Wrestling (WWE, etc.)

[talonmalon333]

It's cool whenever Jericho is back. He's one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and objectively one of the greatest technical wrestlers of the WWE when he was in his prime (and he's certainly no slacker, now). He is also my favorite IC Champion of all time. He's also one of the few wrestlers around with his ego in check. He has really helped to put so many wrestlers over in his career, and mostly in great matches, as that. He may not be as famous as Hulk Hogan or other big-timers, but I feel that his legacy will be remembered more fondly in the years to come than some over-egotistical, racist, douche-bag who ended up hurting more of his peers, in one way ir another, than he helped.

I love Jericho, too. Lately, they've been pushing a new wrestler, Braun Strowman, as a massive unstoppable wall. And I think they wanted to show how strong he is in this match in particular. Jericho is apparently such a good guy about taking loses in order to get the young talent "over", he took the loss for his team to emphasize how strong the new guy is.

Having Sting lose twice in a row as far as his WWE matches go is kind of odd. But, he must have agreed to it if he's going through with it. I just hope that they didn't make him look like a total pushover in losing a match against an already weakened opponent.

It's Vince's way of saying "See, we beat WCW, and don't anyone forget it". He completely should have won last WrestleMania. It would have been cool to see him win here as well, but then again it'll also be great to see Seth live as the champion when I attend SmackDown live this October.

However, Sting looked great in the match. At least, until he unfortunately got injured after taking a hit from Seth. There was actually a full minute where he was in the corner of the ring being tended to by doctors, while Seth stalled by getting heat from the audience. As soon as the match ended, Sting was quickly removed from the ring and taken away by doctors. There are rumors that, because of the injury combined with his age, this may force Sting to retire. It's sad that it happened. But I have to say, the fact that he was able to get up after his injury, despite how serious it was, and still finish the match shows what an absolute champ he is.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, Sting's consecutive losses practically scream that they were written in by Vince's massive ego, but part of me feels that there must have been some larger plan in store for Sting to even agree to this. I mean, he was offered a WWE contract after Vince bought WCW, but he opted to sign on for the poor spiritual successor to WCW, TNA, because he didn't trust Vince to handle his character and career with any dignity. But now he's appearing in special event matches on WWE near the end of his career, and seemingly is being made a fool out of like he originally predicted would happen had he joined WWE back in his prime.

To me, that makes absolutely no sense unless he's either desperate for a quick paycheck, or if Vince somehow promised him a bigger payoff if he takes some early losses. I'd like to hope that the latter is true, and that his injury won't prevent him from participating in any future matches.

it'll also be great to see Seth live as the champion when I attend SmackDown live this October.

Lucky devil.

Have fun!

[talonmalon333]

Tonight, Kane dragged Seth into the ring, and afterward out of that same whole, a gust of dark smoke blazed out. I am so excited for this feud.

This is the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1eEVACnrus&src_vid=oJbGJrBJ8Gs&annotation_id=55e71980-0000-2747-831b-94eb2c08bce0&feature=iv

Yeah, Sting's consecutive losses practically scream that they were written in by Vince's massive ego, but part of me feels that there must have been some larger plan in store for Sting to even agree to this. I mean, he was offered a WWE contract after Vince bought WCW, but he opted to sign on for the poor spiritual successor to WCW, TNA, because he didn't trust Vince to handle his character and career with any dignity. But now he's appearing in special event matches on WWE near the end of his career, and seemingly is being made a fool out of like he originally predicted would happen had he joined WWE back in his prime.

To me, that makes absolutely no sense unless he's either desperate for a quick paycheck, or if Vince somehow promised him a bigger payoff if he takes some early losses. I'd like to hope that the latter is true, and that his injury won't prevent him from participating in any future matches.

He recently had this to say about signing with WWE: "I should have done this a long time ago". So he has a passion for it, but I just wish WWE made him look better. Of the three matches he's had since signing onto WWE (two of which were paperviews, both of which you know he lost), he only has one victory... and it was against a team with Big Show, another WCW alumni.

Also, while I'm looking forward to where they go next, I think it could have been great storytelling to have Seth lose the WWE belt to the man who symbolizes WCW. That could have turned Triple H against Seth big time, and would have been a wonderful way to wrap up Sting's career.

it'll also be great to see Seth live as the champion when I attend SmackDown live this October.

Lucky devil.

Have fun!

Thanks! I just couldn't resist when I learned it was coming to Philly!

[talonmalon333]

Has anyone ever seen this video? It's titled "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYvMOf3hsGA

It's a parody and is intentionally very silly. However, the point is intended to be pretty sincere. Basically, the video talks about WWE and makes the point about about why it works so well as a storyteller, making its point by chronicling the story of Triple H. It also addresses the silly "wrestling isn't real" complaint and what WWE is really supposed to be relative to other television. It's a good video.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh, hey, Max Landis! He was on Movie Fights! (my favorite podcast show) the other week. The guy knows his shit.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I know Max Landis as the guy who had a fit on twitter because few people watched his American Ultra movie.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I remember them bringing that up on MF for a bit. I never actually saw the tweets, though, so I can't comment on that.

