Let's Talk Pro Wrestling.

[El Misfit]

Favorite Current Wrestler: RVD, even 30+ years, he still kicking it as if it was still his golden years.

Favorite All Time: Sabu, He's is just insane, nothing else.

Fed. today: TNA, the old school ECW today.

Alltime:Original ECW, there's no comparison with all of the mayhem that is ECW, except for maybe TNA, as in how TNA is almost similar to ECW.

I'll let Tommy Explain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsfGySha9uw&feature=related
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[JaseSF]

Personally I don't really see it. TNA's Orlando fans certainly aren't really all that much like ECW's Philly fans IMO. ECW did eventualy gain a surprising amount of mainstream popularity while TNA has always and continues to struggle to stay afloat. ECW was never as much about WWF and WCW cast-offs as it was about building its own stars whereas I think TNA has often sacrificed advancing homegrown talent in favour of said cast-offs....

[HappyGilmore]

Personally I don't really see it. TNA's Orlando fans certainly aren't really all that much like ECW's Philly fans IMO. ECW did eventualy gain a surprising amount of mainstream popularity while TNA has always and continues to struggle to stay afloat. ECW was never as much about WWF and WCW cast-offs as it was about building its own stars whereas I think TNA has often sacrificed advancing homegrown talent in favour of said cast-offs....

Exactly.  ECW would use the 'cast-offs' briefly, but never at the expense of downgrading home-grown talent.  ECW would bring in say, Terry Funk or Dusty Rhodes, but both guys were professional and helped 'create' new stars.  Funk was involved in angles with Raven, Dreamer, and the Raven/Dreamer feud helped bring up and elevate Blue Meanie, The Pitbulls, Stevie Richards, and Shane Douglas.  Dusty Rhodes came in and helped out with guys like Steve Corino. 

I see a lot of old guys in TNA.  But, how willing are they to say they helped 'elevate' TNA buy feuding with and, if need be, losing to younger, home-grown talent TNA has, like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, etc. 

[JaseSF]

Yeah I was particularly put off by how TNA basically dumped Christopher Daniels jobbing him out to Val Venis. The guy should have become one of TNA's top guys and was an homegrown talent for them. I think they've also misued Abyss and Samoa Joe quite badly in this respect too. 

Watched WWE Smackdown tonight. It wasn't too bad, features lot of wrestling. In fact I'd say it's the show with the most actual quality in-ring wrestling we see on TV these days as the guys are actually given a bit of time to perform. The opener saw Kane defeat Kofi Kingston which helped build Kane as an agressive badass but also helped show a more aggressive side of Kofi. Then Cody Rhodes defeated an injured Christian in a surprisingly solid match. They sold the injury from last week very well and Christian is helping to build future WWE stars like Rhodes , whose intro reminds me of a shaving commercial  , and Drew McIntyre who caused his shoulder injury. The Big Show then destroyed three jobbers in a squash with Straight Edge Society coming out and threatening him after the match. Just more Summerslam build-up for their handicap match. Then we got to see Drew Mcintyre lay a beating on Matt Hardy in an hard-hitting match continuing their long rivalry with McIntrye also injuring Hardy - they seem to be building to a tag match between Hardy & Christian vs. McIntyre & Rhodes here for some reason even though we got that few weeks ago. Then we got to MVP upset former World champion Jack Swagger with a surprise roll-up. I enjoyed the match and was happy to see MVP, who's been struggling, finally be given something. Not sure how this benefits either guy at this point aside from perhaps giving both guys an opportunity to showcase what they can do in some potentially great matches. Finally Rey Mysterio defeated the new Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler with Kane looking on as we build to Summerslam. This was a good match and really helped build Mysterio up as a convincing threat to Kane at Summerslam. Also there seems to be an hint of a possible Undertaker return at Summerslam. I think it's pretty much a certainty Undertaker comes back and names his assailant which most likely will turn out to be Kane although I kind of hope it's Mysterio for some reason. Overall a good Smackdown with lots of wrestling and a good build-up to Summerslam. Speaking of Summerslam, I really expect we'll see a surprise return there also by Triple H perhaps as the seventh member of Team WWE or perhaps during the Sheamus-Orton match.

