be called up... to another developmental thing. At least this time it was on TV. I’ve discussed the original seasons of NXT in this thread. It was a quasi-reality show where rookie wrestlers were matched up with their pros and were gradually voted off until one guy would win and get moved to the main roster, while earning a free title shot. “The Cornfed Meathead” Skip Sheffield was an upbeat dude in a cowboy hat who with the catchphrase, “Yip yip yip, what it do?” His pro was William Regal, who was more aghast at having to speak sense into this muscle-headed idiot. Sheffield lost a lot (not as much as Daniel Bryan, due to Vince being loving weird and petty) and decided to act heelish. This did not really go anywhere, as he was voted out early on. Weeks later, Wade Barrett won the contract and the main event spot. Now, NXT Season 1 is mainly remembered for two things. One is Daniel Bryan getting jobbed out like crazy because, again, Vince is loving weird and petty. The other is the creation of the Nexus. During the main event of Raw, where John Cena was taking on CM Punk, Barrett walked out the entrance. Then we saw various NXT rookies in the crowd. Then they started jumping the rail and proceeded to lay waste to everyone and everything around the ring. They mainly focused on Cena. They were now Barrett's flunkies. They were the Nexus. Of the eight members of the Nexus, they each seemed to have some kind of special role. Wade Barrett: The charismatic leader and top threat. Potentially a major heel in the making. Daniel Bryan: The workhorse of the group. The one you could rely on to have awesome matches. David Otunga: Despite his lack of in-ring ability, he had muscle and personality. Justin Gabriel: He could do a flippy move! Heath Slater: Great at selling offense, which would play an important role come SummerSlam. Darren Young: Um... kind of looked like John Cena in blackface? That’s something, right? Michael Tarver: He... uh... hm. He was a guy. Skip Sheffield: The scary monster of the group. Of course, Bryan was gone within a couple days due to sponsors being mad about him strangling announcer Justin Roberts with a tie. He’d be back, but that was it for him in the Nexus. Sheffield no longer had any of the goofy cowboy stuff anymore. He was just a wide-eyed beast and they made sure to protect him. While Nexus got by via attacking their enemies like locusts, Sheffield was the one who could easily stand on his own. SummerSlam 2010 gave us a main event of the Nexus vs. Team Cena in an elimination tag match. Cena’s team included R-Truth, John Morrison, Edge, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, and the surprise return of Daniel Bryan. Edge and Jericho were heels who realized they needed to work with Cena out of desperation. Bret Hart was in the match despite having severe brain issues where even taking a single bump could potentially kill him. In other words, they REALLY had to write around his inability to take any offense whatsoever. That’s where Heath Slater came in, as he was at least able to make Bret’s punches look like gold and bounce around like a pinball. Sheffield was treated like a juggernaut. When he and Cena shared the ring together, it was a stalemate. Then Sheffield took out both Morrison and R-Truth by himself. Bret Hart stepped in and smacked Sheffield in the back with a chair, which not only worked to get Bret out of the match without hurting him in any way (DQ), but weakened Sheffield so he could eat a Spear from Edge and lose in a way that made him look strong. In the end, Cena won the match in a way that even he admitted made him look way too unbeatable and buried the Nexus as a stable. The storyline would continue, but three days after the event, Sheffield would shatter his leg during a house show. It was severe enough that he was gone for almost a year and a half. After lots of house show and dark matches, he wouldn’t appear on TV until April 2012. During that time, the Nexus had run its course. The Nexus, the New Nexus, and even its offshoot the Corre were dead and buried. When he returned, he was now Ryback. He wore a singlet made by the same guy who gave Rob Van Dam his gear. He crushed jobbers like they were nothing. His only named opponents were guys incredibly low on the WWE totem pole like Johnny Curtis and Tyler Reks. Soon he started taking on two jobbers at a time and would even be able to do his finisher, the Shellshock (basically a spruced-up Samoan Drop with marching). The guy had the charisma to pull off what was blatantly an attempt to create a new Goldberg. There were surely “GOLDBERG” chants here and there, but luckily there were also chants of his catchphrase “FEED! ME! MORE!” Ryback’s deal was that he was always hungry for both food and competition. The line was like his legally-distinct version of Goldberg’s “WHO’S NEXT?!” I’m not going to lie, Ryback was cool as gently caress a lot of the time, even if he did feel like he was spinning his wheels. The way he would smack the side of his bald head while yelling, “STUPID!” at his downed opponent was great. He was likeable and he had great intensity. His only actual storyline during his build-up was Jinder Mahal escaping a real loss from Ryback for a couple weeks via DQ and count out, only to finally eat a pin. Around this time, Ryback was finally starting to face real midcarders like Jack Swagger and the Miz. They were definitely behind him. In the main event scene, WWE Champion CM Punk’s lengthy title reign caused him to turn heel due to jealousy over John Cena. Punk had started hanging out with Paul Heyman and became paranoid about the possibility of Cena coming for his title soon. They were penciled in for a match at Hell in a Cell 2012, but Cena’s body was pretty banged up. It was very questionable if Cena was going to be able to do the match at all. And so, an episode of Raw ended with Cena smacking Punk around with a lead pipe and sending him away with his tail tucked behind his legs. As Cena celebrated in the ring (“Now that’s what I call a pipe bomb!”), Punk and Heyman were seen backstage, fuming. They crossed paths with Mick Foley and Punk started beating the poo poo out of him. All of the sudden, Heyman became wide-eyed and gestured for Punk to get the gently caress out of there. Punk agreed and they backed away in a panic. The camera panned over to Ryback, standing over Foley’s beaten body and angrily staring daggers in Punk’s direction. It was happening.
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Sep 20, 2023 00:04
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If Terry Funk was Plato who was Diogenes? I'm trying to think of a wrestler that wouldn't get in a fight with a stray dog and masturbate in a marketplace, I can't narrow it down enough.
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Sep 20, 2023 00:21
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Baron von Eevl posted:If Terry Funk was Plato who was Diogenes? I'm trying to think of a wrestler that wouldn't get in a fight with a stray dog and masturbate in a marketplace, I can't narrow it down enough. Butcher Vachon?
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Sep 20, 2023 00:32
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I remember Goldberg being insanely popular when I was in middle school. I didn't even watch wrestling and I knew about him. He was just a rip off of Stone Cold right? That had to be what they were going for.
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Sep 20, 2023 02:58
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Extra Large Marge posted:I remember Goldberg being insanely popular when I was in middle school. I didn't even watch wrestling and I knew about him. the only thing they have in common is that they are both bald and wore black which isnt uncommon in wrestling
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Sep 20, 2023 03:09
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I never felt like Goldberg was a ripoff of Stone Cold because the man was barely capable of speech.
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Sep 20, 2023 03:09
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