[talonmalon333]

Oh, hey, Max Landis! He was on Movie Fights! (my favorite podcast show) the other week. The guy knows his shit.

That's more incentive for you to check out the video!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I wouldn't have known that Max Landis is in the video and written about it if I hadn't already checked it out.

Use your brain, Talon!

[talonmalon333]

You should use that brain of yours to write up more of a response to the video.

[talonmalon333]

Sting's words on the injury:

WWE.COM: Is getting back in the ring again something you'd want to do? Do you have that desire to return?

STING: [long pause] Hmmm, in the right scenario ... in the right scenario, yeah.

WWE.COM: Was this your last match?

STING: I hate it when I'm asked that question because the answer truly is a question mark, and the question mark is as bold as it could ever be at this point.

WWE.COM: Wait and see?

STING: Yeah, for now.

Maybe he will be in the ring again. But we'll see. It's a big maybe. I mean, we have to keep in mind, the guy's 56 years old. That's... not young to be bouncing around a ring throwing people. Plus, when you look at this, and consider the fact that The Undertaker collapsed after both of his recent matches with Lesnar (WrestleMania 2014 and SummerSlam 2015), I wouldn't be surprised if WWE begins reconsidering the idea of bringing back the legends to wrestle.

Sting also said this:

WWE.COM: How would you describe competing against Seth Rollins?

STING: The biggest pleasure. I'm honored. After 30 years and working with some of the best and some of the greatest, [Rollins] is, I'm telling you, he's got to be the best I've ever worked with. I mean, this guy has it. And I think he's just scratching the surface on what he will do. I've never seen somebody as talented. He's working two [matches] on Raw, two [matches] on the pay-per-view, he's involved in every other segment and it's physical. He's got guys coming from every angle. There's a lot on his plate. He's carrying a lot, and he's handling it. He's proven he can do it. I'm just glad I had a chance to work with him. He's the kind of guy who could be in there with a broomstick and make something very interesting happen, a match that people would love somehow.

WWE.COM: That's incredibly high praise coming from Sting.

STING: Really, I can't say enough. He poked his head in the ambulance and said, "Man, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened." I said, "Seth, don't worry about it. It's not your fault." And he, for 15 minutes, he said, "I just wanted to tell you what an honor it was, what a pleasure. I can't believe I had a chance to get in the ring with you and work with you. I was you for Halloween when I was a kid." He was on and on about it, but man, this young guy, he doesn't have any idea how much I appreciate being able to work with him.

See, I told you guys that Seth Rollins is the best.

[talonmalon333]

What do you think of the way that a lot of WWE belts have been unified over the years?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm actually OK with that. Having less titles makes the few that there are feel all the more important, and being a champion has actual weight to it....in theory. In practice, only the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Tag Team belts really succeed in that regard (though I do definitely give them props for going back to one world champion instead of two).

The IC and US titles have been devalued over the years, though, IMO, so they don't mean as much.

There are, however, two titles that I kind of miss. One is the Hardcore Championship belt, but I can understand why they stopped doing those kinds of matches in general. On top of being extra dangerous, they were far too brutal for the family friendly tone that the company now goes for. But man, matches like Mick Foley vs. Edge at Wrestlemania 22 showed you just how amazingly entertaining hardcore matches could be.

The other title that they got rid of a long time ago is the Lightweight belt (or Cruiserweight in WCW). This is actually a BIG (no pun intended) problem that I have with modern WWE. The focus is mostly on the tough and muscular guys, and they made smaller guys like Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, and others basically buff up beyond their natural weight class compete more with big guys who couldn't match their their maneuvers and technical skills (with a few exceptions). Go back and watch some classic WCW Cruiserweight matches involving the likes of CJ, RM, Dean Malenko, Billy Kidman, and so on. It's a completely different kind of match entirely when two smaller, agile, and acrobatic guys go toe-to-toe. It's a much quicker-paced and very impressive (from a technical standpoint) style of wrestling that I really miss from the WWE, these days.

[talonmalon333]

I agree that it's better some of they were gotten rid of. But I do wish they stuck with the World Heavyweight Championship Belt, as it looked a lot nicer than the one they are using now. Just look at it...

Spoiler

[close]

Such a nice, strong looking belt.

However, I do want to mention that the US title has regained some of its prestige. Despite my issues with him, Cena has had a United States Open Challenge almost every week of Raw ever since he won it last WrestleMania, open to anyone in the locker room at all. We've gotten some fantastic matches out of it, and they frequently are one of the highlights of an episode of Raw. And while almost every one of these matches has ended with Super Cena demolishing younger talents, the matches have still succeeded at making his opponents look strong.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh yeah, I've never cared for the look of the main WWE belt. I also wish that they just stuck with the World Heavyweight Championship belt design.

Truth be told, though, I always liked the look of the belt that they had before they changed to the "Spinner" design (which I have, and always will, utterly detest).