[HappyGilmore]

On a side note, Garrison Cade passed away today.  Found out about it from Blue Meanie, actually.

[JaseSF]

  What a shame! He was only 29 years old and died of heart failure. Wonder if it's somehow drug-related? I remember his great tag team with Trevor Murdoch, a great old-school style tandem. Too bad they never seemed to get used right in WWE which didn't seem too interested in tag teams when they were they...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/08/former-wwe-wrestler-lance-cade-dies-at-29.html

[HappyGilmore]

What a shame! He was only 29 years old and died of heart failure. Wonder if it's somehow drug-related? I remember his great tag team with Trevor Murdoch, a great old-school style tandem. Too bad they never seemed to get used right in WWE which didn't seem too interested in tag teams when they were they...

They were a decent team, and he was a good singles too.  I liked him. 

I'm not sure if he had a pre-existing condition or not.  I know a few years ago, on a plane ride with other WWE wrestlers, he had some sort of seizure and needed emergency help.  Jim Ross stated he 'made a big mistake' that resulted in the loss of his job.  From what I read, he apparently attended some kinda rehab center in February, so it may have been drugs.

[JaseSF]

Summerslam 2010 is tonight. Matches include:

Sheamus (Champion) vs. Randy Orton (Challenger) for the WWE Heavyweight title.

Kane (Champion) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (Challenger) for the World Heavyweight title.

Dolph Ziggler (Champion) vs. Kofi Kingston (Challenger) for the Intercontinental title.

Alicia Fox (Champion) vs. Melina (Challenger) for the Divas title.

Team WWE (John Cena, Bret Hart, John Morrison, R-Truth, Edge, Chris Jericho & surprise partner?) vs. Team NEXUS (Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield, David Otunga, Darren Young & Michael Tarver) in a Survivor Series style Elimination Match

3 on 1 Handicap Match: The Big Show vs. The Straight Edge Society (C.M. Punk, Joseph Mercury and Luke Gallows)

What are your predictions for the show? Here's mine:

Sheamus retains the belt when Triple H returns gunning for him which in turn also upsets Orton leading to 3 way tension. Miz may also look to capitalize and cash-in Money in the Bank but I don't think he does it successfully here).

Kane defeats Rey Mysterio and attempts to put him a casket out of which rises the returning Undertaker grabbing Kane by the throat setting up a World title match between the brothers of destruction...yeah yet another bout between those two I expect.

Ziggler narrowly defeats Kingston who most likely gets disqualified for flying off the handle due to Vickie Guerrero's outside interference.

Melina defeats Fox to regain the Divas title.

The Miz joins Team WWE but dissension within the team costs them the match as one member of Team WWE is secretly in cahoots with the NEXUS most likely the Miz.

Big Show defeats a member of the Straight Edge Society to win the match but fails to get his hands on Punk yet. Wouldn't be surprised if another new member of the SES isn't soon revealed.

[HappyGilmore]

I would like to see SummerSlam.  Can't afford it.  Bought TNA's Pay-Per-View last week, and can't afford another one on the same bill.  Lot of money to pay out.

I thought HHH had surgery and was filming a movie? Would he return this early?

[JaseSF]

