The Wrestling Thread

[retrosportsgamer]

The inclusion of Haku is completely random there, but pretty entertaining.

[alexis524]

hell, i left off a few more Sid Vicious, Mr. Perfect, or either of Legion of Doom could put Punk in his place. He's too much of a heel. I used to love to watch him when he was a face, being the underdog and all anti-establishement/anti-mainstream/i'm straightedge look-at-me i'm different. Now he's just a douche and i'd rather watch lifetime network or the oprah channel rather than hear one is tirades about "respect." i just tuned in the past few weeks to see if Punk finally gets whats coming to him, and the way it's been looking, Ryback (say what you want about him) is about to be the one who makes my day.

[Gamerforlife]

Some interesting rumors regarding how the WWE currently views Punk.

http://allwrestling.com/news/46020/cm-p ... s-wwe-hot/

[Gamerforlife]

It's nice to see people in the biz acknowledge how good Punk is. Here's Paul Bearer basically stating that Punk is better than Cena. He has some kind words for Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler too. He basically says they are the top three guys in the company right now

http://allwrestling.com/news/46024/paul ... top-three/

[Gamerforlife]

What a rare moment of brilliance from Del Rio on Smackdown this week. His impersonation of a certain top WWE superstar was spot on and pretty damn funny.

[Luke]

Ugh. A Hulk Hogan sex tape is on gawker and should not be viewed by anyone unless you enjoy nearly throwing up.

[Bootaaay]

OK, folks - less than 24 hours until the best WRESTLING promotion in the world puts on their first ever international iPPV. You can either watch live, or On Demand until October 11th;

New Japan Pro-Wrestling, "NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ KING OF PRO-WRESTLING", 08.10.2012
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan



Running Time - 4 hours

Start Time - 5PM JST | 10AM CET | 9AM GMT | 4AM EST | 1AM PDT

On Demand - available until October 11th at the times listed above.

Purchase - $25 live or On Demand; http://www.ustream.tv/channel/njpw1972

Card;

MANABU NAKANISHI RETURN MATCH;

01. Yuji Nagata, Strong Man & Manabu Nakanishi vs Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Takashi Iizuka

IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH;

02. Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov) (c) vs Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley)

IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH;

03. Kota Ibushi (c) vs Low Ki

IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH;

04. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) (c) vs Killer Elite Squad (Harry Smith & Lance Archer)

SPECIAL CHALLENGE MATCH;

05. Tetsuya Naito vs Yujiro Takahashi

TAG TEAM CONFRONTATION;

06. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata

TOKYO DOME IWGP No. 1 CONTENDER MATCH;

07. Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Karl Anderson

IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH;

08. Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs Hirooki Goto

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH;

09. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Minoru Suzuki

WHAT A LINE-UP! Hot-damn, I can't wait for this and can't believe I'm finally going to get to watch a New Japan show live! Awesome. Really looking forward to Ibushi vs Low Ki re-match (here's the previous match, for those who missed it; Low Ki (c) vs Kota Ibushi - 07/29/12) and Okada vs Anderson. Hell, I'm looking forward to every match except the opener. Excited to see what Shibata & Sakuraba do, also - this is a great storyline New Japan have running at the moment, lots of history and hype. Can't wait for it to really kick into gear.

[Bootaaay]

The New Japan show was just about the best PPV I've seen all year, from any promotion - Tanahashi vs Suzuki is a proper match of the year contender, better than Brock/Cena, Richards/Elgin, Okada/Naito, Cena/Punk, Generico/Ibushi, Punk/Bryan, Gargano/Yoshino and just about every other 2012 match I can think of. I really didn't think anything would top Okada/Tanahashi, but Suzuki and Tana brought everything to this match and left it all in the ring. They delivered a masterclass in storytelling and pace, never once doing too much and proving that the best wrestling comes from performing simple things expertly, rather than going from one crazy spot to the next. Also, the selling from both guys was perfect - such good attention to detail, neither of them forgetting to sell while it was their turn to deliver offence (unlike a certain perennial WWE main eventer).

Elsewhere, Okada vs Anderson was a great match, topping even their G1 finals meeting, and the finishing stretch was so amazing. A real treat to watch. I also really enjoyed Nakamura vs Goto and the Jr. Heavyweight title matches, Ibushi vs Low Ki, especially. Low Ki is so much better in New Japan than anywhere else, probably because he has to be more restrained and give his opponents more offence than he traditionally would on a US indy show. Overall, their first international PPV was a great success for New Japan, and with 51,780 buys it is the most watched online wrestling broadcast ever (yep, even more than Mania).

[Gamerforlife]

I really wish I could fit PPVs into my budget. I do hear a lot about New Japan Pro Wrestling

I have to say the WWE product is pretty decent right now. I'm actually enjoying Raw tonight. I'm digging Antonio Cesaro, the Kane/Bryan stuff, Punk's KILLER heel work, Heyman's presence on Raw, the rejuvenated tag team division, Jim Ross on commentary, and I read a rumor recently that they are planning some positive changes for the divas division. I hope that's true. Some of the in ring stuff has been decent lately too

Really weird hearing Cole play face and get bullied by JBL on commentary. Feels like a jump back in time

[Gamerforlife]

Oh shi...