[Malankazooie]

Aptorian, on 08 April 2019 - 11:51 AM, said:

What the hell is up with Kofi Kingston's chest? There's a gaping hole at the center of his chest where the pectorals should be attached to his sternum? I've noticed Scott Steiner has the same issue.

Could be he has a condition which I know as 'concave chest' (not sure what the official medical term for it is). Not sure how common it is, but around grade 7 (or there about), there was a boy in my P.E. class who had it. I remember the first time we played a 'shirts vs. skins' basketball game, everyone was kind of taken aback by it (the kid was really skinny so it was quite pronounced), and we were scared he would get hurt. The P.E. teacher explained the basics about it and that he would be fine playing basketball.

[Gorefest]

What do you mean 'world chMpionship not headlining', Apt? The headliner was a match for the two (women's) championship belts. The two top belts for the women's division. Two belts beat one belt. And no matter where the Bryan-Kofi matxh sat on the card, it truly was one of the most showstealing matches of the past 10 years WM history.

[Gorefest]

Anyway, one of the best WrestleManias that I have ever seen, hands down. Shame about the botched main event ending, otherwise it would be competing for best WM with some of the attitude era ones. But that botched Rousey pin was a massive letdown.

[Malankazooie]

Watched Monday Night Raw last night to see if there was any blowback from WrestleMania. Undertaker made an appearance. Does saying 'dead man' summon him or something? That Elias Samson guy was doing his schtick, and ended performing a rap about Jon Cena. When he said the phase 'dead man', that tell tell 'gonnnnnnng' that announces the Undertaker chimed. Undertaker came in and did his thing. BTW, Undertaker is looking every bit his age. He's still pretty muscular and ripped, but dude is crispy AF. I imagine he is using all sorts of 'nutritional supplements' (safe/dangerous/legal/illegal/horse tranquilizers and whatever else) to keep in that shape at his age.

Also, lol at Aleister Black & Ricochet.

That Lars Sullivan dude should wrestle either Brock Lesner or Braun Stromwan.

I think I'll watch SmackDown tonight to see if there is any more fallout from WrestleMania. I guess next week's Raw and SmackDown some big announcements are being made. Is there something big going down? Like a reorganization of the whole system or something?

[Malankazooie]

Ok, they teased this during Raw and now they've teased it during SmackDown. I need to know what it's about. Anybody know?

[Gorefest]

While WWE continues to bury their new talent by continuously rolling out the same old tired workers (Undertaker, Shane) and tropes, AEW is starting to string together a few very nice PPV events. Fyterfest and Fight for the Fallen were both awesome and refreshing. Looking forward to All Out in August. Their weekly tv shows should begin in the Autumn on TNT (USA) and ITV (UK). At that point, at least in the UK, AEW will actually have a way way bigger tv exposure than WWE.


That said, I did think the matches Aleister Black vs Cesaro and Ricochet vs AJ Styles at Extreme Rules were awesome. It is just a crying shame that WWE Creative is so braindead.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 20 July 2019 - 05:46 AM

[Malankazooie]

My new favorite thing is listening to Steve Austin talk about experiences and just general shenanigans he got up to when he was active in the wrestling business (or just the awesome things he's done during his lifetime). I've listened to him on a couple of different podcasts and his personal stories are a must hear. USA Network is trying to capture this story telling charisma Austin has by giving him his own action/adventure like talk show. I watched the first episode and it's pretty good (guest was Rob Riggle), but I'm content just putting on the headphones and listen to Austin talk about that time he and the Undertaker decided to go fishing when they had a weekend off.

[Aptorian]

I've tried listening to Austin's podcast but there's way too many commercials and merch and upcoming events, etc.

Same problem I had with the Jim Cornette experience, well, that and his vitriolic rants against Trump and co.

Now Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard. That's the perfect mix of old stories and wrestling memes.

