Wrestling...thats right, Wrestling!

[AtariLegend]

WWE Star Makes In-Ring Return At FCW TV Taping

WWE star Mr. Kennedy made his long-awaited return to the ring at tonight?s Florida Championship Wrestling tapings. FCW is WWE?s developmental territory based out of Tampa.

Kennedy has suffered numerous injuries throughout his career, with his latest being a dislocated shoulder he suffered in a house show match against Shelton Benjamin in August of last year. Kennedy was recently drafted to RAW, but hasn?t appeared on WWE television in months.

[Sober_times]

WWE Star Makes In-Ring Return At FCW TV Taping

WWE star Mr. Kennedy made his long-awaited return to the ring at tonight’s Florida Championship Wrestling tapings. FCW is WWE’s developmental territory based out of Tampa.

Kennedy has suffered numerous injuries throughout his career, with his latest being a dislocated shoulder he suffered in a house show match against Shelton Benjamin in August of last year. Kennedy was recently drafted to RAW, but hasn’t appeared on WWE television in months.

I had read that his latest injury could develop into a serious problem that could keep him from wrestling anymore. Apparently his re-hab went well but their not really sure if its going to be a long-term problem. So he could be out again real soon and this time for good.

Which really sux cuz i really like him. 

[Hammy]

I marked out on 5/3/09 before RAW and met Matt Hardy my third all time favorite wrestler

Nice picture dude, its great you get keeping to meet so any wrestlers, is it just a case of knowing the right places to hang out?


Well I've been watching WCW for several months now.  I started with the first Nitro back in September '95 and I've watched them all and the PPVs along the way through to early July '96, in fact the Nitro I am half way through is the one the night after Bash at the Beach 1996 and I've really enjoyed what I have seen so far.  There have been some really dodgy things but overall the programming has been top notch.

Starting with the first Nitro, in a shopping mall was quite the novelty, it was clear from the first show that they put a lot into the matches, on the first show you had Sting vs Flair, Pillman vs Liger and Luger showing up having spent the past few years in the WWF.  The first few months featured far too much Dungeon of Doom stuff, the heel stable who were more comedy than sadastic.

A few points, The Giant (Big Show) of the Dungeon of Doom faced Hogan on PPV, but before their wrestling match they were to have a monster truck match, just because.  They even got in an expert on the matter.  Now after many, many boring minutes of back and forth shoving (The Monster Trucks were attached to each other, it was some kind of "Sumo Match") Hogan won.  That wasn't the main story, the main story was the brawl afterwards (I forgot to say this match was on top of a really high building), well they were brawling on the edge of the building (like you do, for drama) and Hogan looked like he was going over, but he managed to come back and knocked The Giant over and in true Cliffhanger style tried to save him but to late, Giant was gone, presumed dead.  The commentators were shocked, Heenan was near speechless (he said he knew the kids dad, see storyline had Andre The Giant as Giant's dad).  Anyway after selling this, Hogan came out for the match and....so did Giant, like 10 minutes after, I've heard of pushing guys but no selling falling off a rooftop, ha!  I did find it hilarious though.

At the outset there is no Cruiserweight Division, guys have been brought in and talked about Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio, and in the past few months a title has emerged and Dean Malenko is the Champion, well he was, Mysterio beat him on the Nitro I'm watching, clearly the Division is yet to reach its peak but there have already been some classic matches.

The Women's Division doesn't seem to exist, since Madusa dumped the WWF Women's Title in a trash can she has made like 2 experiences in a really bad storyline with her and Sister Sherri fighting over the fat Col. Rob Parker.

The Tag Team Division is stacked.  Harlem Heat, Public Enemy, The Blue Bloods, The Steiner Brothers, Fire and Ice, The Nasty Boys, Luger & Sting, Anderson & Benoit, The Outsiders, The American Males, The Faces of Fear.  Its quality stuff.

