The Official Professional Wrestling Thread

[Atiba Applebum]

Should also note it's worth watching the Donahue episode where they talk about the scandal for a few reasons. One is that it's just nostalgic to see an old school studio audience talk show before they devolved into a poor imitation of attitude era wrestling. Another is it's fun to watch Vince squirm and try to wriggle his way out of it all. It is also interesting to see how normalized homophobia was at the time, it should give younger folks some insight into why "boomers" seem so dense when it comes to things like treating people different from you like humans.

Is that the same one with Young Meltzer or is that the steroid one

[Billy Bitchcakes]

I have the newest book about Vince on my list to read. Any of y'all listen to his Behind The Bastards series? A six-parter. There's some truly horrific stuff in there, including the Ring Boy scandal, which I'd never heard of before.

Highly recommended it's a great listen. I feel like they don't reeeeally get into the actual shitty stuff too deeply, like it's subtitled "History's Greatest Monster" but if I knew nothing about him I think I'd be wondering why they chose that moniker for him of all people considering what their podcast is about. Also funny how it's 7 hours long and they still only get up to about 2002. I was kinda expecting them to conclude with what's happened over the last year but maybe because that's more active and 'allegations' they decided not to touch it.

[Baglady]

I ran into mjf at six flags fiesta Texas on Thursday.
Pretty cool

[Atiba Applebum]

That’s pretty cool.   Did he keep kayfabe with you?


My closest real world wrestler encounters were being a PA on a DIY network show called Garage Mahal that Goldberg hosted and a teeny tiny indie called Pizza Man starring Frankie Muniz and DDP.   Didn’t get to meet meet either of them

[Baglady]

I have a video where I asked him to say hi to
My brother, he said
“What’s his name?”
And before I could finish my brothers name, he than said
“Who gives a shit.”
I was hyped on that. It was an honor to be treated like shit by him.

[Atiba Applebum]

Enjoyed the Brian Cage/Big Bill power bomb lariat combo.   A doomsday device for a giant who doesn’t need the top rope

[Sativa Lung]

I have a video where I asked him to say hi to
My brother, he said
“What’s his name?”
And before I could finish my brothers name, he than said
“Who gives a shit.”
I was hyped on that. It was an honor to be treated like shit by him.

I love this. Favorite wrestler and it's not even close...the kid just does not break character. There's plenty of videos of him roasting people in wheelchairs and making kids cry, and im so here for it.

Christian Cage and Don Callis are both pretty fantastic at playing the bad guy too, but MJF takes it to a different level. There's like maybe one piece of footage out there from when he was on the indies where he's slightly out of character, otherwise it's all exactly like you described.

Judging by his hairline in that pic I'm gonna guess we see him in a hair vs hair match not too far down the line.

[Atiba Applebum]

Expand Quote

I have a video where I asked him to say hi to
My brother, he said
“What’s his name?”
And before I could finish my brothers name, he than said
“Who gives a shit.”
I was hyped on that. It was an honor to be treated like shit by him.

[close]

I love this. Favorite wrestler and it's not even close...the kid just does not break character. There's plenty of videos of him roasting people in wheelchairs and making kids cry, and im so here for it.

Christian Cage and Don Callis are both pretty fantastic at playing the bad guy too, but MJF takes it to a different level. There's like maybe one piece of footage out there from when he was on the indies where he's slightly out of character, otherwise it's all exactly like you described.

Judging by his hairline in that pic I'm gonna guess we see him in a hair vs hair match not too far down the line.

Hah I didn’t want to say it about the hair bc I can relate

[Sativa Lung]

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Expand Quote

I have a video where I asked him to say hi to
My brother, he said
“What’s his name?”
And before I could finish my brothers name, he than said
“Who gives a shit.”
I was hyped on that. It was an honor to be treated like shit by him.

[close]

I love this. Favorite wrestler and it's not even close...the kid just does not break character. There's plenty of videos of him roasting people in wheelchairs and making kids cry, and im so here for it.

Christian Cage and Don Callis are both pretty fantastic at playing the bad guy too, but MJF takes it to a different level. There's like maybe one piece of footage out there from when he was on the indies where he's slightly out of character, otherwise it's all exactly like you described.

Judging by his hairline in that pic I'm gonna guess we see him in a hair vs hair match not too far down the line.

