General Wrestling Discussion

Well Intentioned said:
The statement that the Kliq's influence was overblown is probably true. But they absolutely did have sway over booking decisions and kiboshed a lot of shit.

Vader was mentioned. Say what you will about him, but dude had a presence and was being booked as a monster when he debuted. Shawn throwing a tantrum sunk him.

Bam Bam Bigelow was another guy, who apparently was supposed to get a program post-Lawrence Taylor Wrestlemania and then it fizzled due to alleged Kliq interference.

Shane Douglas was mentioned, but Shane Douglas also sucks so I feel like that's a stopped clock is right sort of thing.

Dave Boy was another guy who got fucked over pretty handily, notably with the European title defense against Michaels where he looked like a complete geek.

I'm also pretty sure that Backlund's title reign was derailed (no loss there, to be fair) and Shawn/Diesel winning the tag straps were also the result of politicking.

Shit happened and I would say careers did suffer for it. They had influence because Vince was kind of up against the wall.
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Of course they had Vince's ear, but why wouldn't they? They got over on their own, jabronis like Bob Holly, Skip, Dean Douglas etc. couldn't get over.
 
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At this point, I'm bored with american wrestling politics. Lucha libre is still a world where there's a lot of mystery.
Even seeing peeks of the inner workings of CMLL is interesting to me. For example:
CMLL Sunday lineup caught my eye. Rey Bucanero in a 2da. Yowza. 2da on a Sunday no less. Not exactly the prime spot when it comes to a payoff. That's the standard filling bookings slot of the week.
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CMLL doesn't really release/fire people without cause. But if they want to push someone out, often they go at it by cutting down their bookings and/or slotting them in on the lower paying days in the lower paying spots. Basically the starve them out approach.

Bucanero is one of the more tenured guys in the company (started in 92) but has obviously gone through professional & personal up-and-downs so you can't blame the company. Just wild to see for a guy who was a recognized top guy here for more than 2 decades.


Also highlights the shifting CMLL mindset. It used to be once you were a top guy, you're a top guy forever. Even when you can't go any longer, you earned your spot. Young guys be damned. Not any longer. The rise for youngsters is faster & lifetime achievement spots are scarce.
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For more context, Rey Bucanero is 50 years old. If COVID didn't scare CMLL into getting their shit together, he'd probably still be lingering in semi-main territory. Sundays and Tuesdays at Arena Mexico = B shows.
 
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cypocryphy said:
Of course they had Vince's ear, but why wouldn't they? They got over on their own, jabronis like Bob Holly, Skip, Dean Douglas etc. couldn't get over.
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Yeah, I'm not really trying to advocate for guys like the ones you listed above. Just saying that they were able to influence things like title reigns, etc. and it wasn't just ham and eggers like Shane Douglas.
 
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Well Intentioned said:
Vader was mentioned. Say what you will about him, but dude had a presence and was being booked as a monster when he debuted. Shawn throwing a tantrum sunk him.
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Vader was a pig by many accounts. The guy would let his unwashed wrestling gear sit in a bag and just keep using it, forcing wrestlers to tolerate that stench during matches. There's a lot of small stories like this that made it clear he would never be the guy.
 
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COME ON OUT YOU RAPIST said:
Vader was a pig by many accounts. The guy would let his unwashed wrestling gear sit in a bag and just keep using it, forcing wrestlers to tolerate that stench during matches. There's a lot of small stories like this that made it clear he would never be the guy.
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Having rolled against guys like that in BJJ class, yeah, that's disgusting.

Checking his stint in WWF again, I think he more or less hit what he was going to do. Dude had a few main event programs and sort of just got lost in the shuffle. I honestly thought he floundered a lot more than he did, but as a sort of Hogan-esque 'villain of the week', he more or less served his purpose and with Kane debuting he sort of became redundant.
 
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You ever read something and just have an emperor's new clothes moment?
Dave Meltzer.jpg
Magoo is cooked. There is no denying it at this point.
 
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Listen I was a big WCW fan and watched to the bitter end , especially because TSN aired Raw and Nitro on separate nights up here in Canada, so you could watch both anyway, but it's pretty clear TNA up until it left Spike picked up on the same trajectory WCW was on. A lot of the same people in creative and behind the scenes. It was basically WCW mach 2 until it got banished from Spike. I still think TNA From 2005 to 2011 or so is underrated.
 
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ElHijodeDeficienciaCogni said:
You ever read something and just have an emperor's new clothes moment?
View attachment 6719855
Magoo is cooked. There is no denying it at this point.
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The fact that the Khans empire is allegedly worth around 4 times what WWE has in their coffers is what would be keeping WCW in business in this scenario, it wouldn't be anything to do with Tonys business acumen/booking ability. AEW will stay around for a good while yet because the money needed to keep it going is borderline trivial in the grander scheme of things and their TV deal covers a lot of it anyway.

This weeks Dynamite numbers are still embarrassing. They've basically completely lost 300k viewers since January by putting on an utterly soulless, predictable show every week. I've said it before but it's disgraceful that the show is this mediocre with the talent pool they have available to them.

You've got to wonder if the Bucks are keeping themselves off TV until things start to improve so that they can't take the blame for it. Kenny having to return soon to pretty much half the audience they had when he left is a bummer as well.
 
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Nicholas II of Russia said:
The man reported that they removed Katsuyori Shibata's brain and then they put it back together, and now you think that his brain is not in the right place?
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Listen man. I don't know what kinda spooky medical tech they got leftover from Unit 731. All I know is that they live to 100, and are allegedly able to perform full brain transplants.
 
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ElHijodeDeficienciaCogni said:
You ever read something and just have an emperor's new clothes moment?
View attachment 6719855
Magoo is cooked. There is no denying it at this point.
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Jesus Christ, this is beyond delusional. They're fantasy booking WCW. If anyone needed any more evidence these chucklefucks are battered Stanford Wives, this is the coup de grâce.
 
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There's been some speculation that Maven will be making a WWE return of some sort soon, most likely as a surprise Rumble entrant.

This recent video is about him probably never going back to the WWE, but then it ends with driving up to what I assume is the performance center.
Here in the most recent video, he's clearly calling attention to the fact that he's staying in some sort of Airbnb situation.

Could just be a work, but he's been killing it with his youtube channel lately, and he seems to be in decent shape for his age. I wouldn't be surprised either way.
 
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UnKillShredDur said:
There's been some speculation that Maven will be making a WWE return of some sort soon, most likely as a surprise Rumble entrant.

This recent video is about him probably never going back to the WWE, but then it ends with driving up to what I assume is the performance center.
Here in the most recent video, he's clearly calling attention to the fact that he's staying in some sort of Airbnb situation.

Could just be a work, but he's been killing it with his youtube channel lately, and he seems to be in decent shape for his age. I wouldn't be surprised either way.
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Would anyone recognize him if he made a surprise return? He's basically only remembered for three things: eliminating the undertaker at the royal rumble, having a really nice dropkick, and his theme song.
 
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Magic Sun Daddy said:
Would anyone recognize him if he made a surprise return? He's basically only remembered for three things: eliminating the undertaker at the royal rumble, having a really nice dropkick, and his theme song.
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His youtube show is taking off, and he's been making the rounds elsewhere lately, like that recent Piers Morgan segment with Phil Mushnik. I could see it happening.
 
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