The Powerbombcast Episode 15 - The Royal Grumble

awesome!

It's time to listen to the greatest wrestling podcast of all time now.

Predictions? We don't need predictions because one man has de-de-declared that he will win it all. Believe THAT. (Can't wait to listen, thanks guys!)

Just got back into wrestling after 13ish years away. Watched all the royal rumbles to catch up, it's been a real who's who of who doesn't wrestle anymore.

Can't wait to shove this down my ear holes!!

Can't wait to hear Jeff bad-mouth the best event I've seen in the last 5 years, Wrestle Kingdom.

Aw yeah!

I'm so glad I stayed up all night woke up to this!

Get ready to grumble!

Oh hell, now that I'm done with Spelunky I won't need this as its background. Guess I'll just lay in bed and look at the ceiling while hearing about a Bella twin!

Was this picture used last year? Incidentally I was listening to last year's pre-rumble PBcast today while waiting for this and I'd recommend going back to it just to see where we were this time 12 months ago.

Birthday Powerbombcast!

I feel like Cena is the best part of Total Divas. Beer Pong Cena is a gawd.

Oh shit, surprise powerbombcast.

JR-ismcast!

Jared's crippling Total Divas addiction

I just started watching it on the Network. I hear ya, Jared. I hear ya.

@lingxor said:

Hoodslam looks crazy.

Will be listening to it tonight or tomorrow properly but did they talk about NXT: R Evolution at all? Was flicking through it there and seems that isn't the case. Would have liked to hear their thoughts on it anyway since I felt that show got more credit than it deserved. Not saying it was a bad show now (had a few good matches) but I felt people over praised the event mainly because (in my opinion) of how shoddy the current WWE programming was at the time.

I don't understand the love for Steph as an on air persona. She comes across as a great person when she's being real and talking about the business but ever since they brought her on TV in the attitude era and keep bringing her out year in and year out, she's consistently what makes me NOT watch WWE. No part of her is interesting or makes any feud better, all it ever does is make me mute/fast forward/change the channel until she's off the screen. What about her is so interesting?

I still find myself listening to these, I have no idea why. I have maybe watched 2 hours of wrestling ever, but I've listened to what... 50 hours of them talking about wrestling? I don't know what that says about me.

I don't see how Brock beating Undertaker fucked up anything. Brock is still the best thing on Raw whenever he's on. It's not his fault that they completely botched Cesaro's push, continually treat Bray Wyatt as a joke, are afraid to let the show revolve around anyone else besides Cena, that Bryan got hurt or that they want Roman Reigns to be the next face of the company, despite being terrible. Brock Lesnar is the absolute least of the WWE's problems.

Also, I have absolute zero interest in seeing Undertaker having one more match. Did you see that match with Lesnar? It was terrible. By the time Wrestlemania 31 comes around, Taker will be 50. He had an incredible run. There's no reason to drag that corpse (wink wink) out for another slog of a match. It's over.

@darro: Yeah they talked about it.

I am so sad that lucha underground didnt get some love. Aztec Warfare was so good.

For a man who is still at least a decade away from last watching wrestling, I'm far too excited for new powerbombcast! If on they would make this bi-weekly or something....

"Roman Reigns is great" is when you realize Jeff has officially gone off the deep end at the end of this podcast. Seriously, Reigns is great and Rusev is bad? That's insane.

If anyone here hasn't seen Total Divas, and have heard it being praised by Dan and Jared, don't watch it. They are lying to you. Total Divas is incredible in how bad it is. It makes Monday Night Raw seem well-paced, smartly written and well-acted. I cannot fathom how the guys can actually unironically enjoy the black hole of human suffering that is Eva Marie, Natalya, Nikki Bella and Cameron. Sweet Jesus.

I can't even fathom why it gets me so annoyed. What an awful show.

@milkman: That's why Rusev should win the Rumble.

The story of Shinsuke Nakamura is an interesting one, especially as it related to Hiroshi Tanahashi. I don't really watch wrestling any more, but I was way into puroresu in the mid-2000s when Nakamura was hitting the scene, so I remember it well.

Nakamura and Tanahashi came into NJPW at around the same time, and the plan was that Nakamura was supposed to be "the guy", which obviously isn't how it worked out, as Tanahashi has been much more successful. The old guard of New Japan thought Tanahashi couldn't be a top draw because he wasn't that old-school, strong-style, super badass wrestler that Japan has idolised ever since the days of Antonio Inoki and Jumbo Tsuruta.

Nakamura fit that role much better: Nakamura had a background in vale tudo and MMA, while Tanahashi had a background in lucha libre, something Japan had never quite embraced outside of indie promotions like Dragon Gate, Michinoku Pro, and - as mentioned by Jared - DDT. So Nakamura was pushed as the next top draw of the company; he was even given the nickname "Super Rookie". He was given the IWGP Heavyweight belt in 2003, three years before Tanahashi's first reign, but had to vacate it due to injury.

But as it turns out, New Japan under Jado and Gedo needed to go in a new direction. It needed a bit more glitz and glamour, and not to just be stuck in the very traditional pattern of puroresu that had held back All Japan for so long and was starting to weight down NOAH. And Tanahashi was perfect for the "New" New Japan. He looks like a rock-star, he wrestles in a high-flying, energetic style, he is unbelievably popular with the female audience, and he's an excellent wrestler. Nakamura's in-ring work used to be pretty boring and predictable, and he just didn't flash like Tanahashi did, so he was seen as a bust who was doomed to remain in the upper-midcard, in the shadow of his more successful contemporary.

