The Wrestling Thread

[retrosportsgamer]

TNA is doing really well creatively right now but that doesn't translate overnight to $$ to all of a sudden pay everyone more.

Granted their model shouldn't be to underpay or not pay anyone either but I'm guessing everyone has contracts.

3 hour RAW has become "9:30ish" RAW for me. DVR is wonderful. Last night was painful. I hate the Brock stuff like everyone else although I'm intrigued by the PPV to see if the match is similar to the Cena one. Cena/Lesnar remains one of the few matches where I was on the edge of my seat trying to reconcile what I was witnessing.

[Runefaust]

At this point Daniel Bryan is my favorite performer; especially love the crowd interaction he's getting and the way he gets into people's faces and gets into yes no chant battles. Bryan's been getting over better than anyone lately.

The triple threat match has my interest, though would be better if Bryan were involved. The Kane v. Bryan match has been losing steam, despite AJ playing mind games with Kane again.

The HHH and Lesnar feud is crap... as is the Sheamus v. Del Rio angle. Del Rio still hasn't stepped up his promos and as a result has become so very stale.

Lastly, Kaitlyn finally getting the push she deserves!

[retrosportsgamer]

The outcome of the triple threat match isn't interesting me - which is too bad.

Punk is doing his shades of gray thing, but he's already attacked Cena (who is already booed by half the crowd) so there isn't really a "shocking" outcome to this one. He can't fully turn heel when Cena's involved unless he beats up children from the crowd or something.

They did the shocking thing at RAW 1000 so this just seems like we're stuck in the mud again.

[Gamerforlife]

At this point Daniel Bryan is my favorite performer; especially love the crowd interaction he's getting and the way he gets into people's faces and gets into yes no chant battles. Bryan's been getting over better than anyone lately.

The triple threat match has my interest, though would be better if Bryan were involved. The Kane v. Bryan match has been losing steam, despite AJ playing mind games with Kane again.

The HHH and Lesnar feud is crap... as is the Sheamus v. Del Rio angle. Del Rio still hasn't stepped up his promos and as a result has become so very stale.

Lastly, Kaitlyn finally getting the push she deserves!

You and Jim Ross seem to be having the same mindset. He also talks about Bryan like he's the best thing in the WWE. A guy on a recent podcast I listen to also said that Daniel Bryan can pretty much do no wrong and is the total package. I kind of see Bryan as the current Kurt Angle of the WWE. I think what really stands out with him is the amazing audience interaction. It's kind of what sets him apart from other top guys like Punk, Ziggler, etc. I listened to some guys who went to a recent Smackdown taping and they said the way the crowd responded to him was incredible. They saw tons of kids and women (the same demo that Cena shoots for) who were really into the Yes/No chants. They said his pop was larger than guys like Orton and Mysterio. He's either at or just under the kind of reaction Cena gets.

I agree with a lot of your points here. I thought Del Rio was crap from day one, though I think he'd be just fine as more of an upper mid card guy, but he has no place in the main event scene. Stick an IC or US title on him. If there is one thing I am grateful to Del Rio for though, it's bringing Ricardo up to the main WWE roster. That guy is very entertaining, much more so than Del Rio himself

Kaityln is cute, but in an odd sort of way. I always felt that she has a kind of odd body, something about those arms of hers. I'm not opposed to her getting a nice push though and seeing what she can do with it. She comes across as a genuinely sweet person on TV. She could make a good babyface

The outcome of the triple threat match isn't interesting me - which is too bad.

Punk is doing his shades of gray thing, but he's already attacked Cena (who is already booed by half the crowd) so there isn't really a "shocking" outcome to this one. He can't fully turn heel when Cena's involved unless he beats up children from the crowd or something.

They did the shocking thing at RAW 1000 so this just seems like we're stuck in the mud again.

Punk needs another 2011 style pipe bomb. He seems stuck in this weird place between the controversial guy he was prior to Money in the Bank 2011 and the by the book, predictable heel role that WWE wants him in. It's like you can see him wanting to drop a major pipe bomb like he did last year, but is being forced to play the role of a typical, "I get no respect" WWE heel that we've seen dozens of times already. It makes his character seem a bit inconsistent to me. I think like a lot of things WWE does they went into this Punk heel turn without much of a plan. I still say it was premature.

It's sad that Punk wasn't around in the Attitude Era. An unfettered CM Punk taken off his leash would have been amazing to see back then. Steve Austin would have seemed like nothing by comparison

[retrosportsgamer]

The one thing I liked in Punk's recent promos was in explaining his whining to the GM about the match. He just doesn't like Triple Threat matches because he doesn't have to be pinned. Then he followed that up on Monday with "I just don't like them".

I thought it was pretty refreshing since he was treading close to being that kind of whiny heel.

Agree with you GFL> Bryan = Angle. Which is a good thing.

[BurningDoom]

Agree with you GFL> Bryan = Angle. Which is a good thing.

Bryan is good, but he's not Angle. He's not at the point in his career to even attempt to compare to Angle yet. Angle has had sooo many monumentally great matches in both the WWE and in TNA. Memorable feuds with HHH, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, and so many others. And has held title after title after title.

Maybe if Bryan can continue his career the way it's been going and gets a few more years under his belt in the big leagues, then he could be compared to Angle. But not yet.

[Gamerforlife]

Agree with you GFL> Bryan = Angle. Which is a good thing.

Bryan is good, but he's not Angle. He's not at the point in his career to even attempt to compare to Angle yet. Angle has had sooo many monumentally great matches in both the WWE and in TNA. Memorable feuds with HHH, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, and so many others. And has held title after title after title.

Maybe if Bryan can continue his career the way it's been going and gets a few more years under his belt in the big leagues, then he could be compared to Angle. But not yet.

I don't think retrosportsgamer or I were referring to his accomplishments. I compare Bryan to Angle because I think his skills as a wrestler and his dedication to his in ring abilities are similar to Angle. Also, I see similarities in the kind of character Bryan portrays and the sort of character Angle portrayed when he was in the WWE. Angle was always portrayed as this big dork. People made fun of him for bragging about drinking milk instead of beer. It's a lot like when they used to make fun of Bryan for being a vegan or not owning a TV. Also, the romance triangle stuff with AJ and Punk reminds me of when Kurt used to be involved in this sort of triangle between him, Stephanie, and Triple H. Also, the way the crowd gets into the yes/no stuff reminds me of how they loved Angle's "whooo!", which I think he stole from Flair but somehow got away with it. You can see similarities with Bryan and Angle, just just like all the similarities people see with Ziggler and Mr. Perfect, or the similarities I've always seen with HBK and Jericho.

Sure, Bryan doesn't have as many accomplishments as Angle, but he seems to be on the same career trajectory and seems every bit as talented as Angle, and just mirrors Angle in a lot of ways. Although, I'm pretty sure we'll never see Bryan with an olympic gold medal. That's just a special thing Angle can always brag about, much like Mark Henry winning the World's Strongest Man competition.

I wish I could point to someone as a modern day Eddie Guerraro, but I guess I'll have to content myself with watching Chavo in TNA.

Can you imagine a match between Angle and Bryan? My god that would be a match for the ages.

[retrosportsgamer]

^

The "Yes/No" Bryan stuff aptly compares to the crowd chanting "You Suck" at the correct times during Angle's entrance music.

[Gamerforlife]

Triple H tapped out

"You tapped out" chants from the audience

[Gamerforlife]

Classy guy