[Malankazooie]

The Dark Side of the Ring docuseries may be time well spent seeking out. I caught it on Viceland, but not sure if it is widely available outside the U.S.

wiki link

The episode - The Killing of Bruiser Brody - was bonkers. And whoooboy! don't even get me started on the fabulous Moolah episode.

[Aptorian]

Is it just an old man reunion or is it a special event?

They've brought them back far too often, usually to squash talent for no reason.

[Aptorian]

Sounds like the usual WWE experience.

[Gorefest]

If they have big names, it will most likely be to kick off the show. I think this was for their smackdown launch with a new broadcaster (Fox?). I havent followed wwe for a while, so not sure anymore. The new Monday night wars are now on Wednesday with NXT vs AEW. Raw and Smackdown are for the kiddies these days

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 05 October 2019 - 06:51 AM

[Malankazooie]

Okay pro wrestling talent scouts, you have your marching orders. Entice this guy away from football and into professional wrestling, STAT!

[Aptorian]

Vince McMahon's reaction: it's not a belt! It's a title!

[Malankazooie]

Season 2 of Dark Side of the Ring begins airing tonight. First up: "Benoit Part One". It's gonna get, well... dark.

Quote

In 2007, wrestling superstar Chris Benoit murders his wife and 7-year-old son, then ends his own life; those closest to the tragedy never speak openly until now.

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 24 March 2020 - 04:33 PM

[Malankazooie]

Oh snap! What a pleasant treat. There's a Dark Side of the Ring after show (a la Talking Dead), called "After Dark" and it's hosted by Chris Gethard, who I like and have enjoyed his projects in the past, so this should be good. He should be bringing some thoughtful insight to the episodes (not sure if it is an ongoing thing though). I see for the discussion about the Benoit episode, all the guests are face timing due to coronavirus.

[Aptorian]

I forgot that WrestleMania is this weekend. I honestly don't think I'd bother watching it this year, I'm that meh about WWEs product. But this is spread over two days with an empty arena.

I have to watch this. Probably more like hate watch.

I'm gonna start out with the Royal Rumble. Gotta see what underwhelming build up they plan to screw up at WrestleMania.

[Aptorian]

Royal Rumble 2020 commentary:

Spoiler

God I hate Roman Reigns. 5 years and they're still doing the same presentation with this unlikable Babyface.

Ha! Corbin apparently covered Reigns in Dogfood. I now know who I'm rooting for.

The crowd does not give a shit about the match.

Boring "street fight" match that somehow turned into a fight between the Usos and Rood and Ziggler. What about the actual match?

Oookay Reigns just put Corbin inside a portapotty and tipped it over that was fun but they could have added some sewage.

And Reigns wins with a weak looking punch and spear.

Skipped the women's Royal Rumble. Most of these women don't have the athleticism or personality to be entertaining. Glad to see Charlotte winning at the end. She consistently looks a level above the rest.

Now there's a match with a very depressed looking Emo Bailey. Is she doing some kind of heel run? She just looks tired. Lacey Evans looks cool though.

Skipped the Bailey and match ø. Bo idea who won. WWEs media player is garbage. You can't fast forward or jump, only skip whole matches.

Next up a match between Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. I love this new Fiend persona. The mask is awesome. Hope they're not jobbing him out like they did during the Wyatt run.


I assume Bryan is now a face,? What happened to the vegan heel gimmick?

Interesting to see a strap match it n this day and age. Seems a bit silly when it's not a chicken shit heel

I love the welts Bryan is getting from the whipping.

Whyatt won. Good.

Brock Lesnar started as number one and eliminated 13 people before being taken out. Pretty cool setup.

And Edge returned. I think I saw a clip of that a month ago but it still blew me away. You could see his emotion from the reaction of the crowd.

Reigns better not eliminate Edge.

Oh here comes Kevin Owens, the out of shape contradiction of a wrestling character. Hmm. He's still doing the Stone Cold Stunner, actually looks really good.

