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*Official* Pro-Wrestling Thread II

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Yeah sounds like it'll be another of those Stone Cold shows up for a promo, hits stunner(s), drinks beer(s) and leaves segments

Which is fine I guess, but there's been about a million of those already
 

Aritro

International Regular
Revolution was a good pay-per-view, albeit a bit long. I'd like them to try keep it at three hours instead of stretching out to four.

Absolutely loved Jericho putting Kingston over with a clean finish. I hope this is the start of a proper push, as he's near enough the most watchable guy in AEW at the moment. Looking forward to what they do with the Regal/Mox/Danielson angle. It has a lot of potential.

The ladder match was fun, but had a few too many silly or botched spots. Such as someone, possibly Wardlow, deciding to chase people up the ramp instead of climbing the ladder when he was the only one in the ring. Also that Starks bump on the ladder was horrifying, and I immediately googled it afterwards to see if he was alright because I thought he might have broken his neck again.

I do think it had a serious effect on the crowd, as they started out rabid and then became very subdued for the rest of the show. Wouldn't be surprised if this was because many of them were wondering whether Starks would be able to walk again.

The trios match delivered and despite the botched finish with Darby missing the finisher, it was totally captivating. Sting has no business taking a bump like that at 63, holy ****.

I thought Cole vs Page was an absolutely superb match and actually my favourite of the night. Deserved much better heat from the crowd, but I think at that stage they were a bit burned out from five hours of wrestling and possibly still buzzkilled from the Starks bump.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
I wouldn't mind this in principle but suspect he'd get lost in the shuffle and would only exacerbate the whole "let's just hire all the ex WWE guys" thing that's already prominent
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
It's why I don't mind it. There is no TNA hot shotting the wwe people over your guys. Card positions feel warranted.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
My biggest concern was Matt Cardrona, and jerez thank god they didn't sign him. Became the king of the indies
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
It's why I don't mind it. There is no TNA hot shotting the wwe people over your guys. Card positions feel warranted.
Yeah, it's nowhere near as bad, but there are loads of AEW original guys who I enjoyed watching who have basically just disappeared (e.g. Sonny Kiss). I get that if you have the chance to sign someone like Danielson or Moxley or whoever you basically have got to do it, but still.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Yeah you aren't wrong about it being a shame some genuine talents have gone off TV due to the new bigger stars. Hopefully ROH fixes it
 

Spikey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
The problem with the "ex WWE guys" narrative that goes around in some quarters is that these guys are, for the most part, guys with links to many people in AEW prior to them signing with WWE and would have likely been courted by AEW from the start anyway. All the former ROH people are obvious, then there's a whole heap of former Chikara people too. PWG and Evolve too. Like, Cesaro has a feud with Kingston from 10 years ago that was never finished and there's a tweet from 10 years ago when Khan notes that losing Claudio will hurt ROH.
 

Red_Ink_Squid

Cricketer Of The Year
9. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa, NJPW April 2000

Ogawa was a former judo world champion, Olympic silver medalist and at the time of this match held a perfect record in MMA. He was pushed hard in New Japan and had won his last two singles matches against Hashimoto in dominant fashion. Crowd favourite Hashimoto puts his career on the line for a third shot at defeating him, at the grand stage of the Tokyo Dome.

Although he had a legitimate fighting background, Ogawa was pretty limited in what he could do in a pro wrestling ring. But he did have a ton of natural heel charisma. Imagine a less good Brock Lesnar but with Christiano Ronaldo's face to get the idea. He's dominant and dangerous and you really want to see someone punch him in the mouth. He uses the STO as his finisher and isn't afraid to spam it any time he locks up with someone, so Hashimoto's best chance is to utilise his striking game and not get too close.

Hashimoto rarely played the role of underdog but is fantastic here garnering sympathy and getting the crowd to rally behind him as he fights for his career against the invading shoot fighter.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW Feb '94
17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May '84
16. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen, NJPW Sep '81
15. Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH Apr '04
14. Takada vs Vader, UWFi Aug '94
13. Combat Toyoda vs Megumi Kudo, FMW May '96
12. Tenryu & Kawada vs Hansen & Gordy, AJPW Dec '88
11. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk, Apr '81
10. Ishikawa/Otsuka/Sawa vs Ikeda/Usuda/Super Tiger, Battlearts Jul '07
9. Hashimoto vs Ogawa, NJPW Apr '00
 

Aritro

International Regular
11. Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler, empty arena match, Memphis April 1981

This is another famous match that every fan should see at least once. Well, it's kind of a match, kind of an angle with a sort-of-match within it. Watch the whole thing anyway. Terry Funk and his brother Dory both lost matches (both highly recommended watches) in Memphis to the local hero Lawler and Terry isn't happy. He blames biased, hometown officiating (even though his match was no DQ and he ran away to lose by countout) and challenges Lawler to meet him man to man with no crowd or referees.