[close]

Hah I didn’t want to say it about the hair bc I can relate

Oh it's going to be amazing. One of the reasons I'm so into it is that he's built this character so carefully and added little touches and complexity like his behavior maybe all just being a defense mechanism for his insecurity. Every now and then he shows just enough humanity to connect with fans and then he spits in our face and calls us morons when we try to cheer him. It's beautiful.

I legit think that press conference he did with the towel around his neck, chomping pickles, and responding to the drink throwing controversy with "kid looked thirsty" might be in my top 5 favorite promo/interview moments ever.

[Baglady]

Expand Quote

I have a video where I asked him to say hi to
My brother, he said
“What’s his name?”
And before I could finish my brothers name, he than said
“Who gives a shit.”
I was hyped on that. It was an honor to be treated like shit by him.

[close]

I love this. Favorite wrestler and it's not even close...the kid just does not break character. There's plenty of videos of him roasting people in wheelchairs and making kids cry, and im so here for it.

Christian Cage and Don Callis are both pretty fantastic at playing the bad guy too, but MJF takes it to a different level. There's like maybe one piece of footage out there from when he was on the indies where he's slightly out of character, otherwise it's all exactly like you described.

Judging by his hairline in that pic I'm gonna guess we see him in a hair vs hair match not too far down the line.

Yeah def his hair was giving me gene wilder/ max Palmer vibes. Shouts out my receding kings. It’s why I love Cyrus and max. I think smoking weed at an early age attributes to hair loss.

[Sativa Lung]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I have a video where I asked him to say hi to
My brother, he said
“What’s his name?”
And before I could finish my brothers name, he than said
“Who gives a shit.”
I was hyped on that. It was an honor to be treated like shit by him.

[close]

I love this. Favorite wrestler and it's not even close...the kid just does not break character. There's plenty of videos of him roasting people in wheelchairs and making kids cry, and im so here for it.

Christian Cage and Don Callis are both pretty fantastic at playing the bad guy too, but MJF takes it to a different level. There's like maybe one piece of footage out there from when he was on the indies where he's slightly out of character, otherwise it's all exactly like you described.

Judging by his hairline in that pic I'm gonna guess we see him in a hair vs hair match not too far down the line.

[close]

Yeah def his hair was giving me gene wilder/ max Palmer vibes. Shouts out my receding kings. It’s why I love Cyrus and max. I think smoking weed at an early age attributes to hair loss.

I dunno, I started smoking when I was like 14 and I never lost mine. You actually just reminded me I need a haircut haha. Maybe the real issue is being named Max and Cyrus is just a poser.

I have to thank you for that picture because I really had never considered what old MJF is going to look like and it's going to be fucking glorious. I hope he shame shaves it and gets all bloated and puffy like Dana White... I wonder if he would be willing to put like 60 pounds on and then lose it for a long term "Max gets his groove back" storyline...

[Baglady]

Lol what’s wrong? Was your stepdad a bald dude? Let it go.

[Sativa Lung]

Lol what’s wrong? Was your stepdad a bald dude? Let it go.

He's a heel. You're supposed to hate them. That's the whole point. Beyond that, he's an insecure heel whos entire schtick is insulting people, so when he has something that people can latch on to and turn the tables on him it's going to be beautiful.

[Sativa Lung]

 Finally watched some of collision.

Not sure how I feel about the commentary team. I really like Kevin Kelly when he does NJPW but he doesn't seem as into it on AEW or something, it didn't have the same zing. Not a huge fan of Nigel to begin with and his shouty breathless delivery doesn't really fit for me either. It's a little too melodramatic and WWE-ish for me and just clashes with KK's serious, polite, calm delivery.

Loved Miro slipping in a line about his double jointed hot wife. His character is pretty great, an insane zealot with just a pinch of goof and weirdness. He can go from funny to scary and back in an instant. I was super into the redeemer and the neck of sand stuff so it's cool to see him doing something again.

Athena is painful on the mic but I dig her in the ring. As long as my mute button works I'll watch her and Willow knock lumps out of each other all day. I would give Athena a mouthpiece and make her into like ECW taz or Matanza from LU...just this silent sawed off badass that's brutal in the ring. Give her a new look and 3 months of squashes and you've got a main eventer.

Julia Hart still kinda sucks in the ring but her character work is awesome. One of the best repackages I've seen in a long time.

Malakai's mask promo was pretty awesome. He's definitely at his best in pre-tapes. Andrade using about 40 words in his promo but saying them slow enough to fill 3 minutes was unintentionally hilarious for me.