My favourite stars have probably been Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page.  DDP started off as a lame heel with a poor bodyguard and was jobbed out to the superb Johnny B. Badd but after Mero departed for the WWF DDP has been pushed loads, he become the Lord of the Ring (Don't ask) and has been on a massive winning streak and has an entrance theme which starts with...."Self high five..." before going into some remix of Smells Like Teen Spirit....quality.

Savage had issues with Luger and didn't trust him when everyone else did (and rightly so Luger joined the Dungeon of Doom).  The 2 had a great feud and some really good matches, including one at World War 3 when Luger won by submissio/stoppage.  Incidently the Main Event, a 3 Ring Battle Royal was the an idea so bad you would think Russo came up with it, I mean hard enough to follow, you had 3 announce teams, a 3-way split screen, it was a mess, on paper it may sound half decent and it sounds cool to kids...3 rings...60 men...but it sucked.  Anyway back to Savage, after feuding with Luger he won the vacant World Title in the 3 Ring Battle Royal and feuded with Ric Flair in another quality feud that got really personal.  Miss Elizabeth turned heel, Savage went mental and got banned from TV for many weeks having taken out one too many referees, Savage has really been on form.

Lex Luger is a strange one, I've always seen him as a butt of most wrestling jokes, and true to from he has tripped over most of his promos, but I can't help but like the guy, the Torture Rack has been sold as a quality finisher.

Its also sweet how new people seem to debut every few weeks, from VK Wallstreet (IRS) to Sabu (Who lasted like 5 weeks) to The Belfast Bruiser (Finlay).  Its solid viewing.  A stacked roster, stacked Tag Division and some intense feuds.  The Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan one is a real good one at the moment.  Obviously though, the main thing is the nWo and most promos feature the stars talking about how they are all banding together.

I'm glad I am enjoying this so much though because part of me thinks my lack of interest in todays wrestling product is me getting older or just not caring for wrestling anymore, yet this WCW 1995-1996 has been superb viewing and partly I think its because its more stripped back.  I mean its entertaining and has great storylines but it isn't full on soap opera, we don't start every broadcast with an in-ring promo, its not full of backstage beatdowns and ropey locker room segments, the titles are the main part of most feuds, the announcers are quality, they have changed up the location of Nitro so you get a different feel, from a shopping mall to outside at Disney MGM Studios, there is something strangely fun about a TV Broadcast outside, a sense of freedom and invasion and anything could happen, like that pesky nWo could invade....sweet!

[BlowUpYourVideo]

an entrance theme which starts with...."Self high five..." before going into some remix of Smells Like Teen Spirit....quality.

I remember that from WCW Mayhem! I liked that game. Shame my copy doesn't work any more.


About Benoit/Sullivan in WCW, I've seen clips of them having some kind of Falls Count Anywhere Match and I seem to remember them fighting in a bathroom or something. When was that from??

[Hammy]

About Benoit/Sullivan in WCW, I've seen clips of them having some kind of Falls Count Anywhere Match and I seem to remember them fighting in a bathroom or something. When was that from??

Aye that happened 3-4 weeks ago at Great American Bash 1996.

Sullivan as the leader of Dungeon of Doom professed his respect for Arn Anderson and Ric Flair of the IV Horsemen, he hated the cocky young off the rails loose cannon Pillman who played the role real well, they had a Respect Match where the loser was the one who said "I Respect You".  Pillman said "I Respect You, Bookerman", Sullivan was the booker behind the scenes so it was quite nifty, unfortunately Pillman got legit fired.  Storyline wise Sullivan drove him out and Benoit blamed Sullivan for splitting the Horsemen, Anderson though seemed to side with Sullivan over Benoit.  Anyway in the match at the Bash, Benoit won and post match beat him down, Anderson ran down, pulled him off and the beat down Sullivan himself, and later that night Mongo Mcmichael joined the stable to put them back to full force.  Last battle between them was at Bash at the Beach, Giant and Sullivan beat Benoit and Anderson, post match Benoit beat down Sullivan until Woman (Nancy Benoit) for some unexplained reason pulled Benoit off, despite the fact she is aligned with the Horsemen.  Benoit was quality back at this point in his career and his wife was damn talented (and hot) to.

