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Since sports are cancelled and we're all kind of stuck with each other until we decide to log out (lol), I thought it might be fun to make a thread where we can discuss the wrestlers and gimmicks that we love... to the complete bemusement of just about everyone else. OSW Review has a running gag where they talk about these sorts of wrestlers, who they identify as "boys", or "cailíns" in the case of women. They have laid down a few criteria as to who is allowed to be a boy: 1.) Your wrestler can't already be popular or much-loved by significant portions of the wrestling fanbase. The Rock can't be your boy, and Becky Lynch can't be your cailín no matter how much you cry about it. Nor can Mil Mascaras (I'm looking at you, MRT) or Kenta Kobashi. You also can't have the likes of Christian or Matt Hardy because most people seem to realise that they're great already. 2.) Your wrestler should have some sort of cringe factor. Imagine you're in some bizarre alternate dimension where you have friends and one decides to watch a bit of wrestling with you. You're into what's going on on-screen, but your friend raises an eyebrow asking, "What the Hell is going on? Why are they doing that? That's not normal, you do realise this?". Cringey wrestlers may have a particularly weird or off-putting gimmick (eg The Boogeyman) or just be kind of bad in the ring. Anything embarrassing really. 3.) Your wrestler shouldn't be a world champion in a major promotion. If a wrestler is a world champion then it usually means they've been deemed good enough to reach main event status, and are thus popular enough to carry a promotion. We're looking for more underappreciated favourites! 4.) Point 3 can be disputed in certain circumstances. For example, some people (who??) have maintained that Jinder Mahal is still a boy because he falls into the first two criteria, and because his world title run flopped and was awful (also, WWE has watered down the concept of "world titles" so much that we'd be excluding the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and The Great Khali otherwise). World champions that were mostly transitional or brief in nature, such as Ronnie Garvin, may also be eligible. So have a think and post your favourite unfavourite wrestlers below, then argue with each other about why you're right and everyone else is wrong. Here's one from my teenage years: René Duprée. Why? - Good-looking guy in the David Schwimmer kind-of-ugly sort of way. Very large unnatural-looking body. - I remember him being kind of good in the ring, at least better than Sylvain Grenier which I know isn't a high watermark. - Had a racist heel gimmick where he was evil because he was French and France was against the invasion of Iraq. I was/am an annoying mini-hippie who thought the war stunk, so I always stuck up for the evil foreigners. Winner of WON's Worst Tag Team for 2003. - His La Resistance theme and titantron video, highlighting his dance and use of a poodle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZyjueVWuo - Has since gone to Japan and got some bad tattoos.
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Apr 3, 2020 13:11
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Peter Avalon. Seems really solid in the ring, awesome character and has had some legit funny comedy spots in the matches I've seen. He's absolutely stellar in his vignettes too. The librarians CSI thing is great
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Apr 3, 2020 14:14
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I love Shawn Spears. I feel like the only person who loves him more is Cody Rhodes. I loved him when he was the Perfect 10 in WWE and was incredibly excited when he signed with AEW. I've really enjoyed every one of his matches, I think he has a ton of personality, and I think people are finally starting to see what I saw years ago since I've seen a lot of praise for the stuff he's doing outside the ring on the last few AEW episodes.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:17
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Alex Wright always struck me that should have been bigger than he was. I think with a little seasoning and proper training he could have been a solid B+ player backing up WCW's cruiserweights.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:45