Juice Robinson is fuckin great. I don't know if that dude could have been anything except a pro wrestler. Somehow I'm still sick of FTR... Dax's pancake ass and HGH gut is gross to look at and he's an insufferable whiny bitch in real life. I'm a sling blade fan but this match kinda dragged ass and you've seen it all 3 times before if you've watched any NJPW tag in the last few years, plus it was too obvious who was going to win from the story. Dunno if it's just the new TV but Cash looks like he might have beefed up a little though, I don't remember him being that thick.

If you wanted to make sure I turned it off and did something else before the main event then having an Action Andretti-Scorpio Sky match was a good idea because that's exactly what happened. I just can't stomach Scorpio. .hes the blandest most off the shelf wrestler I've ever seen and has no charisma at all. Andretti is fine when he has a master like Jericho to play off but he's way too green and indy to make this one work.

I'll watch Joe and Punk later just because of the history but I kinda hate that they're gonna job Joe out since I think he's better than Punk in every way except causing controversy at this point in their careers. Really the only thing I'm pumped for about having Punk back is that him and Max might get to finish the excellent story they were building prior to brawl out.

[Atiba Applebum]

I think bc of a certain NXT era brought me back into PW, I’ll always have a soft spot for Mauro and Nigel.   I get what you’re saying about him, but it doesn’t bother me the way it bothers me with Wade Barrett or Corey Graves who tries a little too hard to be a heel.   

I think Joe acquitted himself well in the loss and the story remains open with Punk.   

Speaking of successful repackaging, the Gunns have really grown on me and don’t seem like some nitwit 2nd gen guys anymore.   BG Gold is put together quite nicely Id say

[PatrickSkateman]

Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

[Billy Bitchcakes]

I would, but then I live in the UK so I don't really have to back up my answer (although if John Cena has anything to say about it maybe that will change). I'd imagine any half decent seat would be out of my price range but I've heard plenty of people say that even being up in the nosebleeds is worth it for the atmosphere. The spectacle of it is undeniable.

[PatrickSkateman]

I would, but then I live in the UK so I don't really have to back up my answer (although if John Cena has anything to say about it maybe that will change). I'd imagine any half decent seat would be out of my price range but I've heard plenty of people say that even being up in the nosebleeds is worth it for the atmosphere. The spectacle of it is undeniable.

Are you going to try to go to Wembley for AEW?

[Billy Bitchcakes]

Bought a ticket on day one yeah. They were pretty reasonably priced so I'd hoped to spend enough to get a bit closer but ended up panic buying near the back. Going to be epic I just hope it doesn't rain

[Atiba Applebum]

Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

Wouldn’t give a dime to wwe

[PatrickSkateman]

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Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

[close]

Wouldn’t give a dime to wwe

Gonna be a tough one for me since Philly’s got Wrestlemania next April.

When did you decide to fully separate yourself from WWE?

[Atiba Applebum]

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Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

[close]

Wouldn’t give a dime to wwe

[close]

Gonna be a tough one for me since Philly’s got Wrestlemania next April.

When did you decide to fully separate yourself from WWE?

NXT got me back in, then started to get into the history and realized what a vile family the MacMahons are, re-evaluated how gross the Attitude era was and found main roster product pretty unwatchable/unlistenable.

AEW came along and while it isn’t perfect, it features most of the guys that got me back into PW and Khan may have flaws but seems like a decent person who treats his employees well. 

[Sativa Lung]

I think bc of a certain NXT era brought me back into PW, I’ll always have a soft spot for Mauro and Nigel.   I get what you’re saying about him, but it doesn’t bother me the way it bothers me with Wade Barrett or Corey Graves who tries a little too hard to be a heel.   

I think Joe acquitted himself well in the loss and the story remains open with Punk.   

Speaking of successful repackaging, the Gunns have really grown on me and don’t seem like some nitwit 2nd gen guys anymore.   BG Gold is put together quite nicely Id say

Oh don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with Nigel and I thought he was a perfect fit for old nxt, he's just not one of my favorites.

Joe - Punk was pretty good (as I expected it to be), I just hate knowing 100% for sure that there's no chance punk is losing. I guess I kinda just wish Joe would be treated like the amazing performer that he is but every time it starts to happen he gets hurt or something outside his control happens to fuck it up for whatever reason. Even the recent TNT run felt like it got kind of cut off at the knees just for the sake of making a title change to try and save yet another stalled wardlow push. I dunno, nostalgia might have something to do with it but I think Joe is maybe the second or third best promo in the company and obviously still good enough to work main event length and intensity matches so it seems like he should be doing more than literally the "lowest" belt in the company (even if it did give us those fantastic king of TV promos).