[D]

I also love Matt Hardy. bout the only reason to watch Raw these days


TNA was incredible once again

I love how the show goes.

So many great angles going on


U got the MEM, U got Jarrett/Foley  u got The Amazing Tag Team tourney and I love how they called the WWE out on that shit

U got the SUicide who is he angle

U got the great knockouts shit happening.

Everything on TNA seems to matter and once again the wrestling is top notch.


Jeff Jarrett hit the pedigree on Kurt Angle!

[Izzy]

Never saw much of WCW...untill it was gone

Though as I'm often told - WCW became TNA

If i had the several thousand hours required I'd trawl through WCW NITRO - sounds like some fun

[Hammy]

Never saw much of WCW...untill it was gone

We never really got much of it here in the UK which was a shame.

I remember as a kid it always used to be on ITV on a Saturday afternoon, I loved watching it then, but it disappeared from there in the mid 90s and next time I saw it was on TNT which come on after Cartoon Network.  But this was in the midst of Attitude and I think the show collided with RAW plus we NEVER got the PPVs and it wasn't long after I think the station vanished anyway off most sky packages.  Following that in its 2000 days it emerged on Five which I thought was hilarious.  An hour highlights show, often featuring jobbers, and because it was on at 7p.m they censored weapon shots, but not with the old turning to the crowd...

.....they made it into Batman style! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ox9HBbNBlw

Though as I'm often told - WCW became TNA

Well the Main Event scene at its death featured Steiner, Jarrett, Booker T, Sting etc.

The likeness back in '96 would probably be the stacked Tag Division, pushing of Cruiserweights, influx of foreign stars and by some miracle Mike Tenay was actually good, although maybe its because they use him rarely, he gets to call one match every PPV 

If i had the several thousand hours required I'd trawl through WCW NITRO - sounds like some fun

Yeah I'm bleeding the student life dry while it lasts, having just finished my course I'll have my degree in a matter on months and I'm meant to be...job hunting....

an entrance theme which starts with...."Self high five..." before going into some remix of Smells Like Teen Spirit....quality.

I remember that from WCW Mayhem! I liked that game. Shame my copy doesn't work any more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XfWx-LRBUM


And I had to show this Giant getting thrown off a building

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlkO7wM74_E&feature=related

The monster truck expert clearly had no idea what to do or say...."Wasn't supposed to happen..." then he just sits there nervously think, get me off this damn show!

For all the stupidity of it I have to say, Bischoff sold it well.

[Izzy]

Never saw much of WCW...untill it was gone

We never really got much of it here in the UK which was a shame.

I remember as a kid it always used to be on ITV on a Saturday afternoon, I loved watching it then, but it disappeared from there in the mid 90s and next time I saw it was on TNT which come on after Cartoon Network.  But this was in the midst of Attitude and I think the show collided with RAW plus we NEVER got the PPVs and it wasn't long after I think the station vanished anyway off most sky packages.  Following that in its 2000 days it emerged on Five which I thought was hilarious.  An hour highlights show, often featuring jobbers, and because it was on at 7p.m they censored weapon shots, but not with the old turning to the crowd...

.....they made it into Batman style! 

That was surreal.....

[AtariLegend]

I know Bravo showed "Nitro" on Friday Nights at 9PM around the same times as "Raw" and Channel 5 showed an hour of "Thunder" on Thursdays Nights at 6PM.

...but I don't remember any WCW programming on ITV  .

[AtariLegend]

Actually you guys are slightly older than me....

[Izzy]

The word in the world of finance is WWE is not the financial powerhouse it hopes it is

Apparently there profits are very disapointing, PPV sales are shameful, and they are basically in trouble across the board

The whole 'PG' thing has little or nothing to do with philosophy - and everything to do with increasing advertising revenue. The plan is to make WWE more mainstream so as to command more revenue. Rumour has it they will launch a FIFTH show on Wednesdays

I dont really care what WWE's share price is - but I cant help but get the impresion WWE is taking 'wrestling' down with it, its perfectly placed to alienate the entire market. It needs to get its act together - I'm tired of having wrestling laughed about!