The segment starts with Lance Russell giving an introduction to the camera and he explains the set up in a wonderful dead pan style. First to arrive is Terry and he rants and raves about Lawler. He comes off totally unhinged and is a great match for Russell's calm, dry wit. King shows up late which further enrages Funk.

The 'match' itself is a short, violent bar fight. Lawler starts with the upperhand but Funk turns the tables by using weapons and starts screaming psychotically as he beats down on Lawler. In a famous spot though his tactics backfire and he injures his own eye, and he's left alternately wailing in pain and cussing out Lawler for doing this to him.

Lawler was the top star in Memphis in the 80s and he was awesome there. This isn't the best match to showcase how good he was, as this is totally the Terry Funk (and Lance Russell) show. But bonus points for turning up to an empty arena match dressed in full ring gear including crown.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW Feb '94
17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May '84
16. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen, NJPW Sep '81
15. Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH Apr '04
14. Takada vs Vader, UWFi Aug '94
13. Combat Toyoda vs Megumi Kudo, FMW May '96
12. Tenryu & Kawada vs Hansen & Gordy, AJPW Dec '88
11. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk, Apr '81
Just had a look at this. Lol. Can imagine this would have been a fairly shocking street fight at the time. You're right about Funk coming across unhinged. We need a properly crazy 80s style heel again.

 

Red_Ink_Squid

Cricketer Of The Year
8. Ted DiBiase vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan, loser leaves town, tuxedo, coal miners glove on a pole steel cage match, Mid South March 1985

Firstly, that stipulation is correct and no, this wasn't booked by Vince Russo.

Super fun match. DiBiase was the top heel and the coal miner's glove was his signature weapon that he used to beat everyone - sort of the equivalent of HHH's sledgehammer in what it represented. Duggan was a popular upper card face, not the comedy jobber he'd become in WWF and this was the climactic match to a heated feud.

Despite the convoluted stipulations the match itself is a simple one that doesn't go too long nor try to do more than it needs to. DiBiase is sneaky and nasty and bumps big for everything Duggan does. He gets the advantage usually via nefarious means and tries to get to his trusty loaded glove as early as possible. Duggan is fiery and energetic and punches Ted in the face a lot, with the crowd raucously cheering on everything he does. Sometimes 'simple' is all you need.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW Feb '94
17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May '84
16. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen, NJPW Sep '81
15. Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH Apr '04
14. Takada vs Vader, UWFi Aug '94
13. Combat Toyoda vs Megumi Kudo, FMW May '96
12. Tenryu & Kawada vs Hansen & Gordy, AJPW Dec '88
11. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk, Apr '81
10. Ishikawa/Otsuka/Sawa vs Ikeda/Usuda/Super Tiger, Battlearts Jul '07
9. Hashimoto vs Ogawa, NJPW Apr '00
8. Ted DiBiase vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Mid South Mar '85
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
8. Ted DiBiase vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan, loser leaves town, tuxedo, coal miners glove on a pole steel cage match, Mid South March 1985

Firstly, that stipulation is correct and no, this wasn't booked by Vince Russo.

Super fun match. DiBiase was the top heel and the coal miner's glove was his signature weapon that he used to beat everyone - sort of the equivalent of HHH's sledgehammer in what it represented. Duggan was a popular upper card face, not the comedy jobber he'd become in WWF and this was the climactic match to a heated feud.

Despite the convoluted stipulations the match itself is a simple one that doesn't go too long nor try to do more than it needs to. DiBiase is sneaky and nasty and bumps big for everything Duggan does. He gets the advantage usually via nefarious means and tries to get to his trusty loaded glove as early as possible. Duggan is fiery and energetic and punches Ted in the face a lot, with the crowd raucously cheering on everything he does. Sometimes 'simple' is all you need.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW Feb '94
17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May '84
16. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen, NJPW Sep '81
15. Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH Apr '04
14. Takada vs Vader, UWFi Aug '94
13. Combat Toyoda vs Megumi Kudo, FMW May '96
12. Tenryu & Kawada vs Hansen & Gordy, AJPW Dec '88
11. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk, Apr '81
10. Ishikawa/Otsuka/Sawa vs Ikeda/Usuda/Super Tiger, Battlearts Jul '07
9. Hashimoto vs Ogawa, NJPW Apr '00
8. Ted DiBiase vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Mid South Mar '85
Love this one
 

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