Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Al Ka Pwn]

Remember how big a pop kicking a baby got?

Anyone else catch no surrender? I thought it was great.

[Andrew]

Picked up The Rise and Fall of WCW.

I can't say I'm too disappointed in the documentary. There wasn't that much of a "We won" kind of air to it, certainly nowhere near as much as they could have (and given the way Bischoff used to boast about beating WWF/E back in the day, it wouldn't be totally unjustified if they did). I guess the people who have posted negative reviews on the wrestling sites were expecting more but I don't think the true story will ever be told by one book or documentary. Too much finger pointing and let's face it, since Bischoff didn't want to be involved in the DVD and guys like Sting and Nash are in TNA it's difficult to get a lot of inside info on the decline. All in all, I thought the documentary portion was a respectable production.

[deihatein]

I think Goldberg was in that documentary right?

[Andrew]

He's in it, I'm pretty sure his footage is up to date too. The clips of him weren't annotated with a year so I'm guessing it was newly shot and not archival footage as with Hogan, Bischoff and a few others.

[J@3]

I didn't really like it. I wasn't bothered by the position they took or anything but I feel like they spent too much time talking about the "rise" and not enough on the "fall". The time when the wrestlers were shooting on the company in the ring, Vince Russo was destroying the place, Jarrett lying down for Hogan etc. They just glossed over it all within like 10 minutes. I'd have liked to see more of that stuff, that interests me far more than an excessively detailed history of the beginnings of the company.

[Andrew]

Yeah, even though I liked it I'd agree the "fall" section was too short. I'd attribute that to the lack of involvement from various people closer to the situation though, forcing them to use whatever archive footage of interviews that were at all relevant. Maybe they just didn't have enough "dirt" to really go into detail.

[Andrew]

Possible WWE return for Bret Hart?

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Bret Hart and WWE have been in talks for him to return to the company in some capacity. According to their article which borrows from the Wrestling Observer, nothing is expected to happen in the immediate future but Bret is interested in being a regular on television.

One of those things that I'll believe when I see, but that would be something...even if it was a one-time appearance with the Hart Dynasty, a run-in or accompanying them to the ring.

[buzzy]

Defeintely interesting. Talking about former stars, The Rock is scheduled to have a little segment in the Anniversery show of SmackDown. Wonder if he's gonna be in character.

[J@3]

I watched his entire Hall Of Fame induction speech the other day, he was in character for most of it. Apparently Triple H and the rest were pissed off at him but I thought he was hilarious.

That being said I am a giant Rock mark and if he appeared in character on a new episode of Smackdown I would more than likely explode from excitement.

[Andrew]

Yeah, HHH apparently doesn't care much for The Rock. I remember he got booed when he made some crack at his expense just before inducting Ric Flair. I guess that's HHH though, I once read that about the only people he won't mess with backstage are HBK (whom he's close friends with), Cena (because Vince is so high up on him) and Taker (because of how respected he is).

I also heard they were trying to get Rock to appear at Wrestlemania 26 but I wouldn't count on it. Aside from the HOF appearance, he's distanced himself from wrestling since his Hollywood career got into full swing.

[deihatein]

I would also want to see The Rock in another match or just being in a show. I have heard that he has great mic skills. I have re-watch Wrestlemania XX (Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero FTW!) the other day and it was the last and first time I have seen him in a match. I think he was more respected and known in wrestling than his Hollywood career

[J@3]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa5ogd ... he-r_sport

The Rock at his best.

[Andrew]

I remember seeing an interview with Sting where he was talking about why he didn't go to WWE and he commented that when Booker T made his WWE debut, The Rock asked him who the hell he was and essentially buried him by suggesting that the WCW guys were nothing. I think Jericho's debut is a good argument against that line of thinking, which was probably just a cover for Sting not wanting to work the WWE schedule (and fair enough, he's been in the business a long time). It didn't hurt Jericho at all, as he went on to greater heights with WWF/WWE than he ever did in WCW.

[Null17]

Another reason was Sting wanting to have family-friendly television stuff with his Christian background and all.

[Andrew]

He must be loving working for Vince Russo in TNA then.

[Null17]

Well, Sting did come in before Russo did. Surprisingly, not a lot of sex and violence shit going on in TNA (modern day TNA, Russo did S.E.X. in TNA's early days - it's a DX type thing).

[Andrew]

That's true. With WWE's PG approach, TNA is probably the raunchier product at the moment though.

[Al Ka Pwn]

Damn. All Sharpton sucked ass.

[Andrew]

Haven't seen it yet, but I read that he got booed at various points.

[Al Ka Pwn]

My biggest problem with Micheal Cole is that he is as excited about a tampon commercial as someone winning WHC. His emotion is exactly the same. Which makes me puke.

Funniest line of the night was Hunter talking about coming out of the closet. Drop the smarky bullshit and get back to what works in wrestling. Instead of making things gay by spelling them out, try fighting. You know, like what has been selling in wrestling for 30 years.

Jack Swagger is twice the size as Evan Bourne. How the fuck is this supposed to be an entertaining matchup? Unless you want to bury you own talent, this makes no sense whatsoever.

Guess it all comes down to Vince thinking he is god and whatever he shits out will sell. Too bad he is right most of the time.

[Andrew]

I really thought Vince would pull the plug on Cole being the announcer on RAW by now, but I guess he's happy enough with his work for now. With the way the guest host is dominating RAW, Smackdown's looking better and better as the more traditional alternative.

[Andrew]

I have to admit I'm looking forward to the Smackdown 10th Anniversary show; so much so that I'm avoiding the spoilers. I realise it could be a big letdown, but RAW's 15th Anniversary show was pretty good a couple of years back so here's hoping.

[Christian.]

A decade of Smackdown.. Can't wait until Sunday.

[Null17]

Not really sure if it's a spoiler:
I saw a fan-cam video of The Rock's promo for this week's Smackdown tapings. It was pretty cool. Standard Rocky schtick, catchphrases-galore.

[Andrew]

Read that he'd be featured, shame it wasn't live. I'll wait until it airs to watch the promo though.