[slash666]

I'm tired of having wrestling laughed about!

Thats never going to change really, wrestling is never gonna be "cool" again and theres always gonna be the "Oh you like Wrestling? You must be gay then" type people out there.

[Hammy]

...but I don't remember any WCW programming on ITV  .

Yeah I am talking 1991-1995.

It was like 1991 I got into wrestling and without Sky TV I couldn't see WWF I had to go to friends to watch it and buy VHS tapes, I watched WCW on saturday afternoon loads, although for some strange reason I don't really remember many matches, I just remember being a big fan of Johnny B. Badd, Sting and Paul Orndoff back then.

I remember liking it so much I even got a WCW wrestling ring complete with Cage, turned out it was cheap tat, whereas that blue WWF one back in the day with the sound effects, quality, long live Hasbro!

[Izzy]

Lol

We all have these tales of how we watched wrestling in the past

Not sure about you yanks, but in the UK getting hold of wrestling has historically been tough!

I saw a bit of WCW on a channel (TNT) that seemed to come and go, and seemed to cut out exactly halfway through NITRO

WWF has always been hidden away on a channel that costs a fortune - as a kid I borrowed VHS tapes, went round friends houses and bought stuff just to watch it

...maybe that was the fun....maybe its too easy now (though i now pay a fortune for the channels that screen WWE...)

...always thought WCW and WWF had an entire market in the UK they were utterly clueless in exploiting....

We've been so dedicated to wrestling - we deserve to be rewarded with quality programming

[Hammy]

Yeah I remember thinking it a triumph when Channel 4 got WWF programming but they fucked it up.

Adverts in the middle of live PPVS.....including the Royal Rumble Match!

Also Mae Young baring all caused them to cancel the deal 

They also had Heat which went from an afternoon to like two in the morning slot.

I still remember the classic Essa Rios and Lita debut defeating Gillberg who after 18 months of not defending the LightHeavyweight Title cut a pre match promo saying "Some people say I'm a closet champion....." 

Heck if someone like ITV picked up say TNA in a 10.30ish slot at night it could do alright.

Seems business wise there has never been a clear attempt, Vince recently said Summerslam '92 in the UK was a bad business move since it aired in the States on a tape delay and thats why it didn't do to well (not the fact it only had 2 good matches...)

700 pages, quality!

[Izzy]

Atleast we get some WWE PPV's free over here...and to think we once got them ALL free, sigh

TNA PPV's are free - yey!

I cant help but get the sense wrestling is all but dead in the UK - when I saw Smackdown there were a lot of empty seats....

If TNA could get on a decent channel it could rocket - we have so many odd channels over here, its a challenge just finding the channel itself - let alone the program!

I often wonder what else is being shown over here on a channel I've never even heard of...

[Hammy]

Yeah but TNA is on Bravo, home of Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men...quality programming, quality channel 

[Izzy]

Yeah but TNA is on Bravo, home of Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men...quality programming, quality channel 

Bravo is dreadful

Editing the swear words?!

Fire Russo!

..I mean fire Bravo....

[Mr Cowbell ?]

Lol

We all have these tales of how we watched wrestling in the past

Not sure about you yanks, but in the UK getting hold of wrestling has historically been tough!

I saw a bit of WCW on a channel (TNT) that seemed to come and go, and seemed to cut out exactly halfway through NITRO

WWF has always been hidden away on a channel that costs a fortune - as a kid I borrowed VHS tapes, went round friends houses and bought stuff just to watch it

...maybe that was the fun....maybe its too easy now (though i now pay a fortune for the channels that screen WWE...)

...always thought WCW and WWF had an entire market in the UK they were utterly clueless in exploiting....

We've been so dedicated to wrestling - we deserve to be rewarded with quality programming

oh come on didn't vince creat the european championship and throw it on the british bulldog for the uk fans.  I think he had big ideas for world dominance.