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Paul Burchill never had the looks, and his most well-known gimmick is probably the random pirate gimmick he got when Vince once discovered Pirates of the Caribbean for a couple weeks. For his time, he was a pretty good bruiser-style mid-carder for the ECW. He was also deceptively agile at the time for a guy that was about 6 foot and 250 pounds. It's a lot more common now than back then, and he's not as good as say, a much bigger and much more agile Keith Lee, but Burchill was like THE prototype Murphy. He also had two really sick finishers (The standing Spanish Fly and the Curb Stomp). I wish he had gotten an immediate run somewhere relevant after the WWE. Kotaro Suzuki is a guy I discovered at the very start of my dive into Puro while looking up KENTA matches. There were some spots in the KENTA vs Suzuki match that were right out of the Eddie Guererro playbook and I was on the edge of my seat that whole match. He doesn't have a super spectacular career, but he's always stood out of one of those guys that I really wish had gone on to do much better things because I don't feel like he ever hit his peak. Suzuki's biggest issue is that you could tell he had a thousand different ideas for every major match he had, but he wasn't great at setting them up or the slow build. Damien 666: I really can't explain why I like the guy. I saw him for the first time in WCW in a match that Tony and Bobby shat all over (The "Mexican Death Match"). Years later I looked him up in some other promotions and he's not an amazing brawler or anything, there's just something about him I keep getting drawn to
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Apr 3, 2020 14:46
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This is hard because my taste is undeniably great. Taichi would maybe the closest to this for me but most people have come around & realised that Taichi is great fun. I can't even say Ian Rotten, because I know the Segunda Caida crew really like Ian's work (nobody likes Ian the human being). Okay, uhhhh, racking my brains. The real candidates are going to be mid '00s indies and early ECW, where there were some really bad poo poo. Going back to the Ian Rotten kick, when I was getting into indy wrestling one of the first promotions I saw was IWA Mid South, and I quickly got quite into death matches for a little while. There's a few names from the IWAMS death match crew I have a soft spot who no one really talks about, be it former AWA & WWF job guy Bull mother loving Pain, Mad Man Pondo & a couple who are sadly not with us any longer in Brian Damage (I really liked his Vulgar Display Of Power tag team with Deranged) & JC Bailey. But the one guy I'm going to mention is the 2005 King of the Death Match, Toby Klein. Odds are that unless you watched CZW or IWA Mid South in between 2002 & 2009 you've not heard of Mr Insanity Toby Klein. He was a death match, guy he did a few dates in Japan with Big Japan but in the US probably the biggest stage he wrestled on was the 2009 Chikara King of Trios (in The Death Match Kings with Necro Butcher & Brain Damage). So he's definitely not much loved, nae oval office knows he even exists, he's a death match guy who has done a whole lot of dumb poo poo which is very much a "why are they doing that?" thing for most well-thinking people, and the most high profile belt he held was the CZW Iron Man Championship. So he counts. As for the why, well, one, he had a weird charisma to him, I'm not sure I can even explain that one really, there was just something about him. He was bonkers. His tag team with Necro Butcher, Tough Crazy Bastards? Great death match/brawlers. Honestly, kind of similar to Necro in a lot of ways. He liked to horrendous Shibata style shoot headbutts, in fact I remember at least one match where he had Necro just sat down on steel chairs in the middle of the air and punched each other full wallop in the face. Look, it was a pre-Benoit murder world, this poo poo was loving cool when I was 22. If I was going to recommend one match I'd maybe say just go to watch a H8 Club (Justice Pain & Nick Gage) vs Tough Crazy Bastards match for the CZW Tag Titles in 11/6/2005, the same day as the legendary Necro vs Samoa Joe violence festival. And it starts with Toby running out on his own to get beat up and it's a really loving dumb, violent, bloody mess with unprotected chair shots & shoot punches & it is the very definition of a "not for everyone" wild brawl but man. Also, the 2006 KOTDM final with Mr Insanity vs Necro & JC Bailey in a 200 Lighttubes match. Also remember the 2006 KOTDM opener against Jacob Ladder in a Taipei death match being an absolute bloody mess as you'd expect for a match where both guy have broken glass on their fists. And the 2006 Double Death Tournament semi-final with Tough Crazy Bastards against Drake Younger & Ian Rotten in a fans bring the weapons match. I dunno, this is my shout. He's not bad at what he does but it's very much a case of "not for everyone". And I'll grant you that I might not actually be this positive about his stuff if I rewatched it today.
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Apr 3, 2020 14:47
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the X-Man Maggott
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Apr 3, 2020 14:49
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Crapple! posted:Peter Avalon. Seems really solid in the ring, awesome character and has had some legit funny comedy spots in the matches I've seen. He's absolutely stellar in his vignettes too. The librarians CSI thing is great Beat me to it.
