*Official* Pro-Wrestling Thread II

[Goughy]

One thing that holds me back from loving Ric Flair (though I thoroughly enjoy his body of work) is the stolen/tribute gimmick. You would hope that someone at the top of the alltime tree would be unique but he isnt. I am also not a fan of the blading but he certainly isnt/wasnt the only one.

 

[GIMH]

One thing that holds me back from loving Rick Flair (though I thoroughly enjoy his body of work) is the stolen/tribute gimmick. You would hope that someone at the top of the alltime tree would be unique but he isnt. I am also not a fan of the blading but he certainly isnt/wasnt the only one.

He even bladed in a promo during his regrettable tenure with TNA

 

[GIMH]

Oh yeah, it's by no means completely objective. The fact that as load of the great WWE matches which weren't given 5 stars but would've been if it had been in Japan shows that. But it's at least a decent starting point.

Yeah agree. I find the star system highly flawed. And when you're giving Taker-Shawn from mania 25 4.75, you're just being a prick.

I mean I love their HIAC match and the Punk-Cena MITB match, both 5s according to Meltzer but neither are better than that Shawn-Taker match.

I could digress further here but wont

 

[andmark]

Yeah agree. I find the star system highly flawed. And when you're giving Taker-Shawn from mania 25 4.75, you're just being a prick.

I mean I love their HIAC match and the Punk-Cena MITB match, both 5s according to Meltzer but neither are better than that Shawn-Taker match.

I could digress further here but wont

He's given a ****load of matches 4.75. He's the ultimate nerd.

 

[GIMH]

He's given a ****load of matches 4.75. He's the ultimate nerd.

He's a ****ing nipple

He didn't give rock-Austin from 17 five ether. ****.

I mean I'm sure some of you wouldn't. But compared to some of the matches he has given it to

The blokes a ****

Generally rates cena though so I'll give him props for that

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah Taker HBK was one of those matches where the moment you finished watching it you knew it was a locked down 5 star classic. Was pretty much unanimously agreed upon by everyone as one of the ATG matches immediately, and Meltzer came off as trying to be contrarian tbh. I sound like a fanboy but there's virtually no legitimate criticism you can level at that match.

 

[OverratedSanity]

He's given a ****load of matches 4.75. He's the ultimate nerd.

What did he give Neville-Zayn from NXT rEvolution? If I had to pick one from the last few years that could get a perfect rating it's that one.

 

[andmark]

You probably know already: 4.75...

 

[OverratedSanity]

Oh man he gave Rock vs Hogan 3 stars? I know it wasn't a great wrestling match, but that's not what it was supposed to be ffs.

 

[GIMH]

Oh man he gave Rock vs Hogan 3 stars? I know it wasn't a great wrestling match, but that's not what it was supposed to be ffs.

Check his rating for Hogan Andre

 

[OverratedSanity]

Check his rating for Hogan Andre

Amazing For a second there I missed the little negative symbol.

In fairness, though, even for a 'spectacle' match it really was pretty poorly worked.

 

[andmark]

His bias for Japanese wrestling is ridiculous as well. Fair enough, the Misawa vs Kobashi matches are the best I've ever seen (seriously, if you haven't seen them, they're on a different level to anything else and I doubt they'll ever be surpassed) but he gave Benoit vs Great Sasuke 5 stars when it just wasn't in those realms.

 

[GIMH]

Anyway. Some pre fast lane thoughts. Pleased it's on sky sports as I can record it and not have to **** about hooking laptop up to tv tomorrow. Will have to do some work tomorrow so I can be sure not to see any spoilers in this thread

My thoughts then

Bryan V Reigns
I normally like to differ with internet logic but hard to look past a Reigns win. Best case for Bryan fans (of which long term readers of this thread will know I am definitely one) is a no contest sort of finish IMO but I don't see it. Reigns to win a great match.

Have loved the build over the past week or two for this one btw

Cena V Rusev
Not so sure popular opinion is right on this one as I can see Cena getting the win. If he doesn't here then he's nailed on for it at Mania. Should be good

Authority V Ziggler and friends
Eh should be decent. Strong rumours of an Orton run-in leading to Ortons V Rollins. Not overly invested in this one but should be decent

Usos V Tyson Kidd and Cesaro
Should be a very good match if it gets time but I have never really got on board with the usos. Reckon they'll retain thanks to a nattie **** up

Goldust V Stardust
Am a huge fan of pretty much everything Cody has ever done. Remarkable that Goldust has managed to do some pretty good work over the past year. Not sure how to call this one, guess it depends if they plan on finding time for them at Mania. Stardust to win I think but really depends on their long term plans

Barrett V Ambrose
Hard to look past an Ambrose win. Hopefully they brawl it out, if they do and get ten minutes then I think it could be better than perhaps is expected. Ambrose to win

Paige V Nikki Bella
The way it's been booked up to now we really ought to see Paige rip Nikki to shreds but hey, this is a WWE Divas match that isn't on NXT. But I'm calling wade to lose and have to back my people somewhere. Come on Paige.

HHH has a chat with sting
Going left field here and predicting that they will agree to face off at Mania. Sting being pre advertised on a WWE PPV is weird and yet so good. Fourteen years too late, but.