Oh, Seth Rollins is apparently leading a heel faction now. Interesting. Though it's typical WWE going from booking Rollins as a chicken shit heel, to baby face who could beat even Lesnar, to once again a chicken shit. The inconsistencies are a WWE trademark.

Ha, Orton planning on turning on Edge and Edge then turning on Orton, beautiful.

Fuuuck Reigns and his video game moveset. Why, why, why would they have Reigns eliminate Edge? It's like they go out of their way to spit in the face of the fans. And then thankfully McIntyre eliminated Reigns but in a cheap way of course so Reigns still looks strong.

Fuck WWEs booking.

Not really in the mood to watch WrestleMania now.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 05 April 2020 - 01:01 PM

[Aptorian]

Decided to jump through the Super Showdown Show in Saudi Arabia. I can see Goldberg is fighting The Fiend so that should be interesting.

Spoiler

The first match on the card is a gauntlet. Last round Undertaker shows up to defeat AJ Style with no struggle. He just picked up AJ Styles and slammed him. That's all. God it's sad that they keep parading around the corpse of the Undertaker this way. Must be nice to get a paycheck every year for Taker but imagine being one of the best Wrestlers today and having to job in a squash match to a guy who can barely walk.

Bunch of boring matches. Then suddenly a squash match Between Brock Lesnar and Ricochet. Whyyy? Was there some funny build up to this? Did Ricochet piss somebody off and this was his punishment? Lesnar just manhandled the guy.

Unimportant Steel Cage match between Reigns and Baron Corbin. In a better world the face and heel roles would be reversed.

A match between Naomi and Bayley. Didn't think they'd show a women's match in Saudi Arabia. But they're also covered from head to toe in clothing. Watching the crowd during that match was special. There was one dude just standing up in the crowd and staring. Also a lot of face masks.


God damn the Fiends entrance is amazing.

Bray Wyatt is deceptively big.

Jesus, Goldberg's given the Fiend 5 spears in a row. And the Fiend's still going. I guess they've got a Undertaker thing going, hope they protect him.

Oh never mind Goldberg squashed him. I guess this is the setup for WrestleMania. I am now on board for that rematch.

Still this is silly feeding your top heel to an old timer.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 06 April 2020 - 06:57 AM

[Aptorian]

Started up WrestleMania 2020

This should be weird.

Initial impression? First match? This is the best wrestling I've ever watched.

This "unplugged" format is going to expose any wrestler not actually laying in the moves.

Spoiler

Awesome intro. That pirate theme must have cost a fortune.

Okay I'm hyped for Gronk and Mojo. Could they reform the Hype Bros?

The fuck? No crowd is so eeire. Seeing the Wrestlers strutting without a crowd to react to is just wrong. But I'm loving that you can hear everything clearly. Asuka and Sail are hilarious. They're just shouting Japanese taunts. And the slaps and kicks are loud as fuck!

This is awesome. It's like a really aggressive theater play.

Nicky Cross is hilarious. She's screaming like a mad woman. You can hear the commentators trying not to laugh.

The next two matches where meh but again it's great to actually hear the referees counting and warning the wrestlers.

Now that Sami Zayn vs Daniel Bryan is gold. Hearing the wrestlers around the ring taunting and trash talking is great. And hearing Zayn complaining was great. Cool little heel match.

Watched the ladder match for the tagteam titles. I don't like ladder matches but the finish was fun.

Boring match between Rollins and Owens until the midway disqualification. But that flying elbow drop off the sign was awesome. Can't believe he connected.

Goldberg is fighting Braun Strowman? What about Goldberg and The Fiend? Does the Fiend not care about his title?

Strowman just squashed Goldberg after surviving three spears? To get the Universal Championship? This is some weird booking.

And now Styles is getting a rematch after Undertaker squashed him in Saudi Arabia? Oh this is going to be interesting.

Oh a boneyard match. This is smart. A pretaped match can be used to hide the Undertaker's weaknesses.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 06 April 2020 - 05:53 PM