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Apr 3, 2020 15:26
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essa rios was my guy in the late 90s bc i basically only watched smackdown and sunday night heat because i had an antenna tv in my room and that's where i watched wrestling once my brother "moved on" and i became slightly embarrased. he had bright red hair and did way cooler poo poo than anyone on wwf shows save taka michinoku (also my boy, but he's a more popular boy) plus he had lita with him who was cool and did moonsaults. and then lita was with the hardy boyz and essa rios vanished. i know ive read up on him working in mexico and such, and apparently he looks crazy nowadays, but hey thats wrasslin. also, i'll stan for al snow. idgaf i was amused by him when i was a kid, i thought the job squad was a funny idea because i was a little smark, and i still think the snowplow is a good, simple finisher with a lot of impact.
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Apr 3, 2020 15:56
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shiksa posted:essa rios was my guy in the late 90s bc i basically only watched smackdown and sunday night heat because i had an antenna tv in my room and that's where i watched wrestling once my brother "moved on" and i became slightly embarrased. he had bright red hair and did way cooler poo poo than anyone on wwf shows save taka michinoku (also my boy, but he's a more popular boy) plus he had lita with him who was cool and did moonsaults. and then lita was with the hardy boyz and essa rios vanished. i know ive read up on him working in mexico and such, and apparently he looks crazy nowadays, but hey thats wrasslin.
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Apr 3, 2020 15:58
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I always liked Carlito. I was a big fan of the wacky haired dude who wore a Hawaian shirt and ate apples. His ladder match with Jeff Hardy was awesome. And showed what he could do when he tried. Also now I know he was fired/disliked by WWE management because he was too lazy/laid back backstage makes me love him more.
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Apr 3, 2020 16:01
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Ahmed Johnson was a favorite of mine. He wasn't especially good in the ring and his promos were awful, he was injury-prone and he injured others, but he had a presence and some level of charisma that I'll never be able to explain. I also love the Tiger Driver so that played a factor. But I also remember his final Royal Rumble appearance; I was happy to see him back, but to see him get gassed so quick and thrown out so quietly had me disappointed. Monty Brown, mainly because of The Pounce. I feel like he could've done okay in WWE, but it made me sad to see him retire so early. Billy Kidman. After he broke away from The Flock I was really hoping to see him move up in the ranks, but he went into that awful Hogan feud and it was just "welp". Then he almost killed Chavo in WWE. Last one I can think of for now is Disco Inferno. I enjoyed his brief storyline where he had a new submission finisher (I think it was like a standing figure four), but it was so convoluted that he literally needed instructions on paper during the match to hook it in. The audience exploded when he finally finished putting on the hold, it was great. I have quite a few more but I'll just leave it with these four.
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Apr 3, 2020 17:45
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RealFoxy posted:Paul Burchill never had the looks, and his most well-known gimmick is probably the random pirate gimmick he got when Vince once discovered Pirates of the Caribbean for a couple weeks. For his time, he was a pretty good bruiser-style mid-carder for the ECW. He was also deceptively agile at the time for a guy that was about 6 foot and 250 pounds. It's a lot more common now than back then, and he's not as good as say, a much bigger and much more agile Keith Lee, but Burchill was like THE prototype Murphy. He also had two really sick finishers (The standing Spanish Fly and the Curb Stomp). I wish he had gotten an immediate run somewhere relevant after the WWE. He was a lot of fun, he had a great match with Nunzio on a Velocity taping in England and the crowd was drat hot for him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XJgkC7Fmas
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Apr 3, 2020 17:52
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I maintain that the The Mumbai Cats are the only good thing TNA has done since the Steiner Math promo. I love how committed they are to the act and adore how, unlike every other cat-based act besides Allie Kat, they get the actual cat mannerisms down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwPphTVRyg0 This is the kind of act I think would actually do better in WWE because you know Vince would throw subtlety out the window and cover their attire in fur and do vignettes where they use Ricochet as a litterbox.
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Apr 3, 2020 17:59
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I dunno if he counts, but I have a soft spot for YOSHI-HASHI. Dude's hot garbage most of the time, but sometimes he's got tremendous underdog energy.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:02
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scotty riggs
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Apr 3, 2020 18:03
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This might be a YMMV, but Hirooki Goto. At least judging by the way he's often talked about online and the reactions I saw at G1 Special back in 2018, I felt for quite some time like I might be America's only Hirooki Goto fan. He has that weird dad energy, the distinct stench of permanent mid-card hell dweller, and a constant aura of either not giving a gently caress or trying just a little too hard to be Shibata and/or Ishii, but I legitimately think I may like him more than either. One of my favorite commentary things in the 2019 G1 was Rocky Romero constantly putting over the hard work Goto had done, and coaching him from the commentary table to lay in those mid kicks more, and it resulted in a pretty good story about Goto struggling early, but really coming into his own as the tournament went on. I feel like he's really good for that particular kind of "struggles and comes up short, but gets the feel-good wins" story.
