General Wrestling Thread

(I typed out a big, long story originally, but I decided the summary put it best)

TL;DR- I like wrestling and, even though I have a wealth of knowledge on it (thanks to an old roommate) I still consider myself a closeted/casual fan. I'm really fascinated by the behind the scenes goings on, particularly what would make somebody go through all of this just to help tell a story. In-ring, I tend to like larger than life personalities, cartoony gimmicks, and hardcore wrestling when it's well-executed (although hardcore wrestling rarely is). Needless to say, I stick with mostly watching older shows and matches. I do like Bray Wyatt and Stardust, especially since they're both gimmicks and good in the ring, but I don't see much of a future for their gimmicks seeing as it's a little too jarring in this day and age. I hope I'm wrong, though, and the WWE can find a place for them to let their freak flags fly.

@taxman Sasha Banks is pretty good, but does she have a ring entrance like this?

In some ways he's kind of right.  If no one today knew it was scripted no one would be railing against guys like Roman Reigns with as much vehemence as they do today.  Sure there would be people who disliked him for whatever reason, but he was winning matches and snatching titles we couldn't really complain, because for whatever reason he was winning, but since we the viewers know the entire thing is scripted its a lot easier to be, "Man I really think that guy is a shitty talker, how come he gets to be the champion, when the far more entertaining Raven (WCW & WWF edition)/Chris Jericho (WCW Edition)/Dolph Ziggler/Sandow/etc. goes woefully underused in the midcard?"

Sure we can still suspend disbelief and care about the storylines and characters, but there's some stuff that's gone from wrestling forever, because since we know it's all fake there's only so much we're will to accept.  We'll never see another Andy Kaufman/Jerry Lawler feud again because we all know that it's "fake."  Look how badly the WCW failed at replicating that with David Arquette and Jeff Jarrett.  While people could accept Kaufman beating Lawler through deception or basically being an asshole heel it was because we saw him win and knew nothing else.  Arquette, acting in a similar fashion (and becoming a fluke champion) on the other hand was utterly reviled because we know it was fake and thus couldn't accept such a scrawny guy somehow winning.  So I think that knowing such things are fake does kind of limit the storylines that can be done.

That being said, I don't think knowing it's predetermined detracts from the overall enjoyment of wrestling as a form of entertainment.  The stuff these men and women do in the ring is still impressive and there are moments when the storylines are very well done, plus as DisgracedFormerFootModel said, now that we know it's fake it's a lot easier to get into speculating about what's going to happen, which as any fan of serialized television knows is half the fun of watching such things.

No, but only because those accursed and villainous scoundrels, the Lucha Dragons! 

Sure, it's a fun thing regardless.  I vaguely remember the Arquette thing.  I don't follow it much, I just check in once in while out of curiosity to see what they're up to, but it was kind of odd to hear of fans booing the Rumble result and demanding that the company respect their wishes, because that's them not suspending disbelief.  It's like the company could put up polls periodically to determine winners, feuds and storylines like a collective Choose Your Own Adventure.  But it doesn't mean everyone has to approach it that way, of course.

The AVC reviews encouraged me to watch the last couple of weeks worth of Raw and I think I might have to go back to watching it regularly. I forgot how addictive it is.  I thought it was sort of charming the way Stewart took a long time giving high fives as he came to the ring.  I liked to think he was imagining himself as a wrestler, apparently being a long-time fan.

I also like the lady who contributed the last review a lot. They should keep her on that beat.

Yeah, her fandom was quite evident.  It was well written and fun to read.  Sometimes it feels like they're just going through the motions, but you could tell she was legitimately into it.  Hopefully they keep it up; I fear for your welfare if you take your kooky old-timey cat gimmick into committed WWE fora. 

Stranger things have happened! 

I find it particularly strange that while Raw was using all manner of Paul E. Dangerously promos, one on one blizzard induced interviews, matches with awesome workman-like wrestlers and the fact that it's Wrestlemania it was unable to get me interested in the main event of Wrestlemania.

NXT on the other hand was able to get me super amped up for Alex Riley (a guy who was was basically default Create-a-Wrestler template and thus never really did anything for me) vs. CJ Parker (jobber with white guy dreads and hippie activist gimmick) with nothing more than a bottle of water and Steven Regal telling a guy "No, you can wrestle and be an announcer. You have to quit your job if you want to get back in the ring."

Been catching up on like two months worth of NXT the past few nights, been loving it. Sasha Banks is just the best right now. Her promos are always on point, and in Ring she is able to look damn amazing. Yeah, I guess the Charlotte/Banks matchup is getting a little old at this point, but they are still able to make it a fun match no matter what. It isn't like on RAW or Smackdown where it is the exact same thing for three weeks.

I'm at the Alex Riley vs Kevin Owens deal, and like NV said, it is amazing how that the writing on NXT can get me to care about this storyline. It helps that Alex Riley has been great on the mic too, maybe not so much in the ring, but his promo and first confrontation with Kevin Owens was damn good. The guy may be a lower end commentator, but he is good when it comes to promos.

Also really am glad that Cass and Enzo are on their way to a tag title shot.

I owe Sasha Banks and Charlotte a debt of gratitude (and I suppose to a lesser extend Bayley and Becky Lynch) for it was their match at the last NXT special that turned Mrs. Viking from a person who would occasionally tolerate wrestling, to someone who now eagerly awaits her weekly dose of NXT.  She watched Wrestlemania with me this year and the biggest pop from her was when Hideo Itami appeared for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale to Determine the Most Gigantic Wrestler in the World Wrestling Entertainment®.  "It's Hideo!  Will Tyler Breeze be here too?!"  "No."  "Aww....."

As for Cass and 'Zo's presence in the tag team title scene, I'm sad that they seem to have displaced the Vaudevillians, but they are entertaining as hell so I don't mind it as much as Blake and Murphy becoming tag team champs out of nowhere.

Oh, once he gets called up to the main roster it will happen. I can only cringe now as to what JBL or Cole is going to say about Tyler.

So much better than Sexy Boy ever was!

They'll just strip him of his first name instead.