I'm pretty high on the Gunns too. I was a little apprehensive at first but they picked up the in ring super fast for having basically no experience and have just gotten better and better. I won't say they're naturals, but they're definitely second generation workers. The timing and just general ring savvy is lacking sometimes, but their work is pretty crisp and I'm impressed with how well they sell and draw heat. The little one in particular is very good at facials and emoting, hes fun to watch interact with the crowd.

[PatrickSkateman]

Expand Quote

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Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

[close]

Wouldn’t give a dime to wwe

[close]

Gonna be a tough one for me since Philly’s got Wrestlemania next April.

When did you decide to fully separate yourself from WWE?

[close]

NXT got me back in, then started to get into the history and realized what a vile family the MacMahons are, re-evaluated how gross the Attitude era was and found main roster product pretty unwatchable/unlistenable.

AEW came along and while it isn’t perfect, it features most of the guys that got me back into PW and Khan may have flaws but seems like a decent person who treats his employees well.

It’ll be a tough one, going to a Wrestlemania is childhood bucket list status.

[Atiba Applebum]

Expand Quote

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Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

[close]

Wouldn’t give a dime to wwe

[close]

Gonna be a tough one for me since Philly’s got Wrestlemania next April.

When did you decide to fully separate yourself from WWE?

[close]

NXT got me back in, then started to get into the history and realized what a vile family the MacMahons are, re-evaluated how gross the Attitude era was and found main roster product pretty unwatchable/unlistenable.

AEW came along and while it isn’t perfect, it features most of the guys that got me back into PW and Khan may have flaws but seems like a decent person who treats his employees well.

[close]

It’ll be a tough one, going to a Wrestlemania is childhood bucket list status.

Mic’ed up mats are crazy live. 

[Mr. Kamikazi]

Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

Yes.

[PatrickSkateman]

Would any of you pay to see MLW live?

[Atiba Applebum]

Would any of you pay to see MLW live?

Hah, after going to a bunch of shows this year from Smackdown to Dynamite to ROH PPV, I think the only one I would pay for is PWG BoLA (or a similarly big card for them).   It wasn’t too long or too short, you were close to the action, the wrestling was good and with people you’ve heard of, easy to drink at, and the other fans were the least annoying here

[Sativa Lung]

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Would any of you actually pay to be at Wrestlemania?

[close]

Wouldn’t give a dime to wwe

[close]

Gonna be a tough one for me since Philly’s got Wrestlemania next April.

When did you decide to fully separate yourself from WWE?

[close]

NXT got me back in, then started to get into the history and realized what a vile family the MacMahons are, re-evaluated how gross the Attitude era was and found main roster product pretty unwatchable/unlistenable.

AEW came along and while it isn’t perfect, it features most of the guys that got me back into PW and Khan may have flaws but seems like a decent person who treats his employees well.

[close]

It’ll be a tough one, going to a Wrestlemania is childhood bucket list status.

I'm kind of in the same boat. I don't think I could bring myself to pay for it, but if someone couldn't go and offered me their ticket for free I don't know if I could refuse. Gorilla, Jesse, the Brain, and Vince basically narrated my childhood outside of school, so Mania is always going to have a certain gravitas to it nothing else can really match. Thankfully Pittsburgh is too small for it because that's an internal conflict I'm not sure I want to deal with at this point in my life haha.

Actually I suppose why I hate Vince so much now is that I take it kind of personal, like how the fuck were you stuffing prayers and vitamins down my throat while you were literally raping your employees dude. Every new revelation about what he's actually like feels like a fresh betrayal to that 10 year old kid who got a paper route just to support his wrestling VHS rental habit.

I'd pay for mlw in the ECW arena as long as it wasn't more than like $20. Its definitely bingo hall wrestling for the most part but they have some solid talent. Nice to see Blaster McMassive doing something on a bigger stage too because I really liked him in Chikara. I guess they lost Mads Kruger though? He's a little Indy but him and Jacob Fatu were fun to watch...they had a weapons match last year that was classic ECW style madness. Wonder if Tony is sniffing around that... 7 footers who can take bumps and do destroyers don't grow on trees. I'd definitely pay to see him and Big Bill do a new age skyscrapers gimmick, give Stokely a leather hat and some sunglasses and just let him totally lean into it.

[PatrickSkateman]

ROH ppv in Trenton on July 21 tix start at $20. Would any of you do it?