unimportantguy fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Apr 3, 2020 |
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Apr 3, 2020 18:23
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Aku posted:Monty Brown, mainly because of The Pounce. I feel like he could've done okay in WWE, but it made me sad to see him retire so early. I refuse to accept that anyone can not like Monty Brown. He loving ruled, the Pounce ruled & the fact that so few people ever stole it is really dumb. unimportantguy posted:This might be a YMMV, but Hirooki Goto. At least judging by the way he's often talked about online and the reactions I saw at G1 Special back in 2018, I felt for quite some time like I might be America's only Hirooki Goto fan. He has that weird dad energy, the distinct stench of permanent mid-card hell dweller, and a constant aura of either not giving a gently caress or trying just a little too hard to be Shibata and/or Ishii, but I legitimately think I may like him more than either. One of my favorite commentary things in the 2019 G1 was Rocky Romero constantly putting over the hard work Goto had done, and coaching him from the commentary table to lay in those mid kicks more, and it resulted in a pretty good story about Goto struggling early, but really coming into his own as the tournament went on. I feel like he's really good for that particular kind of "struggles and comes up short, but gets the feel-good wins" story. We joke on Goto mainly because of how he's booked, which basically as "the guy who will never ever get over the hump & thus is a loser" but Goto is absolutely a very good wrestler in that sort of NEVER Openweight mold of Ishii & Shibata & Suzuki.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:26
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Aku posted:Monty Brown, mainly because of The Pounce. I feel like he could've done okay in WWE, but it made me sad to see him retire so early.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:28
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justin gabriel/pj black
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Apr 3, 2020 18:29
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Goto should have beaten Mutoh for the IWGP title in 2008 and lost to Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom III if nothing else, that would've kept Goto relevant in the Okada era and onwards
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Apr 3, 2020 18:30
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i would say avoid naming foreign wrestlers who you don't fully understand the popularity of tbh. it's not like he isn't popular in japan. he's just not a massive star. in many ways the op already named a him in christian except he's better
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Apr 3, 2020 18:35
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flashy_mcflash posted:I maintain that the The Mumbai Cats are the only good thing TNA has done since the Steiner Math promo. I love how committed they are to the act and adore how, unlike every other cat-based act besides Allie Kat, they get the actual cat mannerisms down. ive been watching a few of the tna ppvs on youtube and WOW tna loved them some cartoon tag team gimmicks huh
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Apr 3, 2020 18:37
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Goto is a legit good westler, has been a solid upper midcarder for a long-rear end time and his theme song loving slaps. So I wouldn't say that he counts.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:40
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actually I am starting to doubt what i said since nobody gave a poo poo about Christian without Edge having to come out to the ring to scream and flail around about him, and internet forums are the reason he's not allowed in this. Go ahead and vote for Hirooki with all your heart
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Apr 3, 2020 18:43
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I think he kinda counts? But I'll never not mark out for Zack Ryder. I thought Long Island Iced Z was so cool at the time and I'm sure there are good chunks of it that have not held up well. Thought he was always a decent worker and could've been a solid occasional upper midcard act, especially when he was at his hottest. I felt so vindicated that one RAW opening when he joined Punk and Bryan in the ring, like somehow in my mind he was on their level. So he's probably a bit more successful than your average "Boy". Unfortunately now he's just happy to collect a paycheck and sit in catering. I imagine in a few more years Tyler Breeze will join Ryder on this list when more people forget about him. I was a mark for Vance Archer in WWECW and never thought that he'd actually be well liked years after that failed run, so that's kinda neat. I don't really even remember why I liked him as Vance. His haircut was kinda dumb, he was possibly the most generic wrestler in WWE at the time, and didn't even look remotely close to the Murderhawk Monster we all know and love today, but maybe it's because I liked Test that I've been fond of the big guy who isn't anything special. I think his finisher sucked too. Speaking of WWECW, I loving LOVED Mike Knox. He teamed a few times with Charlie Haas (another all-time Boy for me) and I thought they legit had a chance at being a solid tag team. Thought he had a cool look, especially when he had the big bushy beard. Felt like he could've been an okay hoss in Japan or a semi-big deal in the 70s/80s with his slightly slower, big man style. Also had a banger of a theme that 100% would've been used in the opening montage of some