Latest PPV and weekly show discussion thread

Just remember that Richards is historically full of shit. Also, NOOOO THANK YOU

Incoming Zack Ryder heel turn?

@turboman: I would love to hear your thoughts on the collection. I haven't bought a DVD/Blu-Ray collection in a while, but I really like Foley.

@demoskinos: Ryback and Zack Ryder turn heel looking to become the next big thing and form Team Ryd-back. Eh? Eh?

Oh, I totally forgot why I came here to post! A PSA for anyone who has a PS3: Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is coming out on PSN this week as a PS2 Classic. I have only ever played the Game Boy Advance games, but I have never picked up the PS2 one. I am incredibly excited to play it. Nothing beats dropping a big CRITICAL! powerbomb with Saber/Vader.

@milkman: Emphasis on the word Pretending because I really don't see how he would fit in the WWE mold unless he was willing to seriously reinvent himself, which I doubt.

Kevin Kelly and Davey Richards were the reasons I stopped watching Ring of Honor. I don't have any interest in watching Davey anywhere, but if he did get signed good on him, I guess. Especially considering he has been threatening to quit for, like, the last four years.

@tajasaurus: What's wrong with Kevin Kelly?

@turboman: I bought that Foley set too, but I've only watched the documentary so far. There's nothing in it that anyone who's read his books or followed his career wouldn't already know, but at a bit over two hours, it's a good primer for those who don't know much about him (like me). The kind of weird thing, though, is that the matches that seemed to be the most hyped in the doc aren't in the set itself. They're probably available elsewhere, but I thought that was a little disappointing.

@jewunit: The actual documentary portion of the dvd is really good, and really well done even though it goes through all the tropes of every documentary (from childhood to retiring).

Of course there's no mention of TNA (the documentary skips from the Edge match at WM to Foley's stand-up work), but there is a lot of time spent talking about Foley's early career before WCW and his feuds against Sting and Vader in WCW. They talked about and showed footage of Mick's ear falling off. WWE didn't get any footage from Foley's work in Japan, but Foley talks about all of his death matches over there for a bit. They really flew through Foley's time in ECW, and spent a great deal of time on his run in WWE as Mankind/Dude Love/Cactus Jack. Also talked about Foley's books.

Foley really hated that he came back after his first retirement match against HHH. He also hated that he came back again after his match against Randy Orton. He was really disappointed of his match with The Rock vs. Evolution at Wrestlemania. He also said that his time as Commissioner was the best and really wished that that would have lasted longer than six months.

Talked through some of his best matches/feuds in WWE (vs. Michaels - Mind Games, vs. Undertaker - HIAC, a lot of his matches vs. HHH, matches vs. Austin, matches vs. The Rock, Randy Orton, Edge). Mentioned that he didn't try to mention wrestlers to McMahon often to be hired, but he really pushed for CM Punk and Samoa Joe to be hired by the WWE.

Interviews were with the right people: Terry Funk, Shane Douglas, Paul Heyman, The Rock, HHH, Shawn Michaels, Vader, Joey Styles, Jim Ross, William Regal, CM Punk, etc.

Only thing that sticks out are the match selections. Foley said he wanted it to be more of the rarities because many of the more famous matches have already been out on his past DVD collection. None of the matches really stand out as being good (outside of the HIAC matches), but there's some interesting matches that are on here. Namely, the match where he was handcuffed and beaten with a steel chair in ECW (where he would do it again vs. The Rock). I wish there was more alternative commentary by Foley and Joey Styles because those are really fun to listen to.

Overall, the documentary to this is very well done, but the match selection just plain stinks.

---

Edit: It's really a shame that there isn't more alternate commentaries because the ones that are on there are really great to listen to. There's commentary on the HIAC match that's a great watch, wish there was more of that on there.

@turboman: Thanks for the analysis! I may try to pick up this set. I am watching the Wrestling Road Diaries and it has put me in the mood to watch some more wrestling documentaries.

I hope there is a Zack Ryder heel turn. His character has gotten incredibly annoying and boring over the past year since they hardly do anything with him. Though I doubt it maybe he'll have his heel turn tonight at a point during someone's match.

After Raw last week though I'm kinda 50/50 on whether I should watch tonight. Anyone in the same boat?

Raw Cliffsnotes:

Someone stop me from watching raw tonight. It's going to happen.

MONDAY NIGHT CHAT

TONIGHT...after last week's straight up rank show, the only answer is of course an always great pre-taped episode. Yaaaayyyyyyy

AJ called Dolph "Zigglypuff". I think that's going to be the highlight for this RAW.

When Ryback is the sole voice of reason, you know your show needs some re-tooling.

@riptheveins: He knows lots of moves, but his favorite is Tail Whip.

Ryback is still awful as a heel. I can't believe I'm actually on Team Cena going into extreme rules.

