Judging by the way some of you talk about wrestling, you are all wrestling bandwagon jumpers of '98. Chris Benoit and Eddie Gurrerro are perhaps two of the best champions WWE has had in some time. Lesnar was a waste of talent with so much potential. Instead of learn from Kurt Angle and the Rock he let the WWE title go to his head. As for other past champions... Honestly do we want to see Taker, or Big Show, or god forbid Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair win the titles again. Hell even Triple H and Booker T are lame workers. Triple H is a waste of talent sometimes too... He only steps it up in the ring when he is in there with Shawn or Benoit.... His matches with Booker T and Kevin Nash and Scot Steiner were by far some of the worst matches in the history of the company which is one of the reasons Raw sucked so much in 2003. Eddie Gurrero and Chris Benoit are the Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect of today.... They bring some authenticity to the product some of the wacky story lines worked to bring people in but what people really want to see is good matches that keep you on the edge of their seat. For those of you dogging Benoit....Do you watch his matches? Did you not see the Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit from the Royal Rumble in 2003.... One fo the best matches of the last 5 years... The Stone Cold v. Benoit v. Jericho Matches from 2001 were amazing.... Benoit's recent matches with Trips and Michaels equally stunning... It is like were watching Bret Hart all over again only younger and more athletic than Bret ever was. As for Eddie he is perhaps the new Ricky Steamboat... He can wrestle you... He can chop you...he can make you submit... he can go to the top.... It is too bad that Eddie can be wrestling matches with Benoit because that match would be amazing. Please dont give me the crap that they can't talk on the Mic..... Austin dindt become great on the Mic till he came to WWE.. The Rock please... he spent hours upon hours working on his promos before they became off the cuff..... Give it up guys Austin is gone... The Rock is making movies.... embrace the new guys... especially since they are probably some of the most talented guys and guys that genuinely love what they are doing.... Eddie and Chris are both family guys in real life and spend a lot more time signing autographs after shows than their counterparts... Eddies Mic Skills are improving and so are Benoits.... the reason they stink is because they never spole in WCW.. they were never allowed too... So all you guys wising for hell in the cell/table matches with lots of blood and high spots... to make the match exciting for you need to get a life... The futute of Professional Wrestling is guys like Eddie and Benoit.... guys with amateur background like Angle, Benjamin, and Haas, and guys with a genuine love of the business like Cena, Edge, and Jericho.... Not everyone can be Flair and put on great matches and cut great promos.... Steamboat never cut good promos....Luger never did... heck Stings sucked too.... Dusty Rhodes did the same one every time... Hogan did to only nobody noticed.... Taker did the same one for a decade and when he stopped doing it cut really lame ones...Yet all of these guys are considered in some respects legends in the ring.... Go watch backyard wrestling... because I like the fact that tru ring technichians possess the torch right now in Sports Entertainment...
I will occasionally jump into y'all's WWE thread and am amazed with the seriousness with which you guys discuss it, drafts and who makes the best champion and such. I myself jumped into wrestling as mentioned by the poster in '98 in Eight Grade (stopped following all together about 2 and a half years later). Anyways what I'm gettin' at is, is there more skill involved than I had originially thought? Are the matches and storylines not all predetermined? Is the winner not decided far before the match? Or are you guys just talking all seriously about it because you're so into the story line? Someone please educate me. /thread-jack
Although this will probably be moved heres the jist of wrestling. To answer all your questions would be difficult because frankly there arent straight answers. Yes match winners are pre-determined.. however this may be 3 weeks predetermiend 6 months or 15 minutes... depending on the promoter and the writers... Usually the ending is worked out in advance and a few... but hardly any spots in the middle are worked out at specific points... but most matches are impromptu ... which is why a lot of people discuss concepts like "ring psychloogy" basically the ability to tell a story in the ring.... make you excited...make you forget for a split second that the outcome is decided by a guy in the back with a headset.... As far as skill... yes skill is very much a part of it.... I mean some guys have charisma (hulk Hogan) but frankly put on boring matches...... The ability to sell moves... weather they really hurt or not.... (knowing how to fall concept completely moronic) take suplexes onto a ring canvans for 260 days out of the year and lets see how your back turns out ... People discuss who make good champions bya lot fo things.... are they able to keep the crowd with them... will they sell tickets... do people want to see them perform.... do they put on exciting matches so that youll buy merhcandisepay per views etc.... Theres so much that goes into the soap opera of Sports Entertainment.. which is why a lot of people including myself are so passionate about it.... Its not that we are red necks...or low lifes... or as one poster put in once uneducated slime of the world... I am a Boston university student with a good GPA and I ama huge wrestling fan. I personally just appreciate what some of these guys do for the sake of entertaining people... So yes there is a lot of skill involved some people can get away with not having a lot of it... but a lot of people... myself included believe ring skill is necessary to be the champion... I hope this helps... Thanks for posting an iquiry without posting some sly pointless slur at wrestling fans...
BU? Cool. What year? Meanwhile... the problem I have with Wrestling are the fake punches... I mean you can clearly see they aren't connecting... but yeah the suplexes and stuff look real, and surely it takes skill to do that. But the fake punches... oh man... it's like hey I'm beating you down... not really. My question is this: has there ever been an instance where a wrestler is told / scripted to lose but refused to accept his fate and went in for real? That'd be cool.
So's the PGA man... Tiger was too good, no drama... so they're having him tank a while and then make a glorious comeback.
BU Class of 2005 College of Communication As for your question buddy... in this day and age no.... There are a lot of backstage politics... and usually if a wrestler doesnt like it he either has the pull to get it changed.... or.. if he doesnt will do it anyway because he has a guaranteed contract... This was different in the 40's 50's and 60's..... They had to have the title on guys who if need be could win should the situation arize... guys like Lou Thez for example.... They werent the champion unless they could retain.... this was back when pro wrestling was a lot like boxing as far as promoting them went... a lot of shady dealing and stuff... Since there is really one big company now... WWE....Most wrestlers will pretty much do what their told... in the end it comes full circle... Yes some punches... are really bad....this all goes in the beleivability in the ring... some guys believe it or not though will let them punch them legitimately (mick Foley) but this doesnt happen often because they will bruise easily....and the last thing they need is another uncessary injury... As for a modern situation where they refused to lose... look up the montreal screw job at http://www.brethart.com/montreal/facts.asp I think youll find it fairly interesting if you dont already know about it.....
What WCW were you watching... Did you not see when Benoit was a memeber of the Horsemen... and he never said a freakin word.... Gurrerro.. he dindt talk till it was time to bring out the LWO which was the lamest thing ever. The only time Eddie cut a great promo when he did the Shoot interview on Eric Bischoff on one of his last Nitros....
You claimed they NEVER talked. False. Get your own facts straight before you claim that others have no idea what "their" talking about.
Jericho is actually perfect for the title because, like Flair, he can work the ring and the mic. Having a guy that can wrestle but not talk is really no better than a guy that can talk but not wrestle.
It's insulting to compare Benoit to Ricky Steamboat. Benoit is a boring lump of coal. Even Nikoli Volkoff had more charisma. Whereas, Ricky was the consummate assassin who had a certain aura of kickassness. And the 90's version of Ricky doesn't count because he had to wear that stupid outfit. I'm talking about the Ricky who fueded with the Brisco Bros, Muraco and Jake Roberts. Steamboat didn't speak in his promos because Randy Savage cowardly nailed him in the throat with the ring bell. But my man got him back at Wrestlemania. WooHoo!!!
