And the last entrant is... Moroni?!

[Ironhold]

16 hours ago, LDSGator said:

Just saw this on a wrestling FB page I follow. Cody and Roman are in the main event this year at Wrestlemania. 

 

@Ironhold-your pick? Team Cody all the way. 

Cody gave up being a corporate VP at AEW - including the stability it offered his wife and daughter - to go to WWE and almost immediately get benched for 6 months with an injury just because of his own ego. 

Roman has been built to Hulk Hogan levels without actually having Hogan's charisma. 

Both of them have a *lot* of career-related karma coming. 

As it is, I'm on the Discord server for Checkmate Creative, a company that makes some popular app-based pro wrestling games, and the general consensus is that everyone wants *Sami* to get the belt. Their current two games - 80s Mania Wrestling and Modern Mania Wrestling GM - have Twitter accounts they use for news updates, and the accounts have the links to the server. 

[Vort]

11 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

20 minutes ago, Vort said:

Belzer

He got what was coming to him. It’s nice to see. Like the hard right, gun waving guys say “Mess around and find out.” He messed around and found out.

I appreciate your patience with explaining things to me. The topic makes more sense to me now.

But the above comment leaves me baffled. Belzer said (in effect), "Wrestling isn't real, unscripted hand-to-hand combat. It's a violent ballet with a predetermined outcome." Hulk Hogan responded, "You're wrong. Come here and I'll choke you out, then let you fall on the stage and split your head open." Which was great, because Belzer really got what was coming to him.

I don't get it. How, exactly, did Belzer get what was coming to him? How is this like "hard right, gun waving guys say[ing] 'Mess around and find out'"? Are you suggesting that Hogan and Mr. T were the "hard-right gun waver"s who showed Belzer what was what when he (Belzer) messed around with them? If I'm understanding correctly, the hard-right gun wavers are the heroes and those who mess with them by asking them questions and get their heads blown off find out and get what's coming to them?

[LDSGator]

2 hours ago, Vort said:

But the above comment leaves me baffled. Belzer said (in effect), "Wrestling isn't real, unscripted hand-to-hand combat. It's a violent ballet with a predetermined outcome." Hulk Hogan responded, "You're wrong. Come here and I'll choke you out, then let you fall on the stage and split your head open." Which was great, because Belzer really got what was coming to him.

 

Sure, I’ll try to explain. I apologize for not doing it better. Let me try this:

If you tell a wrestler it’s “fake” they’ll take it as you saying to them “I am insulting what you do and insinuating you are not tough or skilled or that anyone could do it. ” OR “You are a conman.” 

That's a pretty insulting thing to take. When someone accuses you of that they are ignoring the 20 years of hard work you’ve put into the business eating ketchup sandwiches and doing the indies. It is a lot like a guy who peaked in high school telling Tom Brady that anyone could do what he does. 
 

Bezler obviously never comprehended the above, and was too stupid to understand that Hogan would be highly insulted by it. So, if Brezler thinks that what Hogan does is “fake” and therefore easy, unskilled, or weak-well then anyone probably could do it too. So Brezler essentially slapped a bear and tried to play “but I didn’t do anything, euthanize that bear .” He got exactly what was coming to him. He messed around, and found out. 
 

Now, when adult non fans call it fake to other fans, it’s usually to their way of telling you how stupid wrestling fans are.  Which is odd, because the guy saying it’s fake is too dense to know that we know it’s fake.

 

Hope this helps. Thanks for listening as well. 

Edited March 30, 2023 by LDSGator

[LDSGator]

@Vort, hold on, it posted before I was done. let me edit that. 

[Vort]

21 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe

This is pretty hilarious.

I remember the guy who would bring our jackets back to the dressing room. Every time he did, someone would yell "Kayfabe." ... Then one night, the guy decided to stand up for himself and told the whole dressing room: "I don't mind the yelling, but I want to let you know that my name is not Kayfabe. It's Mark." ... What he didn't know is that wrestlers called people outside of the business "marks"—that's why we were yelling kayfabe in the first place.

— Pat Patterson, describing his interaction with a ring attendant in the Pacific Northwest Wrestling territory during the early 1960s.

[LDSGator]

1 minute ago, Vort said:

This is pretty hilarious.

I remember the guy who would bring our jackets back to the dressing room. Every time he did, someone would yell "Kayfabe." ... Then one night, the guy decided to stand up for himself and told the whole dressing room: "I don't mind the yelling, but I want to let you know that my name is not Kayfabe. It's Mark." ... What he didn't know is that wrestlers called people outside of the business "marks"—that's why we were yelling kayfabe in the first place.