So WWE.com speculating about there being a "fourth shield member" I really hope they don't do something stupid like that.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-04-22/shield-fourth-member-26109379

God from the reaction of everyone on twitter I'm glad I didn't watch Raw tonight. Though AJ calling Dolph "Zigglypuff" is pretty amazing in its self.

The Good:

• The Shield is still great. They get a good, long 6 man match on TV with Hell No/Taker. Plus, coming in on a helicopter was dumb but great.
• Ziggler being surrounded by AJ and Big E makes him look legit. Hopefully he holds on to the title for a long time because the sky is the limit with those three. (Also Big E looked strong tonight).
• Daniel Bryan worried about Undertakers lack of Strategy.
• Fandango/Jericho still is enjoyable.

The Bad:

• Seriously, did Cesaro shit in Stephanie's oatmeal or something?
• Crowd was dumb. You're not awesome because you're re-doing all the same chants from Post-Mania raw. You're just being a bunch of Wallabys.
• HHH accepting was pretty dumb.
• Ryback should never hold a microphone.
• Bad ending to the 6 Man tag team, and could Kane take the pin for once?

That crowds heart was in the right place, but I don't know about trying to force that shit again.

I'm all about any time Regal gets TV time, though. A Regal/Barrett match would have been rad, though.

@demoskinos: They also speculated that Paul Heyman would reform the Dangerous Alliance. I think they were just looking for an article topic.

RAW seemed alright this week. I am glad they got the HHH stuff out of the way first. The matches were generally well put-together. The interactions between Vickie, Raddox, AJ, and Dolph were great. It was little touches like the finishes for the matches and the tone set by a lot of the other interactions that seemed poor. Ryback can be a decent heel, but answering your detractors with "Shut up! shut up!" is not much better than Jeff Hardy's "My ass hurts!" response. I know he's a big meathead, but he seems to be a clear-thinking meathead from his promo last week. Let him speak less and be cogent. Otherwise, he will just sound like one of the Lout brothers.

So, Zigglypuff was the highlight of RAW ? I'm thinking I made the right choice checking out when I did, as I was asleep less than 20 minutes later >_>

It was worth it for the 6 man tag match. Ambrose and Rollins can sell like a motherfucker, so I always enjoy seeing them get beat up a bit

God, Ryback using a microphone is a really bad idea.

I don't really get the hate for Ryback's promo last night. Yeah, he's a little...let's say, raw on the mic but what he was saying made total sense. Everything he said was 100% on point. He may not exactly be CM Punk in his delivery but it's way better than just spouting nonsensical catchphrases and pandering bullshit. I think he deserves a lot of credit.

Good: Everything AJ. I officially love her again. From Zigglypuff to turning yet another divas battle royals into a fun match with a story

Undertaker in a match and it isn't Wrestlemainia, waaaaat? Also The Shield is great at looking tough, and selling bumps. Never bored by their matches

Fandango betrayed by his dancer and selling it like a Mexican soap opera.

Bad: I know this has always been a problem but I was visably angry at the announcers trying do hard to get us to cheer for Cena and HHH for being bullies and boring us with the same old whatever. Even more angry that they didn't even try to use logic, just noise and more "yaaaay this 5 minutes of Trips posing is great, you guys!"

Cesaro buried for no damn reason at all

Found it really hard to care about anything not involving the three people mentioned in the good column.

Not much of a raw to return to after 4 months.

I thought it was really good. Although from something earlier in the night, he REALLY has to stop saying RYBACK RULES.

THIS! I was shocked to see how much hate Ryback was getting. His raw intensity actually took me by surprise - the line where he called Foley a 'fat bastard' or whatever surprised me quite a bit. I don't think he's amazing on the mic, of course not - but I certainly found his promo both watchable, and acceptable as a continuation of the story. He put his point across, consolidated his position as a heel and, bar a few times where he forgot to hold the microphone to his mouth, held his own.

I don't know.. I watched it thinking 'this is no worse a promo than many'a other talent on the roster would provide.' So yeah, was quite surprised at how much he was getting panned!

Also: The Shield coming to Raw via Helicopter was legit. Them and Fandango had to catch a ride from the Smackdown house show to Raw.

And here's Daniel Bryan's Diagrams:

After letting it sink it for a day, there really was a good amount to like about Raw last night even if some of seemed a little stale. But by far the best part of Raw last night:

I live my life in pretty much constant fear now that the WWE is going to break up Team Rocket. Let me have this. Please.

Guys I don't wanna freak out or anything but...

AMBROSE VS UNDERTAKER ON SMACKDOWN. OH MY GOD.

@demoskinos: Dark match.

Maybe? I don't know. I'm seeing conflicting reports.