Actually think this has the makings of a good show. I've always enjoyed chamber matches but with just one title and a part time champ it makes sense to drop it, plus I much prefer the feud rather than the calendar to book the stipulations. It's all about Mania setup tonight but in a good way and that's what the Feb PPV should be IMO

 

[Jono]

Flair might not be a top bracket pure technician but I just think all his big matches have such great little stories woven into them and have beautiful pacing. I watched his series with Steamboat a few weeks ago and while it's not anywhere near as spectacular as it would've been for people watching back in 1989, the matches still retained my interest all the way through despite not having flashy spots by today's standards, because in conjunction with the promos to build the feud, the trilogy tells one heck of an amazing story.

And talking of overrated, I just need to point at Bret vs HBK Iron Man match from Wrestlemania 12... hour long and all, so a good effort and a damn good match, but boy the first 25 minutes especially are absolutely painful. It's literally all just chinlocks and restholds. For 20 friggin minutes. Contrast this with the Steamboat-Flair at Clash of Champions which is also 60 minutes, it's ****ing clear to me which match is better... it's the one that manages to keep me interested for a whole hour. Those old Flair matches look unspectacular, but I just urge all of you to get a Flair DVD collection, like Ultimate Ric Flair (2003) which have all those matches along with the promos to set them up. It's fabulous to watch and I was amazed that something from the late 80s impressed me that much, because I just associated that era with roided up monsters like Warrior doing big splashes and pinning people in 7 minutes.

That Ironman match is being called overrated so much by so many people I wonder if it is even overrated anymore, or if it is becoming correctly rated.

 

[GIMH]

That Ironman match is being called overrated so much by so many people I wonder if it is even overrated anymore, or if it is becoming correctly rated.

It's a good match but honestly Rock-HHH had a better iron man match IMO.

Bret-Shawn had a great match at survivor series 92. Bit of a forgotten classic IMO

 

[GIMH]

Also I wonder if it being an 'iron man' match kinda counts against it. You want falls in an iron man. They could have gone down the time limit draw route and still had Gorilla call for overtime.

Obviously all the training they showed in the build up wouldn't have been there but hey ho

Nonetheless Shawn >>> Bret

 

[andmark]

Anyway. Some pre fast lane thoughts. Pleased it's on sky sports as I can record it and not have to **** about hooking laptop up to tv tomorrow. Will have to do some work tomorrow so I can be sure not to see any spoilers in this thread

My thoughts then

Bryan V Reigns
I normally like to differ with internet logic but hard to look past a Reigns win. Best case for Bryan fans (of which long term readers of this thread will know I am definitely one) is a no contest sort of finish IMO but I don't see it. Reigns to win a great match.

Have loved the build over the past week or two for this one btw

Cena V Rusev
Not so sure popular opinion is right on this one as I can see Cena getting the win. If he doesn't here then he's nailed on for it at Mania. Should be good

Authority V Ziggler and friends
Eh should be decent. Strong rumours of an Orton run-in leading to Ortons V Rollins. Not overly invested in this one but should be decent

Usos V Tyson Kidd and Cesaro
Should be a very good match if it gets time but I have never really got on board with the usos. Reckon they'll retain thanks to a nattie **** up

Goldust V Stardust
Am a huge fan of pretty much everything Cody has ever done. Remarkable that Goldust has managed to do some pretty good work over the past year. Not sure how to call this one, guess it depends if they plan on finding time for them at Mania. Stardust to win I think but really depends on their long term plans

Barrett V Ambrose
Hard to look past an Ambrose win. Hopefully they brawl it out, if they do and get ten minutes then I think it could be better than perhaps is expected. Ambrose to win

Paige V Nikki Bella
The way it's been booked up to now we really ought to see Paige rip Nikki to shreds but hey, this is a WWE Divas match that isn't on NXT. But I'm calling wade to lose and have to back my people somewhere. Come on Paige.

HHH has a chat with sting
Going left field here and predicting that they will agree to face off at Mania. Sting being pre advertised on a WWE PPV is weird and yet so good. Fourteen years too late, but.

Actually think this has the makings of a good show. I've always enjoyed chamber matches but with just one title and a part time champ it makes sense to drop it, plus I much prefer the feud rather than the calendar to book the stipulations. It's all about Mania setup tonight but in a good way and that's what the Feb PPV should be IMO

Bryan vs Reigns- No contest; Lesnar to interfere.
Cena vs Rusev- No contest; Rusev to hit Cena with a chair.
Authority vs Ziggler et al; Authority win.
Usos vs Kidd and Cesaro; I'll be optimistic and go with Cesaro/Kidd win.
Goldust vs Stardust; Goldust wins with Cody beating up Goldust afterwards.
Barrett vs Ambrose; Ambrose win.
Paige vs Nikki Bella; Bella wins with cheating shenanigans.

 

[Jono]

Also I wonder if it being an 'iron man' match kinda counts against it. You want falls in an iron man. They could have gone down the time limit draw route and still had Gorilla call for overtime.

Obviously all the training they showed in the build up wouldn't have been there but hey ho

Nonetheless Shawn >>> Bret

Both of their ridiculous egos got in the way.

Forever why Rock > both. And I love Bret to death. But they're both tools who believed they were bigger than the game.

 

[Jono]

Shawn should be forever marked down for him giving up the title in 97. "Lost his smile", what a jackass.

 

[GIMH]

In seriousness. Shawn post-comeback for me is probably the greatest of all-time in terms of in-ring storytelling. Earned his redemption. No denying he was a penis beforehand though, shame as well as athletically he was incredible circa 96-97