So after the Brock Lesnar experiment, New Japan gave Tanahashi the belt, strapped a jetpack to his back, and launched him into super stardom. Prior to Tanahashi, the IWGP belt was traded between a bunch of the New Japan old guard like Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Kazuyuki Fujita, so for Tanahashi, who wasn't yet 30, to be made the new star of the company was a big, big deal, and it worked out perfectly. The rest is history; he's held the IWGP title for longer than all-time Japanese legends like The Great Muta and (the late) Shinya Hashimoto, who were the stars of New Japan during the glory days of the 90s when the wrestling business was so huge in Japan.

Now, to hear that Nakamura has done so well transitioning into a more off-beat (for Japan, at least), crazy, vibrant character, and blended that into his hard-hitting, strong-style wrestling is a little surprising, but shows that the potential for him to be amazing was always there.

Heroes of Wrestling we need them to hype and praise so that people get watching it one way or the other. It's the nice boat of wrestling.

-Back from his short lived #RKOOuttaNowhere face success, Orton RKO's his way out of nowhere and back into our lives, our hearts, the final 4 of the Rumble, and ultimately the main event at Wrestlemania.

- Brock Lesnar pins Cena in the triple threat match, despite onlooking from JJ Security and HHH.

- Rollins cashes in fresh after some dirty play from HHH. Stings music hits and HHH takes him on as defense. However, out of the crowd, a man of his word DEAN AMBROSE appears and squashes the MitB attempt. Brock F5s Rollins for the pin to become the first person deflecting MitB. Rollins and Ambrose is reignited for a final battle at Wrestlemania. HHH challenges Sting as well.

- Brock vs. face Orton lat Wrestlemania 31.

I'm taking bets.

I think I pulled a muscle in my neck shaking my head at Jared and Dan's Total Divas shilling.

jared and dan are right. total divas is the best weekly show they put up. the double kayfabe shit they pull is so facsinating

Finally another episode! As someone who started watching wrestling again (after TLC) I've been looking forward to a new power bombcast.

Edit: Hearing Jeff talk about how he doesn't watch entire raw episodes made me realize that I watch more wrestling than he does. I watch raw and smackdown from start to finish every week.

the internet's #1 total divas fancast returns!!!!!!!

1992 is the best Rumble. Made by Flair and the commentary from Heenan. The best bit is when Piper comes in to a lonesome Flair. So many Hall of Famers in it too. Brilliant.

@bigjaffa: "I never thought I'd say this, but thank you, Roddy. It's a kilt. It's not a skirt, it's a kilt."

*few minutes later*

"You no-good creep! You skirt-wearing freak! It's not a kilt, it's a skirt!"

@andorski said:

@lingxor said:

Hoodslam looks crazy.

Where can I find this video????

Total Divas is 100% complete and utter trash.

I feel like the point of Bullet Club was always to be dumb and corny. I mean ... they're heels. They're not supposed to be cool; they're supposed to make the good guys look cool. They steal catchphrases and motifs because they're playing the parts of tacky assholes who think they're way cooler than they actually are. They're intentionally invoking that post-Starrcade '97 nWo feel -- too big, bloated, and up its own ass for its own good, and that's part of why they've had a fall from grace after gathering most of the belts at the midpoint of 2014. All that hubris, man. That's why Jeff Jarrett joining Bullet Club made perfect sense to me. Who is more of a symbol of being uncool and up his own ass than Jeff Jarrett?

For me this rumble is going to be great either way. Bryan win or no (which is the only two options for me short of 'the rock comes back and wins' or some non-sense)

Its like this. Say you have a incompetent prick of a boss. Now say that boss sits down in a dunk tank. He commits to donating a million dollars to charity..but only if no one actually drops him into the water.

Now you might get an idea of why mania is going to be exciting either way. Seeing all that money go to charity (Bryan winning) would be great. But it would be damn cathartic to see that stuck up, out of touch moron get unceremoniously dunked into the water(or see his plans burst into flames around him). The look of complete shock and disbelieve on his face as it happen would almost be worth it alone.

Sue me, I happen to have a very very low opinion of Vince after the last six months of raw.

I think this was at TLC(AND STAIRS) PPV. Pretty much sums up the last quarter of the year.

I need to catch up to the New Japan stuff now.

Am I the only one that misread this as the Royal Grundle?

That part is amazing. Flair just freaks out and Piper comes in super fired up.

Also the other 1992 rumble note that goes with this podcast. Fuck Hulk Hogan. Sid did nothing to you and nothing you that didn't do to others.

Total Divas is the best thing WWE produces?

No

Do they finally talk about World War 3 in this one? I watched it when they said they'd talk about it. I watched it all. Every last, terrible match. I should probably just chalk that up as a mistake on my part, and realise it might be best that they never talk about it.

the #30 entrant is making his way to the ring where daniel bryan and roman reigns lay in wait, but whoever 30 is is hit from behind and HHH takes his spot because neither roman nor dbry is best4bizness but then as he walks angrily down the ramp, rolling up his sleeves and flaring his nostrils (because only he can solve this damn problem correctly), the lights go out and a crow's K-KAW! is heard. as vision is restored to the arena the #30 guy is in the ring and sting is standing over trips on the ramp with a bat pointing to mania sign. because JUSTICE ! and WRESTLEMANIA!

I'm ready for 2 hours of aaaawwwwwweeeesommmmmmmme....ness!