Well slightly dissapointing but the more interesting part here is that Undertaker is actually working matches. I expected him to be long gone after mania.

Some sites are saying that it was actually the main event of the show. Some are saying it was a dark match. So, I'm not sure actually.

I have some questions/thoughts;

• Hell No & Undertaker winning because Bryan missed his signature is weak. I seem to remember him being what, hum, World champion last year?
• How come Wade Barret wasn't at Raw? I'd rather have seen him take-on someone than Regal getting dusted-off. Wade's still the Intercontinental champion, right?
• What's with Ryback calling John 'Super-Cena', does he monitor this thread?
• Zack Ryder had a lack of gelled-hair, he had no microphone time and did not turn heel despite the You Tube video. Infact, no mention at all was made to his clip.

@turboman

At least the audience were actually into some matches, unlike last week's crowd.

@milkman: I completely agree about the promo from Ryback. I thought it was passable, he was in the ring with Foley who is traditionally very good on the mic and was a bit off last night. I thought he showed intensity, gave a good response to Foley and showed a great deal of intensity.

I am really enjoying the focus on new stars that it seems like WWE is finally showing now. Giving good time to the Shield and also having them pick up a huge win over a team with the Undertaker on it was great. This really shows that they aren't afraid of anything and the finish to the match demonstrated the unpredictability that comes along with a match involving them. I would love to see someone bring some credibility back to the Tag Team Championships, which are right now and have been for awhile an afterthought, but I think WWE needs to change it up a bit and have the standout star Dean Ambrose go after a major singles championship and win it with the help of the others. This could lead to a good opportunity to build them up as one of the best stables in the last few years by them having Rollins and Reigns win the tag titles. Seeing that image of The Shield all with championships would be great.

Since, they have such an affinity for attacking Cena and Ryback why not throw Ambrose into the main even at Extreme Rules and give him the perfect out to pick up a win with legal Shield interference in whatever stipulation the match will have. I know at house shows Cena and Ryback have been having tables matches and that would be the perfect way for Ambrose to win the title. A triple powerbomb through a table and there you go, Dean Ambrose is the WWE Champion.

Regarding Ryback; him calling Foley a 'fat bastard' surprised me but again, I just found him boring, I can't blame the fans chanting Goldberg, still.

It's not so much that Ryback was so bad on the mic, it's that I just don't care about about him in the least bit. They spent so much time cramming him down our throat that I have a hard time enjoying any facet of him.

All indications seem to be that it IS the Smackdown televised main event.

New Divekick character announced... seems familiar.

Alex Jefailey

Health: 895 // Power: 40,800 – 1,000,000

Jefailey runs a large and well known series of Divekick tournaments called JEO (Jefailey Effort Orlando). Despite controversy, Jefailey likes to enter and compete at his own events. He views himself as his greatest promotional asset, and his growing ego has recently caused former allies to turn against him. He means well, however, and will continue to compete in order to get more people to buy badges for the next JEO event.

Date of Birth:

8/19/1982

Place of Birth:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Blood Type:

Type O

Likes:

Jemaniacs, Jebaiting, His bobble head, Money, Running tournaments

Dislikes:

Jefailure, Collusion, On-site registration, Life altering Revelations

Thought of the day: is the WWE hall of fame currently larger than the list of wrestlers that died before 65? Can they consistently add enough new members over time to catch up to the death rate?

@turboman: Shoutouts to Jebailey and his ever-growing head.

I think with some of the changes WWE has made over the years you will be seeing a lot less premature deaths.

@gorillamopena: That's true, there already has been a decline in recent years in the death rate. The new drug testing policies and the rehab programs provided by the WWE that has helped guys like Justin Credible, Sean Waltman, etc. has been a major influence in former wrestling lives to make sure they get clean. Also, the stuff that DDP is doing with Jake and Scott Hall is fantastic. Plus, it is a personal choice for someone to start using drugs and I don't think that any blame can be placed on a particular company for the poor decisions of someone.

@joshthebear: I actually had grown to prefer seeing him in his role over Cena. I thought that he was very good in the role of the monster hard hitting babyface. Now though with them turning them heel at least they are trying to make him something different and add something to his character.

I'm just tired of seeing Cena with the WWE title at this point. Having John Cena as the WWE Champion right now does the company no favors because that title could be used to elevate someone else into a main event slot while Cena is still able to have his programs that are high on the card or even still in the main even like he was doing pretty all through last year while Punk was the champ.

I don't know if anyone was still concerned.

But Main Event has advertised the Smackdown main event of Dean Ambrose vs The Undertaker. I would have laughed at anyone on the internet proposing such a match ever happening and I can't be happier that it is going to happen.

Yeah, it's definitely not the dark match. In a promo before that Ambrose says he's going to beat Taker. So I'm pretty sure it's the main event of SD.