— Pat Patterson, describing his interaction with a ring attendant in the Pacific Northwest Wrestling territory during the early 1960s.

Never know bro, in ten minutes you might become a smart mark 😉 

[LDSGator]

29 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

Roman has been built to Hulk Hogan levels without actually having Hogan's charisma. 

PREACH. 

We agree 100% on this. I never understood his popularity, and why he is having such a long title reign is beyond me. Really? He’s the best you got?

[Ironhold]

1 minute ago, LDSGator said:

PREACH. 

We agree 100% on this. I never understood his popularity, and why he is having such a long title reign is beyond me. Really? He’s the best you got?

This goes back to what I said about AEW having the better talent pipeline. 

Vince McMahon got himself into the habit of "every few years I'll pick someone I like, keep feeding people to them until they become the top of the roster, and then let them stay there until they become stale". 

So yeah, Roman *is* the best Vince had because he wasn't properly building up anyone else. 

But with HHH in charge, he was able to build up Sami Zayn to the point that he's organically over with fans, and a few other faces - like Walter - are finally getting the pushes they deserve. 

Meanwhile, AEW's current story arcs include one of their young guns, MJF, having the championship via dishonest means and three of the company's other young guns all declaring that they feel they deserve it more than he does. 

(Given that MJF is Jewish in real life, if McMahon *does* sell the WWE to the Saudi sports investment fund I find it highly doubtful MJF will jump ship after all, in which case Tony Kahn can and will potentially force him to drop the belt next year as punishment for MJF's actions earlier.)

[LDSGator]

Just now, Ironhold said:

and then let them stay there until they become stale". 

:: snickers :: RR got stale 2 months before his reign began. 
 

Even though I’m a Cody fan I totally understand people who don’t like him. Frankly, there are several good reasons to dislike him. 

[Ironhold]

1 minute ago, LDSGator said:

:: snickers :: RR got stale 2 months before his reign began. 
 

Even though I’m a Cody fan I totally understand people who don’t like him. Frankly, there are several good reasons to dislike him. 

A number of people AEW are currently pushing at mid-card and upper mid-card are "graduates" of their developmental program, like Action Andretti and Powerhouse Hobbs. They also have a lot of hot up-and-comers, like the Martin brothers. So long as they keep themselves together and don't face any serious injuries, they could have long and illustrious careers in the sport. 

[LDSGator]

@Ironhold-Cody lost, but It thought this was one of the greatest Wrestlemanias of all time. 

[Colirio]

On 3/29/2023 at 7:10 PM, Vort said:

Serious question: Can someone explain to me the attraction of professional wrestling? Because I just don't get it.

They are modern Shakespeare plays. 
 

Now, before you dismiss what I’m saying, think about it. 
 

They are often humorous. 
 

They offer commentary into the modern state of our society and its woes. 
 

They present dilemmas in which friendly allegiances are tested, fortified, and often betrayed. 
 

You generally see the bad guys cheat to win and then brag about their victory. The good guys, on the other hand, will get beaten down again and again, only to try and rise above the impossible odds in which they’ve been placed. 

 

There are often situations which ask questions concerning what the right thing to do would be in the given circumstances. 
 

While it certainly wouldn’t be considered the highest form of art, there is an immense amount of talent and training that goes into being able to adjust the prewritten storylines on the fly in front of live audiences, often due to trying to work safely and avoid injuries, all while staying ‘in character.’ 

 

[Ironhold]

There's also the fact that for many decades, most promotions went out of their way to make people think that wrestling was "real" and that everyone who you saw was the character they were playing. 

Thus, there was a colorful parade of individuals who showed up in the ring to engage in ritualized combat, and most people had no reason to believe that anything was suspect. 

Throw in the "managers" and other associated individuals who are themselves often over the top, and you had a unique blend of entertainment and sport that few professional sports has ever managed to match. 

[LDSGator]

20 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

There's also the fact that for many decades, most promotions went out of their way to make people think that wrestling was "real" and that everyone who you saw was the character they were playing. 

Thus, there was a colorful parade of individuals who showed up in the ring to engage in ritualized combat, and most people had no reason to believe that anything was suspect. 

Throw in the "managers" and other associated individuals who are themselves often over the top, and you had a unique blend of entertainment and sport that few professional sports has ever managed to match. 

Even back in the territory days a large percentage of fans knew it was scripted. Heck, I knew it wasn’t on the level when they lit Macho Man in fire in the 80’s and the next week he was just fine. 

