Official WWE/ECW/WCW/TNA talk, or whatever v2

[CaptainCrunch]

I just finished watching the last episode of the 5 part series The Undertaker Last Ride.



I think its no secret here that I'm a bit disgruntled with the direction of wrestling now days. I think that the major federations have really lost their way giving up story telling for skits, good wrestling and logical wrestling psychology for spot wrestling. The scene has shifted, and I think gone in the wrong direction.


Now, I am a huge wrestling fan, I grew up on Stampede Wrestling and cut my teeth on WWE and WCW and became an absolute ECW fan buying tapes from the back of PWI Magazine.



I've devoured a lot of books on wrestling, Bret Hart, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho and their books are personal favorites, the Books I've read on Stampede Wrestling and the behind the scene issues with wrestling have taken a big part in my interest.


Honestly I love the WWE network just for that content alone, I loved the early years of Tough Enough, and Breaking Ground, and the various biographies and back stage specials as well as devouring the tape libraries of older federations.


I think there's a big reason why I'm so disappointment with wrestling right now, because maybe the mystique of established Kayfabe are gone. Its pulled out the immersive belief of a event between wrestlers. Its hard to believe a feud when you have wrestlers messing around on Camera backstage or playing video games with each other, or going on drive alongs.


Yeah, yeah, I know wrestling is scripted, and pre-determined, but the fun of Hogan vs Piper, or Hart vs Michaels or even Mick versus HHH is that for an hour, you could pretend believe that these guys hated each other and wanted nothing more then to beat the crap out of each other.


That's why this Undertaker series was so fascinating to watch. Because Mark Calloway still lived by the rules of Kayfabe up until recently. He protected his character and the business, for about 30 years.



Now we get to lift the curtain and see the man behind the character, and its an amazing watch. Now in a lot of ways the actual retrospective on his career in this series was very short. If you want to see his thoughts on that then Stone Colds interview of him is a must watch.


This match is about a man that's at the end of his career, and he's pursuing that final perfect match.



Realistically this whole series revolves around one match and that's Taker vs Reigns at Wrestlemania, and we watch as Taker watches the match after the fact and realizes how bad it was, how bad of shape he was in, and he embarrassed himself.


We also learn that this is a man that has serious health issues, in terms of the cumulative injuries and the day to day living in pain. In fact if your at all queasy then skip the hip replacement surgery segment.



But once Taker gets his hip fixed and can move without relative pain this is about him pursuing a perfect way to end his career, and redeem himself and secure his legacy.


He's also deeply addicted to the industy, in that way he's so similar to guys like Flair and Valentine in that they are always chasing the dragon of Wrestling.


This documentary covers a lot of the highs and lows of him chasing the perfect ending to a decent match with cena to the disasterous matches in Saudi Arabia including the horrific match with Goldberg where a blown JackHammer attempt almost paralyzed Taker.


This series also takes a deep and personal look at his behind the scenes life as we see Taker with his wife Michelle McCool and his kids, and some of the backstage interactions with Wrestlers and Vince to a very cool segment at the Performance Center training younger wrestlers.


The series comes to its high point as they talk about his match with AJ Styles and how both men prepared for it, to the point where AJ's promo's were so good and personal that McCool admits that she actually hated AJ a little bit. They showed the behind the scenes filming of the match where both wrestlers beat the crap out of each other.


But at the end as we reach the conclusion we hear the words from Mark Calloway, that he was satisfied with that match, and his desire to get back into the ring was gone and its time to move on to a slower paced life with his family and if he was to leave things this is the way to do it. Now he didn't say he was absolutely retired, but it would have to be a good reason to get back into the ring.


When you watch this series a few things really capture you. Calloway is an amazing story teller, he has an amazing grasp of what he does for a living and how everything that he does has an impact. Its stunning to listen to him talk because he's captivating, and intelligent and has an actual wicked sense of humor.



If this is it for the Undertaker, it he does ride off into the sunset, this was the ultimate final chapter for him and the ultimate way to tell his story. To live as and in his character for 30 years and then pull back the curtain and expose his secrets for all to see, and create one last amazing story line.


Just some thoughts


1) I remember watching Calloway in WCW as Mean Mark when he teamed up with I think Danny Spivy as the Twin Towers.


2) I remember watching his debut and how it was sold and it was amazing.


3) He had a unique view of the Undertaker as a big man, he believed in slow pace with these moments of sheer speed and atheism thrown in at the right time.


4) His understanding of the character and his switch from the Deadman to American Bad ass is fascinating to watch.


5) Seeing a guy like Batista saying that while he loved seeing Taker work at a certain point it really is time for him to stop, is interesting as Batista timed his exit perfectly.


Overall if you have the network this is one of those rare you absolutely need to watch this documentaries, and at the same time watch his interview with Austin.

[rubecube]

Sammy Guevara suspended by AEW after someone found 2016 audio where he joked that he wanted to rape Sasha Banks while working for WWE.

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah, I guess he reached out to her to apologize and she forgave him for it. But still next years Dark Side of the Ring if it comes back has a huge story to follow.


Joey Ryan is getting raked across the coals as well.

[Ozy_Flame]

Joey Ryan and Dave Crist are gone from Impact. Michael Elgin is suspended.

As for Sammy Guevara, him and Sasha appear to have settled it professionally. Nothing excuses with Sammy said, but he appears to be showing genuine remorse, made the right moves (owned up to it, talked with Sasha directly), and Sasha handled this in a mature and serious manner.

[Muta]

As Joey Ryan should be. He's one of the worst offenders here, there's multiple stories coming out about him. It's disturbing how deep the allegations against him and MANY other wrestlers are going.