Yeah Triple H hasn't returned yet but I kind of figured it might be soon as he's on the cover of the latest WWE Magazine and they hint at his return in their ads for it. The Undertaker and Daniel Bryan did make their returns at Summerslam though and I actually got the method of Undertaker's return right in my prediction above and also the Miz did help Nexus but it was against Daniel Bryan who was the surprise seventh member of Team WWE. Melina did win the Divas title, Ziggler-Kingston ended in a no contest when NEXUS interfered attacking them both, Kane beat Rey Mysterio and was attacked by Undertaker after the match but eventually got the best of Taker but you know Taker will get his revenge in time, Randy Orton beat Sheamus by DQ which means Sheamus keeps the belt, Big Show defeated Joseph Mercury to defeat the SES in the handicap match and Team WWE narrowly defeated Team NEXUS. Tonight on Raw, the members of the NEXUS took on WWE guys in a special challenge that if any NEXUS guy lost, he'd get booted off the team. Wade Barrett defeated Chris Jericho in a match I figured would be better but was rather disappointing, Michael Tarver upset Daniel Bryan with a roll-up following a distraction from the Miz and his new NXT protege ALex Riley (still kinda of expect Miz to join NEXUS at some point but doubt that will last long), Justin Garbiel beat Randy Orton by countout when Sheamus came out and brawled with Orton, Heath Slater defeated Edge by countout too, Skip Sheffield and David Otunga beat R-Truth & John Morrison in a tag bout but John Cena defeated Darren Young and the NEXUS all attacked him as the show went off the air. Overall it was a surprisingly disappointing show although I understand why they felt the need to make NEXUS look strong again but sadly most of these matches made them look weak instead of strong.

[HappyGilmore]

I am glad Daniel Bryan is back, but he has to STOP losing matches.

The NEXUS angle could go somewhere.  But they only make them look strong while attacking a single wrestler as a group.  In individual matches, they look weak.  Not the way to really get the group over.

[JaseSF]

I completely agree with you there. Seems like whenever anyone starts to seriously get over in WWE (Bryan Daniel got quite a pop on Raw), the WWE goes all out to squash their momentum. The idea of no one being bigger than the company seems to get re-enforced to ridiculous extremes these days. The NEXUS group are getting over too which is perhaps WWE is already sewing some dissension in their ranks.

Anybody watching TNA Impact! these days? Is it even worth me adding SpikeTV to watch it?

[HappyGilmore]

From my perspective, adding Spike Tv if you don't already have it, well, it's not overly worth it just for Impact.

It's part of my cable package, so I like watching it just for an alternative, but it's not something I'd tune into on a daily basis.  Some angles look promising, then they alternate the angle so it leaves you looking baffled.

[JaseSF]

Watched WWE NXT last night on the Score (in Canada). Was disappointed to see Husky Harris get eliminated but he seems to be moving on to some angle with Cody Rhodes so hopefully the kid will get a shot and a chance to stick around. He's a very agile big man and is decidedly different which is somewhat refreshing in today's WWE where everyone's much too the same. Couldn't believe Kaval actually mentioned TNA on the air in his interview time...suspect he'll soon be history in WWE which might well be what he wants considering. I really hope Alex Riley doesn't win the thing as he seems kind of bland to me yet given the other two left are arguably even blander, that's what's likely to happen. I did hope Daniel Bryan might come in as a surprise opponent and beat the tar out of Riley but it never happened.

With regards to Impact!, I actually added SpikeTV one time before only to remove it because TNA Impact! featured short spot-fest oriented matches and angles that never seemed to go anywhere...doesn't sound like it's changed much. Anyways WWE is often lame too but does still offer up the occasional great match, especially on Smackdown. I really wish I could see Japan's NOAH and ROH. I loved what I caught of them when I had the Fight Network a while back (but on there they repeat the same wrestling shows over and over too much).

[HappyGilmore]

Kaval is a great in ring competitor, who has competed in TNA before, as well as on WWE's Secondary shows like WWF Metal and WWF Sunday Night Heat, under the name Low-Ki.

I'm a big fan of his, he's a great cruiserweight/X-Division style wrestler. 

TNA now is doing an angle with Ric Flair leading a "4 Horseman" style group, called Fortune.  It features Beer Money Inc., AJ Styles, Matt Morgan and a few others.  Their storyline features them being p**sed off at Dixie Carter bringing in the ECW guys: Dreamer, Raven, Foley, Stevie Richards, RVD, and a few others like Sabu.  Kevin Nash and Sting are kinda teaming up, with Sting kinda being a heel right now.  If the station is a station you gotta pay for, then don't add it.  But if you can get it free, it's okay to watch.

Mr. Kennedy is quite popular there, now.