[Ironhold]

Bumping because MLW just re-aired the same promo package for Battle Riot that they aired at the end of last month, complete with a panning shot of the Angel Moroni atop the temple as part of a larger view of the Philadelphia skyline. 

They just had a "War Chamber" event, which is their take on the War Games / Blood & Guts - style of cage match, and one of the involved wrestlers was their current champion, Alex Hammerstone. He's "injured" because of his participation, and so the episode ended with several announced participants in the Battle Riot going at each other because if Hammerstone is legit injured whoever wins next week could get the championship by default. 

@LDSGator One of the two factions in War Chamber tonight is being led by Raven. 

Yes, Raven is back. 

[Vort]

15 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

@LDSGator One of the two factions in War Chamber tonight is being led by Raven. 

Shouldn't that be "One of the two factions in War Chamber tonight is being led by Raven"? Kind of a literal word painting.

[LDSGator]

43 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

One of the two factions in War Chamber tonight is being led by Raven. 

Yes, Raven is back. 

Aww, bro thank you for telling me. I’m a big fan of his going back to his Johnny Polo gimmick in the WWE. His return to ECW and second feud against Dreamer is iconic. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by LDSGator

[Ironhold]

12 hours ago, LDSGator said:

Aww, bro thank you for telling me. I’m a big fan of his going back to his Johnny Polo gimmick in the WWE. His return to ECW and second feud against Dreamer is iconic. 

Yeah, he's back in charge of a faction of hardcore wrestlers. He himself has yet to wrestle, but his people will be at Battle Riot next week (Reelz, Tuesday the 25th at 9 PM US Central Standard Time after "Cops") and so he himself should be there in some capacity. 

[LDSGator]

2 hours ago, Ironhold said:

Yeah, he's back in charge of a faction of hardcore wrestlers. He himself has yet to wrestle, but his people will be at Battle Riot next week (Reelz, Tuesday the 25th at 9 PM US Central Standard Time after "Cops") and so he himself should be there in some capacity. 

I sort of hope he doesn’t wrestle anymore. I don’t want to see him as Terry Funk 2.0. I’m a big fan of Funk but he wrestled way beyond his prime. Does Raven look okay?

[Ironhold]

2 hours ago, LDSGator said:

I sort of hope he doesn’t wrestle anymore. I don’t want to see him as Terry Funk 2.0. I’m a big fan of Funk but he wrestled way beyond his prime. Does Raven look okay?

He's very obviously grey, and has his hair tied back now. Otherwise, though, he looks like a normal person of his age. 

[LDSGator]

28 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

He's very obviously grey, and has his hair tied back now. Otherwise, though, he looks like a normal person of his age. 

If you have Peacock network check out his ECW work against the Sandman and Tommy Dreamer. 

[Ironhold]

19 hours ago, LDSGator said:

If you have Peacock network check out his ECW work against the Sandman and Tommy Dreamer. 

Peacock has been censoring matches and skits. 

Entire chunks of shows have been deleted, something that even folks like Sgt. Slaughter have commented on. 

You have to use a VPN and an international version of the WWE Network to actually get everything. 

[LDSGator]

26 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

Peacock has been censoring matches and skits. 

Entire chunks of shows have been deleted, something that even folks like Sgt. Slaughter have commented on. 

You have to use a VPN and an international version of the WWE Network to actually get everything. 

Oh, agree. I tend to watch wrestling on DVD’s more than Peacock. Having said that though, when my lazy butt just wants to see some generic, old school Jake Roberts/Roddy Piper/Andre, I have to admit I just watch them on Peacock. 
 

btw, I’m also a Sgt. Slaughter fan. One one the most underrated wrestlers of all time. Up there with Arn Anderson. 

[LDSGator]

In fact, you could make the case that Slaughter is THE most underrated wrestler of all time! 

[Ironhold]

7 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

Oh, agree. I tend to watch wrestling on DVD’s more than Peacock. Having said that though, when my lazy butt just wants to see some generic, old school Jake Roberts/Roddy Piper/Andre, I have to admit I just watch them on Peacock. 
 

btw, I’m also a Sgt. Slaughter fan. One one the most underrated wrestlers of all time. Up there with Arn Anderson. 

Sarge, IRS, Iron Sheik, B. Bryan Blair, Koko B. Ware, Hacksaw Jim, DDP, and a few others are on Twitter. 

Sarge and Iron Sheik in particular are quite active and frequently interact with fans.