[CaptainCrunch]

Candice LeRae who formed a tag team with him and was friends with him released a statement on him today and it wasn't of support


Cornette responds to the allegations against him


https://wrestlingheadlines.com/jim-c...ting-sex-life/


Charlotte taking a long term break from the WWE. She was originally slated to return at Summer Slam but now there's 0% of that and her return is likely next year.


https://wrestlingheadlines.com/new-r...or-summerslam/


With Becky leaving and now Charlotte, the Woman's division is losing their top of the card talent, with realistically Banks and Bayley as the top of the division.


Last night we continue to get the mega push of Nia as she story line injured Flair who then lost to Asuka.


It feels like the Woman's revolution is starting to die a slow death.



To me there are two woman that really need big pushes, one is Liv who improves leaps and bounds each week and now they're going to slam her back in with the under used and under rated Ruby Riott. The other is Sonya DeVille who is an awesome talent. The third of course is Shayna, but it feels like the WWE has given up on her.


I think even Alexa Bliss who is a very good talent and works her a$$ off for the company is trapped with Nikki.

[SuperMatt18]

Joey Ryan's gimmick was literally using his dick as a weapon and forcing people to touch his dick...shocking that he's also an offender in real life.

[White Out 403]

Getting around to watching Undertakers mini series. Is it ok to retro actively make him my favourite wrestler? Wow. What a dude.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Getting around to watching Undertakers mini series. Is it ok to retro actively make him my favourite wrestler? Wow. What a dude.

Its a bit jarring to watch though isn't it. I touched on it above, but after 30 years of people not really knowing the undertaker and how he protected that gimmick, its amazing to see him open up.


Watch the Stone Cold Broken Skull interview with the UT, its amazing to watch, and there's a story where as we was negotiating his deal with the WWE they started showing a giant egg on TV (Gobbly ####er), and UT thought he was going to be the Egg guy.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its a bit jarring to watch though isn't it. I touched on it above, but after 30 years of people not really knowing the undertaker and how he protected that gimmick, its amazing to see him open up.


Watch the Stone Cold Broken Skull interview with the UT, its amazing to watch, and there's a story where as we was negotiating his deal with the WWE they started showing a giant egg on TV (Gobbly ####er), and UT thought he was going to be the Egg guy.

The way the man does business and is genuinely loved and respected by his peers is something I haven't seen before. You watch Jordan being a bully and an assclown in a documentary that was made to portray him in a positive light, then this, and it's no comparison. Taker really is the Jordan of wrestling. But not an #######.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

It feels like the Woman's revolution is starting to die a slow death.

No. Not even kind of.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

The way the man does business and is genuinely loved and respected by his peers is something I haven't seen before. You watch Jordan being a bully and an assclown in a documentary that was made to portray him in a positive light, then this, and it's no comparison. Taker really is the Jordan of wrestling. But not an #######.

Well its not all sunshine and light. For a lot of years, Taker ran the Wrestlers court and it was pretty brutal in terms of how it treated fellow wrestlers. But maybe that kind of approach was needed.


On the other hand, the story about him behind the Montreal Screw Job is interesting as well.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Joey Ryan's gimmick was literally using his dick as a weapon and forcing people to touch his dick...shocking that he's also an offender in real life.

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't seen a lot of Joey Ryan as a wrestler, but the times I saw him I thought he was the trash end of wrestling.

[CaptainCrunch]

I admit it, I just love the Iconics, they are so much fun to watch.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1275474243589943296p

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Michael Elgin is suspended.

Elgin has always been a piece of crap. I would not be saddened one bit to see him leave the business.

As for Sammy Guevara, him and Sasha appear to have settled it professionally. Nothing excuses with Sammy said, but he appears to be showing genuine remorse, made the right moves (owned up to it, talked with Sasha directly), and Sasha handled this in a mature and serious manner.

True, but I think AEW still made the right call. The other thing to consider with Sammy is he was 22 or 23 when he made the comments. It was 2016 and he still should have known better but I think age should be considered a factor there. I cringe pretty hard when I think back to some of the dumb #### I said in my early 20s.

[Inferno]

If AEW didn't suspend him that would be horrible PR for them. Even at 22 saying jokingly you would like to rape someone is inexcusable. Saying he would like to bang her is disrespectful but atleast that takes away the violent aspect of it.

[CaptainCrunch]

Saraya Knight rips back on some pretty serious allegations against her family, then announces her retirement and deletes her social media accounts.


https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/20...medium=twitter

[CaptainCrunch]

There have been hints of some really big ones yet to come,

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Inferno

If AEW didn't suspend him that would be horrible PR for them. Even at 22 saying jokingly you would like to rape someone is inexcusable. Saying he would like to bang her is disrespectful but atleast that takes away the violent aspect of it.

Oh I totally agree. My point was more in the "he'll likely come back from this" angle. He absolutely needs to be punished and with AEW being such a fresh commodity, I wouldn't blame them at all if they decided to part ways with him.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Oh I totally agree. My point was more in the "he'll likely come back from this" angle. He absolutely needs to be punished and with AEW being such a fresh commodity, I wouldn't blame them at all if they decided to part ways with him.

I didn't mean to make it sound like I was directing my comment at you. It was just in general to him getting disciplined.

I see people complaining about it on Twitter saying that because of when it happened and because he apologized to Sasha that he shouldn't face any discipline. If they just let that go then they're known as the wrestling promotion that doesn't have an issue with degrading women. Not only do you risk losing fans but you risk losing partners.