extreme sports game. Big fan of MVP too and thought he had serious potential. Probably more liked than I imagine nowadays. When the brand split came back and they were bringing in some old faces to fill up the roster, I was losing my mind that MVP was coming back, but it did not work out. So him popping up in the Rumble was honestly the highlight for me. I thought back then that having a talk show meant you were gonna be a big deal (moment of silence for Carlito). I think MVP very well could've become a big deal, especially nowadays when the cocky/flashy, but ultra talented athlete dominates sports media more than ever. Plus as a Jim Jones mark, MVP's Ballin' elbow ruled. He had an awesome yakuza boot in the corner, which I'll always mark for. And his finisher sucked. A quick four off the top of my head. 2006-2012 WWE had so many midcard to jobber guys who I enjoyed, especially on SmackDown where they didn't care who got TV time.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:49
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Christian is good be nice to him
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Apr 3, 2020 18:49
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I am the worlds biggest QT Marshall mark. Love that apple-themed wrestler.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:51
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Christian is and has always been better than Edge
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Apr 3, 2020 18:52
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shiksa posted:ive been watching a few of the tna ppvs on youtube and WOW tna loved them some cartoon tag team gimmicks huh TNA loved a lot of really bad decisions. Also tag teams that must always fight with each other. Also Monty Brown's pounce is the only move in wrestling history actually made better by TNA's hexagon ring
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Apr 3, 2020 19:06
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forkboy84 posted:I refuse to accept that anyone can not like Monty Brown. He loving ruled, the Pounce ruled & the fact that so few people ever stole it is really dumb. RealFoxy posted:Monty Brown was the ultimate boy. He was SO loving good, and had charisma for years. He came too early for the indie revolution, signed to WWE so late and had to retire to take care of his sister's children. He is the best dude. Happy to see I'm not the only one! None of my wrestling friends back then watched TNA and skipped WWECW, so I was the only one in my circles to like the guy. It felt like he faded into obscurity.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:07
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Shout out as well to Monty Brown's spectacular promo he cut at the spur of the moment when they had to evacuate the IMPACT ZONE because smoke alarms went off when... i think some lights caught fire or something? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEqEas9hUAI
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Apr 3, 2020 19:10
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Kid Lykos, cool moves, cool gimmick, and a body that falls apart from any bump. He's probably the biggest "What could of been" in my personal opinion and I'm glad he's still in the business as a manager and all of the Schadenfreude stuff. Schadenfreude is not a cult.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:12
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DJExile posted:Shout out as well to Monty Brown's spectacular promo he cut at the spur of the moment when they had to evacuate the IMPACT ZONE because smoke alarms went off when... i think some lights caught fire or something? He might not have had much to say but he saved Don West and Tenay's asses as a handful of other wrestlers just walked straight past them
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Apr 3, 2020 19:16
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Kid Lykos might not actually fit the criteria so I'll also add: Bray Wyatt, at least for a while. I loving loved swamp preacher Bray. I kept loving Bray for a long time after WWE turned him into trash. He's not my boy anymore because I'm tired of WWE and he showed his rear end way too many times but god I loving loved Bray when no one else did.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:17
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Gumball Gumption posted:Schadenfreude is not a cult. Brookes is the next Kenny Omega. Mark my words
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Apr 3, 2020 19:27
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I stand in solidarity with the dozen japanese people in the youtube comments of every video who want a career revival for Yujiro Takahashi. When I started watching he was wildly charismatic as "Mr. R Rated" in CHAOS and he still has like one or two matches a year where he shows off that he COULD be really good.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:29
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Sick Boy in The Flock
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Apr 3, 2020 19:31
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I was a huge Barry Horrowitz fan during that extremely brief period when WWF gave him a bit of a push by having him pull an upset over Bodydonna Skip.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:46
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Lid posted:Sick Boy in The Flock Holy crow actually came in to post this one. Sup Sickbro! His 'real name' in WCW was Lance Ringo, and...hell yes.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:58
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